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Forsyth J Your "Hometown Cour Paper" Situ University T of XT GEORGIA mm LIBR T s r- 9 / mPs I ■
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Vol. 95, No. 74
Defense makes in Turner trial
Tearful
of murder,
By Nicole Green
Staff Writer
PERRY — Day eight of the Julia
Lynn Turner poisoning murder trial
ended with hardly a dry eye in the
courtroom after the alleged victim’s
tearful sister testified Wednesday.
Linda Hardy, the sister of
deceased Cobb County police officer
Glenn Turner, provided the Houston
County jury with a close examination
of the days surrounding her brother’s
sudden death on March 3, 1995.
Two weeks before his death,
Glenn Turner visited Hardy in
Acworth. The siblings were very
close, Hardy said, because they lived
together as roommates for several
years. Glenn Turner confided to
Hardy that his marriage was over
after 18 months of difficulty.
Plane wreck kills man
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Photos/David McGregor
Above, the wreckage of an experimental ultralight airplane sits
beneath trees in the front yard of a residence at 462 Mathis Airport
Road Thursday morning. Below, Forsyth County Sheriff Ted Paxton
points out to Wayne Potts where the airplane piloted by Cumming
resident Paul Geckeler apparently hit power lines as it attempted to
land Wednesday night.
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FRIDAY May 7, 2004
not proof
say
“He was sitting on my couch and
he made a statement that Lynn
[Turner] was moving to Cumming
and he was staying in Cobb County.
And he-was in the process of trying
to find out where he was going to
live because he had no interest in the
home,” Hardy said.
Lynn Turner purchased their
home in Marietta shortly before the
couple wed in August 1993. Glenn
Turner indicated that he would likely
move in with his friend Jeff Mack, or
his father in Woodstock, Hardy said.
Prosecutor Russ Parker asked if
Hardy offered a room in her home to
her brother.
“That was a given,” she answered
tearfully.
See TURNER, Page 2A
#
Photo/file
The murder trial of Lynn Turner
continued in Perry.
Pilot dies after
landing attempt
From Staff Reports
The Federal Aviation Administration Thursday began
an investigation into a crash of an experimental airplane
that killed a 45-year-old Cumming man Wednesday
night.
Peter Geckeler died after the plane he was piloting
crashed after apparently clipping a^power line as he
attempted to land in the dark at Mathis Airport in south
Forsyth Wednesday night, county sheriffs officials said.
Geckeler, a resident of the Aberdeen subdivision,
was pronounced dead at the scene of the crash of the
experimental ultralight plane around 9:20 p.m.
Randall Gibson, an official with the Right Standards
Division of the FAA, arrived on the scene in the front
yard of a gated residence at 462 Mathis Airport Road
Thursday morning to begin an investigation.
Gibson said the craft was an amateur-built experi¬
mental ultralight. Gibson said the plane was equipped
with a ballistic parachute, which had been deployed. It
is not known if the parachute was opened by the pilot or
may have been inadvertently opened when the craft
clipped a power line during its descent.
Laurie Wood, assistant director of the Forsyth
See PLANE, Page2A
00 Cents
Turner team
win amid
By Nicole Green
Staff Writer
Defense attorneys won their first
solid victory Wednesday in the mur¬
der trial of Julia Lynn Turner of
Cumming.
Detective Charles Mazariegos
was the lead investigator in the death
of Cobb police officer Glenn Turner
in March 1995. After Mazariegos
told the prosecution what he investi¬
gated, defense attorney Jimmy Berry
questioned him about what the detec¬
tive did not investigate. The list was
long.
“Julia said earlier that morning
that Glenn woke up and was halluci¬
nating and tried to jump off the sec¬
ond story balcony, thinking he could
fly; then he went downstairs and
tried to drink gasoline because he
Forsyth Schools
equipped to deal
with autism
Programs depend on the child
By Nancy Smallwood
Associate Editor
While the understanding of autism has grown with
the award winning movie, “Rain Man,” most of the pub¬
lic is still unaware of how the disease affects children.
Students with autism have a wide range of characteristics
and needs depending on the symptoms of the disease
present in each child. Every child with autism is unique,
according to Pat Crocker of Forsyth County Schools.
Some children are mildly affected and may exhibit only
slight delays in language and have challenges with social
interaction while others can have difficulties processing
information and at times throw tantrums when their sens¬
es are overwhelmed.
Forsyth County has approximately 116 children diag¬
nosed with autism enrolled in county schools. For chil¬
dren with autism, sensory integration problems are com¬
mon and their senses may be over or under active,
according to the Autism Society of America. Some chil¬
dren with autism can be particularly sensitive to sounds,
smells and physical contact.
Services available in Forsyth County Schools include
a wide range of programs that are based on the needs of
the children.
“The selection of programs for each child is based on
their needs,” said Crocker. “We try and include them in a
regular classroom setting as much as possible.”
One program includes the student in a regular class¬
room setting with the support of consultation with a
learning specialist. Here strategies and intervention sug¬
gestions are shared with the classroom teacher and stu¬
dent for the child to be successful in that setting, accord
See AUTISM, Page 2A
—
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Photo/David McGregor
With a few dozen Sharon Elementary students help'of
watching, landscaper Jerry Hord with the
Steven Rolfs, 8, and 10-year-old Taylor
McCormick plant a tree in front of the school
recently to recognize the month of April as
national autism month.
SPORTS, 1B
Forsyth girls reach Elite status
first big
charge
was thirsty,” Mazariegos testified
Wednesday morning.
Mazariegos said he smelled
Glenn Turner’s breath for gasoline
and smelled nothing. He went to the
basement and took a photograph of
the gasoline can. Next to the gasoline
can in the photograph is a plastic
bottle of antifreeze.
Cross examination revealed the
short length of the investigation.
Mazariegos did not check to see if
the antifreeze bottle seal was broken.
He did not identify the substances in
the sundry cans and bottles on base¬
ment shelves. He did not ask Lynn
Turner to identify the gas can out of
which her husband supposedly
drank.
See VICTORY, Page 2A