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Homemakers hold
district meeting
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Forsyth County News
J Your "Hometown Paper” Since 1908 J newspaper c georgia OTO39B " 77
* UNIVERSITY OF GEORGIA
VOLUME LXXXVI, NUMBER 75
Officers placed on leave
Hearing of
former
police officer
continues
Wednesday
By Jim Riley
Staff Writer
The committal hearing for
former Cumming Police offi
cer James David Swansey was
scheduled to continue
Wednesday morning at the
Cumming City Hall.
Due to a courtroom being
unavailable at the Forsyth
County Courthouse this week,
arrangements were made by
the magistrate court to hold
the rest of the hearing that was
begun on Friday at the
Cumming City Hall beginning
at 11 a.m. on Wednesday.
Swansey was arrested by
the GBI on Sept. 6, and
charged with felony murder,
aggravated battery, aggravated
assault and false statements.
The arrest stemmed from alle
gations made by Forsyth
County Sheriff’s Deputy
Randy Thompson that
Swansey struck William Wade
Wallace in the head with his
“Mag-lite” flashlight follow
ing a chase on July 27.
Wallace died four days later at
Georgia Baptist Hospital in
Atlanta.
Forsyth County Sheriff
Jerry Padgett confirmed
Tuesday that deputies
Thompson, Sgt. Paul
Whitfield and Richard
Holcomb are currently on
administrative leave pending
the outcome of an internal
investigation involving the
See CHASE, Page 2A
WEATHER
Isolated showers
on Wed., thun
derstorms on
Thurs. Partly
cloudy on Fri.
INDEX
Abby 4A Events 12A
Deaths 7A School 17A
Business 11A Horoscope 4A
Classifieds 9B News 3A
Editorials 20A Sports IB
COMING SUNDAY..
History of Cumming
A special editjon taking a look at
the 150th anniversary of the crty of
Cumming and tn? upcoming
svifi n^e o inJuded S *° ne by
Reactions on the pas
sage of tne bond refer
enoum
Now that the school bond has
passed, what is the next step. See
Sundays edition for reactions.
Mined paper policy: For replacement
paper call between 8:30 a.m. to 6 p.m.
on Wed. and 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Sun.,
887-3126 or 523-7303 (Atlanta).
HI
—1 aor":
- - --- -
$55 million school bond passes
By Laura Boggs
Staff Writer
Midway Elementary second
grader Morgan Wilkins, 7, won’t
have to report to class in a trailer
forever.
“I’d be so disappointed if the
bond failed,” said her mother,
Susan Wilkins, as she sat and
watched the school bond referen
dum results come in at the
Forsyth County Courthouse last
night. “The schools are over
crowded.”
More classrooms are on the
way to relieve crowded campuses
all over the growing county, as
the $55 million school bond ref
erendum was passed by a 73 per
cent margin yesterday, receiving
%
iMmmy mm< w
Photo/Karleen Chalker
Monica Kaufman of WSB-TV addresses the Forsyth
United Way at Tuesday’s kickoff luncheon.
Mold problem bringing parents before Board of Education
By Laura Boggs
Staff Writer
The main hallway smells of mildew
mixed with disinfectant. Green grows on a
skeleton in the science department.
Moisture has been seen on computers. Last
year, more than 1,000 library books, cov
ered with water and mold, were discarded.
Such is the soggy state of affairs at
Forsyth Central High School.
Students and teachers are feeling the
effects of breathing in mold, said several
parents and educators. Last week, a student
gasped and coughed as she left a classroom
U.S. Commerce chairman
Bliley addresses senior
citizens on Medicare reform
By Laura Boggs
Staff Writer
As Tom Bliley drove up to the
Sawnee Community Center to
chat with a group of seniors about
Medicare reform, he glanced at a
bird-dotted sky and wondered,
“Are those buzzards circling over
head for us?”
Democrats accused
Republicans of reaching into the
pockets of ailing 85-year-olds to
cap Medicare spending as the
House leadership revealed their
plan for reform late last week. On
Friday morning, the Commerce
Chairman (R-Va.) escaped
Washington, D.C., boarding a
plane bound for quiet Cumming.
Tough questions awaited the
congressman here, too.
U.S. Rep. Nathan Deal (R-
Ninth District) introduced Bliley,
who spoke of iie set of revisions
Defense strong, but
War Eagles lose
SPORTS, IB
Cumming, GA / September 20,1995
WEDNESDAY EDITION
3,935 votes of approval. Only 27
percent - or 1,079 - people cast
votes against the bond. Twenty
percent of Forsyth’s registered
voters showed up at the polls.
“The big winners tonight are
the children,” said Interim
Superintendent Kermit Keenum,
who has delivered 35 speeches
about the bond to local organiza
tions - from the Rotary Club to
churches during the last few
weeks.
Board of Education members
now have voters’ blessings to
proceed with their $55 million
building plan, which will raise
funds through the sale of bonds
See BOND, Page 2A
for air. A teacher and an administrator were
sent to the emergency room, and as of
Monday, the teacher was still out after five
days. Others have complained of cold-like
symptoms or shortness of breath.
Individuals with asthma or allergies can
experience wheezing, coughing, tightening
of the chest, headaches, sneezing or con
gestion if they react badly to mold, said Dr.
Paul Rabinowitz of Allergy and Asthma
Consultants in Cumming. He has treated a
student and a teacher from Central.
Parents have phoned Forsyth County
Board of Education members with tales of
sick children, and tomorrow night, they
as a way to control the growth of
not cut Medicare spending
while offering more choices to
senior health care recipients. ,
In an effort to attack the
nation’s rising deficit, cut taxes
and keep Medicare from going
broke in five years, the GOP is
taking on the cherished post-war
program, the country’s costliest
after social security.
The plan calls for introducing
market forces to Medicare, slicing
$270 billion from the growth of
spending on the program between
now and the year 2002. Per
patient spending will rise from
$4,800 today to $6,700 in five
years, Bliley said.
“What does all that mean for
seniors?” Bliley said to a group of
See REFORM, Page,6A
> ■‘ r '-'^ff f l - k, ‘t :i :.
PhotofTom Brooks
Intermin Superintendent Kermit Keenum (center) receives applause Tuesday night at
Deckers as the results of the bond referendum are announced.
United Way at 45 percent of goal
By Karleen Chalker
Editor
Hope and opportunity - that’s
what the givers to United Way are
giving to the people in need of the
agencies it represents. That was
WSB-TV anchorwoman Monica
Kaufman’s message to about 180
people on Tuesday as the Forsyth
County United Way kicked off its
1995 campaign.
In a luncheon at the Sawnee
Center, Kaufman told the group of
how she was not just a volunteer
for United Way in metro-Atlanta.
“I know United Way as a recipi
ent. I earned middle class, it was
along with school officials will come
before the board to voice their concerns.
“There is a mold problem at Central,”
said Forsyth County Health Department
Environmental Health Supervisor Kent
Lawson, who inspected parts of the build
ing last Friday and found mildew growing
underneath work tables, on carpets and on
the ceiling.
Lawson visited the school the day after
nine classrooms were treated with an ozone
compound made to kill mold. The media
center was treated over the weekend. The
cost of the treatment was $3,000.
“From what we can see, the treatment
— -
U.S. Commerce Chairman Tom Bliley (R-Va.) talks with senior citizens at the Sawnee
Center on Friday about the Medicare crisis. Bliley came as a guest of Ninth District
Congressman Nathan Deal (seated in the background). A Medicare package was expect
ed to be presented to Congress on Monday.
Kennel dub offering
obedience school
PAGE 8A
not given to me.”
At the age of three, Kaufman’s
parents divorced. Her mother had
to work and did so by cleaning
homes. Kaufman had to be placed
in daycare and she was able to be
in daycare only because of the
help of a United agency
which provided help to the less
fortunate.
Kaufman also came to know
the girl scouts through United
Way. “I learned the joys of being a
girl through girl scouting. If it had
not been for girl scouting I would
not have been able to say no to
drugs, alcohol and pre-marital sex.
Girl scouting taught me that being
black and female was a plus not a
negative.”
As a child, Kaufman also had
to use the services of the Salvation
Army. “The United Way dressed
me, too.”
Kaufman has served as the
chairman of the United Way of
Atlanta. In addition to receiving
aid as a child from United Way,
she was also the happy receiver of
an adopted daughter through the
help of the United Way agency,
“Families First.”
“I look at the agencies that you
See UNITED, Page 3A
seems to be working,” said Steve
Tomlinson, director of facilities for Forsyth
County schools.
But battling the mold is, at best, a short
term solution, Tomlinson said. Moisture
breeds mildew, and the air’s humidity level
is high inside Central during hot summer
months. He speculated that the Health
Department could suggest placing fans in
classrooms to increase air movement.
Interim Superintendent Kermit Keenum
said the school’s cleaning methods may
See MOLD, Page 3A
50 Cents