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BEST STORIES OF 98
Forum on county police gets personal
Py t fceAnne T. Bell
Editor
i Fiscal responsibility and con
stitutional authority were among
the points made, and personal
Agendas and political wranglings
Ivere some of the observations at
Tuesday, night’s forum on the
cOttnty-wide police issue which
Witl'be on the July 21 ballot.
: The Federation of Forsyth
County Homeowners hosted the
forum at the Sawnee Center.
Walter Scott was the moderator,
aifd~ on several occasions, Scott
called the gathering to order.
of the bottom line of the
is<ye of a county-wide police
department in Forsyth County is
money. Sheriff Denny Hendrix,
who was first to speak on the
Mediation offered as solution to BOC-Sheriff suit
By Michael Kurtz
Staff Writer
, An offer by Sheriff Denny
Hendrix to settle the lawsuit
between his office and the Board
of Commissioners outside a
courtroom may suffer the same
fate as a similar offer proposed
by tlte board in February.
According to a May 13 letter
to Judge Stan Gault, Hendrix is
willing to sit down with a judge
and mediate the points of con
tention instead of continuing
with the suit that is costing tax
payers tens of thousands of dol
lars.
’ iJ “As you know, the parties
(have been engaging in settlement
Idiscussions. My client believes
.thft the time is now appropriate
tor mediation,” states the letter
from Benton J. Mathis Jr.
Willingness to mediate is a
change of heart for the sheriff,
'who declined the Board of
'Commissioners’ offer to have a
local attorney arbitrate the situa
tion.
"Tn February, Hendrix said the
'Board’s choice of arbitrator was
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“You all know what this is, and
I’ll get back to that later,” Hendrix
said, as he began presenting a list
of accomplishments of the
Sheriff’s department since he took
office in January of 1997. Among
those 15-plus items was the chap
laincy program, taking over
responsibility for the former mar
shal’s office and receipt of grant
funds in excess of $1.3 million
with another $1.3 million pend
ing.
Hendrix said he had checked
with every other sheriff’s office
and police department in the
metro area and with some north
and south of Forsyth County and
found that Forsyth County
Sheriff’s Office is lowest per capi
ta at s7l per person.
unfair, and they would have to
pick someone else if the court
room was to be avoided.
Now, the commissioners are
refusing to cut a deal.
“The only settlement is for
the sheriff to drop the lawsuit,”
said Commission Chairman Bill
Jenkins.
Jenkins said the lawsuit,
which asks for a declaration of
the sheriff’s powers and a ruling
on civil service policies, is “friv
olous.” He added the board is
open for discussion in front of a
judge, but doesn’t think Hendrix’
proposal for mediation is bind
ing.
Commissioner Julian Bowen
declined to comment on the
board’s refusal to go to media
tion. Bowen said the case will
have to be settled before a judge.
“I think we need to have a
Superior Court judge tell us what
the law is on each of these points
and settle it once and for all,”
said Bowen.
Commissioner John Kieffer
said he is open to meditation, but
doesn’t think the rest of the
board is willing to sit down and
Anderson seeks public
retraction from Sheriff
The day after Sheriff Denny
Hendrix identified Commissioner
Andy Anderson as his confidential
informant in the investigation of
the county commission's bid-let
ting for auditing services,
Anderson had demanded an
Due to the short seven-minute
opening remarks provided for in
the program, details of how the
per capita figure was attained was
not presented.
Hendrix said the numbers
would likely confuse people. The
settle the issue out of court.
Kieffer said through his dis
cussions with board members
and other parties, the July refer
endum calling for the creation of
a county police force to replace
the sheriff’s office is the holdup.
“My suspicion is that (the
suit) strengthens their position
for a county police force,” said
Kieffer. “I question their
motives.”
In a May 14 letter, Kieffer
made a formal request to Jenkins
to request Judge Frank Mills to
mediate the case between the
two parties.
“With our legal bills exceed
ing $58,000 last month, my over
all concern is the outrageous
amount of taxpayers’ money we
are wasting with this lawsuit
continuing. I have no choice but
to constantly question the true
motives for pursuing this suit,”
he wrote.
Mills offered to mediate after
the first hearing in February.
See related story published
on May 17,1998
“immediate public retraction” of
“false and defamatory statements
about me.”
See related story published
on May 22,1998
per capita figure would be ques
tioned later in the program.
“We are a full service depart
ment. We do everything at a
cheaper price,” Hendrix said.
The emotional volatility of the
issue was evident several times
during the meeting, from Hendrix
and from members of the audi
ence.
The first volley of emotion
came from Hendrix, who ques
tioned the “motivation of why
people were here.” Specifically,
Hendrix referred to Jack Manton,
who would follow Hendrix on the
program to present the “pro” side
of the county police proposal.
“Is Mr. Manton here to line his
pockets?” Hendrix asked.
See related story published
on May 22,1998
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FORSYTH COUNTY NEWS Thursday. January 14,1999 f
Special Response Team
takes aim at train course
By Colby Jones
Staff Writer
The Special Response Team
fired countless rounds of ammu
nition, climbed ropes and rescued
hostages while training this past
week in Toccoa. On Friday, the
team was supposed to graduate.
They never made it.
Instead, the team responded to
an office park where two men
shot a deputy after robbing a
Wachovia Bank on McFarland
Road.
They helped search office
buildings and surrounding woods
for four suspects believed to be
involved in the robbery.
The search for the robbery
suspects was just the sort of event
Maj. Mark Thomas and Capt.
Mark Hoffman’s team was
preparing for when interviewed
Thursday.
“We’re stressing command
and teamwork,” he said.
A total of 14 members went
through training from Oct. 19-23.
Sometime after graduation,
Hoffman said he will present the
team to Sheriff Denny Hendrix so
they can go into action.
See related story published
on Oct. 25, 1998
PAGE 5C