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PttAblMi 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: For a replacement paper, call 8 a.m. - 5:30 p.m. Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, and 9 a.m. -1 pjn. on Sunday - (770) 887-3128. f ll 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