About The Eatonton messenger. (Eatonton, Ga.) 18??-current | View Entire Issue (May 22, 2025)
PUBLISHED CONTINUOUSLY SINCE 1861 VOLUME 164 • NO. 21 ("-www.msgrnews.com datonton Messenger • Official organ of Putnam County and City of Eatonton V . Locally Owned by Smith Communications Inc. 4) SICELLEV GIA o G PA z 06 GNEWS THURSDAY, MAY 22, 2025 Sills asked to investigate assailant's death Debbie Lurie-Smith debbie@jcnews.com Jones County experienced an officer-involved shooting last week that resulted in the death of the offender and an investi gation by a neighboring sheriff’s department. Dash and body camera videos of the May 16 shooting played an essential role in the inves tigation, according to Putnam County Sheriff Howard Sills, who was called on to investigate the case. Having another agency investigate an officer-involved shooting is a step taken to demonstrate a fair and unbi ased investigation is done. Ronald R. Evans, 54, was pronounced deceased at 2 a.m. May 16 by Deputy Coroner Stacy Gardner. The cause of death was listed as multiple gunshot wounds. The time of the shooting was estimated at 1:30 a.m. At a press conference held by Sills later that afternoon, he said he was called at 2:12 a.m. by Jones County Chief Deputy Earl Humphries requesting the sheriff to investigate the shooting. The names of the officers involved were not released at the press conference but were released by Jones County Sheriff Butch Reece Monday. Sgt. Travis Walker was the officer who encountered Evans at the South Recreation Center on Highway 49 about 1:20 a.m. Sills said the incident started when the deputy noticed a jeep driving slowly in the recreation park. “The jeep had no doors, and the driver was not wearing a seatbelt,” he said. The sheriff said, when the MORE DEATH >> A6 IAN TOCHER/Staff Putnam County Sheriff Howard Sills stands beside an image of Columbia County Deputy Sheriff Brandon Sikes, who was shot and killed April 26 while making a traffic stop on I-20, near Augusta. ono Sills reminds MAC crowd 01 , • Go of law enforcement sacrifice Ian Tocher ian@msgrnews.com Mothers Against Crime (MAC) held its annual banquet May 10 at the Eatonton Elks Lodge, where several speakers addressed an audi ence of about 50 members. According to Mothers Against Crime founder Georgia Benja min-Smith, the nascent moment for the Eatonton-based organization came in 1992 with a women’s march that began at St. John AME Church and advanced to what was known then as “The Strip” in Eatonton, where several sketchy bars and juke joints had set up shop. That march marked the beginning of the end, she said, for street crime that was running rampant in the area just east of downtown. Eventually, MAC was incorpo rated on June 20, 1995, and since that time its influence has been felt MORE MAC » A6 Know your Neighbor Veadie Brodnax Ian Tocher ian@msgrnews.com Eatonton’s Veadie Brodnax entered her 100th year last week and said she feels like she remains “good material.” Speaking in her living room about a quarter mile west of the Putnam County Courthouse, and within sight from her back door to where she grew up, Veadie recalled her time from the mid-1950s to early-’70s, working on the Chev rolet assembly line in Detroit. “The cars were good back then,” she said. “They were made of good MORE BRODNAX » A2 Georgia Power offers to cancel proposed rate increases Dave Williams Capitol Beat News Service Georgia Power will not seek to raise base rates for the next three years under a proposed agree ment the Atlanta-based utility announced Monday. The agreement between the company and the state Public Service Commission’s (PSC) Advocacy Staff — if approved by the five-member PSC — would cancel the rate case Georgia Power was planning to submit to the commission by July 1. Georgia Power has increased its customer rates three times in the last six years and has been criticized by consumer watchdog groups and environmental advo cates for doing so. The state Senate considered legislation during this year’s General Assembly session to prohibit the company from passing on the costs of providing electricity to the giant power- hungry data centers cropping up across Georgia. But the bill didn’t make it through the Senate Regulated Industries and Utilities Committee, as oppo nents argued the PSC already had taken that step by passing a new rule earlier this year. “We are well-positioned to balance mutual benefits that are available as a result of the extraordinary economic growth taking place in our state,” Georgia Power spokesman Jacob Hawkins said Monday. “This MORE RATES » A3 0 94922 87854 0 WEATHER Thursday Mostly HIGH Sunny 54 LOW Detailed forecast / B4 For breaking news or to subscribe, visit |www.msgmews.comor call 706-485-3501 SMITH COMMUNICATIONS es • Printing 10 Gators reach Final Four » PAGE Bl INSIDE THIS WEEK Classifieds D4 Public Record A7 Community C1 Opinions A4 Crossword Puzzle C5 Obituaries A6 Legal Notices D6 Sports B1 LAKE DENTISTRY Dr David Bradley Dr. Patti Bradley & Associates ,CALLY OWNED & OPERATED Jose and his sons came over Sunday afternoon to do some fishing off the dock. Using red wigglers, night crawler worms, minnows, and crickets, they caught half a wash tub full of bream, crappie, catfish, and two nice bass. It's good to see fathers taking time to take their family fishing. They caught enough for several fish frys. I see downtown Eatonton's Jefferson Avenue Drag Strip is still running. Dark blue Mustang GT with straight, racket-buster tail pipes is beating out the gray Mustang in making noise, while semi-trucks and feed trucks are beating out the buses and log trucks in top speed. Where are the police and Speed-O-Meters? Thought last year they were going back in service? We can do A Te better. No other town in this area has such problems. PUTNAM Looking for a Family Dentist? $29 New Patient Exam & X-Rays Add a Cleaning for Just $69 (save up to $288*) VOTED THE LAKE AREA’S BEST DENTIST FOR 12 YEARS RUNNING! SINCE 1998 I LAKE OCONEE’S DENTIST Located off Hwy. 44 in Greensboro, between Publix and the movie theater *Cash only, or your insurance may cover at usual and customary fees. LAKE OCONEE DENTISTRYrc Personalized & Comfortable
