CM K
£ Baldwiniff Bulletin
VOLUME 18 ♦ ISSUE 52 ♦ www.BBnews.today THURSDAY, DECEMBER 27,2018 ♦ 75C
Your hometown newspaper for Milledgeville and Baldwin County, Georgia.
» LAKE SINCLAIR
High level of toxins found in Plant Branch's wells
COMPILED BY
SHANNON SNEED
shannon@bbnews.today
Areport by Earthjustice
and the Environmental
Integrity Project released
on Dec. 13 found that cobalt
exceeds safe levels in five
PlantHarllee Branch wells,
with concentrations up to
50 times the health-based
standard.
Cobalt harms the heart,
blood, thyroid and other parts
of the body.
“Releases of these pollutants
to the environment are partic
ularly troublesome because
once they leach into ground-
water, the harmful pollutants
do not go away or degrade over
time,” the report states.
Federal coal ash regulations
passed in 2015 require utilities
to be more transparent, so last
March, utilities began publicly
reporting groundwater-moni
toring data on their websites.
According to the report,
MORE TOXIN »A5
A photograph
taken by the
Waterkeeper
Alliance Dec.
9,2015, shows
"contaminated"
groundwater
seeping out
of the banks
and into Lake
Sinclair, near
Plant Harllee
Branch.
CONTRIBUTED
» BALDWIN COUNTY
WIL PETTY/Staff
Solicitor General J. Skye Gess looks to the audience next to her husband John (left) as Baldwin Probate Judge
Todd Blackwell (right) signs paperwork confirming the appointment.
Baldwin County has a new solicitor general
WILPETTY
wil@bbnews.today
On Thursday, Dec. 20, J. Skye Gess
was officially sworn in as Baldwin
County’s Solicitor General.
The ceremony took place at the
Baldwin County Courthouse, with
community leaders, law enforcement
and other officials throughout the
Ocmulgee Judicial District on hand to
watch the ceremony occur.
Gov. Nathan Deal named Gess to
the position on Dec. 7. Gess is filling
the solicitor general vacancy left by
the honorable Maxine Blackwell, who
passed away earlier in the year.
“As I was organizing my new office,
there was a picture of the scales of
justice. It hung on the walls of Maxine’s
office and will remain in my office,”
Gess said.
MORE GESS »A2
» SUPERIOR COURT
Probation
revoked, man
sent to prison
STAFF REPORTS
The man accused of stealing
from the Boy Scouts and a local
funeral home has been sentenced
to prison.
Ernest Greene,
43, was arrested
in September in
connection with
the theft of a
utility trailer from
Williams Funeral
Home, the theft
of a utility trailer
belonging to Boy Scout Troop 87 in
Milledgeville, as well as a slew of
other thefts around Baldwin and
Putnam counties.
The Boy Scout Troop’s trailer
was filled with camping equip
ment and was valued at $5,800.
Meanwhile, Williams Funeral
Home had a large apparatus inside
of its trailer that is used to move
coffins, and its value was placed at
$39,000.
MORE GREENE >A7
Ernest
Greene
» MILLEDGEVILLE CRIME
» CENTRAL STATE PROPERTY
Summer fatality likely to
be heard by grand jury
CSHLRA receives update
on rebranding, website
STAFF REPORTS
A large crowd converged around
a dead body in the Graham Homes
neighborhood on the afternoon of
Friday, Aug. 24.
Now, as the calendar prepares to
turn to 2019, there has yet to be any
legal resolution in regards to the case.
Oscar “Pookie” Dennis, 47, was
pronounced dead at the scene
following the incident. The coroner
later concluded that Dennis died “as
a result of blunt force trauma to the
back of the head as a result of striking
the pavement,” according to an MPD
press release. “No other significant
injuries or broken bones were found
to indicate the weight of the vehicle
ever covered the victim’s body,” added
the press release.
This piece of information was
significant, as rumors had been going
around that Dennis was run over by
a vehicle more than least once. The
other man involved in the incident
was identified as Gar’trell Bernard
Ford, 28. Ford’s jail history at the
MORE FATALITY » A3
WIL PETTY
wil@bbnews.today
In what was its final meeting of the
year, the Central State Hospital Local
Redevelopment Authority received
an update on its efforts to re-brand
the properties as a way to bring in
additional businesses and revenue to
the old campus.
Russ Walden, who is a represen
tative of the rebranding committee
and member of the Authority
board, provided the update to the
other members on the progress of
“Renaissance Park.”
“We have held two meetings so far,”
he said. “One of the things when you
start getting into rebranding, is there
are parts that absolutely have to go
together.”
Walden said the committee had
been looking at how to create the
website for the new branding, as well
as coming up with a logo to use with
the event.
Regarding the website, Walden said
they intend to use local developers to
MORE UPDATE»A3
0 1
4 0 2 3 2 " 6 5 5 3 6 l- "4
59
HIGH
Thursday
Scattered
Showers
Forecast»
Page B8
52
LOW
BULLETIN BOARD A6
COMMUNITY B1
CROSSWORD PUZZLE ,...A6
OBITUARIES A5
OPINIONS A4
PROPERTY TRANSFERS ,.A7
SERVICE DIRECTORY A8
SUDOKU A6
YEAR IN
REVIEW
COMMUNITY » B1
#
995 MILLEDGEVILLE RD.
EATONTON • 478.746.0001
(1 MILE NORTH OF THE LAKE ON 441)
115 GRAY RD.
EATONTON • 706.229.6950
(NEXT TO DAIRY QUEEN)
OutdoorOptions.c
NS.COM
1
