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PAGE 8A
-FORSYTH COUNTY NEWS-SUNDAY, JANUARY 19. 1992
Opinion
The race is on just
to register in time
As January tips over into the
second half a mad dash is fore
cast for those who have not regis
tered to vote.
Two elections are on tap right
away in Forsyth County. Voter
Registrar Melvin Stancil is trying
his best to get them both set on
the same date to save the county
money but what happens next is
anybody’s guess.
We can blame the confusion on
David Duke, a presidential can
didate who is demanding his
right to be on the Georgia ballot.
This coupled with last week's an
nouncement by Barry Hill
gartner (D-5) that he was bowing
out as county commissioner to
relocate in Arkansas is causing
some concern for the voters here
at home.
Both races promise some lively
action at the polls. It would be
great if we could get it all in on
one day. According to the regis
trar we should know something
by Jan. 28.
Whatever happens on the out
come of that problem, it won’t
amount to a hill of beans if you’re
not registered to vote. There’s
precious little time, especially in
a special election: 5 days after
On your payroll
CITY COUNCIL
Mayor. H. Ford Gravitt, 212 Kelly Mill Road, Cumming
Mayor Pro-Tem, Lewis Ledbetter, 205 Mountain Brook Drive
Gabriel Dukas, 1560 Magnolia Place
Quincy Holton, 312 Samaritan Drive
Ralph Perry, 1420 Pilgrim Road
Rupert Sexton, 705 Pine Lake Drive
COUNTY COMMISSIONERS
•Chairman Barry Hillgartner, Still Road, Cumming, Ga. 30130
•Vice Chairman Michael Bennett, 4301 Post Road, Cumming, Ga. 30130
•Secretary Charles Welch, 102 Laurel Lane, Cumming, Ga. 30130
•Secretary Michael McGaughey, Nicholson Road, Cumming, Ga. 30130
•James Harrington, Norcross Road, Cumming, Ga. 30130
NATIONAL REPRESENTATIVES
U.S. Senator Sam Nunn
303 Dirksen Senate Office Building, Washington, D C. 20510. Telephone: 1-202-224-
3521. Atlanta number: 3314811
U.S. Senator Wyche Fowler
320 Hart Senate Office Building, Washington, D.C. 20510. Telephone: 1-202-224-
3643. Atlanta number: 331-0697
U.S. Rep. Ed Jenkins, 9th District
2427 Rayburn Building, Washington, D.C. 20515. Telephone: 1-202-225-5211;
Gainesville number: 1-404-536-2531.
STATE REPRESENTATIVES
Rep. Bill Barnett, District 10
P.O. Box 755, Cumming, Ga. 30330
Telephone: 887-6582.
I
! What do YOU think? '
!
■ What do you consider the single most pressing problem facing Cumming 1
I and Forsyth County in the New Year? I
|
Your name: I
I Your phone number:
i Forsyth County News !
1 P.O. Box 210 l
I Cumming, Ga. 30130 J
' i
i
Forsyth County News
USPS2OS-540
A New York Times Company
(Established 1908)
Forsyth County News PUBLISHER-CHRIS BOND
MANAGING EDITOR-JUDY H. GREEN
Ph C on^7 9 ?i?fi r?mmiSn 3 rSfirp ADVERTISING-HARRIET H. VINCENT
Phone.Bß7-3126,CummingOffice C | RCULAT , ON DIRECTOR-GRAHAMB.KIMBROUGH
Published Sundays and Wednesdays by Forsyth County News Company, 121
Dahlonega St. second Class Postage paid at Cumming, Ga. and additional
offices. Subscription rate for Forsyth and Dawson counties, $13.00 per year;
other Georgia counties and out of state subscriptions are $20.00 per year.
Advertising rates and deadlines available upon request. Postmaster: Send
address change to Forsyth County News/P.O. Box 210, Cumming, Ga. 30130.
the official notice of the election
is made.
Registering to vote takes about
15 minutes at any one of several
convenient locations:
•Registrar's Office in the For
syth County Government Build
ing across from the courthouse
•Forsyth County Library, or
•Polo Fields sales office Satur
day between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m.
If you have moved within the
county since the last election
contact the elections office at
781-2118 to change your address
and find out your new polling
place.
If you did not vote in the 1988
election, chances are your name
has been pulled from the roll and
you will have to re-register. If
there is any question, registra
tion can be' confirmed by calling
the Registrar’s Office at the
phone number above.
At present Forsyth County has
about 16.600 registered voters.
All of those who vote have the
right to gripe about the service
received by the candidates put
into office.
If you don’t take the time to
register and to vote, you don’t
have the right to gripe.
( eoolf T i»Jws...
Forsyth friends prepare a farewell
JOE AND ANN ARSENAULT are get
ting ready to return to Boston after being
here in Forsyth County for some time. The
call of children and grandchildren in Bos
ton is strong.
The Arsenaults have lived in Forsyth
County long enough to be fixtures. They’re
known by a lot of people, thanks to their
great personalities and winning ways.
The couple has been active in the work of
the Forsyth Area Board of Realtors, both of
them serving on committees and as officers.
He loves to cook and she loves to quilt They
live in Hall Creek Subdivision and attend
Good Shepherd on Holtzclaw.
The folks over at North Towne Realty
agree, “They really love it down here and we
are going to miss them so much.”
All real estate agents and personal friends
of Joe and Ann are invited to attend a recep
tion in their honor Tuesday, Jan. 21, from 24
in the afternoon, at the North Towne Realty
office located at 1440 Buford Hwy.
THIS EDITION we’re going to give an
other trial run on recording response to
questions which might be of concern to the
residents of Cumming and Forsyth County.
We did this just after the first of the year and
couldn’t get the mechanics worked out. This
time it just might work.
Letters
Plaza barricades annoy movie-goers
(Editor’s Note: The following is an open
letter to the management of Tri-County
Plaza)
On Saturday evening, Jan. 11, 1992, my
husband and I went to the movies at the
theater in your shopping plaza for the 7 p.m.
showing.
Upon leaving the theater at approximate
ly 9:15 p.m. or so we discovered, along with
the rest of the patrons leaving the theater,
that barricades were set up in the center of
the parking lot, disallowing us to leave the
most convenient way, by making use of the
traffic light on the Wendy’s and Shoney’s
side of the plaza.
I spoke with a policeman parked on the
opposite side of the barricades, who was
deterring patrons from driving through the
barricades, and he informed me that the
parking lot closes at 9 p.m. and the barri
cades are put up to discourage the younger
members of our community from “cruising”
through the parking lot.
The barricades were an inconvenience to
my husband and myself and I’m sure to the
other patrons who were caught by surprise
when trying to leave the parking lot by ac
customed routes. The patrons were driving
around in circles once it was discovered
that they could not drive through the park
ing lot and the chaos that was created is
totally unacceptable.
The policeman on duty can attest to the
mess created by the barricades, since it was
pointed out to him. I would suggest that it
would be more reasonable of you that when
you change the “game” that you tell all the
“players.” Has it occurred to you that by
posting signs of notification of your parking
lot closing time, large enough for everyone
to read plainly, at ALL entrances to the
parking lot plaza it would be more effective
and not discourage patrons from what busi
nesses you currently lease to?
If the police take note that someone has
passed through the parking lot more than
twice and are unable to show that they will
be patronizing a business, they should then
be ticketed. It would seem that you are pres
ently hurting the very few businesses that
you have been able to keep in your plaza.
Has it also occurred to you that the youn
ger members of our community also pay tax
es and have money to spend? Right along
with “cruising” goes spending money. I dis
agree with the recent article in the paper
that voiced your concerns that the kids’
“cruising” is deterring future businesses in
your plaza. I feel that some of your main
Judy
Green
Editor
Taking opinions and comments to issues
by telephone and anonymously will make it
a lot easier on our readers to participate. No
need to fool with writing and mailing. Give it
a try.
CALL 781-5288 and give a response to the
question in today’s newspaper. It is given in
the Opinion column near your left hand if
your are holding the newspaper right now.
Or, if there is anything else on the editorial
page or the new “OpEd” page that you either
agree with or disagree with, feel free to give
your opinion on that
For a while, until we’ve decided the bugs
are out of the process, we’ll leave the ad
dress form in the newspaper so response
may be made either in writing or by
telephone.
SOME NEW ITEMS are beginning to ap
pear in “thuh newspaper” making it more
problems are that your plaza appears to be
outdated, lacks traffic light access and the
setup of your parking lot is hard to under
stand with arrows pointing in so many dif
ferent directions.
Just because kids “cruise” it does not
make them “bad” and “evil” to drive by.
Maybe some of your patrons need to take a
moment and remember where they come
from and what it was like when they were
kids from a small town that did not offer
much for them to do in the evenings. Seems
to me that if you allowed these kids to park
in a selected area and get out of their cars to
visit with one another, you would eliminate
the problem of a constant flow of traffic.
Also, the if police were able to see these
kids, they would be able to see any “troubl
makers” and give appropriate warnings or
make arrests, if needed.
It is easier to hide and drink in a moving
vehicle than it is to conceal alcohol and be
disruptive in full view of the police. I would
much rather know that my child is “uptown”
visiting with his or her friends than fearing
:he possibility that they are driving around
and drinking.
If I were these young members of my com
munity, I’d find another theater and Chi
nese restaurant to patronize in the eve
nings, just as my husband and I will be
doing.
C. Elise Dunagan
Searching
for orphans
As we begin the 50th year of the beginning
of World War 11. I am trying to locate or
phans of the men who died in action. At the
end of the war there were over 186,000 of us
left.
If you happen to be a WWII orphan or
know someone who is, please contact me:
James White, 34 Hampton Cir, Warner Rob
ins, Ga. 31093.
Thank you
James White
Buy American!
Everjaime we buy a foreign car, you may
soon see an American lose his or her job.
Japanese car makers are increasing their
3
interesting for you to read.
Wednesday’s issue, for example, was the
first for GROVER JOHNSON’S “Round the
Mountain’ column to set sail. Yep, the maid
en voyage and we left his name off the top of
it. If you hadn’t recognized the caricature of
Grover drawn by Hy Hagget you wouldn’t
have known who it was by.
“Round the Mountain’ as the title is good
for the whole area to participate and those
of us from Cumming can hum “Cumming
round the” et cetera. Anyhow, this will be
coming around every issue. I have a feeling
we’ll come to rely on it.
MICHAEL J. McMANUS is a new writer
on our companion page. You might not al
ways agree with him. I certainly might not
agree with him. Feel free to let him know
and let us know either way. Mike will be
addressing some of the issues of the day in
ethics and religion.
THE NEW YEAR is still bringing change.
My husband Tom Green, and two familiar
faces Michael McGaughey and Barry Hill
gartner all have new looks. In case you can’t
seem to put your finger on it, here’s a hint:
the mustaches are gone.
How refreshing.
(Judy H. Green is managing editor of the
Forsyth County News.)
shipments of new cars to our country at a
pace that is almost impossible to imagine.
While they are not allowed almost complete
marketing freedom in the United States of
America, they hold a very strict line against
anything imported into their country.
Why shouldn’t any foreign company be
willing to pay a little extra to have the privi
lege of offering its products in a market that
has no rival in terms of buying power, that’s
no different than any retailer has to pay in
order to open a store in a shopping mall in a
prestigious neighborhood. We got hooked
on their products because they were so
cheap.
Gradually they raised their prices and
now they are actually more expensive in
many cases. All those claims of superior
quality were once very true but no longer is
the case. High Tech advertising can make
anything look better and they have used it
very well. You might say they have beaten us
at our own game.
I believe foreign trade is necessary, but
not just to buy, buy, buy, we need to sell, sell,
sell our manufactured products overseas,
including food (How about some rice to the
Japanese?), maybe not so many of our natu
ral resources namely timber and real estate.
Would they allow us to own any of their
land or raw materials? I seriously doubt it. It
is my personal belief that I can live without
everything made inJapanorany other coun
try that refuses to reciprocate fairly. When
an American worker loses his or her job we
all eventually pay, if he loses his income
there is no buying power but they still have
to live and who picks up the tab? It won’t be
anyone anywhere except a U.S. taxpaying
citizen.
Not one ounce of foreign currency will
come back into this country except to buy
property, there will be no taxes paid to help
pay social security retirement or health
care.
The solution is really very simple: Buy
American while you still can. It pays
dividends.
Jerry L. Henderson
Letter policy
Mail letters to:
Forsyth County News
P. O. Box 210
Ga 30130
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