Newspaper Page Text
Forsyth CountvNews
Vol. 94, No. 198
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Photos/Audra Perry
A statue of county namesake
John Forsyth was unveiled by
artist Greg Johnson Tuesday
morning on the grounds of the
county courthouse on the
square in Cumming. The coun
ty development authority and
private donors provided fund
ing for the bronze artwork,
which memorializes the former
congressman, senator,
Georgia governor and U.S.
Secretary of State under two
presidents. See additional pho
tos, page 4A.
Chamber of Commerce
earns 4-star recognition
By Kim Ash
Staff Writer
The Cumming-Forsyth County
Chamber of Commerce has been
accredited with a four-star rating by
the U.S. Chamber of Commerce,
earning the second highest honor,
from the national organization in the
local Chamber's first effort at gaining
accreditation.
The Forsyth chamber's top officer
says the award speaks highly of the
organization’s programs and servic
es.
“We're so excited.” said Joni
Owens, president and CEO of the
chamber. “Chamber members and
my staff worked very hard to help the
chamber get to this level.”
According to Gretchen Welch,
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Photos/Davia McGregor
Standing, Joanne Tolleson, Stevie Mills, Mary Helen McGruder,
Charles Laughinghouse, Michael Moye, Dennis Stockton, Joni Owens,
Debbi Dlugolenski; (seated) Mayor H. Ford Gravitt, James Harrington
and E.H Reid all pose after the special recognition of Harrington at
Lanier Tech. Photo at right, bench and plaque dedicated to Harringtont
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Copyright 0 2003 Forsyth County News
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•/ Your "Hometown Paper" Since 1908 J
Unveiling
of Forsyth
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manager of program development of
the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the
local chamber is one of two in
Georgia to receive the high rating.
The Gwinnett Chamber of
Commerce in Duluth received the
other sons-star rating.
• According to Welch, the U.S.
chamber, received more than 40
applications from chambers all over
the United States during its latest
accreditation period, and of those 22
received some level of accreditation.
This was the local chamber’s first
time to apply for accreditation,
Owens said. Chambers can apply
tw ice a year, in November and June,
said Welch.
See CHAMBER, Page 2A
INDEX
Abby 5B
Classifieds 2B
Deaths 2A
Government 4A
Horoscope 5B
Kids Page ............................7A
Opinion 11A
Sports .......................6A
THURSDAY December 11,2003
Impact fees
face another
delay.
Page2A
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Photo/Harris Blackwood
Cumming-Forsyth County Chamber of Commerce
board chairman Tim Perry holds the certificate com
memorating the Forsyth chamber’s four-star accredita
tion by the U.S Chamber of Commerce. He is flanked
by chairman-c 'ark Hamilton and president Joni
Owens.
Lanier Tech honors Harrington
By Nicole Green
Staff Writer
Lanier Technical College presented former Forsyth
County commissioner James C. Harrington Jr. with an
award on Tuesday commemorating his role in founding
the Forsyth campus of the college.
“I don’t think I deserve all this recognition, but I
thank you for it,” Harrington said.
Lanier Tech President Mike Moye and board mem
bers Mary Helen McGruder and Dennis Stockton pre
sented Harrington with a plaque for himself and with two
benches to stay in the atrium of the Forsyth campus.
“These benches are placed here to honor James C.
Harrington Jr. in recognition of his dedication to techni
cal education in Georgia and his perseverance in the cre
ation of the Forsyth Campus of Lanier Technical
College,” is engraved on gold plaques on the benches.
Harrington was one of the original members of the
State Board of Technical and Adult Education appointed
;rI!M T^ SEORGIfI MflIN LIBR _1 A I
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city tax records
to include more
By Nicole Green
Staff Writer
Though Cumming Mayor H. Ford
Gravitt presented the Forsyth County
Board of Commissioners on Monday
with five boxes containing five years of
SPLOST IV spending documentation,
county officials say they were disap
pointed with the early “Christmas pres
ent.”
City Administrator Gerald Black
burn originally had estimated that
5,000 pages of receipts, invoices and
bank statements would need to be
copied to fulfill the county’s Oct. 30
Open Records Act Request for proof of
the city’s special purpose local option
sales tax spending from 1998-2002.
However, the cardboard boxes
topped with a red bow Gravitt deliv
ered were filled with nine tliree-ring
binders containing about 1,750 pages.
The box marked 1998 contained one
binder with 17 pages. The 1999, 2000
and 2001 boxes contained two full
binders each, and there was one binder
in the 2002 box.
“The Forsyth County Board of
Commissioners is speechless,” District
1 Commissioner Charlie Laughing
house said Tuesday of the relatively
small volume of documents.
County information officer Bill
Johnson caused a brief controversy
Tuesday when he reported, apparently
in jest, that the boxes delivered by the
city were in fact empty. City officials
found the comment less than humor
ous and county officials quickly cor
rected that the boxes did indeed con
tain copies of city records.
Covenant
Christian basketball
bounces back
Page GA
County employee’s
slap on the wrist
taken before judge
By Steven H. Pollak
Staff Writer
A Forsyth County employee who said she’d
been slapped on the hand and manhandled by a
supervisor in the Tax Assessor’s Office came to
Magistrate Court on Tuesday in a bid to put the
supervisor behind bars.
Betty Tinsley told Chief Magistrate Barbara A.
Cole that she initiated the request for a criminal
charge of simple battery because she wasn’t satis
fied with the way county officials decided to pun
ish the supervisor.
After admitting to her role in the incident to the
county’s Human Resources department, the super
visor, Trassa Quarles, received an “employee
warning report” and had to attend two workshops,
by former governor Joe
Frank Harris. It was
announced this year that
Republican Gov. Sonny
Perdue would not reappoint
Harrington, an active partici
pant in Democratic politics,
after 19 years on the board.
“Citizens all over our
state have been affected by
his kindness and generosity,”
Moye said.
Immediately after his
appointment in 1984, Harrington began his campaign for
a technical school in south Forsyth County. He lobbied
the governor, the state Legislature, and the Cumming and
Forsyth County governments for their financial support.
Harrington’s perseverance earned him the nickname "the
Sunny
LAKE LANIER LEVELS
Date Level
Dec 6 1069.31 ft
.fey Dec 7 1069.28 ft
Decß 1069.20 ft
Dec 9 1069.23 ft
Full 1071.00 ft
High in the mid-50s.
Low in the high 20s. . •
SINESS, 1B
>ve for antiques
In one of the binders, the city
included a letter that the county took to
be an explanation for the smaller than
anticipated number of pages.
“SPLOST projects are paid for
with General Fund checks and reim
bursed by the SPLOST account,” the
letter said.
Also, canceled checks for SPLOST
expenses were not included because
BB&T, the bank with which the city
has a SPLOST account, does not
return canceled paper checks with
monthly bank statements, the city
explained.
For the next step in the SPLOST
spending verification process, the
county auditor will go through each
page and add up the city’s expenses,
County Administrator Stevie Mills
said.
Mills estimated the city’s cost of
copying the documents at $3,000,
including 160 hours of labor for one
full-time and two part-time employees.
On Monday, the mayor returned a
check for $3,598.66 to the county,
which the county had allotted the city
for copy costs. Tlie mayor said the city
provides public information free of
charge so it would not charge the coun
ty for the copies.
The city also provided two Forsyth
County newspapers with copies of
SPLOST receipts for 1997-2002, and
challenged the county to do the same
for its receipts.
As of Nov. 30, the balance in the
city’s SPLOST bank account was
$2,572,304, the mayor said in a letter
dated Dec. 8 to Commission Chair
man Jack Conway.
See SLAP, Page 2A
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See HONOR, Page 2A