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Toombs County, GA June 2002 News Radio Stories |
Click on the county for ftp files of USGenWeb cemetery information. |
Positive Economic News for Toombs
County
June 28-- The unemployment rate
for Toombs county has dropped significantly
Denny McShane, Business Leader for
Trane Vidalia, explains his company benefited
DOT Foods is also anticipating growth
and more hiring for the coming year, and
New Elementary School for Montgomery
County
June 27-- Plans are underway to
build a new elementary school in Montgomery
New Interim President for East Georgia
College
June 27-- East Georgia College has
a new Interim President. Dr. J. Foster Watkins will begin his
Jazzy J's Receives DVA Grant June 27-- Jazzy J's Restaurant in
downtown Vidalia has been awarded one of two annual facade
Local Fathers Recognized
June 26-- Governor Roy Barnes has
declared June "Fatherhood Month" in the state
Four Counties Named Federal Disaster
Areas
June 25-- Representatives Saxby
Chambliss and Jack Kingston announced early Tuesday
Disaster Area designation means
local farmers are now eligible to apply for low interest
Building Begins on New Health Center
June 24-- Building of the new medical
clinic in Soperton has officially begun.
Candidates Qualify
June 21-- Here are the names
you'll see on the ballot in the August 20th
In Montgomery County, incumbent
magistrate Larry McCall is not seeking
Treutlen County has one contested
race. District two county commissioner
In state house races, Representative
Greg Morris of Vidalia is running unopposed
In state senate races, the state's
senior lawmaker, Hugh Gillis of Soperton,
And in a non-partisan race, Vidalia
attorney Macky Bryant has qualified to
In the newly created 3rd congressional
district, republican Calder Clay of Macon
Voter registration deadlines are
July 20th for the primary and October 7th for
Toombs County Opens Insurance
Bids
June 21--Toombs County Commissioners
opened sealed bids for their annual Property and
Stabbing Death in Hazelhurst
June 21-- Jeff Davis County
Sheriff's Department is holding a man in the stabbing
Montgomery County Property Re-evaluations
June 20-- The Montgomery county
tax digest will increase by more than
Montgomery county has been losing
revenue for public utilities due to the innacurate
Sewage Spill in Vidalia
June 20-- A hundred thousand
gallons of raw sewage leaked out of a
Driver Charged and Held Under Bond
June 20-- An Oak Park man
is being held in the Toombs Detention Center
Federal Indictments
June 20-- In federal court
news, a former vice president of the Spivey State
In another fraud case, the former
funeral director of the Dixon-Bowen-Taylor
City of Soperton Refuses To Close Road
June 18-- The city of Soperton
is trying to negotiate with railroad officials to keep a
Mayor Higgs also reports the city
plans to spend an $86,000 grant to build a veterans'
Body of Toombs Man Found
June 13-- The body of a missing
Toombs County man was found late
Toombs Road Paving Contract
June 13-- Another dirt road
in Toombs County is being paved. Toombs County
Lyons Better Hometown Kudos
June 13-- The Better Hometown
Program in Lyons is earning kudos from the
New Principal at Lyons Elementary
June 12-- A longtime teacher
in the Toombs County school system is the new
The Toombs school board and sheriff's
office is seeking a federal grant for the
And good news for property tax payers
in Toombs County. The school board has
Back on the Bench
June 11-- Judge Don Carpenter
is going back on the state court bench in
Vidalia to Extend Water Lines
June 11-- The Vidalia city
council has okayed extension of city water to
The council also granted a zoning
variance to the Harvest Time Church of
Voting Space Acquired
June 11-- Toombs County commissioners
have okayed the purchase of a
Three Killed in Accident
June 10-- Friday night rains
which moved through the area are being
A fourth traffic fatality happened
Friday afternoon near Glennville. Willy Joe Lane
Murder Indictments in Toombs County
June 10-- The May term of
the Toombs County grand jury convened Monday
Aggravated assault indictments were
returned against Ralph Hamilton, Henry Louie
The grand jury is also seeking to
fill two vacancies on the Toombs County Board
Judge Hears Montgomery Tax Commissioner
Case
June 10-- Attorneys in the
Montgomery County Tax Commissioner case made
Poker Machine Deadline
June 7-- Store owners who
have video poker machines in their
Sales Tax Collections Down in State,
Up in Vidalia
June 7-- The state revenue
department reports that, so far this year,
More Indictments for Swainsboro
Businessman
June 7-- A federal grand jury
in Savannah has added five new indictments
Mason Free on Bond
June 6-- The East Georgia
College professor accused of killing his wife
Lyons Police Chief Search
June 6-- The search is on
for a new police chief in Lyons and, so far,
The Better Hometown Program in Lyons
is being honored as a model
In other news from the May Lyons
city council meeting, the council
New Soperton Health Clinic
June 6-- Soperton is getting
a second medical clinic. Treutlen County
Tourism Officers Elected
June 5-- The newly formed
regional tourism council for Toombs and Montgomery
FBI Reorganization Will Impact Drug
War
June 5-- The U.S. Attorney
for the Southern District of Georgia, Rick Thompson
Montgomery to Collect More Sales
Tax
June 4-- Population growth
during the 90's in rural Montgomery County
The county's chief tax appraiser,
Lawrence McCall, invited the commissioners
Johnny Clifton of the Montgomery
County Development Authority reports
Local Prison Guard Dies of Injuries
June 4-- A 41-year-old prison
guard from Vidalia has died of injuries
Long Test Drive
June 3-- A man and woman from
Baxley were stopped at the Canadian
2002 STC Foundation Fund Drive
June 3-- Last year, local
citizens contributed some $100,000 to the annual
Space Needed in Toombs County Courthouse
June 1-- Toombs County commissioners
have started the ball rolling
Guilty Pleas Entered
June 1-- Seven people were
sentenced after entering guilty pleas last week
DOT Foods Driver Safety Rodeo
June 1-- Twenty-three tractor-trailer
drivcrs at DOT Foods competed Saturday
News Break - Vidalia Communications.
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in recent months. State Department
of Labor revised reports for the month
of April show the unemployment
rate at 6.6%. Unemployment rates for Toombs
county have reached as high as
10.7% in the past year. Executive Director of
the Toombs County Development Authority,
Bill Mitchell, credits the decline
in unemployment to local industries
rebounding after a difficult fall and winter.
from an unexpectedy stable housing
market nationwide. McShane says because of
positive forcasts for residential
housing in 2003, he anticipates setting new
employment level records in the
coming year.
representatives for STC say the
new expansion underway there will also mean
more jobs for Toombs county.
County. School Superintendent
Dale Clark explains the decision to build a new
facility rather than renovate the
old school is a matter of economics. Renovations
are estimated to cost around $3.7
million dollars while building a new facility would
cost approximately $6 million.
Money from SPLOST will provide only $2 million
dollars to either project.
The difference comes from $4 million dollars that will be
available from the state for new
construction projects. The new school will be built
on the same site as the present
elementary school. Clark hopes groundbreaking will
occur sometime in 2004.
appointment on July 1, and will
serve until a new president is named from a nationwide
search. Foster leaves a professorship
at the University of Alabama at Birmingham
to fill the position at East Georgia.
Prior to working with UAB, Foster served as
president of Gainesville College
in Gainesville, Georgia for 14 years.
grants by the Downtown Vidalia
Association. The $500 grant will be used for the new
front awning and other renovations.
of Georgia. Local fathers
were recognized Tuesday at STC for completing the 2002
"Fatherhood Program". The
Fatherhood Program is a statewide effort to educate
parents through the state's technical
schools. Tony Wardlaw, program coordinator, says
the program is designed to provide
parents with whatever skills they need to find
and keep meaningful employment.
Kay Gimmel, a representative of Georgia Child
Support Enforcement, says the long
term benefits of the Fatherhood Program will help
re-establish family connections
and help parents better provide for their children
which can reduce the numbers of
children on government assistance programs.
Fred Stokes, Program Facillitator,
says the scope of the Fatherhood Program goes
well beyond job training into areas
such as money management and coping with
emotional issues.
that four area counties have been
designated Federal Disaster areas by the U.S.
Department of Agriculture.
Toombs, Tattnall, Evans and Montgomery counties received
the designation due to extensive
onion crop damage from freezing weather late in
February. Vidalia Onion Committee
Chairman and local farmer R. T. Stanley
explains that the combination of
a mild winter followed by the severe freeze
kept plants from being able to
fight off disease. Stanley estimated as much
as 50% of the onion crop industry
wide has been lost. Jason Deal, area Marketing
Coordinator for the Georgia Department
of Agriculture says this year's onion crop
damage is the most devastating
he has seen in a long time.
emergency federal loans.
Stanley stated he hopes the loan availability will be able to keep
areas farmers going for next year.
The new Million Pines Family Health
Center, an affiliate of Emanuel Medical Center,
is scheduled for completion in
early Fall. Joan Walden, Administrative Coordinator of the
new health center says it has been
an uphill climb and a group effort to bring this facility
to the people of Treutlen County.
Robert Via, Administrator of the Emmanuel County
Medical Center explains the new
family health center will be housed in temporary
office space in late summer until
the new office space is completed in the fall.
Dr. Michael Mulberry of Swainsboro
will begin seeing patients August 1 and is excited to
be able to offer such a wide scope
of medical services to all people of Treutlen County.
primary election. There are
no contested county races in Toombs County.
Both commissioners Roy Lee Williams
and Mel Taylor qualified with no
opposition.
re-election, but his wife, Cathy
McCall is running along with Robert Fortner, Jr.
and Mona Bell. Board of education
member Randall Morris is being opposed
by Sharon Strickland for the Uvalda
seat. There's no opposition to newly
appointed Ailey school board member
Dorothy Days.
Gerald Hooks is being challenged
by Steve Strickland, while district five
commissioner William Baker is unopposed.
Treutlen school board member
Chester Kight is not running for
re-election with Alvin Heath running unopposed
to succeed Kight in district three.
District five school board member Freddie Mills
is unopposed.
after Toombs County Republican
Party chairman Jim Collins failed to qualify
because of what he called "lack
of campaign funds." The only contested representative
race in the area is in the 121st
District where Roger Byrd is not running for
re-election. Two democrats,
Jimmy Durrence of Daisy and Bert Oliver of
Glennville, and republican Steve
Tillman of Baxley are running for Byrd's old
seat.
is being opposed again in the 20th
district by republican Felix Moring of Soperton.
In the new 19th district, two incumbents,
republican Tommie Williams of Lyons is
running against democrat Van Streat
of Nicholls. And in district four, incumbent
Jack Hill of Reidsville is challenged
by republican Larry Elgass of Statesboro.
run against Middle Circuit Superior
Court Judge Walter McMillan of Sandersville.
is unopposed in the primary, but
will face the winner of a four-way democratic
race in the general election.
Seeking the democratic nomination are attorneys
Chuck Byrd and Jim Marshall of
Macon, Perry dentist Joe Lester, and Macon
insurance man Sig Dayan.
the November 5th general election.
Casualty Insurance Friday afternoon.
From eight requests for bids sent out, one bid
was received from Murray, Bishop
and Stevens Insurance. The annual premium
adopted by the County was quoted
for $145,830. This represents an almost 28%
increase over last year's premium
of $105,420. Insurance company representative
Dan Murray blamed the increase
on the sluggish economy and the events of September
eleventh.
death of a Hazelhurst woman.
Sheriff Jimmy Boatwright reports that 38-year-old
Leon Stevens isbeing charged with
the murder of 47-year-old Toombs county native
Willie Mae Melvin. Sheriff
Boatwright says Stevens allegedly stabbed Ms. Melvin
19 times in a domestic dispute.
Stevens had just recently been released from prison
on charges of aggravated assault
for a previous stabbing of Ms. Melvin.
50%. Jimmy Kight, owner of
Technical Appraisers Services of Georgia explained the
reason why Montgomery county had
to re-evaluate was to comply with state mandates
for property assessment values.
Kight told members of the Montgomery County Board
of Tax Assessors Wednesday that
the large increase was due to Montgomery county
not assessing property values for
the last 10 years.
property evaluations in addition
to the cost of a penalty imposed by the state. The
re-evaluation should save taxpayers
approximately $48,000 in 2003. Montgomery
county property owners will begin
receiving assessment notices within the next few
months and have 45 days from that
time to appeal to the Montgomery County
Board of Tax Assessors.
Vidalia city sewage pumping station
last week. Roland Keating of OMI,
the city's water and sewer contractor,
says the spill happened the night
of June 13th when a pump failed
at the North Maple Drive pumping
station. According to Keating,
the sewage went into a ditch which feeds
into Rocky Creek to the south of
Vidalia. He says there's no threat to
public health and that the city's
water supply, which is supplied by
deep wells, will not be effected.
in Lyons in connection with an
auto accident which killed three Lyons
residents on June 7th. The
Toombs County Sheriff's office says 21-year-old
Shaun Heagerty is being held on
a $30,000 bond. The state patrol is charging
Heagerty with three counts of vehicular
homicide, driving with a suspended
license, on the wrong side of the
road and too fast for conditions. Earlier,
trooper G.W. Jerriel reported that
Heagerty's vehicle hydroplaned into the
path of a car driven by Betty Jo
Anthony of Lyons. She and the two
passengers, Jesse and Vivian Anthony,
died as a result of the accident.
Bank in Swainsboro has been indicted
on bank fraud. U.S. Attorney Rick
Thompson says Larry Scott is charged
with stealing about $211,000 from the
bank between 1996 and 2001.
He could face up to 30 years in prison and a
million dollar fine if convicted.
Funeral Home in Blackshear has
been sentenced to 13 months in prison and
ordered to make restitution of
nearly 74-thousand dollars to victims of his
scheme. Federal officials
say Califf Dixon admitting taking "pre-need" payments
from customers for his personal
use, and for under-reporting collections to
the corporate owner of the funeral
home.
rail crossing open. According
to Mayor Greg Higgs, the CSX railroad wants the city
to remove new crepe myrtle bushes
in the recently opened downtown park to allow
for better visibility for motorists
on Martin Luther King Drive in front of city hall..
memorial, and the city has
awarded a $25,000 contract to Robbie Hooks Construction
to pave a new fitness trail and
to widen the existing walking trail in the Jean Gillis Park.
Wednesday afternoon on the banks
of a local creek. Toombs County Sheriff
Junior Kight reports 61-year-old
Cleve Morgan of Five Ash Road was found
near Cobbs Creek off Highway 147.
He had been reported missing by his family
on Monday. Sheriff Kight
says there's no evidence of foul play and he thinks
Morgan died of natural causes.
His body has been sent to the state crime lab
for examination.
commissioners awarded a nearly
$136,000 contract Thursday morning to
McLendon Construction to pave just
over a mile-and-a-half of the Ben Hill Usher
Road in the New Branch area.
Construction should start in July and be completed
by the end of the year.
Georgia Department of Community
Affairs. A delegation from Atlanta toured
Lyons this week after hearing about
initiatives undertaken by students and other
volunteers to make the town look
better. Cindy Eidson of DCA says rennovation
of the old Lyons theater and plans
for an art shop and gallery in Lyons may help
Lyons fill a niche which can be
marketed to tourists and townspeople alike. The
state is working with Lyons Better
Hometown manager Joy Lewis with design
and funding issues, according to
Eidson.
principal at Lyons Elementary School.
Victor Wolfe, the assistant principal last
year, was recommended by the school
council and approved by the Toombs
County school board Tuesday night.
The board also approved Deanna Stoddard
as the new assistant principal
at Lyons Elementary, named Benny Dees as assistant
varsity basketball coach at Toombs
County High School, and hired the executive
director of the Ohoopee Regional
Council for the Arts, Jennifer Beckum, to teach
language arts at the high school.
cops in schools program.
If approved, sheriff's deputies would be stationed in the
county high school and middle school
during school hours starting this school term.
approved its tentative budget for
the new year including nearly $2.5 million in local
tax dollars. Superintendent
Dr. Kendall Brantley says there will be no increase in
the school tax millage rate, it
remains at 13 mils. The overall budget is more than
$30 million including $11 million
in capital projects.
Toombs County. Judge Carpenter
will hold court temporarily starting June
21st due to the announcement by
state court judge Mackie Bryant that he
is running for the superior court
seat currently held by Judge Walter McMillan
of Sandersville. Governor
Roy Barnes will appoint a replacement to complete
Bryant's unexpired four-year term.
Judge Carpenter retired from the bench in
2000 and was succeeded by Bryant.
two new homes being built on Forest
Lake Drive. The homes are outside
the city limits, however, city
manager Bill Torrance told the council Monday
that the city will shortly have
enough signatures to proceed with annexation
of Bob Sharp Road and Forest Lake
Drive into the city.
God to build a 6,000 square foot
activity center at 506 First Avenue, and heard
from chamber exec Bill Mitchell
that 36 people have submitted applications to
be in the next Leadership Toombs-Montgomery
class.
portable classroom from Vidalia
City Schools to house new computer voting
machines and to provide training
space for election supervisor Jackie Driskoll.
The county is getting 46 touch-screen
machines for November's general election.
Commissioner Louie Powell says
the county's paying $6,500 and will locate
the building adjacent to the eastern
side of the courthouse.
blamed for a two-car wreck which
killed three people. The Georgia
State Patrol says the accident
happened on U.S. One four miles north
of Lyons near Aaron's Store.
According to Trooper W.G. Jerriel, a car
travelling south on U.S. One hydroplaned
into the path of a northbound
car driven by 51-year-old Betty
Jo Anthony of Lyons. She was killed
and her son, 35-year-old Jesse
Anthony, and her sister-in-law, 53-year-old
Vivian Anthony, both of Lyons,
died later at Meadows Regional Medical
Center in Vidalia. A 15-year-old
passenger in the other car, Colby Hall
of Lyons, was taken to Memorial
Health Center in Savannah in serious
condition. Less seriously
injured were 21-year-old Sean Hagerty and
15-year-old Ron Shaw, both of Oak
Park.
of Glennville died when his car
hit a ditch and overturned.
and returned 14 indictments, including
two for murder. Twenty-four-year old
John Slyka of Toombs County was
indicted for killing his father and burning
and dismembering his body in May
of last year. And Charles Adams Gay of
Lyons was indicted for the killing
of eight-year-old Shaqita Jones of Lyons
last October.
Thompson, and Jimmy Lee Knight.
Indicted for burglary are Shane Moxley and
Pete Phelps, Timothy Lamar Scott,
Tommy Lee Jackson, and Tyrone Stafford.
Daniel Lee Wood of Toombs County
is indicted for theft by receiving stolen
property; Denitra Kena Sanders
of Lyons for cruelty to children; Miller Lee
Smith, Deleon Cortez Brownlee and
Neil Smith for cocaine-related drug charges;
and Lonnie Lanier Jr. for shoplifting.
of Tax Equalization.
their oral arguments before Judge
H. Frederick Mullis, Jr. Monday morning
at the Wheeler County courthouse
in Alamo. Tax commissioner Lawanna
Sharpe is being sued by the Montgomery
County commissioners to return up
to $90,000 in tag fees which they
claim she collected illegally from 1990 to
2000. No idea when Judge
Mullis will make a decision in the case. Sharpe
is represented by Howard Kaufold
of Vidalia while county attorney Mackie
Bryant of Vidalia represents the
county commissioners.
businesses are being warned to
get rid of them by the end of June.
The state legislature has outlawed
the machines in Georgia, and
Toombs County Sheriff Junior Kight
is alerting vendors to remove
them by the June 30th deadline.
Sheriff Kight says local law enforcement
is cooperating with state authorities
to get the machines out of the state.
sales tax collections are down
statewide by nearly four percent. However,
in Vidalia, city officials say
sales tax collections are up nearly two percent.
City manager Bill Torrance believes
Vidalia retail sales have remained steady
because the town is a regional
shopping center and most sales are generated
by commodities as opposed to luxury
items.
against a Swainsboro businessman.
In March, Erwin David Rabhan was charged
with 22 counts of defrauding the
Kingdom of Swaziland of $6,000,000. This month,
the grand jury further indicted
Rabhan for defrauding a Florida bank of $5,000,000
to help build a catfish processing
plant in Wrightsville.
is free on bond. Emanuel
County Sheriff Tyson Stephens reports that
Walter Mason was freed on a $100,000
cash bond Thursday after the
bond was reduced from $150,000
by Superior Court Judge Kathy Palmer.
Mason is charged with fatally stabbing
his wife in the throat April 29th at
their home near Swainsboro.
eight people have applied for the
job. City manager Rick Hartley says
applications will be accepted until
August 1st for review by search
committee members Carlton Robbins
and Ivey Toole, Jr. He says they
hope to fill the job by October
1st. Former chief Jack Caves is holding
down the job on a interim basis
following the resignation of James Reid.
by the state of Georgia.
A delegation from the Department of Community
Affairs will visit Lyons Tuesday
for a first-hand look.
approved a two percent pay raise
for city employees effective July 1st.
The council also agreed to budget
$5,000 for next year's regional
tourism budget, and was told by
Mayor John Moore that a recent
meeting in Atlanta with the Department
of Transportation held out little
hope for one-way pairs through
Lyons when U.S. One is four-laned.
The mayor says a Lyons bypass seems
the way the project will go,
but DOT did agree to consider some
Lyons access roads off the bypass.
commissioners are leasing the old
stockyard property at the corner of
Highways 221 and 15 to the Emanuel
Medical Center in Swainsboro.
Chief Financial Officer H.D. Cannington
says they plan to construct the new
medical clinic building by early
Fall and that it will be staffed daily by family
practitioner Dr. Michael Mulberry
of Swainsboro. Cannington reports the
doctor will also be doing preventive
medicine work with chronically ill
patients in the Treutlen area.
Meadows Regional Medical Center in Vidalia
also operates a medical clinic
in Soperton.
counties gave itself a new name
and elected its first slate of officers at its meeting
Tuesday. The new name is
the Vidalia Area Convention and Visitors Bureau headed by
chairperson Lisa Adams of Vidalia,
vice-chair Johnny Clifton of Montgomery County,
secretary Joy Lewis of Lyons, and
treasurer Bill Torrance of Vidalia. Toombs
commissioner Roy Lee Williams was
named to the board replacing commission
chairman Charles Rustin who's an
ex-officio member of the board. The board will
meet again next week to continue
the hiring process for a tourism director.
of Vidalia, says his office's fight
against drug dealers may be temporarily impeded
by the FBI's new mission.
Now that the FBI is focusing on anti-terrorism, some
agents formerly assigned to drug
cases are being diverted. Thompson says he hopes
the Drug Enforcement Agency will
be given additional agents to make up for the
loss of FBI investigators.
At a meeting of the Vidalia Rotary Club, Thompson also
said he wants more counties in
his 43-county district to take part in a federal program
which requires more jail time for
criminals who use guns in the commission of
crimes. Thompson says, so
far, 17 of the 43 counties, including Toombs and
Montgomery, have cooperated with
federal officials in Project Ceasefire.
means the county's share of local
option sales tax collections will increase.
At the same time, five of the six
towns in the county will see a decrease
in their share of collections.
County administrator Keith Hamilton briefed
commissioners Tuesday that Montgomery
County's share will increase
by about seven percent. Higgston's
percentage remains the same, Mount
Vernon will lose about three percent,
and Tarrytown, Uvalda, Ailey and
Alston will also see slight decreases.
to a meeting June 19th with the
Board of Tax Assessors for results of the
county's tax revaluation project.
The county tax digest is expected to increase
in value due to the addition of
new property to the tax rolls and higher value
of existing property.
the Department of Natural Resources
has a $540,000 project to build a welcome
center and boating facilities at
the Uvalda Landing on Towns Bluff in Jeff
Davis County. He also said
the county is seeking a $224,000 state grant to
buy 56 acres of land in Ailey for
an industrial site with rail access, and is paying
about $1500 to four landowners
on the Old Kibbee Road north of Tarrytown
for right of way for replacement
of a bridge over Tiger Creek.
received at the Georgia State Prison
on May 20th. Scott Stallings of
the Department of Corrections says
James Henderson died Monday
at Memorial Health Center of Savannah.
Henderson suffered massive
head injuries when attacked by
maximum security prisoner Napoleon
Harris of Cook County who's serving
time for armed robbery and has
had three other altercations with
prison guards since 1996. Officials say
he will now be charged with Henderson's
murder. Another local prison
guard, 57-year-old Arnie Oliver
of Toombs County, came to Henderson's
aid and was also injured by Harris.
Oliver was treated and released from
Evans Memorial Hospital in Claxton.
Henderson had a ten-year-old daughter
living in North Carolina with his
former wife.
border in a vehicle they were supposedly
taking on a test drive from
Vidalia Pontiac-Buick. Vidalia
police investigator Mitch Bellflower says
Adhira Singh Virk, an illegal immigrant
from Canada, and Stephanie Sellars
were given a 2001 GMC Yukon for
an overnight test drive. The next day,
the border patrol stopped the pair
on the Michigan-Canadian border because
the Yukon had improper tags.
They also found drugs on Sellars. The INS
is deporting Virk, and Sellars
is facing misdemeanor drug charges in Michigan.
fund drive of the Southeastern
Tech Foundation, and overall, the foundation
raised $315,000 for the college
through various grants and gifts. This year,
foundation officials are hoping
for even better results. And they're off to
a good start. Meadows Regional
Medical Center has pledged $50,000 over
a five-year period to help the
college's medical technology programs, and
two truck-driving simulators valued
at $97,000 are being donated by the
Rural Development Administration
of the Department of Agriculture. STC
is the second fastest growing technical
college in Georgia, and campaign
chairman Tom Peterson credits much
of the college's success to community
support.
to add at least 4,000 square feet
to the county courthouse in Lyons.
After a discussion with county
election supervisor Jackie Driskoll about
space for 46 new computerized voting
machines for the county, the
commissioners passed a motion supporting
commission chairman Charles
Rustin's initiative to get a design
for a new addition to the courthouse.
Meanwhile, they're investigating
purchase of a portable classroom to provide
training and storage space for
the new voting machines.
in Toombs County Superior Court.
Angela Dawn Copeland and Richard
Copeland received 11 years and
ten years respectively for multiple counts
of child molestation. Major
Gaffney got a three-year term for a burglary
at Stewart's Quality Meats in Vidalia.
In drug cases, Michael Everette Wooten
got five years, James Bostic's
probation was reversed, and Nija Ransom of Lyons
got five years. And Willie
James Sellars got 15 years probation and was ordered
to pay Robert Lee restitution of
$37,000. Sellars was charged with serious injury
with a vehicle and DUI with an
all terrain vehicle.
in the company's first Vidalia
driver safety rodeo. The drivcrs negotiated an
obstacle course and received points
for safety and time. Trophy winners
include Joey Eason of Vidalia for
first, Charles Edwards for second and
Stu McDonald for third. DOT
Foods moved its southeast distribution
center to Vidalia in 1998.
References
http://www.vidaliacommunications.com/news.shtml
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URL: http://toombs.150m.com/news/radio/2002/June.htm Updated: Saturday, September 07, 2002. Top
