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Forsyth County News J Your "Hometown Paper" Since 190 s ' Vol. 95, No. 67 Ingram sold to Mariettan Continuous family ownership of funeral home comes to end By Harris Blackwood Community Editor Ingram Funeral Home, one of Forsyth County's oldest businesses under continuous family ownership, has been sold to a Marietta man who is a member of a family which has a long history in the funeral home industry in Georgia. Jack W. Allen is the new owner of Ingram's, which began as a hard ware store and funeral service in downtown Cumming in 1928. Allen is the great-grandson of H.M. Patterson, who founded one of Atlanta's oldest funeral homes in 1880. The Patterson family busi ness, for which Allen worked, was sold in 1993 to Service Corporation International (SCI), the largest provider of funeral, crematory, and cemetery services in North America. He remained employed by SCI for a time, before working as a consultant in the funeral industry. The decision to sell did not come easy for brothers George and Robert Ingram, who followed in the footsteps of their father. Royston A. Ingram Sr., who founded the firm. An older brother. Royston A. "Buck" Ingram. Jr., was involved in the family business for many years before retiring a few years ago. "Robert and I had been doing some estate planning, and the issue was 'What do we do with the funer al home?'" said George Ingram, who has been a licensed funeral Pinson believes he has advantage to win By Nancy Smallwood Associate Editor Forsyth County Board of Education District 4 candidate Ronnie Pinson believes he has an advantage over some other candi dates for the position because he has seen what a great school system can do for his own two children. The 50-year-old sales and service person of Cai-Maine Foods and 20- year resident of the Pleasant Grove community said he thought it was time to give something back to the system that gave so much to his chil dren. “I want to keep the system mov- New light shed on the Endres investigation Sheriff: Abductor may have stalked victim By Nicole Green Staff Writer Forsyth County Sheriff Ted Paxton has released new details about the disappearance of Patrice Tamber Endres, a north Forsyth beautician likely abducted April 15, suggesting that this was no random robbery gone awry. Sheriff’s investigators are operat ing under two primary theories about the suspected kidnapping of Endres, 38, from Tamber’s Trim-N-Tan on Matt Highway (Hwy. 369), Paxton said Thursday. In one scenario, at least one per petrator may have entered Endres’ salon intending to commit a robbery. Endres may have become a second ary target during the commission of the crime. In the second scenario, a Missed paper policy: 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 0 JOO4 Forsyth County H*w» o 90994 09000 7 Your "Hometown Paper" Since 190 s director for 47 years. The brothers did not have any heirs who would follow in the family businesses. He said that they had rejected numer ous offers over the past few years to sell the company to a large corpora tion, such as SCI, because they did not want to lose the personal service started by their father. “When we met Jack Allen, we found that this was the type of per son we wanted to represent our name.” George Ingram said, adding that Allen has hired the entire pres ent staff of the funeral home, including both Ingram brothers. "He is going to allow us to be here and take care of families and conduct services." Allen. 45. said that his career in the funeral home business began at the age of 11 cutting grass at his family's funeral homes. "1 graduated to the vacuum cleaner at 13," he said, smiling. He became a full-time employee of the family firm when he was 21. Allen said that he plans no changes in the operation at Ingram's. The name of the funeral home will remain the same. “I don't know of a thing I would change," said Allen. "George and Robert Ingram run a top-notch oper ation and people come to them because they treat folks right and give good service.” He said that the business has See INGRAM, Page 2A fit 4 Pinson North Forsyth High School LSAC for seven years and the Forsyth County Board of Education redis tricting committee for two years. Pinson’s wife, Donna, also has been teaching for 19 years and is currently stalker may have planned to take Endres from her empty salon. “It’s looking more like Patrice was the object and motive here," Paxton said based on several discov eries at the crime scene. A robber typically overturns a place in search of valuables. At Tamber’s Trim-N-Tan. the assailant only emptied the cash register and rummaged through Endres’ purse, Paxton said. Endres’ reportedly took in $95 by 11:38 a.m. when her last customer left the salon. Any other money in the register was startup cash replenished each morning. The robber missed the bulk of Endres’ cash in his hurried plunder. Investigators found S3OO in her wal let tucked behind some credit cards. See ENDRES, Page 13A INDEX Abby 68 Births 4B Classifieds 4C Deaths 2A Forsyth Life IB Horoscope 6B Opinion 14A Sports 1C SUNDAY April 25,2004 ing in the same direction it is going with better schools and quality educa tion." said Pinson. Pinson has served on the North Forsyth Middle School Local School Advisory Council (LSAC) for three years, the Qualifying begins Monday for local, state races on July 20 ballot Page4A g 1 ' Kin Wg Photo/David McGregor Jack W. Allen, foreground, is the new owner of Ingram Funeral Home, one of Forsyth's oldest businesses under continuous fami ly ownership. Former owner George Ingram is in the background. employed as a music teacher at North Forsyth Middle School. They have two sons. Russell and Brandon, both of whom are graduates of North Forsyth High School. "Russell is a graduate of North Georgia College and State University and is currently employed by Accenture and Brandon is in his fourth year at North Georgia College and State University as a biology major, from which he hopes to pur sue a career in veterinary' medicine," said Pinson. Observing the changes in the county's education system through out the years has given Pinson an understanding of the demands and -*• I Photos/David McGregor Above, Alexa Worley, case agent Jason Burndrett, and Katrina Murdock look over evidence in the Patrice Tamber Endres case on Thursday after noon at the command center off Kelly Mill Road in Cumming. Right, words on a sign and numerous yellow ribbons adorning Tamber’s Trim-N-Tan salon encourage her safe return. Sheriff’s investigators believe Endres was abducted April 15 from the business on Matt Highway (Hwy. 369). expectations placed on educators. “Those experiences coupled with everyday decisions made in the pri vate business sector will enable me to find the right solutions to our greatest challenges," he said. "One such challenge is the rapid popula tion growth amidst the state's declin ing fund allocations. In the face of such circumstances it is imperative that we work with our state legisla tors to ensure we receive the funds needed to relieve the demands on our soon to be over-crowded facilities." The high standards set forth by the Forsyth County School System See PINSON, Page 2A South girls soccer nets Region 6-A AAA title. PagelC Jury says county must pay Dam to be repaired By Nicole Green Staff Writer After years of controversy and a week of trial, a court decided Friday that Pine Lake will remain a lake at the expense of Forsyth County. A Forsyth County Superior Court jury decided Friday that Forsyth County government must pay upwards of SBOO,OOO to repair Pine Lake Dam west of Cumming as per mitted by the Georgia Environmental Protections Division (EPD). The county had threatened to breach the dam, which would have turned the lake into 22 acres of mud and deval ued surrounding properties, residents said. In January 2002 the EPD found the dam to be dangerously close to failure. Cracks in the dam’s slopes, a high rate of spillage and malfunction ing siphons put downstream homes at risk. As a temporary’ fix to the prob lem, the county dug a trench from the lake across Pine Lake Drive to lower water levels by 12 feet and avert an emergency. The county had main tained the road and dam since 1975. “For 25. almost 30 years, the county put Band-aids on an open heart wound, and they're asking you to reward them for that," plaintiffs' attorney Dana Miles told the jury in his closing remarks. In the end, the jury decided to reward the residents of Greenwood Acres with the full pool lake they have missed for the last two years. “Where I had a good view of lake water. 1 have nothing but weeds now.” said Douglas Morrison who has lived in the neighborhood since 1983. Senior Superior Court Judge John Langford previously ruled that the county owned the dam and was therefore responsible for the dam and the county road passing over the dam. His directed verdict gave jurors only two choices: the county must either breach the dam or repair it. “They [the jurors] felt like it was a difficult decision," defense attorney Terry Williams said after the verdict. “They thought both sides shared in it equally." The jury also directed the county to pay $78,000 in attorney's fees. To See DAM, Page 4A CUMBER’S ■ J ” Twim-n-TaN F Possible Storms High in the high 70s. Low in the high 50s. DODC3B TOUI 01 LIFE, 1B Tour de Georgia comes to Forsyth LAKE LANIER LEVELS Date Level April 20 1070.31 ft April 21 1070.33 ft 5 April 22 ( 1070,34 ft (April 23 1070.35 ft Full 1071. oe-ft