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Crawfish & Catfish festival shuts down after permit denial By JAKE DRUKMAN jake@appenmedia.com
JAKE DRUKMAN/APPEN MEDIA
Forsyth County Director of Fleet Services Avery Gravitt presents the Board of Commissioners details about a proposed agreement with NAPA Auto Parts June 7. The agreement would see the company manage auto parts needs for the county’s vehicle fleet.
County approves parts contract Preliminary action could cut thousands in long-term costs FORSYTH COUNTY, Ga. — The Forsyth County Board of Commissioners tentatively approved an agreement for NAPA Auto Parts to provide parts for the county’s vehicle fleet June 7. Currently, the county maintains an in-house supply of auto parts that must
be inventoried and managed by county employees. Under the agreement, NAPA would fulfill all of the county’s auto parts needs with its privately owned stock. Director of Fleet Services Avery Gravitt told commissioners that the agreement would save money in the long term, reducing the need for Fleet Services staffing. He said the county currently has around $195,000 worth of auto parts inventoried, about a tenth of it obsolete and another third considered surplus inventory. Under the agreement, the county would only pay for parts when they’re needed.
Gravitt said the agreement would cost the county an estimated $168,000 per year, but the savings on managing a county owned auto parts inventory would exceed $250,000 annually. The state government maintains a statewide contract with NAPA, which allows local governmental entities to enter agreements with the company under the same terms negotiated by the state. Gravitt said NAPA also has such agreements with Forsyth County Schools, the Georgia Department of Transportation and surrounding counties including
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By JAKE DRUKMAN jake@appenmedia.com
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CUMMING, Ga. — The North Georgia Crawfish & Catfish festival, which was scheduled for June 4 and 5 at the Cumming Fairgrounds, was forced to shut down after health inspectors denied the event vendor a food permit. The festival’s event coordinator, Michael LaHaye, had gotten two Cajun-style chefs, Jonathan “Johnny Boy” Babineaux and Louisiana Sue, to fly in for the event. Babineaux was set to cook up the crawfish and seafood along with another chef, while Louisiana Sue served as an event consultant. LaHaye had also booked a number of live musical acts, including Ashton Brooke Gill, a Louisiana musician of “American Idol” fame. With the venue secured, entertainment booked and chefs set to cook the 1,500 pounds of crawfish he’d ordered, LaHaye expected the festival — the first he’d ever organized — to go relatively smoothly. That plan fell apart the morning of June 4, just as the event kicked off.
See FESTIVAL Page 4