Newspaper Page Text
Forsyth County News
J Your "Hometown Paper" Since 19C . , T . TT -
Vol. 95, No. 017
Financial scams alleged
Supposed money planner faces criminal charges, lawsuits
By Steven H. Pollak
Staff Writer
According to his 2002 divorce
papers, William Christopher Harris
was a “successful” businessman who
owned six corporations, lived in the
posh golf course community of
Laurel Springs and earned an annual
salary of $300,000.
Today, he stands accused of steal
ing an elderly woman’s life savings,
running a ponzi scheme worth hun
dreds of thousands of dollars and
buying a truck on his business part
ner’s credit.
Harris, a 32-year-old local man
who has also been known to call
himself Joseph William Volmary Jr.
or William Joseph Volmary. was
arrested in Florida last week and
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A night
for laughter
A fundraising basketball " SuO/>’ t
game at Otwell Middle '
School between the high-fly- tIH “ i : dk
ing Harlem Ambassadors 'W '■
and the Gym Rats of the ''W*jL JI
Forsyth County Rotary Club
brought smiles and laughter
to hundreds of faces Friday
night. Otwell’s gym was SIMMS ' jR
packed for the event, which
included a little bit of every-
thing. Above, sisters Corina B> - >.;
(3) and Eleanor (1) Barrett ' •Jm ?
do the “cha-cha” along with TAI
an assortment of local resi- JU gAW
dents and members of the M I fiSk
touring team during halftime
of the game. Right, 2-year- E**s3 VB
old Mitchell Valderrama '- 3
watches the opening
moments of the gontest.
Please see page 8A for b""*xJ
more photos of the commu- I
nity nvent ; '
n.i'.i.i [ BB MtoZl
A night
for laughter
A fundraising basketball
game at Otwell Middle
School between the high-fly
ing Harlem Ambassadors
and the Gym Rats of the
Forsyth County Rotary Club
brought smiles and laughter
to hundreds of faces Friday
night. Otwell’s gym was
packed for the event, which
included a little bit of every
thing. Above, sisters Corina
(3) and Eleanor (1) Barrett
do the “cha-cha” along with
an assortment of local resi
dents and members of the
touring team during halftime
of the game. Right, 2-year
old Mitchell Valderrama
watches the opening
moments of the gontest.
Please see page 8A for
more photos of the commu
nity event.
Photos/David McGregor
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Copyright © 2003 Forsyth County News
9C99/ 04 0
Your "Hometown Paper" Since 19(
arrived back at the
Forsyth County
jail on Monday.
He is facing at
least 16 counts of
various financial
offenses including
theft by deception
and forgery in the
first degree.
In addition, he
is the target of at H arri<s
least three law-
suits from former clients and one for
mer business partner all of whom
are attempting to collect on money
allegedly lost by Harris.
As far back as 2000, Harris had
been holding himself out as a
“licensed financial planner and
investment advisor” doing business
INDEX
Abby 3B
Classifieds 4B
Deaths 2A
Government 3A
Horoscope 3B
Kids Page 5A
Opinion 7A
Sports 6A
THURSDAY January 29,2004
“Nike Reuse-A-Shoe”
program a big hit at
Otwell
Page 3A
as Harris Global Management and
PIS Funding Corporation, documents
filed in the lawsuits allege.
But, Harris Global Management
dissolved as a business in 1999 while
PIS Funding Corporation did not
exist as a legitimate company,
according to the court documents.
Nevertheless, in April 2000, he
convinced one woman to invest with
him and she wired $458,722 to his
First Union bank account, lawsuits
say.
He also convinced another
woman to invest her 87-year-old
aunt’s money. She would later send
Harris two checks totaling $150,000.
Also, documents filed in the law
suit say Harris had been the focus of
See HARRIS, Page 2A
wl —| ©
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Photo/David McGregor
Joe Halsey works to restore telephone service to the estimated
11,000 south Forsyth residents who lost phone service Tuesday. A
grading service accidentally severed a major phone line Tuesday
morning.
Thousands lose
telephone service
By Nicole Green
Staff Writer
About 11,000 customers lost
phone service Tuesday morning when
a grading contractor accidentally cut
a major telephone line in south
Forsyth County, a BellSouth official
said.
Phone service had been recon
nected for everyone by early
Wednesday morning.
At 10:15 a.m., a contractor work
ing near Hearthstone subdivision on
Hwy. 9 completely severed under
ground fiber optic cables servicing
businesses, residences and cell phone
State House to hear legislation
on utilities’ power to take land
By Todd Truelove
Staff Writer
Power companies would be
required to communicate more fully
with property owners in the paths of
planned power lines before land is
condemned under legislation sched
uled to be presented before the state
House of Representatives today.
However, some residents and leg
islators say the bill does not go far
enough to provide oversight on
power companies and their ability to
take property for projects deemed to
be in the greater interest of the pub
lic.
On Jan. 16, the state Senate in a
35-5 vote passed an amended version
of a bill that was approved by repre
sentatives last year.
The four senators that represent
portions of Forsyth County were split
in their vote; senators Renee
Unterman (R-Loganville) and David
Shafer (R-Duluth) voted for it, and
senators Casey Cagle (R-Gainesville)
and Dan Moody (R-Alpharetta)
voted against it.
In addition, the organization
Homeowners Opposing Powerline
Encroachment (HOPE), which has
pushed for legislative oversight of
the power industry since 2001, wants
Covenant Christian
prepares for Saturday
home game.
PageGA
towers. Large subdivisions such as
Polo Fields and Windermere were
affected, as well as businesses along
Hwy. 9 to Alpharetta.
Northside Forsyth Hospital lost
connection to their online computer
network during the outage, hospital
officials said. Workers used the back
up manual system to transmit patient
information to the main Northside
campus in Atlanta.
Emergency 911 services were not
affected by the outage, the sheriff’s
office reported.
BellSouth spokesman Philip Reed
said workers restored service to all
customers by 2 a.m. Wednesday.
to see the bill either killed or amend
ed again in the House before it is
adopted.
Unterman sat on a committee that
has studied the
power line issue
since Sep-tember.
She said the bill
is not everything
she had hoped
for, but that it is a
beginning.
However, she
said the bill adds
several elements
that were not
required in last year’s bill includ
ing proper notification from power
companies via'certified mail to prop
erty owners in and around the path of
transmission projects, public hear
ings for such projects and lengthen
ing the amount of time a property
owner in condemnation procedures
has to gather information for court
hearings from 10 days to about a
month.
“This [bill] is not what.l wanted”
Unterman said Tuesday. “This is a
step in the right direction.”
“The power industry has a huge
lobbying force, [and] I have fought
See LAND, Page 2A
Rain
High in the low 50s.
Low in the mid-20s.
/' /‘T "'3NL <I # A *U.
BUSINESS, 1B
Georgia Tech club will be a neighbor
Unterman
LAKE LANIER LEVELS
Date • Level
Jan. 24 1067.74 ft
Jan. 25 1067.73 ft
Jan. 26 1068.01 ft
Jan. 27 1068.08 ft
Pull 1071.00 ft