Newspaper Page Text
Forsyth County News
J Your "Hometown Paper" Since 1908 J
Vol. 93, No. 185
Turner to ask judge fuireiease on tail
By Steven H. Pollak
Staff Writer '■
A Cumming woman who
has been in jail since being
indicted for murder in Cobb
County will ask a judge
Wednesday morning to release
her on bond.
The Cobb County grand
jury’ did not set a bond when it
indicted Julia Lynn Turner less
than two weeks ago on one
count of murder for allegedly
using antifreeze to kill her
husband, a Cobb County
police officer named Maurice
Glenn Turner, in 1995.
(
• •
Veterans
thanked
during
tribute
By Susan Norman
Editor
Soggy ground and overcast
skies did little to dampen Monday’s
Veterans Day ceremony in
Cumming.
Uniformed veterans sat proudly
at the foot of the city’s Veterans
Memorial, as members of the local
community through songs, poems
and speeches thanked them for the
personal sacrifices they each made
while faithfully serving in
America's armed forces.
Recalling the terrorist attacks of
Sept. 11, 2001. Mayor H. Ford
Gravitt said that that surprise attack
on America's home front “only
served to give us a glimpse of how
quickly freedom can be taken
away.’’
The mayor turned to the rows of
veterans and thanked them.
"We can’t say enough for what
you have done,” he said to
applause from the audience that
echoed that heartfelt sentiment.
Positioned across from the vet
erans were scores of home schooled
youngsters and their parents, as
well as members of Cub Scout Pack
245 and Boy Scout Troop 245 who
served as ushers for the occasion.
The Forsyth Christian Home
Educators students and scouts pre-
Public invited to comment on
‘vision’ for county greenspace
By Todd Truelove
Staff Writer
With the rapid consumption of
Forsyth County’s countryside
showing no signs of slowing,
many are wondering just what can
be done to preserve and protect
their community’s distinct sense
of place.
On Thursday, Nov. 14, the
public will have an opportunity to
comment on the topic when the
county holds a public hearing at 7
p.m. in Suite 220 of the Forsyth
County Administration Building
in downtown Cumming.
The public hearing is to accept
comments on the updated Forsyth
County Community Greenspace
Program.
The updated document must be
submitted to the Georgia
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) 887-3126.
Copyright © 2002 Forsyth County News
90994 cl ©
Your "Hometown Paper" Since 1908
WEDNESDAY November 13, 20 ,
______________________________ r
The subsequent death in
January
2001 of
Lynn
Turner’s
boyfriend,
Forsyth
County fire
fighter
Randy
Thompson,
also is under
investiga-
iflL
Turner
tion.
Thompson, the father of
her two children, also died of
antifreeze poisoning, accord
ing to the Georgia Bureau of
. let us thank God for those rough men and women’
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Photos/Jonathan Phillips
Above, Rafael Picklesimer blows “Taps” while an honor guard prepares a 21-gun salute. Below,
Martha Conway gives the keynote address, the first by a woman at the ceremony.
sented a patriotic tribute to the vet
erans, directing their performances
not to the nearby audience of about
40 local residents but to the veter
ans themselves.
Also participating in the cere
mony were several veterans.
Dennis D. McKinny, command
er of American Legion Post 307,
was the master of ceremonies. The
Rev. Robert M. Wade, a retired
Navy chaplain, led the audience in
an opening prayer.
The Veterans Alliance Color
Department of Natural Resources
by Nov. 30 if the county is to con
tinue receiving grants to purchase
and protect properties from devel
opment. The state’s greenspace
program was begun in 2000.
County Director of Parks and
Recreation Jim Brennan said a
presentation on the status of the
county program will precede pub
lic comment.
So far, the DNR has granted
more than $1.7 million to Forsyth
County most of which will be
used to purchase a piece of prop
erty on Sawnee Mountain next
month, according to Brennan.
“Once you buy this land,” he
said, “the idea is that it’s perma
nently protected.”
See GROWTH, Page 4A
INDEX
Abby 3B
Classifieds 9B
Deaths 2 A
Events 6A
Horoscope 3B
Legals 4B
Opinion 8A
Sports lß
Investigation. Turner has not
been charged in Thompson’s
death.
The GBI, the Cobb County
Police Department and the
City of Cumming Police
Department have been work
ing together on the case.
The Cumming woman
turned herself in to the Cobb
County Adult Detention
Facility on Nov. 1, hours after
the grand jury returned the
indictment.
The motion for bond will
be brought before the chief
magistrate judge of Cobb
County, Frank R. Cox.
Guard ceremoniously posted the
colors, and the alliance’s Honor
Guard fired a 21-gun salute. Two
military buglers and Jonathan
Hayden of the home school associ
ation together played Taps.
Also participating were mem
bers of the American Legion
Auxiliary Post 307. Marian
Rosswaag, president, led the audi
ence in the Pledge of Allegiance.
Two other women from the VFW
See VETS, Page 4A
QHKb
Photo/Jonathan Phillips
Ready to roll
Robert Stahl Grant, 2, relaxes in his modern-day vehicle Saturday after
noon while enjoying the sights and sounds of the second annual
Cumming Steam, Tractor and Gas Engine Exposition. Exhibitors at the
fairgrounds came from Alabama, the Carolinas, Illinois, Indiana,
Maryland and Tennessee. In the two days leading up to the exposition,
54 steam operators attended a two-day safety school at the fairgrounds.
Dear Abby
dishes out
good advice.
PageSß
If the judge grants a bond,
Turner will remain free until
her trial.
James E. Mallard, a former
district attorney who has been
appointed special prosecutor
for the dual cases in Cobb and
Forsyth counties, said the
prosecution team will oppose
bail for Turner.
“There are several issues in
the case,” he said. “There’s
always a flight risk. And, you
want to make sure she doesn’t
intimidate or harass witnesses
or commit other crimes.”
Attorneys representing
Turner could not be reached
Daves Creek
Elementary puts
more fun in recess.
Page7A
for comment on Monday.
Marietta attorney Jimmy
Berry will lead Turner’s
defense team in the Cobb
County case. Cumming attor
ney Rafe Banks is also repre
senting her.
Turner will not enter a plea
until her arraignment at a later
date in Cobb County Superior
Court. Judge James Bodiford
will preside over the case.
Mallard said Monday that
prosecutors in Forsyth County
have not scheduled any indict
ments of Turner.
When asked if that meant
prosecutors plan on eventually
Sunny
High in the mid-50s.
Low in the upper 30s.
SPORTS, IB
Forsyth harriers hit state
persuing an indictmnt in
Forsyth County, Mallard said,
“I can’t comment on that.”
Phil Smith, the Forsyth
County district attorney, has
recused himself from the case,
since Turner once worked as a
secretary in the district attor
ney’s office.
She also has worked as a
dispatcher for both the Cobb
County Department of Public
Safety and the Forsyth County
Sheriff’s Office. Most recent
ly, she worked as an adminis
trative specialist for Forsyth
County State Court Judge
David Dickinson.
Vicious
storms
spare
Forsyth
By Steven H. Pollak
Staff Writer
Storms that swept eastward
through north Georgia early Monday
morning, destroying area homes and
injuring residents, spared Forsyth
County.
Georgia Emergency Management
Agency spokesperson Buzz Weiss
said in an interview that he had
received no reports of damage in this
county.
“Y’all dodged a bullet up there,”
he said from the GEMA office in
Atlanta.
Other jurisdictions were not as
fortunate.
Fifteen Georgia counties were
affected by the severe weather,
including nearby Cherokee, Bartow,
Butts, Dade, Dawson and Pickens
counties.
They incurred damage ranging
from downed trees and power lines
to destroyed buildings and personal
injuries. While the storms killed
dozens of people in other states, they
apparently caused no deaths in
Georgia.
But more than 170 structures
were damaged or destroyed through
out the state. The overwhelming
majority of that damage occurred in
Pickens County, about an hour and a
half northwest of Forsyth. Storms in
that county injured nine people,
destroyed 24 homes and two busi
nesses and damaged 111 homes.
Weiss said those hurt suffered
only minor injuries and were treated
and released on Monday.
He said GEMA Director Gary W.
McConnell on Monday morning
toured many of the north Georgia
areas hard hit by the storm.
“At this point it’s a very prelimi
nary damage assessment to find out
what needs to be done,” Weiss said.
Representatives of the National
Weather Service also were heading
to Pickens County to determine if, in
fact, it was a tornado that caused the
damage. The National Weather
Service overnight Sunday issued 28
tornado warnings, including one
here.
The Forsyth County Emergency
Management Agency began monitor
ing the storms at 9 p.m. on Sunday
night, according to Director Danqy
Bowman.
With thunder rolling and the skies
See STORM, Page 2A
LAKE LANIER LEVELS
Date Level
Nov. 8 1062.50 ft
Nov. 9 1062.53 ft
Nov. 10 1062.56 ft
Nov. 11 1062.61 ft
Full 1071.00 ft