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HL S Atlanta committee prepares transportation plans; meeting planned By Todd Truelove Staff Writer The Atlanta Regional Commission (ARC) is in the process of developing trans portation plans for metro Atlanta counties, including Forsyth Countv. through year 2030. ARC Director of Comprehensive Planning Tom Weyandt told county commis sioners Jack Conway and Charles Laughinghouse Monday the ARC is drafting the specific details of the plans and will present those drafts during regional meet ings including a public presentation Friday. April 30. Perdue’s OK makes endangerment a felony By Nicole Green Staff Writer Serious crimes against Georgia’s children now have a serious punishment. Gov. Sonny Perdue signed into law on Friday a bill that makes endangerment of a child’s life a felony. ’’For the person who leaves the child in the car in 100- degree-plus weather, before there wasn’t a crime that fit their actions,” said Forsyth County District Attorney Penny Penn. Most offenders of the new law are people who do not intend to hurt their children but do so out of negligence. Child endangerment is defined as causing cruel or excessive mental or physical pain to a child. An offense is punishable by one to 10 years in prison. “The child endangerment bill was one of the better bills to come out of this year’s leg islative session," Sheriff Ted Paxton said through a spokesman. “It’s really good to see Georgia joining the other states who’ve taken a more proactive approach to protecting our children.” The new law includes man ufacturing illegal drugs including methamphetamine in the presence of a child. “If you’re concerned about your child, you wouldn’t be cooking meth period,” Penn said. Awaiting the governor’s signature is a bill that punish es dealers of MDMA, com monly known as ecstasy. According to current state law, users and dealers of ecstasy are punished equally. State Rep. Jan Jones, (R- Alpharetta), who represents parts of Forsyth and north Fulton counties, authored the bill that passed the General Assembly on the final day of the session. Use of ecstasy reportedly is gaining popularity among middle-class adolescents in the north suburbs. Ecstasy typ ically is sold in candy-like tablets at nightclubs, bars and all-night parties known as “raves.” “I want drug dealers to fear the consequences of selling ecstasy to Georgia’s young people. If they don’t, they’ll have three years in jail to think long and hard about it," Jones said in a prepared statement. Though Forsyth County at the Sawnee Cultural Arts Center. In general, Weyandt said the ARC draft suggests improvements such as exclu sive High Occupancy Vehicle lanes for buses, various inter change improvements and ways to use existing roads bet ter, such as using signals to designate open lanes on arteri al roads. The ARC is a regional planning organization which helps guide the area’s growth for everything from trans portation needs to infrastruc-’ ture. Though the Forsyth County government is not in law enforcement does not find ecstasy in great quantities, it is found in user amounts, Penn said. The Forsyth County Sheriff’s Office makes a sig nificant number of arrests in ecstasy, said Capt. Ron Freeman, commander of the Sheriff’s Office criminal investigations unit. That num ber has been growing in the last few years, he added. 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Individual must have excellent organizational skills and possess prior outside sales experience, prefer ably in advertising or related field. Must have ability to service existing accounts while focus ing on new business development and work in a deadline oriented environment. FCN offers a pleasant work environment, excellent growth opportunity, competitive com pensation and benefits. For consideration on this position, please fax resume to: Marti Barnes, Advertising Director, 770-844-9779 Or Mail To: 302 Veteran Memorial Blvd. Cumming, GA. 30040 or email to: marti@forsythnews.com No phone calls, please. EOE one of the 10 counties which are members of the ARC Forsyth is a member of the Georgia Mountains Regional Development Center the ARC must include the county when developing transporta tion plans for the metro Atlanta area. That’s because Forsyth County is one of 13 metro Atlanta counties that does not meet federally regulated guidelines for clean air due to the amount of ozone that’s formed when exhaust from vehicles and chemicals emit ted from some industries mix with sunlight. Ozone can make breathing Forsyth, the strengthened law could have a greater effect on the county in the future. “Everything goes north. People are moving up here, and it could only be a matter of time [before ecstasy gains popularity]," Penn said. The Drug Enforcement Administration seized 7,000 ecstasy tablets in an interna tional drug bust on March 31, according to a DEA press release. I ■ < ' ' *‘ J . 'd' V X'' ’z.\ Photos/David McGregor Red Cross blood drive Cumming Library hosted a blood drive Thursday for the Red Cross. Far left, American Red Cross worker Jay Jones looks over some paper work. Center, Alix Johnson is all smiles while giving blood. Right, Mary Froehlich sits calmly as Arthur Diaz checks on her. difficult, especially for people with respiratory diseases, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). It can also lead to health problems that include coughing and throat irritation. Prolonged exposure may permanently scar lung tissue, according to the EPA. States that do not meet fed eral clean air standards risk losing federal funds for road improvement projects. Weyandt said long range transit needs in metro Atlanta through 2030 total around $74 billion and finding that fund ing is going to present a chal lenge. The arrests of more than 100 drug dealers in 16 U.S. cities, including Atlanta, and three cities in Canada fol lowed a two-year investigation that took 407,000 ecstasy tablets off the street. HOME STYLE NORTH GEORGIA PREMIUM OUTLET STORE (Dawsonville store only) 800-828-5685 All Merchandise Now Priced 6hM Store to close May 23rd. All fixtures for sale-make offer Please call 888-889-0899 Ask for Ron Haffron, General Manager, Homestyle Stores FORtYTH COUNTY NEW# - Wdn-diy, April 14,2004 -1 “Our best estimates of the amount of money that will be available to the year 2030 and this includes local, state and federal funding for both construction and operations is about $47 billion,” said Weyandt. “There’s a considerable gap [s2s billion] between what we know our needs to be and the amount of money we expect to be available,” he said. He said the transportation plans will include proposed funding mechanisms for proj ects as well as detailing higher priority projects. Our acrylic liner is custom formed to fit over your existing tub, shower, or walls with no need for demolition. The high gloss easy cleaning surface adds warmth, beauty & comfort in just one day. Call 770-889-8724 for a FREE in home consultation. "We have begun a process through our aspirations plan that is fundamentally different from the way most metropoli tan areas in the country do it,” he said, adding other areas plan around budgets. “The [ARC] took a pretty bold step here by saying, ‘Let’s do it differently; let’s really talk about what our full range of needs are even though we can’t fulfill them all shouldn't we get that [information] so we know what we’re working on?”’ Weyandt said. “We will have a lot more detail come April 30,” he said. PAGE 3A