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"~-yA M Then" A \ Recycle 'JJ VOLUME LXXXII —NUMBER 86 Tax assessor board holds closed session Co. attorney files to drop amendment By Kristin Jeffries Staff Writer The Board of Tax Assessors, minus member Billy Evans, met in closed session for almost 45 minutes to dis cuss the new addition to the tax suit Wjf&XEjL - V ]\~ fY S' Y t~j~ '“4£. ■ r,, it •. * r-tf 1 ? ja^flnpl^H i '. \b; aflcLA'vn ,v* / •■■■ o. <sb* lißjSv .<£&,■:>. 'lg*p. (T** j#'./Vtrt>.*\.vlyi*v,{ Staff photo Kristin Joffrle* Horse play A Halloween Fuh Show at the North Georgia Equestrian Center on Mathis Airport Road brought out a host of costumed horses and riders from princesses and a Confederate soldier, to a carousel horse. The Arabian beauty here is from Sweet Sunshine Farm in Alpharetta. The 320-acre North Georgia Equestrian Center provides all types of riding and equine instruction for ages 1 and up including Friday evening carrot and coffee rides. The farm is owned by Ray and Beth Boisvert. Weather: Nice TheNationalWeatherServicecalls somereallyniceweatherpartlysun ny days and fair nights Wednesday through Friday. Highs in the upper 70s. Lows in the upper 50s. INSIDE Abby 5A Bark in the Park 10A Church Briefs 8A Classified 6B Deaths 2A Editorials 6A Events 9A Food & Nutrition 11A Horoscope 5A Grover Johnson 6A Joyce Jordan 6A Pet of the Week 5B Sports 1B l Hi Check out Senior Life See Section C Forsyth Conn s Last Friday an amendment was added to the 1988 suit by the county Board of Equalization against the three members of the prior county Board of Tax Assessors. The amend ment asked the court to appoint an auditor to look into how appraisals had been lowered for some people in secret meetings of the board. The case noted an alleged secret meeting which was held last Febru ary at which the appraisals of proper ties jointly owned by Mayor H. Ford Gravitt and Charles Roper were lowered. Of that three-member board only Funding for gun club suit in dispute By Kristin Jeffries Staff Writer The Forsyth County Concerned Cit izens, seemingly the brunt of many an noying activities in the area, seems to be caught in a political situation in its five-year fight to have a local gun club removed. Millrock Clay Bird Club is located off of Old Atlanta Road on 350 acres owned by John Myers. At the site a private club of less than 60 members do trap and skeet shooting with shot Halloween Pranksters recall best tricks By Kara Sproles Staff Writer October 31. The date alone sends a chill up some folks’ spines. It causes the fore heads of worried parents to wrinkle. Thoughts of orange and black come to mind. The eve in which ghosts and gob lins, witches and werewolves are fore most in thought is also a time for tricks and tales of the unexplainable. It seems all places have traditions when Halloween rolls around, and Forsyth County is no exception. Though time may change the players, the games stay the same. Said Dean Barrett, a 1931 graduate of Forsyth County High School: “We used to play pranks. We’d switch peo ple’s animals like cows. We’d take the wheels off of wagons. Back then, there were no cars to crank up and make noises, so you could get away easily.” Barrett, now in his 70’s, also recalls nights in which he and other teenage friends were dared to prove their bravery on Halloween by checking out houses in Dawson County or old WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 30, 1991-CUMMING, GA 30130-46 PAGES 3 SECTIONS Evans remains, Bobby Wallace hav ing resigned and Aubrey Greenway now deceased. Evans called in sick for Monday evening’s meeting. The board also now has been ex panded to five members. The new amendment filed by attor ney Lynwood Jordan asked that the new five-member board have an op portunity to take action before a hear ing date was set At this time the board has no official statement to make, said Chairman Jerry Grogan. guns, said Myers. The land was zoned A-rec in July 26, 1982, thus allowing the club to operate there. “It is a bad zoning (category),’’ said Commissioner James Harrington, who is commissioner for the south eastern part of the county. There is very little restriction about what can go on in an A-rec zoning. It was not until 1985 the county passed a gun club ordinance. Please see GUN, Page 2A graveyard sites rumored to be haunted. “I didn’t ever hear anything,” he said. “There was no such thing. It was all a hoax. The rest of the boys would get scared and run off and leave me.” He added that “serenading” was also a popular tradition. Neighbors in disguise would gather at a house which hosted a band set up in a parlor or hallway. Identity, he said, was an upmost secret “People kept something on their head like a paper bag and you couldn’t tell who they were,” he said. Shirley Hansard, whose family marks six generations in Forsyth, graduated from FCHS in 1963, thirty two years after Barrett She too re members the serenades. “It was a scary thing,” she recalled. “They would dress up and paint their faces so you couldn’t recognize them. They would come in and you would try and guess who they were. It wasn’t anything like it is now.” Both Hansard, 46, and Barrett said serenading was usually done twice a year. Christmas was also a time for $ Please see TRICKS, Page 4A Also on Monday the counsel to the board filed with the superior court to have the amendment to the suit stricken. The court ruled in the case that an order previously made to the asses sors to complete a county-wide reas sessment to apply to 1989 taxes held even though 1989 bills had already been mailed. This commanded the county to make the 1989 bill tempo rary and have another billing based on the new county digest once it was completed. The court retained juris diction - or did not close the case Commissioners split on mine zone By Kristin Jeffries Staff Writer Commissioners voted 3-1 Monday night not to re-enact an old zoning amendment which two commission ers believe could throw Forsyth County into a law suit with a local quarry. The amendment to the MINE zone allowing quarries to place asphalt plants or other refining processes on site with the quarries was left out of the ordinance earlier this year when the entire book of zoning ordinances was re-enacted. Although some com missioners say it was done inadver tently, Commissioners Charles Welch School board will help with library funds By Kara Sproles Staff Writer The next time panic sets in when you suddenly realize that book you checked out from the Forsyth County Library is overdue, tell yourself it's actually a good deed. Although you may have inconven ienced someone on stand-by for the literature and have to pay a fee, you have also helped contribute to the funding of the new public library, something advocates claim it desper ately needs. Jo Ann Pinder, director of the Lake Lanier Regional Library, which in cludes Gwinnett, Forsyth and Dawson County in its’ jurisdiction, explained the financial needs of the new county library to the Board of Education Monday night “I’ve always felt the school board has a role because we support your curriculum,” she said. “We provide more availability because of our hours.” We’ll help if we can, was the answer eventually given by school board. The school board voted three to two Please see LIBRARY, Page 2A iff' fT : . . ■ w P m /'-W JWm I I - frajPl £ frwtl Photo by Porfirlo Solorzano Teresa Glover poses with Dracula which she made as part of a spooky scene at the 907 Buford Rd. residence where she and her husband, Mike, have been decorating tor 20 years. They say people think bill is high but for all their fun the? estimate the bill is only about S2O more than usual. to make sure this was completed. According to the motion filed by at torney Beau Stubbs on behalf of the old assessors, "The Plaintiffs’ amend ment is not permitted by the Civil Practice Act and attempts to raise new issues contrary to this Court's specific statements as to its reasoning for retaining jurisdiction in this case originally...” The plaintiffs will appear before the court on Dec. 19 at 9 a m. to pre sent their argument why the motion to strike the amendment should not be granted. and James Harrington are of the opin ion it was done on purpose. Now the Martin Marietta mining operation in the southern part of the county is planning to put in an asphalt plant which it thought it had the right to do under its current zoning. Commissioners Michael McGaughey. Michael Bennett and Barry Hillgartner said they felt with out the amendment the quarries would still have opportunity to put in the plants by applying for separate zoning. Commissioners seemed to agree the plants need to be on-site to keep from transporting rock over the road ways, however, they differ on the method of approval. “The mines should be subject to the zoning process, also,” said McGaughey. “If we enact this we are sidestep ping the zoning process,” said Bennett. Harrington abstained from voting because he said the looming lawsuit would cause the county unnecessary funds. “Whether we vote for this or not the courts will put it there,” he said. Welch argued allowing the use of an asphalt plant in the MINE zone was no different than listing service sta tions and grocery stores as acceptable uses in commercial business district zoning. • In other business the commission ers discussed proposed North For syth water tank. Some system is neces sary in the northern part of the county to provide customers with plentiful water at a decent pressure. Now 12 to 15 families on Jot-em-Down Road are practically out of water each day after 6 p.m. even though they are tied to county water, said McGaughey. Although the county is scheduled to put in a water tank in the area, it has budgeted about $566,000. The solu tion suggested by county’s contracted engineer, Rindt-McDuff, suggested a $973,000 solution to serve both cur rent and expected water customers in the northern part of the county. Because of the cost and low number of customers, commissioners batted Please see MINE. Page 2A 90 70 50-1 1 j I—4o 30-1 1 I 'H -20 10-1 1 MBa—o United Way inches past 50% point By Kristin Jeffries Staff Writer The United Way of Forsyth County is now standing at just below 51 per cent of its $175,000 goal for its first fund-raising campaign. So far $88,999 has been raised through payroll deductions and cor porate gifts. The United Way volun teers are asking every employee in Forsyth County to participate through payroll deductions. Many companies have already had their United Way drives. In the manu facturing section there have been Hoover Precision Products, Russell Corporation, Southern Bell, Forsyth County News, Sawnee EMC, and The Forum. Both Tyson Foods and Belts Corp. are scheduled to begin their campaigns today. In the next week United Way volunteers will begin campaigns at Amoco Performance Products, Georgia Natural Gas, and Pansey Ellen. Others in the retail, professional, and service industries are also work ing to support United Way. The coun ty’s public school system has had its campaign as well as Lakeside Com munity Hospital and the county government. Companies such as Seimens Energy and Automation and Professional Book Distributors which already have active campaigns for the United Way of Metro Atlanta have had many em ployees switch their contributions to the United Way of Forsyth County. The local United Way keeps its money within the community, using it for agencies serving the population Please see UNITED. Page 2A. The witching hour nears Booger Mt. is right eerie By Penny Jacqueline White Copy editor/columnist Don’t bother reading that new Ste phen King novel. Don’t rent any of the Friday the Thirteenth videos or waste time visiting one of the fake haunted mansions for Halloween. Keep your money in your pocket If you want a genuine scare, there are plenty to be had and you don’t have to go anyplace to find them. Just pull yourself up a chair and we’ll tell you all about them. Comfortable? Good. Let’s begin with what is called “Booger Mountain Road.” Now it seems that almost every place you go there’s a Booger Mountain Road. It has many other different names but the principle is the same: a caron this road is capable of going uphill back wards, without the persuasion of a foot on the gas pedal. I’ve got some news for you. It goes uphill forwards, too. Please se/BOOGER MTN., Pag/ 4A 25 CENTS