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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. 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 0 2004 Forsyth County News lUj <llo GEORGIA NEWSPAPER PROJECT THURSDAY February 26.2004 lOFI OF GEORGIO MO ,„ , 498 CHEROKEE COUNTY DETENTION CENTER [ © —__ I 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 I IJ I B I B I r Sfl jWF I I I I ■ I fl E ! ,|B • MB |KB B B BH| BB B ■ ' I II I i' ■ I "I s -1 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. ‘ '** I’—’ BUSINESS, IB Working to unite Forsyth