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Vol. 96, No. 187
Lawsuit against dismissed
By Stephen Gurr
Staff Writer
GAINESVILLE — A federal
judge has dismissed a lawsuit
against Forsyth County Magistrate
Judge Barbara Cole that accused
her of abusing her power in a court
dispute over child support pay
ments.
Daves Creek
pilots visitor
screening
program
By Crystal Ledford
Staff Writer
Registered sex offenders won’t be easily enter¬
ing one Forsyth County School anytime soon.
Daves Creek Elementary recently implemented
a new computer program that allows an almost
instant check of visitors to the school in order to
verify they are not on federal and state sex offender
lists.
Through the program, offered by a software
company called Raptor, office personnel use to a
pin number to access the program. When a visitor
comes into the school, the office personnel ask to
see that visitor’s driver’s license. A quick scan of
the license, compares the person’s identity with the
sex offender lists as well as information entered by
the school in cases of custody disputes.
The scan also copies the photo on the driver’s
license and transfers the photo to a sticky visitor’s
badge that is then given to the visitor to allow
access to the school. Visitors are only given access
to the school if they are cleared from the sex
offender list or in a custody dispute.
“The safety of our kids is essential,” said
Principal Katherine Carpenter, as to why the school
wanted to purchase the program. “This is good not
only to check and see if someone’s on the sex
offender list, but it’s good to verify that people
coming into our school really are who they say they
are.”
Carpenter said the Raptor program, which cost a
little over $1,000, was chosen after members of the
Daves Creek Local School Council and other par¬
ents brought up safety concerns.
“The LSC conducted a parent survey in which
parents were asked to name their top two concerns
about our school,” explained Carpenter. “The num¬
ber one concern was just making sure our 1,300
plus kids are safe everyday.”
From that point, the LSC researched what could
be done to help elevate that concern.
“We heard about this type of screening of visi¬
tors and thought it would be the best thing,” said
Carpenter.
See SCHOOL, Page 2A
Photo/Sam Freeman
Choral director Van McCollum leads a class in a song recently at Otwell
Middle School.
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FRIDAY November 25, 2005
Cole had rules
William O’Kelley, senior judge
for the U.S. District Court for the
Northern District of Georgia, wrote
in a Nov. 18 order that Cole had
judicial immunity from a complaint
filed in July by George Mecerou.
According to court documents,
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Photo/Ron Logan
Christi Phillips, Daves Creek Elementary School fourth-grade Horizons teacher, prepares students for making robots
out of Lego toys Monday afternoon.
Next generation scientists
Students at Daves Creek Elementary studying robotics,
oceanography in hopes of winning Lego competition
By Crystal Ledford
Staff Writer
Water and robotics aren’t
two things that most people
would associate together. But,
students at Daves Creek
Elementary are combining the
two in hopes of winning
awards.
Fourth graders in Christi
Phillips’ Horizons program are
studying oceanography and
robotics in order to enter the
Cole presided over an October 2004
arrest warrant application hearing
requested by Mecerod’s former
wife, Deborah Mecerod, and her
lawyer, Tara Reese-Beisbier.
George Mecerod alleged in court
filings that despite giving his ex-
Junior FirstLego League’s
Ocean Odyssey Challenge on
Jan. 14 at Georgia Tech.
The Junior FirstLego
League is an international pro¬
gram that uses Legos to
encourage elementary age stu¬
dents to learn about fields such
as engineering and robotics.
Phillips said her students
have been focusing on
oceanography during this
school year and the robotics
competition was therefore a
Otwell Middle choral teacher
to direct
By Crystal Ledford
Staff Writer
Van McCollum spends his
days teaching middle school stu¬
dents to sing. He’s hoping to start
spending some evenings helping
adults with the same craft.
McCollum, choral director at
Otwell Middle School, was
recently chosen to serve as direc¬
tor of The Cumming Playhouse
Singers — a community choral
group that is currently being
formed.
McCollum and Cumming
Playhouse personnel are current¬
ly accepting applications from
community members who might
like to be a part of the group.
o\J V^OIltS
wife a check for $5,000 to clear up
a child support debt, she asked the
magistrate judge to issue an arrest
warrant against him for child aban
donment.
“The seeking of this criminal
warrant ... was an improper attempt
perfect fit.
“Students will be working
with Legos to build and pro¬
gram computers to perform
simple tasks (for the competi¬
tion),” said Phillips. “They
will build their own imaginary
sea creatures and a robot that
will be able to move along a
given path.”
Phillips said that while the
creatures students will create
are imaginary, they will still
have to conduct research in
ft
Due to some size constraints ... around 35 to
40 people would make a nice sized group.
- New Cumming Playhouse Singers
director Van McCollum
99
Auditions for the group will
be held on the evenings of Jan. 9
and 10 from 6-8 p.m. at the
Playhouse.
“People can go ahead and fill
out an application and we’ll call
them to schedule an appointment
on one of those evenings, or they
can just come by on those
nights,” said McCollum. “But if
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SPORTS, IB
Dawgs edge Raiders at home
to use the criminal process to col¬
lect a civil debt,” according to
Mecerod’s complaint, which also
named Deborah Mecerod and
Reese-Beisbier as defendants,
The lawsuit stated that Cole
“acted in complete absence of all
authority when she ordered her
See COLE, Page 2A
order to be knowledgeable
about the ocean environment.
“The students not only have
to design and build the sea
creature, they also have to
present a detailed report about
the sea creature including what
part of the ocean it will live in,
what sorts of things it will eat
and what impact the creature
will have on the existing ocean
See STUDENTS, Page 2A
they just come by, they may have
to wait a while to audition.”
All parts — soprano, alto,
tenor and bass — are being
sought and McCollum said the
Playhouse Singers will be open
to more than just professional or
extensively trained singers,
See DIRECT, Page 2A