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Forsyth CountyNeiys
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Vol. 92, No. 135
Growth heightens county budget needs
By Colby Jones
Staff Writer
Forsyth County public safety officials have
asked the county commission to approve mas
sive manpower and vehicle purchases to offset
the tidal wave of development in the county
over the past decade.
The requests were presented Wednesday by
Sheriff Ted Paxton and Fire Chief Norris
Bennett at a board of commissioners work ses
sion on the 2002 budget.
The sheriff wants another 40 certified law
enforcement officers and 67 new patrol cars, 25
of those to replace an outdated fleet. Bennett is
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Harvey makes art of teaching drama
FCHS veteran
1 •
inducted into
hall of fame
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fly John Tooley
Staff Writer
’ ' From the end of the hallway, a booming
voice lights up the interior of the dark build
ing.
•* Carrying a mixture of charisma and coer
cion, the sound echoes through the now
empty passageway, finding its way to the only
people around. The teaching is forceful and
constant.
; “Turn like this ... use your feet ... now
rock a little for me ... no, rest on that knee ...
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requesting at least 18 additional firefighters,
two new engines and another fire station.
The budget requests were made during a
daylong meeting in which all of the county’s
department heads pitched their requested
enhancements to the five county commission
ers who will approve the budget and set next
year’s property tax rate.
As the county’s largest department, the
sheriff’s office topped the request list with a
total budget of $23 million, roughly a 70 per
cent increase from last year’s approved budget
of sl4 million. The fire department’s budget
request came in at $8.2 million
Sheriff Ted Paxton pointed toward explo-
the audience is over here ...”
The instructor paces the makeshift stage,
connecting with her two prize pupils through
a flurry of arm gestures and enunciations.
Up and down, in and out, high and low
she bounds along until she feels they have
gotten it right.
The first day of play rehearsal has begun.
Gone are the spotlights, the set, the audi
ence. Those things will come later, but for
now there are only a couple of scripts, some
willing students and an able teacher.
For nearly 40 years, the same scene
orchestrated by the same director has been
played out in a variety of places, with many
different young faces. One common denomi
nator has endured.
Inducted this month into the International
Educational Theater Association Hall of
Fame, Forsyth Central High School’s Yatesy
Harvey hasn’t changed her winning delivery a
bit. One of four 2001 inductees, she joins an
elite group of only 56 educators worldwide
INDEX
Abby •••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• 7B
Church directory 10A
Classifieds .28
Crossword 4A
Deaths 2A
Horoscope 78
Opinion
Sports IB
FRIDAY August 24,2001
Toil 1
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Community
Civitan Club seeks
models for upcoming
fashion show.
Page 4A
sive growth as the main problem facing his
agency. The sheriff said the boom in population
has caused emergency calls to skyrocket from
37,870 in 1996 to a projected 108,436 this
year.
A shortage of deputies and supervisors are
big concerns, he said.
Currently, the county has 1.4 officers for
every 1,000 residents, much lower than the
average of 2.5 to 1,000 in other agencies across
the country, he said.
Only eight deputies patrol the county’s
roads covering 247 square miles at any
given time of the day. The lack of officers has
pushed the average response time by the sher-
that have been honored for their commitment
to theater and theater education since the hall
of fame was created in 1991.
“I always knew I wanted to be a teacher,”
Harvey says, ‘‘but it wasn’t until college that I
knew I wanted to be a teacher/director.”
A glimpse into the back room of the high
school’s modern performing arts center
reveals the wisdom of her early decision.
Banners hang from the rafters, commemorat
ing the five state and 10 regional one-act play
championships the school has captured in
See HARVEY, Page 5A
Photo/Tom Brooks
Inducted this month into the
International Educational Theater
Association Hall of Fame, Forsyth
Central High School’s Yatesy Harvey
hasn’t changed her winning delivery a
bit.
Local
Family celebrates its
long history at local
cemetery rededication.
Page6A
The blessings
of liberty
In honor of the upcoming
213th anniversary of the draft
ing of the U.S. Constitution,
Cumming Mayor H. Ford
Gravitt at Tuesday’s city coun
cil meeting signed a procla
mation naming the week of
Sept. 17-23 “Constitution
Week.” The special recognition
was requested by the
Piedmont Chapter of the
Georgia Society of the Sons
of the American Revolution.
The proclamation urges citi
zens to study the Constitution
and to epxress gratitude for
the privilege of American citi
zenship. Pictured below from
left were Ken Howell, Glynn
Acree, George E. Thurmond
and Terry Honan, all on hand
for the event.
Photos/Tom Brooks
Possible Rain
LAKE LANIER LEVELS
Date Level
Aug. 19 1062.61 ft
Aug. 20 1062.57 ft
//. ,7/ Aug. 21 1062.49 ft
/>//// I™
High in the high 80s.
Low in the low 70s.
iff’s office to 11.5 minutes, more than three
minutes above the industry standard.
“It’s a strain to keep up,” Paxton candidly
told the commission.
In addition to the 40 officers, he requested
12 new jailers and 10 administrative assistants.
The budget figures presented by the sher
iff’s office included the necessary equipment
purchases and medical benefits that accompany
hiring the new deputies.
The sheriff said the 21 supervisors in his
budget request are especially crucial because
the county is courting litigation without them.
See BUDGET, Page 3A
Doctor:
West Nile
no cause
for panic
By Bill Johnson
Staff Writer
“It’s much ado about nothing.”
That’s what Georgia Baptist
Hospital emergency room physician
Dr. Jim Pruitt called the flood of
media attention being focused on the
West Nile virus.
Health officials announced last
week that an Atlanta woman, 71-
year-old Blanch H. Hill, was the first
person in Georgia to die of the rare
mosquito-borne disease.
“To say there is a heightened
awareness would be overstating the
problem,” Pruitt said. “There are a
lot of people who come in and who
are very concerned who ask ques
tions like, ‘Do I have it?’ or ‘Can 1
take a test for it?’ But there has been
a lot of excessive media coverage of
the West Nile virus. It is very, very
rare.”
Pruitt estimated that only about
one in every 1,000 mosquitoes carry
the disease and that only one in
1,000 people bitten by an infected
mosquito will actually contract West
Nile virus.
“Even after all that, the majority
of people bitten will not know they
have contracted it unless their
immune system is almost nonexist
ent,” he said.
“Deaths are usually among the
elderly people between 70 and 75
or whose immune system has
been compromised.”
Pruitt said that, in a typical day.
See VIRUS, Page 2A
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