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CtotKiy ,•?/..... Partly cloudy. Highs in the 70s Lows in the 50s. THIS ISSUE Copyright ©IW Forsyth County News r -t - Eww'j® jf. '* ■ gWarr - <4*.' —•*t -'• ■ a -*» ■■■*--' - j W Young golfers benefit from fundraiser. Page IB Read about the new season’s teen shows in our TV book. INSIDE LAKE LANIER LEVELS Date Level Sept. 26 1062.69 ft Sept, 27 1062.61 ft Sept. 28 1062.53 ft Sept 29 106233 ft Akmnal 1071.00 Programsand special events in area churches. PageßA INDEX Abby. 10A Business .6A Church AA Classifieds 3B Deaths -2A Entertainment 1C Opinion 11A Horoscope ._._lOA Sports IB COMING SUNDAY Football Action Results of this week's high school football games. Missed paper policy: For a replacement paper call 8 a.m. - 5:30 p.m. Wednesday, ' Thursday and Friday, and 9 a.m. -1 p.m. on Sunday - (770) 887-3120. MO Forsyth County News J Your "Hometown Paper" Since 1908 J Jpj*^* 3 * 12/31/99 Vol. 90, No. 145 Stars turn out to help hospital Golf, music, auctions generate $150,000 for Cumming ’s Baptist Medical Center By The/ese Allen Vanattia Staff Writer The third annual Invitational Golf Tournament and music extravaganza to benefit the Baptist Health Care Foundation took place Monday and Tuesday at The Golf Club of Georgia in the Windward Community off of McGinnis Ferry Road. Hosted by race car driver Buckshot Jones and country music recording artist John Berry, both Georgia natives, the Invitational also was graced by the presence of other recording artists, including Jeff Carson, Mark Wills, Shenandoah’s Mike McGuire and Curtis Wright, Dwayne O’Brien from Little Texas and Restless Heart’s Larry Stewart. Countless other profes sional athletes and entertainers were on hand to tee off and later to entertain players and guests. The Invitational began three years ago under the inspiration of School system going online with results of annual tests ByLauraLavezzoCarrico Lifestyle Editor As soon as next year, parents and school administrators should be able to use the Internet to see how students do on a major annual standardized test. A new software system Test Trax, is used to monitor results from the lowa Tests of Basic Skills. ITBS is a stan dardized exam meant to evaluate students’ comprehension of the subject matter they should be learning at their own grade levels. ITBS scores help teachers and administrators determine curriculum strengths and weaknesses. Using Test Trax, school personnel will be able to track ITBS scores at the dis trict, school, classroom and individual levels over the course of several years by visiting a Web site. Director of Technology Bailey Mitchell demonstrated Test Trax at the Forsyth County Board of Education meeting on Sept. 9. “At the present time, Forsyth County Schools is in need of a good, easy-to-use tool for repotting test score data,” Mitchell said. “We receive a great deal of information about test results, mostly on paper, and all for one year at a time. It’s cumbersome to use this data since it involves manipulat ing huge quantities of information manually.” The availability of this information online will allow principals, teachers and parents to observe and interpret a Child’s progress from kindergarten through 12th grade. Doing so will allow special needs to be identified and addressed more easily, said Sue Gandy of the system’s tech nology department. “Parents can sign on and see the scores of their own kid and learn a lot about his learning habits,” Gandy said. If things seem inconsistent or troublesome, she added, “Maybe somebody isn’t working with him like they should to help him succeed.” For instance, Gandy explained, if a child is performing well in every subject area but math, teachers know they need to spend more time helping that child develop better math skills. If inconsistencies in grade-level achievement can be tracked to one particular classroom, Gandy said, school offi cials will be made aware that the teacher might be better qualified teaching another discipline or in another sys tem. Because this information will be accessible via the Internet, Mitchell said the database will be established with these access parameters: • Central Office instructional staff will have systemwide reporting capability. • Each school’s administrators will be able to view infor mation only for their building. • Teachers will be able to see reports only on their own classes. • Parents will have access to scores for their children only. Implementation of Test Trax will begin immediately with the purchase of the county’s ITBS scores for the past eight years. Officials said they hope to be using the program next year. For a total of $79,000 in local funds, the school system acquired the Test Trax software ($22,000); paid for the pro cessing and database setup for eight years prior ($40,000); and purchased actual ITBS data from Riverside Publishing for the past eight years ($17,000). For more information, visit the demonstration Web site for Test Trax at www.testtrax.com/testtrax.asp. GTE President H. David Fanning. The story goes that Fanning walked to Georgia Baptist Health Care Foundation President Frank Upchurch’s office with a big check and a bigger idea. Thus was the Invitational born. Since its inception in 1997, the event has raised more than $200,000 for Georgia Baptist Healthcare Foundation. Funding from past Invitationals was dis persed to various foundation pro jects, one of which is the con struction of Baptist Medical Center in Cumming. Funding from this year’s event, which raised more than $150,000, exclusively benefits the new hospital. In gratitude, the hospital announced Tuesday night that Baptist Medical Center’s state-of-the-art emergency suite will be named “The H. David Fanning Emergency Medical Suite” in honor of Fanning’s last ing commitment to the work of FRIDAY OCTOBER 1,1999 I ;—; _J GBHF. The funds were raised through entry fees and auctions. This year’s sum was enhanced by the generosity of John Berry, who agreed to auction himself off for a private concert. The high bidder was Pat Domenicone, owner of Classic Cadillac, who paid $25,100 for the special perfor mance. The list of players for this year’s Invitational included for mer Falcons coach Leeman Bennett; Steve Cropper, who wrote Otis Redding's “Siltin’ On the Dock of the Bay;” All-Star pitcher Jay Howell; Baseball See HOSPITAL, Page 2A 3 i% T t f „ .' LLJ __i. Jd Photo/Scott Rogers Flyin' high Jacob Butler, 7, seems to defy gravity as he reaches for the sky while soaring off a ramp during a rollerblading practice session. Seat on Civil Service Board draws questions Elected by employees, Sheriff’s Office volunteer refused position after being told it was a conflict By Jim Riley Staff Writer ( l A former volunteer in the Sheriff’s Office allegedly was told that helping the department and being a member of the county’s Civil Service Board would be a conflict of interest, so he gave up a posi tion on the Civil Service Board to which he was elected by county employees. Michael Wewers is again interested in serving on the board. He no longer is WI W ■ » Tass il®F JAff IT? 7 Tflm > fc v ■Bit IVI liEH IlMi IHi H ; I 7 Sh iJu l>- mL4 Photo/Scott Rogers Can man Dennis Lortie works to make a metal can sparkle in preparation for last weekend’s annual bazaar at Midway United Methodist Church. The gleaming line of cans' in the background show the end result of Lortie’s efforts. The well-cleaned cans were used to hold barbecue for the annual fund-raising effort. Photos/Therese Vanattia Top, dancers enjoy the fund raising festivities. Above, John Berry was the host and star performer for the benefit gala. involved with the Sheriff’s Office and says has learned that the conflict which kept him from serving originally may never have existed after all. Until recently, Wewers held an unpaid position as the lieutenant in charge of the reserve officers unit for the Sheriff’s Office. The reserve officers are volunteers who provide additional manpower when needed. The issue came to the light at Monday night’s Forsyth County Board of JU Planners approve subdivision expansion Laurel Springs would grow by 45 acres if commission OKs request By Jim Riley Staff Writer One of the county’s most popu lar wants to expand its borders to offer more housing to families that want to call Forsyth County home. Peachtree Development Group Inc. has filed an application to rezone 45 acres adjacent to the Laurel Springs neighborhood from Al (agricultural) to CRI (single family community residential). Local attorney Emory Lipscomb spoke on behalf of the developers at Tuesday night’s Planning Commission hearing. He said the project would be an extension of Laurel Springs, with the new development slated for land off Old Atlanta Road near the intersection of James Burgess Road. Lipscomb said the property would be served by the existing sewer system, and homes would range in price from $450,000- $475,000. No public opposition was pre sented at the public hearing. Planning Commissioner Pam Livesay made the motion to recom mend approval to the Forsyth County Board of Commissioners, which has the final say. Mary Helen McGruder second ed the motion, which passed unani mously. In other matters, the Planning Commission voted unanimously to deny a home business use permit for Deborah L. Crowl, in explain ing the vote to recommend denial, Chairman Dennis Martin said the applicant didn’t have a business license. The board postponed until its Oct. 26 meeting an application by Russell Pruitt for a home business use permit. The board approved home busi ness permits for Tony M. Kelley, Major Woodcraft and Ronald Fagan. Commissioners meeting when District 4 Commissioner Andy Anderson raised questions about Wewers’ recent decision to turn down a seat on the Civil Service Board after being elected by county employees. “He subsequently turned down his appointment, apparently as a result of being told that he legally could not serve on both the Sheriff’s Office Reserve See BOARD, Page 2A