Newspaper Page Text
Partly Cloudy
>i-'. ’-,
Chance of rain.
Highs in the upper 50s.
*’ Lows in the mfcMOs.
•* f •
tees—= . .
THIS ISSUE
Copyright © 1999 Forsyth County News
4*
tJ J*f J,*, _ ,
J ‘Bring One for the
< Chipper’on Jan. 9.
Page6A
♦
* * •
<, < - IWWII
, .<
; South teams, Central
< boys win in 7-AA.
Page IB
4 4
iiW LANIER LEVELS
Date * Level
1062,90 ft
•M? 4 1062.94 ft
Jan. 6 '
IgF - I
r £'Sg
rvj.jL
; ’ Recognition for work
v with juveniles.
PageSA
% ♦
■' ♦
INDEX
Abby 7A
business 8A
Classifieds .:..4B
+.„ ...5A
2A
Entertainment... 1C
* Opinion SA
SpOrtS 1 B
COMING =
■ SUNDAY
Nurturing Program
k ♦
fNs Council on Youth will begin
. its next session of parenting
?. classes later this month.
I> , A
» # I
■?' Missed paper policy:
;»* ’For a replacement paper call
‘8 a.m. - 5:30 p.m. Wednesday,
Thursday and Fnday, and 9 a.m. -1
p.m. on Sunday - (770) M 7-3120.
inn
jjii
"<■>"■
Forsyth County IH™
J Your "Hometown Paper" Since 1908 J
Vol. 90, No. 5
■Bfe. V S
.£.Y ? " 1
/ . At W **W|
Photo/Tom Brooks
Library learning
Donna Meeks, children’s librarian at the Forsyth County Public Library, entertained a crowd of
preschoolers for the first of a series of programs targeting youngsters. Nicole Aguiar, 3, Demi Nielson
and Savannah Reed, both 4, and Austin Reed, 2, were busy showing off their “Happy/Sad” sticks to
Meeks and Kelly Reed, one of the mothers attending. Programs are held Tuesdays and Wednesdays.
Cold temperatures create obstacles for workers
By Laura Lavezzo and Colby Jones
News Staff
As temperatures fell to well below
the freezing mark for the first school
day in the new year, Forsyth County
Schools suffered a few minor trans
portation problems.
Other outdoor workers also faced
obstacles in overcoming the weather
imposed schedule changes or bundling
up to beat the chilling cold.
Cumming city administrator Gerald
Blackbum said workers in the mainte
nance department did not have to with
stand brutally cold temperatures during
the early morning hours this week, but
instead were assigned indoor tasks.
“Except for emergency type activi
ty, they didn’t have to work,”
Blackbum said, referring to dangerous
ly cold temperatures that dropped into
the teens on Monday.
City crews reported only minor
problems with pipes bursting.
Blackburn said none of the pipes
spewed heavy amounts of water onto
roads or created large patches of ice.
However, ice forming in the limbs
Rezoning talk continuing
By Jim Riley
Staff Writer
Zoning application #2275 has
inspired a lot of discussion at the
Forsyth County Planning
Commission, as well as the Board of
Commissioners’ meetings of late.
The Atlanta Company has pro
posed the rezoning of 26 acres on Old
Atlanta Road from the intersections of
Talley Road and Mathis Airport Road
from Al (Agricultural) to CBD
(Commercial).
At the November Planning
Commission meeting, the board voted
4-1 to send a recommendation to the
Re-greening Forsyth
Todd Jarrett of Pike’s recently
helped plant the first of 36
trees in a Forsyth re-greening
effort as (L-R) Nancy
Smallwood with Keep Forsyth
County Beautiful, Vicki Clair
with the Cumming/Forsyth
County Chamber of
Commerce, builder Kevin
Yarbrough and Northside
Realty’s Kelly Klein Vbrbrough
look on. More information on
the challenge being issued to
others on Page BA.
Photo/Tom Brooks
of a tree on 13th Street caused it to col
lapse earlier this week. Crews cleared
the tree from the road before it caused
an accident.
Blackburn said he was pleased a
contractor had finished all of the water
line work on Old Buford Road before
the Christmas holidays and the cold
weather set in. “This phase [of the
widening of Old Buford Roadj is now
complete,” Blackburn said. Some addi
tional utilities still have to be moved
before construction actually begins
For school transportation director
Carlton Allen, “Monday was a very
interesting day because the buses had
been sitting since Dec. 18. It was the
worst kind of thing to turn a transporta
tion director gray.”
Allen explained when the weather
turns bitter cold, the bus mechanics
arrive earlier than usual and the buses
are cranked up to 45 minutes earlier as
well. Nevertheless, the school system’s
transportation department suffered 15
technical difficulties Monday morning.
See COLD, Page 2A
commissioners for approval, but under
the NS (Neighborhood Shopping) des
ignation.
The commissioners held a public
hearing on the matter during their
final meeting of 1998, and are sched
uled to make a decision on the rezon
ing at their meeting Monday night.
Many landowners in the Old
Atlanta Road area have voiced their
concerns about the proposed rezoning.
Ilsa Fouts and C.J. DeLong, two
homeowners at the intersection of Old
Atlanta and Sharon Road, say they
See ZONING, Page 2A
FRIDAY JANUARY 8. 1999
Z2RBHKSS
r ' ’/X. ™
y ■ v
■k.
A snow drift in Forsyth County? Yes, this snow was seen at the site of the new county
water plant off Ga. 400 at Antioch Road. One of the workers on the project traveled to
Forsyth County from North Carolina with the snow in the back of his truck. After shoveling
it off, it caught the attention of Photographer Tom Brooks and others who drove by.
2 civil service appeals rejected
By Colby Jones
Staff Writer
The county’s Civil Service Board has denied
the appeals of Majs. Mark Thomas and Ron
Casper because they signed affidavits exempting
themselves from civil service protection after
joining the Sheriff’s Office.
Both men were told in December they would
have to leave the department by the end of 1998.
They appealed the sheriff’s decision to force
them from their jobs.
After taking office two years ago, Sheriff
Denny Hendrix placed all department employees
under the civil service system, except his com
mand staff. The board requested an affidavit
from each employee exempted. Casper signed an
Parents charged
in cruelty and
neglect of boys
By Colby Jones
Staff Writer
A Cumming couple was
arrested Tuesday night on
child cruelty charges for
neglecting medical treatment
for their two young boys. One
of the sons is hospitalized at
Scottish Rite Medical Center,
where he was moved out of the
intensive care unit earlier this
week.
Deputies placed Cumming
residents Christopher Alewine
and Angela Dawn Payne, both
20, under arrest, charging them
with two counts each of first
degree child cruelty. They
remained in the Forsyth
County jail awaiting a bond
hearing Wednesday.
Workers from the
affidavit on April 14, 1997 and Thomas on May
29, 1997.
Citing those affidavits, the board informed
both men in Jan. 5 letters they would not be
granted an appeal hearing. Chairman Dr. A.Y.
Howell said the board made its decision after
discussing the matter with its attorney.
Who does and doesn’t fall under civil service
protection remains part of a lawsuit filed against
the county by the sheriff. The lawsuit currently
is pending in Superior Court.
The board’s decision falls in line with its
November ruling that Hendrix’s command staff
members, those having the rank of captain and
above, do not fall under civil service. Howell
See APPEALS, Page 2A
No Call List for
telemarketing calls
grows in popularity
By Chryl Vaughn
Features Writer
It likely wasn't long after Alexander Graham Bell
first put funnel to mouth at the turn of the century that
annoying telemarketing calls began to interrupt meals
everywhere. But, finally, Georgia has joined Florida,
Alaska, Oregon and Kentucky in restricting those calls.
For Georgia residents who pay $5 per phone number
to join the No Call List for two years, there will be no
more intrusions.
See UST, Page 3A
50 Cents
Department of Family and
Children Services placed the
brothers, ages 15 months and 2
years, into the custody of fos
ter parents on Dec. 31.
DFACS workers were in
the Archer Avenue neighbor
hood, where the children lived,
on an unrelated case. While
there, they learned from Payne
that there had been a domestic
dispute at her home which the
children had witnessed, lead
ing to the DFACS involvement
and subsequent removal of the
two boys from the home.
“The children were despon
dent and would not eat or
talk,” said Karleen Chalker,
information officer for the
Sheriff’s Office.
See PARENTS, Page 2A
Photo/Tom Brooks