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Forsyth Count vNesy* •/ Your "Hometown Paper Since 1908 •/ : E g N ?^; TY 0F G eor GIH MAIN LIBRARY-UGA Vol. 93, No. 188 A department under fire Personnel controversies aired at Civil Service Board hearing Norris Bennett ——I —IT Li 1 H fl ” - J P®*" V c ? v ' jHBsEISSBk tL * 1■ F 1 Photo/Steven H. Pollak Attending Thursday’s Forsyth County Civil Service Board hearing were, from left, attorney Robert Shaker, Lt. Paul Adams, Chief Steve Anderson and attorney Angela Davis. McDonald asks for recount in his PSC election defeat By Susan Norman Editor Gov. Roy Barnes wasn’t the only Democrat to lose his Nov. 5 reelec tion bid in a surprise upset. Forsyth County’s own Lauren W. “Bubba” McDonald Jr. also lost his District 4 seat on the Public Service Commission, the panel that regulates utilities in this state. McDonald, a longtime Commerce businessman and career politician who now co-owns L.W. McDonald & Son Funeral Home in Cumming, was running for his first full PSCterm. He originally was appoint ed to the commission by former Gov. Zell Miller to temporarily fill an unexpired term until a 1998 special election that he won. With that special-election win four years ago and a healthy cam paign war chest, McDonald was the clear favorite in a race that pitted his deep political roots in the Democratic Party against two rela tively unknown opponents Republican candidate Angela Elizabeth Speir and Libertarian can didate James W. Harris. McDonald raised $186,456 in campaign contributions compared to Speirs’ meager $1,250 beyond her $3,183 candidate qualifying fee. Harris raised nothing more than his candidate qualifying fee. But when the election results were tallied, McDonald found that he had lost the statewide race by 8,053 votes. The winner was Speir, an employment recruiter from Gwinnett 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 Hswi w t* ■L./ M I a. 1 Danny Bowman McDonald votes (47.5 percent), McDonald 909,612 votes (47.1 percent) and Harris 104,937 votes. Though McDonald doesn’t expect the outcome to change, he has requested a statewide recount that should take place sometime next week, after all of the county election boards in Georgia have certified their vote counts. “I have asked to reconfirm the election results,” he said. “I’ve dis cussed it with the secretary of state and don’t really expect any change, but this will give them an opportuni ty to verify the new voting system.” A spokesperson in the press office of the Secretary of State’s Office said Thursday that McDonald, who lost by the closest margin in any race, is the only candidate requesting a recount. With the new electronic system, the recount should be easier than with the hand checking of paper bal lots that was required in the past. Gary J. Smith, Forsyth County superintendent of elections, said Thursday that the recount will See VOTE, Page 2A INDEX Abby lie Classifieds .5C Cuming Events 10A Deaths 2A Forsyth Life— IB Horoscope 11C OpmiOn HWMMHMHMMMHMM 1 SUNDAY November 17,2002 County who had lost in a previous attempt at elected office and is in her mid 30s. According to the “unofficial” vote totals posted on the Georgia Secretary of State Web site, Speir received 917,665 Business Commissioners approve new zoning request. Rage SA | W >Sfld ' . k jflOßte* SMB •■ Sk $ MJL Stevie Mills HELPING HANDS Uy aH Hands Across Forsyth volunteers are signing up families that need help over the holidays at The Place off Antioch Rd. Deadline for client signup for Christmas is Dec. 14. Families may apply on weekdays from 9 a.m. until noon. They will receive certificates for a turkey or ham, as well as other food and gifts through sponsorship by individuals and businesses. For more information, call (770) 781-8846. Above, Brandi Stapleton helps an unidentified woman fill out her paperwork so that her family may enjoy the holidays. By Steven H. Pollak Staff Writer Is the Forsyth County Fire Department mired in corruption, low morale and faulty equipment that fails to protect the safety of firefight ers? Or, is a firefighter accused of sex ual harassment trying to save his own reputation when he says that, after raising those concerns to county offi cials outside his department, he became the target of retribution that included the harassment charges? The firefighter in question, Lt. Paul Adams, appeared before the Forsyth County Civil Service Board on Thursday for a hearing that lasted more than 10 hours. Employees who have been pun ished or fired from Forsyth County government jobs including law enforcement officers and firefighters may appeal to the Civil Service Board to reverse or adjust those deci sions. In July and August, Adams was suspended without pay for more than two weeks for alleged sexual harass ment of two female firefighters. He maintains his innocence and has asked the board to strike the discipli nary action from his personnel record and force the county to repay the salary lost due to the suspension. The board’s members, Robert Ranaldi, Dr. A.Y. Howell and Chairman Terry Smith, decided not to vote on Adams’ appeal at the end of the hearing. Instead, they contin ued the case to Dec. 4. when they plan to question about a half-dozen more people connected with the case. According to Thursday’s testimo ny, the sexual harassment charge against Adams was the result of Sports It’s time for high school basketball. PagelC Perry’s appointment was ‘surprise’ to Castleberry By Phillip Hermann Business Editor A real estate broker and developer who has had a stormy past relationship with the county government has been appointed to serve on the Forsyth County Planning Commission. At its Nov. 12 meeting, the commissioners approved a request by District 5 Commissioner Eddie Taylor to replace Carroll Castleberry with Charles “Chuck” Perry. In announcing the change, Taylor said he had discussed the matter with Castleberry. However, Castleberry on Friday said that while the two during the summer talked about a possible replacement, they had not talked since. He said the move to replace him “came as a complete surprise.” Added Castleberry: “I think he could have showed me the courtesy of at least telling me he was going to replace me instead of just doing it out of the clear blue sky. I had to find out from another source after the appointment was made I was not told by Mr. Taylor.” This is the second time this year that Taylor has replaced an appointee to a county board suddenly and without notifying the incumbent prior to the action. In January, he replaced the chairman of the Board of Partly Cloudy High in the low 40s. Low in the low 30s. UFK, 1B n inspires help for others events that began June 25. On that day, Barry Head, a lieu tenant in the Forsyth County Fire Department, came to the depart ment’s head of internal affairs, Chief Steve Anderson, and said he had learned that a fellow firefighter was sexually harassing another. Anderson said the victim would need to contact him directly. The vic tim, firefighter Debbie Lindstrom, said Thursday that she never planned on coming forward with the informa tion until Head told her she needed to go speak with Anderson. She never filed a formal com plaint but only came forward when she thought an investigation was already underway. In the subsequent investigation, Anderson said he learned of three instances of unwanted physical advances by Adams toward Lindstrom. On two occasions, he attempted to hug Lindstrom and she told him not to. The other incident occurred outside a convenience store on Hwy. 369 where, Lindstrom said, Adams leaned in her car and kissed her on the mouth. Again, she told him not to, she said. Lindstrom gave tearful testimony about the incidents and told the Civil Service Board that she was afraid of Adams. “I feel very intimidated by his persona in the department,” she said. “He’s very well connected. Whatever he wants or needs, he’s taken care of. He seemed to have a lot of power.” Adams, who came to the hearing with his attorneys, Beverly Snell and Robert Shaker, said Thursday that he See FIRE, Page 4A Appeals, the panel that hears requests from property owners seeking variances from zoning code regulations. Chairman Susan Sanner was replaced with local attorney Dana Miles. At that time, Sanner said Taylor never told her he was going to take such action. Perry, a Cumming resident, now serves as chairman on the same Board of Appeals. But Perry said in an interview that he plans to resign from that board prior to taking his new seat on the planning commis sion on Jan. 1, 2003. Last year, Perry was at the center of a controversial deal involving the county’s purchase of the old Fowler family prop erty off Hwy. 9 as the site for a new wastewater treatment facility. Perry, CEO of The Atlanta Company and Pine Street Partners Inc., served as the bro ker for Peachtree Best LLC and developer Lamar Wakefield. Eventually, the board of com missioners paid Peachtree Best $14.2 million for the site and has since broken ground for the new facility. Prior to the board voting in February 2001 to approve the purchase of the property, how ever, close ties were revealed between Perry and Forsyth County Board of Commission- See PERRY, Page 2A LAKE LANIER LEVELS Date Level Nov. 12 1063.93 ft Nov. 13 1063.03 ft Nov. 14 1063,09 ft Nov. 15 1063.12 ft Full 1071.001%