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Rea<j - a, Then 4/A VOLUME LXXXI-N' Lake wate : tests fine and clean By Brad Hundt Staff Writer Testing on the waters of Lake La nier over the last month has turned up little for sunbathers or swimmers to worry about, officials say. This stands in sharp contrast to last summer, however, when high fe cal coliform levels in several lakes in Georgia caused them to temporarily shutdown. Lanier did not close, how ever, in the flurry of concern last July. “While we do have fecal coliform in the lake, the readings have been very, very low,” said Pat Taylor, a supervisory park ranger at Lake La nier. “At Lanier there are some ar eas where the levels are a little high er than others, but it’s one of the cleanest lakes in the system.” The presence of high fecal coli form levels often indicate other, more harmful bacteria are present in water. Last summer’s high fecal coliform levels were attributed to a dry spring, followed by an unusually rainy June and July, which washed accumulated waste on the ground Please see LAKE, page 2A County Commission allocated funds to upgrade privately-owned roads By Kristin Jeffries Staff Wrttw In order to accept more roads into county maintenance, commissioners will allow county money to be used to bring private roads up to county standards. The board voted unanimously Mon day to allow commissioners’ annual discretionary road funds to be spent in part bringing dirt roads up to coun ty standards for acceptance. “This may put a little more pressure on individual commissioners in choosing because we do have a limit ed amount of money to do this with each year,” said James Harrington, who introduced the measure. Low voter registration seen as disinterest in state election By Brad Hundt Staff Writer The Georgia governor’s race has stirred little interest in Forsyth County, if voter registration numbers are any indication. Registration for the July 17 Democratic and Republi can primaries has been “real slow,” said Melvin Stancil, chief registrar for the Forsyth voter registration office. Of the roughly 50,000 people living in Forsyth County, only 15,700 are registered voters. Stancil did not have figures available as to what portion of the Forsyth population was eligible to vote. Registration closes June 18. “There doesn’t seem to be a whole lot of interest,” Stancil said. Yet the Democratic race for governor has attracted nationwide attention because of former Atlanta Mayor Andrew Young’s bid to be the first black governor of Georgia. Young and Lt Gov. Zell Miller are currently locked in a neck-and-neck race for the Democratic ticket Cobb INSIDE Abby 4B Anniversary 5C Birth 5C Church Briefs 7A Classified 6C Dawson Co. News 10A Editorials 4A Engagements 5A Events 9A Food&Nutrition 1C For the Record 3C Friends&Neighbors 3A Horoscope 4B Joyce Jordan 4A On Campus..... 6A Sports 1B Windings 5C ny dancers strut their stuff, picture page 8A )rsyth County News " - v e £■ Jftfk gfc Jr * '— Staff photo - Kristin Jeffries Body heat The beach at Buford Dam was swimming with bodies even on a week day just after school let out. Moms with kids and people taking a spring break from work or even just a long lunch break enjoyed frolicking in the waves of Lake Lanier. The new procedure allows citizens to request their district commissioner to considered their road or roads. The residents will provide the deeds for 60-foot right of ways to the county, a cost estimate of the project will be made, district funds will be verified and the matter will come before the entire board for a vote. If the request is denied the deeds will be returned. If it is granted the road will receive triple surface treat ment and apply to the county for maintenance. “I’m real glad we will have a proce dure where we can address some of the road problems we do have out in the county,” said Commissioner Mi chael Bennett County legislator and businessman Johnny Isakson has little serious opposition for the Republican nomination. Only those who vote in the primary will be able to vote in any run-off elections that may take place in September, Stancil said. State law mandates that if no candidate receives 50 percent of the vote, the two who get the most votes vie in a run-off race. The Forsyth County Library in Cumming is registering local residents on Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays before the June 18 deadline, Stancil said. The voter registration office will also set up a booth at the Wal- Mart just outside Cumming on June 16, two days before registration closes. Both ballots will feature candidates for statewide and local offices. The Republican ballot will also have four non-binding questions on statewide issues like the Quali ty Basic Education Act and a lottery. The low registration numbers Forsyth is experiencing is typical in an election year without a presidential race. Then, voters register “in droves,” Stancil said. Cumming man sentenced to life for killing his drug supplier By Brad Hundt Staff Writer A Cumming man was sentenced to life in prison last week for killing his marijuana supplier in 1987. Cobb County Superior Court Judge Robert Flournoy found Jeffrey Cor dell Owen, 38, guilty of killing Theo dore Stamm in a non-jury trial. Owen shot Stamm in the back of the head execution-style at a friend’s house in Kennesaw so that he could steal 100 pounds of marijuana, prose cutors said. He was also sentenced to 10 years in prison on drug possession charges. Owen will serve both terms concur rently. said Cobb prosecutor Vann PeaKoerg. Stamm, 35, was weighing a small WEDNESDAY, JUNE 13/ 1990-CUMMING/ GA. 30130-36 PAGES 4 SECTIONS Commissioner Charles Welch was the voice of caution. “It is shifting the cost of this to the county,” he said. “My concern is where the money is going to come from.” “It will be very limited,” said Don ald Major, county administrator. COiiimi.-aioners have been assigned SIOO,OOO each for road improvements in their district in the past. Barry Hillgartner, working on a plan which could allow the county to accept roads for maintenance at a lower standard, said he looked to the new procedure as an interim solution. Harrington concurred. Please see COMMISSION, page 2A Owen was originally ar rested on marijuana pos session charges after the April 15,1987 incident, and arrested again after what Pearlberg called circum stantial evidence linked him to the killing. quantify of marijuana when he was shot, Pearlberg said. Owen was originally arrested on marijuana possession charges after the April 15,1987 incident, and arrest- * ' V- ~ »V ,v t \L v -’-.in fi - T a a • 1 : V ” (A ' • •; !lr, , V. ‘ 5 J . v i ; /’ ■ • : .. • ** Hi v -,V - w fs .... w 4 „ ■ i ; staff photo - Brad Hundt Sensual nonsense It’s the smell of hay, the rustling of the trees, it’s the warmth that you feel on a hot summer day it’s the blue of the sky, the green of the leaves, and you wish that you always could keep it that way ed again after what Pearlberg called circumstantial evidence linked him to the killing. “There was no smoking gun in this case,” Pearlberg said. “The case was a purely circumstantial one. We knew that he had a relationship with the deceased, he made multiple pur chases from him, and we knew he had a quantity of marijuana. We knew he was going to meet with him that morning.” Police later found the stolen mari juana in boxes in Owen’s house, Pearlberg said. Owen also bought a .22 caliber pis tol just before the killing and had asked a former employer how to get the serial numbers off the gun. “What legitimate purpose would you have to scrape the serial numbers off a gun?” Pearlberg said. New Ag-II zoning might not help By Kristin Jeffries Start Writer Although commissioners are trying to give a helping hand, the new agri culture-II zoning may not help people struggling with keeping the family farm in the face of rising taxes. County commissioners passed pro tectional zoning recently, splitting family-owned and true farm land from agriculturally zoned land largely held for speculation. They hoped not only to protect farms from complain ing neighbors, but to provide for fair property assessments. According to Hall County's example this proposition may not work. In 1986 Hall County adopted a farm zone, similar to Forsyth County’s new A-II zone, and rolled back assess ments on farm property in some cases by more than half, said Hall County Chief Appraiser James Cantrell. “We did it for a couple or three years but we were dead wrong,” he said. Hall County is again assessing all agricultural land together and farm ers are appealing their raised values. It will probably end in court but the county has something to stand on. said Sawnee Community Center advocates still have goals By Brad Hundt Staff Writer The long dreamed of Community Center could break ground by the end of the year. That’s the word from Phill Bettis, a local attorney and president of the Sawnee Community Center, Inc. The SCCI is taking bids to build a scaled-down community center north of Cumming, he announced. “We’ve set a goal to hopefully break ground this year,” Bettis said. “We think it’s important to build something at this point Maybe something bigger can be built later.” The facility will have a kitchen, stage and large auditorium and is envisioned as a multiple-purpose center for various county organiza tions. The building will measure 25 CENTS Cantrell. That something is state law, which requires land to be assessed at fair mariiet value, said Cantrell. “As long as the state of Georgia is on the market value concept I don’t see how we can do anything but use all ag sales to set the values,” Cantrell said. Another problem is that Hall has had no farm zone sales on which to base a fair market price. Because of a case in Habersham County, appraisers can look outside the county for farm-to-farm sales on which to base their appraisals, said Commissioner Barry Hillgartner. Forsyth’s Chairman of the Board of Tax Assessors, Billy Evans, agrees with Cantrell. “Protectional zoning does not affect the taxes,” said Evans. By law the board is not able to pick one property out in one section of the county and one in another and com pare them, Evans explained. Those agricultural parcels in the south of the county, whether A-I or A-II will have to be assessed together. Ag-II does not give preferential treatment, but may lower property Please see ZONE, page 2A around 12,000 to 15.000 square feet and cost $500,000. Bettis said. “It’s something that’s needed," Bettis said. “There’s really nothing like that in the county. Most of the time you have to go across county lines to have your meeting.” Building the community center will be a two-phase process, Bettis said. The first phase will encom pass the currently planned struc ture. Phase two will handle any expansion. An effort to get a community cen ter built in Forsyth County has been going on for about 10 years. Around 1980, supporters of a center began soliciting donations from area busi nesses and organizing fund-raising events. The group was able to raise around $750,000 by the end of 1989. Please see CENTER, page S?A