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VOLUME LXXXII —NUMBER 85
Tax suit
amendment
points at
some secret
meetings
By Kristin Jeffries
Staff Writer
An amendment to a tax suit filed
Friday in Superior Court requests the
court to appoint an auditor to look
into secret roll-backs of tax assess
ments made by the previous Board of
Tax Assessors.
Attorney Lynwood Jordan, Jr. filed
the amendment on behalf of the For
syth County Board of Equalization.
Defendants named are Billy Evans,
Robert Wallace, and the late Aubrey
Greenway, as members of the board of
tax assessors and tax commissioner
Bobby Gene Gilbert
The case, which was responsible for
forcing assessors to complete a coun
ty-wide reassessment and applying it
to all bills since 1989, has been in the
courts since 1988.
The amendment cites one particu
lar case where the three-member
Board of Tax Assessors, including
Wallace, Evans, and Greenway alleg
edly rolled back property appraisals
in violation of the state Sunshine act
in secret meetings. Evans remains a
member of the present five-member
board.
Evans did not return several calls
on Friday.
The board met with Cumming May
or H. Ford Gravitt on Feb. 26, 1991,
and cut a number of appraisals on
property owned by Gravitt and
Charles Roper, the amendment
states.
According to tax records on the
West Industrial Business Park which
Please see TAX, Page 2A
Weather:
Warm
TheNationalWeatherServicecalls
for Sunday-Tuesday to be partly
cloudy, warm and humid. Low tem
peratures will be in the upper 50s
and6oswithhighsintheupper7osto
middle 80s. Enjoy some outdoor
time before cold sets in.
INSIDE
Abby 5A
Business 9A
Church Briefs 13A
Classified 3D
Deaths 14A
Engagements 8A
Events 12A
Service News 4B&14B
Sports 1B
Lake Lanier Levels
Date level
Oct 21 1065.53 ft
Oct 22 1065.26 ft
Oct 23 1065.00 ft
Oct 24 1064.74 ft
Oct 25 1064.48 ft
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Department heads opt for 5% raise
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Photo by - Porflrio Solorzano
County Administrator Donald Major at the budget session.
Airport site choice
may be by new agency
3y Kristin Jeffries
Staff Writer
Would a state airport authority
make choosing a site for a second At
lanta airport any easier or more fair?
The Joint Georgia Airport Develop
ment Authority Study Committee is
planning to round up its meetings in
time to make a recommendation on
the issue to the General Assembly in
January. However, first it will hold a
public meeting to give Georgia resi
dents a chance to have their say, said
Rep. Bill Barnett, D-Cumming, a
Second WHNE employee
submits resignation
By Kara Sproles
Staff Writer
Followingin the footsteps ofthe for
mer news director, WHNE-AM radio
Public Service Director Belinda Skel
ton resigned her position Tuesday.
Skelton and Brad Daugherty, then
news director, alleged they had been
pressured by station owner Amy
Rieves McCollum to favor the politics
of Cumming City Council and Mayor
H. Ford Gravitt The allegations sur
faced at a press conference called last
week by Skelton and Daugherty.
“Things at the station were very
stressful,” Skelton stated Wednesday.
“No one would speak to me.”
Brad Daugherty, former WHNE
News Director, and Skelton worked at
the station for more than a year before
they called a press conference on Oct
17 to make public their claims. The
two alleged that zoning and real es
tate favors to be gained by showing
favoritism to the city were spoken of
by Mrs. McCollum, who conveyed
money gained would mean more in
come for the station.
Skelton gave her resignation over
the air at 12:15 p.m. Tuesday, at the
end of her program, “Morning Coffee
Break.”
Tomahawk chop sparks reason for research
By Kara Sproles
Staff Writer
Ever since the dream of having a nation
al championship team started heading to
ward reality, Atlanta Braves baseball fans
- both new and old - have appeared clad
in feathers and war paint in honor of the
team.
Fans claim the Indian imitations are
done in the name of reverence and good
fim.
But as the lauding war cries are heard,
another cry also becomes audible. It comes
from those who first claimed the American
soil.
It is a ciy not of excitement, but of pro
test, stating the now-famous ‘Tomahawk
Chop” is demeaning, an insult to the Indian
heritage.
Honor Rolls See Pages 6B &7B
SUNDAY, OCTOBER 27, 1991-CUMMING, GA 30130-18 PAGES 2 SECTIONS
Making cuts to the bare bone
member of the joint committee.
The public hearing is scheduled for
Nov. 14 in room 341 of the capitol.
Residents from north Georgia may
speak from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m.
The Forsyth County organization,
Concerned Citizens Against the Air
port will be present, said head of the
group’s legislation committee, Hank
Zweigel.
A site on the Forsyth-Dawson coun
ty lines was chosen by the Atlanta Re
gional Commission as the second
Please see AIRPORT, Page 2A
“At the end ofthe program, I usually
sign off by saying ‘that wraps up an-
Please see RADIO, Page 2A
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Appropriate for the Halloween season, myths still
circulate in the area about the late Chief Sawnee.
“The chop-chop implies that Native
American people are aggressive and war
like,” Aaron Two Elk, Southeastern Re
gional Coordinator for the International
Indian Treaty Council of the AI.M. told the
Daily News Tuesday. “It’s creating another
generation of kids with discriminatory atti
tudes towards Native American people.”
Two Elk protested this week at the state
Capitol, branding the Braves fan actions as
“atrocious racial stereotyping.”
The war chant that typically accompa
nies the chop has been called “Hollywood
hype” by the leader ofthe American Indian
Movement
By Kristin Jeffries
Staff Writer
Commissioners continued
work on the 1992 county budget
Thursday as County Administra
tor Donald Major submitted his
proposed “bare bones” budget for
commissioners’ consideration.
The budget contained no new
personnel requests by depart
ment heads, but did include the
regular 5 percent raise for each
current employee.
“Most department heads and
employees agree they want to try
to get by without the additional
personnel and get the 5 percent
increase,” said Major.
This increase would equal
roughly $250,000 over the year.
Major’s budget called for a 4.26
percent increase in the budget -
currently at $14.1 million. Howev
er, 1.2 percent of the increase is
already locked in because of pre-
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Kids in the know
This group of young students at Mashburn Elementary, as you can tell by their headbands, is learning how to say "no"
to drugs. The headbands, part of the "Know To Say No” program, were part of a packet distributed to each student by
the Cumming Kiwanis Club.
Old ledger is a mystery
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The AIM official said he has been work
ing in Atlanta for five years to enhance
public awareness of Native American cul
ture and concerns. He said that whatever
the motives of Braves fans may be, he has
hopes he can utilize and maintain their
interest in Native American symbols after
the end of the World Series.
“Two thirds ofthe people of Atlanta are
very receptive to our concerns,” Two Elk
said. “One-third are not concerned be
cause of ignorance, enhanced by alcohol
consumption at the games.”
In terms of education, all Forsyth Counti
ans have to do is look beneath their feet
viously approved funding for the
state judicial system.
In forming his proposed bud
get, Major whacked $2 million off
the requests of department heads
whose wish lists would have
raised the budget by 20 percent.
If approved, this would be the
smallest increase in many years.
From 1988 to 1989 the budget rose
34.3 percent because of the $1 mil
lion tax suit and re-evaluation
and salary increases to bring
county employees up closer to the
level of other counties. From 1989
to 1990 the budget rose 9.4 per
cent and from 1990 to 1991 it rose
15.24 percent
With an expected 10 percent
growth in the tax digest from 1990
to 1991, the millage rate could be
kept at 3.45 for county mainte
nance and operation to fund the
slim budget. This is the third
Please see BUDGET, Page 5A
By Kara Sproles
Staff Writer
Just in time for Halloween, a bit of
the county’s history and an unsolved
mystery may have been discovered
this week when a local resident stum
bled across a sheriff’s jail ledger dat
ing from 1913-1943.
The tattered record book was found
when Tony Payne, 46, of Cumming
was rummaging through an old box in
his mother’s restaurant, Daisy Mae’s
Drive In on Hwy. 20.
“I have no earthly idea,” Payne said
when asked how the ledger ended up
in the box in his mother’s restaurant
The historical book with yellowed
pages was passed on to the sheriff’s
office Tuesday, where record-keep
ers compared past to present It was
then turned over to a local historian
Quarry
fight builds
By Kristin Jeffries
Staff Writer
Residents in the Geneva Woods-
Cambridge Hill area are organizing to
fight a rock quarry proposed by a Ten
nessee company.
The Concerned Citizens of South
east Forsyth County will meet for a
third time on Nov. 4 at the courthouse.
At the last organizational meeting
about 50 residents turned out to see
how they could keep the new quarry
from locating close to their homes.
The 343-acre proposed quarry loca
tion is owned by Marcus Mashbum,
but is being leased to Hoover, Inc. The
land is between Trammel Road and
Hwy. 20 and is just south of Geneva
Woods subdivision and Cambridge
Hills.
Nearby residents are worried both
about dropping property values and
detrimental environmental effects,
said Mary Bishop, a property owner in
Geneva Woods. A number of Geneva
Woods homes are 250 to 1.200 feet
from the quarry property.
Please see QUARRY, Page 2A
who will eventually place it in an
archive.
However, historians may have to
roll up their sleeves to figure out just
how this book fits in to the county's
past - if it does at all.
The binding of the book reads that
the name of the Forsyth County Sher
iff during the era is M.G. Lummus.
But a reference book by Garland C.
Bagley on the history of the county
shows no such name in their lists of
past sheriffs.
Records show W.W. Reid held the
position in 1912, the year before the
ledger begins. In 1916, W.T. Merritt
took the reins. Lee Holbrooks was
sherifffrom 1920 until 1925 when E.W.
Gilstrap took over. S.M. Stripland be
came sheriff in 1927 and stayed there
Please see LEDGER, Page 2A
Much ofthe culture and heritage Native
Americans like Two Elk are referring to,
took place on the grounds residents walk
on today.
J.C. Gazaway, a county resident who has
studied the Native American culture and
owned an Indian museum on Franklin
Goldmine Road for 22 yeare, said the fans’
immitations are done in praise and
shouldn’t offend the Indians.
“It’s an honor,” he said. “It’s meant for
the gloiy of what they respected. The Indi
ans got excited at powwows (conferences)
and would sing and carry on hollering and
so forth. There’s nothing wrong with that in
my book.”
Gazaway's museum contains Indian ar
rows, artifacts and stone carvings from all
Please see INDIANS, Page 10A
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25 CENTS