Newspaper Page Text
the Monroe County
www.mymcr.net • VOL. 38 NO. 38 • USPS 997-840
Forsyth, Ga. 31029 • Wednesday, September 17, 2008 • 4 Sections, 36 Pages • 75$
Inside
Fall Home
& Garden in
Monroe Co.
See B Section
Sports
Bulldogs
pass first
region test
See Page 1C
Volleydogs
bounce back
See Page 2C
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City names two finalists
After 4-year vacancy, administrator post may finally be filled
BY WILL DAVIS
Either a city planner from
Milledgeville or a
former housing
director from
Fulton County may
be named Forsyth's
new city adminis
trator next week.
The city named
the two finalists for
the job last
Tuesday after two
other contenders
withdrew from consideration. The
finalists are Russell Thompson, a
28-year-old planner and special
projects manager for the city of
Milledgeville, and
49-year-old Camilla
Johnson Moore, who
retired last year as
the director of the
Fulton County
office of housing,
community and eco
nomic development.
TH0MSPS0N Council ma y name
one of the two at a
called meeting Sept.
23, said acting city administrator
Janice Hall. The council has left
the city administrator position
vacant for about three years after
Deron King and the city parted
ways. Officially the city clerk,
Hall has been serving as the
administrator in the meantime.
Moore is a Forsyth native and
Mary Persons graduate, and also
happens to be the wife of Union
City Mayor Ralph Moore. She
served as director of Housing and
Community Development for the
Fulton County Board of
Commissioners before retiring in
2007. Since then, Moore has
served as vice president of her
husband's consulting firm, Caram
and Associates, acting as a con
sultant to the state of South
Carolina on housing issues.
She said returning home to
work in Forsyth would be a per
fect fit for her.
"This would be great," said
Moore. "To go back to the place of
my birth and share the gifts and
experience I have received."
Moore said her upbringing and
educational foundation in Forsyth
are what have allowed her to
have the kind of career she's had.
Moore went on to earn her under
graduate and masters degree
See CITY page 7A
MOORE
BUMP THE
BUMP0UTS?
Several citi
zens at a
Streetscape
town hall
meeting said
the idea of
bumping out
the sidewalks
into the road
is not a good
one.
(Photo/Gina
Herring)
t seems like they're trying to shove something on us
' + u ~ve anybody involved. They haven't consulted an
- Chuck Matich, co-owner of Ann’s Deli
Crowd pans city
sidewalk plan
BY LAURA THACKSTON
AND WILL DAVIS
Monroe Countians don't like plans to
extend downtown sidewalks into the
street, and that means the downtown
streetscape improvements, already five
years in the making, are on hold again.
Fifty Monroe County residents piled
into the Welcome Center last week to
oppose plans to install so-called
bumpout curbs and extend sidewalks
into existing roadways on the court
house square.
They met with city officials for almost
two hours last Monday at a town hall
meeting to discuss how to improve the
streetscape plan. About 15 residents
spoke in opposition to the current plan.
That means the downtown streetscape
plan will likely be pushed back even
further. Engineers are expected to re
draw the design and bring it back to
the city for more review.
The latest design had called for bump-
outs on the corners of the square. The
bumpouts would occupy about 5-10 feet
of roadway, which engineers say would
make the square more handicap acces
sible and pedestrian friendly. But
before installing the paved curbs and
sidewalks, Mayor Tye Howard suggest
ed putting out bags full of bark and
traffic cones as a test, and they've been
See PLAN page 2A
Relief for
Evans?
Retreat
finally set
BY WILL DAVIS
It’s past
his dead
line, but
commis
sioner Jim
Peters says
if a retreat
planned for
Sept. 24-25
goes as
planned,
he’ll drop
criminal
charges
against commissioner
Larry Evans.
Peters had said in early
August that
he’d drop
criminal
charges
against
commis
sioner
Larry
Evans if
the board of
commis
sioners held
a retreat to
hash out
See RETREAT page 7A
EVANS
State honor for
Welcome Center
The Welcome
Center in Forsyth
received the 2008
Tourism Champion
Award for Product
Development at
the Georgia
Governor’s
Conference on
Tourism in Albany
on Friday, Sept. 12.
Gov. Sonny Perdue
presented the
award to Beverly
Walter, director of
tourism for the
Forsyth-Monroe
County Chamber
of Commerce, who
accepted the award
on behalf of the
community.
The Tourism
Champion Award
for Product
See WELCOME
page 7A
HIGH HONORS: Chamber president
Tiffany Andrews and Mayor Tye Howard
hold the award for the restored City Hall.
Lock me up officer: Man demands jail
If Forsyth is Mayberry,
then a local man made
his pitch to be “Otis” on a
recent Wednesday night.
Charles Wisebaker, 48,
of Forsyth was arrested
at 11 p.m. on Wednesday,
Sept. 3 after repeatedly
calling police and asking
them to take him to jail.
Here's what happened,
according to the Forsyth
Police Department report:
Sgt. Darryl Bittick was
dispatched to the corner of
Kimball and Adams
streets twice on Sept. 3 as
Wisebacker was wanting
to go to jail. Bittick told
Wisebaker that police
don't take people to jail
just because they want to
WISEBAKER S°- when he offered to
drive Wisebaker home or to
call a friend to take him to the
hospital, Wisebaker said he just
wanted to go to jail. Since he was
n’t being a nuisance, Bittick said
he wasn't taking him to jail and
left.
But Wisebaker continued to call,
dialing the Monroe County
Sheriffs Office and the Forsyth
Police Department at least six
times each, demanding someone
come take him to jail. Bittick had
the dispatcher send an ambulance
to the scene, but Wisebaker told
them he didn't want to go to the
hospital. When Bittick was called
to the scene again, the suspect
started cursing at him and
showed signs of being highly
intoxicated. Finally, he got his
wish. Wisebaker was arrested for
public drunkenness and taken to
the Monroe County Jail.
