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Forsyth CountyNws
J Your "Hometown Paper" Since 1908 J
r *GO DAWGS*
Vol. 95, No. 031
Pritchett to run for tax commissioner
Incumbent county commissioner
faces an old political foe in race
with four announced candidates
By Todd Truelove
Staff Writer
Forsyth County Commissioner AJ. Pritchett
says he will forego seeking re-election to his
District 2 seat on the board this year to join a
crowded field campaigning for the office of
county tax commissioner.
The south Forsyth commissioner announced
Wednesday that he plans to seek the tax commis
sioner's post, joining at least three other candi
dates who also have announced their plans to run
for the position: Bill Jenkins, a former county
Photos/David McGregor
Renovation work is under way in the stage area of the auditorium in the Cumming Historic School.
City hopes renovation of Historic School
will be finished in time for June Singing
By Nicole Green
Staff Writer
On a Friday afternoon, after con
struction workers have left the site of
the Cumming Historic School, the only
sound in the building is a dove cooing
from the rooftop and the creak of hard
wood floors laid in 1923.
Signs of the Cumming Public
School and Cumming High School
remain. A staircase indented with tiny
footprints will be displayed in a library
of school memorabilia. An inclined
theater floor was discovered beneath
the current auditorium area, which was
leveled to create
first grade class
rooms at some
point in the build
ing's history.
Boards were peeled
off the windows,
flooding the halls
with light like the
first day of school.
Put your
NAME ON A
SEAT IN THE
THEATER ...
Details,
page 7A
"I’m sure it was a very happy
place." said Linda Heard, hometown
development coordinator for the city of
Cumming, during a tour of the build
ing on Friday.
Restoration of the school began
mid-summer last year. Heard expects
restoration of the old school to be com
plete by June 1, in time for the June
Singing tradition in Cumming. Local
music teacher Shanin Gunter is work
ing to furnish the theater with a grand
piano to serve as accompaniment.
"We’re going to try to do it small
but right,” Heard said of the restora
tion.
The Historical Society of Forsyth
See SCHOOL, Page 2A
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commissioner; Wayne Plummer, a local political
activist who managed Commission Chairman
Jack Conway's 2002 campaign; and Matt
Maiorano, a county employee and accountant
who works in the tax commissioner’s depart
ment.
Incumbent Joyce Pendley, who was appointed
to the post in 2003, has not said whether she will
seek election to a full term.
Pritchett said he looks forward to the compe
tition for the position.
“I think I can do a much more effective job as
tax commissioner." Pritchett said Friday in a tele-
Worklights give an eerie glow to the school's hallway.
INDEX
Abby ......................................68
Births 48
Deaths 2A
Foreyth Life IB
Horoscope 68
Opinion 10A
Sports 1C
SUNDAY February 22, 2004
wr tr a
BL *
L. ; i
Pritchett
phone interview. "The tax commissioner is more
business oriented. It suits my background better.
It allows me to use my experience in the corpo
rate sector and apply it toward the county.”
Jenkins who was chairman of the com
mission when he lost his seat in 2002 to Pritchett
See RACE, Page 2A
Murder suspect
collapses in court
‘1 am a very sick man... Can you not let me die in peace?’
By Colby Jones
Staff Writer
A 66-year-old Forsyth County
man charged with murdering a door
to-door salesman collapsed during a
preliminary hearing on Thursday
morning.
Morris Cecil Chadwick, clutching
a paperback edition of the New
Testament and guarded by two armed
deputies, fell out of the defendant's
chair and onto the floor in Forsyth
County Magistrate Court about 10:20
a.m.
Although no witnesses testified
against him, Chadwick remained the
center of attention during the brief
proceeding.
His wife, Grace, and other rela
tives seated together in the front row
of the courtroom, pleaded with
deputies to allow them to give
Chadwick a glass of water.
The scraggly-bearded Chadwick
appeared disoriented and moaned
after he collapsed.
"I lost 40 pounds in 29 days,"
Chadwick said while sprawled out on
the floor in an orange jumpsuit. "I
am a very sick man ... Can you not
let me die in peace.”
Chief Magistrate Barbara Cole
cleared the courtroom and deputies
summoned an ambulance to treat
Chadwick. An officer wiped
Chadwick’s forehead with a handker
chief while waiting for medical help.
Paramedics transported Chadwick to
Smoking ban is again
on commission agenda
From staff reports
The Forsyth County Board of
Commissioners is expected to discuss
how to institute a ban against smoking
in public buildings during a meeting
tomorrow.
Plans to discuss the topic at previ
ous meetings were postponed to con
serve time after commissioners dealt
with lengthy agendas.
The board may direct attorneys to
write a smoking ban ordinance after
the discussion. Such an ordinance must
then undergo at least two public hear
ings before it could be adopted.
The ordinance would make smok
ing illegal in any building in which the
public is allowed in Forsyth County.
Everything from restaurants, night
clubs and retail stores to governmental
Forsyth County
represented in Army
Reserve unit welcomed
home Friday.
Page4A
Jenkins
Sunny
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onyth
Maiorano
•Two current members of
the county’s school board
will not seek re-election.
Story, page 6A.
Northside Hospital Forsyth and the
hearing officially ended before
District Attorney
Penny Penn or ■X*
defense attorney U
Les Aiken pre- I
sented their first s
argument
I he purpose »!
(jc.if'ing 'xa- to
detet m i n e
whether prosecu
tors have probable Chadwick
cause to keep
Chadwick in custody. No date for a
new hearing was set Thursday. If a
grand jury returns an indictment
against Chadwick in the near future,
no hearing will need to be held
because the grand jury already would
have found probable cause.
The district attorney's office has
indicated it plans to seek an indict
ment against Chadwick when it
reconvenes next month, according to
Aiken.
Outside the courthouse, Cleve
Chadwick criticized how the legal
system has treated his brother since
deputies booked him into the county
jail on .a single count of murder on
Jan. 22.
His brother has refused to drink
water because he will only drink it
from a well, said Cleve Chadwick.
He has refused to eat in jail, too.
See SUSPECT, Page 2A
buildings could be affected.
In other business at the meeting, the
board is expected to consider approv
ing:
• A request from DDR Limited Co.
of Dunwoody to rezone 19 acres locat
ed near the intersection of Hwy. 369
and Little Mill Road from agricultur
al/vacation cottage to commercial busi
ness district for a proposed retail shop
ping center.
• A request from PC Homes to
rezone 123.9 acres located on the east
side of Tribble Road near the intersec
tion with Hwy. 20 from agricultural to
residential with a density of two units
per acre.
• A request from Ivey Building
Corp, to rezone 91.3 acres located on
See AGENDA, Page 2A
Plummer