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PAGE 2A l FORSYTH COUNTY NEWS Thursday, March 4,2004 Deaths Jeff Croft Mr. Jeff Croft, 42, of Cumming died Monday, March 1. 2004. He was preceded in death by his brother. Bill Croft. Survivors include his wife. Chris Croft of Cumming; par ents, Shery l and Harry Croft of Cumming; children. Tabitha Croft. Meagan Croft, both of Canton. Mikayla Croft. Cortney Boles, both of Cumming; grand daughter. Haley Shay Croft of Cumming; brother and sister-in law. David H. and Theresa Croft of Dawsonville; sisters and brothers-in-law, Debra and Gary Smith of Dawsonville. Susan Croft and children. Brooke and Blake, all of Dawsonville. Lynn and Bart Hammond of Cumming; grandmothers. Hah Mae Chapel of Cumming. Mary Lee and Leßoy Ellis of Acworth; nieces, nephews and other relatives also survive. Funeral services will be Thursday. March 4. at 4 p.m. at the Ingram Funeral Home Chapel with the Revs. David Croft. Dan Henderson. David Harris and Joseph Hamelly offi ciating. Interment will follow in the Sawnee View Memorial Gardens. Ingram Funeral Home is in charge of the arrangements. Forsvth County News March 4. 2004 Vera Agnes Smith Mrs. Vera Agnes Smith. 90. of Cumming died March 1, 2(X)4. A native of Dalton. Mrs Smith was the oldest of four sib lings. After graduating from high school, she moved to Chattanooga, Tenn, and worked at the Davenport Hosiery Mill. She married Earl Smith in 1936. The Smith's moved to Atlanta in 1952 and at the age of 70. she retired from Union Oil after 30 years of service. A life-long Methodist. Mrs. Smith also attended Peachtree First Baptist Church. She is preceded in death by her husband. Survivors include two daughters and sons-in-law. Judy and Bob Catron of Buford and Linda and Barry Childs of Cumming; a brother. J.P. Turner of Dalton; two granddaughters and their husbands; three great grandchildren and many nieces and nephews. Funeral services will be Friday. March 5. at 1:30 p in. at McDonald and Son Funeral Home with the Rev. Ron Preuss officiating. Interment will follow at Melwood Cemetery in Stone Mountain. The following gentlemen have been requested to serve as pallbearers. Mr. R.T Catron. Mr. E.B. Childs. Mr. Michael Madigan. Mr. Billy Payne. Mr. W. Glenn Cunningham and Mr. K.F. Winn. In lieu of flowers, contribu tions may be made to the Forsyth County Senior Center for Meals on Wheels. 595 Dahlonega Hwy., Cumming, GA 30040. McDonald and Son Funeral Home and Crematory is in charge of the arrangements. Forsyth County News March 4. 2004 Barbara Dressel Stone Mrs. Barbara Dressel Stone. 70. of Cumming died Monday, March 1. 2004. A graduate of William and Mary College, she was a member of the Tri-Delt Sorority. She was a member of Midway United Methodist Church and a member of the Ambassador Sunday school class. She was preceded in death by her son, Howard Douglas Dressel. Survivors include her hus band. William L. Stone of Cumming; sons and daughter in-law, Kenneth and Isabel Dressel of Foster City, Calif., Douglas Dressel of Boca Raton. Fla.; daughter and son-in-law. Deborah and Jody Tanner of Acworth; seven grandchildren; and other relatives also survive. Funeral services will be Thursday. March 4, at 11 a.m. at the Ingram Funeral Home Chapel with the Revs. Charles Robinson and Martha Achenbacher officiating. Interment will follow in the Arlington Memorial Park. Ingram Funeral Home is in charge of the arrangements. Forsyth County News March 4, 2004 Adopt-a-Road aids ‘health’ of thoroughfares By Nicole Green Staff Writer Gene and Dianne Hansard probably have collected more junk than anyone else in Forsyth County. Once a week for 10 years, the Hansards have collected a bag of trash on Crossroads and Bennett roads. That is 52 garbage bags each year, and more than 500 bags altogether. "We're in the shortcut between Crossroads and the country music park (Lanierland), so we get all the trash,” Dianne Hansard said. Debris from trucks on the way to G&G Sanitation blows into the roadway. Between concert and dump truck traf fic, the shoulder needs regular Governor welcomes American Home Shield to Georgia LAGRANGE Gov. Sonny Perdue recently offi cially welcomed American Home Shield’s (AHS) new employee call center to LaGrange and the state of Georgia, generate an addi tional 400 jobs. AHS was founded in 1971 and is the nation's largest home warranty provider. Watch out for identity theft, 888 warns In the past, when a thief stole your wallet or purse, that person was after hard currency. Today, that thief is after your identity not your money, and a few of your documents —a Social Security card, a driver's license or a credit or debit card can be worth thousands of dollars in the wrong hands, the Better Business Bureau warns. • What does the identity thief want? • Where does the identity thief find these'.’ • How are these used? • How can you defend your self’ What does the identity thief want? Simply put. the thief wants to become you and the bet ter you look on paper, the more likely you are to be a target. There are an almost infinite number of ways for a thief to steal your identity; we'll dis cuss the most common ones here. But everything starts with the thief's ability to get access to certain key pieces of infor mation that belong to you. Here's just a few things the thief is looking for: • Your Social Security card • Your driver's license • Your account numbers (bank, credit card and others). PIN(s) and passwords Where does the identity thief find these? In the real world, the answers to this question range from the absolutely obvious to the very unusual. Here are just some of the sources a thief may go to obtain your personal information: • Your wallet or purse. Take just a moment right now to take out your wallet or open your purse. Imagine that you were up to no good. What could you do with the contents? While you probably don't have an excessive amount of cash, most of us have a great deal of per sonal information packed into this relatively small space. How many credit cards are you car rying ? Do you have bank PINs jotted down to jog your memo ry? How about your health insurance ID card? Voter regis tration card? Driver's license, registration and auto insurance ! AWlAuu ! > SvuC • EXPRESS* ■ Present this coupon . for a full 1 25% off! I our rack rates I ■ on all rooms. ■ Exit 14 at GA 400 I 835 Buford Rd. Cumming. GA 30041 | | 770-889-4600 | Expire March lift, 2004 • To participate in the Adopt-A-Road program in Forsyth County, contact Jennifer Szabo at (770) 205-4573 or jasza bo@forsythco.com. de-cluttering. Jennifer Szabo, resource coordinator for the county engineering department, said the Hansards have the longest running record of participation in the county Adopt-A-Road program. There are 36 adopted roads in Forsyth County that are cleaned quarterly by local civic organizations, business es, subdivisions and families. Less than 10 miles of state highway in Forsyth is adopted 1993 from 1A Kerry. The Rev. Al Sharpton of New York came in third in the coun ty and state with 6 percent of the total votes on the Democrat ballot locally. The race between Edwards and Kerry was close statewide; 286,427, or 47 percent, Georgia voters picked Kerry, and 253.124 voters, or 41 percent, chose Edwards. Despite the rain and gloomy weather, turnout at Forsyth County polls to vote in the primary was greater than Smith expected. Earlier in the day, he predicted als percent turnout. Results indicate 20.5 percent, or 12,389. of Forsyth County’s total 60.425 voters participated in the election. card'.’ Frequent flyer or frequent guest cards? Car rental premi um cards? Is your Social Security number on one or more of the documents? • Your mailbox. In the wrong hands, your incoming mail can be a treasure trove of information about you. A bill from your credit card company, a statement from your checking account, an unsolicited offer of a new, pre-approved credit card (complete with application). And your outgoing mail may include personal checks you are sending to pay bills (containing your routing and checking account numbers). If you don't have a locked mailbox for incoming and outgoing mail, you are vulnerable. • Your glove compartment. Some people's auto glove com partment contains their owner's manual, and not much more. For other people, it's a mobile filing cabinet, containing things like vehicle registrations, insur ance cards, old bills, credit card receipts. If you left your car unlocked and someone got inside, how much personal information about you could they discover? • Your trash. Because people find it hard to believe that any one would want to pour through garbage cans, they throw away the damdest things things like unsolicited credit card applications, old bills, expired credit cards, unused checking account deposit slips and countless other papers. So. for the identity thief, a bit of “dumpster diving" can provide a rich harvest of personal infor mation information that can be used to become you. • You. Sometimes, you can be your own worst enemy. Simply put. the easiest way for The City off Cumming plans to close Tolbert Street to through traffic starting March 8, 2004. This closure will last approximately sixty days while a new culvert is constructed as part of the Tolbert Street Widening Project. . I 111 " -I J J A & L Antiques i . ®* We Offer Real Antiques, At Realistic Prices tl 3 i) i Full Service Interior Decorating & Antique F al Home Accessories, Wedgewood, I ■ Lenox & Vintage Glassware Qffi [M Purchase One Hour of Decorating W1 U Services and Receive an Hour Free |/1 B 770-887-5320 V Wendy Keenan Ceil: 770-317-7479 ' . I Circ* Style Larry Kohn ■JA a L I 1575 Dahlonega Hwy • Highway 9 Nonh ' j rrßmTWltP' Cumming .50040 Hour*: Monday by Appt. Tues-Sat 10:00 ■ 6:30 /k through the Georgia Department of Transportation Adopt-A-Road program. An Adopt-A-Road sign marks each group’s territory. Each volunteer receives free latex gloves, trash bags and orange safety vests. Diapers, beer bottles and soda cans are collected in the bags, which are later picked up by the county. Volunteers bond while col lecting some strange items from the roadside. Most of it is trash, but occasionally Szabo said a money shows up in the grass. Cleanup volunteers also help the county Roads and Bridges Department maintain the roads. If a shoulder needs repair, no one would know a thief to steal your identity is to ask you for it. Posing as your bank, or your insurance compa ny. or your doctor’s office, the thief calls you on the telephone, gives you a plausible story and asks you for key pieces of per sonal information. This practice is called "pretexting", and you can learn more about the prac tice from the Federal Trade Commission. How are these used? The short answer is, “if you can dream it. the identity thief can and probably has done it. Here’s just a short list of some of the things that identity thieves have done with the information and documents they’ve acquired: • Use your credit card(s) to go on a buying spree, pur chasing major items like computers and other elec tronic devices that can be easily sold. • Open new credit card accounts, using your name, date of birth and Social Security number. • Change the mailing address on your existing credit card account. • Buy cars and take out the auto loans in your name. • Establish telephone or wireless phone service in your name. • Counterfeit checks or debit cards, and drain your bank account. • Open a bank account in your name and write bad checks on that account. • File for bankruptcy under your name to avoid paying debts they've incurred, or to avoid eviction. • Apply for a job under your name. • Give your name to the police during an arrest. When better than the people who see the road up close while pick ing up garbage. "They do a great job because they let us know the health of the road,” Szabo said. Also, if a group sees that an area is particularly littered, Szabo can put up a “Do Not Litter” sign or have the area patrolled more often. “You can clean up litter all day long, but eventually you have to go to the source,” Szabo said. Compared with surround ing metro Atlanta counties, Forsyth’s roads are relatively clean, Szabo said. Relatively clean does not mean litter free, however. Forsyth County has its hot BOND from 1A groups involved in the process so that the community as a whole can support the upgrades. “You’ve got to bring in all groups,” Smith said. “You’ve got to include all people in the county.” In addition. Smith said the vote needs to be taken during an election when more people vote and that by not doing so “you’re essentially usurping the spirit of democracy." If it had been approved, the $65 million as proposed would have been paid through a 20-year span totaling around SIOO million including interest at the end of that period. In addition, the county would have needed to purchase land in downtown Cumming and furnished the facilities; those costs would likely not have been provided with the bonds. they are released and if they don’t show up for their court date an arrest warrant could be issued in your name. How can you defend yourself? You need some basic self-defense strategies to combat identity theft. Let's take a look at some: • Your wallet or purse. Let's begin here with the obvious. Don't carry your Social Security card in your wallet or purse (unless you are visiting the Social Security office— in that case, remember to put it away when you get home). Next, look for other docu ments which contain your Social Security number. For example, some states use that number as your driver's license number. If that's the case, ask your state motor vehicle department if they can assign you some other number on your license. Do the same thing whenever your Social Security number is used as an account number. If your Social Security num ber is on other documents, and you don't need them every day. consider leaving them at home. • Credit/debit cards. Forsyth CountvNews •/ Your "Hometown Paper" Since 1908 J I SPS 205 540 Veterans Memorial Blvd.. Cumming. Georgia 30040 Phone: 770-887-3126 Fax: 770-889-6017 Internet Address: www.forsvthnews.com e Publisher DENNIS STOCKTON General Manager NORMAN BAGGS Editor TOM SPIGOLON Advertising Director MARTI BARNES Circulation Director PHIL JONES MKMBKI Published Sunday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday by the Forsyth County News Company. Veterans Mcmonal Blvd.. Cuinnnng. Ga. Second Class Postage paid at Cumming. Ga. and additional offices Subscription rate for Forsyth County, $52 per year; $35 for six months; other Georgia and out of state subscriptions are SBS per year. Any unused portion of a subscription balance will be gladly refunded. However, all refunds due the subscriber are subject to a processing fee, which will be automatically deducted from the subscription balance refund. Advertising rates and deadlines available upon request. Postmaster: Send address change to Forsyth County News/P.O. Box 210. Cumming. Ga. 30028. A Swartz-Morris Media Inc. publication Miss your paper? Call 887-3126 We deliver replacement papers within Forsyth County. If your newspaper is not delivered by 6:30 a.m.. please call the circulation department at 770-887-3126. Service calls will be taken from 8:00 a.m. until 5:30 p.tn. Monday through Friday, and on Sunday from 9:00 a.m. until 1:00 p.m. If your call is received during these times, a replacement copy will be delivered to your home. Calls received after busi ness hours will be checked the following business day, and credit will he extended lo your account. Any changes in publication will be announced in preceding issues. Advertising Deadlines For Sunday's paper retail and classified display ads are due by mxm Thursday. For Wednesday's paper retail and classified display ads are due by 5 p.m. Friday. For Thursday's paper retail and classified display ads are due by noon Monday. For Friday's paper retail and classified display ads are due by noon Tuesday. Classified Line Advertising Deadlines (Help wanted, garage sales rentals, etc.) For Sunday's paper classified line ads are due by noon Friday. For Wednesday's paper classified line ads are due by noon Monday For Thursday's paper classified line ads are due by noon Tuesday. For Friday's paper classified line ads are due by noon Wednesday l-egal advertising is due by Friday noon and runs only in Wednesday's paper. spots for littering, one being the Ga. 400 interchange with Hwy. 141. Litter is like a serious dis ease, Szabo said. Few people consider the effects of cancer until it strikes a friend or rela tive. Similarly, the “disease” of litter and its effects on the environment become visible when a resident takes a closer look at his or her own road. “If people do a cleanup and they see how the roads are, then they will see it’s important,” Szabo said. The entire month of April is set aside for the Great American Cleanup. But Szabo says winter is the best time to do a “spring cleaning” before foliage hides the trash. • Don't carry one single card more than you really need every day. Many of us carry every credit/debit card we have, yet few of these cards get daily use. If you don't have them on your per son. they are a lot less likely to disappear. • If you aren't using one or more credit cards, cancel them in writing with the issuing financial institution then cut the card(s) into small strips before disposing. • Do not write your per sonal identification number (PIN) on the back of your credit card and don't write it on a little sheet of paper you carry in your wallet or purse. You might as well give a thief the keys to your car . Pay for a‘special’list of federal & postal jobs? DOMT DO (T! yC You never have to pay for informa- 1 tkxi about federal or postal jobs. It's free at www.usaiobs.opni.gov If you see a job guarantee', contact the FTC. The Federal Trade Commission is America's consumer protection agency. www.ftc.gov/Jobscams 1-877-FTC-HELP