About Fayette County news. (Fayetteville, GA) 2009-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 15, 2023)
NEWS FAYETTE COUNTY 4*THE TRUTH SINCE 1886 4' INSIDE Starr’s Mill Sweeps Whitewater Heading into Regions, Bl VOL 151, NO. 7 WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 15, 2023 $1.00 INSIDE: Coweta-Fayette EMC Accepting Applications Jor WashingtonYouth Tour Through Feb. 17, A7 INSIDEl County’sTop Counselors, Advocates Named for 2023, A5 Fayette BOC Approves New DPH Facility 4-1 Vote Confirms Location, Former East Fayette Elementary School Sydney Spencer News Reporter sspencer@fayette-news.net Following a presenta tion of two options and public comment regarding a new location of a Georgia Department of Public Health building in the community, Fayette County Commissioners approved the purchase and renovation of the former East Fayette Ele mentary building to house the new facility during the board’s Feb. g meeting. Fayette County Admin istrator Steve Rapson pre sented two options to the board and identified the “pros and cons” of each. When detailing the first option, which is to ren ovate East Fayette Ele mentary into an entirely new Department of Public Health building, he spoke about the barriers he and staff encountered. “We attempted to value engineer the existing building. That was [closer] to $25-27 million when you look at furniture, fix tures, site proofs, and ev erything else. We took a pretty good swing at trying to value engineer that,” Rapson explained. “We also looked at sending the governor a letter,” Rapson continued. "We asked for $5 million and got a response back fairly quick from the gov ernor’s office that they did n’t have that money, so that option went away pretty quick.” Rapson went on to dis cuss the second option of reallocating ARPA funds to fire/EMS training facil ity, Sheriff s Tactical Training Course, and $1.5 million toward renovating See Commission, A6 The ribbon has been cut to officially open the new home of the Center of Innovation. From left are Fayette County Schools Su perintendent Dr. Jonathan Patterson, Fayette County Board of Education Chairman Roy Rabold, Dr. Georj Lewis of Clayton State University, dual enrollment student Aralynn White, Southern Crescent Technical College President Dr. Irvin Clark, and parent of a dual enrollment student, Brandi Meeks. Courtesy of Chris Dunn/Fayette County Schools Center of Innovation Opens at Former Booth MS Location Sydney Spencer News Reporter sspencer@fayette-news.net Fayette County Public School’s Center of Innova tion held its rescheduled grand opening to the area on Feb. 6. The event was open to the public to cele brate the future of educa tion for students within the community. Fayette County Board of Education members were in attendance, as well as other notable com munity leaders. The new home for Center of Innovation is lo cated in the former JC Booth Middle School building at 250 South Peachtree Parkway in Peachtree City. The new educational structure will act as an environment for students to earn career and technical education oppor tunities that will prepare them for college and de sired professions. The Center of Innova tion will not only be open for Fayette County stu dents, but also students at Clayton State University and Southern Crescent Technical College. This will allow high school students from the county to pursue dual enrollment credits and provide assistance to collegiate students with another location to learn. Center of Innovation officials plan to positively impact the community by providing a learning space that will assist students ac ademically, as well as pro duce well equipped workers for the business world. Representatives from Piedmont Healthcare and WellStreet were joined by Fayette County Chamber of Commerce President Colin Martin and Fayetteville Mayor Ed Johnson on Jan. 12 for a ribbon cutting at the new Piedmont Urgent Care by WellStreet facility. Fayette Chamber Holds Ribbon Cutting for Piedmont Urgent Care by WellStreet Location FAYETTEVILLE Leaders from Piedmont Urgent Care by WellStreet and members of the Fay ette County Chamber of Commerce participated in a ribbon-cutting ceremony on Jan. 12 to celebrate the opening of a new Fay etteville location at 1175 North Glynn Street, Suite 140. The Fayetteville loca tion opened on Oct. 4, 2022. This is the second Piedmont Urgent Care lo- See 3 Piedmont, A6 3 Sentenced to life for Gang-Related Murder in Spalding 2 Without Possibility of Parole, a Fourth Awaits Trial in Griffin Xavier Carter, Robert Freeman, and Damarion Sinkfield were sentenced to life in prison recently for the July 2020 gang-related murder of a Spalding County man, according to a statement from Griffin Ju dicial Circuit District Attor ney Marie Broder’s office. As initiation into the Rolling 20s Bloods gang, Carter planned to commit an armed robbery on July 24, 2020, Broder said. He and another defendant, Ryan Willis, drove to Spalding Heights where they met with Freeman and Sinkfield to devise a plan. The four drove to Walden Pointe Apart ments, where Carter, Free man, and Sinkfield walked to the third-floor residence of the victim, Jeffery Ryan Deluca. Carter was armed with brass knuckles and a handgun, and Willis re portedly remained in the vehicle. When Deluca opened the door, he was immedi ately attacked, shot in the back of the head, and killed while his fiance and chil dren were in the apart ment. All four defendants fled in the vehicle driven by Willis, Broder said. After a one-week trial, a Spalding jury convicted Carter and Freeman of fel ony murder, conspiracy to commit armed robbery, three counts of aggravated assault, and violation of the Criminal Street Gang Act. Carter also was convicted of possession of a firearm dur ing the commission of a fel ony. Carter and Freeman were sentenced to life with out the possibility of parole, plus 20 years to run consec utively. Carter received an additional five years to run consecutively for posses sion the firearm. Sinkfield Damarion Sinkfield Ryan Willis pled guilty to felony murder and was sentenced to life with the possibility of pa role. Willis, a former resident of Upson County, is await ing trial. The victim’s fiance made a statement to Judge Scott Ballard during sen tencing. ‘There is no sentence See 3 Sentenced, A6 INSIDE: OBITUARIES A2 FAYETTE VIEWS A4 LEGALS B3 COMMUNITY A6-A8 SPORTS B1-B2 CLASSIFIEDS B7 CONTACT US: editorial@fayette-news.net ■ (770) 461-6317 - fayette-news.net We Look Forward To Seeing You Soon! Open for Lunch and Dinner • Seven Days A Week 180 Hwy 314, Fayette, GA • 770.703.7514 • fridasbarandgrill.com f * M
