Newspaper Page Text
Forsvth C OUIltVNCWS
Vol. 99, No. 91
Down the drain
When toilets flush and
faucets turn off, wastewater
has got to flow somewhere.
For an in-depth look at how
Cumming’s new
reclamation facility makes
dirty drain water clean
m enough for fish to
4 flourish,
■a sm m
■i ^see photos
paining
iA.
T*' -
!&>
Photo/Jennifer Sami
John Heard, director of Cumming Utilities,
talks with Mary Ann Miles, on Thursday out¬
side the new wastewater plant.
Board eyes
tax increase
Hike would help cover
$13M budget shortfall
By Jennifer Sami
Staff Writer
Forsyth County
homeowners likely will
see their property taxes
rise to cover a projected
$13 million deficit in the
school system’s 2008-09
budget.
A millage rate
increase is one of few
options left for the school
district, which has
already slashed spending
by about $6 million in its
$270 million budget.
While an exact figure
has not been determined,
board member Ann Crow
said the difference likely
would be made up from a
combination of raising
the millage rate and tap¬
ping into the school sys¬
tem’s financial reserves.
To completely offset
the difference through
property tax, the current
millage rate of 14.4 mills
would need to increase
Deputy Brandon
Moore leads
Sherman
around the cor¬
ral as he gets
ready to perform
some condition¬
ing work with
the horse.
Moore and
Sherman will
soon be
patrolling shop¬
ping centers and
parks together.
Photo/Jim Dean
Missed paper policy:
For a replacement paper, call
8:30 a.m. -1:00 p.m. Wednesday,
Thursday, Friday, and Sunday
( 770 ) 887 - 3126 .
Copyright © 2007 Forsyth County News
o r
Your "Hometown Paper" Since
SUNDAY June 8, 2008
■Hi ■ m wmmmmmm
about 2 mills, which
Crow said is not an
option.
“We’re definitely not
going to raise it 2 mills at
all,” she said.
One mill equals $1 for
each $1,000 in assessed
property value. With a 1
mill increase, a property
tax bill would increase
$100 for each $100,000
in property value.
School officials have
attributed the deficit to
several factors, among
them a sluggish economy,
less growth in the tax
digest and rising fuel
costs.
The board’s next
meeting is set for
Thursday. By that time,
Crow said, officials likely
will have an exact break¬
down of the tax digest
growth from the county,
as well as a more definite
See BOE, Page 2A
i j
>.v>J
'
- V.
i&MJ
INDEX
Abby............. IB
Births............ 4B
Classifieds.. 2C
Deaths......... 2A
Forsyth Life IB
Horoscope. IB
Opinion....... 12A
Sports........... 1C
Fresh from the farm
•.fe •' <f‘ TJ
I *
-\P\
p ;
i
■
A *
>
'V
• W u ■ **’
r •**1 ' V *.• -
.
k U - ,
A: i
Photo/Jim Dean
Perched high atop a ladder, Matthew Bottoms picks cherries grown on the farm his family operates in north Forsyth.
Summer tradition continues
when produce market opens
By Ben Holcombe
Associate Editor
Homegrown just about
beats all.
Homegrown had to beat all
three-quarters of a century ago
when Waymon Tate’s father set
him to plowing his own mule,
Edsel Orr
surveys his
tomato patch
earlier this
week. Orr
and many
other grow¬
ers are get¬
ting their
produce
ready for the
Wednesday
opening of
the Forsyth
County
Farmers’
Market.
Local
Court battle
brewing over
Bethel Park.
Page 4A
back when homegrown was all
there was.
And Tate, the 85-year-old
manager of the Forsyth County
Farmers’ Market, thinks home¬
grown still beats all.
Though there’s no shortage
of "drive-thru chicken biscuits
and sloppy, slung-together
v.v.,*
Sheriff’s office saddles
Belgian crossbreed is most recent
addition to local mounted patrol ’
By Julie Arrington
Staff Writer
At 1,300 pounds and 17
hands high, Sherman is fit for
law enforcement of an equestri¬
an kind.
The 5-year-old thorough¬
bred Belgian crossbreed is one
j of two recent additions to the
Sis i
mm
Coaching award,
sport bind
two generations.
Page 1C
sandwiches available aside
nearly any piece of pavement
these days, one slab of local
asphalt is reserved through the
summer for produce grown in
ground red as ripe tomatoes.
“People like homegrown
fresh groceries,” Tate said.
The farmers' market opens
this week at the Cumming
Fairgrounds, running Wed¬
nesdays and Saturdays tlirough
September.
After a lifetime of growing
Forsyth County Sheriff’s Office
Mounted Patrol Unit.
Sherman, who was donated
to the sheriff’s office in March,
is one of three horses in the
unit.
Patton, a 10-year-old of the
same kind, joined the force
about a month ago. He’s a little
taller than Sherman and about
Sunny LAKE LANIER LEVELS
Date Level
June 2 1057.68 ft
June 3 1057.64 ft
June 4 1057.63 ft
June 5 1057.60 ft
Full 1071.00 ft
High in the mid-90s.
Low in the low 70s.
LIFE, IB
Writers series brought bards, storytelling
vegetables for other people’s
tables, Tate took this season of
planting, hoeing and picking
off. But he plans to be out at the
7 a.m. opening of the market
Wednesday anyway.
“I like to meet people,” he
said.
The market’s suggested
price list reads like a rundown
of a‘Southern grandmother’s
summer Sunday supper spread:
Tomatoes, squash, new pota¬
toes, peas, green beans, butter
beans, okra.
Edsel Orr, 79, a farmer and
the market president, likely will
See MARKET, Page 2A
At a glance
The Forsyth County
Farmers’ Market opens
at 7 a.m. Wednesday
in the Cumming
Fairgrounds parking lot,
235 Castleberry Road.
The market schedule is
from 7 a.m. until vendors
sell out, Wednesdays and
Saturdays through Sept.
13. For more
information contact the
fairgrounds
(770) 781-3491.
100 pounds heavier.
Mic, the unit’s 15-year-old
quarter horse, has been with the
sheriff’s office since 2002. He’s
about 15.5 hands tall and
weighs 800 pounds.
Forsyth County Sheriff Ted
Paxton said horses can go
places that are difficult for
human feet or an all-terrain
vehicle. He said they have typi¬
cally been used in the summer
for patrolling lakeside parks and
See HORSE, Page 2A