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Forsyth J Your "Hometown Counts Paper" Since 19 306
Vol. 95, No. 72
Taylor
says no
to race
Qualifies for post,
then changes mind
ByToddTruelove
Staff Writer
Forsyth County Commissioner
Eddie Taylor announced Monday
night that he will not seek re-election
to his seat on the board of commis¬
sioners — three days after qualifying
at the last minute for the position.
“Many of you don’t know that I
developed a health problem over the
last year, and I’m battling that now,”
Taylor said, “but mainly I’ve got to
get my priorities back in order, and
that’s God, family, business and serv¬
ice to the community. With this
announcement, I’m going to remove
myself as a candidate from commis¬
sion District 5 for the upcoming year.
“After 12 years of trying to do
what’s right for this community ...
and working for various boards, it’s
probably time for me to kind-of
move on.”
Prior to serving on the board of
commissioners. Taylor — whose dis¬
trict encompasses eastern and central
portions of the county — served on
the board of education.
A spokesperson for the county
board of elections said Taylor had
not filed a notice of withdrawal as of
Tuesday morning. He would not be
listed on the July 20 ballot if he files
in the next few days before absentee
ballots are printed, the spokesperson
said.
In making his announcement, he
also said the county commission
elections need to occur per district
rather than “at-large”. Such a change
would then let residents choose their
district commissioner and prevent
residents from other districts from
electing board members outside of
their area of the county.
“Commissioners need to be able
to run in a district — not the county
at-large, said Taylor, adding other
counties elect their board members
per district.
He said the only position on the
board of commissioners that needs to
be elected by the entire county is the
c h~
The chairman needs to run at
large, said Taylor, adding the chair
man should then only vote on county
issues when hoard members votes
end in a tie. That way he, or she, is
able to keep themself as neutral as
See TAYLOR, Page 3A
an to students
By Nancy Smallwood
Associate editor
There was never any question in
Mitch Holland’s mind whether he
could complete 2,000 sit-ups — just
what would happen if he could do
more. Surrounded by cheers of
encouragement from family and
friends, the freshman at North Forsyth
High School successfully completed
his goal of 2/XX) situps to raise money
for Relay for Life to benefit cancer
research on Friday morning.
The situp challenge is tough
enough for anyone but is even more
amazing because Holland has cerebral
palsy. Just one year ago, he completed
1,000 situps in a 45-minutc time peri¬
od at North Forsyth Middle School
and collected more than $1,000 in
pledges. “He didn’t want to do the
same thing everyone else did for the
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90994'0406'
WEDNESDAY May 5, 2004
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A Forsyth County fire engine sits in a garage awaiting investigation after it was
struck by a pickup truck on Ga. 400 Sunday. The pickup's driver was killed. See
story, page 3A.
School survey aids
By Nancy Smallwood
Associate Editor
Parents of elementary school students will
be pulling out their pencils this month to com
plete a survey on school performance. The sur
vey was requested by participants in the
Forsyth County Schools Vision 2010 program
and will provide feedback to the schools to use
in setting their goals, according to Jennifer
Caracciolo, communication specialist.
in the survey, parents are asked to respond
to several statements regarding learning, teach
ing, safety and communication at their child’s
school. Several statements question how par
en ts view the school’s administration,
Statements such as availability of administra
tors, how quickly administrators act when a
problem occurs, and how knowledgeable
administrators are about teaching and learning
are poscd t0 parents
Parents that would like to make additional
comments on issues not addressed the sur-
cause,” said Michelle Mathis,
Holland's mother. “He wanted to do
something different.”
Holland is an inspiration to the rest
of his family. Once his situp goal was
set he began training both at home and
school. "He practices all year round
and has rock hard abs,” said Cathy
Evans, Holland’s cousin. “The words,
‘I can’t,’ do not exist in his vocabu¬
lary.”
He went out and raised $1,000 on
his own for the cause and then other
students started making donations,
said Holland’s teacher, Helen Lane.
“He is an inspiration to the other
students,” said Lane. “He wants to do
this every year and keep increasing the
amount.”
In preparation of his challenge,
Holland began taking weightlifting
classes this year at the school and was
encouraged by his coaches, Jim
INDEX
Abby 8A
Classifieds. 11B
Deaths........ 2A
Events_________ 4A
Horoscope 8A
Legals..... 2B
Opinion 10A
Sports... IB
a
Caracciolo veys more often of their stake
holders, said Caracciolo.
“Stake holders can be internal and external
they include business representatives, parents
and legislators,” said Caracciolo. “There are
informal and formal ways of collecting feed¬
back and we are doing the formal which is col¬
lecting surveys.”
Administrators expect to receive the com¬
pleted surveys by the second week in May.
“The average return for a survey is 20 per¬
cent,” said Caracciolo. “We would like to get
more if we can.”
Bishop and Keith Eickholdt. The
coaches set up a weightlifting plan
designed for his body size and, once
he completed the routine, he would
work on situps for the remainer of the
class time. “He doesn’t know any limi¬
tations,” said Bishop. "He can do any¬
thing he sets his mind to do."
Holland first began completing sets
of situps with a 25 pound weight and
just recently graduated to working out
with a 35-pound weight, according to
Eickholdt. The 2,000 sit-ups were
completed by Holland without a single
resting break with teacher Eric Killion
holding on to his feet and cheering
him on. Other students, Stacie Carley
and Kelly Wise, helped keep the count
during the situp challenge.
“I’m so excited about this,” said
Holland. “1 almost did a flip out of my
bed this morning. I said. ‘Let’s get this
thing done.’”
Advice
Dear Abby
dishes out
gixxl advice.
Page 8A
i
vey can submit them on a sep¬
arate sheet of paper and
enclose them with the survey.
The survey follows a com¬
munication audit of Forsyth
County Schools in which 12
recommendations were made
to officials. One of the recom¬
mendations suggested the
school system conduct sur¬
ns
£
Photo/Jena Blackshear
Mitch Holland works Friday to complete his goal of 2,000 sit-ups to
raise more than $2,000 for the Relay for Life effort against cancer.
Holland, a freshman at North Forsyth High School who suffers from
cerebral palsy, was cheered on by his family and several students
in the school gym. Teacher Eric Killion assisted Holland by holding
his feet and Stacie Carley kept count of the sit-ups.
Opinion
Columnist Bill Shipp
shares his perspective
of Geoigia politics.
Page 10A
Testimony
Murder was
threatened
by Turner
By Nicole Green
Staff Writer
PERRY The lat^ husband of Lynn Turner said his
wife was capable of murder, several police officers testi¬
fied Monday in Houston County Superior Court.
Turner, 35, of Cumming, is accused of killing her
husband, Cobb County police officer Maurice Glenn
Turner, by causing him to ingest antifreeze in-1995. The
trial was moved from Marietta to after the
could not seat an impartial jury on the
high profile case.
Sgt. Robert C. Fisher Jr. testified
Monday that Turner threatened to shoot
her husband 10 days before Glenn
Turner died.
Fisher and Glenn Turner were mem¬
bers of the “Rat Pack,” a self-named
group of six police officers who shared
laughs and confidences.
One afternoon while Fisher was
conducting a traffic stop, Glenn Turner
stopped to talk. Glenn Turner indicated that he was mov¬
ing out of his wife’s home, Fisher testified, and wanted
Fisher to help him find an apartment. Glenn and Lynn
Turner reportedly argued that morning, one of the last
arguments in a stormy 18 months of marriage.
“[Lynn] had threatened to shoot him with his own
service weapon,” Fisher said in front of the jury Monday.
Neither Glenn Turner nor Fisher filed a police report
of the threat.
In a separate occurrence, Fisher and Glenn Turner
responded to a suicide call in December 1994.
As they were leaving the scene, they debated whether
the deceased committed suicide or was murdered.
See TURNER, Page 2A
Spending, murder
connection eyed
By Nicole Green
Staff Writer
PERRY — Murder suspect Lynn Turner is a shopa¬
holic, according to friends who testified at her Houston
County trial Monday.
Though it may seem irrelevant to the case, the state
hopes to prove that money was Turner’s motive for the
alleged poisoning murder of Maurice Glenn Turner in
1995.
Hours of witness testimony revealed far from frugal
spending habits for the former Cobb County 911 dis¬
patcher. Turner drove a limited edition Indy 500 Official
Pace Car. She wore expensive clothes and carried a cell
See 2A
Partly Cloudy
High in the high 70s.
Low in the mid-50s.
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SPORTS, 1B
track meet concludes
►
Turner
LAKE LANIER LEVELS
Date Level
April 30 1070.40 ft
May 1 1070.40 ft
May 2 1070,44 ft
Full May 3 1070.52 ft
1071.00 ft