Newspaper Page Text
VOLUME LXXXIV, NUMBER 55
Heat taking its toll on health, area farmers
By Kristin Jeffries
Staff Writer
The unusually hot weather is
taking its toll both physically
and financially on the people of
Forsyth County.
Forsyth County EMS reported
transporting one person last
Thursday who was suffering
from heat exhaustion.
The temperatures, topping out
in the high 90s, will continue.
Wright was
abused by
parents,
lawyer states
By Kara Sproles
Staff Writer
Verbal and physical abuse
drove 18-year-old Michael
Wright to kill his parents,
according to a lawyer who has
written a book on the subject of
parricide, the murder of a close
relative.
Paul Mores, a California attor
ney who penned the 1991 book
“When A Child Kills: Abused
Children Who Kill Their
Parents,” signed an affidavit
filed June 9 in Forsyth County
Superior Court. Wright's
See WRIGHT, Page 2A
Mandatory watering ban
Due to extended high tem
peratures and lack of rain,
the city of Gumming Water
Department is issuing a
MANDATORY outside
watering ban as of 8 p.m.,
July 12,1998.
Th»s ban is in effect until
further notice.
Your compliance with this
bah will prevent more
stringent enforcement mea-
1
Weather:
Hot
Thursday and Friday,
lows in the mid-70’s;
tiighs in the upper
90 s to 100’s. Chance
of afternoon and
evening scattered
thundershowers.
INSIDE
Abby. 5A
Births .4A
Church Briefs 8A
Classified. 4B
lanCowie 12A
Editorials. 10A
Events 7A
Johnson 11A
Horoscope. 5A
BPt Kilmaric. 12A
imports IB
Jg|
111! >1
Forsyth Count a
According to the National
Weather Service, highs will be
close to 100 on Thursday and
Friday. Humidity remains over
50 percent and the only relief is
an air conditioning or the short
scattered afternoon and evening
thundershowers.
Area farmers, both cattle and
poultry, are having trouble deal
ing with the heat and lack of
rain, said lan Cowie, County
Extension Agent.
Most cattle farmers are not
getting a second cutting of hay
and will have to supplement
their feed with corn or soy bean
meal, said Cowie.
Both these products are very
expensive this season.
There are about 10,000 head of
cattle in Forsyth County.
Cattle farmers are having to
make quick decisions about
keeping cattle or selling them
since the costs are rising, said
Cowie.
“It is causing a great deal of
stress in the cattle industry,” he
said
Budget cuts affect library services
By Kristin Jeffries
Stiff Writer
The Board of (Jommissioners
compromised on the library’s
budget in adding $28,000 to
save the local area computer
network service from being
dumped for 1993/94.
Monday evening the board
voted 3-1 to approve spending
$368,668 on the library. This is
added to the $300,000 the Board
of Education voted to spend to
support the library this year.
The BOE is in the process of
gradually cutting the public
library funding out of its bud
get.
The total local funding is
$59,239 less than the Library
Board’s original request. In cut
ting the budget, services which
will be cut are: Phonefiche will
be discontinued; SIO,OOO was
cut out of the reference hard
back purchases; $3,000 cut out
of paperback purchases; $3,000
cut out of business subscription
services; two requested posi
tions were deleted; and interli
brary deliveries were decreased.
The information LAN, which
allows everyone in the county
computer access to information,
was saved by commissioners
who said they had received sev
eral calls about the value of the
network.
Commissioner Ron Seder
opposed funding this service
since the information is avail
able in hard copy form.
“I am proud of this library but
I think we’ve got to kind of
maintain some sort of price con
trol,” Seder said.
The final approved amount is
about $90,000 more than the
county funded last year.
In other business:
• The board honored deceased
member, O. G. Moore, by sign
ing a memorial resolution to be
presented to his family.
Commissioner Seder surprised /
some by amending the resolu-
Medfusion, Inc. to
move into John’s
Creek Business Park
By Kara Sproles
Staff Writer
John’s Creek, the business
park which lies partly in south
Forsyth, will soon be gaining a
new 52,000 square foot facility.
Medfiision, Inc., a world leader
in the medical supply industry,
has awarded the construction of
their state-of-the-art facility to
Choate Construction Company.
The project will be completed
in January, 1994.
“We are delighted to see new
business development in the
John’s Creek area,” said Joni
Booker, president of the
Cumming-Forsyth County
Chamber of Commerce. “The
•*.
Camming, Ga. / July 14,1993
Chris Bridges, president of the
North Georgia Cattlemen’s
Assoc, agrees.
He says with the poor quality
grass and hay his calves are
gaining abut a third of what
they shuld gain each day.
”It is the difference between
Making money and not making
money,” he said.
Bridges noted that while many
farmers are considering selling
their calves early, they are usu
ally sold to places in the west
now caught under floods of
water - and they are not buying.
"They don’t have any place for
them out htere and we don’t
have anything to feed them
here," Bridges said.
Poultry farmers, also, are hav
ing to deal with the heat - espe
cially those who have broiler
houses. The heat can hurt the
birds’ appetites and thus impede
their growth. It can also cause
smothering and heart attacks in
the birds, said Cowie.
When the weather gets this hot
most producers’ cost goes up
tion to also rename the newest
Forsyth County park the O. G.
Moore/Sharon Springs Park.
The park is located in District 2
which Moore had served as com
missioner for six months.
Members of the board over
ruled Commissioner Charles
Welch's apologetic effort to post
pone the issue to give some time
for consideration.
Meet the “Peter Pans” of the animal world
Penny Jacqueline White
Copy Editor
How could anyone use the term “ferret-face” as an insult?
Especially after seeing, petting or holding these adorable creatures.
Ferrets have taken an undeserved bad rap, according to ferret
owners Tricia Coe and Jan Lovell.
«■
■*"' Sfe* y —V
Photo by Porfirio Solorzano
Tricia Coe, left, holds Percy while he checks out China being held by Jan
Lovell. Behind them are a slew of ribbons, certificates and plaques that their
ferrets have claimed in past ferret shows.
new jobs created will add to the
tax base.”
Medfusion manufactures med
ical pumps and disposable plas
tic tubing sets for continuous
infusion therapy.
The two-story steel frame,
bride and tinted glass structure
will house 20,000 square feet of
corporate administration.
10,000 square feet will be desig
nated for the
distribution/machine shop area.
22,000 square foot will go
towards manufacturing space,
including a sophisticated elec
tronics manufacturing area and
a research and development
laboratory, according to Choate
construction
liisiilo
because of the constant use of
fans and because the birds must
be checked more often to make
sure they are not piling up on
top of each other and smother
ing, Cowie explained.
“It is a make or break situation
with a lot of folks now,” he said.
While it may be difficult to
remedy the problems with the
animals, Civil Defense Director
Bob Lady reminds local resi
dents it is possible to completely
avoid heat-related illnesses and
injuries ourselves.
Heat stroke, heat exhaustion,
heat cramps, and sun burn are
all too common during the sum
mer heat - especially when
many adults and children are
vacationing and trying to take
part in outdoor recreation.
Lady lists some tips to remem
ber:
•Slow down and avoid over
exertion and strenuous activi
ties. Drink plenty of liquids dur-
See WEATHER, Page 2A
Seder explained Moore had
spent considerable time setting
up community committees to
help the professionals in design
ing the park and had also set up
the contest which named the
park.
• The board resurrected the
pending sewer agreement with
Fulton County chich would pro-
See COMMISSION, Page 2A
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suwmHuia pnoiQ
Blizzard recovery
Gov. Zell Miller has presented federal disaster relief checks totaling $255,794.58 to officials from Sawnee
EMC for damage the non-profit corporation received from the blizzard of March 1993. This blizzard left
extensive damage in its wake, and I know that Sawnee EMC, in particular, suffered greatly,* Gov. Miller said.
Pictured area Sawnee EMC President Preston Martin, Executive Vice President Mfchael A. Goodroe, Gov.
Miller and Ga. Emergency Management Agency Dir.Gpjy McConnell.
(jam
Photo by Porfirio Solorzano
Corn huskin’ time
While other parts of the country have been over-blessed with rain and other '
parts of sun. Cecil Merritt finds himself blessed with corn. The eye-high com 1
is a sure sign that no matter how hot it is harvest time and cooler weather is
lust around the corner.
“Ferrets have been domesticated for 2000 years,” Lovell says, “but
only recently has it become legal in the state of Georgia to own one.”
As recently as April 12, 1991 as a matter of fact, when the gover
nor signed into law Senate Bill 374. “Up until that time,” Lovell
explains, “they were illegal because there was no approved rabies
vaccine for the ferret.” Senate Bill 374 states that anyone can have
a ferret for a pet provided the ferret has been spayed or neutered by
the age of seven months and has yearly rabies vaccinations.
The same vaccine used in domesticated dogs, cats, cattle, sheep
and horses, IMRAB3, was also approved for use in domesticated fer
rets in February of 1990. Since the 19505, when rabies cases began
to be documented, there have been a total of 15 cases of rabies in
ferrets. One case is known to have been vaccine-induced.
Yet there is still a stigma surrounding ferrets and the possibility
of their being rabies carriers.
“If you have a ferret with you out somewhere, and that ferret hap
pens to bite someone, then that ferret is immediately picked up,
destroyed and tested for rabies. There is no waiting period like
there is for dogs. It isn’t really fair, but that’s the way it stands
right now.” And it stands that way because there has not been a lot
of testing with ferrets and rabies.
As far as their being biters is concerned, as Lovell puts it, “they
have teeth. Anything that has teeth can bite. A child has teeth.
They can bite. But, unless they are provoked in some way, a ferret
won’t bite. They have to feel threatened in some way or frightened
before they bite, because biting is a defense mechanism in eveiy
thing.” Other than that, only a ferret who hasn’t been taught or
trained properly will bite.
Because ferrets are related to the weasel family, the poultry indus
try was also afraid that they would kill chickens. But ferrets don’t
kill chickens. Ferrets are too busy playing to kill chickens.
“I like to call them the ‘Peter Pan’ of the animal kingdom,” Lovell
says, as ‘Cloud’ clambers up her arm during the photo session,
See FERRETS, Page 11A
IIS
25 cents