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"Faithfully Reporting on What Matters"
JANUARY 2019 • VOLUME 25 NUMBER 1 CARROLL COUNTY, GEORGIA'S ONLY LOCALLY OWNED LOCALLY OPERATED NEWSPAPER
www.starnewsgaonline.com
Star N ew S monthly traditional print publication/Star.News Online daily local news
Business owners be aware:
Unemployment tax
rate notices will no
longer be mailed
Notices available online
now for first time
from press release
For years, the Georgia Department
of Labor (GDOL) has mailed the
notices each December notifying
business owners of their tax require
ments for the next year. GDOL has
switched this year to online notices
rather than mail more than 250,000
documents at a cost of about
$130,000 a year. Tax rates determine
the amount of unemployment taxes
an employer will contribute to the
trust fond in the coming year. The
trust fond is used to pay unemploy
ment insurance benefits to individuals
separated due to not fault of their
own.
The GDOL employer portal can be
found at https://dol.georgia.gov
Employers must be registered on
the Employer Portal to gain access to
tax rate information and other online
services. Watch for additions of more
employer information on the
Employer Portal in 2019.
Owned Business
In
NEW FEATURE
“Women Owned
Businesses in West Georgia”
Pages 4 & 5
NEWS RECAP
find out what you missed at
www. starnewsgaonline. com
Page 3
Restaurant inspections
Who passed? Who failed?
Where are you eating this week?
Marriage Licenses • Births
Pistol Permits • Cattle Sales
Page 25
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WestlGeorgia
mi M
County commission formally requests
legislature to break Carroll County off
from the live county Coweta Judicial
Circuit to form a new, smaller circuit
Carroll County Sheriff Langley and Coweta Circuit District Attorney Herb
Cranford support smaller circuit: more funding for Carroll would result
Current circuit comprised of Carroll, Coweta, Heard, Meriwether and Troup counties
by Prissi Sullivan All commissioners were present, as was the
Reporter chairman. At this meeting, Commissioner for
The Carroll County Board of District 6 George Chambers was elected una-
Commissioners meet for the first meeting of nimiously by his fellow board members to be
the new year on Tuesday, January 8, 2019, the 2019 Vice Chairman. In the event
6:00 p.m. in the superior courtroom of the his- Chairman Marty Smith is absent during this
toric (old) courthouse, downtown Carrollton. gee COMMISSION page 22
Local law enforcement use of body cameras
increasing, but not widespread yet
SPECIAL ELECTION
Tuesday. March 19, 2019
CANDIDATES WHO QUALIFIED
TEMPLE CITY COUNCIL SEAT
WARD 3
ONE CANDIDATE QUALIFIED
Hiley Miller, 116 Carrollton Street,
Temple, Ga., occupation: accounts
manager
CANDIDATES WHO QUALIFIED
VILLA RICA CITY COUNCIL SEAT
WARD 2
TWO CANDIDATES QUALIFIED
Cheryl Bell, 225 Raleigh Way, Villa
Rica, Ga., occupation: retired
Matthew Momtahan, 263 Augusta
Woods Drive, Villa Rica, Ga.,
occupation: attorney
Second Annual MLK
Holiday Celebration:
January 19-21, 2019
The Second Annual Dr. Martin Luther
King, Jr. Holiday Celebration weekend will
take place January 19-21, 2019. This year’s
theme is “The Spirit of Community”.
The weekend events begin Saturday
January 19, 2019 at noon at the Carrollton
Center for the Arts with the “Community
Conversation: Re-Thinking Equality, Justice
and Faith in a Post- Modem Culture”. This
will be an interactive session.
That same evening, the King Holiday
Black Tie Celebration Gala will take place at
See MLK CELEBRATION page 12
by Prissi Sullivan
Reporter
Law enforcement use of body cameras is
increasing in Carroll County, but is not in use
across the board - yet.
In October, the Carroll County Commission
gave the Villa Rica Police Department a check
for $57,674 to use for the purchase of body
cameras and attendant equipment for the offi
cers. At the same meeting, Connor Poe and D.
Pearson also gave a check, this one in the
amount of $5,000 to the VRPD for the pur
chase of body cams. Chief of Police Michael
Mansour hopes to outfit each of his officers
with this technology.
Officers generally wear the body camera
somewhere on their chest area; some wear it
lower on their torso area depending on the
officer’s height. VRPD has in-house server to
which the video is initially uploaded. The
server then archives the video to the
WatchGuard Server System in Texas.
Retention is based on state law.
“Reference video retention lengths, based
on House Bill 976, we must retain all videos
at least 180 days (bodycam and dashcam)
except: (1) Video which is part of a criminal
investigation, shows a traffic crash, shows a
detainment or arrest of a person, or shows a
See BODY CAMERAS page 12
Villa Rica Police Department earns state certification
Carrollton Chief of Police Joel Richards recently presented Villa Rica Chief of Police Michael Mansour and the Villa Rica
Police Department with the Law Enforcement State Certification. “This certification has been in existence 22 years,” he
explained at the Villa Rica City Council meeting of December 11, 2018. “There are 650 law enforcement agencies in the state
and only 128 have this certification.”
Agencies must be audited every three years to maintain this certification. Shown above are: Lt. Hunter Etheridge, Captain
Keith Shaddix, Certification Manager Chris Baxter, Chief Michael Mainsour, Chief Joel Richards, VR Mayor Jeff Reese, and
Captain SoottParker. Photoand information) by<BrissbSuUiwm* m *»******.»♦*♦***♦♦»*♦♦**•*♦» t *»*»* * ♦ * ♦ * *»*.