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Forsyth J "Hometown Count Your Since 190' ***##***’ \7 Kb li M***************™ V31/HB20 NT .p.fttc **¥:¥ML AT',!' a m 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. Missed paper policy: For a replacetnent paper, call INDEX Sunny 8:30 Thursday, am -1:00 p.m. and Wednesday, Food Religion LAKE LANIER LEVEIS Friday, Sunday Abby \ (770) 887-3126. __________15B J Date Level Copyright © 2005 Forsyth County Nows Church events .......7B Great ideas the what’s «C Nov, 20 1069.05 ft Classifieds.. JOB to get See Nov. 21 1069.14 ft Deaths._______ 2A most out of happening in r pipr Food__________ 6B turkey day leftovers. local churches. j i N/A i ft.; Horoscope 15B vim " 1 Opinion Page 6B Page7B iiP BDKR 15A High in the high 50s. 90994 0400 Sports IB Low in the low 40s. 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, Ur O, ■ 1 m 7 Y I T £ i 8 .... m i '.A I A ~-' v ! r .1 I j - ... ■ •V', ■ - m ',0g£j ■ .*■ * /*) \ ( m ;v ii... fey m f. mmB *?- £•; V ... — __ 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 V v > > * 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