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FORSYTH COUNTY NEWS Friday, January 23,2004
Fatal wreck last year spawns three lawsuits
By Steven H. Pollak
Staff Writer
A fatal wreck involving
two pedestrians in Cumming
last October has led to at least
three lawsuits being filed
against Sawnee EMC, Tyson
Foods and the 20-year-old
driver who hit the victims
with his company truck.
On the rain-soaked after
noon of Oct. 14, Yohnnie G.
Barrs, 35, of Kellogg, Idaho,
was killed when she was
struck by a Sawnee EMC
pickup driven by 20-year-old
Deaths
Myrtle Nell Bagby
Mrs. Myrtle Nell Bagby,
74, of Hall County died Jan.
20, 2004.
Mrs. Bagby was preceded
in death by her husband,
Luther Robert Bagby.
Survivors include children,
Charles Bagby, Willie Bagby,
Walter Bagby, all of
Dawsonville, Barbara Bagby
of Atlanta, Pam and Harold
Sullens of Gainesville; 12
grandchildren; four great
grandchildren; three step
grandchildren; four step great
grandchildren; sisters, Dot
Pilcher of Cumming, Bea
Mewborn of Buford; brother,
Grady Dover of Buford; sis
ters-in-law, Mary Samples of
Cumming, Josephine Bagby
of Fla.; several nieces,
nephews and other relatives
also survive.
Funeral services are Friday,
Jan. 23. at 2 p.m. at Ingram
Funeral Home Chapel with
Rev. Larmon Barron officiat
ing. Interment will follow at
Bethel Baptist Church
Cemetery.
Ingram Funeral Home is in
charge of the arrangements.
Forsyth County News
January 23, 2004
Marvin Joe Garrett
Marvin Joe Garrett, 49, of
Cumming died Tuesday, Jan.
20. 2004. Mr. Garrett, a native
of Forsyth County, was a
member of Silver City Baptist
Church. He was employed by
the Dawson County Board of
Education.
Survivors include wife,
Karen Garrett of Cumming;
daughter, Lacy Garrett of
Dahlonega; stepdaughter,
Elisha and Tony Holtzclaw of
Gainesville; stepson, Cecil
and Christy Peels of
Dawsonville; grandchildren,
Madison Peels, Zach
Holtzclaw; father and step
mother, Tommy and Mamie
Garrett of Cumming; sister
and brother-in-law, Dianne
and Mike Holland of Powder
Springs; mother-in-law, Willie
Butler of Dawsonville; a num
ber of other relatives.
Funeral services were
Thursday. Jan. 22, at Silver
City Baptist Church with the
Revs. Stephen Davis, Scott
Sorrells and Tony Holtzclaw
officiating.
Ingram Funeral Home was
in charge of the arrangements.
Forsyth County News
January' 23, 2004
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Trenton Sexton of Hall
County.
Sexton's pickup also hit
32-year-old Miley Joseph
Weldon of Pavo, Ga., who had
been standing next to Barrs on
West Maple Street adjacent to
the Tyson Foods poultry plant.
Weldon survived the colli
sion but lost the use of one of
his arms, according to his
attorney, Michael J.
Warshauer.
"He can't feel it and it does
not move," Warshauer said.
Barrs and Weldon worked
as tractor-trailer drivers and,
Stella Lummus Lewis
Mrs. Stella Lummus
Lewis, 85, of Marietta died
Monday, Jan. 19, 2004. Mrs.
Lewis was a native of Forsyth
County. She was a member of
New Harmony Baptist
Church.
Survivors include husband,
Grady E. Lewis of Marietta;
children, Peggy J. and John
O’Bryant of Woodstock, Ray
L. Lewis of Smyrna, Bill
Lewis of Woodstock, Rebecca
and Hershell Blanchard of
Marietta, Deborah G.
Thomason of Woodstock; 10
grandchildren; 14 great-grand
children; 1 great great grand
child; brother and sister-in
law, Rev. John and Lois
Lummus of Cumming; sister,
Nell Lummus of Atlanta; sev
eral nieces, nephews and other
relatives also survive.
Funeral services were
Thursday. Jan. 22, at Ingram
Funeral Home with the Revs.
Bobby Padgett and Gerral
Richards officiating.
Ingram Funeral Home was
in charge of the arrangements.
Forsyth County News
January 23, 2004
Gerald A. “Jerry” Saitow
Gerald A. “Jerry” Saitow,
63, of Alpharetta died Jan. 20,
2004.
Mr. Saitow was a member
of Congregation B'nai Dorot.
Survivors include wife,
Twila Saitow; sons, Dean
Saitow of Augusta, Kenneth
and Lisa Saitow of Macon;
brother, Arnold Saitow of
Nashua, NH; mother-in-law,
Theda Davis of Alpharetta;
grandchildren, Amanda,
Kayla, David, and Maury;
great-granddaughter,
Koral y n n .
Graveside services were
Thursday, Jan. 22, at Arlington
Memorial Park with Rabbi
Scott Saulson officiating
Contributions may be
made to the Leukemia-
Lymphoma Association.
Dressier’s Jewish Funeral
Care by Eternal Light was in
charge of the arrangements.
Forsyth County News
January 23, 2004
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on the day of the wreck, both
had been waiting to deliver
loads to the Tyson Foods com
plex in Cumming.
Barrs apparently had a
problem with the refrigeration
unit on her truck and had
asked Weldon to have a look
at it when the two were struck
by the Sawnee EMC pickup,
investigators have said.
Forsyth County firefighters
and emergency medical serv
ices personnel arrived shortly
thereafter and treated both
victims.
Barrs was taken to
Northside Hospital Forsyth
where she was pronounced
dead at 4:52 p.m.
No charges were ever
brought against Sexton nor
did law enforcement officials
REPUBLICANS from 1A
ing individuals to pump their
own money into the economy
in the ways they see fit, which
is preferable to raising taxes,”
state Rep. Jan Jones said.
Jones, a Republican, repre
sents the 38th District includ
ing part of Forsyth and Fulton
counties.
Tax cuts are needed on a
permanent basis to help fami
lies recover from the econom
ic slump, Deal said.
“I voted to make those tax
cuts permanent. They certainly
Incident reports
Editor's note: The following
items were taken from reports
on file with the Forsyth County’
Sheriffs Office.
Theft arrests: A deputy on
patrol nabbed an alleged lum
ber thief Sunday morning near
a home construction site on
Pennington Drive in the Three
Chimneys Farm subdivision.
A silver GMC pickup leav
ing the construction site loaded
with building materials aroused
the deputy's suspicions since no
construction was happening on
Sunday.
The deputy stopped the
pickup a short distance from
the work site and the driver,
later identified as 26-year-old
Manuel Madina Vasquez of
Norcross, said he had been
working on one of the homes
and was taking the building
materials to another job sched
uled for the following day. His
wife, 31-year-old Ana Maria
Garcia-Gonzalez of Norcross,
was also in the pickup.
The deputy asked Vasquez
to come with him back to the
work site. When they arrived,
the construction superintendent
also pulled up, saying he saw
the pickup take off with the
materials but that Vasquez did
not work there.
At that point, Vasquez and
his wife were both arrested on a
misdemeanor charge of theft by
taking.
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issue any traffic citations
related to the incident, accord
ing to officials at the Georgia
State Patrol.
In the most recent lawsuit,
which was filed in the Forsyth
County courthouse on Jan. 12,
Weldon has asked for an
amount of money to be deter
mined by a jury in Forsyth
County Superior Court. The
case names Sexton and
Sawnee EMC as defendants.
"Defendant Sexton failed
to keep a proper lookout and
negligently proceeded forward
into the marked crosswalk and
struck [Weldon] causing cata
strophic and permanent
injuries," the court documents
state.
Two other lawsuits have
been filed in federal court.
played a significant part in the
revitalization of the economy
in the last year and a half,” he
said.
Not everyone is in favor of
a tax break.
“The tax rebates are not all
that large and they’re being
offset by the increases [in
costs] families are seeing,”
Bennett said.
Bennett is equally unim
pressed with the President’s
No Child Left Behind (NCLB)
Act of 2001. The federal law
The total value of the items
allegedly stolen was S3OO.
Drug arrest: A deputy
stopped a 1988 Chevrolet
Beretta on Sunday at about
3:41 a.m. while traveling on
Hwy. 306 near Leland Drive
and discovered a suspected bag
of methamphetamine stuffed
down beneath the emergency
brake lever.
The passenger in the car,
31-year-old Ronnie Steve
Swanson Jr. of Dawsonville,
was arrested on a charge of
possession of methampheta
mine.
After the arrest, deputies
found two glass pipes in the
vehicle.
Theft: A 1991 Suzuki four
wheel all-terrain vehicle was
stolen Tuesday morning some
time between 2 a.m. and 6 a.m.
from outside a home in the
4600 block of Chestatee
Heights.
Drug arrest: A deputy last
week stopped a 1995 Cadillac
Deville on Pilgrim Point Road
near Comet Street and later dis
covered prescription pills inside
a Pringles potato chips can.
The deputy first shook the
Pringles can and heard some
thing that did not sound like
potato chips. When he opened
the can, he discovered a false
In one of them, Warshauer
represents Barrs' infant child,
Colton D. King, and the
child's father, Carl King, in a
suit naming Sexton and
Sawnee EMC as the defen
dants.
Carl King had been
engaged to Barrs at the time
of her death, Warshauer said.
The father will now be
responsible for raising the
child, who is less than a year
old.
This lawsuit does not ask
for a specific amount but
Warshauer said the federal
case and the one filed in the
Superior Court of Forsyth
County have the potential to
produce multi-million dollar
verdicts.
The second federal lawsuit
has set the nation’s schools on
a scramble to meet certifica
tion standards for “highly
qualified” teachers.
“Since when is a teacher
who’s taught for 15 years and
turned out honor students sud
denly declared not a good
teacher by No Child Left
Behind because she didn’t
have a particular math
course?” Bennett said.
Though Jones has spoken
in the past on behalf of teach
ers angered by the “highly
bottom beneath the chips. The
prescription bottle, which con
tained 19 Clonazepam pills,
was found underneath the false
bottom.
The driver, Brian Lee Boyd
of Dawsonville, was arrested on
charges of possession of a syn
thetic narcotic, having drugs
outside of their original con
tainer, driving while license
suspended and failure to stop at
a stop sign.
After the arrest, deputies
searched the rest of the vehicle
and found a black leather pouch
that had clear baggies inside,
including one with white
residue, as well as a glass pipe
and a partially smoked, hand
rolled cigarette believed to con
tain marijuana.
Vandalism: Someone this
week left a 6-foot scratch, stole
the face-plate of a global posi
tioning system and punctured
the seats of a 2003 black
Chevrolet Suburban parked in
front of Sharon Baptist Church
in the 3100 block of Atlanta
Road.
Forsyth County News
J Your "Hometown Paper" Since 1908 J
USPS 205-540
Veterans Memorial Blvd., Cumming, Georgia 30040
Phone: 770-887-3126 Fax: 770-889-6017
Internet Address: www.forsythnews.com
e Publisher DENNIS STOCKTON
General Manager NORMAN BAGGS
Editor TOM SPIGOLON
Advertising Director MARTI BARNES
Circulation Director PHIL JONES
MEMBER
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was also filed on behalf of
Barrs' infant child but names
the truck driver's mother,
Paula D. Sloat, as the plaintiff
against Sexton, Sawnee EMC
and Tyson Foods Inc.
Cumming attorney Frank
W. Hamilton represents Sloat
in the federal suit.
Joseph Mark Murphey, the
lawyer representing Sawnee
EMC and Sexton, declined to
comment on the cases.
"At this time, we're not
prepared to make a state
ment," he said.
Another lawyer, David
Hunt Wilson, is named as the
attorney representing Tyson
Foods in the federal case.
Wilson did not return a phone
call seeking comment for this
article.
qualified” standards, she is
still hopeful that NCLB will
make a change for the better
in the nation’s schools.
“Although I know we still
need to make some changes
on No Child Left Behind, it
will definitely take us in the
right direction. We need
greater accountability and
higher standards. That’s the
intent of No Child Left
Behind,” Jones said.
Staff writer Steven H.
Pollak contributed.
FATAL from 1A
its intersection with Sanders
Road, according to Forsyth
County Coroner Lauren W.
McDonald 111 and sheriff’s
reports.
The external injuries to
Patterson did not appear life
threatening, leading authorities
to suspect a medical emergency
may have caused her to cross the
centerline. Her body was trans
ported to the Georgia Crime Lab
for an autopsy. Those results
were not available on Thursday
morning.
An employee of the
Gwinnett County Parks and
Recreation Department, Patter
son apparently was on her way
to work when the wreck
occurred, according to prelimi
nary reports.
The driver of the other truck,
Leslie Fletcher, 40, of
Dawsonville was not injured,
according to sheriff’s reports.
Fletcher reported seeing nothing
in the road that may have caused
Patterson to cross die centerline,
said Capt. Mark Hoffman.
No charged were filed. The
accident remains under investi
gation by sheriff’s traffic investi
gators.