Newspaper Page Text
I
F Th a e d „ A
Recycle £
VOLUME LXXXII —NUMBER 84
County finalizes water
By Kristin Jeffries
Staff Writer
Commissioners voted to accept the
city’s letter finalizing a 30 cent per
1,000 gallon reduction in its water rate
from Cumming.
“Hooray,” Commissioner James
Harrington said. The reduction is the
result of ongoing heated discussion
and is a compromise between city and
county officials.
The rate cut will make the county
cost to the city $1.45 per 1,000 gallons.
Essentially the reduction will re
New library
is to open
in April ’92
By Kristin Jeffries
Staff Writer
Library workers have set a tentative
date for the opening of the new For
syth County Library on Hwy. 9 at the
intersection of the Hwy. 306
Connector.
The construction on the 25,345-
square-foot building is 49 percent
done, it was announced at Monday’s
meeting of the Forsyth County Li
brary Board.
As it stands now, the library will
open to the public in less than six
months, around April 13, 1992. The
old library will be closed for three
weeks prior to the opening of the new
facility while materials are moved
from one to the other.
Once the dates are sure, the board
will send letters to the schools an
nouncing the exact dates.
The weeks before the move employ
ees will be moving new books and oth
er new materials into the building.
The library’s collection will be in
creased greatly. To the current collec
tion of just more than 16,507 books,
about 50,000 will be added between
the adult and juvenile sections. The
reference materials will increase
three-fold. The library is purchasing
500 audio cassettes including books
on tape. There will be 1,200 music cas
settes purchased.
Advertising for new staff members
will begin December. The library will
be adding the full-time equivalent of
Please see LIBRARY, Page 2B
Weather:
Pleasant
TodaythroughFridayitwillbemild
withafewclouds.Highwillbeinthe
upper7oswithovemightlowsinthe
50s. Enjoy!
INSIDE
Abby 7B
Church Briefs 6B
Classified 3D
lan Cowie 8B
Deaths 13A
Editorials 6A
Events 12A
Food & Nutrition 39A
Horoscope 7B
Pet of the Week 7B
Sports 1B
hi uni
National Businesswomen's Week
■ ruoijJ P U
. AM M 1 J.MIV EKSIT Y OF GEORGIA
rorsy th Count f i >^ws
move the 30 cents being charged by
the city for possible future payment of
water storage charges in Lake Lanier.
The actual payment and rate finaliza
tion of the storage charges to the city
have been put on hold until the tri
state study of Lake Lanier realloca
tion has been completed.
The city also agreed to refund all of
the 30 cent charge which it has es
crowed plus interest to the county.
This fee has been charged since last
October and with a usage averaging 1
million gallons a day would now equal
at least $109,500.
* ICtT ff'"
r Hlf &
f. \ ¥
IFiAr
WHNE news director resigns
Mayor admits
business tie
By Kara Sproles
Staff Writer
Monday Brad Daugherty turned in
his resignation as news director at
WHNE-AM and Mayor Ford Gravitt
said he did have business ties with
station owner Amy Rieves McCollum.
After allegations of pressure to fa
vor the politics of the Cumming City
Council and Mayor Ford Gravitt sur
faced through a press conference
held by two WHNE-AM radio employ
ees last Thursday, the mayor ex
plained his business ties with the sta
tion owner.
“We are part of an investment
group here in town,” the mayor
explained.
The mayor said he had no current
association with the radio station, but
added that “he might buy it someday.”
Cumming woman
finds support in
fighting cancer
By Kristin Jeffries
Staff Writer
Always conscientious to get her
children and husband in for their phy
sicals, at 58 Eileen Harbrecht of For
syth County had only had one mam
mogram in her life.
When she came down with shingles
her second mammogram showed can
cer in her right breast so clearly no
biopsy was necessary. A mastectomy
followed.
The shingles, a form of chickenpox,
is a disease that pops up in adults
when there is something wrong with
the immune system. This time it
showed that Mrs. Harbrecht’s body
was fighting cancer.
“I always thought it could not hap
pen to me because there was no can
cer on either side of my family,” said
Mrs. Harbrecht
However, now she is very aware of
the statistics and the growing num
bers of women who have fought or are
fighting breast cancer - about 1 out of
every 10 women, according to Dr.
Greg Robinson of Northeast Georgia
Health Resources.
The most support she received
WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 23, 1991-CUMMING, GA 30130-36 PAGES 3 SECTIONS
The city also has agreed to other
requests made by the coutny includ
ing holding the $1.45 rate until Oct.
1992. and advising the county 60 days
in advance of a rate change.
In other business:
• The commission gave direction to
the newly-formed Comprehensive
Advisory Committee. The committtee
has been formed to give the county’s
comprehensive plan a review after it
has been in effect for three years.
The board asked the committee to
look at how the rezonings in the last
three years have compared to the fu-
Allegations of being pressured to do
biased reporting in favor of the mayor
were brought by News Director Brad
Daugherty and Public Service Direc
tor Belinda Skelton in a press confer
ence in the meeting room of the coun
ty commissioners Thursday. The two
said they wanted to make public their
views that the station was being used
“as a politically corrupt vessel.” The
two alleged that the station’s owners,
Amy Rieves McCollum and her hus
band Van McCollum, had repeatedly
called the mayor “a friend” and “a
person they support.”
Skelton alleged Thursday one own
er spoke of real estate and zoning fa
vors and conveyed the money gained
from ties to the city would mean more
income for the station.
“She (Mrs. McCollum) indicated
kind of an ‘I scratch your back you
scratch mine’ kind of deal,” Skelton
stated.
Gravitt said Monday he and Mrs.
McCollum are part of a real estate as
sociation that deals with investments
came from friends who had gone
through the same thing. Once she be
gan talking about it “people came out
of the woodwork,” she said.
Besides her friends her faith in God
and the help of her then newly retired
husband, John, helped her make it.
“I became a cook,” he said with a
smile.
Mr. Harbrecht knew very little
about breast cancer when it was dis
covered in his wife. “I’m just glad she
came through it,” he said.
Mrs. Harbrecht’s story is a success
story. Because she had a mastectomy
she needed no chemotherapy or radi
ation - something she said she
feared almost more than the cancer.
To date her cancer has not
reappeared.
In fact five weeks after the opera
tion she was back on the golf course,
where she and her husband spend
much of their time.
“After having cancer you are glad of
every birthday of every day. You do
it today - not tomorrow,” she said.
From her experience she has
earned the right to give informed ad
vice to to other women.
Please see COURAGE, Page 2A
rate reduction
ture land-use plan OKed in 1989. It
also asked the committee to map the
water lines and sewer lines on the
land use maps.
The committee should look at the
trends of the last three years and see if
there need to be a lot of changes made
in the plans, said Commissioner Mi
chael Bennett.
• Commissioners voted to apply for
a $400,000 Community Development
Block Grant in 1992 to fund an expan
sion of the Health Department facili
ties.
County Adminsitrator Donald Ma-
Photo by - Proflrlo Solorzano
in the city. The mayor said he and four
others were involved with the corpo
ration called The Cumming Group.
According to the Secretary of
State’s office, Cumming Group Asso
ciations, Inc. was established June 27,
1986.
The association currently lists its
officers as John E. Aderhold, Presi
dent; H. Ford Gravitt, Chief Financial
Officer; and Coy R. Johnson, Secre
tary, according to records. Listed as
the group’s principal office is 112
North Main Street in Cumming, which
is also the address of the Lipscomb,
Johnson and Ashway law offices in
Cumming. Attorney Emory Lipscomb
is also listed as an initial Board of
Director member and Incoporator,
records from the Secretary of State’s
office show.
“All it is is a business corporation
and she is one of the shareholders,”
Lipscomb said. “I’m not sure if she is a
shareholder or if the Rieves Corpora-
Please see RADIO, Page 2A
|j| <|l p •
Center of attention
The new Forsyth County Senior Center is going up as the new and vastly improved home of the many Forsyth County
seniors who meet to quilt, eat, and have a good time. The building is located on Hwy. 9, just at the intersection of the
Hwy. 306 Connector. Pictured is Charles Hunter of Hunter Construction who is in charge of the construction of the
building. ,
jor told the board services rendered
byt he Health Department have in
creased by 75 percent from 1986 to
1991. Medicaid and child screeenings
have increased by 145 percent during
the same period.
Given these numbers, Major said he
could see no other need as pressing in
the county which could be solved with
this grant
The new Forsyth County Senior
Ceter is now being constructed using
1990 C.D.B.G. funds.
Please see COUNTY, Page 2A
Pumpkin pickers
Tyler Bowcock and Laramie Bowcock
children of Jim and Lacey Bowcock of
Cumming are in the middle of some
important business, that of picking
out the Halloween pumpkin. The big
day for costumes and fun is Wednes
day, Oct. 31. Another major change is
the time change which goes into ef
fect the last Sunday in October. Re
member the tip in autumn the clocks
“fall back” or in otherwords, you turn
clocks back one hour at bedtime. The
official change is at 2 a.m. the last
Sunday in October.
Approval of tax digest
for 1990 is anticipated
By Kristin Jeffries
Staff Writer
Forsyth County officials were expecting to hear the "all’s
clear” from the state early this week on the permanent 1990 tax
digest
At press time on Monday no word had been received.
State officials who were in the county last week to check field
work said the digest looked good, said Chief Appraiser James
Payne.
As soon as notification is received work will begin on issuing
the permanent 1990 re-bill and refund announcements.
“They will go out in a day unless there is some hold up with the
computers,” said Tax Commissioner Bobby Gene Gilbert.
Since the permanent bills are based on the appraisals of the
county-wide re-evaluation some property owners will be get
ting bills because their property value went up significantly.
Others will be getting a refund or credit on future taxes because,
according to the reappraisal, they have been carrying too much
of the tax burden.
However, this appraisal is far from free of controversy. It and
Please see TAXES, Page 2A
Building
decision
favors
Lakeside
By Kristin Jeffries .
Staff Writer
Lakeside Community Hospital offi
cials attended a hearing last Friday
which further upheld the state's deci
sion in favor of Lakeside building a
new facility in Forsyth County. How
ever, many hurdles remain.
Judge Phillip Ethridge in Fulton
County Superior Court sent North
side Hospital back to the State Health
Planning Agency to continue its ap
peal of the review board's decision to
grant Lakeside a Certificate of Need
for a 44-bed replacement facility on
Hutchinson Road.
Both Northside and North Fulton
Please see DECISION, Page 10A
Military contract
for local industry
By Kara Sproles
Staff Writer
The Forsyth County division of
Cross Systems, Inc. has entered a $lO
million defense contract with the U S.
Army to construct night vision devices
for pilots.
“I think long term it will help us
double the sales of Cross corporate
Please see MILITARY, Page 2A
Staff photo - Porflrto Solorzano
25 CENTS