Newspaper Page Text
PAGE 12A
Twenty-five years ago • • •
Editor’s note: The following items
were taken from the Dec. 2. 1981, edition
of The Forsyth County News.
Gov. George Busbee was the guest of
honor at an open house dedication compa¬
ny for American BOA Corp., which had
just moved its U.S. headquarters from
New Jersey to Cumming.
During his speech, Busbee lauded
Forsyth leaders for their part in drawing
corporations like American BOA to locate
in the county.
“Decision makers locate their expand¬
ing businesses and firms where they are
most wanted and welcomed.” he said.
“Forsyth County and the surrounding area
have proven that this is that kind of place
for growing companies like American
BOA.”
The company, a manufacturer of flexi¬
ble metal hose and expansion joints, start¬
ed in Lucerne, Switzerland, 75 years pre¬
viously.
It began manufacturing in the U.S. in
1955 when its first plant opened in New
Jersey under the leadership of Walter
Eichenberger, president of the firm's U.S.
headquarters.
“A location study in the spring of 1980
pinpointed Georgia as the best place for
t '* us to move, and since that time, we have
been successful in broadening the scope
of our company in many ways,”
Eichenberger told the crowd at the dedica¬
tion ceremony.
“We have had a most happy landing in
Cumming, and we look forward to work¬
ing in the future with the beautiful people
we have found here.”
Busbee also stressed the importance of
building businesses locally.
“When 75 percent of the residents here
travel outside the city to seek employ¬
ment, it is imperative to search for compa¬
nies that have excellent potential for
growth in the local area.”
If the Forsyth County Board of
Education did not pay an overdue bill for
tap-on fees within 60 days, its water serv¬
ice would be discontinued and the Fire
Rating Bureau notified, county officials
said.
The Cumming-Forsyth County Water
Authority decided on the action at their
Dec. 1 regular meeting, citing $16,000
owed.
,i The week ahead:
»
Public meetings
Tuesday, Dec. 12
• Forsyth County Board of
Commissioners called meet¬
ing/work session, 2:30 p.m..
County Administration
Building, 110 E. Main St.,
Suite 210.
Thursday, Dec. 14
• Forsyth County Board of
Education regular meeting, 6
p.m., 1120 Dahlonega Hwy.,
Cumming.
Events
v
jr 9
Tuesday, Dec. 12
• Forsyth County Republi¬
can Party meeting, 7 p.m., in
the Kiwanis Building, 417
Pilgrim Mill Road, Cumming.
Pat Shope, director of
Whispering Hope, set to
speak.
' Senior Caregivers Forum,
•
,
• 2 p.m., Forsyth County Senior
* Center, 595 Dahlonega Hwy.,
•I Cumming. All caregivers are
invited and will discuss what it
is like to take care of someone
jnd what kinds of assistance
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“We have given them an opportunity to
pay the amount owed, and the board of
education has stated that they don't intend
to pay for the tap-on service,” said Lanier
Bannister, secretary/treasurer for the
Water Board Authority.
Schools Superintendent B.M. "Bud"
Amsler said he never had received an offi¬
cial notice of the overdue fees, and that
the board consequently took no official
action.
However, Amsler said, at a board meet¬
ing in November water authority Vice
Chairman Horace Trammell had presented
approximate numbers to the board “to
apprise them of what’s going on.”
At that meeting, school board
Chairman Edsel Orr said if the board
would permit him as chairman, he would
advise the superintendent, “Don’t pay
this. Pay the water bill, but don’t pay the
tap-on fee.”
According to Amsler, the board dis¬
cussed the matter and agreed that the fee
w'as excessively high.
“We cannot force the school to be on
our system,” Bannister said. “But if they
don’t pay for their service, we don’t have
any choice but to stop it."
A political cartoon on the Opinions
page of the paper showed the conductor of
the Vienna Boys Choir, all depicted as old
men with walkers and in wheelchairs,
whispering to someone off-stage. The cap¬
tion read, “I haven't been able to get them
to retire since Reagan cut Social Security
benefits... .”
• •
“This is a very big win for our team
and for me,” Forsyth County Lady
Bulldogs coach Doug Fields said after his
team defeated the previously unbeaten
Johnson Lady Knights 45-44 in the sea¬
son's home opener.
While the game had been as close as
the score suggests, the final seconds were
even more so.
Junior Stacey Bennett took a jump ball
and with 0:01 on the clock put up a bank¬
ing jump shot to clinch the come-from
behind victory.
The Lady Bulldogs had trailed the
entire game, ending the third quarter 8
points behind the Lady Knights. But some
hard work in the fourth quarter, and
Bennett’s last-second shot, secured the
win.
and services are needed by
individuals an families in this
area.
For more information, con¬
tact Pat Freeman at (770) 538-
2650 or pvfreeman@
dhr.state.ga.us.
Friday, Dec. 15
• BellSouth 2007 Legis¬
lative Forecast Breakfast, host¬
ed by the Cumming-Forsyth
County Chamber of Com¬
merce, 7:45 a.m., 513 W.
Maple St., Cumming.
A panel of state govern¬
ment officials will speak. The
cost is $20 for chamber mem¬
bers, $35 for non-members.
• Sawnee Ballet Theatre
presents “The Nutcracker,” 8
p.m., South Forsyth High
School Performing Arts
Center. Also performing
Saturday, Dec. 16, at 2 and 8
p.m., and Sunday, Dec. 17, at
1 and 5 p.m. Tickets are $12 in
advance and $15 at the door
and are available at the
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For more information, call
(770) 887-0756 or visit
www.sawneeballettheatre.org.
Saturday, Dec. 16
• Pet photos with Santa,
sponsored by the Forsyth
County Humane Society, 11
a.m. - 4 p.m., PetSmart, 1020
Market Place Blvd., Cum
ming.
For more information, call
(770) 886-2882 or visit
www.forsythpets.com.
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i * 'j
Winecoff Hotel tragedy
revisited 60 years later
Families local teens recall blaze
By Harris Blackwood
FCN Regional Staff
It was widely advertised
as a “fireproof’ hotel. But in
the early hours of Dec. 7,
1946. that claim was proven
wrong as a multistory fire
claimed the lives of 119 peo¬
ple at the Winecoff Hotel on
Atlanta's Peachtree Street.
Among the dead were
four Gainesville High stu¬
dents who had gone to the
city for a Tri-Hi-Y event.
High school seniors Carol
Gwen McCoy, Ella Sue
Mitchum and Suzanne
Moreno Moore, all 16, and
Frances Louise Thompson,
17, perished in the disaster.
Aubrey Morris, 85, was a
young reporter for The
Atlanta Journal when he
received a call from a fire
marshall about 2 a.m.
Morris, who went on to
become news director of
WSB radio, said the fire
stands out as the worst disas¬
ter he saw in
five decades
of reporting.
“It was the
most tragic
thing I ever
witnessed,”
said Morris,
who is retired
and living in
the new city of
Milton.
He went to
the site by taxi
and arrived to
see people
attempting to
escape on
ropes made of
bedsheets while others leapt
from windows on the upper
floors.
The Winecoff, a 16-story
hotel built in 1913, was in
the heart of downtown.
Atlanta firefighters found
themselves helpless to con
tain the blaze because their
highest apparatus reached
onl y h al 5 wa y U P the building,
one of r the CIt y s tallest at the
time -
Flossie Mitchum Attaway
Shedd, the sister of Sue
Mitchum, said the four girls
were excited as they left
Friday morning for their
weekend trip to Atlanta,
“They were filled with
anticipation for their upcom
ing conference at the State
Capitol,” Shedd wrote in an
essay to The Times. “Each
one loved life, was beautiful,
filled with laughter and each
exemplified the character
everyone respected." thinks
She said she of her
sister and the others when
she sees some of their class¬
mates. wondering how she
would look and what her
course in life might have
taken.
Hi-Y and Tri-Hi-Y, organ¬
izations of the YMCA, were
to have their state youth as¬
sembly that weekend.
The four Gainesville
women were among 30
members of the youth group
who perished in the fire.
Many were on the 11th floor
of the hotel and unable to
escape.
Flossie Shedd recalled a
story that was told of many
of the youth victims. “Sue’s
watch and ring were placed
alongside her Bible, which
was opened to John 14,” She
wrote.
John 14 is a passage that
is often read at funerals and
speaks of the comfort of
Christ and his of
It was the most
tragic thing
I ever
witnessed.
- Aubrey Morris, 85,
was a young reporter
for The Atlanta Journal
at the time of the fire
recalled being awakened by a
phone call from her sister on
the night of the fire.
“It was the first time
Suzanne had ever been away
from her parents at night, “
she said. “She was attractive
and young and I remember it
with great sorrow.”
The four would have
graduated the following May.
The,r classmates dedicat
ed the high school yearbook
in their memory and erected
a plaque as a memorial to the
girls. The plaque was moved
to the new high school,
where it is now on an
entrance wall to the ca/ete
r i a .
While there were many
deaths, some managed to
escape.
In a story published in the
Dec. 12, 1946, edition of The
Gainesville Eagle, a Gaines
ville couple, Mr. and Mrs.
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ys u
Everyone is invited to
A Christmas Musical
By The Adult Choir
“ONE OF US”
Sunday, December 10th, 2006,6PM
(Comer of Church St & Hwy 9 North.)
1/4 Miles from County Courthouse
Phone: 770-205-6699 *
a home for
believers in
Heaven.
The girls’
trip to
Atlanta was
in an era
when a ven¬
ture to the
city was a
big deal.
In a 1986
interview
with The
Times,
Ernestine
Hosch, the
aunt of Suz¬
anne Moore,
W.H. Ro¬
bertson, told
of being res¬
cued from
the burning
building.
There
were an esti¬
mated 285
guests in the
hotel at the
time of the
Morris recalled
hotel regis
t r a t i o n
records that
were being
washed
down
Peachtree
Street by the
rush of wa¬
ter used to
fight the
blaze.
required all the resources of
the Atlanta Fire Department
and responders from profes¬
sional and
volunteer
fire depart
m e n t s
around the
city.
Sam
Heys and
Allen Good¬
win, authors
of the 1993
book
"The Winecoff Fire,” con¬
tend the fire was started by a
Fayette County man seeking
revenge
a g a n s t
another man
who was
playing in
an allnight
poker game
at the Wine¬
coff.
In a 1996
interview
with The
Times, Heys said the fire is
one of those unforgettable
moments for those living at
the time.
"Most people remember
where they were when they
heard about it,” Heys said.
“This is especially true for
those in cities like Gainesville
that lost people in the fire.
He said some good came
from the blaze.
“After the Winecoff disas¬
ter, fire regulations changed
throughout America. That is
something that the relatives
of victims take solace in,"
Heys said.
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