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THIS ISSUE
Cwrighte IW Fanyth County New*
Vote Keeps
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HaKE LANIER LEVELS
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Sun Trust Bank holds
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Forsyth County News
•/ Your "Hometown Paper" Since 1908 J
Vol. 89, No. 70
Grants may be jeopardized by inaction
By Michael Kurtz
Staff Writer
County residents are facing the loss of
more than a million dollars in federal and
state grant money because of an omission
from the Board of Commissioner’s June 8
meeting agenda.
Sheriff Denny Hendrix requested
approval for three grants totaling
$1,650,380. The county would only have to
pay less than $400,000 in matching funds.
But Commissioner Bill Jenkins said the
request came in too late and the board is
_ . _ - . _ Photo/Tom Brooks
Revving up Safety Town
The grand opening of Safety Town was held Monday at Daves Creek Elementary School
and Scott Komorek, son of Safety Town promoter Lori Komorek, cut the ribbon to launch the
two-week daycamp for children entering kindergarten. Registration is S3O. Safety Tbwn will
be at Daves Creek Elementary School through June 18; at Vickery Creek Elementary, July
13-23; and Chattahoochee Elementary, July 27-Aug. 6. Call (770) 781-2215 to register.
Steffey’s tribunal is continuing
By Jennifer Eskew
Associate Editor
Retaliation for a lawsuit or willful neglect and
insubordination are the two sides presented to a tri
bunal this week as Susan Steffey tries to continue
her employment with the Forsyth County school
system.
The tribunal hearing was originally scheduled
for two days but another two days, June 22 and 23,
will be needed to finish the case.
Steffey was one of three women who filed a
federal lawsuit in 1995 against the Forsyth County
Board of Education alleging that between 1988
and 1994 women were not paid as much as men of
similar rank, experience and education.
Since the lawsuit was settled, Steffey says she
has be?n the target of retaliation, leading up to her
non-renewal of contract and transfer until the end
of the school year to the transportation department.
Library
board
honors
Stancil
By Sheri Toomey
Lifestyle Editor
Community leaders and
friends gathered Monday at
the Forsyth County Library in
honor of retiring Library
Board SecretaryHYeasurer
Melvin Stancil.
He was greeted with a
round of applause after step
ping out from his last board
meeting.
Stancil has been on the library
board for 26 years and held every
position on it from chairperson
and vice-chairperson to his present
one.
His commitment to the library
is the longest for anyone on any
committee in the community, said
unable to approve the money.
Jenkins said the request came in Monday
afternoon, well past the commissioner’s
Thursday noon deadline to add items to the
agenda.
He said because he didn’t have time to
discuss the matter with the other commis
sioners and because it was submitted past
the deadline, the grant requests would not
be heard by the commissioners.
“We can’t vote on something we’re not
familiar with,” Jenkins said.
But one commissioner said the decision
not to sign or discuss the grants was nothing
Photo/Tom Brooks
Library board honored its retiring member, Melvin Stancil, with a
meeting room to cany his name, announced Mary Helen McGruder.
Library Board Chair Mary Helen build would now bear his name as
McGruder.
“We appreciate the love, the
time and the effort you’ve given,
“said McGruder. “I don’t think
we’d have the library we have
today if not for Melvin.”
McGruder then announced that
the meeting room Stancil helped
FRIDAY JUNE 12 1998
She filed a grievance over the issue of not being
allowed to take comp time and being reprimanded
for the posting of a “condo for rent” notice in the
teacher’s lounge. The board of education.declined
to hear that grievance but agreed to have a tribunal
hear the non-renewal case.
The members of the tribunal are James E.
Johnson, Chris Good and Paul Chambers. The
hearing officer is Bruce Beerman.
The tribunal can recommend to the board of
education to uphold the non-renewal, find cause
but rule to suspend without pay, find cause but rule
to give a demotion or renew the contract.
A time limit on when their decision will issued
will be set by the attorneys depending on when a
transcript will be available.
On Tuesday, Dr. Mary Chandler, principal of
South Forsyth Middle School, where Steffey was
See TRIBUNAL, Page 2A
the Melvin E. Stancil meeting
room.
Stancil was then presented
with a clock and plaque from the
library by Library Director Jon
McDaniel.
See LIBRARY, Page 8A
but personnel animosity by Jenkins toward
Hendrix.
“He’s punishing the Sheriff’s office. It’s
the 85,000 taxpayers who are going to suf
fer,” said Commissioner John Kieffer.
According to Kieffer, Jenkins said the
grant applications could wait until the out
come of the July 21 referendum which
would place law enforcement under the
jurisdiction of the board, not the sheriff.
Kieffer said Jenkins made the decision
not to sign on his own because of personal
feelings toward Hendrix stemming from the
recent lawsuit and other politically-heated
Engineering contract
policy is questioned
By Phillips Herman
News Editor
One says it does and the other
says it doesn’t.
The county that is, in terms of
whether a procurement policy for
engineering contracts is still in exis
tence.
District 5 Commissioner Julian
Bowen and District 1 Commissioner
John Kieffer squared off at last
Tuesday night’s County
Commission meeting over which is
right.
Bowen said a recent decision by
the commission to eliminate the pro
curement contract was done because
it would have served to delay the
planning process for a badly needed
water treatment plant.
On the other hand, Kieffer said it
was his understanding that the com
mission’s vote was not to scrap the
Photo/Tom Brooks
Former Forsyth Middle School assistant principal Susan Steffey,
who is completing the school year in the system’s transportation
department, sits Tuesday at the tribunal with her attorney, Wyc Orr. *
Focusing on literacy
By Colby Jonea
Staff Writer
Hundreds of Forsyth County
students recently received their
high school diplomas, but some
students slip through the cracks.
But it’s never too late to earn a
General Equivalency Diploma
(GED) and Candy Moore, lead
instructor at the Adult Learning
Center, is always ready to help.
“Working here is very satisfac
tory. It’s a wonderful experience
to help people achieve what was
missing in their lives. Many of
our students come back and tell us
how thankful they are for the pro
gram,” she said.
Moore said the center will hold
a graduation program of its own in
September. As many as 70
attained their GED after taking
courses at the center last year.
(letting a GED can make a
person more employable and
improve self esteem, said Moore.
Barbara Singleton, who earned
her GED, is grateful for the cen
ter’s help. “The teachers are
great They keep pushing you till
50 Cents I
situations.
“The board should have made a decision
as a board, not Bill Jenkins,” Kieffer said.
Jenkins said he is not authorized to make
decisions without board approval even if he
is chairman. He said the board was not
given the chance to discuss'the issue
because the request was brought in late.
However, adding late items to the
board’s agenda is standard practice.
Both Kieffer and Jenkins said commis
sioners can, and do, add agenda items up to
See GRANTS, Page 2A
policy in all cases, just for the water
treatment planning process. He said
his review of the tape of an early
May meeting when the vote was
taken, revealed that the decision to
not use the policy was directly tied
to the engineering services for the
treatment plant. “While I agree with
the decision on the water treatment
plant, I don’t think we should abol
ish that procurement policy for all
projects,” Kieffer said.
Commission Chairman Bill
Jenkins told Kieffer that the decision
had been made by unanimous vote,
apparently to abolish the policy in
all cases. Kieffer said if that was the
case, he had voted incorrectly.
Bowen added he was not sure the
policy “had ever been in place,” and
asked Kieffer is there was a specific
project he wanted to discuss in terms
See POLICY, Page 8A
you do it and really make it enjoy*
able,” she said. “By the end, I was
wanting to teach others."
Moore says she hopes the cen
ter will gain added support from
the Certified Literate Community
Program (CLCP). Billy Izard,.♦
state director for CLCP, will speak
about the program on June 16 at 5
p.m. at Lanier Technical
Institute's Forsyth campus.
Getting certified would mean
“as a community we’re diligent in
finding and reducing the number
of students who didn’t finish high
school and improving literacy,”
said Moore.
CLCP would create a partner
ship between businesses, schools
and the community. Benefits
include a positive impact on local
businesses, individuals and fami-.
lies.
Anyone is welcome to attend
the forum and learn about the
CLCP program.
The Adult Learning Center is
located at Lanier Technical’
Institute. All classes are free. Call
(770) 781-6987 for information. *