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THIS ISSUE
Copyright O 1999 Forsyth County News
Sports
. ....
High schoo! teams
tee it up for gridiron
action.
Page 1C
High school
volleyball action
heats up.
Page2C
LAKE LANIER LEVELS
Date Level
Sept. 7 1064.30 ft
Sept. 8 1064.20 ft
Sept 9 1064.10 ft
f Sept 10" 1064.04 ft
Normal 1070.00 ft
Forsyth Life
ZSF
Exchange student from
Denmark explores a
different world.
Page 1C
INDEX
Abby..... .68
Births 48
Business 9A
Classifieds 3C
Deaths...- 2A
Forsyth Life - IB
Horoscope 68
Opinion 16A
Sports 1C
e-mail address:
eddor@forsythnews.com
COMING
WEDNESDAY
Commentary Galore
Read Bill Shipp and
Phil Danner in
Wednesday's edition.
Missed paper policy:
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Thursday and Friday, and 9 a.m. -1
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90994 n 04001
Forsyth Count vNews
J Your "Hometown Paper" Since 19l , 01 F00613e 12/
Vol. 90, No. 134
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Local doctor travels to Turkey
to help treat earthquake victims
By Alton Bridges
Staff writer
Dr. Michael G. Hogan was
among a dedicated group of
physicians who recently trav
eled to Turkey to help those
injured when that country was
rocked by a devastating earth
quake.
Now that he’s back home in
Forsyth County, the things he
encountered will stay with him
for a lifetime.
“Turkey was sad, real sad,”
Hogan recalls. “There were no
facilities and the people were
destitute. The earthquake hit
early in the morning while
most were still in bed. There
was no escape.
“Buildings fell on people
while they were sleeping. The
earthquake destroyed whole
families. We were working
with one little boy in a clinic
who had his legs crushed. He
was probably going to lose at
least one leg, but he was taking
the pain like a trooper. He
didn’t know, and we didn’t
have the heart to tell him, that
his parents and all his siblings
were killed.”
The earthquake hit the
Road rage incidents
reported more often,
especially on Ga. 400
By Colby Jones
Staff Writer
The motorist next to you in
rush-hour traffic could be a time
bomb waiting to explode - waiting
for you to hit the brakes in the fast
lane or break some other unwrit
ten rule of the road.
It appears cases of road rage
have moved up Ga. 400 into
Forsyth County along with an
influx of sport utility vehicles and
station wagons.
The Sheriff’s Office has
received at least a half dozen
reports of road rage over the past
eight months.
"We have seen an increase in
the last year,” said Sheriff’s Office
spokeswoman Karleen Chalker.
“It has primarily been on 400.”
The most recent case happened
on Labor Day when a 27-year-old
Suwanee man reported another
motorist rear-ended him, then
threatened him with a knife.
The man said he was traveling
south on Turner Road when a Red
Honda Prelude clipped his vehicle
from behind at 8:45 p.m.
The driver of the Honda con-
g,
Photo/Submitted
Above, Dr. Michael G. Hogan works with a young patient dur
ing the relief effort. Top, buildings in downtown Istanbul crum
bled during the killer earthquake.
Middle Eastern country Aug.
17 and took just 48 seconds to
destroy an area of 200 square
miles, including the heart of
Istanbul. The tragedy resulted
in 16,000 confirmed deaths, but
unofficial estimates have the
death toll as high as 22,000.
“The grief of the families
was unreal," says Hogan.
fronted the other man, wielding a
knife, and said, “If you write
down my tag number I will kill
you,” states a Sheriff’s Office
report.
The victim drove to a local
restaurant and called 911. He later
told deputies he was more upset
about the threat than the minor
damage to his car.
Often the rage surfaces as
nothing more than an uplifted
middle finger or dirty look.
Other times it can lead to vio
lence.
A motorist who passed a mini
van on Ga. 400 during rush-hour
traffic last year took a severe beat
ing. The victim told deputies he
was traveling southbound near
Hwy. 141 when he passed a mini
van in the left-hand lane. The
mini-van bumped his Acura
Integra and both drivers pulled
into the emergency lane.
The driver of the mini-van then
smashed both driver’s side win
dows and hit the driver in the head
with a large flashlight.
See RACE, Page 3A
SUNDAY SEPTEMBER 12, 1
“There are and will be a lot of
emotional problems because
many people lost everything.
Everyone was trying to rebuild.
The people were in denial.
Nothing this horrible could
possibly have happened to
them.
See HOGAN, Page 4A
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Oldest VGA grad
celebrates 104th
By Therese Allen Vanattia
Staff Writer
Native Georgian and recent Cumming resident
John Huland Carmical turned 104 years old on
Sept. 9. A resident of White Oaks at Lanier,
Carmical says he fully expects to live in three
centuries: the 19th, 20th and into the 21st cen
turies.
Carmical was born on Sept. 11, 1895, in
Campbell County, which has since merged with
Fulton County. He is thought to be the University
of Georgia's oldest living graduate*; He graduated
in 1917 with a degree in journalisrA.
See OLDEST, Page 2A
School system
getting ready
for bond vote
By Laura Lavezzo Carrico
Lifestyle Editor
On Tuesday, Sept. 21. Forsyth
County voters will be asked to
approve a $125 million bond refer
endum to help local schools fur-
ther meet the
needs of the
area’s growing
population.
If approved,
the bond money
would allow the
school system to
finance a pro
gram of building
If our bond issue
did not pass for
some reason, we
would be hard
strapped.
and renovation
for school facilities across the
county, including the purchase of
land for future schools.
Overcrowding in schools is not
conducive to a quality learning
experience, school board members
say, yet several schools contain
populations that exceed their state
recommended capacities, and
those which are currently at or
below capacity threaten to expand
rapidly over the next few years.
This problem is forcing the
school board to find a solution -
and fast. The population of local
school children has more than
doubled in only 10 years, and has
Commission will discuss
fate of subdivision street
Septic problems, budget also on Monday's agenda
By Jim Riley
Staff Writer
After hearing a presentation
from Deer Lake subdivision
homeowners last month con
cerning the possible abandon
ment of a portion of Fawn Lake
Drive, the Forsyth County
Board of Commissioners will
consider the proposal at their
meeting Monday night.
Residents presented graphic
evidence at the Aug. 23 meet
ing supporting their claims that
outside traffic has been using
their neighborhood as a cut
through between McGinnis
Ferry Road and Hwy. 141.
Good Samaritan
returns found cash
By Joda Browning
Staff Writer
There are still good Samaritans in the world,
and one of them lives right here in Forsyth County.
Last Sunday, 24-year-old Kimberly Abbott of
Cumming found S9OO at Cici’s Pizza in Cumming
Abbott
money. When no one
claimed the money, the police were contacted.
“I'm not taking someone else’s money,” Abbott
explained. “That’s not me."
The police arrived and Abbott turned the
money over to them. The police informed her they
would contact her if no one claims the money.
“I didn’t even know how much money I had
found until the police arrived and counted it,” she
said.
This particular Samaritan knows a little bit
about the value of money.
A junior majoring in accounting, Abbott
attends Devry College’s Alpharetta campus. She
moved to Forsyth County with her parents, Carl
and Karen Abbott, and brother Russell, when she
was 10.
"I hope I have set a good example for other
people to follow," Abbott said.
increased by more than 10 percent
over the last year. More than
16,000 kids go to Forsyth County
Schools at this time, and it was
recently estimated that the student
population likely will hit the
20,000 mark
within the next
couple of years.
“If our bond
issue did not
pass for some
reason, we
would be hard
strapped,” said
Dr. Allene
Magill,
Superintendent of Schools.
“Zoning has already been
approved for 23,000-plus students
by 2003.”
A major factor of the bond
issue, said board member Paul
Kreager, is the seemingly endless
zoning for new housing subdivi
sions/ despite a zoning moratori
um that was put in place last year.
Most of this development
involves land traditionally used
for agricultural purposes - where
schools currently are few and far
between.
See BOND, Page 3A
If the roau is abandoned by
the county, it couid become pri
vately owned and closed to pub
lic traffic.
In other business, Kent
Lawson, with the Forsyth
County Health Department, is
scheduled to present an update
and progress report concerning
the Kroger septic system at
Hwy. 20 and Bethelview Road.
Lawson, as well as several
neighboring homeowners,
reported on the problem earlier
this summer and described how
several septic systems installed
by the shopping center have
See COUNTY, Page 2A
Upon entering the restau
rant, Abbott said she found
the rolled group of bills on
the floor near the entrance.
“I saw a SIOO bill on top of
other bills," she recalled.
Abbott, who was attend
ing a birthday party at the
restaurant, then asked sev
eral people in line with her
if they had dropped any