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The Monroe County Reporter
Forsyth, Georgia
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April 25, 2012     The Monroe County Reporter
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April 25, 2012
 
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April 25, 2012 0000porter PAGE 3A The Rose re-opens "K/ng & I' to ,00ickoff w z th G n'ts fundraiser The Rose Theater will host " its first performance since the March 19 fire when 'Ihe King & r' opens on Friday. The play will actually open this Thursday with a special event to raise money for their neighbors, Grits Car6, whose owners and employees were devastated by the blaze. The cast will present the final dress rehearsal for 'The King & r' at 7:30 p.m. Beforehand, a wine, cheese and more reception will be hosted by Grits Car6 stall frem 6:30- 7:30 p.m. Attendees are invit ed to give a suggested dona- tion of $25 per person (cash only). Wayne and Terri Wetendorf and the Grits Caf team will be in.the lobby from 6:30-7:30 p.m. before curtain opens. Attendees are urged to arrive early as only 150 seats are available. For more infor- Rob Laukaitis, aka The King (think Yul Brynner), bows before Buddha amongstthe King's children during rehearsals Monday. mation call/leavg a message at 994-0443. All donations will benefit the Grits Caf6 staff. Meanwhile, the "King & r' will be presented at 8 p.m. on April 27-28 and at 2 p.m. on April 29 and then again at 8 p.m. qn May 3-5 and at 2 p.m. on May 6. (see page 8B for more). The cast includes Rob Laukaitis as king, Elizabeth Hunter as Anna Leonowens, Faith Peavey as Louis Leonowens, Naomi Sanders as Prince Chalongkorn, Gina Smith as Lady Thiang, Ash]eigh Slaughter as Princess Y'mg Yaowalak, Caitlyn Douglass as Tuptim, Derndon Collier as LunTha, Bill Calhoun as The Kralahome, Alan Ralph as Captain Oron, Frank Wilder as The Interpreter, Nathan Watson as Sir Edward Ramsay and Jeffrey Howard as Phra Alack. The KingCs Children are Ava Adams, Emily Atkinson, Abby Banks, Jackie Gore, Laura Kendrick, Eliot Laukaitis, Ashleigh Slaughter, Christopher Slaughter, Jan Thomas Smith and Richard Smith. The King's Wives are Tiffani Dean, Madison Hammersley, Lydia Harrell, Beverly Savage, Lori Smith, Heather Starr, Stacy Starr and Meg Strickland. The Amazons are Libbie Adams, Glenda Fowler, Ladonna Olivieri and Mary Ellen Strickland and Guard/Deckhand is Ernle Strickland. The director is Alan Ralph, music director is Kelli Gilstrap, managing director is Tullye Ralph and musicians are Janice Veal, piano and Keith Jones, per- cussion. County O Ks 5 percent budget cut BY RICHARD DUMAS ' Monroe County commissioners ten- tatively approved a nearly $20.8 mil- lion budget for 2012 Tuesday, a 5 percent cut from 2011. The new budget includes an expected surplus of $648,000, since 2012 revenues are projected at just over $21.4 million. Monroe County finance director Kim Romine said the biggest budget cut came from the water depart- ment, where the county recently refinanced a Public Facilities Authority bond that will reduce the department's bond interest expenses from a projected $1 million in 2011 to just $491,000 in 2012. Another substantial cut came from the solid waste department, where a new cell was built at the county landfill last year. The cell cost was budgeted at $600,000 in 2011, and the actual cost of the project was $30.3,000. Now that the cell has been installed, that cot will not be incurred in 2012. Monroe County commissioners voted last year to maintain the mill- age rate at 9.431 mills rather than to increase taxes, which made creat- ing a budget more challenging. County commission chairman James Vaughn said the budget was nearly finalized several months ago when the county learned that it could call in the aforementioned water service bonds that had been outstanding for several years. Vaughn said the decrease in interest payments as a result of the refinanced bonds made up much of the remaining difference needed to finish up the budget. Vaughn also said the county bud- geted less payments to the Macon Water Authority (MWA) in 2012 as a result of an' agreement between the two entities earlier this year that reduces the amount Monroe County will pay MWA for water for its south system. Monroe County originally budgeted $681,000 in MWA payments in 2011, but actually paid $858,000 by year's end. The county has only budgete d $535,000 See BUDGET page 6A Pack continued from the front companies since July 2011 for failure to pay more than $50,000 in bills. FIA Card Services sued Pack July 5, 2011 seeking to recover $27,716 in unpaid charges. In December, Pack agreed to a consent order signed by Judge Thomas Wilson to pay $500 per month until the debt is paid. Pack has yet to settle a separate lawsuit filed by Capital One Bank seeking an additional '$25,116 in unpaid credit bills fried against him Dec. 9, 2011. Pack was paid approxi- mately $142,382 in 2010-11. He responded to the lawsuit with a letter filed in Monroe County superior court Jan. 6, 2012 saying he doesn't feel like he owes the amount they're seeking. He com- plained of high fees, and high and changing interest rates. Pack wrote that his family has experienced "great" financial difficulty" since July 2006. He noted he left his job as an assistant superintendent in Liberty County, Ga. for one in Maryland in 2006 because he was about to lose his job due to changes in the p01iti- cal climate there, noting he didn't have tenure. Pack wrote that they were unable to sell their home in Georgia but that things were going well in Maryland and he had a 4-year contract so they bought a home there. But then, wrote Pack, two members of the school board who had supported him did- n't seek re-election, leaving him without job security. That's when he took the job here as Monroe County superintendent in 2008. Pack said his family used all their savings and retirement funds to try to keep up pay- ments on both houses. Nevertheless, he wrote that they lost their home in south Georgia to foreclosure and still had the house in Maryland up for sale. Pack said in the filing that he contracted with Legal Helpers Debt Resolution to avoid bankruptcy and make arrangements with credi- tors, noting the company ha d arranged a $500 per month payment plan with another credit card compa- ny. He asked Capital One for a similar resolution. "My wife and I are com- pletely imbarrassed (sic) by what has happened to us," concluded Pack. "Again we have used all our savings and almost all retirement accounts we had access to try to keep paying every- thing until at least one of the two houses sold. At this time, all I can ask is for the opportunity to continue to pay Legal Helpers and allow them to seek resolution with • creditors." As of presstime no filings had been made to suggest the lawsuit had been resolved. Pack told" the Reporter Friday that his job is to make sure personal things. don't affect his work and that he's done that. He said there are a lot of people in these economic times in tough situations, and said he and his wife are fortu- nate because they both have jobs. Pack's current 3-year contract runs through June 2013. His wife, teacher Rebecca Pack, made $57,204 in 2010-11, according to a state of Georgia website list- ing all salaries of state workers. Pack is not the only public official facing financial prob- lems. The home of Forsyth city council member Desi Hansford was advertised as being under foreclosure in March in the Reporter's public notices. The mortgage company Taylor, Bean & Whitaker had begun sale under power proceedings against Hansford for failure to make payments on a $55,800 mortgage on the home at 377 Brookwood Drive in Forsyth. The auc- tion for the home, which Hansford bought on Nov. 17, 2006, was set for April 3 on the courthouse steps. Hansford makes $42,000 per year as the sports direc- tor at the Monroe County Recreation Department. And this newspaper reported last year that the state of Georgia had liens on the home of county commis- sioner Larry Evans for $35.000 in unpaid state taxes and late fees dating back to the 1980s. Evans told the Reporter in March 2011 that he does owe some back taxes but said it wasn't as much as the state claimed. "It's all a big mix up," Evans told the Reporter last 11iOPi00 FOiiii Car Rentals NOW AVAILImLE g78-g-T966 268 Harold G.¢lalke Pkwv.- Irsvth .t¢eptord.cQm .year. He said he was working with the state to get it set- tled. 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