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High in the low 80s.
Low in the low 70s.
■MLL.I., I . 1 ■»
THIS ISSUE
Copyright C JOT* Forsyth County News
r—«
J 3
Great Race kids
check in from the road.
Page IB
Local brothers pitch
school into North
Carolina state title.
RagelC
LAKE LANIER LEVELS
Date Level
June 13 1066.97 ft
June 14 1067.87 ft
’ 1067. n £1
une 16
Mashburn Elementary
has fun at field day.
Page9A
INDEX
Abby _......_.68
Births 4B
Business 5A
Deaths 2A
Forsyth Life. IB
Horoscope 6B
Opinion 16A
Schools 9A
Sports 1C
email address:
editor@fdrsythnews.com
COMING
WEDNESDAY
Commentary Galore
Bill Shipp offers his opinion
about politics and government
on the editorial page.
Missed paper policy:
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Thursday and Friday, and 9 a.m. -1
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Forsvth CountvNews
vol 9V. No. 95 ■
EPD proposal sparks debate at public hearing
By Jim Riley
For the Forsyth County News
A large crowd turned out Thursday
night for a public hearing to discuss the
proposed amount of treated wastewater
iocal governments will be able to pump into
Lake Lanier over the next 20 years.
If approved, the EPD plan would allow
Forsyth County to increase its output into
the lake from 200,000 gallons per day to 23
million by the year 2020.
Gwinnett would be allowed up to 40
Water ban
violators
bottled up
Enforcement
of restrictions
keeps county
officers busy
By Jonathan Hamilton
Staff Writer
The radio speaker in Cumming
police cruiser No. 107 crackled to
life and officer Ron Bray sprang
into action.
“Unit 107, violation of water
ing ban on 12th Street,” said the
dispatcher.
A neighbor snitched on the
outdoor watering ban violator,
phoning the police department.
“I just came from that area,”
Bray said as he turned his patrol
car on Tribble Gap Road to get to
the offender.
The suspects attempted to be
tricky by hiding on the porch, but
the water glistening off the freshly
washed van gave the violation
away.
Bray told the two men, “You
guys can’t do any outdoor water
ing in the city between 10 a.m.
and 10 p.m. on even days. If I
have to come back out here for
this I will have to write you a cita
tion.”
Bray said most of the people
he has talked to have just forgot
ten and really didn’t mean to vio
late the ban.
No one is above the restric-
Pollution of
local rivers
addressed by
local alliance
By Gary Tanner
Editor
Pollution such as that which
has fouled the Chattahoochee
River as it winds through and
south of Atlanta won’t spoil the
upper Etowah River, former Lt.
Gov. Pierre Howard told an
audience in Cumming on
Thursday. •
Howard was keynote speaker
at the annual meeting of the
Upper Etowah River Alliance
conducted at the Sawnee Center.
He was introduced by local
developer Buddy Hobbs, who
was moderator of the meeting.
“You are going to protect
your river,” Howard said. “And
by doing so, you’ll help protect
rivers you don’t even know
about. You have created a model
of preservation for people in
J Your "Hometown Paper” Since 12/31/20
•GO DAWGS*
million gallons per day and Hall would
increase from 13.8 million to 29 million
gallons per day.
EPD officials said the revised discharge
levels are necessary given the projected
continued population and business growth
of the three counties.
Members of the Lake Lanier Assoc
iation spoke out Thursday against the plan.
“Our one main mission in life is to pre
serve and protect one of the best natural
resources in our state,” said Vai Perry, a
member of the LLA board of directors.
s' TESS
■ ■ 5 s
Photos/Tom Brooks
Despite this week’s scattered rain showers, lake and river levels are low and the watering
restrictions in place throughout the region remain in effect.
tions.
Last week, Bray had to tell
several businesses to stop water
ing the grass.
The Cumming Post Office was
even caught violating the ban.
Thursday afternoon, a contractor
washed the mail delivery trucks
behind the building.
“I wasn’t at work Thursday,”
said Postmaster Phil Kingry. “I
Photoffom Brooks
The Upper Etowah River Alliance devotes itself to river preser
vation projects, such as replanting river banks to slow erosion
and working with farmers to reduce agricultural runoff.
other states to follow.”
Howard was referring to the
alliance's work to “get ahead of
the curve” by starting aggressive
river quality presentation work
before growth in the area brings
the threat of pollution to the
river. /
The alliance began as an idea
in 1994 and as of its first-ever
general meeting Thursday has
more than $411,000 to spend on
SUNDAY JUNE 18. 20(
r~~ ——.
kA
4 14 \
ill A BN flu W'l
can guarantee that it won’t happen
again while the watering ban is in
effect.”
Both the Forsyth County
Sheriff’s Office and Cumming
Police have issued warnings to
violators since the Georgia
Environmental Protection
Division enacted an outdoor
watering ban on June 5 for a 15-
county area encompassing Atlanta
river preservation projects, such
as replanting river banks to slow
erosion and working with farm
ers to reduce agricultural runoff.
The alliance has worked with
farmers to build fences to keep
cattle out of the river, conducted
research on threats to the river
and is working to educate people
in the area about how to protect
See ETOWAH, Page 2A
The LLA’s Charles Rittenhouse said the
pollutant “trading” process was not
described in enough detail at the meeting.
EPD officials said earlier that, if local gov
ernments require land use changes to
decrease nonpoint source pollution, they
would be granted additional wastewater
discharges.
At the presentation, EPD officials said
part of the plan could require counties to
create a 150-foot buffer zone around the
lake from residential development and a
100-foot stream buffer for development
and including Forsyth County.
The sheriff’s office and county
water department have been work
ing together to enforce the ban,
writing 70 warnings.
“In addition to the warning, we
give the home owner a copy of the
rules,” said Karleen Chalker,
spokeswoman.
See WATER, Page 3A
Local candidates in state
races file financial reports
By Phillip Hermann
News Editor
When it comes to raising
money for state races, incumbents
typically receive more money
from political action committees
than challengers. This year is no
different for those seeking the
posts representing Forsyth County
in the Legislature.
For those who might not be
sure just what a PAC is, they are
nonprofit organizations that repre
sent the interests of various
groups, organizations and corpo
rations when it comes to pending
legislation that could affect those
entities.
All of the candidates involved
in state races that affect Forsyth
County have filed their campaign
disclosure forms by the June 8
deadline, with the exception of
Democrat Bob Vass in the race for
State Senate District 49 currently
held by Casey Cagle. The Georgia
Secretary of State’s Office didn’t
have Vass’ form on its Web site as
around tributary systems feeding into the
lake.
A point source form of pollution is an
identifiable source such as a wastewater
treatment plant. Nonpoint source pollution
is material that comes from unidentified
sources such as animal wastes and runoff.
Forsyth County District 5 County
Commissioner Julian Bowen was critical of
Gwinnett County’s request to have 40 mil
lion gallons per day discharge capacity.
See DISCHARGE, Page 3A
School
district
impact
limited
By Laura Lavezzo Carrico
Lifestyle Editor
The Forsyth County Board of
Education Thursday night decid
ed that even fewer children will
be affected by the next round of
district line changes than origi
nally anticipated.
In its June 15 meeting, board
members agreed to leave in
place the elementary school dis
trict lines as they are currently
drawn with the exception of a
small area west of Ga. 400
between Antioch and Spot roads.
Children living in the area will
be transferred from Chatta
hoochee Elementary to Coal
Mountain Elementary in fall
2001.
The motivation for this deci
sion was that children who live
closer to Coal Mountain are cur
rently crossing Ga. 400 to get to
Chattahoochee.
Also Thursday, the board
confirmed that children living
along the Pilgrim Mill Road cor
ridor will continue to attend
Chattahoochee Elementary
School and Otwell Middle
School, but will graduate into
Forsyth Central High School.
These students are currently
districted so that they graduate
from Otwell into North Forsyth
High School, although several
apply for out-of-district status to
attend Forsyth Central High. The
board’s decision will now make
that request unnecessary.
In other business, the board:
• Acknowledged retiring
school administrators Judy
Thornton, associate superinten
dent of curriculum and instruc-
See SCHOOLS, Page 2A
of 3:30 p.m. Friday when this
story was being completed. That
doesn’t necessarily mean Vass has
not filed his form; it just means it
has yet to be posted on the site.
State House
Bsth District
Republicans
Candidate: Bobby Reese (I)
Organization: Committee to Elect
Bobby Reese
Chairman: Clarence D. MacMillan
• Contributions: $19,555 ($16,880
forwarded to 2000 campaign from
1999)
Contributions for most recent period:
$2,675
Contributors: David Shepherd of
Alpharetta, $200; Georgia Optometric
Association political action commit
tee, Morrow, $500; Gold Kist Poultry
Group political action committee,
Atlanta, $200; Kenneth F. Craft or
See CAMPAIGN, Page 4A
CENTS