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Retired businessman ‘Doodler’ Thomas dead at 86
By Harris Blackwood
Community Editor
Mahlon “Doodler” Thomas, the
retired owner of one of Forsyth
County’s oldest businesses, died
Friday at the age of 86.
Thomas succeeded his father,
George Thomas, as owner of Thomas
Lumber Co., which opened for busi
ness in 1927. The business is now
owned and operated by Bobby
Thomas and his son, Seth.
Bobby Thomas said his father had
retired from the business in the 1980 s
but had remained active until the time
of his passing.
“He still came to the lumber yard
County’s audit of city tax records nearly complete
By Nicole Green
Staff Writer
Forsyth County auditors
are near completion of an
examination of Cumming
sales tax expenses.
Tension between the city
and Forsyth County height
ened on Oct. 30. 2003, when
the county made an Open
Records Act request for five
years of sales tax receipts.
Though the city government
receives 15 percent of the
revenue from the 1 percent
special purpose local option
sales tax (SPLOST) collected
in Forsyth County, the county
government levies the tax.
The city rushed to fulfill
the request in five weeks. On
Dec. 8, 2003, Mayor H. Ford
Gravitt delivered 1,750 pages
of sales tax spending docu
mentation to the county com
missioners.
The Forsyth County gov
ernment hired Bates, Carter
& Co. of Gainesville to audit
sales tax spending receipts
for 1997-2002. Auditors
needed a month to review the
report. A draft of the final
audit was delivered to county
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and tinkered with things,” said his son.
“He drove himself to the doctdr just
this week. He kept up an active life.”
Thomas was known for his lifelong
fascination with steam engines. His
cousin, A.G. Thomas, is the namesake
of the annual Thomas-Mashburn
Steam Engine Parade, held each July
4.
“He bought a steam engine not
long after my granddaddy, started fool
ing around with them,” said Joel
“Chigger” Webb, grandson of A.G.
Thomas and a current leader in the
Forsyth County Steam Engine
Association.
“He spent his life in the old
sawmill, cotton gin, and planing mill,”
attorneys Ken Jarrard and
Angela Davis in late January.
“We have performed our
procedure and are waiting on
the board [of commissioners]
to review our report,” said
Beth Grimes, audit manager
for the Forsyth County proj
ect at Bates, Carter.
Accountants were instruc
ted to confirm that sales tax
revenue distributed to the city
was placed into a separate
account, spent on projects as
stated in the voter-approved
referendum and returned to
the county government if any
excess funds remained.
“We did not direct the
auditors in their task,” Davis
said. “There was no predeter
mined conclusion ...They
have done the process with
no input from us.”
Bates, Carter awaits
instructions as to how
detailed a report the county
wants of city spending, offi
cials said.
“It’s not an issue of find
ings, just format,” Jarrard
said.
A final report is forthcom
ing.
The city has not been noti-
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said Webb, who described Doodler
Thomas as a kind and quiet man. “He
wouldn’t run over you to impress you.”
Those who recalled Doodler
Thomas each remembered his pen
chant for wearing bib overalls.
“That was his uniform,” said Webb.
“I’d be surprised if they didn’t bury
him in a pair. Otherwise, it wouldn’t
look like him.”
Cumming City Administrator
Gerald Blackburn said that Thomas
was helpful to the city during construc
tion of the Heritage Village area of the
Cumming Fairgrounds.
“He spent a lot of time at the fair
grounds and was a great adviser,” said
Blackburn. “He was so enthusiastic
fied about the status of the
audit, City Administrator
Gerald Blackburn said.
County officials have
questioned the validity of the
SPLOST Intergovernmental
Agreement signed by former
Forsyth County Commission
Chairman John Kieffer and
Gravitt in December 2002.
At the time of the Open
Records request, county com
missioners directed Jarrard &
Davis to file a request for a
Declaratory Judgment. Then
it would be up to the courts to
determine the enforceability
of the SPLOST agreement.
County attorneys will
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about the cotton gin, the saw mill and
all those things that were operated by
steam in years past.”
Blackburn recalled that Thomas
was saddened by the fire which
destroyed the cotton gin on the open
ing day of the fair last year. The city
plans to rebuild the gin.
Funeral services are scheduled for
2 p.m. today at Coal Mountain Baptist
Church and are under the direction of
Ingram Funeral Home.
He is survived by two daughters,
two sons, three sisters, two brothers,
eight grandchildren and three great
grandchildren. He was preceded in
death by his wife, Katie Lee Burruss
Thomas.
66
We did not
direct the
auditors
in their task...
99
assess the audit results before
filing any documents with the
court, Jarrard said. Additional
filings may be necessary if
the audit returns questions
about city spending.
The city of Cumming is
wary of entering into any
more contracts including
FORSYTH COUNTY NEWS Sunday, February 8,2004
water and sewer contracts
until the county returns its
verdict on the SPLOST
agreement, Blackbum said.
“The mayor and council
say they’re not going to
invest any more money in
these contracts until they [the
county] decide if the con
tracts are valid,” Blackburn
said.
The raw water intake
pump owned by the city is in
need of an upgrade to keep
up with the growing popula
tion of Forsyth County, coun
ty officials have said.
On Sept. 22, the Forsyth
County Commission unani-
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W HQA Aft
Mahlon Thomas (right) with son
Bobby at Thomas Lumber
Company.
mously approved a budget of
$160,000 to upgrade the
city’s pump at the raw water
intake, but the city has not
approved the work.
Officials with Jarrard &
Davis say there is no need for
the city to link the sales tax
audit to any other city-county
agreements.
“We just made an Open
Records request for docu
ments. Any citizen could do
that,” Jarrard said.
The city is still obligated
to fulfill all contractual obli
gations with the county,
Davis said.
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