Newspaper Page Text
Forsyth Cour"’ s
•/ Your "Hometown Paper" Since UM
Vol. 95, No. 68
Feds investigate fatal trench collapse
By Nancy Smallwood
Associate Editor
The federal Occupational Safety
and Health Administration is investi
gating the circumstances surrounding
the death of a man who was buried
while working in a trench Saturday in
northeast Forsyth County.
"It’s early in the investigation,”
said William Cochran, assistant area
director of OSHA. "We look at the
conditions and circumstances to deter
mine what happened. We interview
anybody and everybody who can help
us."
He declined to release any prelimi-
Attorneys at odds
on first day of the
Lynn Turner trial
By Nicole Green
Staff Water
PERRY Defense attorneys and
Cobb County prosecutors butted heads
on the first day of the murder trial of
Julia Lynn Turner of Forsyth County
Monday despite the judge's pre
emptive pleas for the two sides to get
along while guests in Houston County-
Superior Court. Turner is accused of
poisoning her police officer husband.
Maurice Glenn Turner, while the cou
ple lived in Cobb in 1995.
In February of this year. Cobb
Superior Court Judge James G.
Bodiford moved the trial to the year
old justice complex on the outskirts of
Perry. The jury pool in Cobb was
deemed to be contaminated by intense
media coverage of the murder case.
The state’s planned witnesses num
ber upwards of 2(X). Defense attorney
Jimmy Berry asked the judge Monday
Police check over 700
tips in disappearance
By Nancy Smallwood
Associate Editor
Investigators are not discouraged
when tips phoned into the Forsyth
County Sheriff's Office concerning
the search for Patrice Tamber Endres
do not give results. The four investiga
tors assigned to the case just look at
the situation as one item that can be
excluded from the list of possible
leads.
More than 700 tips are currently
being investigated by detectives in
connection with the disappearance of
the 38-year-old beautician and owner
of Tambcr’s Trim-N-Tan on Matt
Photo/David McGregor
Anna McManus and Gray Smith look over paperwork with Sheriff
Ted Paxton during the first day candidates could qualify to run for
office at the County Administration Building Monday. Numerous
other candidates filed for county offices. See story, page 3A.
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 C 2004 Forsyth County Ntwt
■III
90994 11 0400
WEDNESDAY April 28,2004
nary findings.
Under federal law, the agency has
six months to complete its investiga
tion. Tire agency has the power to levy
hefty fines against companies found to
be in violation of federal safety regula
tions.
An employee of Pro-Septic and
Plumbing identified by local authori
ties as Joseph "Jody" Domingue. 18.
of Commerce, died Saturday after
noon when the trench he was working
in collapsed and spilled five feet of dirt
upon him.
Domingue was pronounced dead at
the scene by compression asphyxia
tion, said Forsyth County Deputy
Turner
list of witnesses they plan to call the
next day." Berry said.
Special prosecutor Jack Mallard, a
prosecutor in Fulton and Cobb coun
ties from 1967 to 2001. said this pro
cedure did not work well in the Tokars
case. The state can provide only a ten
tative list of witnesses. Cobb District
Attorney Pat Head added that Berry
See TURNER, Page 2A
Endres
interview friends and patrons of
Endres' business, surrounding home-
See ENDRES, Page 3A
INDEX
Abby BA
Classifieds 1 IB
Deaths .2A
Events 7A
Horoscope 8A
Legals .3B
Opinion 10A
Sports IB
for a daily list of
witnesses the state
plans to question.
The Cobb prosecu
tion provided such a
list to Berry during
the eight-week Fred
Tokars murder trial
in 1997. “Hist
orically in these
kinds of cases, the
state will give us a
Highway in north
western Forsyth
County. Endres was
reported missing the
afternoon of April
15 after a customer
found the front door
of the business open
and cash register
emptied.
While investiga
tors continue to
Advice
Dear Abby
dishes out
good advice.
PageßA
Coroner Ted Scarbrough.
Forsyth County firefighters
received the emergency call at 4:30
p.m. and arrived at the construction
site at 7245 Shadbum Ferry Road to
find workers trying to dig the man out
by hand. Upon arriving at the scene,
firefighters quickly realized their mis
sion had changed from rescue to
recovery. “The trench was on the side
of a hill with dirt piled very high on
the side," said Scarbrough, who also is
a volunteer firefighter. “It was a very
dangerous situation.”
It took emergency crews five and a
half hours to recover Domingue's
body.
Tour de Georgia races through Forsyth
* T/JFF Tilda
■he,/ ■ W
Photo/David McGregor
Above, Tour de Georgia competitors curve around the intersection of Kelly Mill and Castleberry
roads near the Cumming Square Sunday during their run through Forsyth County. Below, Stuart
McMinn show his allegiance to racer Lance Armstrong on the race route. See story, page 3A.
st -***■- -■ '
.„. r ,„
Activist to challenge Rep. Tom Knox;
Democrat qualifies for new House seat
By Harris Blackwood
Community Editor
An official of the Federation of
Forsyth County Homeowners has
qualified to run in the Republican
primary against state Rep. Tom
Knox, (R-Cumming).
John Pickering, 40, a resident of
the Grand Cascades subdivision,
paid his S4OO qualifying fee at the
State Capitol in Atlanta on Monday.
Knox, a two-term incumbent, also
qualified Monday for re-election to
the House.
Pickering is the current presi-
Forsyth Fire Department officials
called for a Technical Rescue Team
(TRT) specializing in trench rescue
from Gwinnett County. Members of
the TRT team placed boards allowing
access across the trench to prevent
injuries to firefighters, said Capt.
David Dusik with the Gwinnett
County Fire Department. "It was a T
style trench which made it a very
unstable situation,” said Dusik.
“Firefighters had to shore up the sides
of the trench with wooden panels."
The Forsyth County Fire
Department will soon have its own
TRT and will use the team for trench
rescues and high angle rescue, said
Pickering
Pickering said
that he became interested in the seat
after the first court-drawn maps cre
ated an open seat.
Opinion
Columnist Bill Shipp
shares his perspective
of Georgia politics.
ItogelOA
dent of the home
owners group and
announced that he
would be stepping
down from the post
to run for the
House. He had suc
ceeded the late
Prescott Eaton,
who was one of the
founding members
of the federation.
Sunny
High in the low 70s.
Low in the low 50s.
I
SPORTS, IB
Eagles, l.ady Dawgs slalcbound
Fire Chief Danny Bowman. Gwinnett
and Forsyth work together often when
the need arises for specially trained
personnel, said Bowman.
Trench accidents are “all too com
mon" in fast-growing counties north
of Atlanta, according to OSHA offi
cials.
In May 2(X)3, the agency levied a
$45,750 fine against a pipeline compa
ny after inspectors found employees at
an Acworth construction site working
12 feet below ground with no trench
box in place to protect the workers
from a cave-in.
Staff Writer Colby Jones con
tributed to this story’.
“It was an uncontested seat and I
was going to run." said Pickering.
“Then they went up and picked up
Tom’s residence and put him into a
district that he has never represent
ed before. I've been fighting for this
district for 10 years.”
Knox. 60. said he was surprised
to have opposition from within his
own party.
“I'm surprised with my voting
record and what I’ve done for the
county that someone would oppose
See ELECTION, Page 2A
LAKE LANIER LEVELS
Date Level
April 23 1070.35 ft
April 24 1070.35 ft
April 25 1070.35 ft
April 26 1070.36 ft
Full 1071.00 ft