Newspaper Page Text
24 Pages 2 Sections, Plus Preprints A Publication of MainStreet Newspapers, Inc. Winder, Barrow County Georgia 50« Copy Wednesday, August 2, 2017
Federal suit filed over Statham police officer
By Ron Bridg'eman
News-Journal Reporter
A federal lawsuit filed
June 28 “is a case about
a police officer, defendant
Marc Lofton, who made
a staggering number of
arrests for DUI in a short
period.”
The suit is “the first
one.” attorney Zach Gre-
enamyre said by email,
that seeks to pin blame on
Lofton, Police Chief Allan
Johnston and the City of
Statham.
The suit was filed in
federal district court in
Gainesville.
The suit charges viola
tions of the First, Fourth
and Fourteenth amend
ments to the U.S. Consti
tution and to the Ameri
cans with Disabilities Act
and Georgia state law.
It comes after two years
of complaints about the
city's response to Lofton’s
arrests.
A group of citizens has
attended council meet
ings, posted innumerable
social media comments
and asked for official
investigations by the dis
trict attorney and city
council.
Lofton made 63 arrests
for DUI in a 10-month
period of 2015. Of those,
58 are “DUI-less safe”
charges.
The lawsuit says the
case is “about wheth
er law enforcement can
arrest, for driving under
the influence (“DUI”),
any person who takes
commonly prescribed
medicines for ailments
such as depression, anx
iety, and attention deficit
disorder without regard to
whether that person poses
any appreciable threat
to themselves or anyone
else.”
The suit charges that
Lofton made arrests
“despite the officer hav
ing failed the coursework
designed to familiarize
officers with roadside
impairment and never
having received the more
advanced training that
would allow him to, per
haps, accurately deter
mine whether a person is
too impaired by substance
to safely drive.”
The suit charges, as cit
izens have for two years,
that Lofton made arrests
based on “readily demon
strable falsehoods and
fabricated evidence.”
Some of those charged
by Lofton have said pub
licly, and repeatedly, that
he made up comments
See Lawsuit on Page 2A
Barrow
Briefs
Ancestral
program set
Rosann Kent of the Appa
lachian Studies Center at the
University of North Georgia
will present the “Your Appa
lachian Ancestor” East Geor
gia Genealogical Program on
Tuesday. Aug. 8, at 2 p.m. at
the Auburn Public Library, 24
5th St. The public is invited to
attend. For more information,
call 678-425-5786.
Railroad
crossing to
open Aug. 10
The new public railroad
crossing at Ed Hogan Road in
Winder is scheduled to open to
the public on Thursday, Aug.
10. Check barrownewsjoumal.
com for information on any
changes to the schedule.
Blood drive
A Red Cross community
blood drive will be held from
See Briefs on Page 2A
Index:
Church News
10A
Classifieds
6-7B
Legals
9-11B
Obituaries
11A
Public Safety
12A
Sports 1
-4, 12B
Mailing
Label Below
New beginnings
FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL
Students step off the bus Wednesday morning for the first day of school at the brand-new
Winder Elementary School. The Barrow County School System welcomed back an estimat
ed 13,900 students Wednesday. Photos by Wesleigh Sagon
Students back for
new school year
A new year is under way for the Barrow County
School System.
An estimated 13,900 students returned to class
around the county Wednesday morning, including
671 at the new Winder Elementary School.
The new school, on McNeal Road, was opened
in order to alleviate overcrowding at County Line
and Holsenbeck elementary schools. It will serve
pre-kindergarten through fifth grade.
“The staff is absolutely thrilled to start welcom
ing in our students,” principal Jerry Stapleton said
Tuesday.
Stapleton was hired last year by the Barrow
County Board of Education to begin making
preparations for the opening of the new school.
Prior to joining Barrow County schools, he was
the principal for three years at Winterville Ele
mentary School and he worked five years as an
assistant principal in Clarke County before that.
“It’s been an amazing experience with that
preparation,” he said. “It’s incredible now that
we’ve gotten teachers in here and they are help
ing put life in the building. What we want to do
is make this a good, smooth transition for the
students coming over from other schools. It’s a
new environment for a lot of people. We’ve got
a few teachers who have come over from those
other schools, but it's important that transition be
seamless.”
A I ’ ■ v
FIRST DAY OF FOURTH GRADE
Rebecca Hemsley brought Joseph, 9, to his
first day of fourth grade at Winder Elementary
School Wednesday morning. Joseph’s broth
er Christian, 3, is shown with them. He wanted
to bring his backpack with him like his big
brother.
ALL SMILES
Winder Elementary students were all smiles
Wednesday morning forthe first day of school.
BOE sells
bonds for
new school
By Ron Bridg'eman
News-Journal Reporter
The Barrow Coun
ty School System will
have nearly $12 million
by mid-August that can
be used to build its next
school.
The Barrow County
Board of Education unan
imously approved the sale
of $10.8 million in bonds
Tuesday.
That will lead to $11.9
million in the school dis
trict's coffers by Aug. 15,
Tom Owens, with Ray
mond James, told the
board.
Joe Pemo. the assistant
superintendent for opera
tions, has told the board the
district may need to build
another school, most likely
another elementary school,
starting late next year.
At the end of the school
year in May, Statham Ele
mentary School was at
nearly 1,000 students, 975.
The smallest elementary
schools, Bethlehem and
Bramlett, each had 756
students. Four schools had
more than 800 and Holsen
beck, with 920, also was
above 900.
The bonds were sold
Tuesday morning.
First Tennessee Bank
bought the bonds with an
interest rate of about 2.6
percent.
The bonds were the
remaining amount autho
rized by the ELOST ref
erendum. That vote autho
rized up to $25 million,
and the board had sold $14
million.
Owens said the school
district’s highest bond
payment will be about
$8.4 million Feb. 1, 2018.
He said the district has
received $10.1 million in
ELOST revenue in the past
12 months.
The school district
received five bids for the
bonds, Owens said. Four of
those were within 1.5 basis
points of each other.
See BOE on Page 2A
'0 4879 14541
o
SPLOST renewal will appear on ballot in November
By Scott Thompson
News-Journal Editor
Barrow County voters will
decide this fall whether to con
tinue funding various capital
improvement projects around
the county with a 1-cent spe
cial-purpose local-option sales
tax.
The Barrow Board of Com
missioners voted Friday evening
during a special-called meeting
in favor of a resolution to place
a SPLOST renewal referendum
on the general election ballot
in November. The vote was
6-0 with Commissioner Roger
Wehunt absent.
“I’m going to support this res
olution because I believe it is
in the best interests of Barrow
County and all the citizens that
live here,” Chairman Pat Gra
ham said.
If the referendum is approved,
the current SPLOST, which
expires June 30, 2018, would be
extended for another five years
through June 2023.
According to county projec
tions, the tax would generate
$56.6 million during that five-
year period. Just under $7.4 mil
lion would be taken off the top
for an expansion of facilities
at Victor Lord Park on roughly
35 acres the state has agreed to
lease to the county. The remain
ing $49.2 million would be dis
tributed among the county and
its municipalities, based on pop
ulation figures from the 2010
U.S. Census for various projects.
Though the list of projects
is wide-ranging, including pub
lic safety improvements, infra
structure upgrades, building of
facilities and equipment pur
chases among others, commis
sioners centered their remarks
Friday around the Victor Lord
Park expansion, which has been
designated a “Level II” proj
ect. The expansion plan includes
five multi-purpose athletic fields
(three on site, two off site), ten
nis courts, exercise trails, a dog
park and a splash pad.
“I know there are some peo
ple who are going to be against
(the SPLOST renewal), but we
need to do whatever we can to
help our children,” said Com
missioner Isaiah Berry, a long
time coach in the community
who also is a member of the
See SPLOST on Page 2A
