Newspaper Page Text
THURSDAY
DECEMBER 27,2012
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Charges unlikely in pedestrian fatality
Driver tried to
stop, called 911
By Jennifer Sami
jsamittWorsythnews.com
No charges will be filed
against a Cumming man who
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Photos by Autumn Vetter Forsyth News
‘birthday tax’
set for March
By Jennifer Sami
jsami@forsythnews.com
There are a few details still to be
fine-tuned before Georgia’s new ad
valorem tax rules take effect.
If all goes according to plan, though,
the changes likely will eliminate the
annual car tax for those who buy a
vehicle after March 1.
District 23 state Rep. Mark Hamilton
said the annual ad valorem levy car
owners must pay on or before their
birthday is “the most despised tax that
we have.”
“Once we get this started, this will be
a much easier, simpler and less expen¬
LAKE LANIER
The big question: How low will it go this time?
Level about 6 feet from record
By Jeff Gill
FCN regional staff
GAINESVILLE Five
years after hitting its historic
low. Lake Lanier’s water level
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Volume 103. Number 207 Deaths 2A were still here. with colleges. 47/30
90994T1400T © 2012, Forsyth County New* Horoscopes 2A
Cummin#, Georgia Opinion 5A Forecast 12A
Sports 5B
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Representative-elect ready for D.C. 14A
authorities say accidentally
struck and killed a 59-year-old
woman who was standing in a
north Forsyth road last week.
Forsyth County Sheriff’s Sgt.
Chris Shelton said Joan Kyle
likely was under the influence of
alcohol when she walked outside
the home she was living in to
smoke a cigarette Friday night.
“She was actually standing in
f ij Brett Rudow, center,
shows a car to Erik,
left, and Ryan Miller at
Andean Chevrolet.
Changes to the state's
ad valorem tax will
take effect March 1.
Left, Andean employee
Rey Saenz, left, goes
over vehicle specs to
John Watkins, holding
daughter Allie.
sive way to implement the tax,”
Hamilton said.
His fellow Republican colleague
from Cumming, District 27 state Sen.
Jack Murphy, said car owners soon will
be “done with” the so-called birthday
tax.
“You don’t have to worry about it
every year,” he said. “Plus it’s going to
make it a lot less complicated when
you’re talking about keeping up with
is back to exposing shorelines
and raising concerns about
safety and property values.
“The only cure for our prob¬
lem is rain and it will come,”
said David Lyle, a lake dwell-
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the middle of the road in front
of the house," Shelton said
Wednesday. "She was waving at
motorists as they were passing
by.
“We’d gotten a couple of calls
on her before the crash."
Shelton said deputies were en
route to the home on Doctor
Bramblett Road, just north of
Elzey Drive, by the Sherwood
all these birthday taxes being received
at certain times of the year on certain
birthdays.
“Local governments are guaranteed
by a formula that they’ll receive a cer¬
tain amount of reimbursement to cover
what they were receiving under the old
birthday tax ... [but] they lose a little
bit of the guarantee every year.”
See CHANGES 13A
er. “People like us who love
the lake will persevere.”
It’s been a yo-yo five years
for the north Georgia reser¬
voir, the main drinking water
source for metro Atlanta
counties.
Fluctuating levels have per
sisted since the lake drained to
1,050.79 feet above sea level
Forest subdivision, but arrived
too late.
According to Shelton, the
62-year-old driver did not see
Kyle, who was wearing dark
clothes, as he approached in a
2007 Cadillac CTS about 9:30
p.m. Friday.
"He was in a pack of cars
traveling north on Doctor
Bramblett Road," Shelton said.
Silent
but wet
holiday
Rain to return
for weekend
By Alyssa LaRenzie
alarenzie@forsythnews.com
The weather outside may have
seemed frightful this Christmas, but
Forsyth County stayed fairly calm
over the holiday.
Despite some wet and windy
weather, Fire Division Chief Jason
Shivers said no major incidents
were reported.
“Definitely, we've had our share
of the rain, which of course was
badly needed, but none of it resulted
in severe weather,” Shivers said.
‘There was never any cause for
concern in terms of wind damage or
flooding.”
It wasn’t a white Christmas but
certainly a wet one, with Forsyth
County receiving between 1.5 to 2
inches of rain in about 24 hours,
according to Laura Belander, mete¬
orologist with the National Weather
Service in- Peachtree City.
“It’s definitely going to he helping
us with our rainfall deficit,”
Belander said. “But we’re still pretty
far behind from where we should be
this year.”
In fact, the area trails its yearly
rain total by more than 13 inches.
“I hate it for the kids who got bikes
this year for Christmas, but on the
other hand we really need the rain,"
Belander .said. “It’s good for us that
we’ll get another batch of rainfall
here on Friday night into Saturday"
Forsyth remains under a Hood
warning through 1:40 p.m. today,
•according to the weather service.
While no roads were closed, and
most were actually drying out
Wednesday, a popular recreational
trail in south Forsyth was not as for¬
tunate.
See WET j 3A
INSIDE
Lanier and the state's out¬
look on water supply, j 3A
on Dec. 26, 2007.
Full poo], which is 1,071
feet May 1-Nov. 30 and 1,070
feet Dec. 1- April 30, was
reached on Oct. 14, 2009, and
“The other cars saw her and
started dodging her or maneu¬
vering so they didn't strike her.
“The moment he saw her, he
attempted to break to avoid her,
but was unable to.”
The man was one of a handful
of people who called to report
the incident, Shelton said.
See FATALITY 13A
stayed at or near that level
through mid-2010.
Since then, through periods
of rain and dry conditions, the
lake has dropped steadily back
into the 1,050-foot range.
Lanier was at 1,057.19 feet on
Wednesday,
SeeL0W|3A