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Forsyth CountvNews
J Your "Hometown Paper" Since 1908 ................. ~,r iT
Vol. 95, No. 033
Inmate transport not cheap
$644,315 alone
to house prisoners
in Cherokee; others
sent to S. Georgia
By Harris Blackwood
Community Editor
There are 18.(XM) miles of high
ways in Georgia, and a select group
of Forsyth County sheriff’s deputies
have seen their fair share of them.
Since 1998. Capt. Toni Wilson
has sent Forsyth County jail
inmates from the north Georgia
mountains to the coastal plain of
southeast Georgia. These are not
sightseeing trips this is a search
for an available bed in another
county's lockup.
The longest distance appears to
be a trip of 200 miles to the
Emmanuel County Jail in
Swainsboro, about halfway between
Macon and Savannah.
At a daily tab of $35 per day.
per inmate, housing inmates in
other jails cost Forsyth County tax
payers $647,570 in 2003. according
to figures compiled by the Sheriff's
Office.
The cost does not include the
salaries of deputies or the trans
portation costs. Deputies logged
146.000 miles in county vehicles to
transport inmates. Some of the
trips were just up the street to the
Forsyth County Courthouse, while
others were trips to distant counties
to take the inmates to a jail with
extra beds.
There are presently five
deputies, each with a county patrol
car. assigned with the task of trans
porting inmates.
The cost of outplacement of
inmates has been a primary argu
ment for proponents of a new coun
ty jail, the fate of which will be
decided by Forsyth voters on
Tuesday. The proposed facility
would house 350 inmates and
would be constructed at a cost of
$20.7 million part of a package
that includes a new courthouse for a
total cost of $65 million.
County voters will decide if they
want to authorize a $65 million
bond issue to build the jail and
courthouse complex. Voters may
vote Tuesday at their regular
polling place, or before Tuesday at
the County Administration Building
in downtown Cumming.
Back to school
Retiree gives fifth-graders lessons
in the old ways of learning, teaching
By Nicole Green
Staff Writer
There is a world of difference
between the Forsyth County class
room 84-year-old Amanda Brock sat
in front of last Friday and the one she
taught in as a young woman in
Columbus. Ga.
Brock had the opportunity to visit
a fifth-grade classroom through
Second Wind Dreams, a national,
non-profit organization that grants
the wishes of nursing home resi
dents. Fifth-grader Stephanie Reyes
invited Brock to spend a day away
from Oaks Assisted Living and visit
her math classroom at Vickery Creek
Elementary School. Brock is a for
mer teacher and principal in several
Georgia school systems.
Though it was Brock’s wish to
visit the Fifth grade, the children got
their wish for no math class that day.
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Copyright 0 2004 Forsyth County News
lUj <llo
GEORGIA NEWSPAPER PROJECT
THURSDAY February 26.2004 lOFI OF GEORGIO MO ,„ ,
498
CHEROKEE COUNTY DETENTION CENTER
[ ©
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Photo/Audra Perry
The Cherokee County Detention Center in Canton received $644,315 in 2003 to house Forsyth
County inmates.
Sheriff Ted Paxton said that
unlike parks and schools, the need
for more jail space is an issue that
is not on the front burner for many
voters.
"The jail is an entity of govern
ment where most residents of
Forsyth County have no contact."
said Paxton. "We are fortunate to
live in a community that has seen a
reduction in v iolent crime, but that
does not mean we haven’t had plen
ty of inmates at our facility"
Paxton said that Georgia's
tougher DUI laws, as well as minor
drug offenses and property crimes,
have resulted in sentences of one
year or less for many offenders.
"Anyone who is sentenced to a
year or less is going to serve their
sentence in a county jail." he said.
The jail was already experienc
ing overcrowded conditions when
Paxton took office in 2001.
A 64-bed expansion in 1996
nearly doubled the capacity of the
detention center. However, by
1998. the average daily inmate pop
ulation exceeded capacity by seven
inmates, according to Wilson. But
he said that the overpopulation
problem was actually more severe.
The present jail, with a capacity
of 134 inmates, has 17 beds in a
cellblock for females. There are 12
maximum security cells which are
used to segregate inmates from the
general population. The overpopu-
They asked Brock, who sat in her
wheelchair at the front of the room.
e all kinds ot questions about her for
mer schools and students.
( Brock remembers heating a small
e wooden schoolhouse using a pot-bel
n lied stove. Her low-income students
did not have Alphasmart 3(XX) laptop
( computers at their desks like the
h fifth-graders in Doris Stockman's
classroom. Brock’s students were
s excited to receive note pads and pen
cils for Christmas from their teacher.
s Nevertheless. Stockman’s class
perked up when Brock told them
( about the good food, long summers
k and short school days of the last cen
tury.
I “We need to go back in time and
go to school." Philip Christian said.
} While the students wanted to go
t
See BACK, Page 2A
INDEX
Abby 6B
Classifieds 2B
Deaths 2A
Government ,4A
Horoscope 5B
Kids Page 5A
Opinion 9A
Sports BA
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lation occurs when the county runs
out of female beds or general popu
lation beds for males.
Paxton knew that the jail was
full the day he took control of the
facility, but was surprised at the dis
tances the county had to go to find
' ' • ’
/I ?
fl
081 ** ■
z •<
Photo/David McGregor
Amanda Brock, a retired teacher and principal who was in education for 42 years, was guest to Doris
Stockman’s fifth-grade class last week. She fielded questions and told the students about how it was
when she taught.
■Government
Indian Seats area
on Sawnee Mountain
vandalized
Page 4A
, .1 ——il I I
an empty bed
“We’ve had inmates in Wilkes.
Paulding, and Floyd counties," said
Paxton. “.Some of the trips have
involved an eight- to l()-hour day
See INMATE, Page 2A
:| Sports |
South Forsyth soccer
sweeps Falcon
Invitational
PageSA
Cumming
man dies
in wreck
Motorcycle hits wall
By Todd Truelove
Staff Writer
A Cumming resident and a pas
senger died Sunday after the motor
cycle they were riding wrecked near
the city's downtown area, according
to Atlanta police reports.
Richard W. Sapp Jr., 49, of
Summit Trail was killed in the 5:30
p.m. incident.
Atlanta police Sgt. John Quigley
said Sapp was traveling south on the
Freedom Parkway exit ramp when
his Harley Davidson motorcycle col
lided with the retaining wall.
Passenger. Merri Lyn Athon, 41,
of Greensboro was ejected from the
vehicle and thrown over the wall.
Quigley said.
Wife Geneva, said her husband "loved
his motorcycles."
"He’s had a Harley Davidson for
25 years," she said. “He liked to ride.
He’ll always be loved and missed
very much.”
Sapp was an employee with
General Motors since 1978.
Weather could
turn snowy in
north Georgia
Forsyth could see some of its
first real winter-styled precipitation
of the season today.
The National Weather Service
issued a winter weather watch at 4
a.m. Wednesday.
A storm system over Texas com
bined with a system moving over
the Gulf of Mexico is expected to
head east, bringing precipitation to
Georgia Wednesday night and
Thursday.
Forsyth. Dawson and Hall coun
ties among others could be hit with
ice and snow accumulating from
2to 4 inches.
Up to 6 inches of snow may fall
in the northeast Georgia mountains.
Areas north of Gainesville are most
likely to receive snowfall.
The snow should taper off by
this afternoon, the weather service
reports.
■ 1
Possible Snow
LAKE LANIER LEVELS
/ Avi Date Level
Feb. 21 1069.41 ft
Feb. 22 1069.42 ft
Feb. 23 N/A >
Feb. 24 1069.47 ft
Full 1071.00 ft
High in the high 30s.
Low in the low 30s. ‘ '**
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