Forsyth County headlines, school news, photos

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The sabre rattling between Forsyth County and the City of Cumming appeared to have ended Thursday when both sides gave tentative approval to a new multi-year water contract. Forsyth County and its 50,000 water customers had faced a Saturday deadline to reach an agreement or be subject to possible "dramatic increases" in their water rates.

Within a week, Forsyth County's 47,000 water customers could be paying "dramatically higher" rates if a deal is not struck for a new water contract with the City of Cumming. Two days after the city rejected the county's fifth offer, county commissioners put together a binding proposal late Thursday they hope Cumming officials will accept.

Forsyth County returned serve late Thursday by approving a binding offer to buy water from the City of Cumming. The offer, approved unanimously by the county commission, seeks to reduce the amount and cost of treated water it buys from the city. It also agrees to pay triple the current charge for untreated water for 15 years.

Emily Lam of SKA Academy in Duluth and Raquel Charles of Sequoyah High School in Cherokee County have received National PTA Reflections Outstanding Interpretation awards. Emily won for visual arts and Raquel won for dance choreography. Winners are chosen in six arts categories along with 188 awards of excellence and merit.

The Forsyth County Water and Sewer Department is mailing the 2012 Water Quality Report to county water and sewer customers with their bills this week. The report provides information from 2011 on where the county’s water comes from, what it contains and how it compares to standards set by the regulatory agencies.

A portion of Kelly Mill Road just west of Cumming will be closed to through traffic beginning May 28 as road crews reconstruct the culvert at Cheatham Creek. The road will be closed from Bethelview Road to Post Road for about 10 weeks. The project includes adding turn lanes, correcting grade deficiencies and installing curb, gutter and sidewalk on both sides of the road.

Just in time for summer, students at Sharon Elementary School in Suwanee are planting a garden in the campus courtyard. And what's growing? Interest, for one. Students, teachers, parents and local businesses have contributed time, money and supplies to build a unique 15,000-square-foot outdoor science classroom -- a mini-farm -- they hope will be used for generations.

Through two days of insults, recriminations and repeated interruptions, Forsyth County commissioners constructed a new offer Wednesday to buy water from the city of Cumming. After labeling an earlier proposal "astronomically crazy," Commissioner Todd Levent laid out his conditions before he would provide the vote needed to send the offer to the city.

Forsyth County's water future became murky Tuesday when county commissioners refused to accept the latest prices offered by the city of Cumming. They also refused to pass a counteroffer. The four voting members of the County Commission agreed to meet again Wednesday morning to hammer out a new proposal before the May 26 deadline.

Forsyth County would pay five times more for raw water but get a break on treated water if county commissioners approve a contract offer passed Monday by the Cumming City Council. The proposal could cost the county and its 47,000 customers about $100,000 more in annual rates and would also put them on the hook for an additional $11.

Forsyth County will mark completion of its first stream restoration project Monday. The project, inside Midway Park, was designed to improve overall downstream watershed conditions by stabilizing and restoring approximately 1,000 feet of degraded stream bank, using natural channel design methods.

Forsyth County will add five additional outdoor severe weather sirens throughout the county. The sirens will add to the county's coverage area, joining the 12 existing sirens already in operation. Installation is expected to be completed by the end of the summer.

Ten-year-old Sydney Fialkow is the winner of the National Uncle Ben’s Beginner’s contest! The fifth grader at the Epstein School in Atlanta won $20,000 and a $50,000 cafeteria makeover for her school. She was named the grand prize winner of the cooking and nutrition contest after more than 700 videos submissions and 45,000 votes.

Siemens and Habitat for Humanity – North Central Georgia recently dedicated the state's first Habitat solar home. The keys to the home on Union Hill Road in Forsyth County were presented to Melonie Lingo and her children, Madie and Luke, after 14 weeks of working with Siemens employee volunteers and Habitat construction crew leaders.

Forsyth County property owners should be receiving annual assessment notices within the next week. The Board of Tax Assessors will mail the notices Friday. Chief Appraiser Mary Kirkpatrick said the notices are not bills, but they do contain an estimate of tax obligations based on last year's tax rates.

A Fulton County judge denied bond Friday for a youth softball coach arrested and charged with sending sexually suggestive text messages to an underage former player, Channel 2 Action News reported. Robert Keith Payne is accused of sending several text messages to a 15-year-old girl who once played for him on the Georgia Stealth traveling softball team, Milton police said.

Forsyth County commissioners have agreed on a binding proposal to buy raw and treated water from the City of Cumming. The offer marks the first time in extended negotiations that the four county commissioners involved in the process have agreed on a single document to present to the city.

Forsyth County Sheriff Ted Paxton was honored for lifetime achievement recently by Georgia State University's Department of Criminal Justice and Criminology at the Andrew Young School of Policy Studies. The award is given annually in recognition of a GSU Criminal Justice alumnus who has excelled in the field.

A Forsyth County man was arrested Tuesday night on charges that he posed online as a teenage girl to elicit sexually explicit images from underage boys. Forsyth Sheriff's Deputies arrested Brendan J. Spaar at his residence in Cumming and charged him with four counts of child molestation, four counts of sexual exploitation of children and three counts of computer pornography, said sheriff's spokesman Capt.

Forsyth County commissioners agreed Tuesday to submit a binding proposal to buy raw and treated water from the City of Cumming. It's the first time in the extended negotiations that the four commissioners involved have agreed on a single offer to present to the city.

Sixteen college teams from Division I and Division II will be at area high schools this weekend for the 25th Southeastern Lacrosse Conference Championship. Action begins at 5:30 p.m. Friday with quarterfinal matches at South Forsyth, Northview, Chattahoochee and Alpharetta high schools.

Two teams from Duluth's Notre Dame Academy placed third and fifth at the Odyssey of the Mind state tournament. Team “Weird Science” coached by Susan Burns and Ken Lemons, placed third in their division. Fourth grade team members: Catherine Grace Sigman, Diana Robles and Elizabeth Slack, Kate Lemons, Madison Colletta and Stephanie Delancey.

Commuters in north Fulton got a lift Monday when Alpharetta opened the final leg of Westside Parkway, a north-south passage running parallel to Ga. 400. Transportation officials say they hope the new $4.2 million four-lane will take 30,000 vehicles a day off Ga.

Water talks between Forsyth County and Cumming have been pushed back again as the May 26 expiration of the current contract approaches. Forsyth buys water from Cumming, which is the only cost-effective option available to the county. The hangup is both the price and how the deal is structured.

It is early Tuesday morning at AutomationDirect.com, the industrial automation product distributor in Cumming, which means most of the 207 people on its payroll have packed the auditorium for a weekly one-hour meeting that bursts with the energy of a pep rally.

A Forsyth County intersection near Lake Lanier was closed Thursday after possible explosives fell off a truck, the sheriff's office said. The intersection of Shady Grove and Chattahoochee roads was temporarily closed while deputies and firefighters cleaned up the material.

A Roswell woman has filed a complaint with the State Attorney General's Office over an incident Tuesday in which she was ordered to turn off her video camera at the start of a Cumming City Council meeting. Nydia Tisdale of Roswell was at the meeting to follow water negotiations with Forsyth County.

Keep Forsyth County Beautiful is offering free document shredding to residents April 23-27 at Shredderman Document Destruction Service, 3605 North Parkway, Cumming. Personal papers, file boxes, CDs, DVDs, VHS tapes, empty prescription bottles and X-rays can be destroyed and recycled from 10 a.

Nearly 68 years after he helped rescue a battered landing craft and pull wounded soldiers to safety on D-Day, Johnson Waverly "Dub" Brown sat quietly at Cumming City Hall on Monday as family and dignitaries recited his heroics. Brown, 87, of Cumming, listened with the hint of a smile, seated next to his wife, Doris, whom he married March 25, 1943, the same day he enlisted in the Navy.

On person was killed and another injured in a head-on collision Sunday afternoon in Forysth County. The crash happened around 4 p.m. on Ga. 369 west of Dr. Bramblett Road, according to a Forsyth Sheriff's Capt. Tim House. House said there was one confirmed fatality, with a second person being airlifted to Atlanta Medical Center for treatment.

The bodies of a father and his teenage stepson were pulled from Lake Lanier late Saturday, Hall County police said. Jose Alfredo Benitez, 40, was trying to rescue Carlos Amaya, 14, his stepson, when both went under at Mountain View Park off Browns Bridge Road, said Sgt.

Forsyth County commissioners have forwarded three proposals to Cumming officials in the hopes of striking a deal for a new water contract. The current contract expires in late May. Commissioners Brian Tam, Patrick Bell and Todd Levent each submitted proposals adjusting the rate for treated water and the amount the county must buy.

A missing Forsyth runaway was located unharmed Thursday before noon. Forsyth County authorities had issued a lookout Wednesday afternoon for 15-year-old John “Calvin” Felso, considered an endangered runway. Felso had last been seen about 10 p.m. Tuesday in the Oakmont subdivision off Atlanta Highway, according to an email from the Forsyth County Sheriff’s Office.

Forsyth County commissioners delayed discussions on a new water contract with the City of Cumming Tuesday and voted to have talks on Thursday.  Commissioner Pete Amos, who operates A&A Water Company in Cumming, recused himself from the discussion after declaring last week he would participate.

A Cumming woman has pleaded guilty to taking part in what federal prosecutors call Missouri's biggest case of false claims for income tax refunds. The U.S. Attorney's office says 34-year-old Jennifer S. Wilson admitted participating in a nationwide scheme that sought to claim nearly $100 million in fraudulent refunds from the Internal Revenue Service.

The UPS Foundation has presented Habitat North Central Georgia with an $80,000 check to help build a Habitat home in the Villages of Park Creek neighborhood on the border of North Fulton and Cherokee counties. Construction will start in June, and UPS employees will provide all of the volunteer labor to build the home.

Area green businesses are sponsoring a free Earth Day celebration from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Friday at Solar Energy USA, 7565 Industrial Court Alpharetta. The event will feature solar-powered cars, giveways and raffles, waterless car washing and detailing, organic and locally grown food and a special guest appearance by Captain Planet.

Forsyth County has delayed a decision for a new water contract with the City of Cumming, a move that could affect water rates for 47,000 county customers. At a public hearing Thursday, the Forsyth County Commission voted unanimously to hold off on a decision to either ask the city for an extension of the current contract or hammer out an agreement before the May 26 deadline.

Forsyth County leaders will vote Thursday on whether to temporarily extend the county's current water agreement with the City of Cumming or duke it out now over a new deal before the May 26 contract deadline. The issue has divided residents and fractured relations among some county commissioners over whether the city is overcharging for the treated water it supplies to the county.

Michael Smith, a DeKalb Early College Academy student and track athlete, has earned a full athletic scholarship to Clemson University. Smith will graduate from DECA high school in May and receive an associate degree from Georgia Perimeter College. DECA allows gifted high school students to spend their last two years of high school on GPC’s Clarkston Campus, earning high school and college credits through dual enrollment.

The Forsyth County Fire Department is sponsoring free, week-long summer camps for students. Fire Camp, which is for students entering sixth grade, will be held June 4-8. Junior Fire Academy, for students entering seventh and eighth grade, will run June 18-22.

A Forsyth County man was arrested Monday and charged with the weekend burglary of a drug store in downtown Cumming. The burglary happened early Saturday morning at Goodson's Drugs on West Maple Street. Cumming police Sgt. Bryan Zimbardi said Christopher Moran "damaged and compromised an exterior door, and stole a large amount of controlled prescription medications.

Forsyth County Fire Chief Danny Bowman said Friday three responders to a January 911 call to the home of a woman where they found Forsyth County sheriff Ted Paxton apparently drunk, may be disciplined for violating department policy by not filing a more complete report that could have identified the sheriff.

Thanks to a pair of eighth graders from Cobb's Durham Middle  “Georgia Month” will be celebrated in September. Gov. Nathan Deal signed a resolution this week establishing September as the month for Georgia history and character education. BethAnn Shires and Ryan Mulkey came up with the idea of honoring the character and accomplishments of the state's founder, James Oglethorpe.

A North Georgia judge will resign from the bench amid an ethics investigation into whether she improperly used her position to try and help a Gainesville man who had been convicted of methamphetamine trafficking. Superior Court Judge Lynn Akeley-Alderman of the Enotah Judicial Circuit submitted her resignation letter to Gov.

Police have arrested a pair of men suspected in the robbery of a Cumming smoke shop. Elmer Mathews, 17, and John S. Posh, 21, both of Flowery Branch, are in the Forsyth County Detention Center awaiting bail proceedings, police said A gunman, allegedly Posh, entered Puff n Stuff at 410 Atlanta Road after 9:30 p.

Campers can soon set up their campsites in Forsyth County when Shady Grove Campground opens on Monday. The 109-acre campground has more than 110 campsites and features a beach and swim area, boat ramp with courtesy dock, group campsites with picnic shelters, playground, tent camping areas and campsites with water and 30 and 50 amp power hookups.

Gary Smith, director for the Lanier Technical College Foundation, has been named to the board of directors of the Lake Lanier Association. Smith formerly served as chairman of the Forsyth County Board of Elections and of the Forsyth County Republican Party.

A Cumming woman was killed Sunday afternoon in a motorcycle wreck on Ga. 400 in Dawson County. Georgia State Patrol spokesman Gordy Wright told the AJC that Krista M. Stein, 47, was a passenger on a northbound Harley-Davidson that collided with a Chevrolet Tahoe that was attempting to cross the northbound lanes of Ga.

Advanced Disposal Services has opened a $5 million recycling center at 5680 Shirlee Industrial Way, Alpharetta, in Forsyth County. "This single-stream facility will process between seven and 12 tons of material per hour, which makes it one of the largest facilities in the region,” said Charlie Gray, regional vice president.