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FRIDAY
DECFJMBl K 2K, 2012
Forsyth County IVT*** - * TO
More than a century of covering our community | Get updates at forsythnews.coi II I
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last day for county parking deck
Structures demolition near
By Alyssa LaRenzie
alarenzie@forsythnews.com
After 6 p.m. today, the parking
deck in downtown Gumming
will be closed forever.
All vehicles must be removed
by that time or they will be
towed, according to signs post¬
ed outside the deck.
The 246-space deck at East
Main and Mason streets, which
opened in 1994, will be demol¬
ished in mid-January to make
way for a new Forsyth County
GOVERNMENT
Finding right balance
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Longtime coroner reflects on tenure
By Jennifer Sami
jsami@forsythnews.com
Lauren McDonald 111 was a senior
in college when a few words from a
state lawmaker set the course for his
future.
It was Sen. Wayne Garner, now
the mayor of Carrolton in west
Georgia, who took him to his funer¬
al home. McDonald was working at
the state Capitol as part of his schol¬
arship at the University of Georgia.
“When we got there, he toured
me around and showed me ihe
funeral home and when we left, he
turned to me and said, ‘You’d make
a great funeral director,’"
Incoming official
ready for new role
Pais vows to do her Very best’
By Jennifer Sami
jsami@forsythnews.com
By the time she was sworn
last week, Mary Beth Pais
had everything in order for
when she takes over as
Forsyth County’s coroner.
When the giant peach drops
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Volume 103, Number 208 Deaths 2A protect our surrounds 52/39
90994 0400 ©2012, Forsyth County News Food 3B children. bowl
Cumming, Georgia Opinion 7A games. Forecast 12A
Sports IB
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Swimmers prep for ‘Polar’ plunge 14A
courthouse.
The courthouse and jail proj¬
ects were approved as part of a
November 2011 referendum to
extend the special purpose local
option sales tax. known as
SPLOST VII.
The projects, including two
new parking decks, are estimat¬
ed to cost about $100 million,
or nearly half of the anticipated
revenue from the six-year tax
collection.
The demolition of the parking
deck and the buildings across
McDonald recalled.
“I had no clue what a funeral
director was, but 1 started looking
into it ... I told my dad and he kind
of laughed at me. He thought it was
something that was just a short
thought as far as actually following
through with it.”
It wasn’t a phase. Two weeks after
graduating from college, McDonald
was enrolled in mortuary school.
And following a three-year hiatus to
work for the lieutenant governor,
McDonald & Son Funeral Home
and Crematory opened in 1997.
Using UGA’s small business ser¬
vices center, McDonald had
searched for a good location for his
Monday night in Atlanta to
ring in 2013, Pais will begin
her new role.
“We will have a smooth
transition I’m sure,” she said,
Pais, who is succeeding
three-term coroner Lauren
See READY 13A
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from the current courthouse
will he the first noticeable
change in the appearance of the
Gumming square as the ground
is readied for the new buildings.
People visiting the current
courthouse will need to park at
the lot at the southwest comer
of Maple Street and Castleberry
Road during this phase of con¬
struction.
Forsyth County spokeswom¬
an Jodi Gardner said the area
behind the administration has
spaces designated for county
employees and the public.
See DECK 13A
Autumn Vetter Forsyth County News
Outgoing Forsyth County
Coroner Lauren McDonald III
works a recent case.
business.
“It kept telling me to go to
Cumming in Forsyth County ... so I
started looking and meeting people
up here and this is where I’ve built
my home and started my family,” he
said. ”1 [had] lived here barely two
years, just enough to qualify, when 1
ran for coroner.”
Having worked on ambulances
and as a volunteer firefighter, a job
which he continues to hold,
McDonald said he was “intrigued by
the office" of coroner.
See TENURE 13A
For the Forsyth County News
Forsyth County Probate Court Judge
Lynwood "Woody" Jordan Jr. presents the
oath of office to new coroner Mary Beth Pais.
Autumn Vetter Forsyth County News
The parking deck at East Main and Macon streets downtown
is being demolished to make way for a new courthouse.
Valuable
lesson for
middle
schoolers
Riverwatch group
returns $1,400
found in cleanup
By Alyssa LaRenzie
alarenzie@forsythnews.com
More than $1,400 has been returned to
its owner after a group of sixth- and sev¬
enth-graders found the money during a
roadside cleanup.
The Riverwatch Middle School Builders
Club made the discovery along James
Burgess Road during an Adopt-a-Road
trash pickup.
The club, sponsored locally by Gumming
Kiwanis, is a chapter of the largest middle
school community service organization in
the world, said teacher Dana Hunley.
While doing their usual upkeep of the
mile between St. Columba’s Episcopal
Church and the Tumberry subdivision in
November, Hunley said an excited girl ran
over to her.
Ml Mrs. Hunley, look what 1 found,’” she
said. “And she held up a $100 bill.”
The student at first wanted to keep it, but
Hunley said they needed to think about
what to do with the single bill.
‘Then the next child came running up
going ‘Look,’ and had a handful. There were
four [$100 bills] in it,” Hunley said. ‘'Ihcn
they all started really scurry ing to l<x>k.”
In total, the students found $1,419 lying
in open areas along the side of that stretch
of road.
The final $100 bill found was next to two
driver’s licenses and some credit cards that
all shared the same name.
The group called the Forsyth County
Sheriff’s Office, which Hunley and die chil¬
dren agreed was “the right thing to do.”
The deputy took down the details, some
photos and the cash.
After that, Hunley said her students
asked every day if the owner of the loose
bills had been found.
Being able to finally tell them that the
money had been returned was a great day,
she said.
"The felt they did the right thing that they
found this, and they were very glad that
they had been out there to find it that day,"
she said. “It was anotJier way to do a com¬
munity service activity.
See VALUABLE 13A