Newspaper Page Text
Sawnee Ballet to
perform Mar. 21-22
LIFESTYLE, IB
Forsvth County News
VOLUME 88, NUMBER 33 Copyright © 1997 Forsyth County News
Improvements
for Forsyth
roads to be
discussed on
Monday
By Sheri Toomey
Staff Writer
The Forsyth County Board
of Commissioners will review
the county’s capitol road
improvement plan at their
called Monday meeting.
The Dept, of Engineering
will present the information in
preparation for the board’s
meeting with Dept, of
Transportation (DOT)
Commissioner Wayne
Shackelford Friday.
The road improvement
plan lists priority projects
including intersection
improvements, 75 miles of
road resurfacing, and several
road widening projects.
Traffic volume information,
See MEET, Page 2A
Paper will be delivered
late on Wednesday
The Wed., March 19 issue
of The.Forsyth County News
will be delivered 24 hours
late due to the special local
option sales tax referendum
election on Tues., March 18.
Subscribers should receive
their paper no later than 6:30
a.m. on Thurs., March 20.
Call 887-3126 if you do not
receive it by this Thurs. a.m.
WEATHER
Sunny and cod
on Sun., high of
52. Sunny and i
milder on Mon.
Partly cloudy on
Tues* .-n-.'i.i*
INDEX
Abby 6A Evens 5A
Births 12A Grover 11A
Church Briefs 4A Horoscope 6A
Classifieds 6B Lifestyles 8A
• Editorials 10A Sports IB
LAKE LANIER LEVELS
Date Level
March 10 1071.97 ft
March 11 1071.95 ft
March 12 1071.92 ft
March 13 1071.89 ft
March 14 1072.02 ft
COMING WEDNESDAY. .
Results of election
The results from the special one
percent local option sales tax refer
endum will be included in
Wednesdays edition of The Forsyth
Coupty News. A breakdown of
precinct by precinct votes will be
given.
Commission to meet
The Forsyth County Commission
will meet on Monday to discuss
road improvements as wqII as pos
sible changes to the shenff depart
ment budget.
Missed paper policy: For replacement
paper call between 8 a.m. to 6 p m. on
Wed., 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Friday, and 9
a.m. to 1 p.m. on Sun., 887-3126.
riifi
11 90994 0400
£
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J Your "Hometown Paper" Since 1908 J
Light turnout expected for Tues, vote
By Laura Boggs
Staff Writer
Voter turn-out will probably be light
during a countywide referendum Tuesday,
during which the fate of a penny sales tax
for schools will be decided.
Voter Registrar Melvin Stancil said per
haps not even 20 percent of Forsyth’s
36,267 registered voters will show up at the
polls.
I
WgDCT L I I ’ I II B' pV I
I H I
Photo Tom Brooks
State Sen. Billy Ray (at center, front) talks with constituents gathered on Thursday night
fora town hall meeting.
Storms keep many away
State Senator holds town hall meeting
Photo/Tom Brooks
Suellen Houghton talks about the litter problem in
Forsyth County.
Facility located on Hwy. 20 West
Warehouse good investment
for schools, board is told
By Laura Boggs
Staff Writer
The 20,000-square-foot ware
house bought by the school board
last year has proven to be a good
investment, administrators told
the board during a meeting
Thursday.
The facility on Highway 20
allows mass quantities of sup
plies and furniture to be stored,
so the school system can get dis
counts for big orders.
Before, supplies were stored
in a room in the basement of the
Central Office. Because of the
cramped quarters, supplies were
North Forsyth battles
Johnson in a storm
SPORTS, 1C
Cumming, GA / March 16,1997
SUNDAY EDITION
Only 61 absentee ballots had been
turned in by Friday. The deadline to get
them to the Voter Registrar’s Office is
Monday at 4:30 p.m.
Forsyth County is one of 11 metro
Atlanta school districts asking for a 1 per
cent sales tax for schools. This is the first
time Georgians will vote on a sales tax for
schools, as an old state law«prohibited
school systems from using anything but
property taxes to fund capital improve
ments like construction or technology. In
ordered by the case instead of the
truckload. Copy paper once
bought for S2B to S3O per case is
now purchased in bulk for about
S2O per case.
Deliveries have become more
efficient, too. A used truck was
bought, which can be loaded and
unloaded quickly at the ware
house’s loading dock. Before,
hours were spent carrying items
by hand to and from the Central
Office basement. Some employ
ees did file claims for strained
backs and pulled muscles.
The school board decided on
See HOUSE, Page 2A
November, 54 percent of Forsyth County
voters approved Amendment 2, which
allows school boards to put a sales tax on a
ballot.
Named the state’s fastest growing
school district by the Georgia Department
of Education, Forsyth County is racing to
get kids in classrooms - and out of portable
units. About 20 percent of the area’s 11,608
pupils are taught in trailers. Educators say
the sales tax for schools is away to fund
construction without raising property taxes.
By Karleen Chalker
Editor
Even wind and heavy rains
didn’t stop some people from
coming out on Thursday night to
talk with State Sen. Billy Ray (R
--48th).
Ray held a town meeting at the
Forsyth County Administration
building, one of several he is hold
ing in the precinct he represents
which includes Forsyth and
Gwinnett counties.
Among the topics of conversa
tion was a bill to raise the manda
tory school age to 17; a bill to
require felons to serve 85 percent
of their sentence; a bill to elimi
nate no lo contendre pleas in DUI
cases; and a bill to repeal the law
See LAW, Page 2A
iSKL, : •
I —. Uli PH
I
IXL
Photo/Tom Brooks
The school system’s warehouse stores all of the system’s supplies, from paper products
to school books. Wesley Bales, warehouse supervisor, drives the forklift.
Daves Creek holds
Sock Hop
PAGEIIA
Proposal for school
redistricting to be
made on Monday
By Laura Boggs
Staff Writer
A plan for rezoning county stu
dents will be developed Monday
night.
A 64-member committee of
parents, teachers and administra
tors, which has been working for
more than a month, will propose
where pupils will go to school in
the quickly growing area. A rec
ommendation will be mac|e to the
school board Thursday.
With new schools opening next
year and more construction
planned, district lines must be
redrawn. First, it will be decided
which pupils will attend the ele
mentary school on Post Road
that’s opening in August. The
committee is also looking at the
Suspect in murder caught
in Forsyth for forgery
By Michael Kurtz
Staff Writer
A man arrested for forgery
early Thursday morning by
Forsyth County deputies is now
facing a murder charge in Fulton
County.
A call came in from the Wal-
Mart at Merchant’s Square about
an Asian man with three different
identification cards.
Deputy David McWhorter
responded to the call, arrested the
man for forgery, and transported
him to the Forsyth County jail.
The suspect had identified him-
|F,
Although new schools have opened in
the last few years and a $55 million bond
program, passed in fall 1995, is well under
way, more schools are needed in the grow
ing county. If voters do not approve the
sales tax Tuesday, educators may prepare
another bond referendum for as early as
November.
If the sales tax passes, an expected S9O
See SALES TAX, Page 2A
new South Forsyth Middle on Old
Atlanta and Sharon roads, which
will be overcrowded the day its
doors open in January. Members
are working under a series of
ground rules, including
• Don’t redistrict students more
than once.
• Don’t split a subdivision.
• Minimize bus commutes.
The committee, set up to add
community input to the redistrict
ing process, is made up of four
representatives from each of the
16 Forsyth County schools. The
school board asked principals to
appoint themselves, a teacher or
administrator and two parents
from Local School Advisory
See REZONE, Page 2A
self to the Wal-Mart cashier as Leo
E. Chester, and had an I.D. card
with that name.
But during his booking, he told
deputies his real name was Day
Hoy Lee.
The suspect was also carrying
a card that identified him as
Christopher Roberts.
Major Larry Black, acting jail
administrator, decided to send fin
gerprints to Fulton County to try
and get a positive identification on
the man.
See ARREST, Page 2A
50 Cents