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Football results Pagelß 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 EbrsyrixG>untv Nexus V - Department heads opt for 5% raise y ’* * a ) 4mr *‘'** f ‘ J * 5 1 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 I I M ' ;:i ' mIMm j l r ’ ' V W s. ft W X * »- Jfe I-.’-- 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- ‘ W . f* iSKSywffc ~ ~ *1 It 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 I * 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 5 u IKHMM j SI jig) j 25 CENTS