Newspaper Page Text
Page A8
Lake Oconee News
Friday, December 11, 2015
MORGAN COUNTY
Gin Festival critiqued for Bostwick Council
Jeff Warren/Staff
Bostwick City Council members go over numbers during their regular council meeting Dec. 7 inside the
century-old Susie Agnes Hotel. Shown (L-R): Council members Angie Howard and Lee Nunn, Mayor
John Bostwick, Councilmen Ken Johnson and Damon Malcom.
Jeff Warren
jeff@lakeoconeenews.us
City Councilwoman Angie
Howard, who organizes Bost-
wick’s Cotton Gin Festival in
November, presented an af
ter-festival wrap-up during a
regularly scheduled council
meeting, Monday, Dec. 7, at 6
p.m. The 2015 festival just held
netted a $12,000 profit, accord
ing to some on the spot figuring
by Mayor John Bostwick.
“Our attendance was down,
so to make a profit of $10,000
we did good,” Howard noted.
She asked for future festivals
parking areas be arranged well
in advance. Not knowing for sure
until two weeks ahead of show
time where visitors would park
when they arrived in town added
significant stress to festival
chores on her plate, Howard indi
cated. She also asked for parking
to be centralized, within walking
distance of the downtown cotton
gin and the tractor show close by.
“The gin and the tractors
are why people come,” Howard
said. Some likely fields close to
downtown are agricultural land,
she indicated.
“I need to know how many cars
and how many acres you’re going
to need,” Councilman Lee Nunn
told Howard. Working from the
cost per car for parking and the
cash intake in flush years, council
members figured the need as
enough room to park 1,000 to
1,200 vehicles.
‘We’re bringing people out of
South Carolina, out of Alabama
and five or six counties over in
Georgia,” Howard said. “I’m not
trying to grow any bigger, because
I don’t know if we can handle it
or not.” In a good festival year,
having 6,000 visitors at Bostwick
is customary, she said, and the
Georgia DOT closes State Route
83 through downtown as a safety
precaution.
She mentioned needed im
provements. “I need some con
sistency with our vendors, so we
can set up the night before, and
I need some consistency with
parking,” Howard emphasized.
“If we can maintain five or six
thousand people here, that’s OK.”
In other business following the
festival report, the council con
firmed Structural Resources, Inc.
as the contractor for a project to
improve the town ball field with
a perimeter sidewalk. Money
for the project comes down in
a Transportation Enhance
ment [TE] Grant, dollars from
the Federal Highway Admin
istration, doled out in Georgia
through the Georgia DOT. Some
$100,000 is granted with the
city upping $20,000 in matching
funds.
Lowest bidder among three,
Structural Resources offered to
construct the sidewalk, demolish
old fencing and install new for
$88,900. Installation of a waste
container and five benches
(termed “Bid Alternate One”) was
offered at an additional $7,700.
“We only have $100,000
to spend that we’re getting,”
the mayor reminded council
members. ‘We’ve spent $13,000
for engineering up front with
$7,000 more to spend on the
match.” The second lowest bid
came in at just over $111,000.
“Taking the lowest bid messed
us up on the water system,”
Councilman Damon Malcom
recalled. Not accepting the
lowest bid would require a very
good reason, Councilman Ken
Johnson pointed out.
“They’ve met the state’s re
quirement for doing the job,”
Mayor Bostwick said.
“And there is a performance
bond included in the package,”
Johnson added.
“Are we confident this company
can do it?” Nunn asked.
“They get paid in stages, right?”
Howard queried.
‘We have to have an inspection
process, and everybody [includ
ing a DOT-approved adminis
trator] has to sign off,” the mayor
explained, concerning how the
contractor would be paid.
He recommended the council
accept Structural Resources’
base bid and Bid Alternate One
for a combined cost of $96,600.
The council accepted the mayor’s
recommendation and voted its
approval.
Pistol
Continued from A1
cording to a police report.
When the SUV finally
stopped next to the Veterans
Wall of Honor on Lafayette
Street and Munger reached
the vehicle’s window, he
immediately noticed the
strong odor of raw marijua
na coming from the vehicle.
The driver, later identi
fied as Omesha Lavida
Andrews, did not have her
license. Neither did the pas
senger, who later was iden
tified as Antonius Germaine
Lockhart.
As fellow officers James
Gaither and Nasser Thomp-
kins arrived for backup,
Munger saw the passenger
reach into his coat front
pocket and pull out a gun.
Before he could get it all
the way out (the handle
was visible), Munger
grabbed Lockhart’s hand
and shoved it back into his
pocket, drew his own gun
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and told Lockhart
to let go of his gun
or he would be
shot. The passen
ger complied, and
Munger took the
gun out of the coat
pocket and tossed
it on the ground.
Lockhart
jumped over the
driver and out
the driver-side window of
the SUV, falling onto the
ground. Munger ran around
the vehicle as Lockhart
got up to run. The officer
deployed his Taser, hitting
Lockhart in the back with
it, and Lockhart fell to the
ground. The three EPD
officers tried to take him
into custody, but Lockhart
struggled with them and
got up and tried running off
again. Lockhart fought with
all three officers, throwing
punches, grabbing their
uniforms and even taking
Munger’s Taser.
“The fight lasted a long
time, and Mr. Lockhart
didn’t seem to be losing
strength,” Munger wrote
in the report, noting it
appeared Lockhart
was under the in
fluence of some sort
of narcotic because
he wasn’t fazed by
any pain compli
ance techniques.
During the
fight, the driver,
Andrews, got out
of the SUV and
walked over to a
storm drain about 25 feet
away, then headed back
towards the fight, where
officers instructed her to get
back in her vehicle.
“She was standing there
yelling at us, but finally got
back in the vehicle,” Munger
reported.
As the fight continued,
three Eatonton Fire Depart
ment members, Putnam
County Sheriffs Office
deputies, EPD Chief Kent
Lawrence and EPD Inves
tigator Howell Cardwell
arrived on the scene to help.
“We were able to gain
control of Mr. Lockhart and
place him under arrest. It
took eight grown men to
take him into custody due to
his strength and noncompli
ance,” the report states.
Asearch ofthe storm drain
revealed a bag of cocaine; a
search of Lockhart revealed
$2,605, mostly in smaller
bill denominations, along
with three suspected ecstasy
pills. The gun was retrieved
- it was a fully-loaded,
chrome Jiminez 9 mm.
Lockhart, 34, 109 E.
Hogan Blvd., Eatonton,
was charged with multiple
counts of obstruction of an
officer, aggravated assault
on a police officer, posses
sion of a firearm by con
victed felon, possession of
a firearm while trying to
commit crimes, carrying a
concealed weapon, posses
sion of cocaine and marijua
na with intent to distribute,
possession of MDMA.
Andrews, 27, 109 Hogan
Industrial Blvd., Eatonton,
was charged with failure to
drive within a single lane,
driving while unlicensed,
possession of cocaine with
intent to distribute and
tampering with evidence.
Both are being held
at Putnam County Jail
without bond.
Antonius
Germaine
Lockhart
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