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Toombs County, GA Archives News Radio Stories |
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Jury Awards "Nominal" Damages to Florist
August 29-- A Toombs County
jury awarded nominal damages to a Vidalia
After hearing two days of testimony,
the jury deliberated for two hours and awarded
Vidalia Rotary Club "First" in State
Augugst 29-- The Vidalia Rotary
Club is the first and only Rotary Club in Georgia
VHS "SCORES" on SAT
August 28-- Vidalia High School
officials are happy with this year's Scholastic
Annexation Public Hearing
August 28-- The city of Vidalia
is planning a public hearing as its continues
In other actions at its meeting,
the council accepted a $30,000 grant to open a
MRMC Re-Elects Operating Board Officers
August 28-- The operating
board of Meadows Regional Medical Center has
Criminal Sentences
August 27-- A Toombs County
man got a prison term from Judge Cathy Palmer
In three drug related cases, Thomas
Dismukes, Everleen and Sherwanda McSwain
Kingston Wants War Consultation
August 25-- Making a campaign
swing through Toombs County on behalf
Montgomery County Tax Commissioner Cleared
August 23-- Montgomery County
Tax Commissioner Lawana Sharpe has been
Judge Mullis said that even though,
according to state law, Sharpe was not entitled to
The Montgomery County commissioners
have 30 days to appeal Judge Mullis'
Vidalia School Board Joins Sports Authority
August 23-- Local cities and
school boards are forming an authority to oversee
Horse Deaths Linked to West Nile?
August 22-- A Toombs County
veterinarian believes two recent horse deaths in
Dr. Bob Garbutt says lab tests conducted
at the state testing facility in Tifton
Another horse owned by Dr. Ben Neely
of Lyons also died and the remains were
Dr. Garbutt says the initial blood
test of the Meeks' horse, plus the fact the two horses
There is a vaccination regimen that
can be used to protect horses from viral
Youth Found
August 22-- A Lyons teenager
reported missing Wednesday was found
Trial Delayed
August 21-- The sexual assault
trial of a former girls softball coach at
Soperton Planning Annexation
August 21-- The city of Soperton
is making plans to annex more land into
Soperton is also buying just over
three acres of land off Highway 46 West from
This year is the 100th anniversary
of Soperton's city charter, and the mayor
Local Primary Winners
August 21-- Middle Judicial
Circuit Judge Walter McMillan won his tenth term
In Montgomery County, incumbent
school board chairman Randall Morris of
Voters in Soperton re-elected district
2 county commissioner Gerald Hooks over
In the Republican primary, Toombs
and Treutlen voters went big for Sonny Perdue
In the Democrat primary, former
Macon mayor Jim Marshall beat Chuck Byrd by
Head Start Grant To Toombs County
August 15-- The state of Georgia
has approved an application from the
DVA Facade Grant
August 15-- The Downtown Vidalia
Association has presented its second property
Economic Development Grants
August 14-- Toombs, Montgomery
and Wheeler counties are benefitting from
A $500,000 grant to Wheeler County
will go for building infrastruture at an
August 14-- People in Toombs
County are finding dead crows in their yards
Credit Card Tax Payments
August 13-- How would you
like to pay your property taxes by credit card?
In other actions, Toombs Commissioners
turned down a request from the
Voter Info
August 13-- A couple of voting
information matters for Tuesday's primary
Vidalia City Council
August 13-- After months of
negotiating, the city of Vidalia and Northland Cable
Names in the news...the Vidalia
city council has agreed to pay Bernard Hill $150
In other actions, the city council
is proceeding with plans to annex portions of the
Weekend Traffic Death
August 12-- A Vidalia man
died in a weekend traffic accident. The state patrol
Teenager Injured
August 10-- A 17-year-old
Toombs County girl is reported in critical condition
Police Chase Ends in Arrest
August 10-- Toombs County
Sheriff Junior Kight says a man accused of
More Counties Added to Disaster Declaration
August 10-- Farmers in more
area counties will be eligible for federal disaster
River Cleanup Results
August 10-- Sloppy people
continue to trash area rivers. The Ohoopee River Canoe
Teachers Get Classroom Cash
August 8-- Sixteen teachers
in the Vidalia City School System picked up
Lyons Council to Review Police Chief Applications
August 6-- Twenty-one people
have applied for the police chief's job in
A few years back, the Lyons Merchants
Association spearheaded rennovation
In other downtown Lyons news, Better
Hometown manager Joy Lewis says they
Montgomery County Commission Meeting
August 6-- Voters in Montgomery
County will go to the polls September 17th
In other actions, the Montgomery
County recreation program is being transferred to
Also, the county's annual audit
shows no material problems with the county's fiscal
Chemical Explosion
August 5-- Nobody hurt and
no damage, but a loud explosion Monday morning
Drug Busts
August 5-- Vidalia police
are charging two people with felony possession of
And in Toombs County, Sheriff Junior
Kight says deputies stopped a car for loud
Candler County Trying to Stop Private Landfill
August 5-- A concerned citizens
group in Candler County raised over $11,000
Medical Help for Uninsured Workers
August 3-- The new Million
Pines Health Clinic in Soperton is offering
Hulett Captured in Arizona
August 2-- The south Georgia
fugitive wanted in connection with a double
Eight Qualify for Toombs BOE
August 2-- Qualification closed
Friday for four Toombs County school board
Boy Killed, Another Injured
August 2-- A 15-year-old Wheeler
County boy died Thursday afternoon and
News Break - Vidalia Communications.
florist Thursday for problems with
phone service. Pearl Price Florist, operated
by Andy Thompson and his parents,
had sued Bell South alleging that phone
taps had been placed on their phones
and that phone service since 1994 had
been so bad that the shop had lost
business. Bell South denied the tap charges
and said that an open drop had
been left on the phone accidentally. The Thompson's
asked the court for $148,000 for
lost business and for $250,000 in punitive damages.
the Thompson's $5,500 for damages
and lost business. Andy Thompson, who testified
that the six years of phone problems
hurt his health and his family's, would only say
that he's glad it's over.
to have all of its members designated
as "Paul Harris Fellows" for contributions to
Rotary International. District
Governor Bruce Montgomery of Savannah praised
Vidalia Rotarians who each donated
$1,000 to Rotary's worldwide service projects.
The idea to get 100% participation
came up in 2000 during the club presidency of
Otha Dixon and came to fruition
in 2001 while Doug Baird was president of the
Vidalia Rotary Club.
Aptitude Test Scores despite newspaper
headlines ranking Georgia's scores 50th
in the nation. That's because
Vidalia students' scores are 25 points ahead of
the state average and only 15 points
less than the national average. School
principal Mitch Harrington says
you also have to remember that many states
only report SAT scores of their
top students while Georgia reports 65 percent
of its scores. This makes
it impossible to accurately compare scores from
different states, according to
Harrington. Average scores at Vidalia High School
are up this year in both math and
verbal tests. And for those students taking
college prep courses, their scores
are nearly 60 points higher than the national
average of 1,020.
the process of annexing more land
and homes into the city. The city council
voted Tuesday to hold a public
hearing September 24th for the annexation of
portions of Julie Drive, Forest
Lake Drive and the Bob Sharp Road.
new recycling center on Brinson
Road to replace the center now located on
Southeast Main, appropriated $40,000
to add Larry Drive to the Sharpstead
water and sewer project, and okayed
$4,500 to increase spraying to control
mosquitoes in the city.
named its officers for the new
fiscal year. Re-elected are chairman Ronnie
Stewart, vice chairman Wayne Brantly
and secretary Howard Hill.
Monday. Henry Louis Thompson
was sentenced to two years in jail and eight
years probation for aggravated
assault growing out an incident last December
when he fired a pistol at some
boys on the property of Tammy and Terry Allen
at 150 Neely Farm Road.
received five years on probation.
of republican Calder Clay in the
new third congressional district, Congressman
Jack Kingston called for President
Bush to consult with congress before launching
an attack on Iraq. Kingston
says congress doesn't need to know details of military
plans, but the president has a
constitutional obligation to explain the reasons for a
general war in Iraq. The
congressman also said he'd like to see jail terms for
corporate CEOs who plundered their
companies and wiped out pensions for workers.
At the same time, he admitted congress
has been taking money from social security
for years to finance other government
operations, and he said those funds should be
"barricaded" to keep them away
from government spenders.
cleared of any wrongdoing by Montgomery
County Superior Court Judge H. Frederick
Mullis. In a summary judgement
issued Tuesday, Judge Mullis ruled that Sharpe
would not have to repay commissions
on tags fees which were sold in her office.
The Montgomery County Commission
had sued to recoup over $80,000 which
they claimed Sharpe had collected
in violation of state law from 1990 til 2001.
receive the tag fees, she would
not have to repay them because neither she nor the
county auditor were aware that
she was violating the law until the county audit of
2001. The judge said there
was no deception or fraud on Sharpe's part, and since
the payments were voluntary, they
can't be recovered by the county. Her lawyer,
Howard Kaufold of Vidalia, said
it was like an employer overpaying an employee
for ten years and then trying to
reclaim the overpayment when the error was discovered.
decision and are expected to discuss
the matter at their September meeting.
construction of a new sports complex
between Vidalia and Lyons. Funding of the
project is coming from local sales
taxes. The first entity to sign what's called "The
Three Rivers Sports Complex Authority"
is the Vidalia school board which signed
the contract at its meeting August
20. Other signatories to the contract will be the
cities of Vidalia and Lyons and
the Toombs County Board of Education. The new
stadium will be shared by the Vidalia
Indians and the Toombs County Bulldogs.
Toombs County were caused by the
West Nile Virus. However, authorities at
the state veterinarian's office
in Atlanta are awaiting further tests before they'll
confirm West Nile as the cause
of death.
report that blood taken from a
horse owned by Terry Meeks of Lyons tested positive
for West Nile. Georgia officials
says they are awaiting more tests on the blood
which will be done at a national
lab in Ames, Iowa.
examined at the Vet School at the
University of Georgia in Athens. Dr. Carter Black
of the state veterinary office
says the exam showed the horse died from some type
of viral encepthalitis but they've
yet to determine what strain infected the horse.
were in herds within a quarter
mile of each other seperated by a mosquito-infested
swamp, convince him that West Nile
led to the death of both horses.
encephalitis, including West Nile,
and public health officials recommend that
horse owners contact their local
veterinarian for information on the shots.
unharmed Thursday. Police
say the 16-year-old boy identified as Michael
Anthony was at a friend's house.
He had been reported missing by his famly
after failing to return home from
school Tuesday.
Montgomery County High School has
been continued to a later date. Hector
Ramirez was scheduled to go to
trial Tuesday after being arrested last October
by the GBI for having sex with
a student. Montgomery County superior court
clerk says Ramirez's attorney requested
more time to interview some new
witnesses in the case. The
case could come to trial in February, according to
Newsome. Ramirez resigned
from his job in the school system after his
arrest last Fall.
the city. Mayor Greg Higgs
reports the city would like to extend the city limits at
least a half mile on the western
side of Highway 29. Various options to make it
happen are now being explored,
according to the mayor.
Nathaniel Baldwin of Soperton for
about $22,000. Mayor Higgs says the land
will be the site of a new city
well and water tank to serve residents in that area
and the city recreation fields.
says plans are being made for a
celebration leading up to its centennial date
of December 2nd.
on the Superior Court bench in
Tuesday's election. Challenger Macky Bryant
of Vidalia won only one of the
five counties in the district. He took his home
county of Toombs by more than a
thousand votes, but Judge McMillan won
convincingly in both Washington
and Jefferson counties and by several hundred
votes in Candler and Emanuel counties.
Uvalda was re-elected by a more
than two-to-one margin over challenger Sharon
Strickland in a contentious school
board race. Morris won 326 votes to Strickland's
157. In the race for chief
magistrate in Montgomery County, Mona Bell defeated
Kathy McCall 996 to 593, a margin
of 403 votes.
Steve Strickland by more than two-to-one,
212 to 86.
for governor over Linda Shrenko,
Mike Beatty edged out Steve Stancil for lieutenant-
governor, and Saxby Chambliss scored
large numbers locally for the Republican
senate seat nomination.
more than a hundred votes in Treutlen
County, and by more than 150 in Toombs
County. And local democrats
gave state school superintendent candidate Barbara
Christmas over 300 more votes than
her five opponents combined.
Toombs County commission for a
$500,000 community development grant
to build a new Head Start center
for the county's pre-schoolers. Commission
chairman Charles Rustin says he
hopes the new center will allow an increase
in enrollment to at least 125 children.
Andrea Durden, director of Toombs County
Head Start, says the new building
is much needed to replace the old classrooms
in the J.D. Dickerson Community
Center in Vidalia. She's hopeful a new building
will accomodate more kids from
Lyons and the county.
improvement grant of the year.
A $500 check was presented to Martha Horne to
help fund an awning on her Meadows
Street antique shop. Grant chairperson B.J.
Davis says any DVA merchant can
apply for the grants which are designed to keep
improving the appearance of downtown
Vidalia.
the One Georgia Fund designed to
help rural counties with economic development.
Tuesday in Moultrie, the One Georgia
Authority approved $224,000 to purchase
56-acres for an industrial site
near Ailey according to Johnny Clifton of the Montgomery
County Development Authority.
The land is being purchased from Billy Peterson
and will be jointly owned by Toombs
and Montgomery county commissions.
industrial site in Alamo.
Plus state representative Greg Morris of Vidalia says
Wheeler County will get a share
of $3,000,000 approved by the state to start
911 service in the county.
Crows Shipped for West Nile Virus Testing
and the birds are being shipped
off to see if they died from the West Nile
virus. Robert Thompson with
the Toombs County Health Department
says the crows will be tested at
labs in Athens and, if they test positive, local
health officials will be notified.
Thompson says a Bluejay found two years
ago in Toombs County tested positive
for the virus. The disease can be deadly
and is carried by mosquitoes.
Thompson advises area residents to use insect
repellant and to make sure there's
no standing stagnant water in their yards
which is a breeding ground for
mosquitoes.
Toombs County tax commissioner
Glenda Williams made the proposal to
the county commissioners at their
August meeting, and they took it under
consideration. Williams says
payment by credit card would be optional and
that several people have requested
such an option. If you pay by credit card,
it would cost you an extra 1.7%
to pay for card processing. Williams hopes to
have the new system in place in
time for tax bills which go out in October.
county health inspector for an
increase in various inspection fees, and appointed
commissioners Louie Powell and
Mel Taylor to investigate a complaint that
the county dirt pit is causing
silt in a nearby pond. The dirt is used by the
county road department.
elections. For Vidalia voters
who normally vote at the STC Adult Literacy Center
on Brinson Road, that building
is being rennovated and a portable classroom
is being placed at that location
for voting. And in Montgomery County, the old
voting building in Alston has been
torn down for the city to build a new city
hall at that location. So
Tuesday, if you normally vote in Alston, you'll vote
in the old bank building between
the Alston Saw Shop and the firehouse.
have signed a new franchise agreement.
The new deal will run through August,
2010. It includes a provision
for performance reviews every two years by the
city.
a month to providing counseling
to police officers and crime victims; Hughes
Threlkeld has been reappointed
chairman of the Vidalia Housing Authority; and
four members appointed to the onion
festival committee include Darren McClellan,
Lisa Adams, Alexa Chapman and Chari
Lothridge.
Bob Sharp Road and Forest Hill
Circle into the city; hopes to advertise for contractors
in the next few weeks to complete
stalled construction of the new airport terminal
building at the airport;
and city manager Bill Torrance has assured residents in the
Kenworth Street area that city
foggers are spraying to control mosquitoes which are
swarming the neighborhood.
reports 62-year-old James Stapleton
of Cadillac Drive was killed when his
vehicle overturned. Trooper
Steve Newson says Stapleton apparently hit a
guard rail and some trees near
the intersection of the Thompson Pond and
Lint Stevens Road northwest of
Vidalia.
following a wreck Friday afternoon.
Officials at Memorial Medical Center in
Savannah say Melinda Taylor of
the Cedar Crossing area is suffering from
serious head injuries. She
was flown to Savannah by Lifestar after her car
collided with a pickup truck near
John's Country Junction on U.S. One south
of Lyons.
setting fire to a mobile home early
Friday was caught after a high speed
police chase late Friday afternoon.
He reports Richard Salyer is accused of
torching a trailer where he lived
with his girlfriend on the Ben Roy McLendon
Road. Sayler is also wanted
in connection with a burglary at Sullivan
Environmental Services in Montgomery
County, and he was driving a stolen
car from Chatham County.
Sheriff Kight says Salyer was spotted on Highway
280 near Lyons and led police on
a high speed chase up Highway One. The
state patrol led by Sergeant William
Clark finally ran Salyer off I-16 near Metter.
He's currently in the Toombs County
Detention Center in Lyons.
loans. Congressman Jack Kingston
reports eight more counties are being
added to the primary disaster list
which already included Toombs, Montgomery, Tattnall
and Evans because of losses caused
by last February's freeze. The new
south Georgia counties include
Treutlen, Wheeler, Emanuel, Bulloch, Laurens,
Long, Pierce and Wayne counties.
Farmers in 22 other counties contiguous to the
freeze area may also have had damage
and will be eligible to apply for the low
interest loans.
Club organized a cleanup of the
Collins-Cobbtown area of the Ohoopee the end
of July. Club officials say
30 volunteers filled over 70 trash bags and collected all
manner of other castoffs including
a recliner, baby diapers, car parts, tires, carpets
and more. The club organizes
regular cleanups and you can help by contacting
Chad Barker at 538-9322.
checks Thursday from the Vidalia
Educational Foundation to help pay for classroom
expenses not funded elsewhere.
For the third year in a row, the foundation
presented mini-grants under its
"Bright Lights" program. Six teachers from
J.D.Dickerson Primary School got
cash totaling $1430. At Sally Meadows,
three teachers were awarded over
$600 for their classes. Eight hundred dollars
went to three teachers at Vidalia
High School, and $850 went to four classrooms
at J.R. Trippe Middle School.
Since 2000, the foundation has awarded over $17,000
in classroom grants to Vidalia
teachers.
Lyons. Mayor John Moore and
the city council will hold a special meeting
Tuesday night to review the applications
and come up with a short list. The
goal is to have a new chief on
board by early October. Jack Caves has been
serving as interim chief since
Jim Reid left the job several months ago.
of the Lyons train depot.
Now they're ready for phase two. At Tuesday night's
city council meeting, Kip Hart
briefed council members on plans to develop a
green space and 1,000 foot walking
trail from the depot to downtown Lyons.
Councilman Drayton Oliver agreed
to serve as the council's liaison to the depot
restoration committee which is
now seeking some grant money to help design
the project.
hope to have the future art gallery
building at the corner of U.S. One and 292
rennovated by November. And
she announced a 9/11 memorial service will be
held at the Blue Marquee Theater
the night of Wednesday, September 11.
to decide if they want to continue
a one percent special purpose local option
sales tax. County commissioners
passed a resolution Tuesday calling for the
election which they hope will raise
$3 million over a five-year period. The money
will be earmarked for roads, streets
and bridges; capital recreation projects; retirement
of debt for solid waste facilities;
and about $270,000 would be shared by the county's
six towns for their own capital
expenditures. The money would be prorated based on
each town's population and provide
$147,000 for Mount Vernon, $40,000 for both
Ailey and Uvalda, nearly $24,000
for Higgston, $12,000 for Alston, and $7,500 for
Tarrytown.
the county school system and the
city of Mount Vernon. Commission chairman Arnie
Calhoun says the school system
will run the rec league football and basketball programs,
while T-ball and softball leagues
will be run by the City of Mount Vernon which is also
taking responsibility for the J.M.
Fountain Park.
operations, and commissioners appointed
Martin Moses to the county development
authority and Sheryl Thompson to
the county library board.
in downtown Vidalia got everyone's
attention. City manager Bill Torrance was
holding a department head's meeting
in city hall when the window's shook. He
says they thought an electrical
transformer had exploded, but it turned out to
be a chemical reaction in a pesticide
which overheated sitting in cannisters on the
sidewalk outside of Thompson's
Farm Supply. Police and firemen responded and the
debris was cleaned up.
marijuana with intent to distribute.
Officer Milton Smith says 26-year-old
Dwanye Kirkland and and 20-year-old
Terri Ann McGray, both of Vidalia,
were arrested with a pound of marijuana
in their vehicle on Jenkins Street.
He estimates the street value is
at least $1,200.
music and found the occupants allegedly
drinking beer and in possession of
marijuana. They arrested
the driver, 38-year-old Robert Carl Hooker of Toombs
County, and his passenger, 35-year-old
Alvin Holt of Vidalia. They're being
charged with felony possession
of marijuana.
last week for a legal defense fund
to stop an Atlanta company from putting a
600-acre landfill in the county.
The Dixie Dew Corporation has an option to
buy the land, but it needs approval
from the Candler County commission to
comply with state environmental
regulations. However, Candler County has
no land use laws, and Jean Melton
of "Citizens to Save Candler County" says
something has to be done fast.
Melton says all rural counties in Georgia need
to get some zoning laws on the
books to protect the environment and property
values.
medical care for people with a
job but no health insurance. Dr. Michael
Mulberry of Swainsboro will be
operating his family practice in the new
clinic and says the Access Treutlen
program is designed to catch an illness
early before it becomes more serious
and more costly. The clinic in Soperton
is affiliated with the Emanuel
Medical Center and administrator Robert Via
says Access Treutlen will also
help patients obtain prescription drugs at a reduced cost.
Dr. Mulberry has set up a temporary
office in Soperton pending construction
of the new health clinic at the
intersection of Highways 46 and 15.
murder in north Georgia on July
22 was recaptured Friday morning at a
convenience store in Arizona.
Twenty-one-year-old Donnie Hulett, who
has family in Telfair County, had
been spotted there and in adjacent Wheeler
County during the manhunt after
he allegedly killed two Walker County brothers
and stole their truck. The
GBI's John Bankhead says officers found out about
Hulett's trip west when he phoned
a friend asking for money. The GBI informed
authorities in Arizona who found
Hulett in the same stolen red Ford pickup which
police had been looking for in
southeast Georgia for the last ten days. Officers
from Walker County will return
Hulett to Georgia to face murder charges.
seats which are up for election
in the November 5th general election. Three of
the four posts are being contested.
Corrections officer Daniel Caraway is running
for the chairman's job against
incumbent Danny Bowen. In district three, incumbent
Harold Milligan faces opposition
from Lyons fire chief Darrel Corley and Luther
Caraway. And in district
five, former school board member Robert Rozier is
running against incumbent Eddie
Toole. In district one, incumbent Needham Rogers
is unopposed.
another was injured in a shooting
in a house near Glenwood. Young Jeremy
Powell was hit in the lower body
by a bullet from a high powered rifle, and
police say the same bullet exited
Powell's body and lodged in the abdomen
of a nearby 16-year-old boy.
The bullet killed Powell and the second teenager,
whose identity is being withheld
by the GBI, was reported in critical condition
at Memorial Medical Center in Savannah.
Agent Tim Chapman says the person
who allegedly fired the rifle,
20-year-old J.D. Dillard of Route 1, Glenwood, is
being charged with involuntary
homicide in Powell's death and aggravated
assault in the wounding of the
other boy. He was arrested and taken to the
Wheeler County jail in Alamo where
he's being held without bond pending a
preliminary hearing.
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