Newspaper Page Text
Barrow Journal
www.BarrowJournal.com •r Read all over...
Wednesday, May 27,2009
Vol. 1 No. 31 20 PAGES 3 SECTIONS A publication of MainStreet Newspapers, Inc. WINDER, BARROW COUNTY GEORGIA 30680 250COPY
•Artist set to display
work
page 1C
•In the kitchen with a
Cook of Barrow County
page 1C
•Student suspended
over threats
page 2A
•Bethlehem officials
request sewer service
page 3A
Opinions:
•Passing of time
doesn't dim memories
page 4A
•Goodbye to some
friends
page 4A
•Airport issue comes
full circle
page 4 A
Sports:
•AHS Wildcats usher in
spring practice
page 1B
•WBHS, AHS soccer
players recognized
page 1B
•WBHS seniors sign
athletic scholarships
page 1B
Also Inside:
•Classifieds
page 6C
•Church News
page 7B
•Public Safety
page 6A
•Obituaries
pages 4-5C
To subscribe,
call today:
770-867-NEWS
(6397).
The Barrow
Journal is
delivered
every
Thursday.
Drugs by bucket busted in Winder
BY SUSAN NORMAN
Winder police officers last week
busted up an unusual drug operation
down the street from Barrow County
Leisure Services.
The operation out of an apartment
on 2nd Street involved the use of a
wireless doorbell button attached to
a tree in nearby woods. Buyers first
would push the remote doorbell, then
go to the back of the apartment and
ring a second doorbell.
“Once the doorbell is rung, (the
dealer) will lower a bucket from his
apartment,” states a police report.
“The drug user will place money
in the bucket, and once (the dealer)
receives the money, he will lower the
drugs to the user.”
Acting on a May 11 tip about
crack cocaine being dealt from the
apartment, officers first confirmed
the existence of the drug operation
by having a confidential source make
multiple buys.
Then in the early morning hours of
May 22, a total of 13 officers from
three city police units conducted a
“no knock” search of the apartment.
The seven-member Special
Response Team used a door ram to
get inside the apartment and to sur
prise the sleeping suspects, according
to a police report.
Also on hand were three members
of the Narcotics Unit and two mem
bers of the Criminal Investigations
Division.
Inside were four people, includ
ing Laurnecia Fulton of Athens,
who leases the Winder apartment;
her son, whose name and age were
not released; Antwan Scruggs of
Lawrenceville, and a fourth man who
had come for the holiday weekend
and was later released by police with
out being charged.
During the search, officers seized
suspected marijuana, two blunts, and
a few Percocet pills in a gallon-size
plastic bag. Officers also confiscated
a digital scale, a bucket with red
writing on it, brown rope, a wireless
door chime and a doorbell button
that was discovered taped to a tree
about 60-100 feet from the apartment
building.
“Lt. (Frank) Farr located a door
bell button taped to a tree,” wrote a
narcotics officer in the report. “Lt.
Farr pressed the button, and I could
hear a doorbell sound inside of the
residence.”
Fulton, 27, and Scruggs, 30, were
arrested and charged with possession
of oxycodone, possession of mari
juana with the intent to distribute,
possession of marijuana within 1,000
feet of parks and recreation facilities,
and possession of tools for the com
mission of a crime. The juvenile was
not charged.
All aboard...
THE RIGHT BUTTON
Catherine Nelson, age 6, looks at an antique toy train during the recent Train
Day held in downtown Winder. The event was held in conjunction with Armed
Forces Day. Photo by Jessica Brown
Graduations set for next week
BY CHRIS BRIDGES
Winder-Barrow High School and
Apalachee High School seniors are count
ing down the days until gradudation.
WBHS seniors will walk the stage
Thursday, June 4, at 8 p.m. in a ceremony
held at W. Clair Harris Stadium, principal
A1 Darby said.
Fellow seniors at AHS will take part in
graduation ceremonies Friday, June 5, prin
cipal David McGee said. The ceremony will
also be at the school’s football stadium.
Anna Grayson Gresham is the valedicto
rian for WBHS with Taylor Nicole Turner
earning salutatorian honors.
Josephine Gina Borg is Apalachee’s vale
dictorian for the 2008-09 school year with
Lauren Ashley Morris being named the
salutatorian.
WINDER-BARROW HIGH SCHOOL
The following WBHS seniors have earned
honor status for the 2008-09 school year:
Anna Grayson Gresham, Taylor Nicole
Turner, Heather Faith Hardigree, Savanna
Leigh Vickery, Ashley Nicole Skinner,
Leslie Nicole Davis, Leah Nicole Craft,
Flavia Soledad Canciani, Kirsten Elizabeth
Gunter and Leslie Jordan Bentley.
Also Leslie Jordan Bentley, Hector
Fernando Salazar, Jeremy Ryaan O’Neal,
Kengelle Queen Chukwurah, Jennifer
Stephanie Rivas, Taylor George Prather,
Cerissa Rae Lester, Daniel Edwardo
Jimenez, Kaela N. Burns, Aaron Matthew
Phipps and Gabriel Anna Lewis.
Also Gregory Scott Dixon, Daisy Xiong,
Regina Karen Taylor, David Andrew Prae,
Charlotte Anne Lawson, Rhode Theodona
Doriscar, Megan Elizabeth Barnette,
Melody Brooke Whittington, Rebekah
Shay Williams and Brenda Keo Phan.
Also Jessica Kouch, Brittany Nicole
Cooper, Jorge Yamid Lozano, Mary Kaitlyn
Fitzpatrick, Stephen Jay Sandlin, Caitlin
Grace McDaniel, Huxford Lane Anderson,
Jennifer Farias, Luis Alfredo Jimenez and
Thomas Allan Jr. Dean.
Also Akendra Shantea, Ken Johnson,
Abbey Michelle Vickers, Taylor Elaine
Fortson, Darlene Ntxhee Yees Moua, Evan
Taylor Donaldson, Le-On Christoph Jr.
Taylor, Samantha Rene McGrath, Elizabeth
Anna Stapleton, Borei Tang and Robert Lee
Russell.
continued on page 2A
Officials no show at meeting
New Winder budget
has plenty of work left
BY SUSAN NORMAN
Winder’s city government held a public hearing Tuesday about
its new budget for the fiscal year that starts in less than five
weeks.
But only two local residents showed up to speak and the only
city official on hand to hear their comments was the city’s finance
director.
There was no mayor. No city councilmen. No city administra
tor.
City finance director Leslie Ginn said turnout for the annual
budget hearings is historically very low and that the city’s elected
officials do not attend them.
Attendance this year may have also been affected by the lack
of public notice about the meeting. Only one public notice was
published Sunday in a newspaper. The rest of the media was not
notified of the hearing and the meeting was not mentioned on the
city’s web site.
Ginn said notices were posted at city hall. However, local resi
dent Kay Pierce said she had been to city hall less than an hour
before the start of the public hearing and she could not find the
meeting notice posted anywhere.
“I think it is poor planning to have one notice in one paper,”
Pierce told Ginn. “It was just by chance that I read it this week.”
The city’s published notice about the hearing this week did not
mention a second public hearing that is planned.
Ginn said that hearing will be at 5 p.m. June 18 immediately
prior to the City Council’s called meeting for the adoption of the
budget.
Both meetings will be in the council’s chambers at the Winder
Community Center, 113 E. Athens St., in downtown Winder.
continued on page 2A
School officials discuss
move to charter status
BY CHRIS BRIDGES
Barrow County Board of Education members agreed Tuesday
night that becoming a charter school system is a good idea. The
only disagreement is how quickly the system should act on the
idea.
After hearing a presentation from Pat Stokes, former superin
tendent of the Morgan County School System, on how becom
ing a charter school system would impact Barrow County, board
member Lynn Stevens wanted to have everything in place by
November of this year. Other BOE members, however, said that
was moving too fast and wanted to wait until Nov. 2010.
In a charter school system, all schools are charter schools that
receive public funding, but are run independently. The entire
school system is released from state requirements for class
size and instructional time in exchange for increased student
achievement.
continued on page 2A
County budget group to
huddle again Thursday
BY SUSAN NORMAN
The Barrow County Board of Commissioners budget committee
will meet Thursday at 4 p.m. to again wrestle with what portends
to be the most difficult budget year in the county’s history.
County BOC chairman Danny Yearwood said this week that
climbing out of what amounts to a nearly $10 million revenue hole
over the next 16 months will require a combination of departmen
tal restructuring, layoffs, salary and benefit reductions and higher
taxes.
“We are going to face this thing,” he said in an interview.
Last week, he began preparing the county’s elected officials
and department managers for what may be required. At a May
21 meeting to kickoff the FY2010 budget process, he reeled off
numbers showing the severity of the projected shortfall and the
lack of a simple fix.
continued on page 2A
