Newspaper Page Text
PAGE 2A
Movie benefits mitochondrial disease research
From staff reports
Guitars, chipmunks and
helping kids overcome disease
— about all that’s missing from
Saturday’s “Movie Night for
Mito” is a cool, dry weather fore¬
cast.
Organized by the United
Mitochondrial Disease
Foundation and the Mancuso
family, the event starts at 5 p.m. in
Joint Venture Park at Daves
Creek.
It features games, crafts,
activities, food, raffles, more than
100 door prizes, silent auction,
PARK from 1A
The county proposed to
run Bethel Park as a 75-site
campground with a day-use
area open to the general
public.
The YMCA’s $20 million
plan includes residential
cabins, a marina, sports
fields, dining hall, amphithe¬
ater, chapel, outdoor pool
and a number of administra¬
tive and support buildings.
The corps published
drafts of both the county and
YMCA proposals in January
and invited the public to
comment.
“We had far more favor¬
able responses from the
YMCA than from propo¬
nents that did not want (the
YMCA to have it),” said
Lisa Coghlan, spokeswoman
for the corps’ district office
in Mobile, Ala.
She added that the
YMCA had followed all of
the corps’ requirements,
including conducting an
environmental impact study,
and the corps could find no
reason to refuse the YMCA’s
proposal.
“Theirs was in the best
interest of the public,” she
said.
In a statement explaining
the corps’ decision, public
affairs officer Patrick
Robbins said the corps’
evaluation team “felt the
YMCA’s proposal ranked
significantly higher in
three of the evaluated areas
... public interest, market
study and feasibility.”
A representative for the
YMCA could not be
reached for comment
Wednesday night.
Ward said there was no
mystery as to why there
were more letters support¬
ing the YMCA’s plan.
“They got members to
send in comments who had
never even been to the
park,” he said. “There were
(form letters) on the front
counter of every YMCA
branch in Atlanta.”
To compensate for giv¬
ing Bethel to the YMCA,
the corps has proposed
HEAT from 1A
>
because he said he didn't feel
it was safe to swim in Lake
Lanier.
“All these trees and stumps
are sticking out of the water,”
Hite said. “It doesn’t look too
safe to me.”
Despite levels about 14
feet below full pool, some
folks ventured to the lake and
found a decent swimming spot
anyway.
Deaths
David Wayne Aberegg
David Wayne Aberegg, 59,
of Cumming, passed away
May 31, 2008.
Byars Funeral Home and
Cremation Services is in
charge of arrangements.
Forsyth County News
June 6, 2008
James Songer
Mr. James Songer, age 63,
of Cumming passed away
Tuesday, June 3, 2008.
Ingram Funeral Home and
Crematory is in charge of
arrangements.
Forsyth County News
June 6. 2008
FORSYTH COUNTY NEWS — Friday, June 6,2008
Guitar Hero
competition
and an outdoor
showing of
“Alvin and the
Chipmunks”
at 9 p.m.
“We’re just
trying to raise
awareness
because most
people have
never heard of mitochondrial dis¬
ease,” said Nadine Mancuso,
whose 21-month-old daughter
Samanatha died after a prolonged
enhancing amenities at
another nearby corps prop¬
erty, Two-Mile Park.
“That will only make
things worse,” Ward said.
“The YMCA camp would
increase traffic immensely
on Bethel Road, which is
not designed to handle it.
And if you had more peo¬
ple going to Two-Mile
Park, that would also
increase traffic at the other
end of Bethel Road.”
Aside from traffic and
noise, Ward feels the
YMCA camp would take
away a recreational oppor¬
tunity from local residents
and would not contribute
to the county’s tax rev¬
enue.
“It’s going to be a pri¬
vate park, not open to the
public,” he said. “It brings
no business to the county,
because people will come
up from Atlanta, drop off
their kids and go home. If
it were a campground, peo¬
ple would stay and spend
money at local stores.”
Charles Laughinghouse,
chairman of the county
commission, said he was
surprised at the corps’ deci¬
sion.
“We kind of thought the
corps would want to play it
smart and not step into that
hornet’s nest,” he said. “No
matter which side they
awarded it to, there’s the
potential for legal action
from the other side.”
Laughinghouse said he
may call an executive ses¬
sion at the commission’s
next meeting on Tuesday to
discuss the possibility of
legal action on the Bethel
Park decision.
County Commissioner
David Richard, whose dis¬
trict includes the Bethel
Park area, hopes the board
pursues legal action.
“We want to get the
corps to follow their own
federal guidelines,” he
said.
Staff Writer Frank
Reddy contributed to this
report.
Michael Hunt anchored his
pontoon boat near the ramp at
yann’s Tavern Park, where he
and several friends took turns
diving off the side.
“There’s not a whole lot of
good places to swim,” Hunt
said. "We had to get out on the
lake today, though. It was
hot.
Kent McMullen, a meteor
ologist with the National
Linda J. Trimble
Linda J. Trimble, 60, of
Mesa, Ariz., passed away June
3 2008 ‘'Byars
Funeral Home and
Cremation Services is in
charge of arrangements.
Forsyth County News
June 6, 2008
LOOK
FOR
OBITUARIES
ON 2A 1.&
•
W
Mancuso
Woman sentenced in DUI wreck
Injured boyfriend’s testimony key to plea deal that avoids jail time
By Julie Arrington
Staff Writer
A Dawsonville woman
received a suspended two
year prison sentence
Wednesday and eight years
probation for a 2006 alcohol
related wreck that injured her
boyfriend.
Alma Munoz, 27, of 149
Box Car Way, waived her
right to a trial and pleaded
guilty in Forsyth County
Superior Court to one count
of serious injury by vehicle.
Munoz had also been
charged with an additional
count of serious injury by
vehicle and two counts of
driving under the influence of
alcohol. Her sentence was
part of a negotiated plea.
The wreck, which
occurred June 10, 2006,
injured her boyfriend,
Jonathan Ashley, who spoke
on her behalf Wednesday.
Munoz explained to
Superior Court Judge Jeffrey
S. Bagley that she and Ashley
had been drinking alcohol
aboard a boat on Lake Lanier
before the wreck.
Ashley held Munoz’s hand
while he spoke to Bagley. He
said he felt partly responsible
for what was happening to
Munoz.
Ashley told the judge he
and his family forgive Munoz
and tearfully asked Bagley for
UNITY from 1A
is final, that there’s one candi¬
date for the Democratic Party
now,” she said.
Vergilio Perez-Pascoe orig¬
inally supported New Mexico
Gov. Bill Richardson’s bid for
the Democratic nomination,
then sided with Clinton
because of her policies, which
he found “more clear ... more
detailed.”
I thought that Obama was
struggle with the disease in 2004.
“After she passed away, I
started volunteering, just trying to
make her life have a purpose, so
what she went through wasn’t in
vain.”
Proceeds from the event will
benefit mitochondrial disease
research, Mancuso said.
Mitochondrial disease, for
which there is little treatment and
no known cure, affects the body’s
ability to turn food into energy.
Most children stricken with the
disease do not survive beyond
their teenage years, according to
Weather Service in Peachtree
City, said the forecast calls for
more of the same in the days
ahead — sunny and hot.
Saturday’s high is expected
to hit 91 with an overnight low
in the 70s. Those marks,
McMullen said, are normal for
this time of year,
The heat Wednesday was
an issue for Karla Alvarez and
her son, Andres, both of
TAX from IA
he wrote in the e-mail.
In Apri1 ’ Stone sided with
the city in its lawsuit against the
county, dismissing the Feb. 5
sales tax referendum on the
^ ounds th f il de P dv ed th e cit y
°. usin § ^ population-based f u
j^ re ° t ie revenue as 11
He gave both sides time to
negotiate a compromise before
his decision would take effect.
Officials have spent the past
month negotiating a compro¬
mise that would preserve the
sixth round of the Special
Purpose Local Option Sales
Tax, or SPLOST VI.
The deal, which the city and
the county signed last week,
was necessary to avoid a costly
gap in tax collections.
The sales tax, which could
bring in as much as $275 mil¬
lion over five years, will take
information on the foundation’s
Web site.
A range of ticket options is
available for the evening’s activi¬
ties and raffle. Guitar Hero
entries are $2 for one play or $5
for three, with the top two finish¬
ers battling it out on the big
screen after the movie. Tickets
for the movie are $ 10 per fami
iy
No glass containers, alcohol
or pets are permitted.
Organizers also will be sup¬
porting Children’s Healthcare
of Atlanta by collecting new
t
jj
Munoz
life around, helped him stop
drinking and got him going to
church again.
Munoz said that on the day
of the wreck Ashley got sick
on the boat and asked her to
take him home.
“On the way to the house,
which was about a mile away,
I lost control of the vehicle
and ended up hitting a tree on
his side of the vehicle,” she
said. “He ended up having a
head injury.”
The wreck occurred on
Peachtree Road, not far from
Bald Ridge Marina.
Munoz said she had two
beers and two shots of liquor
throughout the day.
Sandy Partridge, chief
assistant district attorney for
Forsyth County, said Munoz’s
blood alcohol level registered
.18 after the wreck. The state
legal limit is 0.08.
Partridge said the wreck
occurred about 7 p.m., when
Munoz overcorrected and ran
off the road.
a very good speaker and
brought people in, but didn’t
seem to have an awful lot of
depth, I thought, at least in the
policy area,” Perez-Pascoe
said.
Still, he was disappointed
in Clinton’s speech Tuesday.
“In my mind, she was
thinking more of herself and
of her legacy rather than the
Democratic Party winning in
Gainesville, who waded into
the water at Vann’s Tavern
Park.
Mother and son came out
to the park because their air
conditioner was on the fritz.
“We came here yesterday
too,” Andres said. “It’s a nice
way to get cooled down, and
it’s free.”
E-mail Frank Reddy at
frankreddy@forsythnews.com.
effect as scheduled on July 1.
All five members of the city
council and four of the county’s
five commissioners approved
the agreement. Forsyth
County Commissioner David
Richard was the lone dissent¬
ing vote.
In total, the city will now
receive more than $24 million,
with the majority of the addi¬
tional $12.5 million coming
from the county’s recently
approved $ 100 million bond for
parks, recreation and green
space.
The bond money is in addi¬
tion to the $11.7 million the city
will receive from the 1-cent
sales tax. That money, as out¬
lined in the referendum voters
approved, can be used only for
a municipal parking deck.
E-mail Jennifer Sami at jen
nifersami @forsythnews. com.
mercy.
I just
want to get
on with my
life with her
and our life
together,” he
said.
Ashley
said that
Munoz
turned his
At a glance
What: “Movie Night for Mito,” in memory of Samantha
Ashley Mancuso and in honor of all affected by mito¬
chondrial disorders
When: Events at 5 p.m., movie at 9 p.m. Saturday
Where: Joint Venture Park at Dave’s Creek, 3660
Melody Mizer Lane, Cumming
Information: Contact Nadine Mancuso (678) 518-
2110 or go online at www.movienightformito.com.
coloring books and boxes of
crayons.
The foundation has two
other events planned for later in
She said authorities found
Munoz’s Toyota Celica up
against a tree. Ashley was
trapped in the vehicle. He was
flown to a hospital and under¬
went surgery for injuries to
his face.
Munoz had gotten out of
the car and refused treatment,
Partridge said, adding that
officers smelled a strong odor
of alcohol on her breath.
“They were both drinking
that day,” Partridge said.
Munoz’s attorney, Rob
Leonard, said she has been
sober since May 6, 2007, and
that she has reprioritized her
life and become active in her
church since the wreck.
Partridge said she would
have recommended a five
year sentence had Ashley not
asked for leniency. She
reminded him that the state
was also a victim.
“It could have been some¬
one else,” Partridge said. “It
could have been someone
who had nothing to do with
it.
Bagley said that just as
easily as Munoz left the road
and hit a tree, she could have
crossed the center line, hit and
killed someone.
“This is a crime with a
magnitude that deserves some
retribution, some punishment,
it must be meted out,” he said.
Bagley also noted the fact
that the wreck occurred two
November,” he said.
Marilyn Beverly said she
and her husband at first each
favored other candidates,
before backing Obama, who
she called “an exceptional
young man.”
“I think that coming from
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r
the year: a concert Sept. 27 in
Alpharetta and a golf tourna¬
ment Oct. 6 at the Standard
Club in Duluth.
years ago and by her own
admission, Munoz didn’t stop
drinking until one year ago.
He said the fact she con¬
tinued drinking tells him that
she could have “a serious
drinking problem that needs
to be addressed for the safety
of not only you and your
friends but the innocent peo¬
ple who are motorists on the
roadway.”
Munoz’s sentence includes
a $2,000 fine and 132 hours
of community service. Bagley
also ordered her to spend 150
hours talking to teenagers
about her drinking and driv
ing.
Partridge said Munoz’s
criminal history includes a
misdemeanor theft qharge in
1999 and a driving under the
influence charge in 2004.
As a condition of her sen
tencing, Munoz’s two-year
sentence will be suspended
after she completes a residen¬
tial substance abuse program
at Lee Arrendale State Prison
in Alto.
Once she has been
released from the program,
Munoz will be under at least
six months of supervised pro¬
bation.
The maximum sentence
for serious injury by vehicle is
15 years in prison.
E-mail Julie Arrington at
juliearrington@forsythnews
.com
that glass ceiling era, I would
have much rather have had
|Clinton] gracefully bow out
... but I think Obama is han
dling it with a lot of class.”
E-mail Jennifer Sami at
jennifersami@forsythnews
.com.