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Holiday weekend makes few waves
Authorities report calm on lake, roads
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Forsyth County News

Public safety officials reported a relatively mild Labor Day weekend this year.

Cumming Police Chief Mike Eason said it was a "pretty good weekend" in the city, with no major accidents or incidents to report.

Rick Lavender of the Georgia Department of Natural Resources said activity on Lake Lanier was slower than past Labor Day holiday weekends.

He said there were no drownings on the lake, but one person was injured in a boating incident. In addition, seven people were arrested for boating under the influence.

Statewide, Lavender said, one person drowned in a private pond near Savannah.

The department reported 16 citations for boating under the influence across Georgia and seven boating incidents, five of which involved personal watercraft and one involving alcohol. There were no fatalities.

Forsyth County Fire Capt. Jason Shivers said it was business as usual this weekend.

"We had a number of medical incidents and motor vehicle accidents but nothing severe," Shivers said. "No structural fires, no issues on the lake whatsoever that I'm familiar with, no fireworks issues ... so a very good weekend."

Shivers said the most significant incident occurred about 5 p.m. Friday -- an hour before the holiday weekend officially started -- when a school bus carrying about 30 students collided with a vehicle on Atlanta Highway.

None of the children were injured, but the driver of the vehicle, 19-year-old Kristin Nicole Griffin of Alpharetta, was taken to North Fulton Hospital in Atlanta for what authorities said likely was a compound fracture.

Capt. Frank Huggins of the Forsyth County Sheriff's Office said the bus driver, 49-year-old Margaret Allen Harrison of Cumming, was cited for failure to yield.

He said Harrison was attempting to turn left onto Lexington Lane from the northbound lane of Atlanta Highway when the bus struck Griffin's southbound 2007 Hyundai.

Jennifer Caracciolo, spokeswoman for Forsyth County Schools, said the district had not taken any action against Harrison as of Tuesday morning.

Harrison has been employed with the system for about a year. Caracciolo said supervisors in the district's transportation department would review the situation.

Huggins said just one of about 18 wrecks that happened between 6 p.m. Friday and midnight Monday resulted in injuries.