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Si
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wI" n
NEWS
FAYETTE
COUNTY
4*THE TRUTH SINCE 1886 4*
INSIDE Fayette Boys Beat Whitewater Jor
Region Championship, Bl
VOL 151, NO. 8
WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 22, 2023
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INSIDE: Fayetteville Man Arrested Jor Stabbing Grandfather, A5
INSIDE: Fayette Senior Services Releases March Community Calendar , B3
8-Year-Old Injured in Shooting, SWAT Arrests Fayette Man
Spencer Dylan Harris
of Fayetteville was ar
rested and charged with
aggravated assault Sat
urday after discharging a
firearm in a Hickory Ave
nue residence, resulting in
a gunshot wound to an 8-
year-old male in the home,
according to Fayette
County Sheriff s Office.
The victim was alert
and speaking with first re
sponders at the scene,
then was transported to
Egleston Hospital in At
lanta by Fayette Fire and
Emergency Services.
FCSO, along with Fire
and Emergency Services
units, were dispatched to
the address at 1:30 p.m.
and found the juvenile
with a gunshot would.
While rendering aid, dep
uties heard what they be
lieved was a single shot
fired inside the home, the
report stated.
Deputies moved the
family to safety as they
learned 29-year-old Har
ris, who allegedly fire the
initial shot that struck the
juvenile, was the only per
son remaining inside.
Deputies provided cover
and containment until the
arrival of the FCSO Special
Weapons and Tactics
Team and negotiators, ac
cording to officials.
After repeated at
tempts by negotiators to
contact Harris failed,
SWAT deployed a robot to
locate Harris and sub
sequently made entry to
take him into custody
without further incident.
Investigators learned
an earlier altercation re
sulted in Harris firing a
shot in the residence. The
bullet traveled through an
interior wall, into another
room, striking the child. A
family member wrestled
the weapon from Harris,
who produced another
firearm, then all occupants
escaped from the home.
Harris is being held in
Fayette County Jail on the
felony charge.
Spencer D. Harris FCSO
PTC Named
Safest City
in Georgia
Submitted
Countywide PAGE STAR Student Titoluwa Alofe, right, with his STAR Teacher John "JB" Campbell
Titoluwa Alofe Named Countywide STAR Student
Kiwanis of Fayette Honors STAR Students/Teachers
Leah Banks
Investigative Reporter
leah@fayette-news.net
FAYETTE — Fayette
County students are
known to have stellar aca
demic records and a strong
preference for learning
and education, and this
past weekend, the Kiwanis
Club of Fayette honored
the STAR students from
each Fayette County
school.
The honorees repre
sented all six Fayette
County high schools, as
well as the STAR teachers
and a mention of the
county-wide winner.
From Starr’s Mill, the
county-wide STAR Stu
dent is Titoluwa Ibukuno-
luwa Alofe. The STAR
Teacher is John Campbell,
who teaches AP calculus.
From Fayette County
High School, the STAR
Student is Caden-Quan
Minh Hang, and the STAR
Teacher is Angela Elliot,
who teaches AP psychol
ogy.
See STAR Student, A6
Leah Banks
Investigative Reporter
leah@fayette-news.net
PEACHTREE CITY -
From the Peachtree City
Police Department to
Peachtree City Fire and
Safety, residents of this
community have contin
ually been protected by
those who are willing to
serve their community.
That being said, it
comes as no surprise that
Peachtree City was voted
“Safest Small City or
Town” in Georgia by
Crossroads Today, ranking
29 out of 660 listed mu
nicipalities nationwide.
Crossroads Today
highlights that most
people assume small
towns and cities are safer
than big cities, but the
website uses data to test
the assumptions in order
to rank the safety small
cities and towns in the
United States.
The system uses Mon-
eyGeek, which is a rank
ings and analytics website,
to analyze standardized
crime statistics reported
by the Federal Bureau of
Investigations from 2021.
The data that the website
analyzes is from the latest
year of available data.
According to Cross
roads Today, “The cost of
crime in small cities de
creased by five percent
from 2020 to 2021, while
the cost in larger cities in
creased by six percent.”
From an analytical point of
view, MoneyGeek ex
amined crime statistics
and quantified the cost of
See Safest City, A6
Fayetteville City Council
Approves $986K Bid for
Drainage Improvements
Dancers from DEMI's Dance Studio performing at the FCL Black History Month Celebration Sydney Spencer/FCN
FCL Celebrates Black History Month
Sydney Spencer
News Reporter
sspencer@fayette-news.net
During the Feb. 16
meeting, Fayetteville City
Council unanimously ap
proved awarding Crawford
Grading and Pipeline a
$986,341 bid for the city’s
upcoming drainage im
provements project.
Chris Hindman, direc
tor of public services,
brought attention to the
project by giving a back-
story on how the process
began and what went into
trying to solve the drai
nage problem affecting
local residents.
“Staff have been work
ing with different res
idents throughout the city
with flooding issues; some
on North Park Drive,
Booker Avenue, Stephens
Drive, and Creekwood
Trail,” Hindman said.
“We’ve been working on
engineering these projects
for a couple years now.
We’ve tried to mitigate
See Fayetteville, A6
Sydney Spencer
News Reporter
sspencer@fayette-news.net
On Feb. 18, Fayette
County Library celebrated
Black History Month by
holding an event com
memorating historical and
local leaders in the African
American community.
Notable community
leaders in attendance in
cluded Fayetteville Mayor
Ed Johnson, Fayette
County Commissioner
Charles Rousseau, and
Fayette County NAACP
President Kenneth Bryant.
FCL Director Michelle
Bennett-Copeland created
and hosted the event by in
troducing each of the
seven performances and
presentations. Entertain
ment included music,
dance, and poetry.
This year’s Black His
tory Month celebration
theme was “Black Resist
ance.” When asked why
that theme was chosen,
Copeland said, “The theme
‘Black Resistance’ is the
national theme for this
year that shares the story
of struggle and oppression
for African Americans and
See BHM, A6
INSIDE:
OBITUARIES
COMMUNITY
A2 FAYETTE VIEWS A4 LEGALS
_B3 SPORTS B1-B2 CLASSIFIEDS
B4
B8
CONTACT US: editorial@fayette-news.net ■ (770) 461-6317 ■ fayette-news.net
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