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Forsyth CountvNews J Your "Hometown Paper" Since 1908 • 306 Vol. 95, No. 62 Tech on display National school board group here By Nancy Smallwood Associate Editor Hotels have been booked, meals arranged and speakers confirmed for the upcoming National School Board Association's Technology Site visit to Forsyth County Sunday through Tuesday. More than 100 educators from all over the United States will attend the conference to learn how to use technology to improve student achievement in their own school sys tems. Forsyth County School Superintendent Paula Gault and the technology department of the school system will showcase online reporting, automating food services, designing school and teacher Web sites, instruc tion on interactive whiteboards and several other technology advance ments made in the Forsyth County Schools. Cumming-Forsyth County Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Joni Owens will help the school system play host to the visiting educa tors. “We are so elated that Forsyth County was selected." said Owens. “It comes as no surprise knowing how phenomenal our school system achievements have been in technology. We are honored and excited to have the opportunity for others to see our technology improvements and hope they can bring them home so others can benefit from them." Visitors w ill first hear from a world renowned futurist in education tech nology. David Thornburg, and then be able to choose between visiting Otwell Middle School or Settles Bridge Elementary School the first day of the visit. Sessions at Otwell Middle will include technology planning, See SCHOOLS, Page 2A $15.5 billion plan could accelerate Ga. 400 widening By Todd Truelove Staff Writer Gov. Sonny Perdue's announce ment at the Capitol Wednesday of revenue bonds totaling 515.5 billion to improve Georgia's roadways is the latest in a string of transporta tion related discussions around metro Atlanta. About half of the bonds. $7.92 billion, will be used for metro Atlanta road projects. The remain ing 57.65 million would be used throughout the rest of the state. Recently, representatives from Burned houses may rebuild at cost By Nicole Green Staff Writer Pulte Homes has agreed to rebuild houses at cost for residents of Manchester Court who lost their homes in an April 4 fire. Pulte originally built the Forsyth County subdivision off Hutchinson Road two and a half years ago. “As far as rebuilding, we are will ing to rebuild at our costs plus over heads, supervisions and any miscel laneous fees that may be associated with the county,” said Damon Rose, general manager of Georgia Division Customer Relations, via e-mail to Manchester Court homeowners asso ciation president Nancy Blankenship. “We are just thrilled to pieces,” Blankenship said Tuesday. Not all five homeowners have Missed paper j>olicy: For a replacement paper, call 8 a.m. - 5:30 p.m. Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, and 9 a.m. -1 p.m. on Sunday - (770) 887-3126. Copyright C 2004 Forsyth County News <’ II 0400 rr Fun at the park S A 4 ■ * wi Photo/David McGregor Nine-year-old Ashley Miller holds on to her 5-year-old brother, Chase, while going down the slide at Central Park on Wednesday. Temperatures warmed from earlier this week, but were still chilly compared to normal and gusty winds made it feel like autumn. Georgia Regional Transportation Authority (GRTA) and the Atlanta Regional Commission (ARC) con ducted separate meetings with the Forsyth County Board of Commissioners to present updates of GRTA's express bus system and addi tional road improvement projects and plans. Each of those meetings contained funding concerns such as continuing express bus services after operational funds are exhausted in about three or four years, and funding the construc tion high priority transportation proj ects in a plan the ARC is developing. As far as rebuilding, we are willing to rebuild at our cost plus overheads, supervi sions and any miscel laneous tees... - Damon Rose, Pulte Homes decided to rebuild at this point. Pulte is configuring a cost estimate for each individual. Pulte also is saving the fire vic tims thousands of dollars by cleaning up their properties free of charge. Cleanup of the fire debris was sched uled to begin Wednesday, Rose said. INDEX Abby 118 Church events 8A Classifieds ...4B Deaths 2A Horoscope 118 0pini0ri....«..........................9A Spot Is . 1B FRIDAY April 16, 2004 Perdue's bond announcement may solve some of those funding issues. However, while Perdue’s "fast forward" plan accelerates the con struction time of some transportation projects by as much as 12 years exactly which projects the bonds will fund remains sketchy. Bert Brantley, with the state Department of Transportation (DOT) media relations, explains. “What we’ve got is funding that is being dedicated toward categories of projects," Brantley said. “There are certainly candidates in Forsyth County for projects to be funded.” The fire that reportedly began at 3914 Deerbome Drive with a barbe cue grill destroyed five houses and damaged at least 14 others. No charges have been filed. An investigation continues into the reason why two fire hydrants did not function correctly on Deerborne Drive. Cumming Department of Utilities officials confirmed they did not receive a hydrant repair request for the two hydrants from the fire department. “The Forsyth County Fire Department did submit to the city of Cumming 19 fire hydrant repair requests from September 2003 [to present],” director Jon Heard said. None of the requests were for hydrants in Manchester Court, Heard See FIRE, Page 2A Spring is the best time for fresh asparagus recipes. Page 7A Brantley said all of the governor’s bonds will be used toward state high way and interstate improvements. He said the funding may apply to a num ber of projects in Forsyth County, including a planned widening of Ga. 400. “I don’t think there’s any question that at Ga. 400, those [new] HOV [High Occupancy Vehicle] lanes are candidates for inclusion in this pro gram," said Brantley. “We feel like we'll be able to have the Ga. 400 HOV lanes into right-of-way [acqui sition] by 2010." The improvement of Ga. 400 was Z 1 r / ■ ’WMCTMPu Y V ■ •'4 . I Photo/Submitted Two houses in Manchester Court subdivision frame a burning house facing them April 4. Taste of Forsyth to feature raffle, two dozen eateries’ offerings RagelA Grand jury indicts man for murder Allegedly killed salesman By Nicole Green Staff Writer A Forsyth County Grand Jury found probable cause April 12 to indict a Cumming man on charges he murdered a door- to-door salesman in January. Morris Cecil Chadwick, 66, was indict ed in the shooting death of Wayland Terry Thrasher on Jan. 22, 2004. The charges against Chadwick include malice murder, felony murder and aggravated assault. Thrasher, 64, of Kennesaw, attempted to sell Chadwick aerial photographs of his property the morning of the shooting. Though the details of their conversation have not been revealed. Sheriff Ted Paxton has said the confrontation resulted in the shooting of Thrasher. The Forsyth County Sheriff’s Office later collected 18 firearms from Chadwick's residence, according to Paxton. Chadwick's brother, Cleve Chadwick, has said that Chadwick suffered from paranoia and posted "Keep Out” signs on his property. A mental competency hearing scheduled for Monday was postponed because Chadwick was transported to Northside Forsyth Hospital Friday for treatment of an undisclosed con dition, according to District Attorney Penny Penn. Chadwick returned to the Forsyth County Detention Center Monday evening where he is being held without bond. The hearing has not been rescheduled. The return of an indictment does not prove guilt and means only that grand jurors found sufficient evidence for the felony cases to continue through the court system. Other indictments returned by the grand jury this month include the following: • Christopher David Chester, 24, was indicted on charges connected with a crash that killed 21-year-old Samuel Scott Tribble on Nov. 2. 2003. The other occupant of Tribble’s vehicle, George A. Walters 111, sustained serious injuries in the wreck that occurred on Jot-Em-Down road near Mathis Road. See INDICTMENTS, Page 6A Sunny High in the mid-70s. Low in the high 40s. uilers edge Eagles in thriller Chadwick a primary concern of DOT Board Member Mike Evans, who lives in Cumming. Evans was enthusiastic about the governor’s announcement. “Like everyone on the transporta tion board. I’m excited about the possibilities,” Evans said. “Sonny had told me a long time ago he really wanted to be the transportation gov ernor. He's on the right track.” According to a statement issued by the governor’s office, it should take a third of the time to construct transportation projects with access to See BONDS, Page 2A LAKE LANIER LEVELS Date Level April 11 1069.95 ft April 12 1069.99 ft April 13 1070.05 ft April 14 1070.18 ft Full 1071.00 ft