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Forsyth CountvNews
J Your "Hometown Paper" Since 19(i
Vd1.95.N0.53 THURSDAY April 1,2004 , I
Driver killed
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Photo/Audra Perry
Firefighters work to free a woman from a silver Toyota Wednesday morning after her car reportedly crossed the center
line of Hwy. 141 near Vaughn Road and struck another vehicle head-on. The 47-year-old driver, a Cumming woman
whose name was not released by press time, died at 7:45 a.m. The vehicle was northbound when it struck a south
bound red Toyota, according to a spokesperson for the Forsyth County Sheriff’s Office. It was the fifth traffic fatality of
the year in unincorporated Forsyth County and the third on Hwy. 141. The 20-year-old female driver of the southbound
vehicle was transported to North Fulton Regional Hospital with non-life-threatening injuries. Both drivers were wearing
their seat belts and air bags were deployed, Capt. Frank Huggins said. There were no passengers in either vehicle. An
investigation continues into the cause of the wreck.
Commission aide job questioned
By Todd Truelove
Staff Writer
The Forsyth County government is adver
tising for a new administrative aide to the
board of commissioners whose duties include
researching, constituent relations and meeting
preparation assistance though not all com
missioners believe the position is needed.
Director of Human Resources Pat Carson
said that as of Tuesday nine applications had
been submitted for the position which will pay
a salary of between $35,000 and $52,500.
County Administrator Stevie Mills said it
would be the commissioners' choice who is
hired for the job.
However. Commissioner A.J. Pritchett,
who represents most of south Forsyth,
opposed adding the staff position initially
when the 2004 budget was drafted and still
holds that opinion.
“We've got so many staff ... who more
than fulfill the roles that these new people will
fulfill,” Pritchett said Tuesday in a phone
interview. “I'm not really sure how it's going
to be possible to keep these people employed
full time. I don’t think we need them."
Cold day at the track
Photo/David McGregor
Forsyth Central sophomores Neva Pruitt and Britney Nisic try to
warm up during the county track meet at North Forsyth High
School on Tuesday.
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rain
Mr I
Conway
you can add up a lot of hours real quick.”
“1 don’t have the time to correspond with
people, nor do I have a staff that I can get help
to correspond with.” he said.
Conway said constituents still will be abie
to contact commissioners if they so desire, but
that the aide will free up time and handle
some of the easier questions.
“It’ll be like anybody else that has some
body that answers the phone for them,” he
said. “If a constituent wants to talk to a com
missioner, they'll still be able to talk to a com
missioner.
“It probably won’t free me up from any
time. What it’ll do is make me more efficient,”
INDEX
Abby 5B
Classifieds 2B
Deaths 2A
Government 3A
Horoscope 5B
Kids Page 5A
Opinion ,9A
Sports 8A
Conway disagreed, say
ing his county duties
require him to work an
average of 60 hours a week
for a job that is supposed
to be “part time.”
“As far as I’m con
cerned, this job needs
some help,” Conway said.
“When you can look at one
particular day and know
that I put in 20 hours ....
Hundreds volunteer for day of service
By Nancy Smallwood
Associate Editor
Many of us would like to volun
teer in the community but often do
not know where to begin. The idea
behind Cumming First United
Methodist’s Great Day of Service is
to let people know what opportuni
ties are out there, said lay volunteer
services coordinator Janet Walden.
More than 550 volunteers donat
ed their entire Saturday to shovel,
paint, sew, landscape, build and even
clean in the community. More than
35 sites were selected by the church
for the volunteers to complete work
last weekend.
All ages and religions are invited
to participate, according to Walden.
Team leaders are appointed and vol
unteers are assigned according to
their talents. Volunteers can either
complete work inside the church or
venture as far away as Eagle Ranch
or the Interfaith AIDS Network in
Atlanta. This is the third year the
church has held the volunteer day
which serves a variety of organiza
tions from transitional housing facili-
See SERVICE, Page 2A
Woman accused of
drunk driving, hitting
sheriff’s deputy.
Page2A
Conway said. “It’s like any other business
you hire people to make yourself more effi
cient.”
Pritchett said that having an additional per
son to screen correspondence for the board
places another wall between the local govern
ment and the public.
He compared the new positions to the
commissioners' action last year prohibiting
public groups from using the commissioner’s
meeting room facilities at the County
Administration Building.
Os the five commissioners. Pritchett and
Commissioner Charles Laughinghouse, who
represents portions of west and central
Forsyth County, opposed closing the facility
to group functions.
“At least three of the commissioners have
decided that they’d rather have an admin
respond to these e-mails as opposed to
addressing these e-mails themselves,"
Pritchett said. “I don’t think someone who
writes us an e-mail is looking at hearing back
from an admin person.”
The 2004 budget allows the board to hire
two aides. However, Carson said only one of
the positions is currently being sought.
Forsyth county teams
open Region 6-AAAA
baseball schedule.
PageßA
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Photo/David McGregoi
Morgan Williams puts the finishing touches on a blanket she was
sewing during the "Great Day of Service" event last weekend.
Partly Cloudy
LAKE LANIER LEVELS
Date Level
vU— March 27 1069.87 ft
1 March 28 1069.88 ft
d . March 29 1069.89 ft
March 30 1069.89 ft
Full 1071.00 ft
High in the low 60s.
Low in the low 40s.
II I II ———Hl ■HUI. Hl .■■■■<! |
Men charged
with cocaine
possession
Distribution also alleged
By Nicole Green
Staff Writer
Four men were arrested for possession of cocaine
with intent to distribute in separate traffic stops on
Sunday and Monday, the Forsyth County Sheriff's
Office reported.
Jose Luis Baca, 22; Gustavo
Mendoza, 30; and Juan Villazana. 22,
all of Norcross, were arrested Sunday
and charged with possession of
cocaine with intent to distribute,
according to incident reports.
A U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
ranger stopped the 1985 Ford Crown
Victoria at 4 p.m. in West Bank Park
on Lake Lanier because of loud
music. The ranger noticed the smell
of alcohol emanating from the vehicle and alerted the
sheriff’s office, the report stated.
When the officers arrived and inspected the car,
they found two grams of cocaine and an electronic
scale.
None of the men claimed ownership of the drugs.
All three persons in the vehicle were charged with
possession because they were within reach of the
cocaine, said Capt. Ron Freeman, commander of the
criminal investigations division.
In addition to the cocaine, the officers also seized
$2,000 in cash from the vehicle. Baca also was
charged with giving a false name to a police officer
and driving with a suspended license, according to a
report.
All three men remain in jail on the felony charges.
Bond has not been set.
Billy Wayne Hailey, 53, of Oxford was arrested on
Monday around 5 a.m. for possession of cocaine with
intent to distribute, a misdemeanor charge of posses
sion of marijuana, driving under the influence, open
container, disregard of traffic control devices and driv
ing with a suspended license.
A sheriff’s deputy pulled over Hailey for turning
left out of Sharon Greens Shopping Center onto Hwy.
141, in violation of a “No Left Turn” sign, according
to the deputy’s statement.
When Hailey told the officer he was lost, the offi
cer noticed the smell of alcohol, the report said.
The officer then secured permission to search the
vehicle and found an open, cold beer under the dri
ver’s seat, an unopened beer in the rear passenger seat,
a burned marijuana cigarette in the ashtray, two sets of
scales, plastic bags and a bag of cocaine hidden
between the driver’s seat and the center console.
The officer’s report stated that Hailey had bor-
See COCAINE, Page 2A
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Detecting diseuen before they unite? .
Hailey