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THIS ISSUE
Copyright ©1999 Fonyth County Newi
Opinion
S 3
Editorial cartoonist’s
view on the news
Page 7A
Sports
Spring means high
school track
Page IB
LAKE LANIER LEVELS
Date Level
March 21 1067.40 ft
March 22 1067.41 ft
March 23 1067 ’ 4 1i r
Nertnal
Community
I
I
I
‘Arsenic and Old Lace’
at NFHS this weekend
Rage GA
INDEX
Abby BA
Church briefs 4A
Community.- 6A
Deaths 3A
Entertainment 1C
Events—— 5A
Opinion , 7A
Sports IB
COMING
SUNDAY
On the Web
Forsyth County student
is making waves over the
Internet with teen web site.
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Vol. 90, No. 38
Barnes' signature needed for Heidi's Law
By Colby Jones
Staff Writer
“Heidi’s Law” awaits the signature of
Gov. Roy Barnes after the General
Assembly unanimously voted this week to
strengthen state DUI laws.
In a 173-0 vote, state representatives
passed the legislation, which requires that
ignition interlocking devices be installed in
the vehicles of repeat offenders.
The House floor fell silent Tuesday night
Photo/Tom Brooks
Phil Kingry became the Forsyth County Postmaster earlier this month.
Phil Kingry is new postmaster
By Alton Bridges
Staff Writer
With the retirement of longtime
Postmaster L.C. Parks, Phil A. Kingry Sr.,
who has served as postmaster in
Alpharetta, assumed the duties as post
master in Cumming. Parks retired after a
35-year post office career. Kingry
assumed his new duties earlier this month.
“My family and I have lived in
Alpharetta since 1970,” said Kingry, “so
we really enjoy living in the north Atlanta
area. Evidently a lot of other folks do too,
because this is one of the fastest-growing
areas in America.
“Not only are people wanting to raise
their families here, but industry and busi
nesses are moving here, too,” Kingry
said.
“I'm really looking forward to coming
to Cumming because of all the good
things I have heard about the post office.
We know the area is one of the greatest
places in the world to live,” he said.
Kingry will be moving into one of the
Baby couldn 7
await hospital
delivery room
By Cheryl Vaughn
Features Writer
Nearly two weeks ago, Angie,'
Gargosh delivered a 6-pound, 11-ounce
i bouncing baby boy. Bouncing, because
that’s how it feels when you’re racing
through traffic toward the hospital and
the baby refuses to wait one more second.
“I was in the front seat, holding onto
one of those bars above the door, feeling I
ilike I needed to push,” recalls the proud; I
Mom, her newest son cradled in her I
arms, her oldest peering over her shoul-;
der. “I kept saying we needed to pull i
over, because he’s coming out right now.” i
( Her husband, Bob, refused, insisting;
they needed the medical attention that
only the hospital could offer, frantically
• urging their sports utility truck even
i« faster.
“He said, ‘I don’t know what to do
and you don’t know what to do,’ but I
guess the baby knew what io do, because
he just came out,” says Angie, chuckling.
See BABY, Page 3A
as Rep. Mike Evans told colleagues how a
suspected drunk driver took the lives of
Heidi Flye and her two young daughters on
a Forsyth County road last summer.
“It was very emotional,” Evans said
Wednesday as legislators attempted to hurry
through their bills on the 40th and final day
of the session.
The tragedy caught the attention of resi
dents here long before it reached the ears of
state lawmakers.
Heidi Flye, 32, and her two young chil-
fastest growing post offices in the entire
U.S. Postal Service system.
As Forsyth County grows, changes
are required so the post office can adapt
to the rapid growth. The post office that
served Cumming was moved in 1992
from 123 Canton Road, where the
Sherwin-Williams store is now located.
When the post office moved, there
were 16 mail routes. Today, 60 routes
operate from the location on Tribble Gap
Road.
In <1989, the Cumming Post Office
had 40 employees. Ten years later, 130
people work to insure the mail is
received, processed and delivered to the
people who are serviced by the Cumming
Post Office.
Today, the present facility is filled to
capacity and the annual revenues exceed
$5 million, compared to $1.5 million just
10 years ago.
Preparations are being made to add an
additional 28,000-square-foot postal facil
ity on the east side of Ga. 400 in the next
two years.
Photo/Tom Brooks
Angie Gargosh with her 3-1/2-year-old son, Mitchell, and
newborn, Hayden Thomas, who was bom in dad's truck.
FRIDAY MARCH 26, 1999
dren, Cathryn and Audrey, died after a Jeep
Cherokee crossed the center line on Hwy.
20 and hit the family’s Chevrolet Lumina
head-on during the afternoon hours on July
13,1998.
The driver of the Jeep, Ralph Gilbert
Cox Jr., was later indicted on vehicular
homicide charges for the deaths. The fact
Cox was initially released on $17,700 bond
and had pleaded “no contest” to a DUI
chaige less than a year before the accident
prompted an outcry from the community.
Steffey has not exhausted
local appeals, says Judge
By Jim Riley •
Staff Writer
An order was issued Wednesday from
Senior Judge Don A. Langham upholding
the decision of the State Board of Education
concerning a former South Forsyth Middle
School assistant principal.
The State Board of Education ruled that it
has no jurisdiction over Susan Steffey’s
appeal of her demotion because she has not
exhausted her appeals process at the local
Summer school to be offered
By Laura Lavezzo
Lifestyle Editor
Don’t tell the kids, but for
the first time, Forsyth County
Schools will offer a variety of
summer school programs.
Actually, school administra
tors are hoping students will
be open to the notion of con
tinued academic practice and
the chance to catch up with,
or even get ahead of, their
classmates.
“We are very concerned
about the students who are
not performing at grade
level,” said Judy Thornton,
deputy superintendent of cur
riculum and instruction.
Students who place at or
below the 25th percentile on
the lowa Test of Basic Skills
are a particular concern. “We
need to catch these kids in
first and second grade - not
wait until third grade.”
Last year, the Forsyth
County Board of Education
approved the formation of a
comprehensive summer
school program to help
See SCHOOL, Page 2A
Solicitor Leslie Abernathy, along with
Sen. Billy Ray and Evans, took the cue and
began drafting legislation.
Senators unanimously passed a similar
version of the bill earlier this year. It would
have required that interlocking devices be
installed after a first, instead of second, con
viction. Ray, who proposed the bill in the
Senate, said the bill’s passage was easy
compared to getting it through the necessary
See HEIDI'S, Page 2A
level.
The state board ruled the local school
system is required to have a three-tier appeal
process in place and that Steffey had only
gone through two of the levels of appeal. 1 '
In his decision, Langham stated the
statute permits appeals to the State Board for
decisions made “by local boards after a heat
ing. In the absence of a hearing, the State
Board lacks jurisdiction to consider the
See STEFFEY, Page 2A
Photo/Tom Brooks
Work proceeding at the new administrative site.
* < 1
Planners’ time may be
invested in planning,:
not simply rezonings:
By Jim Riley
Staff Writer
At their monthly workshop
meeting Tuesday night,
Forsyth County Planning
Commissioners discussed
upcoming zoning issues and
the possibility of changing the
future format of workshop
meetings.
Staff Planner Tom Brown
suggested the planning com
missioners use the time for
planning issues instead of con
centrating on future zonings.
Planning Commissioner
Pam Livesay said the input of
the Forsyth County
Commissioners would be wel
come at the workshop meet
ings. “When we started this,
we wanted some of the com
missioners’ input,” she said.
Livesay suggested the plan
ning and development staff use
the workshop time to present
information to the planning
50 Cents
commission. < ‘
Chairman Dennis Martin
pointed to the trend of
prospective developers sitting
on zoned property. “We have
acres of undeveloped
(industrial) and CBD (com
mercial) property,” he said.
“We need to finish up what
we’ve already zoned.”
Martin said that new zon
ings are occurring with exist
ing subdivisions not built out..
Livesay and Martin dis
cussed the possibility of hav
ing buildout time limits on
CBD and Ml property. Then
the property would revert back
to its original zoning; most
likely Al (agricultural).
The board discussed the
impact of the zoning moratori
um, with Brown reporting that
vested rights applications have
decreased sharply in the
months since the moratorium
was enacted.
See PLAN, Page 2A