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Forsyth County News J Your "Hometown Paper" Since 1908 J Vol. 93, No. 190 A restaurant safe not so safe for third time By Steven H. Pollak Staff Writer Investigators arc searching for the bur glar, or, more likely, burglars, who took a safe from Spondivit’s II on Atlanta Highway in Cumming sometime Sunday evening or Monday morning. It’s at least the third time this year that thieves have made off with a large safe from a popular local restaurant. Glen Gagne, corporate chef and chief executive officer of Spondivit’s Inc., the par ent company that owns both the Cumming restaurant as well as the original Spondivit’s on Virginia Avenue in Atlanta, said the stolen safe contained only credit card receipts when it was taken. The thieves came into the restaurant through a hole in the wall toward the back of Photo/Audra Perry Dairy Queen employees last week prepared to say good-bye to their old downtown landmark and say hello to a new and expanded DQ that has been built next door. The former building will be torn down to provide parking space for the state-of-the-art restaurant. Cumming food landmark closes for move next door By Austin Rhodes For the Forsyth County News After almost 50 years in one location, Cumming’s first fast-food restaurant is moving almost 50 feet. Dairy Queen, a downtown icon, is super sizing to a shiny new build ing adjacent to the site where it has operated since 1954. The Willingham family operates the franchise, and, notwithstanding a fire in the early’6os that forced a rebuild, they say it is the biggest upgrade under their watch. Bill Willingham took over the eatery 38 years ago and, while he Country Cupboard stores to be auctioned Highest bid wins Convenience stores in Forsyth County that were operated by Swifty Serve Corp, and are now up for sale are at these locations: •601 Dahlonega Hwy. • 2320 Canton Hwy. • 337 Canton Rd. • 2775 Antioch Rd. • 725 Lanier Pkwy. • 2595 Buford Dam Rd. • 3275 Dahlonega Hwy. • 325 Peachtree Pkwy. •1515 Peachtree Pkwy. 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 Nows ißin Your "Hometown Paper" Since 1908 the building on the southwest comer. To make the opening, they peeled back part of the building’s tin siding and cut through the interior wood and insulation to reach the restaurant’s office, which is cramped with furniture. Gagne said he does n’t think it was by chance that the thieves happened to come through the wall at one of the only spots where they would not run into a desk or cabinet on the other side. “It was definitely somebody who’s been in the office before,” he said. The restaurant was closed all day Sunday, but an employee had been inside painting until about 7:30 that evening. When the man ager arrived Monday morning at 8. she found the office in disarray and the safe gone. Gagne said the safe, which weighed more END OF A SWEET ERA says it is hard to leave the memo ries behind, he is looking forward to the new digs. “There is both sad and good in a move like this, but we arc all look ing forward to the new place,” he remarked. “Change is good.” Willingham’s son. Wyatt, is in charge of the day-to-day operation now. When he started, he split time between serving ice cream cones and his studies at Cumming Elementary School. “I was 11 years old when my Dad bought the place,” he recalled. See QUEEN, Page 3A By Phillip Hermann Business Editor If you have ever wanted to own a con venience store or two or three, now is your chance. The trustee overseeing the bankruptcy case involving Swifty Serve Corp. the former parent company of Country Cupboard has hired National Real Estate Clearinghouse to handle the sale of more than 500 stores in the United States. Os the 116 stores in Georgia, there are nine in Cumming, three in Dawsonville, two in Gainesville, seven in Dahlonega and four in Canton. NREC spokeswoman Janet Treuhaft said Tuesday that there has been an “immense” amount of interest in the stores which will be sold “lock, stock and bar rel” via a sealed bid process. Winning bids will be announced Dec. 12. “All the store sites will be treated sepa rately, and bids will be judged on that basis,” she explained. “Therefore, this kind of thing could be very attractive to retirees INDEX Abby.. lOA Classifieds 3B Comics 10A Deaths 2 A Government 4A Horoscope 10A Opinion •••••••••••■•••■•••■■•••••••a 11A Sports . 8A THURSDAY November 21,2002 who want to start a small business or to young people who are looking to get out on their own. We also have a number of large corporations who have expressed interest in these stores; so the interest is coming pretty much across the board.” Treuhaft declined to name specific companies showing interest other than to say it “could be” well-known firms that operate other convenience store brands. Once bids have been received in December, Treuhaft said it will take the trustee and NREC consultants two to three weeks to evaluate the offers and to deter mine the winners. Following approval of the bankruptcy court, winning bidders will be notified. The process could be completed by the end of January 2003, Treuhaft said. NREC is sponsoring a seminar for prospective buyers on Friday, Nov. 22, at the Westin Hotel near Hartsfield Atlanta International Airport. The seminar begins at 10 a.m. The company also will allow See STORES Page 2A Government Szabo to help keep Forsyth beautiful. Page 4A than 200 pounds and was not bolted down, was the only thing missing. But, the comput er in the office had been dumped on the floor and several file cabinets had been pushed over. The earlier local safe heists at Norman’s Landing and Buckhead Brewery had been preceded by a visit from a man posing as a BellSouth employee who said he was check ing phone lines in the area. Investigators believe the man was actually scouting the locations for the later burglaries. Gagne said he did not know of anything similar happening prior to the break-in at Spondivits. Bill Norman, co-owner of Norman’s Landing, said he thinks restaurateurs need to in- See SAFE, Page 3A 7 ’ cn A i rLflSfcU I 1 ! | iiiiyiiHMMMiHyMi'ii'iiiii'ih- -- —i Sports NASCAR champion Tony Stewart makes up with photographer. PageßA j... dr Um JaW nv BEsl wmßs ~4A Jli 'AI \ ■ &B 3m f- ."L i * 1 ■ 21 idHE—— Photos/Jonathan Phillips The hole cut through the wall of Spondivit’s restaurant in Cumming, where thieves made off with the safe overnight Sunday, has been patched. The brazen theft of the safe was the third such crime in local restaurants this year. rl Ml y. KSjiSM Wl /A Kfi O H ' W , Photo/ Jonathan Phillips A crowning moment Mary Katherine Fink, escorted by her father, Royal Fink, is crowned Forsyth Central’s homecoming queen. Last year’s queen, Alicia Green, returned to crown Fink on Friday, Nov. 8. Possible Rain High in the mid-50s. Low in the low 40s. Council rejects tax offer of county Cumming officials want an 80/20 split By Susan Norman Editor The Cumming City Council on Tuesday night rejected the recent offer from the Forsyth County Board of Supervisors to keep the city’s share of local sales tax revenues at 15 percent. In a 4-0-1 vote, with City Councilman Lewis Ledbetter absent, the council agreed to seek instead a 20-percent share of the millions of dollars in annual rev enues collected in this county. Councilman Ralph Perry made the motion to reject the commission ers’ offer, and Councilman Rupert Sexton seconded the motion. Twenty percent is halfway Gravitt between what the county now receives and the 25-percent share that city officials sought the last time the revenue split was negotiated, said Mayor H. Ford Gravitt. The council’s vote followed a lengthy pitch by the See TAXES, Page 2A LAKE LANIER LEVELS Date Level Nov. 16 1063.34 ft Nov. 17 1063.66 ft Nov. 18 1063.78 ft Nov. 19 1063.86 ft Full 1071.00 ft USIHCSS iday Expo a success * JI i