Newspaper Page Text
Barrow Journal
www.BarrowJournal.com •r Read all over...
Wednesday, April 15,2009
Vol. 1 No. 25 22 PAGES 3 SECTIONS A publication of MainStreet Newspapers, Inc. WINDER, BARROW COUNTY GEORGIA 30680 250COPY
• Prom Night for
WBHS
page 1C
•In the kitchen with a
Cook of Barrow County
page 1C
•BOE continues to
pound out budget
page 2A
•Zoning dispute goes
to state Supreme Court
page 2A
Opinions:
• Hiding behind a
computer .... page 4A
•Perdue will grab
more power under
roads bill
page 4A
•Let schools teach and
churches preach
page 4A
Sports:
•Diamond Doggs pre
pare for stretch run
page 1B
•AHS baseball looks to
meet more goals
page 1B
•WB Speedway season
continues
page 2B
Also Inside:
•Classifieds
page 7C
•Church News
page 5B
•Letters to the Editor
page 5A
•Public Safety
pages 6-7A
•Obituaries
pages 4-5C
To subscribe,
call today:
770-867-NEWS
(6397).
The Barrow
Journal is
delivered
every
Thursday.
Child rapist gets lengthy sentence
BY SUSAN NORMAN
A Statham man who videotaped his
rape and sodomy of a 9-year-old local
girl was sentenced Monday to three
life terms plus 20 years in prison.
Alan Richard Konwinski, 40, of
Dooleytown Road received one life
sentence for rape and two life sen
tences for two counts of aggravated
sodomy, said District Attorney Brad
Smith.
The additional 20-year sentence
was for the sexual exploitation of the
child — a charge that was the direct
result of Konwinski videotaping his
crimes, Smith said.
All of the sentences will run con
currently, but Konwinski likely will
be 70 years old before he becomes
eligible for parole.
“I believe he will not be eligible for
parole for 30 years,” Smith said.
Konwinski made a “blind” plea of
guilt with no agreement worked out
to reduce his sentence.
“He knew he faced the possibility
of a life sentence,” Smith said.
By pleading guilty, he also for
feited his right to appeal the sentence,
which means the legal process is over
for him and also for the victim and
her family.
The girl's parents were in court
Monday.
“We’re just glad it is over with
and that the child will not have to go
through the ordeal of a court process,
and hopefully, the family can find a
little bit of closure,” Smith said.
Konwinski's crime was discovered
five months ago when his girlfriend
stopped by his apartment Nov. 17 and
popped in a video to watch until he
came home from work.
Stunned by what was on the video,
and recognizing the child, she went
immediately to the family’s home and
brought the girl's father to the apart
ment to look at the tape.
The father called the Statham Police
Department and officers arrested
Konwinski a few hours later as he
was driving home from work.
During a search of his apartment,
officers confiscated two computer
hard drives, VHS tapes, CDs, and
High-8 videotapes.
The Georgia Bureau of Investigation
now has that evidence and is check
ing it for possible additional victims,
Smith said.
Smith expressed appreciation
for the assistance provided by Tree
House Inc. in Winder, which provides
services in child abuse cases.
“I want to thank the people at Tree
House for all of the support and help
they've given,” he said.
STORM DAMAGE
Heavy rains caused trees to be uprooted and tumble onto power lines in
Barrow County earlier this week. Here, Jackson EMC workers cut a tree off a
power line in Northern Barrow County.
Storm sweeps through
Trees, power lines downed Monday
BY SUSAN NORMAN
A blustery storm swept through Barrow
County Monday, bringing down trees and
power lines and causing power outages
and minor damage at Northeast Georgia
Regional Airport.
The National Weather Service reported
sustained winds of 25 miles per hour and
gusts of 39 miles per hour at 11 a.m. at the
airport.
No planes or hangars were affected, but
lightning appears to have damaged a few
taxiway lights and an electronic control
panel for one of the gates, said assistant
airport director Wanda Mitchell.
In a five-hour period beginning at about
10:30 a.m., Barrow County Fire and
Emergency Services received 34 calls that
were storm-related, said Lt. Scott Dakin,
public information officer.
“This included two motor vehicle acci
dents, and firefighters from Station 5 also
responded to Easy Street where a tree fell
and hit the back deck of a residence,” he
said.
The rest of the calls were for downed
power lines and fallen trees.
Nat Dukes, director of the Barrow County
Roads & Bridges Department, said trees
fell on 41 roads around Barrow County. His
crews on Monday cut and moved the fallen
trees to the sides of the roads and then on
Tuesday picked up about 100 truckloads of
debris.
continued on page 8A
In death of wife
Man charged with
vehicular homicide
BY SUSAN NORMAN
The husband of a Winder woman who died in a single-car
wreck four months ago has been arrested and charged in connec
tion with the accident that caused her death.
Nicolas Stephan Overbey Sr. of 308 Woodview Drive in Winder
was arrested Sunday and was charged with failure to drive within
a single lane and misdemeanor homicide by vehicle.
Overbey, 43, was charged following a Georgia State Patrol
investigation, said trooper Chris Matthews.
Because the misdemeanor charges were not filed at the time of
the accident, warrants were issued and Overbey turned himself in
at the Barrow County Detention Center, Matthews said.
The investigation showed that the single-car accident occurred
after Overbey became provoked by another driver.
“He was parked on Pierce Road at Cedar Ridge Drive and he
and his son were collecting cans,” Matthews said. “Somebody
drove by in a pickup truck and made a comment about his vehicle
being in the road. He got upset and jumped in the truck with his
son. His wife was in the front passenger seat.”
Intending to catch up with the other driver and speak to him,
Overbey instead lost control of his vehicle on a curve, dropping
two wheels off the right side of the roadway.
“He overcorrected and shot back across both lanes, struck
some trees on the other side of the road and flipped the vehicle
over,” Matthews said.
Ann Marguerite Overbey, 35, was ejected from the vehicle and
died at the scene, and the couple’s two children in the back seat
received minor injuries.
The investigation showed that speed was not a factor in the
wreck so a felony charge is not being pursued, Matthews said.
May foredosures skyrocket
Foreclosures in Barrow County for the May sale date sky
rocketed to a new monthly record of 213, up 66 percent from
May 2008. It is the first time over 200 foreclosures have hit in
a single month in Barrow County.
For the first five months of 2009, some 782 foreclosures
have slammed Barrow County, up 40 percent from the first
five months of 2008.
In 2008, some 1,400 foreclosure actions took place in
Barrow County.
Barrow County Foreclosures
Virus no joke to Barrow officials
BY SUSAN NORMAN
Someone played a nasty
April Fool’s joke on the
county government.
Thinking county com
puters had escaped infec
tion by the well-publicized
Conflicker virus that was to
attack computers worldwide
April 1, county employ
ees exactly one week later
watched helplessly as one
computer after another fell
victim to the IT plague.
“I’ve been here almost
five years and I tell you
what, I’ve never seen
anything like this,” said
Sebastian Ododa, the coun
ty’s information technol
ogy manager. “It hit us on
Wednesday at 3:30 p.m.
and everything went hay
wire. It was a bunch of
Trojan horses, viruses and
worms.”
Employees could not
access the county’s server.
send e-mail, or access cer
tain applications to serve
the public, Ododa said.
“I’m using pencil and
paper right now,” said pur
chasing manager Bob Hohe
last week. “It acted differ
ently on different comput
ers. Some computers didn’t
get touched, some were
mildly affected, and some
were absolutely eaten up.”
continued on page 8A
Barrow schools apply for charter status
BY CHRIS BRIDGES
The Barrow County School System is
hoping to be granted charter school status,
officials announced last week.
The petition would request consideration
for Barrow County Schools to be approved
as a charter school system beginning the
2010-2011 school year, assistant super
intendent for curriculum and instruction
Claire Miller said. The school system plans
to submit the request to the State Board of
Education by Nov. 1.
“I believe it is very important for our
school system to seek as much flexibility
from certain state mandates as we continue
educating the students of Barrow County,”
said Barrow County superintendent Ron
Saunders. “The Charter System status
would allow Barrow County Schools to
not only think outside the box, but also act
outside the box in delivering a quality edu
cation to all students.”
The Georgia Charter Systems Act of 2007
gives school systems the option to convert
to system charter status. A system charter
petition is a contract between the State
of Georgia and the local school district
designed to improve student achievement.
continued on page 8A
2009
2008
January
111
76
February
131
117
March
158
121
April
169
115
May
213
128
YTD
782
+40%
557
Unemployment insurance
claims rise during March
Unemployment in Barrow County showed no signs oJ
relenting in March as 594 people made first time unemploy
ment insurance claims. That number was up 85 percent froir
March 2008 and was a slight increase from February this
year.
As an economic indicator, rising first time unemploymeni
claims often portend a rise in the overall unemployment
Barrow County was at 11 percent unemployment in Februar>
and March's rate won’t be released until later this month.
While unemployment insurance claims were up in March
they were below December and January numbers. Ir
December, 763 people filed for unemployment insurance
while 680 filed in January.
Barrow County
First Time Unemployment Insurance Claims
November 2008 — 457
December 2008 — 763
January 2009 — 680
February 2009 — 576
March 2009 — 594
