About Lake Oconee news. (Greensboro, GA) 199?-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 29, 2017)
Page A12 Lake Oconee News Friday, September 29,2017 GREENE COUNTY Final plat for Horseshoe Bend Section VII approved Dave Brown dave@lakeoconeenews.us The final plat for the Horseshoe Bend Section VII was unanimous ly approved Tuesday by the Greene County Planning and Zoning Commission at its September meeting. The 12 majestic lots on the waters edge in Reynolds at Lake Oconee await final approval at the Greene County Commissioners meeting slated for Oct. 10. Reynolds at Lake Oconee president Rabun Neal and land planner Craig Johnson were on hand to request consideration for the proposed subdivision project. “There’s a lot of interest in these 12 lots,” said Neal. “We request approval because were trying to get it sold this year,” he said from the podium while ad dressing the Planning and Zoning Board. “It will impact our ability to make budget if we don’t sell them.” The proposed project subdi vision site is part of the Horse shoe Bend Section VII that was approved for Preliminary Plat in July 2017. According to the meeting agenda, of the original 46.92 acres and 38 lots originally approved on the Preliminary Plat, this proposed Final Plat is for 13.53 acres and contains 12 lots. Of the 13.53 acres platted, 11.09 acres are in lots and 2.44 acres in road right-of-way. All the lots will be served by the Piedmont Water Resources LLC as part of the Reynolds commu nity sewage disposal and water systems. The Subdivision Bond is in the amount of $618,000 for all the road and utility development in Horseshoe Bend - Section VII. Street names have been deemed accepted by the county manager and 911 CAD Manager. Neal said Reynolds paid the $618,000 bond based on the invoice for the work needed to pave the roads, as well as run the water and sewer lines, for the project. “This allows us to go ahead and build once we get approved by the county commissioners,” said Neal. “The bond assures any buyer (of the lots) that our work will get done and they can go ahead and build.” Neal said the lots were some of the most picturesque in Reynolds. Reynolds at Lake Oconee president Rabun Neal (at the podium) and land planner Craig Johnson were on hand Tuesday afternoon at the Greene County Planning and Zoning Commission meeting. Dave Brown/ Staff Murder Continued from A1 mother. It was her mother who found Ivanditti dead in the bathroom of her home. “Causey’s name surfaced almost immediately while (law enforcement) was can vassing the neighborhood around her house the day her body was found,” case agent David Peebles, of the Georgia Bureau of Investi gation, said on the witness stand Tuesday. That led investigators to talking with him at his house that day. The audio recording of that inter view was played Friday in court, at the request of defense attorney Keri Thompson, of Milledgeville. District Attorney Stephen A. Bradley and Assistant District Attorney T. Wright Barksdale told Chief Judge William A. Prior Jr. their intentions had been for all of the audio and video re cordings to be viewed by all court parties in the privacy of their offices. Thompson said she felt the recordings needed to be played so they would be on record, and so she could cross examine the witnesses right away, and also if any “tweaking” had been done to the recordings, “then it can be brought out now,” she said. Causey has pleaded innocent to the charges, and Thompson said the prose cutors do not have enough evidence to find him guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. She said some of the record ings, which contain all the times investigators ques tioned Causey before and after his arrest, show state ments of confession Causey made were done in violation of his Miranda rights. She said Causey repeatedly said he did not wish to talk to law enforcement, so that should have ended the con versation. The first audio recording was made when investiga tors with the GBI, Eatonton Police Department Chief Kent Lawrence and Inves tigator Howell Cardwell went to Causey’s house on Dec. 2. As it was played in court, Causey, clad in orange jail clothes, wearing orange flip-flops with his feet shackled, took copious notes and whispered to his attorney the entire time. In that recording, Peebles could be heard asking Causey how he knew Ivan ditti. Causey said he was in the Putnam County Jail about a year earlier, the same time Ivanditti’s boy friend, Tommy Holland, was incarcerated there, and the two men remained in contact when they got out. Causey did odd jobs for Hol land’s uncle, Ivanditti and Ivanditti’s mother, cutting down trees, taking care of the yards and washing cars, he said. “Lydia was a bright person; she helped anybody and everybody. She would even help a junkie,” Causey said to Peebles on the re cording. VILLAGE INSPIRED ARTISTS - AMAZING ART Lake Country Fine Arts Show November 4 th - November 17 th DualVision: Art Through Different Eyes September 23 rd - October 6 th ow Open’. -Friday 11-5 • Saturday 10-3 t Marion Street • Eatonton 706.623.7757 • theartisansvillageguild.com Time for a strong heart beat! Application deadline: November i st Time is running out! Donate to Putnam General Hospital for a 2017 90% Georgia income tax credit. Apply at georgiaheart.com In that interview, Causey said he had lunch with Ivan ditti the day before, but he had not seen her since then because he was watching his children while his wife was at work. In a later interview, he also said he stayed at Ivanditti’s house from June through October, because he was not allowed to go to his own house until he had completed a parenting class, couple’s counseling and anger management classes in Macon and Milledgeville at the requirement of the Department of Family and Children Services. “Lydia was a people person, she helped every body,” he said. “I’ve been all over that house.” The second recording was a video made at Eatonton Police Department at the time of Causey’s arrest. It began with Miranda rights being read to him by a law enforcement officer. Causey was less cooperative in this interview and immediately yelled “I ain’t killed nobody,” and refused to sit in the chair. When asked again about his relationship with Ivanditti, he said “Y’all came to my house and saw my wife and four kids and that she’s five-and-half-months pregnant, when have I got time to murder somebody?” Throughout the lengthy video, which was augment ed with audio recordings when the video camera had been shut off, Causey’s version of the story came out little by little. Sometimes he was yelling and agitated, other times he spoke so softly that his words were inaudible. He repeatedly asked what type of evidence the investigators had on him, and surmised they must not have any. He named all the people who were in and out of Ivanditti’s house, and questioned why those people were not being inter rogated. “Frank, there’s a reason we’ve got you here. Those others, we talked to them, but we’ve got something on you, so we don’t have them here,” an investigator said in response. As the video continued, Causey sat in the courtroom sipping cola from a cup. Many times he reclined back in his chair and stretched out his legs while watching the video of himself. Fre quently, he would lean up to write something on his notes, or whisper to his attorney and smile. At one point in the video when the investigator was asking specific questions about the scene of the murder, Causey stood up from his chair and got on his knees on the floor. At that moment, Causey sat up straight in his chair in the courtroom and said out loud “turn it down”. No one touched the volume of the video player, but Causey’s video version of himself seemed to have heard, because his recorded words were inaudible once again. In the recording, he said he and Ivanditti argued, and she slapped him in the face, “and I broke out in a rage and grabbed her by the neck and told her to stop,” he said, then went on to describe how Ivanditti’s body fell when he let go of her neck. “I knew this day was coming,” he said in the video. It is not yet known if the recordings will be used during the trial. Judge Prior told Thompson to submit a written brief ex plaining why she thought they should be withheld, and the district attorney’s office would have a week to respond in writing, then he would make his decision. Prior did approve of allowing the prosecutors to bring in witnesses from Tennessee - Kathy Garrett and Lemetria Ackers - former girlfriends of Causey who had filed complaints with Tennessee police of him strangling them. ... Good To Be Back on the Paper Route. Peddling for Smith Communications, so I mentioned to our Publisher, Mark Smith, that we might feature festivals in Lakelife, and our Editor, Beverly, obliged. I headed North on “441” to the mountains. First stop Mainstreet Downtown Commerce office. The October 7th stop is a must for the Bicycles, Brews, BBQ and Cruisin’ Festivals on your way North. Up the road to Helen, the Chamber’s Oktoberfest is a natural for Lakelife readers & their “Fest Halle” a venue for great German Bands and entertainment. You’ll want to check that out now through October. Peddling East to Cornelia, there are 2 events in one. October 7th is the Big Red Apple Festival and the kick-off of Cornelia’s 2018 Bicentennial - Big Doin’s in Cornelia. Farther East in Toccoa, is the Military Museum celebrating Military Days Oct. 5 - 8th followed by their “Harvest Festival” downtown, Oct. 28-29. Oh, so many festivals that I can’t overlook my home base closer by in Watkinsville/ Oconee County: Here are two of them close to home. Oconee Cultural Arts Foundation has their “Stein & Stem” event on Oct. 15th.The Oconee Chamber of Commerce with the 43rd Annual Fall Festival on Oct. 21, Hope to see you along the paper route! Tom Gorman, the Paperboy
