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Forsyth CountvNews J Your "Hometown Paper" Since 1908 Vol. 95. No. 034 Bursting at the seams Court records spread over city By Nicole Green Staff Writer Forsyth County is one of the fastest growing counties in the nation, yet the courthouse has not expanded in more than 30 years. If the Forsyth County court house were to bum again as it did in 1973. thousands of property deed and legal case filings would feed the flames. “Every file that has been filed here since 1832 is still here." Clerk of Courts Douglas Sorrells said Wednesday. . All the files are not stored in the ground floor fireproof vault. The vault long ago reached capacity, leaving most of the county's legal history exposed to fire, water dam age and rats in the courthouse attic. The remaining records are scat tered around the county - in the basement of the Stone Furniture Building on West Maple Street, the attic of the courthouse. Pilgrim Mill Storage and a double wide trailer parked behind the Courthouse. “It's so inconvenient to have things spread out." Sorrells said. Not only is the cunent means of storage unsafe and inconvenient, it is expensive. The county pays to lease these storage spaces. Pilgrim Mill Storage charges S 5 to retrieve each document. This fee is passed on to any resident who requests a copy of a legal document. In addition, two members of Sorrells' 33-person staff are located in the Stone Furniture Building with the juvenile court. If they were in his building. Sorrells said he could use them for other projects. More staffers are housed in the trailer in the courthouse parking lot. These annexed offices are an additional cost to the county because they cannot share copy machines, computers and heated space with the main clerk's office. Staffing space does not worry Sorrells as much as all the unpro tected documents piling up under his charge, he said. With 60.(XX) records being filed annually in Forsyth County, Sorrells says the only efficient solu- See SEAMS, Page 2A Commissioners back extension of greenway northward into Forsyth By Todd Truelove Staff Writer The Forsyth County govern ment’s continued plans to preserve the county’s natural areas and maim tain aesthetic qualities grew larger Wednesday after a press conference in Alpharetta where officials announced designs to extend the Big Creek Greenway trail north into Forsyth County and south into Cobb County. The plans call for the trail to eventually progress from the Cobb County border through Alpharetta and upward into Forsyth County ending at the Polo Golf and Country Club. 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 Newt Io HU XI to 'OMH ft. .Hi ‘ a Hk 5 wfAHSMF 1 'ASBWwrI »c W ' Photos/Audra Perry L Snow, estimated at 2 to 4 inches in some parts of Forsyth County, blankets the Cumming Square area in these photos Thursday morning. The sudden snowstorm prompted officials to close county schools, though it resulted in few travel prob lems on Forsyth roads, according to the Forsyth County Sheriff's Office. Approximately 1.300 customers of Sawnee EMC lost the the snowfall. Sawnee spokesman Blake House said that crews began working around midnight and restored service for most customers by 6 am. A Georgia Power company spokes woman said that 10 customers in the Cumming area lost power during the storm and their service had restored A jt spokeswoman for Northside Hospital Forsyth said that the 2 Emergency Room had not seen many patients with injuries W from the V 'x J I Tg m—la ’xx <• ' Photos/Audra Perry Snow, estimated at 2 to 4 inches in some parts of Forsyth County, blankets the Cumming Square area in these photos Thursday morning. The sudden snowstorm prompted officials to close county schools, though it resulted in few travel prob lems on Forsyth roads, according to the Forsyth County Sheriff’s Office. Approximately 1,300 customers of Sawnee EMC lost power as a result of the wind which preceded the snowfall. Sawnee spokesman Blake House said that crews began working around midnight and restored service for most customers by 6 a.m. A Georgia Power company spokes-* woman said that 10 customers in the Cumming area lost power during the storm and their service had been restored. A spokeswoman for Northside Hospital Forsyth said that the Emergency Room had not seen many patients with injuries resulting from the weather. i .■ | Z" Ik B La “Our initiative started today,” Conway said, adding preliminary design work will begin immediately, but completing the project will take time. He said developers could help the process by donating land and offer ing to help construct portions of the trail. In addition, he said some devel opments may want to tie on to the trail as it will increase property val ues within those communities. Commissioner Charlie Laughinghouse who along with county residents recently began investigating how to acquire green space also attended the press con- See TRAIL, Page 2A INDEX Abby..................................... 68 Church events 7A Classifieds 88 Deaths .2A Food 8A Horoscope 6A Opinion 9A SpOitS •WMVMMMMMMVMMMMWMWM 1 8 FRIDAY February 27,2004 SNOWFALL BLANKETS FORSYTH B HR ■ ’ IJ 1 | B * IM * MBB B_____» Photo/Audra Perry Roswell Mayor Jere Wood, right, explains plans for the Big Creek Greenway as Forsyth County Commissioners Charles Laughinghouse and Jack Conway look on Wednesday. Real gumbo takes some time to prepare PageßA Michelle Malkin: Hollywood has obsession with Death Row Page 9A Partly Cloudy High in the mid-40s. Low in the mid-30s. SPORTS, IB Forsyth girls hit the court Old Kmart may get new life By Todd Truelove Staff Writer PETsMART Inc., a national pet supply retailer, plans to open a new store in south Forsyth County in a 70,000-square-foot space formerly occupied by Kmart in Johns Creek. Company representative and con struction manager John Campbell attended the Forsyth County Planning Commission's public hear ings Tuesday to speak about a request to rezone 5.78 acres from a commercial business district to high way businass that Will allow a “pet hotel" at the business in addition to the company's normal services See NEW, Page 2A LAKE LANIER LEVELS Date Level Feb. 22 1069.41 ft Feb. 23 ‘ 1069.42 ft Feb. 24 1069.47 ft Feb. 25 1069.50 ft Full 1071.00 ft «e