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Forsyth Count v x
J Your "Hometown Paper" Since 1908 J
Vol. 95, No. 58
Two banks in Forsyth robbed in two days
Photo/Nicole Green
From left, Forsyth County sheriff’s Cpl. David Garrison and Deputy
Richard Blevins use K-9 officer Ranger to search a nearby parking
lot for the robber of a Browns Bridge Road bank Wednesday. The
suspect scattered the contents of a bag he took from the bank,
right on the ground, after a dye bomb went off.
Assembly ends
session without
balanced budget
Library, college funds remain
By Harris Blackwood
Community Editor
As the final gavel falls on the 40th and final day of the
Georgia General Assembly, the grand doors of the House
and Senate are opened and the lieutenant governor and the
speaker of the House peer at each other down the center
aisle of their chambers and across the
Capitol rotunda.
IrW The two presiding officers now use
I 9 the convenience of the telephone to'
■ simultaneously adjourn the legislature
H "Sine Die." a Latin term meaning with-
out a day or with no time fixed.
That grand old tradition was carried
out Wednesday night and as the gavels
banged, the lawmakers sent the remain
in ing papers on their desks flying skyward
* 0X in a giant celebration.
A floor below, Gov. Sonny Perdue announced that there
would be another day for the legislature. A special session
will likely convene Tuesday after the Legislature failed to
do the one task required during its regular session ... pre
senting the governor with a balanced budget.
The lawmakers also failed to act on a bill regarding
indigent defense. The bill would have generated an estimat
ed $52 to 557 million from court fines and would have
filled a gap in the budget.
Now, lawmakers will have to come back to Atlanta and
fix the budget and address any other matters that Perdue
may include in his call for a special session.
“I've been there twice in special sessions that ended up
being a month or longer,” said Rqp. Tom Knox (R-
Cumming) on the morning after the the Legislature's final
regular day.
Knox's House colleague, Rep. Jack Murphy (R-
Cumming), was equally disappointed.
“I'm not looking forward to a special session," said
Murphy, who is hopeful that the $45,000 a day cost would
hold the called meeting to about a week.
Forsyth fifth fastest growing in nation;
Census estimates population at 123,811
By Todd Truelove
Start Writer
Forsyth County continues to have
one of the fastest growing population
bases in tbe United States, according
to data released today by the U.S.
Census Bureau.
From April 1, 2000, to July 1,
2003, Forsyth County’s population
grew by 25,404 people and was the
fifth fastest growing county in the
nation with a 25.8 percent increase
from a population of 98,407 reported
in the 2000 Census. An estimated
123,811 people now reside in
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Copyright € 2004 Fortyth County N*wi
jE
See LEGISLATURE, Page 2A
Forsyth County.
In Georgia, only Chattahoochee
County on the Alabama border
ranked second with a 29.9 percent
increase grew faster than Forsyth
County through the three-year span.
Chattahoochee is dominated by Fort
Benning, the Army post near
Columbus. Nearly three-fourths of
the county’s land mass is contained
in the military reservation.
The state has five counties ranked
in the top 10 fastest growing counties
in the nation. The other three all
within the metro Atlanta area are
Henry County, ranked at No. 6 with a
INDEX
Ab by 5A
Church events 6A
Deaths 2A
Food 8A
Horoscope 5A
Opinion 9A
Sports IB
FRIDAY April 9, 2004
Fire destroys mobile home
"Hra. , Tat *
■k_—*
Photo/David McGregor
Forsyth County firefighters pour water on a mini van after it and a mobile home burned at 6420 Crystal Cove Drive
near the Forsyth/Dawson County line Wednesday. Both the residence and vehicle were destroyed. Battalion chief
Tommy Coleman said the home, owned by Rebecca Schuman, and van were fully involved in flames when two fire
engines arrived on the scene. The home reportedly was not connected to power or gas. One occupant of the
house was treated on the scene but no serious injuries were reported.
Parents of 2 killed in fire face charges
By Nicole Green
Start Writer
A Cherokee County man and woman
have been charged with reckless conduct
in connection with the house fire that
killed their two sons on Feb. 9.
An investigation also revealed that the
father of the two boys had methampheta
mine in his bloodstream on the morning
the house at 13778 Cumming Highway
•
Recipes for a terrific
Easter brunch to please
everybody.
PageßA
Two suspects remain at large in separate incidents
By Nicole Green
Staff Writer
Robbers hit two Forsyth County
banks on two separate days Tuesday
and Wednesday in north and south
ends of the county.
The incidents occurred
Wednesday at United Community
Bank on Hwy. 369 (Browns Bridge
Road), and Tuesday at Bank of
America on Hwy. 141 (Peachtree
Parkway).
In the Wednesday incident, a
man escaped with a wad of cash
from the bank in Lanier Commons
shopping center until a security
dye pack exploded his prospects.
“We feel confident that the rob
ber. at minimum, has his hands cov
ered in red dye which came from
the dye pack in the money he stole,”
25.7 percent increase; Newton
County, ranked at No. 8 with a 22.8
percent increase; and Paulding
County, ranked at No. 9 with a 22.7
percent increase.
According to the Census figures,
Fulton County has the largest popu
lation base in Georgia with 818,322
residents.
Greg Harper, a demographer with
the U.S. Census Bureau, said data
indicates the majority of Forsyth
County’s population increase
about 18.500 was from people
See CENSUS, Page 2A
Food
said Capt. Ron Freeman, command
er of criminal investigations for the
Forsyth County Sheriff's Office.
Wearing a red bandana around
his face, a white male in his mid
30s entered United Community
Bank at 4365 Browns Bridge Road
around 9:30 a.m. He was not carry
ing a weapon, nor was a weapon
implied. Freeman said. The robber
went around the teller counter and
took the money himself, including
the dye pack.
The dye pack exploded in the
thief’s hands just as he reached the
Publix supermarket parking lot next
to the bank.
"He lost all his money right
there,” Sheriff Ted Paxton said at
the scene.
A bank drive-through security
burned. Cherokee investigators say.
John David Johnson. 39. and Belinda
Palmer Johnson, 38, saw and smelled
smoke in their residence before they left
on a 4 a.m. trip to the grocery store, say
Cherokee County Sheriff’s Office investi
gators. Unable to find the cause of the
smoke, the Johnsons left their two chil
dren alone and asleep in the house. When
the Johnsons returned at 5:45 a.m., they
were met by fire engines and the tragic
Religion D
See what’s #
happening in
local churches.
Page6A
The 10 fastest growing counties
in the nation from
April 1,2000 to July 1,2003:
COUNTY—2OO3 estimate—2ooo count —change—percent change
1. Loudoun County, Va. —221,746—169,599—52,147—30.7
2. Chattahoochee County, Ga. —19,333 —14,882 —4,451 —29.9
3. Douglas County, Colo. —223,471—175,766—47,705—27.1
4. Rockwall County, Texas —54,630 —43,080—11,550—26.8
5. Forsyth County, Ga. —123,811—98,407—25,404—25.8
6. Henry County, Ga. —150,003—119,341—30,622—25.7
7. Flagler County, Fla. —62,206—49,832—12,374—24.8
8. Newton County, Ga. —76,144—62,001—14,143—22.8
9. Paulding County, Ga.—100,071—81,587—18,484—22.7
10. Kendall County, 111.-66,565—54,544—12,021—22.0
Data provided by the U.S. Census Bureau
Sunny
LAKE LANIER LEVELS
Date Level
April 4 1069.96 ft
Aprils 1069.96 ft
April 6 1069.94 ft
April 7 1069.94 ft
Full 1071.00 ft
High in the mid-70s.
Low in the high 40s.
06 ■
Ljnp SPORTS, 1B
L ” mg break for Forsyth teams
camera spied the man fleeing on
foot to the end of the Publix park
ing lot. The Sheriff’s Office K-9
unit, with the help of German shep
herd Ranger, tracked the thief’s
footprints to where he most likely
intercepted a getaway vehicle,
Freeman said.
No one was injured in the inci
dent. The Sheriff's Office is work
ing with the regional Federal
Bureau of Investigation office in
Gainesville to find the suspect,
Freeman said.
The Tuesday robbery was
reported at 3:15 p.m. in south
Forsyth. A black male stole a bag
full of SIOO, SSO and S2O bills from
Bank of America at 3651 Peachtree
See ROBBERY, Page 2A
news that Christopher Johnson. 11. and
Jeffrey Johnson. 13. were dead.
The couple was arrested Monday in
Cumming where they have resided since
the fire. Each was charged with two
counts of reckless conduct, according to a
sheriff’s office report.
The sheriff’s office collected informa
tion for their case while they waited on
See PARENTS, Page 2A