Newspaper Page Text
Four from river in two rescues
By Julie Arrington
Staff Writer
Four people woe successful¬
ly rescued in two separate inci¬
dents last week on the
Chattahoochee River in Forsyth
County.
Capt. Jason Shivers,
spokesman for the Forsyth County
Fire Department, said the Swift
Water Rescue Team from fire sta¬
tion 15 was called in as well as
other fire department personnel to
bring the people to safety.
Thursday afternoon, a hus¬
band and wife in separate kayaks
found themselves in the water
after their vessels overturned
about a half a mile south of the
Hwy. 20 bridge, Shivers said.
That rescue followed a
Monday afternoon incident in
which two canoeists were pulled
from the river after their vessel
also overturned.
Shivers said the kayaking
incident began Thursday when
the couple’s boat overturned. The
husband was swept up by the
current and pinned against a
Lanier has seen its share of unusual animals
By Ashley Bates
FCN regional staff
Years ago, comedian
Junior Samples of Cumming
told a tall tale to folks at a race
track about a big catfish he
caught at the bottom of Lake
Lanier.
Whether the giant catfish
the “Hee Haw” legend spoke
of really is swimming deep in
the lake, nobody knows for
sure.
But we can confirm the
existence of a resident alliga
tor, an osprey and armadillos.
And that’s where tall tales
and legends are bom.
“Animals for whatever rea
son change their ranges,” said
Peter Gordon, education direc
tor at Elachee Nature Science
Center in Gainesville. “We
could say a change in climate,
we could say just a natural
’tendency for very adaptive
«§«imals to move into new
'areas. v
,% So, that must be a factor in
*^rhy an armadillo was spotted
'a*few years back.
[*, “A couple years ago Rick
*£iken from the Humane
‘Society spotted an armadillo
i’. .On Thompson Bridge Road,”
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9AD_BWE
‘NOTICE OF PROPERTY TAX INCREASE’
The Forsyth County Board of Commissioners
has tentatively adopted a millage rate that will
require an increase in the Maintenance
and Operation property taxes by 1.70%,
Fire property taxes by 1.67% and
Bond property taxes by 173.68%.
All concerned citizens are invited to the Public
Hearings on this tax increase to be held at the
Forsyth County Administration Building,
110 East Main Street, Suite 220, Cumming,
Georgia, on August 12,2008 at 3:00 p.m. and
on August 21,2008 at 11:00 a.m.
and 6:30 p.m.
William J. Thomas
Chief Financial Officer
T
stump.
The force of the current
pushed the kayak against him.
which pushed him against the
stump,” Shivers said.
Shivers said the man freed
himself. Then the couple, whose
names have not been released,
floated downstream, where they
reached a bank and grabbed onto
tree limbs. Shivers said they were
both wearing flotation devices.
■ They stayed in shallow
water until fire personnel
arrived,” he said.
The woman was able to cal
911 from her cell phone, Shivers
said, and it took rescuers about
90 minutes to reach the couple.
“That’s typical of those types
of rescues because of the seclud
ed areas,” Shivers said.
The couple was taken to the
Gwinnett County side of Settles
Bridge Park where an ambulance
was waiting.
Shivers said it appeared the
man suffered a few broken ribs
caused by the force of the kayak
hitting him.
The couple also showed early
Gordon said. “We received a
call about three weeks ago ...
that (someone) spotted a dead
one in the Candler community
offofGa. 60.
“So the armadillos are
moving into the area as well,
and of course people are spot
ting coyotes. 11
Gordon added that loons
and many species of gulls call
the lake home in the winter.
But alligators, like the one
recently seen in Flat Creek,
don’t venture our way often.
Darcie Holcomb, director
of headwaters conservation of
the Upper Chattahoochee
Riverkeeper in Gainesville,
was the lucky person to snap
the photo of the alligator late
in the afternoon on July 17 in
the Flat Creek area.
But she says that find was
the strangest in her seven
years on Lanier.
“Actually, it was our boat
captain (Rick Martin) that had
seen it before,” Holcomb said.
it We kept hearing about it ...
so when we were out monitor
ing that day we looked to see
if we could find it and we did,
so I took a picture of it.
“He’s cute and he’s little.
Of course, that bothers people
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signs of hypothermia caused by
the cold temperatures of the
water below Buford Dam,
Shivers said,
In the Monday incident,
Shivers said the unnamed
canoeists, one adult male and one
juvenile male, were separated
that there’s an alligator in the
lake.
Holcomb said she hopes
the gator is caught before win
ter hits and it becomes too
cold for the reptile,
“In a way I wish they
would trap k and put it back in
South Georgia,” she said. “It
will be where it should be and
won’t freeze during the winter
and he’ll have other little alli
gators to hang around with.”
And capturing that little
alligator is what Scott Frazier
with the Department of
Natural Resources said his
office is trying to do.
“We have a trap set out
there, said Frazier, natural
resources biologist with DNR.
“It is a live trap, so we are
hoping to capture it. It’s been
out a couple of nights, the trap
was sprung but we haven’t
actually seen the gator in or
around the trap.
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NOTICE
it
The Forsyth County Board of Commissioners does hereby announce that the millage rate will be set at a meeting to be he*l *
K
at the Commissioners Meetinq Room, Suite 220, Forsyth County Administration Bldg., 110 E Main St., Cumminq, Ga., 300110 * '
>•
on August 21, 2008 at 6:30PM and pursuant to the requirements of O.C.G. A. Section 48-5-32 does hereby publish the foljpwincj
presentation of the current year's tax digest and levy, along with the history of the tax digest and levy for the past five years.
s
t.
CURRENT 2008 TAX DIGEST AND 5 YEAR HISTORY OF LEVY )
COUNTY WIDE 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008
Real & Personal 5,498,507,587 5,968,346,677 6,866,164,249 7,950,913,799 8,924,906,562 9,699,132,218
Motor Vehicles 451,456,270 463,753,610 455,836,520 460,976,800 524,449,640 565,960 £60
Mobile Homes 16,050,880 16,501,360 16,416,120 16,298,542 15,804,948 14,103,351
Timber -100% 417,757 48,890 112,426 4,500 27,818 28,891
Heavy Duty Equipment 412,195 801,747 1,528,164 1,670,386 760j073
Sross Digest 5,966,432,494 6,449,062,732 7,339.331,064 8,429,721,805 9,466,859,354 10,279,985,193
Less M& O Exemptions 813,050,061 834,231,470 943,868,573 1,124.681.99C 1,230,277,406 1,389,586,132
Met M & O Digest 5,153,382,433 5,614,831,262 6,395,465,491 7,305,039,815 8,236,581,948 8,890,399,061
Sross M&O Millaae 7.561 7.282 7117 6.934 7,108 6.912
Less Rollbacks 3.261 3.098 3.117 3.100 3.274 3j078
Met M&O Millage 4300 4.184 4.000 3.834 3.834 3,834
t
Total County Taxes Levied $22,159,544 $23,492,454 $25,581,862 $28,007,523 $31,579,055 $34,085,-790
Met Taxes $ Increase $7,498,210 $1,332,910 $2,089,408 $2,425,661 $3.571,533 $2.5061735
Met Taxes % Increase 51.14% 602% 8.89% 9.48% 12.75% 7.94%
r
from the boat and found near the
Hwy. 20 bridge,
“They did grasp and reach for
tree limbs a couple of times, but
the current kept pulling them
away,” Shivers said.
“They were with family and
friends in other canoes that saw
. We are considering poten
tially going out at night in a
more traditional fashion with a
light and see if we can see this
thing ... if the trap doesn’t pay
off in the next couple of days.”
DNR is using chicken for
bait and the office is checking
the trap every day for the
gator. But Frazier said he just
doesn’t understand why locals
are so interested in the small
alligator.
It really baffles me some
what,” he said. “I think it is
the strong juxtaposition of
potentially a species that is
kept and can potentially be
dangerous ... and the high
recreational use of the lake.
There are alligators in all the
lakes in South Georgia. I
mean, people wouldn’t even
notice one like this.”
C.W. Wathen, manager of
the Chestatee Wildlife
Preserve, said the alligator
FORSYTH COUNTY NEWS - Sunday, AuguBt 10,2008
Two
canoeists
were pulled
from the
Chatta
hoochee
River
Monday
after their
vessel over
turned.
Photo/Submitted
them get turned out of their
canoe. They got to shore and
called 911 and that’s how we got
involved.
The river’s current pulled the
two downstream, he said. After
rescuers found the men, they
were returned to their family near
probably only weighs about
10 pounds and the jaw would
open only about 2.5 inches,
I This size of a gator
wouldn’t hurt you, he’s not
big enough,” Wathen said.
But Wathen, who has six
alligators at the preserve, did
say the alligator would have
problems if left in Flat Creek
when winter comes,
All of ours have heated
areas in the winter here at the
preserve,” he said. “A lot of
times (in the wild) they will
go to the lowest part of the
water, where it’s warmer, M
Heading north from where
the alligator was last seen at
Flat Creek to the bridge that
heads into Forsyth County on
Dawsonville Highway, you
will spot an osprey nest on top
of the green bridge.
“We started getting calls a
couple years ago about it and
it’s a fish hawk, an osprey, ••
■*
INFORMATIONAL SESSIONS
The Forsyth County Board of Commissioners-pjit
Forsyth County Sheriffs Office will hold
informational sessions on Tuesday, August 12
Tuesday, August 26 for the purpose of providjl
information relative to the proposed .■f.
new ion
*
'
center. The proposed detention center will appear
on the November 4 ballot.
The meetings will begin at 6 p.m. in the Sheriffs
Office Conference Room in the Government
Building located at 101 E. Main St. in Cumming.
encouraged •:f- I
All interested parties are to attend.
i
PAQE5A
the old Settles Bridge where a
command post had been set up.
Shivers said the rescue was
made quickly enough that the
men did not develop hypother¬
mia and were not injured. He
said the canoeists were-both
wearing life vests.
Shivers cautioned aquatic
recreation enthusiasts about the
river.
“The fire department urges
everyone to wear life preservers
around water,” he said: “Also,
when you hear horns sound on
the Chattahoochee, get out of the
river.”
Shivers said the horns indi¬
cate that Buford Dam is about to
begin power production.
He also said water rescues are
not rare.
“It’s not common as in daily,”
he said. “But it’s certainly not
unusual. It’s a very active, part of
the river and our team gets plenty
of practice performing these
kinds of rescues.”
E-mail Julie Arrington at
juliearrington @forsythnew$. -
com.
Gordon said. “You’ll sfee
them, especially on the coast
on bridges. Typically hawks
are one of the first nesters ...
having them nest this late
would be a little bit odd, I
think. ••
Some locals thought the
bird might be a bald eagle,
which are around during nest¬
ing season, but the osprey has
different characteristics.
“(The osprey has) bigger
wings than the average hawk,”
he said. “Very strong feet, it
glides above the water and
then dives into the water and
at the last minute begins to
back peddle with it’s wings a
little bit and then it hits the
water with its talons and grabs
the fish.
To spot other fish hawks,
Gordon suggests looking
around Clarks Bridge or
Wahoo Creek because “they
like shallow water. ••