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FORSYTH COUNTY NEWS
Weekend Edition-October 7-8, 2022 FORSYTHNEWS.COM forsythcountynews Q @ForsythNews (®) @ForsythNews $2.00
1-285 work to cause 400 delays
By Kelly Whitmire
kwhitmire@forsythnews.com
Local drivers taking 1-285
should expect delays starting
this weekend.
The Georgia Department of
Transportation has announced
“long-term” lane reductions
for 1-285 as part of a bridge
replacement projects over Ga.
400 and other roads.
In a news release, GDOT
officials said starting as early
as Saturday, Oct. 8, one lane
of 1-285 eastbound will close
between Roswell and Ashford
Dunwoody roads for bridge
demolition and reconstruction
at Glenridge Drive, Ga. 400
and Peachtree Dunwoody
Road.
Once the eastbound work
has started, one lane of the
westbound side of the 1-285
will close. That work is
expected to begin two weeks
after the start of the east-
bound project.
“The traveling public
should expect major disrup
tions to their daily commutes
and driving routines during
this time and should be pre
pared for profound delays on
1-285, potentially adding an
hour or more to daily com
mutes,” GDOT Alternative
Delivery Program Manager
Mario Clowers said in the
release.
“We urge motorists to leave
earlier, utilize navigation apps
See Delays 14A
In their memory
Photos by Kelly Whitmire Forsyth County News
Members of the Forsyth County Sheriff's Office pay respect after laying down flowers for
officers who died in the line of duty this year at the seventh annual Blue Lives Matter
event.
7th annual Blue Lives Matter event held
Community
concert coming
to City Center
By Kelly Whitmire
kwhitmire@forsythnews.com
After years of work, the Cumming City Center will
soon host one of its first major public events.
The center will host Pink Floyd tribute band
Interstellar Echoes at 7 p.m., Friday, Oct. 21, for the
inaugural community concert at the Lou Sobh
Amphitheater, located at 423 Canton Road, officials
announced in a news release. Admission and parking at
the city center are free.
“For our inaugural community concert, we wanted a
group that would have far-reaching appeal for a lot of
different generations,” said Jennifer Archer, City Center
property manager. “Pink Floyd is one of those all-time
great, iconic type of bands, and after we discovered
Interstellar Echoes, who have a large fanbase throughout
Georgia and are known for their great respect of Pink
Floyd, we thought this would be an amazing opening act
for the Lou Sobh Amphitheater.”
According to the release, “Interstellar Echoes pride
themselves on accurately reproducing the sounds, sights,
and lore of this global music icon. The group goes to
great lengths to provide a meticulously researched, fully
immersive, live experience consisting of classic staples,
at McDonald and Sons
See Concert 14A
The seventh annual Blue Lives Matter event was held
Tuesday, Oct. 4, at McDonald and Son Funeral Home, fea
turing speakers, the reading of 180 names and other
memorials to those who lost their lives in the line of duty.
By Kelly Whitmire
kwh itm i re@f o rsythnews.com
During a ceremony Tuesday,
Forsyth County Sheriff’s Office
Capt. Allan Frampton began
listing names of fallen police
officers.
For the next 40 minutes,
Frampton and other speakers
continued to call names and
date of death of every officer
who died in the line of duty in
2022.
The seventh annual Blue
Lives Matter event was held at
McDonald and Son Funeral
Home, featuring speakers, the
reading of 180 names and other
memorials to those who lost
their lives in the line of duty.
“In 2020, there were 424 line-
of-duty deaths of law enforce
ment only,” said Forsyth County
Coroner Paul Holbrook, who
led the service. “In 2021, 644.
This year 180. Thankfully, it’s
going down. I hope it continues
to go down.”
According to the Officer
Down Memorial Page, those
figures include officers who
were killed in the line of duty,
died of illness, died in an auto
accident and other causes.
The Rev. Craig Richard, of
Oak Grove Baptist Church,
spoke at the ceremony about the
importance of law enforcement
officers and what they mean in
the community, even if they
might not always be seen.
“From the funerals that you
lead in procession and honor
those families to every school
resource officer that I see every
single day at different schools,
and I see them joking around
with kids, just being visible in
the area, I thought about all the
lives ... that you have saved and
for every person and even
placed under arrest for DUI,
who knows, about one minute,
one mile down the road, that
could have been my family and
myself or your family and your
self that they crossed over the
line and hit head-on.”
James Dunn, an assistant dis
trict attorney who will be the
next state court judge of Forsyth
County starting in 2023, spoke
about his experience working
with local law enforcement,
including them having to give
accounts of gruesome crime
scenes and experiences during
trials.
“People don’t understand that
there’s so much emotion,” Dunn
said. “Every call, you are deal
ing with a volatile situation with
different people who have dif
ferent backgrounds, and they
have to deal with it. Within five
seconds, they have to try to sum
up the situation and come up
with an appropriate response,
and too often, these days we are
quick to armchair quarterback.”
While the ceremony was a
somber remembrance of those
who lost their lives, before and
after the ceremony was a chance
for the public to meet and inter
act with law enforcement.
Before capping the night with
fireworks, other festivities
included a meal with food
donated from local restaurants,
a bounce house and vehicles
from all kinds of law enforce
ment, including a Georgia State
Patrol helicopter landing on
McDonald and Sons’ front
lawn.
Commissioners,
residents discuss
Coal Mountain
Town Center
By Ashlyn Yule
ayule@forsythnews.com
Ahead of a public hearing scheduled for Oct. 20, District
4 Commissioner Cindy Jones Mills and representatives from
Toll Brothers held a community meeting to discuss the
details of the Coal Mountain Town Center.
More than 30 residents showed up to the meeting on Oct.
4 to hear details about the proposed development and voice
questions or concerns.
The Coal Mountain Town Center, which has not gone
through finalized naming, is a mixed-use development on
about 140 acres stretching from highways 396 and 9, and Set-
tingdown and Martin roads.
The development is proposed to include 73,300 square feet
of retail space, 20,200 square feet of office space, 300 multi
family units or apartments, 219 townhomes and 261 single
family lots. The development is also accounting for about 36
acres of greenspace with a natural trail network throughout.
On Oct. 20, commissioners will hear the county-initiated
request to rezone the 140-acre property from agricultural,
single-family residential, multi-family residential and com
mercial business districts to master planned or mixed-use
center district.
At the Oct. 4 community meeting, Mills began by explain
ing her vision for the town center.
“I’m 60 years old and I’ve lived here all my life, and .. in
my growing up days, I never saw Coal Mountain becoming
this,” Mills said.
When commissioners updated the county’s comprehen
sive plan in 2016, Mills said this area at the intersection of
highways 369 and 9 was shown as “the perfect site” for a
town center.
“That was when I really got to working on how [I can make
this] a town center when it’s all already zoned,” Mills said.
See Coal |2A
80/51
Forecast 12A
Catoberfest returns to raise
funds for cats in need. 5A
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Volume 113, Number 77
© 2022, Forsyth County News
Cumming, Georgia