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Dec 31-- A two-car accident in Vidalia Tuesday has taken the life of a Vidalia doctor. Eighty-five-year old Dr. Doralea Harmon was injured in a two-car collision at the intersection of Arlington Drive and Seminole Drive and later died at an Augusta hospital. The driver of the other car, 19-year old Dustin Kidd of Lyons, was not seriously injured according to Vidalia police. The accident happened about five p.m. Tuesday as Dr. Harmon was leaving work.
Dec 30-- The sentencing of former Truetlen County Sheriff Wayne Hooks has been delayed for three weeks. Hooks had a date in federal court with U.S. District Judge Dudley Bowen on January 7th, however, because of a scheduling conflict, the judge has set the date for Tuesday, January 27th at the federal courthouse in Dublin. Hooks will be sentenced for violating the civil rights of two Soperton men whom he confessed to slapping while they were in his custody at the county jail in Soperton. The federal felony convictions carry maximum sentences of ten years in prison and $250,000 fines on each count.
Dec 30-- Montgomery County school board member Wayne Goff made bond the same day he was served with arrest warrants for making terroristic threats and for disorderly conduct. Montgomery County Sheriff Clarence Sanders says the warrants were served December 19th. Bond was set at $2,000 for each of the six counts. Charges were brought against Goff by three fellow members of the county school board and the county high school principal in connection with Goff's behavior following his wife's temporary suspension from her job at Montgomery County High School.
Dec 30-- Acting on information provided by Vidalia police, officers in Emanuel County and the U.S. Secret Service found over $10,000 in counterfeit cash at a residence in Emanuel County. Police also seized a computer with printing equipment and charged Charles Wilson and Karen New with forgery and possession of marijauna.
Dec 30-- The State Board of Pardons and Paroles has denied parole to 51-year-old Taft Roberson of Toombs County. Roberson is serving a life sentence for the 1983 murder of Keith Agee of Toombs County. Parole officials say Roberson shot and killed Agee with a deer rifle at the home of his co-defendant, Cecil Powell, and that the two wrapped the body in a sheet and buried it in a shallow grave alongside a county road near Powell's trailer. Roberson will be reconsidered for parole in five years.
Dec 29-- A cooperative effort between Toombs County commissioners and local Headstart officials paid off Monday. Using a $459,000 community development grant secured by the commission, ground was broken to build a new Headstart center off Highway 292 in Lyons in woodlands behind the R.T. Stanley Health Center. The 5,000 square foot building is on a two-acre lot with room for playgrounds and future classrooms. A Statesboro company, Lavender and Associates, expects to have it completed by this summer. Local Headstart director Rachel Langston believes the Headstart program is helping prepare three, four and five year olds for kindergarten. The Toombs County Headstart program currently serves 98 pre-schoolers and has some local success stories in graduates Nick Eason and Vince Faison, both of whom got their start in the local program. District Director Bonnie Gaskins of Waycross notes the program also provides programs to help parents with their children. The new center will replace the rundown facilities which currently house Headstart in the old J.D. Dickerson School on Martin Luther King Avenue in Vidalia.
Dec 24-- A 4th Infantry Division soldier from Metter was wounded this month in Iraq. Sergeant Gary Dowd was injured when a rocket fired grenade hit his Bradley fighting vehicle near Tikrit, Saddam Hussein's hometown north of Baghdad. Sergeant Dowd was seriously injured and was to be brought back to Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington for recovery and rehabilitation. He'd been serving in Iraq since last March.
Dec 24-- The death of a 13-year-old Appling County girl earlier this month may not have been caused by the flu. The state health department office in Waycross says preliminary tests into the death of the middle school student were not positive for influenza. The Center for Disease Control will continue testing to determine if flu or some other virus caused the caused the teenager to suffer from swelling of the brain which led to her death.
Dec 24-- It will be early Spring at the earliest before a judge decides how much the City of Vidalia will have to pay a local aircraft hangar owner for exercising eminent domain on his hangar at the Vidalia Regional Airport. The city started condemnation proceedings against David Lovins of Vidalia after he refused a $33,000 offer for the property, about half of what he claims it is worth. Vidalia city manager Bill Torrance testified at a hearing Tuesday before Judge Joe Neville which included a visit to the airport so the judge could see the hangar in question.
Dec 24-- Brewton Parker College in Mount Vernon has been reaccredited by the Southern Association's Commission on Colleges. The commission reaffirmed Brewton Parker's academic credentials without condition for the next ten years. College president Dr. David Smith says this assures Brewton Parker students their class credits may be transferred to other schools, and it also maintains the ability of Brewton Parker to receive federal and state assistance.
Dec 24-- In downtown Vidalia news, the new president of the Downtown Vidalia Association is Ann Owens of Acme Paper and Shipping. She succeeds outgoing president Reese Davis and says her primary goal in the new year is to spread the word about the DVA and its mission in downtown Vidalia.
Dec 22-- Two people died in separate weekend fires in our area. Sixty-one-year old Patricia Hill of 187 Mullins Road near Normantown died from burns suffered when her mobile home caught on fire Sunday night. And an elderly Higgston woman, 80-year-old Marie Hollingsworth, died when her home caught fire early Monday morning. Coronor Joe Strickland says he thinks she was overcome by smoke. In another fire, there were no injuries when a frame home at 426 Taylor Springs Road caught fire.
Dec 22-- A date has been set for the sentencing of former Treutlen County sheriff Wayne Hooks. Federal district judge Dudley Bowen is scheduled to pass sentence on Hooks January 7th at the federal courthouse in Dublin. Last August, Hooks was found guilty of violating the civil rights of two Soperton men who were in his custody following a high speed police chase in Treutlen County. The maximum punishment is ten years in prison and a $250,000 fine on each count.
Dec 22-- The murder trial of former East Georgia College professor Walter Mason is expected to start February 16th in north Georgia. District Attorney Steve Askew says the trial has been moved from Emanuel County to Danielsville, northeast of Athens. Mason is accused of fatally stabbing his wife, also an East Georgia College professor, at the couple's home in April, 2002.
Dec 22-- It's that time of year when local governing authorities and organizations name officers and members for the new year. In Vidalia, Bill Bedingfield has been elected chairman of the board of education, and Rusty Moses is the new chairman of the Toombs County Development Authority. Appointments made Monday by the Vidalia city council include Robert Wiggs to the city recreation board, Lloyd Mobley to the Vidalia Development Authority, Hal Chesser and Jason McMillan to the Development Authority of Vidalia, and Sherry Threlkeld to the local library board. And the city of Vidalia is getting a new building inspector. Longtime inspector Jackson Posey is retiring in January and is being succeeded by Shaun Oliver. Posey will still do some part-time work for the city.
Dec 19-- A magistrate has ruled there is sufficient probable cause for warrants to be issued against Montgomery County school board member Wayne Goff. Judge Chris Davenport of Hazelhurst made his ruling Thursday, and Friday three felony warrants for making terroristic threats and two misdemeanor warrants for disorderly conduct were sworn out by Goff''s fellow school board members Dorothy Days and Monty Burns and Montgomery County High School principal Mike Parker. An additional felony warrant may be sworn out by school board chairman Randall Morris when he returns from vacation. The warrants are all a result of threats Goff is accused of making after the school board suspended his wife, Jeanette, for insubordination at Montgomery County High School. Goff would make no comment on the case after his probable cause hearing before Judge Davenport. Once the warrants are served, Goff will be given a bond hearing and his case referred to the district attorney for possible grand jury action. Coincidentally, the same grand jury which would get Goff's case is also expected to appoint a successor to deceased school board member Mayes Dobbins. It was Dobbins whom Goff's wife was trying to memoralize by planting a tree on the school campus. Her efforts led to a misunderstanding with school administrators which resulted in her suspension and her husband's alleged threats against school officials.
Dec 19-- Georgia governor Sonny Perdue spent some time in South Georgia Friday. In Douglas, the governor was on hand to award community development grants including $441,426 to Treutlen County for water, sewer and roads in the Soperton-Treutlen Industrial Park, and a loan of $384,161 to the Tattnall County Development Authority to help expansion of Claxton Peanut Farms and creation of 54 new jobs. Perdue was also scheduled to visit Reidsville Friday for the grand opening of the new Tattnall County Judicial Annex.
Dec 19-- It's the ultimate win-win. The Oxford Corporation gets a property tax break, Toombs County finds a new home for a local employer, and the Vidalia school system has the answer to its parking problem for a new football stadium. Toombs County commissioners announced Friday that Oxford is giving the county its property on North Street adjacent to Vidalia High School including just over 15 acres of land and the 213,000 square foot building. In return, Toombs County is excusing Oxford's 2003 property tax bill and is extending abatement of tax on Oxford's property in Lyons for an additional five years. Commission chairman Charles Rustin says he expects the office portion of the Oxford building will be used by Pineland Mental Health. And commissioner Louis Powell says the Vidalia school board now has the option of using the Oxford acreage for a parking lot if it chooses to build an Indian football stadium behind Vidalia High School. Vidalia school superintendent Dr. Tim Smith was glad to hear the news and says the opportunity will be on the agenda when the school board meets in January.
Dec 18-- Six hundred Toombs County families will have a better Christmas this year thanks to the efforts of Toombs United Charities and its volunteers. The old Piggly Wiggly parking lot in Vidalia was the scene Thursday as people lined up to receive food, clothing and toys. Volunteer Billy Morrison said the bad news is a thousand people had to be turned down due to a lack of resources. The Christmas effort is supported each year by the local United Way, Bilo, the Oxford box factory, young men from the Paul Anderson Youth Home, the Vidalia First Baptist Church, and many individual volunteers.
Dec 16-- A magistrate from Hazelhurst held court in Montgomery County Tuesday and heard three hours of testimony regarding terroristic threat warrants being sought against Montgomery County school board member Wayne Goff. Judge Chris Davenport says he will make his decision on issuing the warrants by Thursday. Five applications for warrants were being sought for Goff for allegedly threatening members of the board of education, school principal Mike Parker, and school superintendent Dale Clark after the school board suspended his wife for insubordination. At the conclusion of the hearing, Dale Clark dismissed her application when Goff apologized in open court for an outburst which happened in her office. However, when Judge Davenport left the other parties and Goff alone in the courtroom to make an attempt at resolving the situation without court action, they were unable to reach an accord and threw the case back in the judge's lap. All three board members testified they were concerned about their safety after Goff told Sheriff Clarence Sanders he was "going home to get my shotgun" last Wednesday night after the school board disciplinary hearing. Goff was also accused of threatening to beat principal Mike Parker on two different occasions.
Dec 15-- The Three Rivers Stadium Authority is no more. At its final meeting Monday night, officials from the school boards of Vidalia and Toombs County, the cities of Vidalia and Lyons, and the Toombs County commission voted to dissolve the authority since it no longer has the money needed to build an estimated $2 million sports complex between Vidalia and Lyons. Voters approved a 1999 referendum to collect sales tax money to build the stadium, however, the Toombs County school board had to pull back after its top priority middle school project used all of the school board's sales tax collections. The Vidalia school board has $1 million available for a stadium project and is considering its options including construction of a new Vidalia High School football stadium. The stadium authority closed its bank account and refunded $50,000 each to the school boards.
Dec 15-- Treutlen County Sheriff Tommy Corbin and his deputies had a busy weekend. A man accused of robbing the Colony Bank of Soperton last summer was among three prisoners who escaped Saturday from the Emanuel County jail in Swainsboro. Antonio Smith later surrendered to Truetlen officers at a public housing area on the Eastman highway. Sheriff Corbin says his department also worked with the Laurens County sheriff's office to arrest Jerry Wickers of Soperton who is wanted in connection with robberies in East Dublin and in Truetlen County. And Monday afternoon, Treutlen officers responded when three white men in a red truck allegedly robbed an elderly black man at his residence on Highway 29 north of Soperton. Sheriff Corbin says the trio posed as floor covering salesman to get the old man out on his porch and then took his wallet containing a large amount of money from his overalls.
Dec 15-- A Montgomery County school board member may face criminal charges. Mount Vernon police filed a terroristic threat incident report after school board member Wayne Goff allegedly threatened members of the county school board following their suspension of his wife for insubordination. The police report claimed Goff threatened "to get" all three of the board members as they adjourned the hearing on his wife. Later, it says Goff specifically told board member Dorothy Days, "I am going to get you, Mrs. Days," as she was escorted from the building by a deputy sheriff. He was also quoted by police as saying, "I am going home and getting my shotgun." A pre-warrant hearing will be held to determine if there is sufficient evidence to issue a warrant against Goff.
Dec 12-- Vidalia's 2003 Onion Festival Air Show has received the highest national recognition from the U.S. Navy Blue Angels. Vidalia was named the Blue Angels "Show Site of the Year" this past week at the International Convention of Air Shows in Dallas. Blue Angels event coordinator Major Chandler Seagraves says the Vidalia Onion Festival Air Show committee did the best job of any community which hosted the Blue Angels this past year. Air Show chairman Gary Campbell says the award speaks well for teamwork in the Vidalia area, and he notes a little southern hospitality made the flyers and their support team feel at home. The 2004 air show is May 8th and 9th and will feature another world-class flight team, the Snowbirds, from the Canadian Air Force.
Dec 12-- Sheriff's offices throughout Georgia are now taking part in a telephone alert system which can flood an area with phone calls seeking the public's help in finding missing children and others. Toombs County Sheriff Junior Kight announced Thursday that up to 1,000 "A Child Is Missing" messages can be sent in less than a minute and saturate an area where a child may be lost or missing. The Georgia Sheriff's Association has adopted the program in Georgia. Sheriff Kight says the first two hours after a child's disappearance are critical and citizens who are called can provide valuable help in the search.
Dec 11-- The Montgomery County School Board suspended a county high school teacher after a four-hour hearing Wednesday night and then was cursed by the teacher's husband and fellow board member. Social studies teacher Jeanette Goff was suspended without pay until the end of this semester for insubordination after a disagreement over where to plant a tree on the high school campus in memory of the late Montgomery County educator and school board member Mayes Dobbins. School superintendent Dale Clark said she was sorry about the whole incident, but it was her job to enforce discipline. School board member Wayne Goff, Jeanette Goff's husband, was recused from the hearing but had to be restrained after the vote when he attempted to rush board members and called them spineless "SOB's" before he was removed from the hearing room.
Dec 10-- The joint project between the school boards of Toombs County and Vidalia to build a sports stadium between Lyons and Vidalia is history. Tuesday night the Toombs County Board of Education voted to withdraw from the project after a briefing from school superintendent Dr. Kendall Brantley explained the school system has spent almost all of its local option sales tax money to build the new Toombs County Middle School and to add classrooms at Toombs County High School. Board chairman Danny Bowen said he could not ask his constituents for more tax money to build a stadium, and the board voted unanimously to pull out of the effort. Meanwhile, the Vidalia school system has collected a million dollars in the last four years which is earmarked for the stadium project. Vidalia school board chairman Mac Jordan says the board is looking at its legal options on how to proceed. Jordan says the voters gave the school board a mandate to build a stadium and, if possible, they would like to proceed. He says decisions will be made within the next two months and the board may hold public hearings before deciding. Until the Toombs County school board decision, a local stadium authority had been formed to build a football stadium funded by $2 million in local options sales tax collections on land to be donated by the city of Vidalia off the Ezra Taylor Road. The authority has $100,000 in seed money in the bank with nothing to spend it on. It's assumed the money will be refunded to the school boards in Vidalia and Toombs County.
Dec 9-- The flu season has hit earlier than normal this year, and if you haven't already gotten your flu shot, you're probably too late. Local doctors report they've had several confirmed flu cases already. The Toombs County Health Department ran out of vaccine at noon Tuesday, and officials at the Southeast Health Unit in Waycross say they expect the supply in their 16-county region to be exhausted by the end of the week. Local health departments are on a waiting list for 3,000 more doses, but if received they will be reserved for high risk people like the young and the elderly. If you got your flu shot, regional public health spokesman Roger Naylor says you should be protected even though the flu shots this year are not exactly matched to ward off the virus which has killed several people in the western United States. Since supplies of the flu shots are running out, Naylor says you should take precautions including frequent washing of hands, covering of your nose and mouth when you cough or sneeze, and staying home from school or work if you have flu symptoms.
Dec 8-- A dispute over where to plant a tree at Montgomery County High School in memory of a deceased school board member has led to a teacher suspension for alleged insubordination. The family of the late Mayes Dobbins is upset about the situation and suspended teacher Jeanette Goff will have a hearing before the Montgomery County school board Wednesday night. School officials claim Ms. Goff was insubordinate last Thursday when she and school administrators disagreed on where to plant the tree in memory of Mayes Dobbins. Later, her husband, school board member Wayne Goff, came to the school board office and was escorted off the property by sheriff's deputies. Mayes widow, Patricia, says she is "dismayed" about the dispute. Jeanette Goff says she's been advised to make no comment prior to the hearing, and school superintendent Dale Clark could not be reached for comment. Two days before the disagreement, the county school board had asked the superintendent to develop a policy for consideration regarding the planting of memorial trees on school grounds.
Dec 8-- The Vidalia Onion Festival in 2004 will be held the week of May 3rd and the main attraction at the Onion Festival Air Show May 8th and 9th will be the Canadian Air Force Snow Birds. Marsha Temples of the air show committee says the Snow Birds participation was confirmed Monday. This year the U.S. Navy Blue Angels drew record crowds to the festival air show, and Temples says they expect much the same in the coming year due to the worldwide reputation of the Snow Birds.
Dec 8-- Vidalia city officials are working with the AutoZone auto parts company to locate a new store on Highway 280 in Vidalia. City manager Bill Torrance told the city council Monday night the company is planning to build on the property formerly occupied by the Somers' concrete plant east of Handy Andy.
Dec 4-- The Lyons city council is waiting until after the first of the year to decide if city employees will contribute to their health insurance coverage. At its December meeting, Mayor John Moore asked the council to think about requiring the city's 36 employees to pay for 20 percent of their health insurance. Currently the city pays the entire premium and Mayor Moore says its costing about $130,000 a year. He says the city would save about $25,000 a year if employees pay a portion of the premium. The council okayed a motion tabling the question till its January 6th meeting. The council also approved an ordinance prohibiting transient merchants from selling their goods in the city.
Dec 4-- A mobile home was destroyed by fire Wednesday night in Mount Vernon. Fire chief Joey Fountain says the home on Church Street belonged to Ronald and Carley Sharpe. The couple lost everything and a fund has been established at the Mount Vernon Bank to help them get back on their feet.
Dec 3-- Two students at Vidalia High School are facing misdemeanor drug charges after police conducted a drug lockdown Wednesday. Vidalia police captain Kevin Collins reports marijuana possession charges have been filed against two 18-year-old students, Shenike Marie Hart and Rico S. Gardner. Drug dogs found the marijuana in the student's cars in the school parking lot. The search was conducted by officers from the East Central Georgia Drug Task Force, the Vidalia police department, Toombs County Sheriff's office and the canine unit from the Chatham County police.
Dec 3-- The Governor's Office of Student Achievement released its school report card this week which, among other things, compares school systems across the state. Dr. Melody Davis with OSA says she hopes parents which examine the report cards and see how their school system compares. With more data to come, the current report cards compare graduation rates, dropout rates and attendance.
Georgia's graduation rate last year was just over 63 percent. In area schools, Vidalia had the highest graduation rate with 65 percent, Toombs was just under the state average with 62.6 percent, Treutlen graduated 57 percent and Montgomery County graduated only 51 percent.
The state's droput rate last year was 5.5 percent. Among area schools, Treutlen had the highest dropout rate with 6.9 percent, Montgomery had 6.4 percent who dropped out, and Vidalia and Toombs were both under the state average with dropout rates of 4.5 and 4.4 percent, respectively.
Checking attendance, the state reports the percentage of students who missed more than 15 days of school. The highest area absentee rate was in Montgomery schools, followed by Toombs County, Vidalia and Treutlen. You may view the report cards on the web at www.gaosa.org. Also see Toombs County, Georgia - Schools.
Dec 2-- Montgomery County Tax Commissioner Lawanna Sharp met with Montgomery County commissioners Tuesday to discuss collection of back taxes in the county. She says uncollected property taxes dating as far back as 1987 amount to $220,000 and she estimates up to 40 percent are not collectable. Sharp says she will have a status report for commissioners in January.
Commissioners were also informed that the county road department has cut a 30-foot wide dirt road through property owned by Ram O'Neal from the Old Savannah Road to Rocky Creek Golf Course. The dirt road will give the Higgston Fire Department quicker access to homes in the area, according to the commissioners.
Montgomery County Development Authority director Johnny Clifton reported he expects work to start soon on a 6,000 square foot building along Highway 280 in Ailey for a sheetrock distribution business operated by Charles and Ladson O'Connor. The Development Authority is waiting on a $140,000 state grant to build infrastructure on the 56-acre site. The company is expected to employ 12 people.
Dec 2-- A Macon company has submitted the apparent low bid to build a spec building in the new Toombs industrial park north of Lyons. The Piedmont Construction Group submitted a bid of just over $1.5 million and is expected to be awarded the contract by the Toombs County Development Authority. Nine companies bid on the project. The building should be completed by early summer.
Dec 1-- An early morning fire Monday damaged the Krystal restaurant in Vidalia. Owner Glenn Kardell said an employee discovered the fire which apparently started in an interior wall and may have been caused by an electrical problem. The interior of the building had some damage and Kardell says the Krystal will reopen in a couple of months.
Dec 1-- The Vidalia school board's plan to let voters decide if they want to raise the property tax mil limitation just got easier. The school board thought it would need local enabling legislation from the state legislature to put the issue on the ballot, however, state representative Greg Morris of Vidalia has checked with legislative counsel at the capitol and reports the school board has the authority to pass a resolution calling for a referendum. The Vidalia school board currently has a 15 mil limit and would like to see the limit raised to 20 mils. Board chairman Mac Jordan has said he would like to see the question placed on next November's general election ballot.
Dec 1-- Twenty-five years after his death, the state of Georgia has erected a life size statue in memory of a Soperton prison guard. Officer Dan Harrison was killed in a 1978 prison riot at the state prison in Reidsville. At a ceremony attended by former Georgia governor George Busbee and Harrison's widow, Alicia McEachin of Vidalia, the Department of Corrections dedicated the statue which now stands in the rotunda of the state prison. Department spokesperson Scheree Lipscomb says the statue honor's Harrison's sacrifice and the men and women who carry on his legacy.
News Break - Vidalia Communications.
This site is a member of The American History and Genealogy Project (AHGP), an unincorporated not-for-profit network of independent sites devoted to History & Genealogy, and covering North American Countries and Territories. For more information about our group, including how you can join us, please see our About page. Doctor Dies
Sentencing Date Rescheduled
Goff Free on Bond
Counterfeiters Arrested
Parole Denied
New Headstart Center Groundbreaking
Metter Soldier Wounded
Flu Tests Inconclusive in Death
Condemnation Hearing Ends
Brewton Parker Reaccredited
Owens New President
Fire Deaths
Sentencing Date Set
Trial Date for Professor
Names in the News
Warrants Issued
Governor Visits South Georgia
Oxford Donates Building to County
United Charities' "Christmas"
Judge Deciding on Warrants
Stadium Authority Dissolves
Treutlen Sheriff Nabs Escapee
Incident Report Filed
U.S. Navy Blue Angels Honor Vidalia
Telephone Notification System Activated for Missing Persons
Teacher Suspended
Joint Stadium Project "Dead"
Flu Vaccine Almost Gone
Tree Dispute in Montgomery County Schools
Snow Birds Coming to Onion Festival
New Auto Parts Store Coming to Vidalia
Lyons City Council Tables Health Insurance
Fire Destroys Home
VHS School Lockdown
School Report Cards
Montgomery Tax Commissioner "Working on Back Taxes"
Toombs Development Authority Selects Low Bidder
Fire Damages Restaurant
Vidalia School Board Can Call Tax Limit Vote
Correctional Officer Memorialized
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URL: http://toombs.150m.com/news/radio/2003/December.htm Updated: Wednesday, December 31, 2003. Top