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FORSYTH COUNTY NEWS Thursday, February 12,2004
Gravitt urges voters to wait on approval for justice center
By Todd Truelove
Staff Writer
Mayor H. Ford Gravitt
says county voters should
deny the county government
bonds that would fund con
struction of new justice center
facilities and instead defer the
funding to capital projects in a
2008 referendum to extend the
county’s 1 percent sales tax.
“We don’t need another tax
increase,” Gravitt said during
a town hall meeting sponsored
by the Forsyth County
Republican Party.
Gravitt was referring to a
two mill property tax increase
the county board of commis
sioners approved last year to
support the 2004 budget.
Tuesday’s Town Hall meet-
TOWERS from 1A
He said he had asked the
board to allow enough time
for Motorola advisors to find
an alternative to the Molly
View Point site.
At the meeting, Chuck
Bethea, systems engineer from
Motorola, said there are four
or five existing facilities that
could be considered as an
alternative to the Molly View
Point site.
Bethea said Pritchett's
alternative of four antennas
had not been considered to
keep the system within budg
etary constraints leaving
enough money to cover
unforeseen costs.
“[Pritchett's alternative] is
Deaths
Eva Frost
Eva Frost of Alpharetta
died Feb. 7, 2004.
Survivors include her
daughter, Marie F. Stewart of
Suwanee; granddaughter,
Deborah Holder Babbitt and
her husband Michael Babbitt
Jr. of Wilmington, Del.; grand
son, Gregory P. Holder of
Atlanta; great-grandson,
Robert Daniel Quartarone of
Wilmington, Del.
A memorial service will be
Thursday, Feb. 12, at 4 p.m. in
, the funeral home chapel with a
►reception to follow.
* Contributions may be made
to Portsbridge Hospice, 400
Buford Hwy., Suite D-2, Sugar
Hill, GA 30518 or Fireman's
Relief Assoc. Fund, 16th
Avenue Fire Station,
Haverhill, Mass., 01830 c/o
Richard Beaudoin.
McDonald and Son Funeral
Home was in charge of the
arrangements.
Forsyth County News
February 12, 2004
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ing was conducted at
Cumming City Hall. The
meetings, part of an occasion
al series the county GOP
sponsors, were originally con
ducted in the auditorium at the
County Administration
Building but the board last
year stopped allowing outside
groups to use the facility.
The mayor said while there
is no question the new judicial
facilities are needed, it is a
better alternative to fund the
projects which include a
new jail, courthouse and park
ing deck with a five-year
sales tax rather than property
taxes.
“This city hall was paid for
when it was built,” Gravitt
said, adding the Cumming
City Council planned for the
slightly better in coverage,”
Bethea said, “and it is more in
cost.”
Motorola’s original pro
posal totaled $11.7 million;
negotiations with the county
reduced it to $11.4 million.
Pritchett’s estimate totaled
$11.9 million.
Chairman Jack Conway
said he made his decision to
build the towers at the cunent
locations because of the
advice from Motorola’s engi
neers, who will be providing
the system.
“I have no desire to put
this tower in one place over
another,” Conway said.
The chairman said after
Ruby Heard Proctor
Mrs. Ruby Heard Proctor,
90, of Cumming died Monday,
Feb. 9, 2004. Mrs. Proctor was
saved at Corinth Baptist
Church when she was 13 years
old, then joined Beaver Ruin
Baptist Church in 1934 and
retained her membership there
for 69 years. She attended
Haw Creek School and began
Heard’s Florist in 1957 and
retired in 1983. She was pre
ceded in death by her parents,
James “Jim” and Lou Nichols;
and her first husband, Louis
Clifton Heard.
Survivors include her hus
band, J.D. Proctor; children,
Virginia and Bob Berger,
Herman and Marjorie Heard,
all of Cumming; six grandchil
dren; 13 great-grandchildren;
sister-in-law, Louise Nichols;
stepdaughters and sons-in-law,
Tommy and Gail Russell, Judy
Proctor, all of Cumming, J.C.
and Cheryl Nix of
Dawsonville; several nieces,
nephews and other relatives
also survive.
Funeral services were
Wednesday, Feb. 11, at the
Ingram Funeral Home Chapel
with the Revs. Dan
Henderson. Roger Shadburn
and Danny Orr officiating.
Interment followed in the
Sawnee View Memorial
Gardens.
Ingram Funeral Home was
in charge of the arrangements.
Forsyth County News
February 12, 2004
$5 million facility for 10 years
before constructing it.
Bonds for the proposed
justice center facilities total
$65 million. That amount does
not include interest property
taxpayers will be paying on
the bonds through the next 20
years.
Questions were posed from
an audience of about 60 to 70
people to various county offi
cials who agreed to appear at
the meeting including
County Commissioner Charles
Laughinghouse, Sheriff Ted
Paxton, Clerk of Court Doug
Sorrells and Solicitor Leslie
Abernathy.
The main topic of many of
the questions covered the
actual cost of the facilities.
It’s anticipated that $65
hearing the scenario that he
hadn’t heard anything new and
motioned to not reconsider
changing the tower locations.
Commissioner Charlie
Laughinghouse, who repre
sents portions of central and
west Forsyth County, said he
could not support the alterna
tive due to the increase in cost
LIST from 1A
date from May 1989. The
posted delinquent business
accounts range between
$134,088 and $2.3 million.
The posted delinquent
accounts are a small portion of
the more than 420,000 delin
quent accounts that owe
approximately $1.6 billion.
During the 2003 session,
the Georgia General Assembly
passed legislation giving the
revenue department authority
to publish on the Internet the
names of individuals and busi
nesses that have a delinquent
tax account.
Each individual and busi-
Cumming resident dies in crash on 400
From staff reports
Clarence R. Morton Jr., 44,
of Cumming died Tuesday
after his vehicle crashed and
burned on Ga. 400 southbound
in Alpharetta, police said.
At about 4:45 a.m.,
Morton’s Ford Explorer Sport
Track veered off the road and
careened into a bridge support
at Old Milton Parkway,
according to Alpharetta police
Sgt. Chris Lagerbloom. Police
are not sure why the vehicle
left the roadway. There was
only one witness to the acci-
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Cumming Baptist Church
■'X.-
115 Church Street
C 770-205-6699
million while enough to
cover construction will not
be enough to pay for the land
to build the facilities and fur
nish the buildings.
Commissioners continue
negotiating with the property
owners of Goodson’s pharma
cy and Wachovia bank where
the courthouse is set to be
built, but a final agreement has
not been reached.
Laughinghouse said it
will cost more than anticipat
ed to buy the property
because the public was noti
fied of the interest in the land
before negotiations began
taking place. He said county
reserves will most likely be
used to purchase the proper
ty-
The commissioner initial-
and additional time it will take
to implement the change.
“This alternative does pro
vide slightly increased cover
age,” Laughinghouse said, “but
in order to do that it comes at a
substantial cost penalty and a
substantial increase in time.”
The alternative would
extend the amount of time until
ness on the list has a recorded
tax lien filed against them in
the county superior court
where the individual resided
or where the business was
located at the time of record
ing.
The largest outstanding tax
debt from Forsyth County is
from American Millwork, a
company whose officers
include William Marrett, a
developer who has held other
interests within the county.
The company is listed with a
combined total of $675,645.66
in payroll withholding taxes.
These funds are deducted
dent.
“We will do a test on car to
see if there was a mechanical
failure,” Lagerbloom said.
Ga. 400 was closed in both
directions for approximately
10 minutes until the
Department of Transportation
determined that the bridge was
structurally sound. Then north
bound lanes opened and police
routed southbound traffic off
the Old Milton Parkway exit
and back onto the highway.
All lanes were completely
open by 7 a.m.
ly supported separating the
bond referendums one for
the courthouse and one for
the jail along with
Commissioner A.J. Pritchett.
When that motion failed,
he said he voted for the sin
gle referendum in a 4-1 vote
to give county voters the
opportunity to choose
whether to fund the projects
through bonds.
Pritchett cast the dissent
ing vote.
Commissioners were act
ing on a recommendation
from a grand jury task force
that studied the project and
recommended commissioners
approve the bond referen
dum.
Roger Crow, the chairman
of the Let’s Build It commit-
the project is completed by sev
eral months to investigate
Molly View Point locations
alternatives and obtain permis
sion from the owners of the
existing facilities.
Commissioner Eddie Taylor
praised Pritchett for investigat
ing the issue, but wished more
attention had been given to
from a worker’s payroll check
and are to be remitted to the
state on the employee’s behalf.
The Secretary of State’s Web
site shows that American
Millwork Inc. was administra
tively dissolved for failing to
pay its annual corporate
renewal fee. The last such
payment came in 2000.
The revenue department
cautions that the amount may
not reflect the entire tax lia
biltiy. The taxpayer could have
made some payments since
the lien was recorded or addi
tional interest and penalties
could have accrued. The
department made multiple
attempts to communicate the
tax liability with each taxpay-
Construction of the NEW Worship Center
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Forsyth County News
•f Your "Hometown Paper" Since 1908 J
USPS 205-540
Veterans Memorial Blvd., Cumming, Georgia 30040
Phone:77o-887-3126 Fax:77o-889-6017
Internet Address: www.forsythnews.com
• Publisher DENNIS STOCKTON
General Manager NORMAN BAGGS
Editor TOM SPIGOLON
Advertising Director MARTI BARNES
Circulation Director PHIL JONES
MEMBER
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Company, Veterans Memorial Blvd., Cumming, Ga. Second Class Postage paid at
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tee that supports the referen
dum, said delaying the proj
ect will only increase its
eventual cost. In addition,
Crow said renting court facil
ities and paying to house
prisoners in other counties
because the jail is too full to
support them will only cost
taxpayers more in the long
run.
“If we don’t own [the
buildings], we’re going to
rent them,” Crow said,
adding furnishing costs were
not included in the commit
tee’s proposal because it is
now wise to fund short term
items over a longer term peri
od.
Voters will choose
whether to grant the bonds
March 2.
Molly View Point.
Pritchett cast the lone dis
senting vote.
The county government,
however, did authorize a letter
be sent requesting Motorola
move the tower location at
Fire Station 10 about 50 to 80
feet further from Ray’s
home.
er before recording the lien.
The notices provided the tax
payer with an opportunity to
pay the liability or to explain
any discrepancies in the
department’s information. The
notices were mailed to the tax
payer at the last address on
file with the department.
“Our objective in posting
delinquent taxpayers names on
the Internet is to bring as
many taxpayers as possible
into compliance with the
state’s tax laws and to dis
suade individuals who might
be considering not to fulfill
their tax obligation to take
another course of action,”
explained Bart Graham, rev
enue commissioner.