Newspaper Page Text
Page 6A
February 9, 2022
IN LOVING
Linda Ruth Warren
January 18, 1946 - February 2, 2022
Linda Ruth Warren passed away
Wednesday, February 2,2022. Funeral
services were held at 11:00 a.m„ Satur
day, February 5,2022, at Rock Springs
Church with burial in the church cem
etery Rev. Craig Walden officiated. The
family greeted friends one hour before the
service began.
Linda, the daughter of Jack Atkinson
and Ruth Bennett Atkinson was born Jan. 18,1946, in
Atlanta. Her husband, James Claude Warren, preceded
her in death. She graduated from Jonesboro High School.
She was a devoted wife, mother, grandmother, and great
grandmother. She was a homemaker, enjoyed garden
ing and taking care of children in her home for many
years. She was a devoted Christian and a member of Rock
Springs Church.
Survivors include her children, David Warren (Lauren)
of Forsyth and Lisa Lawson (Barry) of Monroe County;
brother, Ralph Atkinson (Vanessa) of Forsyth; sister,
Cheryl Whatley (Randy) of Forsyth; nine grandchildren;
and one great grandchild.
Please visit www.monroecoimtymemorialchapel.com to
express tributes.
Monroe County Memorial Chapel has charge of ar
rangements
CRYPTO
Continued from Front
rency mining operation at
East Main Street/Berner
Ave.
The new city hall, which
held its ribbon cutting in
September, saw its meeting
room fill to capacity and
overflow as more than 75
people came to the council
meeting, almost all of them
to voice objection to Wat-
tum Hostings cryptocur
rency mining project near
downtown Forsyth.
Ten opponents came
to the podium and told
council why it should deny
the re-zoning. Some of
them were well known to
council and had spoken
to it on various topics over
the years while others
were visibly nervous about
speaking before the crowd
but summoned the courage
to say what they felt needed
to be said.
Darren Latch, who lives
near the proposed mine
and led opposition to it,
presented council with a
petition that he said was
signed by 100 percent of
those who live in the area
that would be affected.
“Its the first tune I’ve ever
seen a whole community
come together,” he said.
“This is something that will
affect everyone.”
Latch had said the previ
ous day that in spite of the
outcome of the council
meeting, the proposed
project had at least had the
positive result of bring
ing neighbors together to
talk with one another and
become united in their
concern for their neighbor
hood.
“There’s a pride in this
neighborhood, please don’t
destroy that,” Latch said
to close his remarks to the
council, receiving applause
from the crowd. “This is
our lives.”
The issue was that Wat-
tum wanted to locate eight
containers of computers on
the backside of a 1.8-acre
tract behind trees and
shrubbery. The comput
ers and mechanisms to
cool the computers require
electricity many tunes over
what is needed by homes or
other businesses or indus
tries. The site fits Wattum’s
needs because it is adjacent
to an electrical substation
and Forsyth has the 10-
12,000 megawatts of power
needed for the project avail
able.
Forsyth stood to profit
greatly from the sale of
electricity to a business that
would require minimal ser
vices from the city. It reaped
over $2 million from selling
electricity to a cryptocur
rency mining operation in
Adel, and that was Forsyth’s
share as a partner with six
other cities selling electric
ity to Blockstream for the
Adel operation. Wattum
said the project would cre
ate 20-30 jobs in Forsyth,
plus the positive economic
impact during the con
struction phase.
But neighbors said after
doing research on the new
technology they learned
that computers and the fans
that cool them run con
tinuously, and they produce
constant noise. While the
noise is basically a “white
noise” that wouldn’t draw
notice for a few minutes, to
have it continue non-stop
24/7 is disruptive to quality
of life and possibly detri
mental to physical, mental
and emotional health
according to those dealing
with it at existing crypto
currency mining farms.
There is also the question
of the long-term effects on
the power supply of crypto
mining’s huge draw on
electrical resources. Would
it limit future growth in
Forsyth? Reportedly Ka
zakhstan, a country once at
the top of the list for crypto
mining, has had to cut
back on mines because of
problems with its national
power grid. There are re
lated questions of environ
ment^ impact on wildlife
and children.
Representing Wattum,
Nathaniel Persky said there
are many different com
panies involved in crypto
mining and acknowledged
that some are operating
without consideration for
communities. He described
ways Wattum plans to
mitigate noise and impact
and said Wattum has had
no unresolved complaints
or litigation at any of its
cryptocurrency mining
farms. He said Wattum
wants to be a good neigh
bor in Forsyth.
Among those speaking,
Joan Wachter gave one of
the briefest but most poi
gnant statements to coun
cil. She said that she lives in
the little house closest to the
site planned for the crypto
mining farms. She said she
had retired after 37 years of
work, her husband passed
away and she bought the
house to spend her retire
ment years close to town.
She moved in a few
months ago and began re
modeling, planning that the
house will be her daughter’s
inheritance. She said that
if the noise keeps her from
sleeping, that’s not too bad
since she’s retired, but if
no one wants to live in the
neighborhood and prop
erty values plummet it will
be devastating for her.
Latch and his wife, April,
have also remodeled their
•Reporter
Nettie Lunsford Parker
December 24, 1939 - February 5, 2022
Nettie Lunsford Parker, 82, of Forsyth,
passed away on Feb. 5,2022 after an ex
tended battle with Alzheimer’s.
Nettie was born on Dec. 24,1939 to Titus
and Magnolia Lunsford. After graduat
ing from Mary Persons High School in
1957, she went on to spend 30 years of her
professional career as a parapro within the
Monroe County school system, impacting
countless lives along the way. After retiring, she spent her
time enjoying her grandchildren and personal hobbies,
and dedicating time to the church.
Nettie is survived by Danny, her husband of more than
53 years, three children, Ben Crutchfield, Ty (Rhonda)
Parker, and Barbara (Jeff) Dean, 12 grandchildren, and 4
great-grandchildren. She is also survived by her three sib
lings, Charles Lunsford, Patricia Purser and Martha Carr.
Services were held at Monroe County Memorial Chapel
on Tuesday, Feb. 8. The family greeted friends follow
ing the service. Burial was private in Monroe Memorial
Gardens.
In lieu of flowers, please consider making a donation to
a charity of your choice.
Please visit www.monroecoimtymemorialchapel.com to
express tributes.
Monroe County Memorial Chapel has charge of ar
rangements
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home and say they intend
to live the rest of their
lives there and bequeath
it to their children. Dean
Clements talked about
his family’s investment in
the neighborhood and its
historical significance, with
historic homes nearby that
can’t be replaced. One of
those homes belongs to
Howell Newton, who also
spoke to council.
“I know the city is in the
business of selling electric
ity, but this is not your
primary responsibility’ said
Newton. “I’m asking you to
deny it. Please don’t table
it. We don’t need it. If your
home was next to it, would
you approve it?”
Neighbor Libby King
spoke of how contradictory
information from Wat
tum has been and how she
doesn’t feel council should
trust the company to follow
through on what it says it
could do to deal with noises
and other concerns going
forward.
Corbin Dodd lives a little
way from the planned site,
on Sunset Terrace, but had
spent a lot of time research
ing cryptocurrency and the
impact of mining opera
tions.
“This is so wasteful; it
produces nothing,” he said.
^Energy won’t be cheap for
long unless they’re willing
to invest in infrastructure
[for Forsyth], The rich get
ting richer is not a good use
of our energy”
George Emami and Otis
Ingram, who both own
rental houses and property
near the site, and a woman
from Carrollton who owns
property on East Main
Street, all said the crypto
currency mine would have
on property values and how
the information provided
by Wattum isn’t convinc
ing as to what can be done
about the noise.
Persky responded by
emphasizing that Wattum
has no connection with
Blockstream, particularly
its Adel site, and wants to
make sure it is a good
neighbor. He apologized for
not having more data avail
able for neighbors sooner
and said he has worked to
get data together as quickly
as possible. He said he had
hoped to have more people
come and talk with him
one-on-one at at question-
and-answer meeting he
offered on Feb. 6. He said
speculation of Wattum
expanding the Forsyth site
once it was approved are
unfounded.
“We are defined by the
amount of power there,” he
said.
Persky said when he
called an adjacent land
owner about leasing three
acres, the intention was
only to move the comput
ers further away from the
road, not to put in more
computers. He said the
standard power bill for each
machine is about $100/
month, about the same as
an average home.
Mayor Eric Wilson
allowed everyone who
wished to speak to do so
and didn’t impose any
tune limits on the public
comments. He did ask
that speakers not repeat
points that had already
been made. After Wilson
closed the public comment,
council member Greg
Goolsby moved to deny the
rezoning. He said Wattum
had a good business plan
and the city could benefit,
but the location was wrong.
He said it was too bad the
city’s industrial park didn’t
fit Wattum’s needs.
“Were here to listen to
our citizens and we have
to go along with that,” said
council member Melvin
Lawrence. “We work for
you all, the citizens of
Forsyth.”
Lawrence asked for a
show of hands of those
opposed to rezoning, and
most of the hands in the
room were raised. Council
vote for denial was unani
mous.
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Forsyth, GA31029
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