Newspaper Page Text
28 Pages 2 Sections, Plus Preprints A Publication of MainStreet Newspapers, Inc. Winder, Barrow County Georgia 50$ Copy Wednesday, January 18, 2017
Barrow
Briefs
Hospital
celebration
Northeast Georgia Medical
Center Barrow, formerly Bar-
row Regional Medical Center
which was acquired by the
Northeast Georgia Health Sys
tem, will be hosting a fami
ly-friendly celebration Thurs
day, Jan. 19, from 5:30-7:30
p.m. on the hospital lawn.
The event will include soup
and s'mores by the fire, live
music, entertainment and give
aways. Register at www.nghs.
com/barrow-celebration to
receive a free gift at the event.
The hospital is located at 316
North Broad St., Winder.
Literacy Ball
The 24th annual Adult Literacy
Barrow Literacy Ball will be held
on Saturday. Jan. 28, at the Winder
Community Center.
Hors d'oeuvres will be served at
6:30 p.m. with a dinner and dance
to follow.
There is still time to become
a sponsor or to purchase tickets.
Tickets to this year’s event may
be purchased at Peoples Equity
Partners. LLC, 58 West Candler
St. Contact: Kelly Holliday at
770-851-0934.
For information on sponsor
ships, you may contact Sally
Brown. Executive Director of
Adult Literacy Barrow, at the Adult
Learning Center in the Wimberly
Center, 163 Martin Luther King,
Jr. Drive (formerly King Street),
Winder. 770-531-3369.
Bowling
benefit
The Peters Company and
Campbell & Brannon law firm
are co-sponsoring Pet Bowl
2017 on Saturday, Feb. 4, to
benefit Pup & Cat Co.
The bowling event will be
held 3-5 p.m. at Bowlmor,
2175 Savoy Drive, Atlanta.
A $5 donation will be made
for every strike.
To RSVP to the event, email
kimber@thepeterscompany.
com by Jan. 28.
Index:
Church News 10A
Classifieds 14-15A
Legals 4-9B
Obituaries 13A
Skelton poem 11A
Public Safety 8-9A
Sports 1-3, 10, 12B
Mailing
Label Below
o
7
Statham council approves records
request, public speaking changes
By Ron Bridg'eman
News-Journal Reporter
Statham city council adopted two
provisions in its ordinances Tues
day night that will make requests
for records and to speak at council
more formal.
Votes to pass the two were unan
imous and came at the beginning of
the meeting.
City Attorney Thomas Mitch
ell told the council it could pass
the ordinances and have them take
effect immediately as an “emergen
cy” provision.
Council had waived the first read
ing and introduced the ordinance
changes at a called meeting Thurs
day after its work session.
The ordinance establishing a
“disruption of public meetings”
includes language in its introduc
tion about “disruptions in the last
two regularly scheduled meetings.”
The change will allow the city
to charge anyone found to cause a
disruption.
It also defines the disruption by
anyone who enters a city meeting
“with the intent to disrupt the order
ly conduct of the official business
of the city.”
At the end of Tuesday’s meet
ing, five people spoke about the
DUI arrests made by officer Marc
Lofton.
Nearly all of those also spoke at
earlier meetings.
The speakers called for firing Lof
ton, and some included firing chief
Allan Johnston in their demands.
Kelly Pickens, one of the orga
nizers of opponents of Lofton, said
the council and city “will be sued” if
action is not taken.
Mary Williams said. “My charges
were all dismissed on Friday, Jan.
13” in Barrow County Superior
Court.
Johnston said Lofton had been
subpoenaed for Williams’ case for
Jan. 23. not Jan. 13.
Adam Carpenter said his charges
were dismissed after testing for
drags and alcohol was negative for
him.
He said he was arrested at 7 am.
on the way to work.
“It was obvious to me that (Lof
ton) didn’t know what he was doing
or something was going on.”
The speakers referred to a letter
written by Charles Spahos, exec
utive director of the Prosecuting
Attorneys Council, to Brad Smith,
district attorney for Barrow County.
See Changes on Page 2A
‘Don’t be weary’
MARCHING FOR THE DREAM
Community members head down Martin Luther King Jr. Drive in Winder Monday morning
on the back stretch of a march in memory of the late Civil Rights icon. The march was
part of the Barrow County Martin Luther King Jr. Committee’s annual celebration of King’s
legacy, held on the federal holiday that honors him. A memorial service in the sanctuary of
White Oak Spring Missionary Baptist Church followed the march. Photos by Scott Thompson
Annual MLK Jr. celebration held in Winder;
speaker scolds Trump over Lewis comments
By Scott Thompson
News-Journal Editor
As a Democrat
ic strategist who
worked to elect and
re-elect outgoing
President Barack
Obama, Tharon John
son acknowledged he
might “get political”
Monday at White
Oak Spring Mission
ary Baptist Church in
Winder.
And when the time
came for Johnson
to give the keynote
address at the Bar-
row County M.L.
King Committee’s
annual celebration
of late Civil Rights
icon Martin Luther
King, Jr., he rose to
the defense of the man
he considers his hero
— Congressman John
Lewis.
Johnson strong
ly criticized Presi
dent-elect Donald
Trump for calling
Lewis "all talk, no
action” on his Twit
ter account Saturday.
Trump fired off three
tweets that were criti
cal of Lewis and char
acterized Georgia’s
fifth congressional
district he represents
as being in “horrible
shape” and “crime-in
fested.” The tweets
were in response to
Lewis’ announcement
late last week that he
would skip Trump’s
inauguration Friday
in part because he
See MLK on Page 11A
KEYNOTE SPEAKER
Athens native and Democratic strategist
Tharon Johnson was the keynote speaker
Monday. Johnson, a director at an Atlanta
law firm and political commentator for
CNN, worked on outgoing President Barack
Obama’s election and re-election campaigns.
He was critical of President-elect Donald
Trump on Monday following Trump’s com
ments about Congressman John Lewis.
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212
SINGING PRAISE
Members of the Barrow County MLK Community Choir sing during Monday’s MLK memo
rial service at White Oak Spring Missionary Baptist Church in Winder.
Officials:
lawsuit
likely over
transfer
station
By Ron Bridg'eman
News-Journal Reporter
The question of whether
a transfer station opens in
Statham is headed to a law
suit, as far as city officials
are concerned.
Officials, and attorneys,
with the company involved
aren’t commenting.
Roll-Off Systems, a
waste handling and recy
cling company and produc
er of dumpsters, has bought
property in the Statham
Industrial Park where it
planned to operate a trans
fer station.
Those plans have come
to a halt, based on com
ments from Statham city
officials.
“We will not be issuing
a permit until told to by
a (judge),” Mayor Robert
Bridges said at the work
session Thursday. Bridges
repeated that comment at
Tuesday’s council meeting.
Randy Gordon, the
city’s planning and zoning
administrator, said Friday,
“We’re going to let it go
ahead and go to court.”
Douglas Dillard, attor
ney for Roll-Off, has not
returned two calls to his
office. Calls and emails to
Simon Garrett with Roll-
Off Systems also were not
returned.
The latest salvo between
the city and company was
a “supplement to grad
ing permit application for
transfer station at 1960
Statham Drive,” the com
pany submitted Thursday,
the day of the work session.
It is a response to sever
al conditions Gordon said
the company should meet
before a grading permit is
issued.
One of those conditions
said, “all reference to trans
fer station in verbiage and/
or design must be removed
from plans before permit is
issued.’
The company did not
comply and said it “has
acquired a vested right
under Georgia law to use
its property for a transfer
station and therefore the
site development permit
necessary to prepare the
land for such lawful pur
pose must be issued.” Dil
lard’s letter last week also
said, “Demand is hereby
See Station on Page 2A