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BARROW JOURNAL
WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 19, 2011
FIRE
Cause of small fire unknown
At 5:03 Friday afternoon. Communication Officers with
Barrow County Emergency Services received a 911 call report
ing a structure fire in the 900 Block of Hancock Bridge Road,
according to Barrow County Fire Lt. Scott Dakin.
Firefighters responded and found an outbuilding completely
involved in fire. A crew worked to bring the fire under control.
The building was completely destroyed by the fire.
The cause of the fire is listed as undetermined at this time.
Engines 6 and 1, Med 6 and 1 and Battalion 1 responded.
STATHAM POLICE
SPD makes two arrests last week
The following people also are or were being held at the
BCDC. Listed below are their names, ages, addresses and the
charges for their arrests by the Statham Police Department.
An arrest occurs when an officer has probable cause to
believe that a crime has been committed or if a person com
mits a crime in an officer's presence. An arrest is not a con
viction of guilt.
The following names were provided by a jail media report
distributed by the Barrow County Sheriff's Office:
•John Samuel Potts, 27, of 1502 Dooley Town Road,
Statham; driving while license suspended or revoked, failure
to dim lights.
•Emiliano Cazales, 24, of 473 McCarty Road, Statham;
criminal trespass.
BRASELTON POLICE
Drug Take Back Day’ Oct. 29
The Braselton Police Department is teaming with the Drug
Enforcement Administration (DEA) by accepting any pre
scription drugs for safe disposal on Drug Take Back Day on
Saturday, Oct. 29, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
Braselton officers will be available to accept any pharma
ceutical — prescription or over-the-counter — drug in the
Braselton Community Room of the Braselton Police and
Municipal Court Building, located in the rear of the building
at 5040 Highway 53.
The service is free and anonymous with no questions
asked. All efforts will be made to protect the anonymity of
those disposing of the medications and no requests for iden
tification will be made by police.
Intravenous solutions, injectables, syringes and aerosol
inhalers will not be accepted. Nor will any illegal substances,
such as marijuana or methamphetamines. Once collected, the
drugs will then be turned over to the DEA and destroyed.
The initiative addresses a vital public safety and public
health issue. Medicines that languish in home cabinets are
highly susceptible to theft, misuse and abuse.
The nationwide campaign features thousands of Drug Take
Back Day sites across the nation.
According to the 2009 National Survey on Drug Use and
Health, rates of prescription drug abuse are alarmingly high.
More Americans currently abuse prescription drugs than
those using cocaine, hallucinogens and heroin combined,
according to the study. Studies show that a majority of abused
prescription drugs are obtained from family and friends.
“We hope that many will take advantage of this valuable
opportunity to safely dispose of prescription drugs," organiz
ers said in a statement. “Preventing these readily available
and potentially deadly drugs from being misused by kids is
something each and every one of us can do to help reduce
the epidemic of prescription drug abuse that affects our com
munities.
For more information, contact Braselton assistant police
Chief Lou Solis at 706-654-3915, ext. 1103 or lsolis@brasel-
ton.net or visit the DEA website at http://www.deadiversion.
usdoj.gov/drug_disposal/takeback/.
SHERIFFS OFFICE INCIDENTS
Racial slurs reported on roadway
Barrow County Sheriff’s deputies responded to a report
of racial slurs painted on the roadway in front of a Mitchell
Drive, Winder residence on the afternoon of Oct. 9. When
they arrived, deputies found that someone had used red spray
paint to scribble the N-word and “KKK” in the middle of the
road approximately 50 feet from the intersection with Roxey
Maxey Road.
The complainant, an elderly woman, said she left for the
store for approximately three hours and found the graffiti
when she returned. The woman said no graffiti was on her
property. She also said this was the first incident of this
kind she has experienced in Winder. She did not name any
suspects. The same woman summoned deputies again the
following day to report more racial slurs on the roadway.
The woman told a deputy a friend noticed the new graffiti
and told her about it, so she walked out into the roadway to
observe it. The woman said the new graffiti was also done
with red spray paint, but read: “The South will rise agin.”
The woman said she thought it might be someone differ
ent that did this graffiti because the person or persons had
misspelled “again.”
LEPC meeting to be held Nov. 9 at BCES
The next LEPC meeting will be held on Wednesday Nov. 9
at 2 p.m. at Barrow County Emergency Services, located at 222
Pleasant Hill Church Rd. NE.
A meeting reminder and agenda will be sent out at a later
date.
Jail seeks book donations for inmates
The Barrow County Sheriff's Office Detention Division
is seeking donations of paperback books for restocking its
inmate reading library.
No hardback books will be accepted.
Books in general good condition can be taken to the
Barrow County Detention Center at 652 Barrow Park Drive
in Winder.
The books can be adventure, horror or romance novels
geared to male or females in English or Spanish.
Any questions can be directed to Lt. Jimmy Carroll at 770-
307-3080 ext. 1450.
BCSO ARREST REPORTS
Four-county chase lands couple in jail
By Katie Cofer
katie @ barrow journal, com
A Barrow County male and
female, both 24 years old,
were taken into custody after
they led police on a chase
through Barrow, Oconee,
Clarke and Jackson counties
Sunday afternoon.
According to Barrow
County Sheriff Jud Smith, the
chase began in Winder, where
deputies responded to a report
of a domestic dispute at 544
Rockwell Church Road.
A witness said she saw
Jeffrey Jordan Taylor, 24, of
539 McCarty Road, Statham,
and a female victim, identi
fied as Leah Whitney Shepley,
of 1328 Jefferson Hwy,
Winder, engaged in a verbal
dispute that turned physical.
According to the witness, the
couple was yelling profanities
at one another when Taylor
jumped up and punched
Shepley in the face.
The BCSO was dispatched
at about 2:20 p.m., when the
witness called 911 and said
the female victim was run
ning down the street and her
aggressor followed in a black
1998 Chevy Blazer with large
chrome wheels on it.
Believing Taylor may have
been attempting to run Shepley
over, deputies went to look for
the vehicle, said Smith.
It was determined that
the two met up at the EZ
Buy Convenience Store on
Jefferson Hwy. and Ga. Hwy.
211, where Shepley got into
the vehicle with Taylor and
they headed toward Jackson
County, said Smith.
Taylor eventually drove
back to the EZ Buy, where
deputies tried to make a traffic
stop. But as he was asked to
exit the vehicle, Taylor opened
the door and placed his hand
under his leg, causing depu
ties to draw their weapons.
Taylor got back in the driv
er's seat and slammed the door,
when a pursuit began down
Ga. Hwy. 53 on Rockwell
Church Road toward Winder
on Jefferson Highway at
speeds in excess of 90 miles
per hour, according to Smith.
In Winder, Taylor reported
ly took turns from Mimosa
Street onto East Broad Street
at speeds exceeding 100 miles
an hour.
At that time, deputies were
still under the impression that
Shepley was being held hos
tage, instead of assisting in
Taylor’s attempts to elude law
enforcement.
“She was screaming and
yelling,” said Smith. “We were
still under the impression that
he is beating this girl up.”
Deputies who weren’t
involved in the pursuit would
later determine that Shepley
had been trying to watch for
traffic and tell
Taylor where
to go, said
Smith.
Taylor
Shepley led
deputies into
Statham on
Ga. Hwy.
82 and then
onto Dials
Mill Road
in Oconee
County, where the Georgia
State Patrol picked up the
chase.
Taylor tuned right onto
Huntington Road in front
of the Georgia Square Mall
in Athens-Clarke County,
turning right onto Timothy
Road and onto Epps Bridge
Road, before getting onto
the Georgia 10-Loop toward
Atlanta Highway and then
tried to come down Tallassee
Road.
The vehicle lost control and
swerved onto Ga. Hwy. 82,
when it overturned against a
tree.
Both Shepley and Taylor
were transported to Athens
Regional Medical Center.
A trooper went with them
to the hospital where they
were arrested and taken to
the Barrow County Detention
Center, pending several charg
es with various agencies.
After finding Oxycodone
pills in Shepley’s bra dur
ing intake,
the Barrow
County
Sheriff's
Office
charged her
with illegal
possession
of a con
trolled sub
stance and
fleeing or
attempting
to elude police.
Taylor’s charges with the
BCSO are Violating Georgia's
Controlled Substance Act,
obstruction, fleeing and
attempting to elude police,
no insurance, passing in no
passing zone, stop sign vio
lation, aggressive driving
and reckless driving.
Assisting Georgia State
Patrol troopers attempt
ed to stop Taylor at Ga.
Hwy. 129 at Cripple Creek
Road, according to reports
made by GSP Trooper Stan
Staniszewski.
Taylor, at one point, drove
his car down the wrong side
of Highway 1-29 and then
turned off onto Ga. Hwy. 82.
He was finally apprehended
off Timothy Road in Clarke
County.
The GSP will charge Taylor
with three counts of aggra
vated assault, fleeing and
attempting to elude and some
other minor traffic charges.
TAYLOR SHEPLEY
BRASELTON POLICE
Suspect tries to rob Braselton Ga. Hwy. 53 business
A burglary at a Ga. Hwy. 53 business was possibly avoided
last week, when an employee yelled at a suspect trying to enter
the store, according to an incident report from the Braselton
Police Department.
A woman at a dry cleaners said around 7:50 a.m. on Monday,
Oct. 10, she and her husband noticed that someone was trying
to open a rear door of the business, according to police.
The couple initially believed the door was being opened by
mistake by one of the employees of another business in the
shopping center. They didn't pay much attention to the door,
until the suspect tried opening it with force by breaking the door
handle, which got stuck. The door lock was also almost pulled
out of the door jam.
The husband then grabbed a golf club and yelled, “Who is
there?” according to an incident report.
The couple said they heard the suspect running from the rear
of the business. The woman went to the front door and locked it.
She then noticed a unknown model of a tan vehicle with heavily
tinted windows leaving from behind the businesses.
Braselton police have reported several burglaries in recent
weeks at area businesses that involved entry through a rear
door.
Littering leads to drug arrest
An officer who spotted a careless driver throwing trash out a
car window arrested the man on a narcotics charge, according to
an incident report from the Braselton Police Department.
The officer said he stopped a Ford Focus after seeing its
driver toss trash out the window near the intersection of Ga.
Hwy. 53 and Ga. Hwy. 124.
When the officer asked the driver — identified as Jonathan
Blake Pethel, 28, of Pendergrass — about throwing out the
trash, Pethel said it was sticky and he didn't think about it,
according to an incident report.
The officer said Pethel appeared to be breathing rapidly and
he was stuttering. Pethel’s license had been suspended and he
was placed under arrest.
An officer said none of the other people in the car had a
driver's license on them. The officer told the car’s owner, who
was in the vehicle, that he would search it because of Pethel’s
arrest.
The officer said he found a black bag near the driver’s seat
that contained three, clear baggies of suspected crystal metham-
phetamine. He also found car stereo head sets, a laptop, iPod,
several speakers and amps and six cell phones.
Pethel admitted to ownership of the narcotics, according to
police. He was charged with littering highways, driving while
license suspended or revoked and possession of meth. He was
taken to the Jackson County Jail.
OTHER INCIDENTS
Other incidents reported to the Braselton Police Department
last week included:
•criminal damage to property at McDonald's on Spout
Springs Road, where an employee said a man driving a large,
yellow truck damaged the corner of the roof of the building
when he drove the truck through the drive-thru.
•driving on a suspended license on 1-85, where an officer
stopped a vehicle for not having a tag light. The 21-year-old
man from Bristol, Tenn., that was driving the vehicle had a
suspended license. The officer gave the man a citation and
released him, but then started a “consensual encounter.” The
man allowed the officer to search his vehicle, where he found
a small amount of marijuana in a burnt roach and a pistol in a
coat pocket inside of a plastic bag in the trunk. The man said
the clothes and pistol belonged to his friend and he didn't know
about the gun’s location in the car. The man had a previous
domestic violence conviction and wasn't allowed to possess a
firearm. The officer took the gun into safekeeping for the friend
to claim.
•dispute at an Olney Falls Drive address, where a woman said
her neighbor's dogs have been barking throughout the night
for the past year and a half. The woman said she made mul
tiple contacts with the Barrow County Animal Control and her
homeowner's association about the situation, but nothing has
changed. An officer said animals do not fall under the town's
noise violation ordinance and animal problems are handled by
the different animal control agencies that serve Braselton. The
officer said he would write an incident report about the prob
lem and the woman could take it to Barrow County Animal
Control.
•hit and run on Ga. Hwy. 211, where a woman said another
vehicle hit her vehicle as she was waiting at a traffic light at the
intersection of Ga. Hwy. 124. The other vehicle hit her vehicle's
driver side mirror and left the area. An officer couldn’t find a
vehicle in the area matching the woman's description.
•abandoned vehicle on Ga. Hwy. 211, where a Chevy Lumina
had been parked near an entrance to Chateau Elan for two days.
The vehicle was towed from the area.
BRASELTON ARRESTS
The Braselton Police Department made the following arrest
last week:
•Jonathan Lee Motes, 22, 110 Guy Maddox Road, Braselton,
aggravated assault, terroristic threats and obstruction. Motes
was arrested after he and another person ran from a house on
Reisling Drive, where a fight was in progress when someone
called 911. An officer said when he arrived at the house, he
could see two men running from it to a wooded area. The men
didn’t stop when the officer told them to do so. The officer was
told that Motes had thrown a brick at a woman, which hit her
around her head and shoulder. Another officer later spotted two
men walking to another house, where he was waiting. The men
started running away from the officer. One of the men ran into
the house, where the officer followed him. When the officer left
the house, he found Motes sitting in a car with several cuts on
his hands and face, according to an incident report. Braselton
police have reported responding to several incidents in recent
weeks among several people at the Reisling Drive residence.
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