Newspaper Page Text
mIOSUy SHMlIij
High in the high 50s.
Low in the high 30s.
THIS ISSUE
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Forsyth wrestlers
compete in
Loganville tourney.
Page IB
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South teams
top Fannin County.
Page IB
LAKE LANIER LEVELS
Date r Level
Jan. 11 1063.25 ft
Jan. 12 1063.56 ft
Jan. 13 1063.41 ft
Jan. .14 1063.43*
Normal 1071.00 ft
b
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Stores busted for
selling alcohol
to minors.
FtogeGA
INDEX
Abby 7A
Classifieds SB
Comics 7A
Deaths 2A
Events 9A
Horoscope 7A
Legate SA
Opinion IGA
Sports IB
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j 1 A ,01 F 006130 12/31/99
Forsyth Count' »s
J Your "Hometown Paper" Since 1908 J
Vol. 91 No 10
t jSht
Photo/Tom Brooks
Pastoral setting
Soft billowing clouds grace the top of Sawnee Mountain as sunlight streaks a horse-filled pasture off Pilgrim Mill
Road. The bucolic scene serves as a welcome reminder of the county’s rural days and its natural beauty.
County working on bond vote details
By Jim RHsy _
Staff Writer
With a $65 million bond vote less than
two months away, the Forsyth County
Board of Commissioners is still discussing
how to spend the funds should voters
approve the measure.
The referendum will include
$13,885,(XX) for courthouse and parking
deck expansion; $18,935,000 for detention
center and sheriff’s office construction and
renovation; $16,390,000 for road improve
ment bonds; and $16,390,(XX) for parks
and recreation facility bonds.
City police
handle rash
of forgeries
By Jonathan Hamilton
Staff Writer
The Christmas season was
busy for retailers this year, but it
appears it also was busy for ped
dlers of a different sort forgers.
Thirteen cases of forgery were
turned over to the Cumming
Police Department last week and
11 of the incidents involved stolen
checks.
The stores involved were Wal-
Mart and Al’s Quickstop.
“We definitely have seen a big
increase in the number of forgery
cases over last year," said Police
Chief Buck Jones. “With the
growth we have experienced, we
have also gotten the big stores like
Wal-Mart, Home Depot and
Lowe’s. Those make attractive tar-
See FORGERIES, Page 2A
WWII veteran was part of German surrender
By Alton Bridges
Staff Writer
When James Carroll was still in high
school, his dad died and he had to go to work
to support his mother and family. This native of
Pensacola, Fla., had to leave high school in
1940 to work in the trucking business.
On May 14, 1941 he married Nellie Ruth
Johns of Mobile, Ala.
To say the least, his personal life and the
business were going well.
it was 1944
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WEDNESDAY JANUARY 19, 2000
The question will be on the March 7
ballot.
Forsyth County residents will have the
opportunity to vote on each proposal as a
separate line item.
While funds will be included on the
ballot for the new detention facility, sever
al commissioners favor expanding the
existing detention facility without purchas
ing property at another site.
“If someone is not happy being an
inmate in Forsyth County, then don’t get
locked up here,” said Chairman Bill
Jenkins.
The other board members agreed with
jE
Chicken penned
A 1998 Mazda Millennia and a chicken truck got tangled up when the Millennia ran into the back
of the trailer Monday morning in downtown Cumming. Cumming Police Chief Buck Jones said the
driver of the Mazda received a citation for an improper righthand turn. There were no reported
injuries. Both vehicles were heading south on Hwy. 9 near Hwy. 20 when the accident occurred.
when Carroll received notice he was to become
a member of the U. S. Army. A few days later,
he was taking basic training at Camp Wheeler
near Macon.
In September of the same year, he was sta
tioned in France replacing soldiers who had
been killed or wounded in Company C, 11th
Infantry Regiment, sth Infantry Division,
which was a part of the Third Army command
ed by Gen. George Patton.
As an enlisted man. Carroll participated in
the Battle of the Bulge and battles in the
I mountains of northern Europe, assault
I river crossings especially the Saar and
Moselle Rivers at Metz and the pene
fV I (ration of the Siegfried Line.
“When I joined the sth Division, the
. M* | unit was in the process of capturing the
ts 1 great forts at Metz," said Carroll. “The
tYttfefi| large forts were built many years before
by the French, but they were defended by
I the Germans. After capturing Mett and
XtiXt I the forts, we moved to Saarlautern,
Qhf I Germany, a part of the Siegfried Line, a
gtelll great mass of fortifications stretching
for miles along the German border. The
fighting was for each house and block with
Jenkins that the county’s first option
should be to expand the jail.
“We have a huge expenditure already
in that jail,” said Commissioner Julian
Bowen “I think we’re asking the taxpay
ers of this county to give us a Mercedes on
these particular projects when a Toyota is
just as good.”
Bowen said the reason he vexed for the
bond was to go along with the chairman
but, without being specific, said if he had
to vote today he would vote against three
of the items.
See BOND, Page 2A
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James Carroll now lives in Forsyth
County. Left, a St Louis newspaper pro
claims Germany’s surrender.
enemy machine guns covering the open
streets.”
See VETHtAM Page 4A
Passersby
thwart
abduction
from store
By Colby Jones
Staff Writer
A Kroger employee faces
charges for attacking and
attempting to kidnap a young
mother as she left the grocery
store in south Forsyth County
with a birthday cake for her
daughter.
According to the Forsyth
County Sheriff’s Office,
Gregory Wayne Leppla, 49, of Cumming followed
the 23-year-old Forsyth County woman, whose
name has not been released to the public, into the
parking lot of the Johns Creek shopping center
Friday night. Leppla, who was wearing a ski mask
and dark clothes, pointed a pellet gun into the vic
tim’s rib cage when she got into her car. Police said
the victim had stopped by the store on her way home
from work to buy a birthday cake for her daughter
“He told her to go with him" said Cpl. Horace
Perry. “She started to struggle with him and he start
ed beating her in the neck and face with the butt of
the gun.”
Another woman heard screaming and confronted
Leppla, who turned the gun on her and told her to go
away, said Perry. The woman ran into the store and
got someone to call 911.
A man spotted the confrontation and wrestled the
gun away from Leppla. The attack drew the atten-
See SUSPECT, Page 2A
Wandering
patient
returned
by searchers
By Jonathan Hamilton
Staff Writer
A combined group of searchers
from the Cumming Police
Department and Forsyth County
Fire Department were successful
early Monday morning in finding
and returning a Cumming Manor
patient to the care facility.
The elderly woman, an
Alzheimer’s disease patient, had
wandered away from the facility
and out into the cool night air.
According to Cumming Manor
administrator Sterling Chadwick,
nurses noticed the patient was gone
shortly after I am. The patient hid
from the nurses making the night
rounds and then left the facility by
knocking out the screen from
another patient’s window and
climbing out.
The search party found her in
the woods at 4:30 am. Monday.
After she was found she was
taken to the emergency room and
released to Cumming Manor,
Chadwick said.
“You are limited by what you
can do to secure a patient’s room
that really wants to wander. Her
room is on a secure courtyard but
for fire safety reasons you can’t
secure the all windows in the build
ing,” Chadwick added.
He praised the quick response
and dedication of the search teams.
“The searchers did an excellent
job. She was lucky that it wasn't too
cold on Sunday night. She was in
excellent spirits Monday morning at
breakfast,” Chadwick said, adding it
was the first time a patient had wan
dered away from the facility in four
years
Cumming Police Chief Buck
Jones said the searchers were pre
pared to stay out all night to make
sure the woman was returned safe
ly
“The men were determined to
find her,” Jones said.
Photo/Tom Brooks
50 Cents J
Leppla