Newspaper Page Text
Quilting makes for
interesting hobby
LIFESTYLE, IB
Forsyth Count vNews
J Your "Hometown Paper" Since 1908
VOLUME LXXXVI, NUMBER 101 Copyright © 1995 Forsyth County News
County,
developers
at odds
overdry
sewer lines
By Thomas W. Krause
Staff Writer
Everyone wants a sewer.
But, everyone has a different
idea of how to get one.
Friday morning, members
of the newly appointed Dry
Sewer Review Committee met
with the Forsyth County
-Board of Commissioners and
other county officials to dis
cuss the particulars of a pro
posed dry sewer ordinance.
The Dry Sewer Review
Committee, a group of home
owners, homebuilders and
developers were asked for
their input on the proposed
ordinance after an hour-long
debate put-off the decision at
a public hearing on Nov. 13.
The ordinance would
require developers and
builders to install dry sewer
lines in all new subdivisions
to help prepare for a $l2O mil
lion water and sewer system
for the county. Many develop
ers and builders were opposed
to the ordinance as it was
See SEWER, Page 2A
WEATHER
Mostly sunny on
Sun. with highs
in the 70s. Portly
cloudy on Mon. j*’'
Chance of show- r, f ~
ers on Tuesday. *»■»■■■»*■■
INDEX
Abby 118 Business 7A
Births 4B School 9A
Church Briefs 108 Horoscope 118
Classifieds 5C Weddings 4B
Editorials IDA Sports 1C
LAKE LANIER LEVELS
Date Level
Nov. 27 1070.04 ft
Nov. 28 1070.00 ft
Nov. 29 1070.01 ft
Nov. 30 1069.98 ft
Dec. 1 1069.95 ft
COMING WEDNESDAY...
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Full details of the meeting between
the Forsyth County Commission
and the Gwinnett-Forsyth Library
system director will appear in
Wednesday’s edition of The Forsyth
County News.
Youth shelter
The Forsyth County Youth Council is
looking at starting a youth shelter to
meet the needs of troubled youth
in the county. See Wednesdays edi
tion for details.
Missed paper policy: For replacement
paper call between 8 a.m. to 6 pan. on
Wed., 8 a.m. to 1 p.tn. on Friday, and 9
ajn. to 1 p.tn. on Sun., 887-3126.
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Stacy Ridgeway of Lithonia
visited Coal Mountain
& Elementary School this past
-d» week and helped the stu
dents to paint a mural on
the cafeteria wall. Above,
Ridgeway, who is a creative
director and travels through
a out five Southern states pro
moting his art, helps
~. w*l Courtney Keener, 9, with
$ her painting of the mural. At
I left, Ridgeway works with
students. Photos by Tom
Brooks.
City plans to file counter suit this week
By Thomas W. Krause
Staff Writer
The City of Cumming is expected to file an
answer to an injunction filed by Forsyth County and
a countersuit for breech of contract early this week.
Forsyth County filed an injunction Nov. 7 to pre
vent Cumming from shutting off the water supply
for the county.
City Attorney Jeff Bagley said the answer to the
injunction and the countersuit should be filed this
week. The suit is expected to determine the price
Cumming should be charging Forsyth for water.
Bagley said Cumming will request a jury trial. The
hearing will be heard in approximately six months.
The dispute began this summer when Cumming
raised the rate it was charging the county for water
from $1.45 to $1.94 per 1,000 gallons. County com
missioners claim no reason for the increase was
given.
Decision on hospital
expected on Jan. 2
By Laura Boggs
Staff Writer
Baptist North Hospital had a
“very positive meeting” with the
State Health Planning Agency
(SHPA) Thursday to review the
facility’s plans to expand, said
Administrator John Herron.
Under a Georgia statute that
seeks to avoid duplication of
expensive health care services,
equipment and facilities, SHPA
must approve Baptist North’s
growth.
While the Cumming hospital
expected to have an answer from
the state by early December, the
decision date is now Jan. 2.
Baptist North shared with
SHPA letters of support and about
400 petition signatures of Forsyth
residents who want a bigger
hometown hospital.
As was expected, area hospi
tals filed opposition to Baptist
Sub-region openers
for South, North
SPORTS, 1C
Cumming, GA / December 3,1995
SUNDAY EDITION
When the county paid the bill at the old rate, the
Cumming City Council threatened to cut-off
Forsyth’s water on Nov. 20 if the county did not pay
the remainder of the bill. Cumming Mayor H. Ford
Gravitt said the city would take over the county’s
water lines and charge $1 less per 1,000 gallons than
the county is charging now.
Currently, county customers are paying $3.54 per
1,000 gallons. City residents pay $1.75 per 1.000
gallons and county residents on the city’s system pay
$2.20 per 1,000 gallons.
The county is now paying the difference between
the $1.45 and $1.94 rate to an account held by the
Court. Although county engineers are looking into
the possibility of having to raise the water rates, no
decisions on county water rate changes are expected
North’s expansion. North Fulton
Regional and Northside wrote
SHPA.
“As before, we do have oppo
sition to the project,” Herron
said. “But we’re waiting for Jan.
2. We’re committed to expanding
our facility.”
Baptist North submitted a
scaled-down CON in August for
an $18.3, 41-bed facility after
withdrawing an application for a
S2B million, 44-bed facility.
While the first application called
for a 92,000 square foot hospital,
the revised application calls for a
78,040 square foot facility.
The original application was
withdrawn at the last minute June
27, as Baptist North officials were
warned that SHPA would deny
the CON request because of the
cost of the project. In the face of
See CON, Page 2A
w
Stacy Ridgeway of Lithonia
visited Coal Mountain
Elementary School this past
week and helped the stu
dents to paint a mural on
the cafeteria wall. Above,
Ridgeway, who is a creative
director and travels through
out five Southern states pro
moting his art, helps
Courtney Keener, 9, with
her painting of the mural. At
left, Ridgeway works with
students. Photos by Tom
Brooks.
See SUIT, Page 2A
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Photo/Tom Brooks
Light up the Night
Forsyth Central High School students helped to Light Up the Night at Lakeland Plaza
Thursday night when they sang Christmas carols at Kroger. In addition to the caroling,
Kroger had Santa on hand as well as lots of goodies to try out from the store’s bakery and
deli.
Baptist North receives
Rinds from tourney
PAGE 7A
Commissioners,
director to meet
on library funding
By Laura Boggs
Staff Writer
County commissioners and Jo
Ann Pinder, executive director of
the Gwinnett-Forsyth Regional
Library, will meet face-to-face
Monday to discuss the funding
imbalance that Pinder says led to
Gwinnett dropping Forsyth from
the 10-branch system.
Commissioners have said the
break-up is Pinder’s way of pun
ishing them for their strong stand
that Woman's Body by Dr. Miriam
Stoppard, a health book with pic
tures of human sex acts, should
not be accessible to children in the
library.
“This decision is a reaction to
the commissioners’ stand that sex
ually explicit materials should not
Library group may
have rally to unite sides
By Laura F/ggs
Staff Writer?
Bob V hite, Friends of the
Library president, said he hopes
individuals on both sides of the
sexually explicit library materials
issue will find common ground at
a “unity rally.”
The Friends, who have sup
ported the library policy that
allows open access to books for all
age groups, will schedule the
meeting for a date shortly after
Christmas.
“Everyone will be able to have
their say,” White said. Politicians
and private citizens who contend
certain library books should be
kept out of children’s reach attend
ed a county-wide Friends meeting
Nov. 14. and they were upset
when White told them they could
not voice their views.
White said by allowing every
one to air their differences this
time, a common desire for a strong
library will emerge.
“Everybody really wants the
same thing what’s best for the
‘ ****'‘'H',4/43 fl
be openly available to children in
the library,” said Commission
Chairman Ron Seder.
But Pinder insists the separa
tion is a matter of money. An
October library staff study
revealed that Gwinnett will spend
$198,000 in employee salaries to
provide administrative services to
Forsyth’s one branch this year. In
return. Forsyth’s state-funded
employee, whose annual salary is
$39,000. works at regional head
quarters in Lawrenceville.
Pinder said if commissioners
come up with the $160,000 short
fall before Dec. 31. the 39-year
old agreement between the two
counties’ libraries could possibly
be salvaged.
See LIBRARY, Page 2A
library,” White said. “It’s impor
tant that we’re not a divided com
munity when there are things we
all agree about.”
The Friends’ 100 members will
gather at 7 p.m. Dec. 11 at the
Forsyth Library to discuss the
details of the unity meeting.
Since White organized the
Friends this fall, library users who
advocate open access to materials
were drawn to the local group.
“I was surprised at the plat
form they’ve developed,” said
Forsyth resident Pam Wolf, who
joined the fight to restrict chil
dren’s access to certain books after
her 6-year-old picked up a book
with photographs of naked people
in it. “I don’t agree with what the
Friends are saying.”
But White said last week the
organization is “not necessarily
designed for any point of view,”
and the Friends do not want to be
caught in the middle of the contro-
See CROUP, Page 2A
50 Cents