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Your official newspaper serving Greene, Morgan and Putnam counties in Georgia's Lake Country \ www.LakeOconeeNews.us
VOL 19 NO. 6 g FRIDAY FEBRUARY 10 2017 75 GENTS
GREENE COUNTY
K9 CLOSES HIGH-SPEED CHASE
T. Michael Stone
michael@lakeoconeenews.us
A Texas man led Greene County deputies
on a high speed chase in and out the con
struction zone on Highway 44 last week,
but he was ultimately caught after running
over a spike strip.
Kenton Demontry Franklin, 29, of
Houston, Texas, was arrested and charged
with fleeing and attempting to elude, pos
session of marijuana, speeding, failure to
maintain lane, reckless driving, violation
of tint requirements, improper U-turn and
failure to yield.
According to incident reports obtained
from the Greene County Sheriffs Office,
Deputy Josh Elrod spotted a dark blue
Chevrolet Impala with dark aftermarket
window tinting traveling east near exit 130.
As Elrod attempted to catch up with
the Impala, the driver went from the left
lane into the exit lane and began to pass
vehicles on the ramp before making a right
hand turn on Hwy 44 south.
When Elrod got to Hwy 44, he saw
SEE CHASE » A12
PUTNAM COUNTY
Man takes
bus for a
wild ride
Lynn Hobbs
and Don Richeson
news@lakeoconeenews.us
Not wanting to put out his cigarette,
a Putnam County man instead stole
a county bus and led deputies on a
31-mile, two-county, high-speed chase,
where he ran other drivers off the road
and rammed multiple vehicles before
being stopped in the city of Sparta and
booked on 35 separate charges.
Shortly after 5:30 p.m. Friday,
Feb. 3, Michael Douglas Freeman
reportedly lit a cigarette and started
smoking it while riding as a passenger
in a Putnam County Transit Bus in the
Crooked Creek Road area. Bus driver
SEE RIDE » All
Construction snarls Highway 44
Mark Engel
engel@lakeoconeenews.us
Two years from now, the
Georgia Department of Trans
portation plans to start widening
Lake Oconee Parkway/Georgia
Route 44 from two to four lanes.
But for the next month, de
pending on weather, motorists
travelling in either direction will
have only one lane to share on
parts of the road.
Work crews are in the middle
of a project to seal cracks in the
pavement from 1-20 to Eatonton.
SEE TRAFFIC » A2
Wait times to cross the Highway 44 bridge at the Greene-
Putnam County line varied throughout the day. Repairs were
expected to be completed by Friday but work to fill cracks in the
road from 1-20 to Eatonton will continue to cause slowdowns.
Mark Engel/Staff
index
Calendar B5
Churches B8
Classifieds D3
Community B1
Obituaries A8
Opinions A4
Recipes ±. D1
Sports L C1
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FRIDAY
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Morgan County High School valedictorian Isabella Scoggin and her mother,
Cindy Scoggin.
MCHS announces top
grads for Class of 2017
Katherine Klimt
katherine@lakeoconeenews.us
Morgan County High School
surprised two of its seniors last
Wednesday during an assembly
to recognize the school’s top
students.
Valedictorian Isabella
Scoggin and salutatorian Bobby
Jones were the honorees at the
ceremony, and greeted onstage
by their families before being
escorted to lunch in a limousine.
The entire MCHS senior class
was called into the school audi
torium, but school officials did
not tell them the reason for the
assembly beforehand. Scoggin
and Jones were unaware that
the gathering was in their honor,
and that their families would be
present.
MCHS Principal Dr. Miki
Edwards began by talking to
the several hundred teenagers
about the time and energy they
had invested in their primary
and secondary schooling so far,
and stressed the importance of
perseverance in attaining their
goals. She then explained that
the meeting had been called to
“recognize two people from the
SEE MCHS » A12
MORGAN COUNTY
Undercover investigation
results in arrest for drugs
T. Michael Stone Quadarius Devarius Carter, of
michael@lakeoconeenews.us 1000 Pinetree Circle in Madison
was arrested on Monday, Feb. 6 and
An undercover drug investigation charged with possession of marijuana
lasting three weeks has netted an with the intent to distribute,
arrest for the Morgan County Sheriff s
Office. SEE DRUGS » A3
Contributed
The Morgan County Sheriff's Office uncovered marijuana, drug
paraphernalia and cash following a three-week investigation.
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