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Jim Dean Forsyth County News
Liquid spills out of one of the trash
bags dumped in front of Belinda
Zalinsky’s house in northeast
Forsyth.
dumping
stirs stink
Source of trash
remains mystery
By Alyssa Laßenzie
alarenzie@forsythnews.com
Since May, Belinda Zalinsky has
been waking up some mornings to find
trash bags. thrown in her yard, on the
street and around her neighborhood
near Charleston Park.
“I’'m past 50 [times] now,” Zalinsky
said. “I quit counting at 50. I stopped.”
The northeast Forsyth resident is frus
trated that after more than six months,
she’s been unable to find a resolution to
the issue of illegal dumping despite
reaching out to numerous agencies.
The bags always contain some
unidentifiable mixture, and cameras
she’s installed show the same white
vehicle tossing them out just after 5
a.m. on Mondays or Fridays.
Illegal dumping is a violation of
Forsyth County code, and so the code
enforcement department will investigate
those reports.
The department has received many
calls on the issue and has launched an
investigation, which remains ongoing,
according to county government
spokeswoman Jodi Gardner.
“Code enforcement has investigated
this thoroughly, including multiple vis
its to the location and speaking with
neighbors in the area,” Gardner said.
“Nothing that they’ve found has been
identifiable, so they don’t know yet the
source.”
The department has also reviewed
photographs from the camera, but they
were “inconclusive,” she said.
See DUMPING |2A
Plans for Walmart in south Forsyth approved
Retailer receives
parking flexibility
By Alyssa Laßenzie
alarenzie@forsythnews.com
The Forsyth County planning
department on Monday
approved a site development
permit for a Walmart supercent
er in south Forsyth.
Plans for the nearly
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Volume 104, Number 1
© 2013, Forsyth County News
Cumming, Georgia
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Women’s group founder praised | 3A
Busy year ends for Red Cross
Local volunteers
always needed
By Crystal Ledford
cledford@forsythnews.com
The local chapter of the
American Red Cross spent
many hours in 2012 helping
others.
I GOVERNMENT
New sheriff starts
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Autumn Vetter Forsyth County News
Forsyth County Probate Court Judge Lynwood “Woody” Jordan Jr., left, congratulates Duane Piper
after administering his oath of office as sheriff. Cindy Piper is at right.
Change at helm first
for agency since 2001
By Alyssa Laßenzie
alarenzie@forsythnews.com
Forsyth County’s new
sheriff officially took
office Tuesday with an
aim of making a smooth
transition.
Residents shouldn’t
expect to notice an imme
diate difference as Duane
Piper takes over, though
some changes likely will
take place within the first
172,000-square-foot structure
on 24 acres at Peachtree and
Mathis Airport parkways will
include the retailer and three
outparcels.
A site development permit
allows a developer to make all
the improvements to the land as
indicated in the plans, but not
the building, which requires a
separate permit.
The company submitted the
permit request in June and
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Players share top honor | 1B
According to a release
from the Northeast Georgia
chapter, which includes
Forsyth and 11 other coun
ties, local volunteers
responded to 137 incidents
in the region and donated
nearly $78,000.
Joni Smith, executive
director of the local office,
said those incidents includ
ed several in Forsyth.
four months.
“They should not
expect any fallout or
adjustment period in their
level of service,” Piper
said. “We're planning as
such. that there won’t be
any type of lag time. They
won’t have less service or
be less safe.
“All they’ll see is steady
improvement.”
Piper said his time
spent in sheriff-elect
resubmitted earlier this month
when the initial six-month peri
od for approval had expired.
The staff required only minor
changes to the submitted plan,
such as moving some trees to
shade the trash receptacles, said
Tom Brown, director of plan
ning and community develop
ment.
Since the store falls under the
Peachtree Parkway Overlay
District, the staff also compared
3 A Suspect
arrested in
death at
dealership.
Volunteers helped 10 local
families here after house
fires, she said, providing
more than $7,000 for emer
gency shelter and clothing,
among other forms of assis
tance.
“Locally, we respond to
every fire where there’s a
family or individual
involved, so we'’re trying to
build up the Forsyth team,”
About this series
This article concludes a FCN multi-day series
taking a look at the transition in several Forsyth
County elected offices for 2013. They included
coroner, commissioner and sheriff.
school through the
Georgia Sheriff’s
Association gave him
great information and got
him even more excited to
get going.
He has 30-, 90- and
120-day plans for working
toward his goal of increas
ing efficiency, which will
begin by evaluating crime
rates, trends and the orga
nization of the agency.
the plans to those aesthetic
requirements during its review,
Brown said.
One of those requirements
sets a maximum of 60 percent
of parking at the front of the
store, but Walmart received
flexibility on that standard only,
Brown said.
“Because of some obligations
where they had a right to keep
an existing pond and a right to
have an expectation for a store
l B Shortstop
signs with
Valdosta.
Smith said. “We have two
co-captains in Forsyth and
they really want to build up
Northeast Georgia chapter
volunteers also helped with
national responses to disas
ters, such as spring torna
does throughout the
Southeast and Hurricare
See YEAR | 2A
“We’ll be going through
an evolutionary process of
observing and evaluating,
followed by a significant
restructuring agency
wide,” Piper said. “Of
course, the aim and goal,
the reason for all of it, is
to improve our efficiency
and our effectiveness.”
Piper won the post in the
2012 campaign season,
See SHERIFF | 3A
of a certain size,” he said, “they
couldn’t make all those things
work and comply with the limi
tation on the parking in the
front of the store.”
The site development plans
show entrances to the store
from Peachtree and Mathis
Airport parkways.
The lot would include 791
parking spaces, all of which
were shown between the store
See PLANS | 3A
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Forecast|2A