CUMMING - The president of the Cumming-Forsyth County Chamber of Commerce has resigned after a second drunken driving charge in nine years.
Joni Owens' resignation became effective Monday.
She was recovering from injuries she sustained in an accident March 12th in south Forsyth County.
A sheriff's deputy found a cold, nearly empty bottle of champagne behind the front passenger seat of Owens' Mercedes convertible after authorities say she ran a stop sign and struck a sport utility vehicle.
The police accident report says a breath test at the scene indicated a positive result for alcohol.
A 1995 D-U-I charge against Owens was dropped after then-Sheriff Jerry Padgett wrote a letter to the court saying the breath-test machine was broken.
The arresting deputy said Owens failed a breath-alcohol test. He was fired, but then reinstated.
Owens resigned from the chamber but returned in the late 1990s.
Sunday
May 18th, 2025
1:23AM
