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Forsyth J Your "Hometown County Paper" Since 1908 XT
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Vol. 96, No. 190
Planning Commission approves Wal-Mart
ByToddTruelove
Staff Writer
The Forsyth County Planning
Commission on Tuesday unani
mously approved a sketch plat for a
new Wal-Mart in south Forsyth,
paving the way for the company to
construct a supercenter near the
intersection of Hwy. 9 and
A stroke of holiday genius
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Photo/Sam Freeman
Decorative painter Stefanie Fox paints the front windows of the Country Gourmet Cafe, located on the square in Cumming, for
the holidays recently.
Grant will help build recycling center
Northern Forsyth to benefit from $35,000 covered container at Coal Mountain
By Nancy Smallwood
Associate Editor
A $20,000 grant from the Georgia
Department of Community Affairs will help
residents in northern Forsyth County to recycle.
State Senators Bill Stephens (R-Canton) and
Chip Pearson (R-Dawsonville), whose districts
include Forsyth County, made the award
announcement Tuesday. The funding will go
toward the purchase of a $35,000 covered con-
Forsyth resident brings encouragement
to young females with Girls on the Run
Nonprofit organization aims to bolster self-respect
By Jennifer Sami
Staff Writer
Cathie Brugnoli wants to encour¬
age Forsyth County girls to step out¬
side what she calls the “girl box,” and
explore the many opportunities to
develop their own individuality.
“Some girls get into this notion
that they are who they hang out with
and wha] they wear, rather than who
their spirit is,” said Brugnoli. “That’s
our mission, to have girls find their
own spirit.”
With that mission in mind,
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Copyright S 2005 Forsyth County News
THURSDAY December 1, 2005
Commerce Boulevard — just
of McFarland Road.
Wal-Mart representatives
consultants conducted a meeting
early November at Lanier Tech
its plans to build the new
which they said was designed with
proposed new local big-box
nance in mind,
Though no one opposed the
tainer to store recyclable items at Coal
Mountain Park.
Forsyth County Public Information Specialist
Jodi Gardner said the county would contribute
$15,000 to complete the purchase for the recy¬
cling dropoff center.
“It will be a 30-yard covered container to
house plastic, aluminum, glass and phone
books,” said Gardner.
The county also has applied for other grants
to help fund additional containers for the Coal
Brugnoli began the Forsyth County
chapter of Girls on the Run, a non¬
profit organization designed to teach
life lessons to third through eighth
grade girls. The program was original¬
ly founded by Molly Barker in
Charlotte, N.C., in 1996 and has since
expanded to 117 branches through the
United States and Canada.
The mission statement is to edu¬
cate and prepare girls for a lifetime of
self-respect and healthy living. By
encouraging a positive emotional,
social, mental, spiritual and physical
development, the organization hopes
INDEX Local Sports
Abby Classifieds 3B
4B Butch Evans PCS
Deaths.______ 2A to rivalry
Horoscope ,3B rock Playhouse games end
Kids Page-------------------------- .8A New Year’s Eve. with split
Opinion 7A Page 3A
Sports 6B
facility at that meeting, there were
three who spoke against it during
the planning commission’s public
hearings Tuesday.
One of the opposers, Holly Hart,
pointed out that the county has not
yet adopted the big-box ordinance
that would govern the construction
of large-scale retail businesses.
“We are a community that is not
Mountain Park recycling center. Stephens said
the grant should aid the community in better
waste practices.
“The governor and Community Affairs
Commissioner Mike Beatty have been very
good to Forsyth County over the years, and we
are pleased to have the money to purchase this
new piece of equipment that should prove to be
very beneficial to our community,” Stephens
See GRANT, Page 2A
to reduce at-risk activities among par¬
ticipating girls.
The organization is set up as an
after-school program, twice a week
for 12 weeks. At the end of the 12
■ weeks, the girls run together in a 5K
race.
“They can run, skip, hop, or jump,
as long as they’re active, we don’t
care. There are no winners or losers,
we’re just running with one another
and supporting one another,” said
Brugnoli. “Everything we do and the
lessons that we teach are all warm-ups
or games geared toward the running or
being active. They can find out how
See GIRLS, Page 2A
ready,” said Hart.
Commissioners and county staff
have revised the ordinance numer¬
ous times trying to reach a compro¬
mise between the rules and retailers.
The ordinance is to undergo another
public hearing tonight during the
board of commissioners’ meeting
which begins at 5 p.m. in the county
administration building.
Election
machine
upgrades
presented
ByToddTruelove
Staff Writer
Representatives from the
of State’s office on Tuesday made
presentation before the Forsyth
Board of Commissioners on
to election machines with
that if the county does not approve
upgrades, court cases may follow.
Kathy Rogers, Georgia’s director
elections, told the board that it
important for all counties to use a
form system and that to not do so
outside of the intent of new
for elections.
It’s been several years since
counties in Georgia began using
standard electronic voting machines.
Rogers said the state would
Forsyth County with 63 of
enhanced machines.
She said the ExpressPolls
ensure voters within precincts vote
the correct ballot and that the
could verify a voter’s registration
accessing a state database and
ing the person with all 4.8 million
istered voters statewide.
“Those are two features of this
tem that we think are unique,” she said.
However, the Forsyth
Elections Office has already added
tops to quicken the voting process
readily identifying registered voters
county precincts through an
database.
The county’s. Chief Voter
Gary J. Smith has said the local
is similar system to the state’s proposal.
Assistant Secretary of State
Meadows told commissioners
state’s voting system would
undergoing upgrades.
“We want to make sure we
See STATE, Page
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*****
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Photo/Sam
From left, Girls on the Run Forsyth Chapter future
Andrea Brugnoli, Taylor Krsul, Molly Hanusek, Director
Brugnoli, Kayla Brugnoli, Sydney Scott, Grace Brennen,
Sherri Hanusek and Abby Hollis stand with their welcoming
banner in the Shakerag Shopping Center Tuesday afternoon.
Sunny LAKE LANIER LEVELS
Date Level
Nov. 26 1069.14 ft
Nov. 27 1069.14 ft
HP Nov. 28 1069*12 ft
f Wpv. 29 1069.22 ft
m 1071
High in the mid-50s. «GS5SI
Low in the high-30s.
BUSINESS, 1B
Retailers make changes for holidays
However, Wal-Mart legal
Amy Hillman said the new
square-foot supercenter
designed to comply with the
posed new ordinance even
commissioners have not adopted it.
“We met with [county] staff
consulted with them before
See WAL-MART, Page