Newspaper Page Text
* % -
l?'’a .-WWF
Rain
♦
i w
4 ' *'* E ' - ♦’ '
*< Rain follows Thursday’s
« - cloudy skies.
• Highs -50 s; Lows -40 s.
THIS ISSUE
. Copyright © 1999 Forsyth County News
t '
I
.WT ■
Falcons getting signs of
local support.
Page4A
L
’ Raiders over Bulldogs
on the mat
Page IB
'•
LAKE LANIER LEVELS
Date Level
Jan. 24 1063.40 ft
Jan: 25 1063.77 ft
‘rr;
-f
W<MIBaNKOMF«'*K«w* ■■ w
i ,? Hi
HI 4k§
kt -
Kids enjoy a night out
.. at Midway Park.
Page 9A
.£/♦
X INDEX
Abby JOA
• Babies of'9B 5A
Church briefs ...—3A
fOassifieds 3B
; Community 8A
Deaths 2A
-Entertainment 1C
Events 9A
Opinion ....11A
.. IB
cz ■'
< COMING
;< SUNDAY
Women of Forsyth
*
‘ < Special section spotlights a
'number of area women who
have made contributions to the
‘ Forsyth County community.
♦■•■♦*■ ■■»* ...
>/ Missed paper policy:
‘. * For a replacement paper call
• 1* B a.m. - 5:30 p.m. Wednesday,
Thursday and Friday, and 9 a.m. -1
f£m. on Sunday - (770) 887-3126.
w
Forsyth County News
J Your "Hometown Paper" Since 1908 J
Vol. 90 No 17
Future lake levels may be wrß uOL narge ;
By Jim Riley
Staff Writer
On Wednesday night, concerned citizens
from Forsyth and Hall met at the
Gainesville Civic Center to hear Harold
Reheis, director of the Georgia
Environmental Protection Division (EPD),
speak about the ongoing water negotiations
concerning Lake Lanier.
An aspect of his presentation also dealt
with putting treated wastewater into the
lake, a future possibility which was appar
ently not welcomed by the audience.
rp —i —’
lIL/M nLkrfc
Til ‘ .
ll|E< I 11-Wit Kfo*' - *
lAiiii Wwm <»
WiHMr kh '
Residents along
Crystal Cove Road
can tap onto water
for discounted rate
By Jim Riley
Staff Writer
If they respond by Feb. 5, residents of
Crystal Cove Road will receive substantial
savings on 3/4-inch waterline service con
nections.
The Forsyth County Water and Sewer
Department is offering the connection for
$250, plus a SSO deposit fee. The reduced
price applies to existing homes only.
After Feb. 5, the price goes up to SI,OOO
for the tap-on fee, including a SSO deposit.
According to Water and Sewer
Department Director Tim Perkins, the
reduced price is due to a volume discount
offered by the contractor used by the coun
ty. After the cut-off date, the county will
have to use subcontractors for the jobs at a
higher price.
A minimum bill of sl2 per month will
be assessed on each tap made whether the
customer connects to the meter or not.
Applications may be obtained at the
Department of Water and Sewer located at
110 E. Main St., Suite 150 in Cumming,
Monday-Friday from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m.
For information, call (770) 781-2160 or
(770) 781-2161.
Your "Hometown Paper" Since 1908 <
The forum was sponsored by the
Cumming/Forsyth County Chamber of
Commerce, the Hall County Chamber of
Commerce and the Quality Growth Council
of Hall County.
Currently Georgia is involved in a series
of water negotiations with Alabama and
Florida concerning water allocation among
river systems that the states share. The
Chattahoochee, into which Lake Lanier
waters flow, is shared by all three states and
is the central focus of the negotiations.
Lowered lake levels have been the prin
cipal fear of property owners around the
City of Cumming
readying for Y2K
By Lisa Renzi
News Intern
The recent Y2K epidemic
has reached all time propor
tions, and “Millennium Bug
Fever” has had the same
impact on Forsyth County
residents as well.
The Y2K problem will
undoubtedly continue to
cause apprehension in people
world wide, and the City of
Cumming has taken pains to
ensure compliancy in all of
their systems for the year
2000.
“Our main concerns have
been in our utility billing and
payroll systems,” said City
Clerk Jeff Honea. “We have
made a few changes, but most
of our computers were fairly
new.”
According to Honea,
Cumming has spent less than
SIO,OOO on the Y2K effort
thus far, and the network
within City Hall will be com
pliant in time for the year
2000.
With final testing sched
uled for March, City Hall has
FRIDAY JANUARY
Photos/Tom Brooks
Firefighters battle a fire where the family was
not home. The investigation is continuing.
Investigation into
home fire continues
By Colby Jones
Staff Writer
Fire destroyed the wood frame house of a Jot
’Em Down Road family Wednesday morning.
The house, located at 6140 Jot ’Em Down
Road in the north end of the county, was a com
plete loss. No one was injured or was inside the
house at the time, said Public Safety Director
Miles Butler.
The first engine arrived to the home at 10:50
a.m., five minutes after the fire department
received the call. Butler said the house could not
be saved because the blaze was almost fully
See FIRE, Page 2A
already contracted Tyler Hook
to handle hardware testing.
Hook, a free-lance specialist,
has been responsible in
checking areas of City Hall,
such as billing, payroll, busi
ness licensing and accounts
payable. These systems
stretch throughout city hall on
an exclusive network and,
according to Honea, the sys
tems will be ready on time.
“We feel it’s something
really important to get started
as early as we could,” Honea
said.
The other City of
Cumming department that has
been of great concern to resi
dents is the water department
In a recent written state
ment to City Administrator
Gerald Blackburn, Nolan
Johnson of Civil Engineering
Consultants Inc., reported
there were “no instrumenta
tion or control systems” that
require date calculations to
function property.
As the Y2K situation
See Y2K, Page 2A
lake and those who make their living in the
recreation and real estate industry. “We
won’t accept a bad deal for Georgia,”
Reheis said. “We’re not afraid to go to
court, everyone can be comfortable with
that.”
The three states agreed to a 12-month
extension of the negotiation deadline of
Dec. 31, 1998. According to Reheis, the
three states have been unable to come up
with a meeting date so far this year. During
his remarks, Reheis offered that Alabama
might possibly be trying to slow some of
Georgia’s growth so that some might trickle
Suspect arrested
in bank robbery
By Colby Jones
Staff Writer
FBI agents descended on a Comfort Inn outside
Birmingham, Ala., Tuesday night, arresting
Michael Troy Tudor in connection with an October
bank robbery in Forsyth County.
Tudor, 29, was charged with bank robbery and
assault with a deadly weapon for an Oct. 23 rob
bery at a Wachovia bank on McFarland Road.
Several automatic weapons, police scanners and
books about bomb making were found inside
Tudor’s hotel room, said FBI spokeswoman Celeste
Armstead.
See ROBBERY, Page 2A
Driver’s ed takes
to the roadway
By Laura Lavezzo
Lifestyle Editor
Classes began Saturday for the new driver’s edu
cation program in Forsyth County Schools.
The school system’s recent “ge.itlemen’s agree
ment” with Nathan’s Driving School provides less
expensive driving lessons to Forsyth County teens
than if they were to sign up privately. In addition,
the high schoolers don’t need to travel very far from
home for the course - classroom instruction is being
held at Piedmont Learning Center.
Nathan’s Driving School, a private business in
the metro Atlanta area, has locations in Roswell,
Chamblee and Lilburn. If a student were to travel to
one of those locations to take private classes, it
would cost $385. Through the school system, the
cost is $277.75 -a savings of more than SIOO. And
the group was happy to connect with Forsyth
County, said Nathan’s general manager, Tom Miller.
See DRIVER'S, Page 2A
-
/till
Photo/Tom Brooks
City Clerk Jeff Honea: Cumming started early on compliance.
their way.
If the issue does end up in court, he esti
mated it would cost millions in legal fees
and could drag on at least 10 years. This is
due to the fact that the U.S. Supreme Court
has jurisdiction in disputes between states.
Alabama’s position is that in order for
barge traffic to be possible that during times
of drought Lanier would have to be drawn
down past their historic low levels. Georgia
has contended this would have severe nega
tive impacts on a recreation-based economy
See LAKE LEVELS, Page 2A
Cents |