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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. Introducing the new look Publix Digital Coupons ft Sign Up for Publix Digital Coupons Sign up now at publix.com/coupon Publix. ryr LlJ Clip your coupons on our app or online % Redeem with your phone number at the register 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 www.athensboneandjoint.com isj ATHENS Bon ?Joint