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JULY 14, 2024 * VOLUME 30 NUMBER 7 www.starnewsgaonline.com
Former Carroll County Mental Health Advocates
(CCMHA) director receives long probation for
felony crimes of 160+ thefts of CCMHA funds
30 years probation, no prison time, required to pay $21,000
Jodie Goodman, age 43, pled guilty and
received sentencing Tuesday, June 18, 2024 for
“misappropriating funds” from the Carroll
County Mental Health Advocates (CCMHA)
over a two year period that included at least 160
individual thefts using the CCMHA’s debit card.
Goodman received probation of 30 years for two
felony theft counts and must pay $21,000 in
restitution.
The investigation by the Carroll County
Sheriff’s Office began in January that uncovered
repeated usage of the card for items not used by
CCMHA such as softball uniform, electrical con
tractor items, THC
gummies, and a hotel
rental in Savannah.
According to the
sheriff’s incident report,
Goodman “blamed the
issues on a mental
health crisis” while her
husband Tafif
Goodman
Goodman “suggested that all the issues were due
to her mental health status and addiction to sex.”
The investigation continues for other(s) possi
bly involved in more thefts.
Carroll County Cattlemen’s Association Board
Shown above is the Carroll County Cattlemen’s board of directors who gathered at the
recent steak dinner and informational program Thursday evening, June 20th at the Ag-Ed
building, Carrollton. Left to right: Kim Hagen, vice president; Randy Coggins; Gary
Castleberry, treasurer; Vinny Spitzer; Eric Brown; Angie Stober; Neil Hendrix, president;
Lauren Holland, West Georgia Cattlewomen’s president; and Paula Burke, secretary. (Not
shown are board members Josh Hollingsworth and Preston Hendrix.) The Cattlemen meet
on the third Thursday of each month at 7 p.m., Ag building, 900 Newnan Road, Carrollton.
Carrollton’s ACE team is first law
enforcement agency in state to make
arrests under new “Austin’s Law”
story by Wayne J. Reynolds
On September 9, 2021, Austin Walters,
age 30, of Lowndes County, purchased
Xanax from the street, unaware that it was
laced with Fentanyl. Austin died almost
immediately after ingesting. His mother,
Beth Walters, explained to WXIA 11 Alive
News that her son had struggled with anxi
ety, depression, and the stigma that sur
rounds mental illness. She said this eventu
ally led him to buy Xanax off the street to
help ease his overwhelming anxiety.
County commission
adopts new budget
at a 9.13% increase
story by Janice Daniel
During Carroll County Board of
Commissioners work session, May 30,
2024 at 4:00 p.m., and regular monthly
meeting, June 4, 2024 at 6:00 p.m., the
public was informed that while most
Georgia counties prefer to keep cash on
hand to operate three to six months, Carroll
County has surplus tax dollars to the
amount it can operate up to nine months
even if all sources of revenue ceased.
Following is a comparision of its
FY2023/24 Budget to the FY2024/25
Budget which has now been adopted by the
board.
Previous General Budget July 1, 2023 -
June 30, 2024: Total Revenues and
Expenditures: $73,227,341 ($73.22M).
Current, newly adopted General Budget
for FY2024-2025 which began July 1 st was
adopted as follows: Total Revenues and
Expenditures budgeted and expected are
$79,913,344 ($79.91M) for 9.13% increase
See COMMISSION BUDGET
$79.9M page 11
Walters and her husband Gus expressed
their belief that they had everything they
would need to hold someone accountable
for selling these illegal pills to Austin,
including a Venmo transaction and an
address. But a detective informed them the
evidence was enough for only a misde
meanor charge because of how the law is
written. This sparked the idea of how the
parents could honor their child.
“I can’t change what the law was when
See ACE TEAM page 6
New “West Georgia
Judicial Circuit” to be
composed of Carroll
and Heard County
Senate Bill 424 created the long awaited
split of current 5 county Coweta Judicial
Circuit: takes effect January 2025
SB 424 was proposed by Senators Matt
Brass of 28th and Randy Robertson of 29th
see SB 424 details page 17
Notice of property
assessments have been
mailed: 45 days from
June 20th to appeal
public notice from the
Carroll County Board of Tax Assessors
Under Georgia law, each Georgia
county’s Board of Tax Assessors is required
to issue annually an “Annual Notice of
Assessment” to the owner of every parcel
of taxable real property located within that
county. Most taxpayers are familiar with
these notices, which containa the valuation
of that taxpayer’s property for tax year
2024 (for example, the valuation “as of’
January 1, 2024), and based upon that
See TAX ASSESSORS page 15
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