Newspaper Page Text
PAGE 2A
Deaths
Charlie Echols
Mr. Charlie Echols, 76, of
Cumming died Thursday, April
29, 2004. He was a member of
Haw Creek Baptist Church.
Survivors include wife,
Jessie Echols of Cumming;
daughter and son-in-law,
Debra and Jody Summerville
- of Rome; sons and daughters
' in-law, Wayne and Kathy
Echols of Cumming, Harold
and Tina Echols of Ball
Ground, Joey and Jane Echols,
Tommy and Robin Echols, all
of Cumming; grandchildren,
Amanda, Ashley and Allison
Summerville of Rome,
Zachary and Augusta Echols,
Justin and Jonathan Echols, all
of Cumming; brother, H.B.
Echols of Cumming; sister,
Fausteen Conkle of Forest
Park; other relatives also sur¬
vive.
Funeral services were
Saturday, May 1, at 2 p.m. at
Ingram Funeral Home Chapel
with the Rev. Jerry Orr offici¬
ating.
Forsyth County News
May 7, 2004
Carol Marie Mann
•V* ' Mrs. Carol Marie Mann,
62, of Cumming died Tuesday,
May 4, 2004. She was pre¬
ceded in death by her father,
! Fritz Reichle.
Survivors include husband,
Charles Mann of Cumming;
daughters and son-in-law, Kim
■ and Greg Fuller of
Lawrenceville, Dina Mann of
Cumming; grandchildren,
Brittany, Cassidy and
Ashleigh; mother, Hilda
Reichle of Cumming.
Memorial services are
Saturday, May 8, at 2 p.m. at
Ingram Funeral Home Chapel
with the Rev. Gary Coffey offi¬
ciating.
Ingram Funeral Home is in
charge of the arrangements.
Forsyth Counts’ News
May 7, 2004
Clyde Wallis
Mr. Clyde Wallis, 88, of
Canton died Tuesday, May 4,
2004.
Survivors include son, Kim
Clyde Wallis of Fayetteville;
sisters and brother-in-law,
Lillie Mae Fields of Cumming,
Janie and James DeVore of
Atlanta; grandchildren, Tim
Wallis of Jackson, Barry Wallis
of Stockbridge; great-grand¬
child, Emma Wallis of
Stockbridge; nieces and
nephews.
Funeral services are Friday,
May 7, at 11:30 a.m. in the
chapel with the Revs. Charles
Blackstock and Frank
Whitmire officiating. Burial
will be at Lincoln Hollywood
Cemetery.
Louie E. Jones Funeral
Home is in charge of the
arrangements.
Forsyth County News
May 7, 2004
Obituaries must be
provided to the newspaper
by a funeral home or
similar organization
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— FORSYTH COUNTY NEWS — Friday, May 7,2004
AUTISM from 1A
ing to Crocker. Another pro¬
gram includes the child in a
regular classroom setting with
the support of a para-pro, a per¬
son specially trained in provid¬
ing instructional support to the
teacher and special needs stu¬
dents in the classroom. Other
settings include having a sec¬
ond teacher, certified in special
education, in the classroom to
assist with instructional needs.
“In this situation the stu¬
dents are not made to feel any
different from any other student
in the class,” said Crocker.
“Both teachers work with any
child and there is not distinc¬
tion made between students,
only the teachers are aware of
what accommodations and
instructional strategies are nec
essary.
For students who need the
structure and more stabilized
environments, the county offers
a self-contained program. The
program’s goal is to help the
students move into a general
classroom as soon as possible
so that they can be exposed to a
general curriculum with their
age appropriate peers, said
Crocker.
Forsyth County has been
working closely with Emory
Autism Center for several
years, and personnel from the
center consult with the county
school system on a regular
basis regarding curriculum,
according to Crocker.
“They will come out to our
schools and provide diagnostic
observations, will suggest inter¬
ventions and strategies for
behavioral management, and
will help in program planning
for our students with autism.
Emory has been a great asset to
our system and has helped us
stay knowledgeable with cur¬
rent trends and research,” said
Crocker.
Tracie Avery, a teacher of a
self contained program at
Sharon Elementary School, said
every child with autism can per¬
form at different levels. Some
autistic children can also be
gifted or musically talented.
“They have all different
abilities. We teach them to
interact or parallel play with
PLANE from 1A
County Emergency Manage¬
ment Agency, said she along
with other emergency respon¬
ders met with the FAA.
"He missed the airport and
the parachute on the plane was
deployed," said Wood. "We
think he was trying to slow
down and trying to pull up to
turn back around," said Wood.,
who added that the parachutes
deploy with enough force that
they can kill someone.
Beverly Henson, who lives
on Bagley Road near the crash
site, said that she heard the
craft before it went down.
"I just heard a very loud
plane noise," said Henson. "I
heard it start and stop one
time."
She reported hearing the
noise stop between 9 and 9:30
p.m.
Mathis Airport is a private¬
ly owned facility that is in the
process of being sold. The air¬
port is the centerpiece of a res¬
idential community which is
home to a number of private
pilots who utilize the short
paved runway. The airport is
not equipped with runway
lights or a control tower.
Officials are discussing requir¬
ing a emergency contingency
plan for owners of small air-
reveals how to get relief
as fast as humanly pos
sible without drugs,
shots or surgery, call
toll-free 24-hour
recorded message at
1-888-895-7484.
other children, and with some
we work on daily living skills,”
said Avery.
Even with the self contained
classes, teachers encourage
social interaction to help devel¬
op the students’ social skills.
“We have lunch bunch
groups where students eat lunch
in a small group — sometimes
with the speech therapist, the
special education teacher or the
counselor. Games and activities
are planned during the lunch
period that encourage appropri¬
ate social behavior,” said
Crocker.
One parent of an autistic
child at Sharon Elementary,
Susan Rolfs, has high praises
for principal Janet Reid and
teacher Tracy Avery.
“We came from out of state
and Dr. Reid found a program
that would work for our son. He
is making great strides in his
abilities, forming words and
with interactive play. The pro¬
gram is working and they have
given us activities to carry on at
home. It is the perfect combina¬
tion,” said Rolfs.
A newly developed social
skills training program piloted
by the school system also has
benefited her son, according to
Rolfs. The school system hopes
to offer the small group pro¬
gram over the summer to stu¬
dents and then this fall to pro¬
vide training within the schools
so it can be facilitated during
the school year.
“Dr. Reid and the school
system have been very helpful
in working with me to find
camps and programs that will
be the best possible places for
my son. r great that they take
the ti talk with me and
discuss u _ -ros and the cons,”
said Roii
Having an autistic child is
not a negative thing — parents
just have to work hard to pro¬
vide an environment where they
can excel, according to Rolfs.
“Each child is unique in
their own way and we depend
on the teachers and the princi¬
pals. Forsyth County Schools
has a real understanding of that
— they search and seek out
what is best for the child.”
ports in the county which
would require some accounta¬
bility for airport owners.
The ultra light plane is an
experimental plane and had a
data tag showing Geckeler
either built the plane himself
or purchased it from someone
who built it, officials reported.
FAA regulations allow
ultralights to fly only between
local sunrise and sunset. The
regulations define an ultralight
as a craft that has an empty
weight of 254 pounds and a
fuel capacity of five gallons.
He is survived by a wife,
Sally, and three children, Lucas,
5, Alyssa, 8, and Pete, 13.
Geckeler was the owner of
Silver Star Motors, a luxury
vehicle dealership at 3531
Peachtree Parkway in the
Johns Creek area.
Business associate and
friend Wayne Potts, who was
at the wreck scene Thursday
morning, said Geckeler was "a
good family man ... the type of
guy who would give you the
shirt off his back."
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Letter carriers seeking food donations
for Stamp Out Hunger drive
The National Association
of Letter Carriers (NALC) will
conduct its nationwide 12th
annual Stamp Out Hunger!
food drive on Saturday, May
8 .
Stamp Out Hunger! is the
nation’s largest single-day
food drive and has netted near¬
ly 600 million pounds of food
since its inception in 1992.
More than 200,000 pounds
were collected in North
Georgia during last year’s
Food Drive.
Making a donation is easy.
Customers should leave their
non-perishable food donation
TURNER from 1A
The Wednesday prior to
Glenn Turner’s death on
Friday, Hardy received word
that her brother was sick. She
called to check on him.
“His stomach hurt so bad
he thought he was going to
die,” Hardy testified.
The Turner family in the
courtroom audience became
visibly upset at this point in
Hardy’s testimony.
The day of the death,
Linda and her husband
returned from dinner to find
an answering machine full of
messages. Shortly after, two of
Glenn Turner’s police officer
friends informed Hardy that
her brother was dead.
Lynn Turner called Hardy
that night.
“She was driving in her
car, talking on her cell phone,
driving very fast. And she told
me what had happened to my
brother,” Hardy said.
Hardy kept notes of the
conversation to relay informa¬
tion to her distraught family.
The prosecution entered
Hardy’s notes into evidence
Wednesday.
Lynn Turner reportedly
told Hardy that her brother
“flipped out” at 3 a.m. Friday,
tried to “fly” off the back deck
of their house and broke a
lamp. On Saturday when the
Turner family gathered, Lynn
Turner told Hardy that Glenn
Turner tried to drink gasoline
the previous night, as well.
Hardy commented that
Lynn Turner had her name
printed as “Julia Turner” in the
Atlanta Journal-Constitution
obituary for Glenn Turner,
which was tendered into evi¬
dence by the prosecution.
“She was very adamant
that she did not want her name
VICTORY from 1A
“I asked [Lynn Turner] if
she had given him something
she shouldn’t have, but she
said no,” Mazariegos testified.
Mazariegos reportedly
found crackers and a spoon in
Glenn Turner’s bedroom the
afternoon of his death. Berry
pointed out that Mazariegos
did not look for the Jell-0 the
alleged victim ate that morn¬
ing, according to the defen¬
dant. He did not examine the
contents of the refrigerator in
the residence.
Mazariegos did note in his
investigation records that Lynn
Turner was weeping the day
her husband died.
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in a bag near their mailbox on
Saturday, May 8, before their
letter carrier arrives. Food col¬
lected during Saturday’s drive
will be delivered to local com¬
munity food banks and
pantries that serve the area
where donations are collected,
providing an opportunity for
citizens to help needy families
in their own communities.
“The NALC Food Drive is
a welcomed opportunity for us
to join forces to help meet the
challenge - to not only raise
public awareness but to help
combat this often overlooked
issue of hunger,' says
listed in that paper as Lynn
Turner,” Hardy said.
“She didn’t want the police
or news media getting ahold
of it — and why would they if
he supposedly died at home
naturally?” Hardy added.
At the time of Glenn
Turner’s death, his wife was
seeing Forsyth County fire¬
fighter Randy Thompson in
Cumming. Friends and family
of Thompson verified in earli¬
er testimony that Lynn Turner
began dating Thompson in the
spring or summer of 1994.
Documents entered into evi¬
dence on Wednesday proved
that Lynn Turner and
Thompson signed a lease
together on an apartment in
Cumming four days after
Glenn Turner’s death.
Twice during the visitation
and funeral of Glenn Turner,
Hardy reported that Lynn
Turner said, “I gotta get the
hell outta here.” When she
said it after the graveside serv¬
ice, a police officer friend of
Lynn Turner’s laughed, Hardy
said.
Lynn Turner expressed her
desire to leave the graveside
service within earshot of
another attendee who testified
Wednesday.
“Lynn walked up to my left
and it was some lady with her
and I heard her say, ‘I wish
they’d hurry up so we could
get the hell outta here,”’ said
Andrea Edwards, a friend of
the deceased who attended the
funeral.
“My husband said to me,
‘Did she say what I thought
she said?’ And I said yes. And
we were very upset about
that,” Edwards said.
The prosecution has pre¬
sented several witnesses dur¬
ing the course of the trial to
illustrate Lynn Turner’s sup¬
posedly emotionless behavior
at the visitation and funeral,
and in the months that fol¬
lowed as she collected death
benefits on her late husband.
Forsyth J CountyNews J
Your "Hometown Paper" Since 1908
USPS 205-540
Veterans Memorial Blvd., Cumming, Georgia 30040
Phone: 770-887-3126 Fax: 770-889-6017
Internet Address: www.forsythnews.com
Publisher DENNIS STOCKTON
General Manager NORMAN BAGGS
Editor TOM SPIGOLON
*5 Advertising Director MARTI BARNES
Circulation Director PHIL JONES
MEMBER
Published Sunday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday by the Forsyth County News
Company, Veterans Memorial Blvd., Cumming. Ga. Second Class Postage paid at
Cumming, Ga. and additional offices. Subscription rate for Forsyth County, $52
per year; $35 for six months; other Georgia and out of state subscriptions are $85
per year. Any unused portion of a subscription balance will be gladly refunded.
However, all refunds due the subscriber arc subject to a processing fee, which will
be automatically deducted from the subscription balance refund. Advertising rates
and deadlines available upon request. Postmaster Send address change to Forsyth
County News/P.O. Box 210, Cumming, Ga. 30028.
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Miss your paper? Call 770-887-3126
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to your account. Any changes in publication will be announced in preceding issues.
Advertising Deadlines
For Sunday's paper retail and classified display ads are due by noon Thursday.
For Wednesday’s paper retail and classified display ads are due by 5 p.m. Friday.
For Thursday’s paper retail and classified display ads are due by noon Monday
For Friday’s paper retail and classified display ads are due by noon Tuesday.
Classified Line Advertising Deadlines
(Help wanted, garage sales, rentals, etc.)
For Sunday's paper classified line ads are due by noon Friday.
For Wednesday’s paper classified line ads are due by noon Monday.
For Thursday's paper classified line ads tut due by noon Tuesday
For Friday’s paper classified line ads are due by noon Wednesday.
I^gul advertising is due by Friday noon and runs only in Wednesday's paper.
Postmaster General John E.
Potter.
Campbell Soup Co. is once
again lending its support to the
drive by helping to send more
than 10 million postcards to
postal customers announcing
the food drive. Other partners
of the drive are America’s
Second Harvest, the nation’s
largest hunger relief organiza¬
tion, and the AFL-CIO.
According to America’s
Second Harvest, 23 million
people, including 9 million
children - one in 10 house¬
holds - experience hunger or
the risk of hunger.
Lynn Turner received
$101,034 from her husband’s
Metropolitan Life Insurance
policy, according to the state’s
evidence. Phone records ten¬
dered by the prosecution show
that Lynn Turner called the
insurance company to inquire
about the payout four days
after her husband died.
For Glenn Turner’s Cobb
County employee life insur¬
ance policy, Lynn Turner
received a lump sum of
$47,587.
Lynn Turner still receives
Glenn Turner’s monthly retire¬
ment pension of $788.16. For
a spouse to receive this Cobb
County employee benefit, the
deceased employee must be
married at least one year prior
to the death, have worked for
the county five years and be at
least 30 years old. Glenn
Turner was married to Lynn
Turner 18 months. He worked
for Cobb County as a police
officer for nearly a decade. He
was 31 years old at the time of
his death.
Evidence intended to prove
motive — money and a desire
to be rid of her husband — is
not enough to convict,
Turner’s defense attorney
Jimmy Berry said in an inter¬
view.
“If you just boil it down to
what do they have to prove
this case, they didn’t do an
investigation,” Berry said.
Earlier testimony presented
Wednesday showed the shal¬
lowness of Cobb County’s
investigation into the mysteri¬
ous death of Glenri Turner.
“That’s the only card
they’re playing is emotion,”
Berry said.
Yet in an investigator’s
photograph of the Turner’s
basement is a plastic bottle of
antifreeze.
That photograph of the
alleged murder weapon will
accompany the jury to the
deliberation chambers at the
end of the trial.