Newspaper Page Text
PAGE 2A
BARROW NEWS-JOURNAL
WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 21, 2016
Auburn council approves work on city roads
By Scott Thompson
Editor
Work on six Auburn
roads, including repairs
and speed table installa
tions among other tasks,
was scheduled to be per
formed this week after
City Council gave it the
green light last week.
At its work session
on Thursday, council
approved a $19,652 bid
by Tri-State Asphalt, Inc.
of Loganville to complete
the work, which includes:
•$6,510 in repairs to
Sixth Street at Sixth Ave
nue, Willowgate Trace
and Lakeview Drive.
•$6,350 for the instal
lation of two speed tables
on Carter Road
•$970 for striping on
Fourth Avenue
•$5,822 for the instal
lation of a new parking
area at the North Georgia
School of Dance studio on
Fifth Street.
The bid beat out one
of $22,900 by Brown’s
Asphalt Maintenance, Inc.
of Winterville. Funding
for the work will come
from the city’s 2012 Bar-
row County SPLOST
fund, city administrator
Ron Griffith said.
Election
qualifying dates, fees
Also at Thursday’s
meeting, staff presented
council with the proposed
qualifying dates and fees
for the 2017 municipal
election.
The qualifying fees
would be $144 for the
races for the at-large
council seats held by Rob
ert Vogel and Bill Ack-
worth.
The qualifying fee is
based on 3 percent of
council members’ $4,800
annual salary.
Qualifying would be
Monday, Aug. 21 through
Friday Aug. 25, from
8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
Thursday and 8:30 a.m. to
12:30 p.m. Friday at City
Hall, 1369 Fourth Ave.
Tag readers reason for increased fine
money, Statham police chief contends
By Ron Bridg'eman
News-Journal Reporter
Revenue from fines has tripled since
2014 in Statham because the town bought
license plate readers, which give police
specific information about traffic viola
tion or outstanding warrants, the city’s
police chief said at last week’s City
Council work session.
The city’s revenue from fines was bud
geted at about $71,000 for 2014. It is now
budgeted at $250,000.
Statham and its police department have
been under fire from a group of citi
zens who have complained that Officer
Marc Lofton has made illegal stops, lied
about the circumstances and/or charges
and made up charges against those he
stopped.
Chief Allan Johnston started to give the
same report about tag readers at Tues
day’s council meeting. He veered into
talking about the effects of drugs, saying
the department would continue “aggres
sive” enforcement.
He repeatedly said the city could not
get rid of drugs, but Johnston emphasized
anyone who uses or sells drugs should go
elsewhere.
“If this is your way of life, I suggest
you don’t come to Statham,” Johnston
said.
He also said he told Mayor Robert
Bridges if the department “went after”
drugs, “the pushback’s coming. Well,
here it is."
The department was accused in Novem
ber of “policing for profit.”
Johnston’s report Thursday was to
refute that accusation.
“The accusation of ‘policing for profit’
is absurd and false,” Johnston declared.
“We are doing our job — what we were
hired to do.
“If I were running a ‘policing for profit’
campaign, why not hire 20 more officers
and have court fines in the cool millions,”
Johnston said in his report.
He said officers could “sit on the side
of the road and just wait for an alert” to
ensure increases in money from fines.
He said Statham bought the LPRs in
2014. The device reads tags of passing
cars and checks insurance coverage, tags’
expiration dates, driver’s licenses, war
rants against the registered owner and
whether or not the car is stolen.
He said the reader “gives the officer an
alert and photo of the tag or vehicle all in
a fraction of a second.”
He called the LPRs “a great tool,” but
he said the readers are expensive.
Johnston said Statham police have had
342,000 “detections” since they were
bought but could only get cars stopped
for 3,613 of those.
He said that is because only one officer
is on duty at a time.
Department of Transportation traffic
counts show that more than 47,000 vehi
cles a day go through Statham on six
roads or intersections. More than half that
total is for Ga. 316 between Athens and
Interstate 85.
Traffic through the town is more than
17.2 million vehicles a year, Johnston
said.
Officer continued from 1A
does not require a specific
level of intoxication. Many
of Lofton’s cases involved
drugs rather than alcohol.
Spahos says in the letter,
“DUI-drug cases are sig
nificantly more complex
than alcohol cases, espe
cially when prescription
drugs are involved.
“Considerable train
ing is required to recog
nize which drags have the
potential to cause impair
ment, and how to conduct a
DUI investigation designed
to ascertain whether a sub
ject is genuinely less safe
to drive as a result of con
sumption.
“From a review of
Officer Lofton’s training
records as well as observa
tions of his investigations,
he does not have the train
ing required to regularly
make effective DUI cases
involving prescription
drugs.”
Spahos lists several DUI
training programs that
would be available for Lof
ton, or any law enforce
ment officer.
Although the PAC letter
said no evidence of crim
inal acts were found, it
also says, “This is not to
say there were not signifi
cant errors in several of the
DUI-drug investigations
provided to us for review.”
A group of 10 people
spoke at the Novem
ber Statham City Coun
cil meeting, complaining
about Lofton.
One woman charged the
city and the police depart
ment with “policing for
profit.”
Another group of 17
people signed up to speak
at Tuesday’s meeting.
However, most of them
did not attend the meeting.
One woman was telling
members of the audience
that city officials had told
them before the meeting
they would not be allowed
to speak.
Mayor Robert Bridg
es said only residents of
Statham could speak. He
called several names, none
of whom were at the meet
ing.
Two women tried to
speak and were escorted
from the meeting. One
woman contended she
should be allowed to talk on
a “point of order” because
Chief Allan Johnston had
raised issues on which she
wanted to respond.
Thomas Mitchell, city
attorney, said Robert’s
Rules of Order, which out
line “point of order.” said it
is for the council, or body
following the rales, not for
private citizens.
Mary Williams, the other
woman, said she has “her
business” in Statham. She
said Johnston told her
mother he could arrest
her for drunk driving. Her
mother takes blood pres
sure medicine, Williams
said.
The crowd at the coun
cil meeting — perhaps 30
people — outnumbered
those who came to com
plain about Lofton and the
police.
In addition to Johnston’s
talk, the agenda included
reports about good works
by the city from the Ameri
can Legion, a city employ
ee and two members of
council.
They talked about Bridg
es’ efforts to help a Viet
nam veteran pay an over
due water bill, the Christ
mas festival, Sunflower
Festival and the Christmas
clothes giveaway.
Bridges told the crowd,
“Regardless of what they
(the opponents) say, we’re
going to work on the drag
problem.”
Perry Barton, council
member, urged residents to
“talk to the city rather than
Facebook” when they hear
charges and stories.
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GUCC REGION ONE MAKES DONATION
The Georgia Utilities Coordinating Council (GUCC) Region One recently
donated $500 to the City of Winder’s Christmas With a Police Officer
Program for December. Shown, from left to right, are: James Childs,
Walton Electric Membership Corporation (EMC); Debra Jackson, Walton
EMC; Tabatha Knight, City of Winder; Detective Sergeant Rachel Love
and Chief Jim Fullington.
Station continued from 1A
for anything “that’s not a
standard use,” he said.
“We think the legal
facts are on our side on
more than one front,” he
said.
Wall said the same
people had tried to estab
lish a transfer station
in Oconee and Barrow
counties and had been
rejected.
At Tuesday’s council
meeting, Wall repeat
ed his contention that a
council vote in May 2015
was not appropriate for
the transfer station use of
the property.
In other business, the
council approved extend
ing the closing date for
a Georgia Environmental
Financing Authority loan
until May.
Jerry Hood, vice pres
ident with Environmen
tal Management Inc.,
the city’s engineer, told
council that should be
enough time to complete
work at the wastewater
treatment plant.
He said the change
would not alter the
interest rate or the total
amount of the loan for
the wastewater plant
improvements.
Dr. Fields
Dr. Fields is an Orthopedic Surgeon, who received his
medical degree from the Medical College of Georgia.
He completed his residency at West Virginia University,
Morgantown, West Virginia. Dr. Fields did a fellowship
in Sports Medicine and Arthroscopic Surgery at the
Orthopedic Research of Virginia.
706-583-9000
Athens • Commerce
Elberton
Jefferson • Royston
Winder
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