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Forsyth County News
J Your "Hometown Paper" Since 1908 J
Vol. 95, No. 51
March rainfall at record lows
By Todd Truelove
Staff Writer
State climatologist David
Stooksbury says rainfall in Forsyth
County and across Georgia this
month is at record lows —a condi
tion which, if it continues, will
cause problems for farmers and
firefighters, and could result in
stringent watering restrictions.
"Many [counties] are reaching
near all-time record low rainfalls
for March," Stooksbury said.
He said reports indicate rainfall
in Cumming has averaged 0.67 of
an inch.
"Most stations in north Georgia
experience 5 to 6 inches of rainfall
in March." he said.
The reason, he said, is because
winds have been blowing from the
wrong directions.
“We have not had large, low
pressure systems coming out of the
Gulf which are quite common dur
ing the winter months and on into
March." said Stooksbury, a profes
sor of engineering at the University
of Georgia.
“We’ve had extremely consistent
winds out of the west and out of the
northwest,” he said, adding there
are not any large bodies of water to
the state's west and northwest to
generate the needed rainfall.
In Forsyth County, the number
of fires has increased because of the
Boy, 9,
dead in
accident
By Nicole Green
Staff Writer
A 9-year-old boy in Cumming
died Wednesday night after acci
dentally hanging himself in his par-
ent's garage, ac
cording to the
county coroner.
Zachary Lacy, a
fourth-grade stu
dent at Chattahoo
chee Elementary
School, was play
ing with some
wires he had at
tached to a beam in
the garage ceiling.
■
Lacy
Apparently the toy
he was standing on slipped out from
under him, and Zach got hung in
the wires, coroner Lauren
McDonald 111 said.
Zachary’s 13-year-old brother,
Thomas Lacy, found him in the
garage. CPR was already in
progress when sheriff's deputies
arrived about 8 p.m. at the Pilgrim
Mill Road address, said Capt. Frank
Huggins with the Forsyth County
Sheriff's Office. The boy was
rushed by ambulance to Northside
Hospital Forsyth where he was pro
nounced dead.
Autopsy results are pending.
Family members described Zach
as a "stunt man” who loved to use
his imagination, taking an interest
in creative building. Legos, art and
stories.
Zach loved playing soccer, four
wheeling and camping with his
father, Tom Lacy, family members
said.
See ACCIDENT, Page 2A
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Your "Hometown Paper" Since 1908 J
Photo/David McGregor
Brian Adams cuts the base of a
tree that caught fire after
embers from a nearby yard
debris fire spread off Gravitt
Road Friday.
dry conditions, according to Capt
David McWhorter of the Forsyth
County Fire Department.
“We’ve been averaging for the
t-H
Photo/David McGregor
First Lady Mary Perdue was the “Mystery Reader” at Big Creek
Elementary Friday See story on 4A.
Forsyth Sheriff says traffic fatalities double in 2003
By Nicole Green
Staff Writer
The death of Sgt. David P. Land a year ago
on March 26 was one of 28 traffic fatalities in
2003, according to the Forsyth County
Sheriff’s Office annual report.
The number of traffic fatalities in unincor
porated Forsyth more than doubled the num
ber from 2002. Investigator Phil Alexander of
the sheriff's traffic specialist's unit said the
death toll fluctuates from year to year, but he
named a few possible reasons why the num
bers increased in 2003.
Because speeding is the No. I cause of
death on the roads, a lack of speed limit
enforcement could have contributed to traffic
fatalities. Alexander said.
Traffic-clogged roads in south Forsyth
actually may deter traffic fatalities. Most traf
fic deaths occurred in the north part of the
county where traffic congestion is minimal.
Drivers hit the open road at high rates of
speed, losing control, he said.
About four of every 10 fatal accidents
involved a single car or motorcycle, most of
which involved a driver losing control of the
vehicle and hitting a tree or utility pole.
INDEX
Abby 68
Births 48
Classifieds 4C
Deaths 2A
Forsyth Life ™IB
Horoscope 68
Opinion ..ISA
Sports 1C
SUNDAY March 28,2004
last three weeks nine to 10 fires a
week ranging from very small areas
to 3 to 4 acres,” McWhorter said.
"It’s probably a 50 percent increase,
if not more."
He warned that residents in
wooded, high density communities
should pay attention to neighboring
properties when burning.
“Urban residences are being
placed inside the woods, which is
nice, but it can create an unusual
fire hazard," McWhorter said. "It is
a definite problem. People need to
pay attention to their surroundings.”
The weather may only be a prel
ude of worse conditions to come
this summer.
State Agriculture Commissioner
Tommy Irvin said farmers have
struggled readying crops for pro
duction.
“Farmers like to get in the field
and start plowing," Irvin said,
adding some farmers particularly
in south Georgia have said the
soil is not breaking to plant their
crops.
“We’ve been getting reports they
had to quit planting." said Irvin.
However, the agriculture com
missioner said a good rain could
quickly change conditions.
"We can’t write [2004] off yet.
but we need rain," he said. "A good
See RAIN, Page 2A
Man on parole
allegedly
caught with meth.
Pagel2A
Excessive rain in 2003 made for unsafe
driving conditions, Alexander said.
Thunderstorms were blamed for three fatal
wrecks. Guadalupe Prado, 22, died when he
hydroplaned into a pickup truck on Hwy. 306
in May. Eugene Boron, 65. and Prashanth
Phalakshan, 33, were killed in separate acci
dents caused by the same two-day storm sys
tem that stuck in June.
Also, rising traffic volume in Forsyth
County translates into more traffic deaths.
“There is more traffic than what the roads
are designed to handle safely," Alexander said.
In 2002, the deadliest road in the county
proved to be Hwy. 20. The state highway
claimed four lives again in 2003. The fatalities
on Hwy. 20 occurred in the west part of the
county, according to the report. Hwy. 369 and
Hwy. 20 form an east-west corridor that car
ries traffic from 1-75 to 1-85, traveled fre
quently by drivers who want to avoid metro
Atlanta congestion.
Four crashes also occurred on Hwy. 9,
three being in the north part of the county. The
See FATALITIES, Page 3A
South Forsyth baseball
wins two straight as
AAAA playoffs loom,
RagelC
I
D - Arts & Community
E- Education
F - Government
New
districts now final
... "S'v hfrw
i. - a —LJjAaE. JHL.
Photo/David McGregor
Gary Smith and John Kilgore look over the new voting precinct
maplines at the county administration building Thursday.
Election officials adjust precincts
By Harris Blackwood
Community Editor
It's official and it's confusing.
A three-judge federal panel has
given final approval to new legisla
tive districts clearing the way for
election officials to begin adjusting
their precincts in time for the July
primaries.
While signing off on the new
maps, the judges agreed to allow the
districts to be sequentially number.
The new system places northeast
Forsyth in House District 9, which is
currently represented by Rep. Amos
Amerson, (R-Dahlonega). The mid
dle district, which has been identified
on earlier maps as 14A, will now be
House District 23 and is currently
Partly Cloudy
High in the high 70s.
Low in the high 40s.
held by Rep. Jack Murphy. R-
Cumming. The southern portion of
the county would fall into House
District 24. where Rep Tom Knox,
(R-Cumming), is the incumbent.
For Forsyth County Election
Superintendent Gary Smith, prelimi
nary work began earlier this week
when maps separating Knox and
Murphy were issued by the court.
The revised districts result in split
ting some precincts between the two
House districts. The first map, which
brought Amerson's district into
Forsyth, already split portions of the
Concord precinct, near the
Forsyth/Dawson line.
See DISTRICT, Page 2A
/A /
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r- k r'
/ > fatalities In
/ Vt //7 ‘X/* / unincorporated
/ X /S1 yx / Forsyth by year
( 12®/ 1994 -13
/"\ AJ 1995-14
\ /II 1 A I 1996 19
) y 1 B ij fl 1997- 17
y r ’ A ///? 1998 -29
X 140® 7 A S/tl 1999 -24
X. Jr (fit) k *J /• 2000 -9
• T XZ / 2001 ■ 2O
/ I Yf 2002-12
I xxx \j 2003 ■ 2B
w ’'x. 1 Source: Forsyth
▼ x County Sheriff s
* Office
‘Blue dots indicate accident locations
G - Business & Industry
H - Health & Safety
I - Sports & Leisure
' ‘"".I in n«d
i aatE a Aim i nm c
LMRE LAPHEK LEVEUI
Date Level
March 25 1069.91 ft
March 24 106938 ft
*rfhrch2s 4069.88 ft
March 26 1069.87 ft
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