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THIS ISSUE
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Academic and other
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♦ Church brief5..................3A
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: -Entertainment.... ...... 1C
'Events —— 9A
Opinion——.l3A
Horoscope- JOA
Sports—l B
COMING
SUNDAY
Holiday Events
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the holidays are in full swing and
there are activities galore around
. * the Forsyth County area.
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Forsyth ■ -s
J Your "Hometown Paper" Since 190
Vol. 89, No. 151
Body of murdered woman found
By Colby Jones
Staff Writer
Investigators say they believe a 31-year-old Forsyth
County woman found dead in her car Wednesday
morning was murdered.
A Sheriff’s office deputy patrolling Bethelview
Road found the body of Robin Turan in the passen
ger’s seat of a Mazda Millenia at 7:45 a.m. The black
four-door sedan was parked by an abandoned house in
a wooded area across from Steeplechase Industrial
Parte.
Deputy coroner Mike Castleberry said she suffered
severe bruising on her neck and upper body.
“It appears that she had been strangled,”
Castleberry said, adding she was found partially
clothed.
She was pronounced dead at the scene at 8:50 a.m.
The body was transported to the Georgia Bureau of
Investigation crime lab for an autopsy, which was
scheduled to be performed Thursday morning.
The car was taken to the Criminal Investigation
Division and put in a roped-off section of the parking
lot so a crime scene specialist could process the car for
fingerprints and other evidence.
“We are still collecting evidence and are awaiting
the results of the autopsy,” Sheriff Denny Hendrix said.
Detectives continued talking to family members
and friends Wednesday trying to determine where
Turan was last seen alive, who she was with and what
she was doing, said Sheriff’s office spokeswoman
Karleen Chalker.
■ 1 brsh
Photo/Tom Brooks
Grinches stole Santas from Betty Heard, shown with her year-old granddaughter, Sarah.
Bah Humbug!
Thieves spoil holiday tradition
By Colby Jones
Staff Writer
Thousands of colored bulbs spotlight a manger
scene, reindeer, carolers, snowmen and Betty
Heard’s favorite childhood friend - Santa Claus.
She began displaying the life-sized figures in her
front yard on Shady Grove Road 27 years ago.
Grief: Coping this holiday
Cheryl Vaughn
Staff Writer
December’s holiday season is joy
ous and greeted by most with giddy
enthusiasm. It is a time for religious
celebration, festive merriment, warm
family gatherings and generosity.
But for those same reasons, many
consider it the calendar’s most emotional
ly difficult time to endure and so dread its
approach.
“The holidays are a time so known for
connectedness and being with loved ones
that it can bring back almost full force the
loss of a loved one,” explains Dr. Michael
Sessions, a Cumming psychologist and
president of the Georgia Psychological
Association. “It forces people to come to
terms with the loss of a person where
they can avoid it at other times. Instead
you have to once again go through that
loss process because of the loved one’s
absence and it re-traumatizes.”
See MURDER Page 2A Investigators on Wednesday’s murder scene across from Steeplechase Industrial Park on Bethelview Road.
Kathy Gibson of Cumming lost her
husband in July and agrees that the com
ing month will be difficult.
“It comes back to haunt you a little
more at the holidays,” she says. “There
are so many memories that this time of
year stirs. But what is the hardest is that
people won’t talk about him. I guess that
because I’m not wearing my emotions on
my sleeve to a large extent, they think
they’ll upset me and so they talk about
anything but Jack.
Sessions says the holidays can also be
stressful for the casualties of divorce.
“Particularly where there are kids
involved, parents are facing Christmas
morning and their kids aren’t with them,”
says Sessions. “If their ‘ex’ has remarried
or is in another relationship, the knowl
edge that the kids are celebrating with
someone else can be excruciating. Even
See GRIEF, Page 5A
FRIDAY ?ECE‘>‘EE\ ~ -S
“It started out small with candles, two reindeer
and Santa,” she said. “Each year, I added some
more lights and figures. It really went wild then.”
She always lights up on Thanksgiving night.
Families stop by each year and many incorporate
the spectacle into their own Christmas tradition.
See SANTA, Page 2A
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Scouts work for Silver Award
April Baeza. Sarah Higgins and Michelle Beeken are collaborating on two pillow pro
jects to earn their Girl Scout Silver Awards. More on Page SA.
FSL landfill causes
concern to residents
By Jim Riley
Staff Writer
Area homeowners are currently
gathering signatures in order to par
ticipate in the negotiation process
concerning the proposed landfill by
the FSL Corporation on Old Federal
Road.
“We are not sure that folks in the
county really understand the poten
tial impact of this landfill. Nor are
we sure that we understand it total
ly,” said nearby landowner Rush
Clark. “Some of us are concerned
about property values, some of us
about die potential leakage into the
Etowah, but we are all concerned
about the serious increase in truck
traffic in the area.”
When asked specific questions
about the nature and scope of the
proposed landfill, FSL Attorney
Mark Forsling declined to answer.
“If the group forms, then we will
have our attorneys, engineers and
company president meet with the
citizens,” he said. “The law provides
a procedure for addressing any con
cerns and we plan on abiding by the
statute.”
Neatby landowner Roger Markle
said he is very concerned about the
possible impact the landfill might
have on traffic and property values,
50 Os
Photo/Tom Brooks
as well as the lack of specific infor
mation available.
“We just want to make sure that
it is done right,” he said. “We’re
planning and hoping that we’re deal
ing with common sense individu
als.”
One of the potential problems
that Markle sees is the impact on the
nearby estate communities such as
Etowah Trails and the Legends,
“People’s investments could be
materially affected.”
Traffic, environmental impact
and hours of operation are other
concerns voiced by Clark and
Markle.
In order for affected residents
and landowners to participate in the
process, they must deliver a petition
to the commissioners’ office within
30 days of the meeting held on Nov.
23. This petition must be signed by
at least 25 affected persons, 20 of
whom must be registered voters in
Forsyth or a county contiguous to
Forsyth or landowners within
Forsyth County.
Once received, Forsyth County
will validate the petition within 15
days. If validated, the county will
notify everyone that the negotiation
See FSL, Page 2A