Newspaper Page Text
SUNDAY. JANUARY 13, 2012
High court to hear dog case
Pets put down while man in hospital
By Alyssa Laßenzie
slarenzie@forsythnews.com
The 0.0\?! Supreme Court has
announced it wl‘l‘lwh:u an np]ml
from a Forsyth County Sheriff's
deputy in the case of a resident
whose dogs were euthanized while
he was honflullud six years ago.
Mitchell Greenway filed suit
seeking dmsu after the incident
against then-Sheriff Ted Paxton,
Deputy Terry Roper, Northside
Hospital and NALAA, which runs
the county animal shelter.
Greenway, a county resident, was
hospitalized for an emergency in
January 2007, He contends a depu
ty demanded he sign a form releas
ing ownership of his two dogs, cit
ing an mlmnl control mlm policy
to hold them for a number
of days.
Three days after his hospitaliza
tion, however, Greenway's dogs
were euthanized..
The case was heard in Forsyth
County Superior Court and summa
-2 judgment was granted to all
fendants, which stopped the case
Settlement ends
greenway suit
County will pay SI.IM for land
than $1 million, but the
consequential damages of
the condemnation caused
the property to be “poten
tially unusable as a wet
land mitigation bank.”
That preservation use
would allow the owners to
sell wetland mitigation
credits, which according
to the U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency can be
marketed to others as
“compensation for
unavoidable impacts to
aquatic resources.”
If the land is not entirely
in its natural state, the
property typically cannot
be used as a mitigation
bank.
“The value for those
credits was a lot more
than just the value of the
fee simple ownership,”
said Jarrard, adding that
he was “comfortable”
with the amount.
Levent, the lone com
missioner opposed
Tuesday, said after the
vote that he felt the deal
was not a “reasonable set
tlement.”
“They claim it's worth
way more than what the
settlement is,” he said.
“Yet they’ve done nothing
to start filing to see if they
can even get any-credits or
how many credits they've
lost to put a value on any
thing. I'm not seeing it."*
By Alyssa Laßenzie
alarenzie@forsythnews.com
A 2008 Forsyth County
condemnation dispute
over land purchased for
the Big Creek Greenway
has been resolved with a
settlement.
Commissioners voted
4-1, with Todd Levent
opposed, to give final
approval to a consent
order for the settlement
last week.
The agreement states
the county will pay sl.Ol
million for about 2.3
acres along Atlanta
Highway at Castleberry
Road.
The issue dates to
January 2008, when
Forsyth filed a condemna
tion declaration with the
William C. Rawson
Family Trust for the prop
erty, whose value has
since been tied up in court.
The land was used for
construction of the Big
Creek Greenway multi
use trail.
The county originally
paid $94,100 in the con
demnation. The remaining
$916,000 for the settle
ment will be paid from
impact fees, which are
charged to developers.
County Attorney Ken
Jarrard said the land itself
wouldn’t be worth more
PO Lo
For the Forsyth County News
Cumming resident Kelsey Alsup, third from left,
Joins other Lanier Tech students, from left,
Yullana Yebra, Laura James and Valerie Dowdy
as GOAL Award semifinalists.
Local semifinalist in
tech college contest
other Lanier Tech students
nominated for the award.
Joining Alsup are Yuliana
Yebra of Gainesville, Laura
James of Dawsonville and
Valerie Dowdy of Monroe.
Jennifer Pulliam, Lanier
Tech GOAL program
coordinator, said a screen
ing committee selected the
four semifinalists from a
list of students nominated
by their instructors,
One of the four will
move on to judging in the
northern regional event,
with the statewide compe
tition following in late
April in Atlanta,
From staff reports
A Cumming resident is
among four semifinalists
recently selected from
Lanier Technical College
for a statewide award.
Kelsey Alsup of
Cumming has been nomi
nated for the Georgia
Occupational Award of
Leadership, a program of
the Technical College
System of Georgia honor
ing excellence in academ
ics and leadership. A den
tal assisting major at
Lanier Tech’s Oakwood
campus, Alsup joins three
before a trial,
The Georgia Court of A;:ruh.
however, reversed that decision in
July for l'!‘:r«. Northside and the
shelter, finding that a case against
2;:1“ defendants should continue to
The appeals court decision states:
"Gmnwnf"l assertions that Deputy
Roper told him, ‘Just sign this
damn form,' and that Deputy Roper
did so when [Greenway] was ‘out
of it' and ‘under medication’ create
genuine issues of material fact as to
:hether he breached a ministerial
“ty.“
* A ministerial act, according to
the appeals court decision, is one
that is “nqulfing merely the execu
tion of a specific duty.” A discre
tionary act, however, “calls for the
exercise of personal deliberation
and judgment.” ;
- The court’s order, issued last
week, states arguments will be
heard in April as to whether the
appeals court “erred in finding the
existence of a ministerial duty.”
The difference in the deputy’s
Jactions in this case is the “lynch-
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g‘y the state Supreme Court, said
rorlyth '?oounty Attorney Ken
arrard, w ts e
“The court 3 m‘mmly.
found that they the act that
resulted in the lawsuit was more of
a ministerial sort of function, and
therefore simple negligence can
overcome it ‘:::dpon the county to
liability,” J said, “We're not
sure we agree with that."
Ministerial acts require only
proof of negligence, he said, while
discretionary acts would require
criminal recklessness to determine
liability.
Bob McFarland, who represents
Greenway, said the rest of the case
will remain Emdlng until this issue
is decided by the state Supreme
Court. '
“Mr. Greenway is doing OK.
He's anxious tuet this case
resolved,” McFarland said.
A reversal of the appeals court
decision could mean the trial
court's granting of summary judg
ment would stand and Roper
wouldn't have to stand trial,
McFarland said.
Ro?t is still employed with the
sheriff’s office, where he started in
April*2oo3,
Conservative
leader visits
here Monday
&
Mate
By Jennifer Sami
|sami@forsythnews.com
The Forsyth County
Tea Pnrt{l Patriots
Alliance will welcome a
special guest speaker to
its first meeting of the
year.
Jenny Beth Martin, co
founder and national
coordinator of the Tea
Party Patriots, will talk
, about-activism and how
to affect the 2014 con
gressional election,
among other topics.
The meeting is set for,
7 to 8:30 p.m. at Central
Park recreation center,
2300 Keith Bridge Road.
Martin, who was
named as one of Time
Magazine's top 100
most influential people
in 2010, will be avdlnzle
at 6:80 p.m. to visit with
described Martin as “the
national symbol of the
conservative movement.”
“A lot of people in
Forsyth County have
seen her on Fox News
... they know she's
originally from
Georgia, but they've
never gotten a chance
to meet her,” he said.
“So it's more like really
meeting the person
who's laying® out the
conservative movement
and getting to shake her
h‘nd‘"
3A
guests
and sign
books.
Bob
Frey,
board
member
for the
local
alliance,