By DAVE HAMRICK
dhamrick@thecitizennews.com

A ministry that works to put homeless people back on their feet is not giving up in its struggle to keep from joining the ranks of its clients.

Chariots of Fire Ministries will try to convince at least one Fayette County commissioner to change his or her vote on the organization's request to hook onto Clayton County sewerage, said John Ford, a local Realtor who is on the group's board of directors.

“I hope to get some cooler heads together, sit down and draw up documents that will satisfy the commissioners that they won't be setting a precedent,” said Ford.

Somewhat hotter supporters of the ministry and its director, Bishop Luther Graham, want to launch a full-scale protest with civil rights-style demonstrations, said Ford. “We're trying to head off demonstrations,” he said, “because that would be creating a situation that would worsen our chances of getting a satisfactory conclusion to this.”

Graham recently bought a home on Ga. Highway 138 on the Fayette side of the Clayton/Fayette border to house his family and provide office space for the ministry. He knew there were problems with the home's septic system, he said, but added that when he made the purchase he thought those problems could be solved.

Even when a new septic system failed to stop raw sewage from seeping out of the ground, he said, Graham thought he would be able to hook onto Clayton County's sewer system, because a sewer line is directly across the street, and an easement runs right by his 2.5-acre property.

But Clayton can't extend a tap-on across the county line onto Graham's property without Fayette County's permission, and county commissioners voted 3-2 to refuse that permission.

Fayette has a decades-old policy of encouraging low-density residential development, and having sewerage widely available in unincorporated areas of the county would have the opposite effect, commissioners say. If Clayton serves Graham's property, he can then allow others to tap on and sewerage will proliferate in north Fayette, commissioners said.

Graham pointed out that the County Commission broke that policy recently when it allowed Clayton County to provide sewerage for Our Lady of Mercy Catholic High School, just down the street from Graham's home. He added he is willing to sign an ironclad contract promising not to allow any future sewer tap-ons, just as the Catholic school did.

According to county health officials, building yet another septic system won't solve Graham's problem, because there is too much rock on the property. Buying adjacent land might be an option, but Graham said he has not been able to negotiate a purchase.

Meanwhile, Chariots of Fire supporters are paying to have the current septic system pumped out weekly, to prevent anymore outbreaks of leaking sewage. Another outbreak could bring a Health Department order to stop using the home's plumbing altogether.

Ministry supporters were outraged last week when they received a Health Department missive saying that the septic system should no longer be pumped out. But in an interview with The Citizen, health inspector Robert Kerbis said the letter wasn't intended as an order to stop pumping out the system, but simply as a warning that a permanent solution needs to be found soon.

“That option is closed and we need to come to a long-term solution,” said Kerbis.

In order for the County Commission to reconsider the matter, at least one of the commissioners who voted to deny Graham's request must agree to put the issue back on a future agenda.

Ford said he is lobbying commissioners in hopes that will happen.

For information or to make tax-deductible conributions to Chariots of Fire Ministries, phone 770-996-0076.