Newspaper Page Text
Forsyth
J Your "Hometown Paper" Since 1908 J ****************** 3 _ E
Vol. 94, No. 200
Middle schoolers pop pills
Three taken from Vickery Middle to hospital
for treatment; six juveniles facing charges
By Nicole Green and Steven H. Pollak
Staff Writers
Six students from Vickery Creek Middle School are
facing criminal charges for their roles in distributing and
consuming a prescription drug commonly used to treat
Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder.
Three female students who had taken the drug had to
be rushed Friday afternoon to the emergency room at
Northside Hospital Forsyth for treatment of minor com
plaints.
All three were expected to recover, said Capt. Frank
Huggins, the public information officer at the Forsyth
County Sheriff’s Office.
According to Huggins, a 14-year-old student from
Vickery Creek Middle brought 14 Adderall pills to school
on Thursday.
Monday vote
possible on
impact fees
Public hearing is scheduled
From staff reports
The cost of building a new home
or business in Forsyth County may
increase by more than SI,OOO if the
board of commissioners adopts a
new impact fee ordinance after pub
lic hearings Monday night.
Impact fees are paid by develop
ers to fund additional government
infrastructure improvements needed
to support the growth in population.
The plan for the county includes
improvements needed for the parks
and recreation department, libraries
and public safety departments such
as the sheriff's office and fire depart
ment. ‘
Commissioners must decide if the
fees will be based on the size of a
home or on a flat fee per house,
regardless of size.
T n addition, commissioners also
musi decide if the fees will help fund
a proposed new jail an item which
is slated for residents to vote on in
March.
New businesses would only pay
for public safety improvements. The
fees for businesses would be based
on the size of the business and the
type of business retail, office or
industry.
The Georgia Department of
Community Affairs has approved
plan revisions to include the new
impact fees, eliminating the need for
further adoption delays, according to
Tom Brown, assistant director of the
planning department.
“We just got the state to sign off,”
Brown said Friday.
Other public hearings scheduled
before the board Monday include
revisions to the Unified Development
Code that would prohibit new sewer
facilities from being owned by pri
vate companies.
The board may adopt the UDC
sewer revisions after the public hear
ing.
Local fugitive arrested by sheriff’s office
By Steven H. Pollak
Staff Writer
After four months on the run, life on the
lam came to an abrupt end Wednesday night
for one of Forsyth County’s “most wanted.”
An anonymous tipster called the Forsyth
County Sheriff’s Office after seeing the mug
photo of 27-year-old Timothy Carnes on a
local cable channel.
Deputies descended on a Forsyth County
residence Wednesday night and took Carnes
into custody.
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Copyright 0 2003 Forsyth County News
0 90994 0400<il T
Your "Hometown Paper" Since 1908
Photo/David McGregor
Tis the season...
With Jack Frost nipping, Richard Guillmeet works to put out a new shipment of Christmas
trees at Big John’s tree stand on Hwy. 20 last week. Despite expected cold and rainy
weather, this weekend was expected to be busy for tree sellers as Christmas is less than
two weeks away.
He is being held with
out bond at the Forsyth
County Adult Detention
Center.
According to Tony
Holbrook, assistant chief
at the Georgia
Department of
Corrections Probation
Office in Cumming, Carnes
was sentenced to five years
on probation on June 5, 2002, for possession
of marijuana and possession of opiates.
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Births aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa 4B
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Horoscope 9C
Opinion 10A
Sports „ 1C
SUNDAY December 14,2003
He gave the pills to a 13-year-old boy who, in turn, dis
tributed them to the three female students who ended up in
the hospital and one additional male student, Huggins said.
All of the boys and girls involved in the incident were
students at Vickery Creek Middle, Huggins added.
As a result of taking “one or more” of the Adderall
pills, the three girls had to be taken to Northside Hospital
Forsyth.
Two of the girls were transported by ambulance and
one was driven by her parents, Huggins said.
The other boy who took the prescription drug did not
require medical attention and was taken home by his par
ents.
The 13-year-old boy who gave the pills to the other
See DRUGS, Page 2A
I
Hb 1
I
I
s Carnes
Holidays
Find great ideas
in our Last Minute
Gift Guide.
Inside
He remained in the authorities’ good
graces until he stopped reporting to probation
this past summer.
The last time Carnes reported to his proba
tion officer was on June 16, 2003, Holbrook
said.
Authorities from the local probation office
and the sheriff’s office tried to track down
Carnes at his last known address but were not
successful, Holbrook added.
A few weeks later, Carnes became a fugi-
See ARREST, Page 2A
Sports
Forsyth basketball
hits the road for
region action.
PagelC
' I '’ -r
Photo/Audra Perry
Fire trucks and ambulances wait in front of Vickery Creek Middle
School, from which three students were transported to the hospital
after ingesting the drug Adderall.
Property once
planned for mall
now is for sale
By Harris Blackwood
Community Editor
A local attorney who represented a major shop
ping mall developer in its Forsyth County zoning
application confirmed Friday that discussions to sell
the 140-acre site are under way. ,
Emory Lipscomb, who served as local counsel to
the Rouse Co., said that discussions have been under
way between the Maryland-based mall developer and
Atlanta developers Wayne Mason and Kim King.
“I know there have been ongoing discussions, but
that’s about all I can say at this time,” said Lipscomb.
Rouse acquired the tract, located off Ga. 400
between McFarland and Union Hill roads in 2002
and announced plans for an upscale open air shop
ping facility that would be anchored by Neiman
Marcus. Earlier this year, a soft retail market caused
the developer to postpone plans for the site, which
was to have included office, residential, and hotel
space.
A story in the Dec. 12 edition of the Atlanta
Business Chronicle reported that Mason and King
have until the end of the year to decide if they will
buy the Rouse property.
The story said the two developers have been
working on the project for the last few months.
Mason confirmed by telephone Friday the
approaching deadline for a decision on the transac
tion, but offered nothing more on his plans for the
property. Calls to King and Rouse were not returned.
Mason, a former chairman of the Gwinnett
County Commission, is one of Gwinnett County’s
major players on the development scene.
He made his first foray into Forsyth County a few
years ago, when he and a group of investors, includ
ing Lipscomb, purchased a large tract of land at the
intersection of Georgia highways 400 and 306. A
large strip shopping center, anchored by Kroger, is
now on the site. Other outparcels, including two
banks, an Eckerd pharmacy, fast food outlets and a
convenience store have been developed on the site.
Other property along Freedom Parkway, a road
which parallels 400, remains undeveloped.
King is a former Georgia Tech football star who
has become one of the metro area's premier develop
ers. He has been involved in projects throughout the
metro Atlanta area.
Rouse’s decision to postpone the development
was due in part to the developer’s difficulty in finding
major anchors to join Neiman Marcus. The decision
came as Macy’s announced the merger of its Rich’s
and Macy’s stores into a single entity and was fol
lowed by an announcement by St. Louis-based May
Stores that it would close 32 of its Lord and Taylor
department stores. The planned closure included the
locations at North Point Mall in Alpharetta and Mall
of Georgia in Buford.
Joni Owens, president and CEO of the Cumming-
Forsyth County Chamber of Commerce, said she has
not been contacted about the project but remained
hopeful the site could be utilized.
“The retail market has not recovered to the point
that investors are interested in new retail projects,”
said Owens. “My hope is that they (Rouse) will be
cautious and judicious in their negotiations to ensure
that we will have a retail project of the caliber we
deserve.”
She called the site one of the prime locations for a
major, upscale retail and multi-purpose facility in the
region.
Rain
LAKE LANIER LEVELS
JL Date ' ■ Level
Dec 9 1069.23 ft
ll ml Dec 10 1069.29 ft
7 ////// Dec 11 1069.36 ft
////////// Dec 12 1069.40 ft
Fu || 1071.00 ft
High in the high 40s. ■ ,’7 “
Low in the low 20s.