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Forsyth Your "Hometown CountvNews J Paper" Since 19
Vol. 99, No. 125
evh?1 #counts
ELECTION RESULTS
The results of
Tuesday’s election were
not complete for this
edition. For full cover¬
age of the two local
races in the runoff,
including results and
reaction, go online at
forsythnews.com.
forsythnews-com / P oworwd ay ronytti Count** mol matte nows mm
Guard sets up shop in Forsyth
.
Units will use former drug store for five years
By Julie Arrington
Staff Writer
After months of specula¬
tion, the Georgia Army
National Guard is coming to
town.
A former pharmacy on
Canton Highway, across
from the Forsyth County
Health Department, is being
renovated for use as an
armory.
Maj. Alice Smith, who
will supervise the Cumming
site, said it will house the
Guard’s 420th Signal
Company and the 348th
Brigade Support Battalion.
The state leased the
19,000-square-foot facility,
once a CVS, on July 1 on
the Guard’s behalf from
retired pharmacist Lamar
Orr.
Orr said he’s excited the
Guard is moving into the
facility and he’s doing what
he can to help with the site
modifications, which
include extra bathrooms,
multiple shower units and
Heather Roth
receives a
hug from
Otwell Middle
School
Principal
Steve Miller
after learning
she was
named the
Georgia
Middle
School
Counselor of
the Year.
Photo/Jim Dean
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Copyright © 2007 Forsyth County News
WEDNESDAY August 6,200 9
Alligator sighting adds to lake lore
DNR official says small reptile nothing to fear
By Frank Reddy
Staff Writer
Recent reports of an alligator
in Lake Lanier have at least one
Forsyth County angler on guard.
Jesse Edwards said he hoped
the 3-foot-long alligator spotted
recently near Flat Creek didn't
take a liking to Nightcrawlers.
.. If I catch that alligator, I’m
/
&
I -• ■ J
Li.
Inside the armory, Maj. Alice Smith, center, watches
Spc. Ashley Hempstead, left, and Sgt. 1st Class
Denise Mitchell work.
additional parking.
Smith said the Guard
will use the site for about
five years until a more per-
l jA
'
mm
INDEX Local Opinion Sunny LAKE LANIER LEVELS
Abby .21B Date Level
Classifieds.. 19B Braselton-based Columnist Bill Shipp Aug, I 1055.11 ft
Deaths........ 2A Aug. 2 1055.04 ft
Events_________ 6A bank plans to aquire returns to his Aug. 3 1054.99 ft
Horoscope 21B Jefferson State. weekly column. Aug. 4 1054.91 ft
Legals---------- __________3B Page 3 A PageSA Full 1071.00 ft
Opinion...... 8A High Low in in the the mid-90s. low 70s.
Sports_________ IB
cutting the line,” said Edwards as
he perched on a rock with his fish¬
ing pole at Vann’s Tavern Park. “I
ain’t messing with an alligator. • l
Edwards, 55, went fishing with
buddy Scott Cowart on Monday
afternoon.
Both men said they had heard
about the alligator sighting in the
Flat Creek area, which is in west¬
ern Hall County, across the lake
manent location is finished
on property the city of
Cumming owns on Pilgrim
Mill Road.
Otwell counselor named tops in state
By Lara Moore
Staff Writer
For Otwell Middle School’s
Heather Roth, work means
changing the perception of coun¬
selors and motivating preteens.
“We’re trying to prove (to
state legislators) that... we have
had a hand in helping students,”
said Roth, noting that counselors
can sometimes take the brunt of
state budget cuts.
We are here and we are
and a couple miles to the north¬
east of Vann’s Tavern.
Cowart blamed global warm¬
ing for the alligator’s presence.
“You think it’s not real, there’s
your proof,” he said. “The alliga¬
tors are migrating. Those things
are moving north.”
On the contrary, said Ken
See GATOR, Page 3A
Complete with a
skylight in the
center, a former
pharmacy off
Canton Highway
will soon provide
training space
for the National
Guard in
Cumming.
Photos/Jim Dean
That facility, she
explained, will be a more
“traditional armory” with
room for parking military
vehicles and for training.
i Basically, an armory is
a military facility that we
use for training for basically
(inactive duty training) peri¬
ods which are drill week¬
ends,” she said.
Most of the traditional
soldiers come those week¬
ends and we use the build¬
ing for all of our administra¬
tive needs and some train¬
ing. It just depends on what
the building lends itself to. ,.
Once finished, the for¬
mer pharmacy building on
Canton Highway (Hwy. 20)
will include offices, class¬
rooms, an Internet cafe for
soldiers and a vault for
indoor weapons storage.
About 12 full-time staff
members will work in the
facility, Smith said.
She said the Guard has
been using the Pine Valley
See GUARD, Page 3A
Roth ‘surprised’ to learn of honor
helping all students, not just
ones that have problems.”
Roth’s work has not gone
unnoticed. On Monday, she
learned that she had been named
Georgia’s Middle School
Counselor of the Year,
It’s actually surprising con
sidering this is only my fifth
year of counseling,” Roth said.
Steve Miller, the new principal
INSIDE, 2A
_ -4_i
Photo/Submitted
A 3-foot alligator was recently spotted under a
dock on Lake Lanier.
Center ready for
new baby boom
Hospital’s facility expected to
handle 2,000 deliveries a year
By Jennifer Sami
'
Staff Writer
If the projections hold true,
the new Women’s Center at
Northside Hospital-Forsyth
will deliver more babies dur
ing its first month than the
county has welcomed in a
quarter century.
In the 25 years since the
last scheduled baby delivery in
Forsyth County, just 160
babies have been bom, either
at home or in an emergency
room, according to county
probate court records.
The new center, whi.ch
opens today, is expected to
deliver about 2,000 babies
each year, or about 167 per
month.
I think it’s going to be
awesome, said Forsyth
County Commissioner Linda
Ledbetter, who in 1981 had
one of the county’s last sched¬
uled deliveries.
it It’s just absolutely beauti-
Photo/Jennifer Sami .
A plastic doll lies in a speciai-care nursery where babies
will be cared for at the new Women’s Center.
at Otwell, made the announce¬
ment at the school’s first staff
meeting of the new year.
Superintendent Buster Evans
attended the gathering, complet¬
ing the surprise and noting that it
is the “second consecutive year
that Forsyth County Schools has
had a counselor of the year. n
Last year, the honor went to
Diann Branch of Chattahoochee
ful,” she said. “I think it will
be a very good experience for
the young mothers in Forsyth
County. I’m very proud of it as
a Forsyth County resident.”
The 103,000-square-foot
facility has six private delivery
and recovery rooms and six
observation rooms.
It also features seven pri
vate pre-operating rooms,
three C-section operating
rooms and 16 private post-par
turn rooms,
Ledbetter, a Forsyth
County native, had her first
child in 1968 in Cherokee
County because she said there
was no local baby delivery
facility at the time,
When her second child was
bom in 1981, Ledbetter gave
birth at Forsyth County
Hospital. Her third child was
bom at Northside Hospital
Sandy Springs,
Though she said the staff
See BABY, Page 3A
Elementary School.
The annual competition,
organized by the Georgia School
Counseling Association, requires
extensive documentation,
including letters from parents,
co-workers, administrators and
children, as well as essays and
evidence of “closing the
achievement gap.”
Roth, who moved to the
area from New York, has a
See TOP, Page 3A