Newspaper Page Text
SUNDAY, JANUARY 29.2012
Race for commission
develops in District 5
Incumbent will
seek second term
By Atyssa LaRenzie
alarenzie@forsythnews com
Forsyth County Commissioner Jim
Boff has announced he will seek re
election for a second term.
The Republican, who chairs the five
member panel, said he decided to run
again based on his experiences in the
first term.
“I think I've done a reasonable job as
a commissioner," Boff said, “and plan
on continuing to do a reasonable job for
the county and for District 5.”
So far, John Derucki is the only other
candidate who has announced plans to
seek the post in that district, which
spans much of eastern Forsyth.
The seat is one of three on the com¬
mission up for election this year.
In District 4, which includes most of
north Forsyth, incumbent Patrick Bell
has drawn two challengers, Cindy Jones
Mills and Bill Mulrooney.
Incumbent Brian Tam and Dennis
Brown have announced plans to seek
office in District 2, which covers much
of south Forsyth.
All the announced candidates are
Republicans.
Boff said if elected for another term.
Attorney vows to appeal
Guilty verdict in
child porn case
By Julie Arrington
|arrington@forsythnews com
A software salesman
convicted last week of
knowingly possessing
images of child pornogra¬
phy on his home comput¬
ers may appeal the charg¬
es against him.
A Forsyth County
Superior Court jury
found Erik Lottes, 45,
guilty Friday of six
counts of sexual exploi¬
tation of children.
Lottes’ attorney,
Romin Alavi, said he
will file a notice of
appeal in the matter, but
declined to comment
further.
Visiting Judge
Howard Cook of
Gwinnett County
remanded Lottes to
Forsyth County custody
and said he will likely
schedule his sentencing
in the coming weeks.
Lottes faces five to 20
years in prison on each
count.
Jury began selection in the
case Monday.
Thursday, Lottes tes-
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Boff
what the government is talking about
and doing,” he said.
Among his accomplishments, Boff
said, are his “unbiased voting record"
and work to obtain park property for his
district.
developer He also cited remediate his assistance former helping landfill a |
a !
under open space property of a planned
subdivision on Melody Mizer Lane.
“Over the past few years, 1 have tried
to work for what was right especially for
homeowners, apply common sense, con¬
sideration and fairness in my decisions,"
Boff said in a news release.
Boff is serving as chairman for the
first time this year, having been elected
earlier this month by his fellow commis¬
sioners to hold the role.
A retired salesman in the technology
sector, he has lived in Forsyth County
for more than 14 years with his family.
He and his wife Cindy have two
daughters, Emily and Lillian. They
attend Cumming First United Methodist
Church.
tified that he admitted
to possessing images of
child pornography on
his home computers in a
2009 interview with
authorities to protect his
family.
He said he felt he
“didn’t have any other
choice" but to confess
for fear his teenage sons
would be arrested.
He testified they had
both been born without
immune systems and
had bone marrow trans¬
plants. Another son, who
suffered from the same
condition, died several
years ago.
Lottes said he first
became aware there was
suspected child pornog¬
raphy in his house in
January 2009, when his
wife called him at work
because authorities had
come to their home
searching for it.
According to testimo¬
ny, suspected images of
child pornography were
found on two computers
kept in a room next to
the laundry room.
Both of Lottes’ sons
testified they had used
the computers to down¬
load videos, music and
adult pornography.
In his closing argu¬
he would like to contin¬
ue keeping taxes as low
as possible and working
to “weather the chang¬
ing economy."
“I'd [also] like to
focus on open govern¬
ment and having every¬
body at least have the
potential to be aware of
ment, Forsyth County
Assistant District
Attorney Michael
Mahoney said Lottes
“downloaded, viewed
and saved hundreds of
images of child sexual
abuse.” He also attacked
the credibility of the
statements made by
Lottes’ wife and chil¬
dren, who testified on
his behalf.
“That man knew there
was child pornography
on his computer
because he was looking
at it," Mahoney said.
Alavi countered that
there was “not a single
shred of physical evi¬
dence” linking his client
to the suspected files
and that none of the wit¬
nesses who testified in
the matter could say that
Lottes downloaded child
pornography.
Alavi said his client
would have “admitted to
killing Kennedy if he
thought it would keep
those kids alive.”
He also said of the
four computers kept in
the home, authorities did
not find suspected
images of child pornog¬
raphy on Lottes’ work
laptop or a computer in
his bedroom.
forsythncws.com | FORSYTH COUNTY NEWS
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President and CEO Markus Marfurt gives a tour of the Electro Optic U.S
facility in south Forsyth on Friday.
Electro Optic ready
to take the next step
Company will begin
manufacturing soon
By Crystal Ledford
cledford@forsythnews.com
A custom die-cutting operation plans to
begin manufacturing soon at its south
Forsyth facility.
Electro Optic U.S., which is majority
owned by German company Electro
Optic GmbH, held a ribbon cutting and
reception Friday afternoon.
President and CEO Markus Marfurt
said the company began by distributing
German products in 2003 from a location
in Fulton County.
“We moved to Forsyth County at the
end of 2010,” Marfurt said. “We moved
here with the intent to start manufactur¬
ing."
That process will begin sometime in
next month, he said.
Marfurt explained that Electro Optic
makes custom, flexible die-cutting tools
that are used by various clients to cut
package labeling.
“Our tools cut out the labels for the
product bottler,” he said.
The company, which represents about a
$5 million capital investment to Forsyth,
has about 500 clients ranging from “small
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to big," Marfurt said.
Among them are the U.S. Postal
Service, which uses the tools to cut
stamps, as well as shampoo producers
and food and beverage bottlers.
“About 60 percent of the postage
stamps in the U.S. are done with our
tools, ’ he said.
The 17,000-square-foot facility on
Shiloh Road was fitted for Electro Optic
U.S.’s “environmentally-conscious” oper¬
ations, Marfurt said.
Some of those aspects include chemi¬
cal-resistant paints on the walls and a
high-tech air purification system that con¬
tains and cleans fumes before they are
released into the atmosphere.
“It costs a quarter of a million dollars
alone to clean the air," Marfurt said.
Currently the company has about 15
employees. Marfurt said another 35 to 40
likely will be added over the next 18
months.
They will range from office support
staff to “computer numeric-controlled"
machine operators, which Marfurt said
are high-paying positions.
“This is very high-tech equipment, so
we have to have specialized people to
operate it," he said.
0n the Net
For more information about Electro
Optic U.S., visit www.electro-optic.com.