Newspaper Page Text
. Friday and Saturday:
Highs in the 80s
Lows in the 60s.
THIS ISSUE
Copyright 01997 Fonyth County New»
T 10l
Cartoonist’s views
on the news
PageßA
BBP
Dixon signs for two
sports at Rhinehardt.
Page IB
LAKE LANIER LEVELS
Date Level
May 24 1072.12 ft
May 25 \ 1072.20 ft
MayM-rW72.2»iU->
nSS 1070 00 ft
Students make
honor roll list
Page 6A I
INDEX
Abby. 10A
Classifieds J6B
Church briefs —4A
Deaths 2A
Entertainment. 1C
Events 9A
Opinion ~ 11A
Horoscope 10A
Sports IB
COMING
SUNDAY
Graduation Week
The end of the school year
approaches and that means it's
also time for pomp
and circumstance.
Missed paper policy:
For a replacement paper, call
4 a.m. to 6 p.m. Wednesday and
Friday, ano 9 am. to 1 p.m. on
Sunday -(770)647-3126.
rw
Forsyth County News}
J Your "Hometown Paper" Since 1908 J
Vol 89, No. 64
Board to seek another opinion on dam
By Phillip Hermann
News Editor
Though one dam doctor has said Pine
Lake Dam is in “somewhat critical condi
tion,” the Forsyth County Commission will
shop around for another opinion.
The commission took the action Tuesday
night after a lengthy discussion about how
best to fix the dam which has fallen into dis
repair over the years, and who should pay
for the repairs. Two weeks, engineering
consultants McGill-Schnabel told the board
that it will take $590,000 to repair the dam
Photo/Tom Brooks
Visiting black bear
A 2-year-old black bear is back in the North Georgia woods
after a Wednesday trip to Forsyth County. Construction
workers spotted the 200-pound bear running through a resi
dent’s yard in Bridle Ridge Subdivision. This is not the first
metro area bear to follow a food trail from the mountains to
more populated surroundings. However, this was the first
local bear caper this year. More on Page 2A.
Memorial weekend brought
stepped-up law enforcement
By Michael Kurtz
Staff Writer
The Memorial Day weekend
was more memorable for some
thanks to beefed-up enforcement
efforts from state and local law
enforcement agencies.
Troopers from Georgia State
Patrol Post 37 issued 357 speeding
tickets from Friday through
Monday, said GSP operator Ted
Nestor. Another 281 drivers
received warnings for their speed.
In addition to speeding tickets,
Planners reject request
as a spot-zoning issue
By Shari Toomey
Lifestyle Editor
The Forsyth County Planning
Commission Tuesday voted 4-1 to
deny its recommendation for a boat
storage business on Little Mill Road
by Lewis Crowe.
Planning Commissioner Carroll
Castleberry cast the dissenting vote
and made the initial motion to
approve the project. That motion
died for the lack of a second.
Planning Commissioner Ross
Statham then made the motion for
denial, seconded by Planning
Commissioner Pam Livesay.
Your "Hometown Paper" Since 1908
FRIDAY MAY, 29, 1998
to Georgia Environmental Protection
Division standards.
Some commissioners say a second opinion
will translate into a tower price tag for repairs.
At the forefront of the mission to gain
another opinion will be District 2
Commissioner Lamar Suddeth and
Engineering Director John Cunard. District
1 Commissioner John Kieffer also was sup
posed to bp a member of the search team,
but he deferred to Cunard’s expertise. The
commission asked that the second opinion
be presented at its June 8 meeting.
Leading the fight for a second opinion
troopers from Post 37 wrote 192
tickets for seat belt violations and
29 for improper child restraints.
Fourteen people went to jail for
driving under the influence.
Post 37 handles enforcement for
Forsyth, Dawson and Lumpkin
counties.
Locally, the Sheriff’s office traf
fic unit handed out 113 citations.
Five of those went to people dri
ving in excess of 90 miles per hour
on Ga. 400.
See ARRESTS, Page 2A
This application “would be a
case of spot zoning,” said Planning
Commission Chairman Dennis
Martin.
Several nearby residents
opposed the project citing increased
traffic and changing the sense of
rural community.
Attorney Emory Lipscomb, rep
resenting Crowe, cited numerous
uses the property could be used for
in its current agricultural zoning,
such as chicken houses and out
buildings, as reasons for recom
mending approval for the project.
See PLANNERS, Page 2A
was Suddeth and District 5 Commissioner
Julian Bowen. Suddeth said that he “didn’t
trust” the price tag put on repairs by
McGill-Schnabel. He said there should be a
less expensive way to fix the dam.
Kieffer, who represents the district
where the dam is situated, earlier had asked
his colleagues to support a plan that would
have asked the 29 property owners who live
on the private, man-made lake created by
the dam to pay SIOO,OOO of the repairs over
a five-year period by creating a special tax
district. In addition, Kieffer wanted the
county to take possession of a vacant lot on
Signs of times: Campaign time
By Michael Kurtz
Staff Writer
State and local elections don’t
take place until July 21, but
already there are signs of the
upcoming political process.
Individual campaign and issue
signs started popping up around
the county last week as the ban on
political signs was lifted.
According to Section 23 of the
county’s sign ordinance, political
signs may be posted 60 days prior
to the election. They must be
removed within 10 days after the
final election, including runoffs.
No rain, but no water supply OK
By Colby Jones and Jennifer Eskew
Staff Writers
, I
Although one metro county has already imposed
watering restrictions on its residents, county and city
officials here don’t expect to limit backyard sprin
klers anytime soon. ,
“We haven’t even had any discussion on that yet,”
said Don Frazier, director of water distribution for
Cumming. Unless it stays dry and demand greatly
exceeds what it has been, Frazier doesn’t foresee a
water shortage this summer.
“We’re able to refill our tanks almost to 100 per
cent every night” he said, adding a number of
improvements to the city’s intake system should help
accommodate additional growth. A 30-inch raw
water line is already operating with upgrades to
pumps on the lake and installation of a 36-inch high
service line already in the works.
May 1996 was the last time the city limited resi-
Photos/Colby Jones
Exploring North
Georgia'sbeauty
Amicalola Falls, at right,
attracted many picnickers
and explorers over
Memorial Day weekend as
the state park offered free
tries at rappelling and,
below, going down the river
on a Yahoo boat for the
Mountain Adventure
Weekend. Summer will
bring additional events for
families. See future edition
for story and more photos.
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Lt. Jim Poe, head of the
Sheriff’s office support division,
said there were no reports of signs
going up early and, as of
Wednesday, none were illegally
placed.
The support division is respon
sible for enforcing all county ordi
nances, including those covering
signs.
Poe said the biggest problem
he expects with the signs is a lack
of markings from the signs’ own
ers.
“The responsible parties must
have their name and phone num-
dents use of water for outdoor purposes like lawn
care and car washes.
Tim Perkins, Forsyth County’s water department
manager, also doesn’t expect any water restrictions.*
Although some south Forsyth County residents
experienced low water pressure and discolored water
this Week, the problem was due to the Fulton County
system, Perkins said.
Some residents of St. Mario, Old Atlanta Club
and businesses in Technology Park at Johns Creek
were affected.
Fulton County is working to correct the problem,
which was due to increased water use in north
Fulton.
Usage in Fulton County nearly doubled in one
week, Perkins said, rising from 32 to 62.5 million
gallons a day.
See WATER, Page 2A
- :
50 Cents
the lake and the lake bed, and then sell the
vacant lot and use the proceeds to pay for
repairs. Finally, the commissioner wanted to
create a parking area by the road over the
dam to allow for public access to the lake.
Kieffer’s idea never came up for a vote.
Several residents living around the body
of water, which they refer to as Sawnee
Lake not Pine Lake, told the commissioners
they were willing to foot a portion of the
repair bill, but were “uncomfortable” with
the prospect of outsiders using their lake.
See DAM, Page 2A
bers on the sign. If they’re,
unmarked, we’ll take them down
and the group can be cited,” he
said.
But citing responsible groups
isn’t very common, said Poe.
Law enforcement agents tend
to call the groups first, he said,
and give them the opportunity to
remove the sign or bring it into
compliance with the county ordi
nance.
County workers pulled down a
lot more signs during the 1996
See SIGNS, Page 2A