Newspaper Page Text
Your "Hometown Paper" Since 1 0001646 12/31/2020
Vol. 99, No. 132
Go tell it on the mountain
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Members of Mt. Tabor Baptist Church, like Lois
Yarbrough, above, are getting ready to celebrate 175 years
of sermons, songs and saving souls. For more on the oldest
Baptist church in Forsyth County see Forsyth Life, IB.
The student shuffle
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Families still face redistricting, grading scale shift
By Julie Arrington
Staff Writer
The end of what has been a
contentious process for school
officials and parents this year
could come in about two
months, and a non-traditional
grading scale will have a new
name this year.
During a special called meet¬
ing Thursday the Forsyth
County Board of Education
unanimously approved a sched¬
ule for finalizing the redistrict¬
ing process.
School officials have outlined
dates for discussions, changes to
the fourth draft of the redistrict¬
ing map and consideration of
feedback leading up to a deci¬
sion that could come Oct. 16.
The district plans to open
one middle, one high and three
elementary schools in 2009. The
new facilities will shift thou-
m
The easement
agreement details
work on a 1.75-mile
stretch of Ronald
Reagan Boulevard,
between McGinnis
Ferry and
McFarland roads.
Maps/Forsyth government County
Missed paper policy:
For a replacement paper, call
8:30 Thursday, a.m. -1:00 Friday, p.m. and Wednesday,
( ) Sunday
770 887 - 3126 .
Copyright ® 2007 Forsyth County NawT
0 90994 040001 7
SUNDAY August 17, 2008
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Photos/Jennifer Sami
Above, South Forsyth High School freshman Sivani
Molugoori checks her schedule on the first day of school.
Top, students move through the halls between classes.
sands of students to new learn¬
ing environments.
For example, plans call for
students in the Creekside com-
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INDEX
Abby 6B
Engagements 4B
Classifieds.. 3C
Deaths_________ 2A
Forsyth Life IB
Horoscope. 6B
Opinion ...... 12A
Sports---------- 1C
County presses Etowah hopes
State legislator cautions reservoir plan could land in court
By Frank Reddy
Staff Writer
County commissioners
met with all five members of
Forsyth’s state legislative del¬
egation to discuss ideas for
alternative water sources in
the ongoing drought.
Forsyth County Water
and Sewer Director Tim
Perkins gave a presentation
Friday which included cur-
munity, Which has been redis¬
tricted five consecutive times, to
See STUDENT, Page 3A
Board, developer reach accord
Easement agreement means mall plans may move forward
By Frank Reddy
Staff Writer
Commissioners and representatives
of an upscale, mixed-use project in
south Forsyth County have reached a
consensus on a construction agreement
accelerating development plans.
An easement agreement, which out¬
lines the basics of the county’s intent to
Local Opinion Partly Cloudy LAKE LANIER LEVELS
Date Level
Cumming Country New jail project will Aug. Aug. 11 12 1054.34 1054.24 ft ft
Fair & Festival only depend heavily on Aug. 13 1054.18 ft
six weeks away. informed voters. Aug. 14 1054.13 ft
Page 4A Page 12A Full 1071.00 ft
High in the high 80s.
-
Low in the mid-60s. i 1
rent statistics about how the
county’s water system
works.
“We can’t depend on
Lanier as a guaranteed water
source as we once could, »»
Perkins told state leaders.
Lake Lanier is changing. H
Perkins also addressed
potential plans to build a
reservoir that would draw
water from the Etowah River,
which dips from Dawson
Quicker than
a phone call
Texting’s digital shorthand keeps
children and parents connected
By Jennifer Sami
Staff Writer
If u d/k ur a 4nr 2 txt msgs.
Just a few years ago, only
teenagers might have understood
digital shorthand. But with the
advantages of speed, availability
and not having to leave a meet¬
ing for a phone call, texting has
made its way to the adult world.
Many adults, like Maggie
Schmitz, started texting as a way
to keep in touch with their chil¬
dren.
They will actually respond
to a text before they’ll respond to
a phone call,” said Schmitz, an
administrative assistant with the
Cumming-Forsyth County
Chamber of Commerce.
If they’re at work or even if
they’re in class, it’s a great way
for me to get a message to
them.
Schmitz said she only learned
how to text because of her three
children, who range in age
between 19 and 23.
Without them, she admits she
might not have learned how to
use it, but now, “I use it all the
time.
While she’s caught on to
some abbreviations, like using
“u” instead of the word “you, ■
Schmitz says she still has a long
way to go.
i Sometimes I have to get
them to explain to me what they
just said,” she joked about her
kids’ text fluency. “I don’t know
them all. I wish I did.
District 23 state Rep. Mark
Hamilton said he gets a kick out
of some of the abbreviations his
three daughters use in text mes¬
sages.
begin work on the southern end of
Ronald Reagan Boulevard, passed 4-1
at a called meeting Friday morning.
The agreement covers infrastructure
improvements sought by the develop
ers for an upscale, mixed-use project
on 164 acres along Ga. 400.
Taubman Centers representative
Mark Putney called the agreement “a
very important step in making all this
SPORTS, bash 1C
Dawgs Bobcats
State argues drinking
water was Lanier’s
original purpose,
Page 6A.
County into a corner of
extreme northwestern
Forsyth.
Perkins said there has
long been a push to use the
Etowah to supply water for
—i
Photo/Jim Dean
Maggie Schmitz said texting
is a way to keep in touch with
her three children.
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In fact, Hamilton said he’s
read magazine articles in an
effort to stay on top of the most
popular abbreviations. \V
Though Hamilton sometimes
uses text messaging to keep tabs
on his family, he uses it most
often to communicate with fel¬
low legislators.
“In the legislature, that’s pret¬
ty much our preferred way of
communication, especially dur¬
ing session,” he said.
Many use a Blackberry hand¬
held device, which is assigned
with a personal identification
number, or PIN, so messages go
straight through to another
Blackberry.
PIN numbers are distributed
for everybody in the Republican
See TEXT, Page 3A
happen.
Putney added that the easement
4* signifies to anchor stores that progress
is being made, and it is, but it shows it
in a physical way.
Commissioner David Richard, who
cast the lone vote against the agree
ment, said the property purchased by
See ACCORD, Page 4A
the population in the
Coosa/Etowah basin, which
includes about 30 percent of
the county’s residents.
District 27 state Sen. Jack
Murphy cautioned that a
reservoir plan would likely
result in legal battles!
“If we start a reservoir
tomorrow,” he said, “I guar¬
antee there will be a lawsuit
See ETOWAH, Page 3A