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BARROW NEWS-JOURNAL
WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 18, 2017
Movers hold local family member’s ashes hostage
By Alex Pace
News-Journal Reporter
Moving houses is often a
stressful life event. But for one
local family, the fight to get their
belongings back - including the
ashes of a local man’s wife - may
require legal action against a
moving company.
Norma Jean Brown and Bob
Akin planned a move from Wind
er to Jefferson in late November.
They searched online for a
moving company and found a
family-owned business, “All My
Sons Moving and Storage” in
Alpharetta.
Brown said they gave her a
quote for $169 an hour.
The men arrived late on mov
ing day and packed some of their
belongings onto the truck.
That’s when the price changed,
according to Brown.
The company added costs
for packaging ($29.99 a box
plus tax), but Brown said she’d
already packaged everything her
self. She’d heard of people being
scammed by movers before and
demanded the men stop the work.
Brown said she agreed to pay
them for the work they had done
to that point. She asked them
to drop off the load in the truck
in Jefferson and said she’d find
someone else to move the rest.
The movers arrived at the Jef
ferson residence and started to
unload the items, until one of
the workers got a phone call and
told Brown she’d still have to pay
$176 for wrapping.
Brown again insisted the mov
ers hadn’t done any wrapping.
She refused to pay.
Ultimately, the movers left
with Brown and Akin’s belong
ings. They took linens and sheets,
a bedroom suit and the ashes of
Akin’s deceased wife, Sue,
It’s been a battle for Brown
and Akin since then.
The company demands pay
ment. That cost now totals over
$1,000 due to overnight storage
fees.
But Brown refuses to pay the
additional fees and has begged
the company to just return “Aunt
Sue’s” ashes.
The incident has led to many
contentious phone calls between
Brown and the company. In one.
Brown threatened a company rep
resentative, saying she’d “hunt
him down” if he does anything
with the ashes. During other
calls, the man asked Brown if
she’s “off her meds” and seemed
to use the ashes as leverage to get
payment.
“So you’re telling me your
aunt isn’t worth...” he said in a
recorded phone call.
Brown interjects before he can
finish the sentence.
“I’m telling you my aunt is
worth my whole entire life...”
said Brown.
“Then why don’t you pay the
bill and be on your way,” the man
replied.
The man joked that Brown’s
aunt “might be cold out there,”
referring to the dock. And he
threatened to auction off all their
belongings if she doesn’t pay.
“All you gotta do is pay your
bill,” he said. “If you don’t pay
your bill, guess what we do.
We just auction your stuff off,
including your dead aunt.”
Brown and Akin have sought
legal advice from attorney Paul
Dzikowski who said they have
a couple options. They can file
a lawsuit for emotional distress,
or request the court to get their
belongings back.
To 88-year-old Akin, the most
important thing is getting his
wife back.
This Thursday would have
been Sue’s 90th birthday. Akin
had planned a ceremony on that
day to celebrate her life.
“I don’t have her ashes to cele
brate.” Akin said.
The couple also had an arrange
ment to be buried together. When
he and Sue were younger, the
couple agreed that the first one
who died would be cremated and
then buried with the other when
they died.
“I want to spend the rest of my
days with her,” said Akin.
Akin noted the situation has
been painful. He hopes their
story will stop similar incidents
from happening in the future.
“There’s no telling how many
people they’ve hurt and dam
aged,” he said. “I hope this will
put an end to that.”
All My Sons Moving and Stor
age declined to comment for this
story.
Barrow Chamber of Commerce
announces new director of sales
The Barrow County Chamber of Com
merce announced last week the hiring of
Vicki Lee Keibler as director of sales, a
new position.
Keibler was previously the membership
and sales director at the North Myrtle
Beach. S.C. Chamber of Commerce.
The North Myrtle Beach Chamber, a
five-star accredited chamber as rated by
the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, grew
from under 400 members to over 1,200
members under Keibler’s leadership,
according to a news release.
Keibler was recognized for her sales
accomplishments by the Association of
Chamber of Commerce Executives, the
national organization for chamber exec
utives, with the ACCE National Sales
Award for membership sales in the U.S.
for 2005, 2006, 2007, and 2010, and was
recently inducted into the ACCE Million
Dollar Circle of Champions.
Changes continued from 1A
which said there were “significant errors” in
several of the arrests.
He said Lofton “does not have the training
required to regularly make effective DUI cases
involving prescription drugs.”
Johnston, who spoke after Lofton’ oppo
nents, defended the officer and his training.
He said he did not know what the errors
are that Spahos referred to, but “I’m going to
find out.”
He also said Lofton had passed the standard
ized field sobriety testing course, in which Spa
hos recommended he take “refresher training.”
He also said Lofton had passed the advance
roadside impaired driving enforcement class
“with flying colors” Tuesday.
Lofton had been scheduled to take the
ARIDE training earlier, but scheduling con
flicts caused that to be changed.
A number of Lofton’s opponents wore white
T-shirts with “fire Marc Lofton” on the back.
More than 40 people attended Tuesday’s
council meeting.
About half stood around the sides or sat at
the table in the rear of the room.
In other business, council:
•Set the qualifying fees for three council
seats that will be on the ballot for the Novem
ber election. The fee will be $180,3 percent of
the annual $6,000 council salary.
•Approved Mai Chang, the city clerk, to be
the city election superintendent and absentee
ballot clerk.
•Approved on first reading the annexation
of the Glenn Jackson estate. Randy Gordon,
zoning administrator, explained about 14 or 15
acres will be annexed. The remainder already
is in the city. A subdivision is being planned for
that area, he said. Greg Stevens is the developer
and plans are being made for the development,
including where sewer lines need to go.
•Approved issuing alcohol licenses for two
business. Maya’s Business Inc., also known
as Kenny’s Food Mart, got a license for beer
and wine package sales. Another license for
on premise consumption of beer and wine was
approved for Daniel Lee’s Hometown Bar. It
carries a condition. Results from a fingerprint
check for him are not back yet. and the license
is dependent on that being “clean.”
County provides information on tax
exemptions ahead of filing season
The Barrow County Board of Tax
Assessors is aiming to ensure everyone
is receiving any exemptions they may
qualify for this filing season.
Any exemptions can only follow
where you claim homestead: real prop
erty you own, and reside in a home on
that property as your primary residence.
When applying for regular home
stead. two types of identification are
required showing the physical address
of your property where you are apply
ing for homestead.
Most all exemptions may be applied
for year round, but for them to apply to
the current year tax records, application
must be made by April 1 of that tax
year.
Specialized assessment such as Con
servation Use may only be applied for
between Jan. 2 and April 1, and certain
qualifications must be met.
More information may be obtained
by visiting the tax assessor office.
Homestead exemption is available to
anyone as long as they meet the qualifi
cations mentioned.
There are other exemptions such as
partial school tax exemption starting at
age 62 with income qualifications that
must be met.
Anyone desiring to verify if they
qualify may go to theoffice located
in the ground floor of the Historic
Courthouse and bring their Federal Tax
Return from the year preceeding the
year they are making application.
Previously those having the Local
School Tax Exemption had to reapply
every year until it was voted upon to do
away with that requirement; now once
you obtain those exemptions they stay
with you year to year, unless you move
or your income changes significantly.
For a more detailed description of the
exemptions and income levels appli
cable, you may go to http://www.bar-
rowga.org/departments/pd/TaxExemp-
tionInfoHandout2.pdf and print out if
so desired.
Should you have additional questions
please call 770-307-3108 between 8
a.m. and 5 p.m. Monday through Fri
day.
Annual chamber dinner set for Feb. 11
The Barrow County Chamber of
Commerce will hold its 70th annual
awards dinner Saturday, Feb. 11 at Cha
teau Elan Winery and Resort.
A reception will be held at 6 p.m.
with dinner and awards to follow at
7:30 p.m. A platinum sponsorship is
$1,800 and includes a table for 12,
preferred table locations, listing in the
evening program, logo on the rotating
Powerpoint presentation and logo on
the chamber website for one year. A
gold sponsorship is $1,500 and includes
seating for eight people with logo on
the Power Point presentation and a list
ing in the evening program. Individual
tickets are $90 each. A cash bar will be
available.
Make a reservation by emailing
mmilner @ barrowchamber. com.
made that you issue the
requested permit as sub
mitted to you in a timely
manner.”
If the city does not issue
the permit, the letter said,
the company will “seek all
legal relief available.”
Plans for the transfer
station ran into a road
block when landowners of
adjacent property learned
about it.
Statham council passed
a motion “to approve the
transfer station in Statham
Industrial Park” on a 4-0
vote May 19, 2015. Perry
Barton made the motion
and Betty Lyle made the
second. Council member
David Huth was absent.
The city issued a timber
harvesting permit for the
property May 26, 2015,
and the company bought
the property that day for
$200,000.
John Stell, attorney in
Winder, represents proper
ty owners in the industrial
park. He also said he rep
resented Barrow County
in an earlier lawsuit with
Roll-Off. That involved a
plan to build a transfer sta
tion in the county.
He told the council
the city’s zoning for the
industrial park land did not
allow for a transfer station.
He said the Statham plan
Station continued from 1A
would have similar prob
lems that the proposal in
Barrow County had.
The city’s zoning did
allow for a “recycling
station,” Stell said, but “a
recycling station is not a
transfer station.”
Robert Wall, who owns
Cable East in the indus
trial park and who orga
nized the landowners, said
the covenants for the park
preclude a transfer station.
The covenants are in effect
until 2020. he said.
He said the landowners
are organizing a group that
will take over the cove
nants sometime in 2017.
He said those covenants
can be extended 10 years
to 2030.
Among the other land-
owners who spoke before
council were David
Headlee, Premier Market
ing. and Scotty Thurmond,
Oconee Foundations.
Both objected to waste
being collected on the
site. The two said it would
degrade the value of their
property.
At the council meeting,
Headlee said Roll-Off’s
plan for the property would
not benefit any business or
resident of Statham.
Nicole Baker and Kend
ra Sextion both referred to
council’s May 2015 vote in
favor of a transfer station.
Sextion referred to it as a
“mistake” and a “bad deci
sion.” Baker told council
“being careless in deci
sion-making can hurt all
of us.”
Wall presented a letter
from Daniel Wheeler, vice
president of Stag Industrial
to council Tuesday night.
The company is the land-
owner of the former Kee-
bler plant in the industrial
park.
The 250,000-square-foot
building is adjacent to the
property Roll-Off Systems
bought.
In the letter, Wheel
er said the company has
“strong opposition” to the
transfer station.
He said the transfer sta
tion would “have an acute
effect on our future efforts
to lease vacant space at our
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Drive.”
He ended the letter by
saying, “the risks associat
ed with the transfer station
are very realistic, and not
just hypothetical or over
blown.”
Pressed on whether or
not permits have been
issued, Bridges repeated,
“I done promised you that
we’re not going to issue no
permit. I don’t know what
more you want.”
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