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Forsyth Count
J Your "Hometown Paper" Since 19C *i§ R^B G^ wspSE * E * R *^ D 306
Vol. 94, No. 208
Christmas Day: Not a holiday for everyone
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Photo/Audra Perry
Cumming Police communications officer
Chuck Pettyjohn takes a routine call.
Christmas
Eve wreck
kills one
By Steven HL Pollak
Staff Writer
A 22-year-old Forsyth County
man died in a Christmas Eve wreck
on Spot Road near McCoy Circle.
The victim. Mateo Miguel
Gasper, of Friendship Circle in west
Forsyth, was traveling westbound on
Spot Road near McCoy Circle when
his 1995 Hyundai Sonata apparently
crossed the center line and collided
with an eastbound delivery truck at
approximately 6:30 p.m. on
Wednesday.
According to a report released by
the Forsyth County Sheriff's Office,
Gasper was killed instantly.
County Coroner Lauren W.
McDonald 111 said the victim suf
fered “massive trauma to the head
and chest.”
An EMS crew transported the
driver of the delivery truck, Jose
Israel Galvan of Gainesville, to
Northside Hospital Forsyth where he
was treated and released.
Traffic specialists with the sher
iff’s office will be investigating the
wreck in an attempt to determine
what caused Gasper to cross the cen
ter line.
In addition, the sheriff’s office
report said, “It is not known at this
See FATAL, Page 2A
Corps raises security level at
Buford Dam twice in a week
By Steven H. Pollak
Staff Writer
The Department of Defense raised the
threat level at Lake Lanier’s Buford Dam on
Tuesday.
The dam falls under the jurisdiction of the
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers which follows
threat level guidelines set by the Department
of Defense as opposed to the Department of
Homeland Security.
Tuesday’s rise in the threat level was the
second such elevation by the Department of
Defense since Dec. 21.
Mark Williams, chief park ranger with the
Corps of Engineers at Lake Lanier, said the
directive applies to all U.S. Army civilian
installations throughout the country, not just
Buford Dam.
Williams said the military order means all
public facilities adjacent to Buford Dam will
remain closed until the Department of
Defense lowers the threat level.
The closed areas include Overlook Park,
Lower Pool Park, the parking lot on top of
Buford Dam, Upper Overlook Park, Lower
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0 90994 04000 7
By Harris Blackwood and Colby Jones
Staff Writers
Christmas is a definite day off for employ
ees at most businesses, but some lines of work
must remain open 365 days a year.
Emergency dispatchers work in one of
those fields.
For 12 hours on Christmas Day, Chuck
Pettyjohn provided the link between residents
of Cumming and their police department.
Pettyjohn, a communications officer for the
Cumming Police Department, had the misfor
tune of his shift falling on Christmas Day. But
it is not the first time.
“It’s happened to me four or five times,”
said Pettyjohn, who has worked with the
police department off and on since 1992.
“Christmas is usually the quiet holiday,”
said Pettyjohn in contrasting the level of police
business on Christmas and New Year’s. “New
Year’s is the really busy day.”
At the Forsyth County E-911 Center, which
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Photo/David McGregor
So this is winter?
The calendar may show winter is officially here, but you would
never have known it last week as unseasonably warm weather
drew lots of young children to the county’s playgrounds. Eight-year
old Julianne Cain gives sister Ivy, 3, an extra push on the swing set
at Central Park.
Overlook Park and the Laurel Ridge Trail.
Williams noted that West Bank Park will
stay open at the current threat level.
Buford Dam Road will remain open to
traffic but vehicles may not stop as they cross
over the dam and pedestrians are forbidden
from walking on the roadway.
The Corps of Engineers increased surveil
lance of the dam after the Dec. 21 threat level
elevation and any suspicious activity will
elicit a response from law enforcement,
Williams said.
Buford Dam sits at the south end of Lake
Lanier straddling Forsyth and Gwinnett coun
ties.
In the aftermath of the Sept. 11 terrorist
attacks, the facility became the focus of local
law enforcement aiming to prevent similar
disasters here.
According to a Corps of Engineers report,
the main dam is 192 feet high and 2,360 feet
long. The Corps of Engineers’ powerhouse
complex, located on the Forsyth side of the
main dam, produces electricity for a power
See THREAT, Page 2A
INDEX
Abby BA
Births 4B
Classifieds 3C
Death5............................... ...2A
Forsyth Life IB
Horoscope 8A
Opinion lOA
Sports 1C
SUNDAY December 28,2003
Inside
County approves zoning
for conservation ‘
subdivision.
Page 3A
dispatches calls to law enforcement, fire and
ambulance services in the county, communica
tions officer Rebecca Gayle reported to work
at 7 a.m. on Christmas. Her shift was to end at
5 p.m. Dispatchers try to coordinate their
shifts to allow those with children to be home
in the morning when their children open pres
ents.
“We celebrate Christmas here and then go
home and celebrate with our families,” Gayle
said.
Although the work environment is strictly
business when a bona fide emergency is hap
pening, communications officers were remind
ed about the holiday when on the job.
Garlands adorned the darkened communica
tions bunker and a Christmas tree twinkled
among the flashing switchboard. Callers heard
the standard response when they called 911
but received a warm, holiday greeting when
they dialed the non-emergency line.
The calls stay “pretty steady” on Christmas
with wrecks and domestic disturbances like
City, county talk,
remain at impasse
Nothing gained in meeting of top officials
By Nicole Green and Kim Ash
Staff Writers
The Forsyth County Commission
chairman and Cumming mayor have
no plans for a future meeting after a
session last Tuesday produced noth
ing to repair recent discord on the
validity of intergovernmental agree
ments between the two entities.
However, both men also say their
“door is always open” if either party
would like to meet again.
In a telephone interview on
Friday, Commission chairman Jack
Conway said that no progress was
made at the meeting but, if the mayor
wants to meet again, he would be
open to the idea.
“I am sure the commissioners
would be willing to talk,” he said.
Conway said the disagreement
centers around accountability for the
city’s spending of sales tax funds.
“The mayor doesn’t think he has
to provide documentation for the
money he spends,” Conway said in a
Tuesday press release. “We think it’s
our fiscal responsibility to justify the
checks we write. It’s that simple.”
Cumming Mayor H. Ford Gravitt
on Friday said he would meet again
with county officials if they want to
discuss the issue.
“The whole thing is that [the
. fl
Photo/David McGregor
Instant drive-thru
The driver and passenger of this Nissan Xterra escaped injury Friday in a wreck in front
of the Lowe’s Home Improvement Warehouse. The driver of an Acura 3.OCL attempted to
exit Wal-mart on Marketplace Boulevard and hit the Xterra which careened into a display
of storage sheds. The driver of the Acura was charged with failure to yield.
Sports
Forsyth’s best players
recognized on
all-county football team.
PagelC
the other 364 days a year, Gayle said.
“It never changes,” Gayle said.
At the smaller city police department, a
typical Christmas usually involves calls about
malfunctioning traffic lights and an occasional
traffic mishap. The police department also
answers emergency calls for the Cumming
Water Department and may get an occasional
call about a broken water main.
“Some folks actually call and wish us
Merry Christmas,” said Pettyjohn.
The dispatcher said he also receives a call
about every five hours from the Georgia State
Patrol seeking an update on traffic numbers.
The patrol serves as a statewide clearinghouse
for traffic statistics for the holiday weekend,
which began at 6 p.m. Tuesday and continues
through midnight tonight.
He was also in touch with the Forsyth
County Sheriffs Office as incoming calls were
inadvertently made to the wrong agency.
“We quietly pat each other on the back, if
things are going well,” Pettyjohn said.
county] feels the city doesn’t deserve
any SPLOST; it’s not favorable,” he
said.
The meeting was requested by
Gravitt to discuss the city-county
agreement on the special purpose
local option sales tax as well as
agreements on water and sewer serv
ice.
After withholding the city’s 15
percent portion of SPLOST revenue
for September and October, the
county requested from the city six
years worth of SPLOST expenditure
documentation in addition to the one
page annual report submitted by the
city. Because the county is legally
responsible for SPLOST money, it
wants a more detailed understanding
of where those tax dollars go, county
officials say.
“The city of Cumming, through
its audit report, submits documenta
tion to the state of Georgia in that
report, as does the Forsyth County
government with their portion of
SPLOST,” city administrator Gerald
Blackbum said Tuesday.
City officials were angered by
county officials’ unannounced with
holding of funds, which eventually
were distributed in late October. The
county also instructed its attorneys to
See TALKS, Page 2A
Partly Cloudy
High in the upper 50s.
Low in the low 40s.
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See the Wild West in Cartersville
LAKE LANIER LEVELS
Date Level
Dea 23 1069.28 ft
Dea 24 1069.24 ft
Dea 25 4069,23 ft
Dea 26 ; 1069.23 ft
Full 1071.00 ft