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PAGE 2A -FORSYTH COUNTY NEWS-SUNDAY, OCTOBER 27, W 1 TAX, •atiaied from Page I.A Gravitt and Roper owned m lota. until March 1990 there are changes marked “per BOTA” However there are no minutes of any meeting be tween the mayor and the board. However county records show the tax assessors claimed their regular SSO per meeting pay for Feb. 26 Approximately 2-acre lots in the West Industrial Park on Hwy 20 east are valued at $37 OflO a piece. The original evaluation of tnese lots after the county-wide reappraise were be tween $60,000 and $83,000. The base value of industrial land in that area « $40,000. The base land cost was trimmed 50 percent by the Board of Tax Assessors, because of topoerapci cal concerns such as gullies. However, in L9SG and before these assessments, eight of the lots, approx imately eight acres total, were sold at $360,000. The amendment states During the meeting, it was determined mat. de spite the $360,000 sale, and despite the results of the comprehensive eval uation ordered by this court the as sessments of Gravitl and Ro per would be lowered to one fourth of the origi nal assessment amounts, and to ap proximately one third of the actual sale prices." sales can have extenuating circum stances such as the lay of the land or adjoining property owners, said the mayor “I asked tor ail of my assessments to be reduced along with everybody s in the county.' said Gravitt who is presi dent of Forsyte County Concerned Taxpayers. T have publiciy stated I would seii my land for its assessed value now " “I have fought nigh property taxes ail my life and will continue as long as I nave breath in me." said the mayor There are several otner examples, sa.d Jordan. However, the mayors case .s the only secret meeting he had documented sc rar AIRPORT Caatinaed from Page LA "nost favorable site for a second Atlan ta airport The ARC study recommended a site in Jackson County as its first choice. Following Forsyth County a site in Monroe and Lamar counties, and at the Paulding-Poik county border Only the site in Monroe and Lamar counties is south of Atlanta Resi dents in Jackson. Forsyth and Daw son counties are vehemently opposed to having the airport located in their counties. At the joint committee's most re cent meeting last Tuesday, officials from the FAA and Delta Airlines ex pressed their views on a second air port and the possibility of forming a state authority By spending 20 years in debate over the need for a second airport .Atlanta may have already lost its standing as the nation s domestic and interna tional air transportation center, an FAA official said Tuesday. While Charlotte. Orlando and other cities nave been working to become hubs of air transportation. '.Atlanta did nothing for 20 years but sit and twiddle its thumbs." FAA district manager Samuel .Austin told the joint House and Senate airport study committee. “ ..I would submit Atlanta probably has already lost its edge because of the existence of these other hubs." he said. Austin's testimony before the com mittee was the strongest to date tn support of a second airport, said state Rep. Dick Lane. D-East Point co chair of the Joint Georgia .Airport De velopment Authority Study- Committee. "I guess that was typical of a federal bureaucrat" said Barnett about Aus tin's comment ‘They don't have to look at the political realities of the thing" However. Barnett said he was sur prised the Delta representative who spoke was not "real gung ho" for the second airport "They are the ones who would have to pay tor the thing" he said. Harold Be vis. Deltas vice presi dent for public affairs, testified earli er that ‘before the airlines would be) willing to commit to a SI billion air port we want to maximize what we've got" The airlines' first objective is construction of a fifth runway for com muter flights, but the General .Assem bly passed a bill earlier this year that prohibited the acquisition of any air port property, he said. Delta s Bevins testified before the committee that the airlines at Harts fieki are opposed to the creation of a state airport authority, in large part because they have no desire to jeopar dize the harmonious relationship that exists between Hartsfieid and the city of Atlanta The city technically runs Hartsfieid. although no city funds support its operation. Bevins said The ‘great relationship" between the city and the airlines has helped make Hartsfieid the largest single hub in the world." he said. “It (Hartsfieid) is continuing to grow. It is still the state s economic engine." Bevins said. Gvrnnett Daily Setcs reporter San ry Badertseher contributed to tte sot* } Secret meetings are significant in this case because adoption of tae L3eS digest in a secret meeting was what started the whole mess, sa d Jordan. “This wncle Imgacon is not about personalities. It is about doing it right." he said. A.enough an auditor is requested, the amendment to the case requests the court not hold a hearing until me current board of assessors nas sad tune to take action on tne matter if it chooses. All such actions undermine the court's direction as a result of tins :ase to have the assessors equalize tne tax burden for ail businesses and residents. “It is apparent that a substantia, possibility exists tnat the ecnrprecen sive property evaluation ordered by this court m this case, and funded at taxpayer expense, nas been compro mised and subverted by decisions made by the Defendants in violation of the Open meetings Law as set rortr. originally in this litigation thereby preventing public mow ledge of the actions with approprate challenges thereto.' stated the ammendment QUARRY Continued from Page LA The Bishops bought their Forsyth County home last June. “We have everything invested in our homes and we donf want to lose that." said Bishop. The group is forming committees to look into environmental issues and hoping to get tne U S. Army Corps of Engineers and environmental groups involved because the site is close to the Chattahoochee River. They are also planning to hire a lawyer The residents are not fighting to keep the land from being zoned for mining, but Hoover has filed a case against the county claiming that min ing can be done on agricultural land. The company alleges the county im properly enacted zoning ordinances in 1986 voiding all subsequent amendments. Although the company ls not work ing through a zoning issue where it must try to cooperate with adjoining landowners. Hoover attorney William Woodson Galloway said the company would be glad to meet with landown ers to disseminate information “It is obviously a very emotional is \\ iristmas % ~~m tfu Country?JT "Dec*uUed "ZhtuCeUf 3 tec =*«« zv 1 W&iw., W< r t. i<f«r > -y. c /v. take 3*' - to Cat #lO ** JQ CC *.m. -5 CCO-m. u.- 1 s«L-» -a r ~ T *b»- SB Q -t545 for info UNE^ A Swim Tennis Community Homes From the SBo’s 1-800-621-1467 Open 12 to 6 Daily HSCffXE - fa SB „.z ... AT-LANIER H00K... 3 Miles to Lake Lamer (Nix Bridge Park) Homes From the sßo’s 1-800-621-1467 rjo-awt /ss Open 12 to 6 Daily zp - ffcwr tin sae / i sss isrr AT-LANIER JEAJB MOcaatUHcdfroa Page LA ether edition Skelton explained. “So I said and that also wraps up a year and two months _" Skelton, like Daugherty, also sand ed in a written resignation Both are now searching for employment Tve been back and tbrth to the un employment office." Daugherty said. "Since I resigned. I have to have a hearing to see if I can get unemployment" Mrs. McCollum, who a.ong with her husband Van McCollum owns WEVE. said Friday the two ex-employees never approacned ner with their con cerns before gems public McCollum also denied ever making reference to real estate or zoning fa vors when dealing with staff mem bers. a.trough she admitted political alignment with city officials. “I have of course told them that ev eryone has political ties and they snow the mayor and some others are personal mends of mine." she stated. “We in fact told them time and time again never to favor our friends m the news." Monday the mayor explained he and McCollum are part of a Cumnung real estate investment corporation. sue." said Galloway. The company already has plans to make the quarry impact as little as possible on neighboring landowners. he said. "We have already built in signifi cant buffers and earthen berms and blasting will be toward the center of the property." said Galloway The blasting is minimal, said Gallo way. Extensive engineering studies are required to make sure nearby property owners are not adversely af fectW. he said. Since the matter is in iitigation the citizens' group may join the suit said Galloway. However they are repre sented by the county commissioners who have unanimously opposed the quarry. 'We are a long way from anything happening on it Litigation is a slow process." he said. He estimated that no decision would be made in the courts for at least six months. Cuanmng Group Associations. Inc McCollum has signed legal docu ments concerning real estate (teals with tne mayor and others as Presi dent of the Rieves Corporation. The station owner stated she does not pian to sue either former employ ee. and denied that threats concern ing lawsuits against the two were ever made. Daugherty claimed Monday he was threatened with litigation during a meeting with Mr McCollum on his fi nal day of employment The alleged threats coupled with the political pressure caused rum Co resign. “My husband never threatened any one witn anything," McCollum stated. Mrs. McCollum also said she has al ways insisted on equal air time for both sides of an issue during the news. She cited an instance about a year ago when Marcus Mashburn. Jr was op posing Gravitt for the position of may or in a city election. McCollum said both candidates were featured on the air waves of WHNX However, m the earlier press con ference. both Daugherty and Skelton claimed the owner did not want Mash burn on the air at aIL but reluctantly agreed to invite him to debate with the incumbent Mrs. McCollum said the fact that County Commissioner Chairman Bar ry Hiligartner was present at the press conference made the former employee's claims look suspicious. .Although Daugherty said he "came to Barry as somebody Tve covered." McCollum called the scene "fishy" and “political" instead of an employ ee dispute. The AM 1170 station owner said the two empty positions left behind have not yet been filled, but the company is “interviewing and looking." Amplification In the Wednesday. Oct 23. an arti cal concerning a WHNE radio em ployee press conference the state ment appeared: ‘Courthouse records also show that in .Aug 1989 Gravitt. Aderhold. Lipscomb and The Rieves Corporation and Lanier Bank and Trust engaged in a real estate deal to each receive one-forth the interest from a tract of land in the city." The Lamer Bank and Trust was serving as the legal grantee m the transaction We regret any confusion which might have been caused without the ex panded explanation ITT lthFair '9l ▼ 55 CHOLESTEROL SCREENING ▼ Free blood pressure check ▼ Free breast self-exam teaching ▼ Free heart rhythm monitoring ▼ Free nutrition information ▼ Free body eat measurement ▼ Free pulmonary function testing T $2 COLO-RECTAL CANCER ET A And much, much more.' /* * ' f \l Joes’us, V /iv W3NE3Mff,NOV.6 / ->< [ 8 AM TO 8 P..VL /x y .'t-Vg', HuDAYHaIL call 531-3841 Km more information k f W| \ Blood Pizsn.ii Check t Caousmot Scieinincs \ Auo AVUUJU AT N UCaODHDOO Hzalthcau Oaxwooo J . / Northeast Georgia Medical Center ) - \ Where caring and technology join hands /**-*—“' Though unemployed, both Daugh erty and Skelton said they feel they made the right decision. ‘I had gotten no negative feedback from my Listeners.” Skelton said. Tm pretty pleased about how everyone MaE] DCjrE] Rcontznued from Page I.A until 1336 when Luther Wheeler took over Ira Sewell was sheriff until 1945. when the ledger's records end. Records at the Forsyth County courthouse only date back to 1956 A 1973 courthouse fire may have de stroyed records kept before this date. Payne's Mother operated Daisy Mae s for nearly half a century before recently selling the restaurant Payne was helping clean the place to pre pare it for file changing of hands when he ran across the chronical. Except for file worn cover and torn edges, the brown book doesn't appear to be very different from the modem day records which can be found at the Sheriff s Department or the County Courthouse. However, a turn of the pages reveal how drastically things have changed since 1913. For example, records show in 1915 a man was arrested on charges of bas tardy. or fathering a child out of wed lock. Under the “How Discharged 1 " column, the word “married" was writ ten. suggesting a wedding was punish ment for the unlawful act It seems even marriage couldn't keep a roaming man out of jail either In 1917. a man who committed adul tery was sentenced to the chair, gang, a form of punishment where prison ers were bound together with chains while laboring In 1914 a man whose race was "col ored" was also sent to the chain gang although his charge is not specifically stated. Forsyth County News Customer Service Policy Miss your paper o We hope not. but if you subscribe and live in Forsyth County we will deliver a replacement copy to you. On Sunday, call us from 8 a.m. to noon. We will have carriers available to deliver has been so supportive "I still think ft was a good decision." Daugherty said. "It was the right thing to do To stay in a situation that I feel is corrupt is not worth it It seems driving under the influ ence of alcohol was a crime a quarter of a century ago. although the punish ment seems trivial when compared to today's price to pay In cahgraphy styled handwriting the record shows that in 1917 officials seized a car and liquor from a man arrested for reckless driving To be released from jail, he was charged a nominal fee of $2.50. As the prohibition years rolled around and liquor was outlawed, the number of inmates at the county jail increased. Those caught possessing the forbid den drink were released on bond for $5. .And finally, the ledger shows $420 released one from jail when charged with murder in 1927 The ancient brown book was donat ed by the family of the late Leon Cook, who was part-owner of Daisy Mae's restaurant It will be passed to Don Shadburn. Forsyth County Historian, who will secure it in a local govern ment building Concord Baptist selling cookbook Concord Baptist has a new cook book. "The Joy of Cooking and it is now on sale ($10.00). To reserve your copy, call 889-6147 or 887-2001. your paper. On Wednesday you can call from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. if you did not receive your newspaper and we will deliver it to you on that day. Our office hours are Monday through Friday from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. The phone number is 887-3126 or 523-7303.