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THIS ISSUE
Copyright © 1 999 Forsyth County News
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Special section
spotlights Women
of Forsyth.
Section D
Sports
The big dash between
South and Central in
7-AA hoops.
Page 1C
LAKE LANIER LEVELS
Date Level
Jan. 26 ’ 1063.99 ft
J9ri?27 1064.07 ft
r Jan. 28
Jan. 29 * 1064.20 ft _
W,l • 1070.00#
Forsyth Life
r fl fl I
Hall of Famer Coach
D.B. Carroll
commemorated
Page IB
INDEX
Abby 7B
Business . ...—SA
Deaths -2A
Forsyth Life IB !
Horoscope 7B
Opinion 10A
Schools 3A
Sports 1C
Women of Forsyth ID
www,forsythn6ws.cofn
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Vol. 90, No. 17
Lawsuit alleges
improper meeting
by commissioners
By Colby Jones and Jim Riley
Staff Writers
Environmental groups filed a
lawsuit last week against the
Forsyth County Board of
Commissioners, alleging the board
failed to follow proper procedures
in rezoning property that would
allow the troubled Lanier Beach
South wastewater treatment plant
to expand its service.
The lawsuit, filed Wednesday
by the Lake Lanier Association
and the Upper Chattahoochee
Riverkeeper Fund, claims the
board failed to specify why it
closed regular meetings on Dec. 28
and Jan. 11, then discussed the
rezoning request behind closed
doors.
At the end of the December
meeting, the board voted to rezone
property on South Shore Circle
from vacation cottage to residen
tial. The change would allow
developer Tim Williamson to place
32 additional sewer connections
onto the small, private plant.
However, commissioners placed a
i restriction on the rezoning that
requires any additional hook-ups to
be. approved by the state
Environmental Protection Division.
At that meeting, the board ini
tially added the rezoning to its
agenda under old business, then
later voted to postpone discussion
on the topic until after a closed ses
sion. After meeting in private, the
board passed the rezoning request
with various restrictions.
Commissioners Julian Bowen
and Bill Jenkins said the board did
Customers of Atlanta Gas Light
likely to see change in bill, rebates
By Cheryl Vaughn
Staff Writer
Avoiding what could have
become a lengthy, tedious formal
rate review, Atlanta Gas Light
Company (AGLC) has reached
agreement with the Georgia
Public Service Commission
(PSC) to restructure its system of
recovering gas costs.
The company’s billing will
revert to its former usage-based
pricing structure and several
thousand customers will receive
partial refunds for what PSC offi
cials refer to as AGLC’s fuel cost
“over recovery” in December
bills.
“The bottom line is that
Painting the way from
Taiwan to classrooms
By Laura Lavezzo
Lifestyle Editor
Yen Shufen, one of only 20 arti
sans in the world who paints the pop
ular “Cherished Teddies” collectibles,
demonstrated her techniques to a
group of Forsyth County school chil
dren last Thursday. Shufen, a citizen
of Taiwan, has been in the United
States on her first trip abroad for one
week. She will tour the country for
two months with ENESCO
Corporation, the manufacturer of
Cherished Teddies.
As a guest in Brenda Smith’s art
class at Mashbum Elementary School,
Shufen provided a lesson in the intri
cate process of painting the teddy bear
figurines. Each one takes a week to
complete, she explained. Third
graders lined up to get a closer look at
, Shufen’s skills, fascinated by her
answers to their many questions about
her childhood, how she got started in
not discuss the rezoning in closed
session, but only sought legal
advice regarding the legality of
whether they could vote on the
request without holding another
public hearing.
“There is no violation. There is
nothing illegal or improper about
the meeting,” said board Chairman
Jenkins.
After the January meeting,
Bowen invited Lake Lanier
Association member Tom Connell
into a closed session to make a pre
sentation regarding condemnation
of the plant. The board then asked
Connell to leave. Bowen said he
made a motion to condemn the
plant, but the motion died for a
lack of a second.
State law allows closed meet
ings to discuss the acquisition of
property. A condemnation by the
county requires the taking of prop
erty.
The lawsuit seeks to have a
Superior Court judge declare the
closed meetings illegal and reverse
the rezoning decision.
The state fined Lanier Beach
South $5,000 last year after EPD
tests proved the plant was dumping
excessive amounts of pollutants
into Lake Lanier. Homeowners
who initially tested the discharge
found fecal coliform counts as high
as 6 million colonies per 100 mL
of water. The EPD’s limit is 200
.colonies per 100 mL.
“We yied all avenues before
* > \■> ■ . i i 2 • A'*
See BOC, Page 2A
Atlanta Gas Light had over
recovered some of their fuel ,
costs, which is going to affect
about 300,000 of their 1.5 mil
lion customers,” explained
Commissioner Bubba McDonald
to gathered members of the
Forsyth County Kiwanis Club at
their monthly luncheon. “Nearly
$14.5 million will be rebated to
both residential and commercial
customers.
“This doesn’t touch every
body, but it does put the company
at a recovery risk of about $3
million,” he continued. “Natural
gas is a commodity on the
futures market and they bought
with the anticipation of cold.
painting and how she goes about mak
ing the figurines look so beautiful.
“You’ve got to have patience,”
Shufen said to the young students. “I
always start from the most difficult
part first, and it makes the rest of it go
easy.”
“We wanted to inspire the children
and show them how they can grow
with their talents,” said Lara Brown,
field marketing manager with
ENESCO.
“I have no long history of painting
bears," Shufen said. “But I’ve painted
a lot of things since I was a little kid.”
Shufen signed and donated one of the
collectibles she painted to Smith’s
class. The Mashbum TPO is planning
to purchase a display cabinet for the
fragile piece, Smith said.
The Cherished Teddies tour is
sponsoring a book drive to benefit
children at St. Jude Children’s
Research Hospital. For information,
visit the web site at www.enesco.com.
SUNDAY JANUARY 31, 1999
Fly High Dirty Birds
wEiEeraM ®ns
—Bv- - - -- . r. ~—l
Photo/Cheryl Vaughn
Public Service Commissioner
Bubba McDonald explains dur
ing a Kiwanis Club luncheon
the agreement recently
reached between the PSC and
Atlanta Gas Light Company.
which hasn’t hit with any length
or magnitude. They could’ve
See ACL, Page 8A
K
' . • ■ . •/' .<■?
Mashburn third graders got a close-up lesson from “Cherished Teddies” artist Yen Shufen
Thursday. From left, Shufen, Alisa Davis, Sarah Rinker and Ashley Pennington.
Meeting with state DOT
encourages local officials
By Jim Riley
Staff Writer
On Wednesday, the Forsyth
County Board of Commissioners
traveled to Atlanta to meet with
Department of Transportation
(DOT) Commissioner Wayne
Shackleford, state Sens. Billy Ray
and Casey Cagle, and state Reps.
Bobby Reese and Mike Evans.
Afterward, Commission
Chairman Bill Jenkins was very
enthusiastic about both meetings.
“We were all very pleased,” he
said.
In total, the county received
about $700,000 for resurfacing
50 Cents |
Falcon fever
These Forsyth County
youngsters did their bit last
week to support the Atlanta
Falcons in their Super Bowl
showdown with the Denver
Broncos. Above, Vickery
Creek Middle School prin
cipal Mike Rossano (cen
ter, back) joins in a wing
flapping rendition of the
Dirty Bird. Left, the Forsyth
County Head Start pro
gram at Big Creek shows
its support for the Falcons.
Photos/Tom Brooks
projects involving 28 roads. The
county must match that amount
with $250,000 in local funds.
Evans also was very encour
aged about the meeting. “We had
probably the best meeting we’ve
ever had with the commissioners
and DOT,” he said.
“Commissioner Shackleford was
most accommodating and under
stands Forsyth County’s needs.”
One of the topics of conversa
tion at the meeting was a lawsuit
filed by environmental groups
against the DOT, the Atlanta
Regional Commission and the
See DOT, Page 2A