"High-Rise" Window Cleaning Company Goes To Pot

Water leak leads to drug bust - Suspected pot found at office: A water leak in a South Forsyth business complex late last week led to the discovery of an apparent marijuana-growing operation. Derrick Eads (pictured), 50, of Sugar Hill was arrested Thursday by the Forsyth County Sheriff’s Office and charged with one count each of manufacturing marijuana, possession with the intent to distribute and possession of marijuana more than an ounce. Eads was released Thursday night from the Forsyth County Detention Center after posting $33,330 bond, a jail spokeswoman said.

Authorities were called to Eads’ residential window-cleaning business off Union Hill Road after a maintenance worker discovered several marijuana plants in various stages of growth. Forsyth County Sheriff Ted Paxton said investigators got a search warrant for the suite, where they discovered 151 plants. “We don’t see much evidence of any window works going on in there,” Paxton said. He said authorities also found an expired business license inside the building for Georgia Window Works that reflected a different suite number than the one from which Eads was operating.

He said a neighboring business noticed water leaking into their facility from somewhere else and called a maintenance worker to check it out. The worker tracked the leak back to Eads’ business, where he found the plants and called authorities. The leak, Paxton said, apparently came from a large, plastic, makeshift aquarium that had overflowed. “That’s where the ‘mishap’ occurred,” Paxton said. Authorities found about 50 to 75 goldfish in the container.



From the desk of Derrick Eads, owner Georgia Window Works, Inc.

Several years ago I knew a man by the name of Jim Eggert. Jim owned 7 dry cleaners and out of nowhere, sold 6 and kept the last one as an owner-operator. At the time I was convinced he was doing something he would terribly regret…. but now I understand just how bright he really was. In 1993 we had 1 store. By 1996 we had expanded to operations in Texas and Florida. We had columnists from Entreprenuer and Small Business magazines wanting to do articles on our company, and offers to buy our company from Ohio to Oklahoma. We had it all, or so we thought.

Like most of the things I have learned in my life, I have learned the hard way that being bigger does not automatically mean being better, that emotionally and financially a well managed 1 location business beats multiple locations hands down....and like Jim and his dry cleaners, and to the dismay of our family and friends, as of January 1998 Window Works was once again a local 1 office company. Ironically, my family, our employees and our customers, have never been happier. It has also become apparent that we are now more organized, more efficient and more service oriented than we have ever been. It is a wonderful feeling and I suppose if we had to go through all that we have to get here, so be it.

Jim obviously was much wiser than I gave him credit for. To this day I can still hear him say "...Regardless of the business... if you offer a product or service at a reasonable price. If you don't cheat or lie to your customers. If you do what you told them you would and treat them like something more than a number,.... they will knock your doors down to do business with you..." Somewhere, that should be written in stone. We look forward to servicing you.
Derrick Eads, Owner, Window Works!