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LRIDAY
JANUARY 10, 2014
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Lambert R f-3
NI RY
S32OK settlement ends landfill suit
Family feared wells were contaminated
By Alyssa Laßenzie
alarenzie@forsythnews.com
A six-year-old civil suit over
the closure of a northwest
Forsyth landfill concluded
EDUCATION
Teachers of the year
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Photos by Jennifer Sami Forsyth County News
The Forsyth County school system’s teachers of the year, from left, Julie Auten of Silver City
Elementary, Kristen Deuschle of Piney Grove Middle and Lisa Robinson of Lambert High, react
Wednesday to being named tops at their school level.
3 named best
.
at their level
By Jennifer Sami
jsami@forsythnews.com
Julie Auten’s students were nearly
as excited as she was when the bal
loon and flower-carrying entourage
entered her classroom.
As Silver City’s reigning top
teacher, Auten knew the visit from
school officials could mean just one
thing — she had been selected the
Forsyth County Elementary School
Teacher of the Year.
“When I can get up every day and
£0 to a job-that I absolutely love,
what a blessing,” she said. “And
then to be recognized for that, what
a blessing.”
Silver City was one of three stops
Officials don’t second-guess cold call
“We knew that we had a
large number of families
and students who were not
prepared for the weather,”
said Jennifer Caracciolo,
district spokeswoman. “We
also knew too that we'd
have problems with our
facilities because of the low,
record-breaking weather.”
Students were scheduled
to return to school Tuesday
after their winter break,
See COLD | 3A
Schools, buses
had weather woes
By Jennifer Sami
jsami@forsythnews.com
While snow and ice
weren’t issues with the
week’s subfreezing tempera
tures, Forsyth County
school system officials were
comfortable with the deci
sion to cancel school
Tuesday.
Volume 105, Number 5
© 2014, Forsyth County News
Cumming, Georgia
Hearing set for terminated deputy | 3A
Tuesday as the county commis
sion approved a settlement
agreement.
Robin and Terry Solomon
will receive $320,000 to dis
miss the suit, which contended
for School Superintendent Buster
Evans, his staff and Cumming-
Forsyth County Chamber of
Commerce President and CEO
James McCoy.
The group also visited Piney
Grove Middle, where media special
ist Kristen Deuschle was named
Middle School Teacher of the Year,
and Lambert High, where Spanish
teacher Lisa Robinson was honored.
The three teachers will next
undergo classroom observations
leading up to the system’s teacher of
the year announcement Feb. 14 at
the annual Celebration of
Excellence.
Deuschle’s announcement at
Piney Grove came in front of hun
dreds of students in the cafeteria.
“I'm just overwhelmed and so
excited,” she said. “... It's such a
great group.”
And for the third time in the
school’s five-year history, the
Cumming
Elementary
employee Tim
o Monroe looks at
a damaged ceil
. fiad ing caused by a
.' 2 pipe that burst
m *Ay? ? Tuesday.
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Abby 4c
Classifieds 5B
Deaths 2A
Food 3B
Opinion 5A
Sports 1B
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In the Kitchen | 3B
the Hightower Road Municipal
Landfill’s closing caused con
tamination of wells on their
neighboring property.
In addition, $20,000 will go
toward building a replacement
awards committee honored a
Lambert teacher.
“I'm extremely honored,” said
Robinson of being named High
School Teacher of the Year. “There’s
such a great group of teachers here
at Lambert and the whole county.”
Robinson, who’s been an educator
for more than 20 years has been at
Lambert since the school opened.
“She was on our leadership team
and she helped us establish the cul
ture of this school and everything
that happens here,” said Principal
Gary Davison.
After eaming a bachelor’s degree
in Spanish from the University of
Wisconsin, Robinson moved to
Madrid, Spain, and began teaching
English as a second language. She
later returned to the United States,
earning a master’s degree from
the University of Arizona and
See TEACHERS | 3A
4A ‘Unique
Sound’
returns to
Playhouse.
well for agricultural purposes
only, said Ken Robin with the
county attorney’s law firm.
The county must also put in a
public water line by mid-year
to the property, and the
Solomons must hook up to that
line and stop using groundwa
ter wells for human consump
Election
headir 1g
Two advance in
\District 22 race
| By Jennifer Sami
| jsami@forsythnews.com
' If Forsyth County voters had their way,
- Sam Moore would be heading to the state
\ Capitol next week as the new District 22
‘tate representative.
But the 53 percent of the county’s 278 vot
ers made up only a small portion of the total
2,433 votes cast in a district that also includes
parts of Cherokee and Fulton counties.
Based on districtwide voting, Moore
received nearly 38 percent of the vote and
has advanced to a Feb. 4 runoff election
with Meagan Biello, who garnered nearly
24 percent.
The election was scheduled in early
January with the goal of filling the post
before the Georgia General Assembly con
venes Jan. 13.
Whoever wins will fill the seat previously
held by Calvin Hill, who died Oct. 30 at age
66, and join the state legislature in session.
In addition, the term expires Dec. 31, so he
or she faces the prospect of having to seek re
election this year to retain it.
Biello, a school teacher, edged businessman
Jeff Duncan by two votes, 576 to 574, to
make the runoff. Attorney Nate Cochran drew
less than 15 percent of the vote.
The district had a fairly high turnout for a
special election, with more than 9 percent of
the 57,709 registered voters casting a ballot.
That interest, however, was much lower in
Forsyth, which saw about 3 percent of the
9,244 registered voters eligible to participate
— those living in the Brandywine, Midway
and Polo precincts — turn out.
“I was hoping that it would be more, but
I'm glad that we got the 3 percent,” said
Barbara Luth, Forsyth’s elections supervisor.
“That was a higher percentage than we had
during the last House special election.”
Luth suggested the lower turnout in Forsyth
may have been because all four candidates are
from Cherokee County.
While the race is nonpartisan, all the candi
dates identify themselves as Republicans.
The runoff election will be held Feb. 4, with
early voting beginning as soon as Jan. 21,
Luth said.
Results
District
* Sam Moore — 37.98 percent, 924 votes
* Meagan Biello — 23.67 percent,
576 votes
* Jeff Duncan —23.59 percent, 574 votes
* Nate Cochran — 14,76 percent,
359 votes
Total 2,433 votes
Forsyth County
*Sam Moore — 53.24 percent, 148 votes
* Nate Cochran — 19.42 percent, 54 votes
Jeff Duncan — 18.35 percent, 51 votes
» Meagan Biello — 8.99 percent, 25 votes
Total 278 votes
DA Yarbrough:
A message
to a special
little boy.
tion, Robin said.
The Solomons will deed one
of the three parcels, about 2.5
acres, to the county, which will
cap and abandon the well on
that site per Georgia
Environmental Protection
See LANDFILL | 3A
w '
a 7 /42
Forecast| 2A