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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 Wanna Dance? M S . rest Wi ■ r nZL -JiBm&rMIHiMI SHH MS : * MESb --5& ‘ Mr- - ■.■*&*■;■' _ >r . SL ~'-MUI! Hjr K JhR hb sHBEIBBIiBKMHBMI -'Mfe tHHL iSESrB • ’ flHh mBB oHL< - x\l --W Hfafc 4 -' * r MIIHfW ; wWjBB • - fljf 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 Missed paper policy: For a replacement paper, call 8 a.m. - 5:30 p.m. Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, and 9 a.m. -1 p.m. on Sunday - (770) 887-3126. 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 —| © MT— ffIII WMliii "J 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