Newspaper Page Text
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H Wednesday, March 24, 2010
ERALD
www.JacksonHeraldTODAY.com
VOL. 135 NO. 40 58 PACES 5 SECTIONS PLUS INSERTS A PUBLICATION OF MainStreet Newspapers, Inc. JEFFERSON, JACKSON COUNTY GEORGIA 30549 75« COPY
— Inside —
Area news:
•Firefighter training
held at new facility
page 12A
Op/Ed:
•'Early intervention
on bullying important'
page 4A
Sports:
•Pro Cup racing
returns to Gresham
page 1B
Features:
•Jackson County's
cooperative extension
page 1C
Other News:
•Public Safety
pages 6-7A
•Legals
pages 1-25D
•Church News
page 9-1 OB
•Obituaries
page 11B
•School News
. . . pages 8-11A, 7-8B
Jefferson leaders clash over position
BY ANGELA GARY
JEFFERSON councilman
C.D. Kidd’s recommendation
that the public works direc
tor position held by Jeff Killip
be eliminated led to a heated
discussion at the Jefferson City
Council Monday night.
More than 60 people attended
the meeting, apparently due to
concern that an agenda item to
hold a closed session to discuss
personnel was about eliminat
ing some of the city department
heads.
Kidd called for the closed
meeting to discuss “downsiz
ing due to the economy” and
Mayor Jim Joiner told him that
would not be a permitted discus
sion allowed under the Georgia
JOINER KIDD
Open Meetings Law. Joiner
then read the three allowed rea
sons for closing meetings.
“If you’re going to talk about
that, we’re going to do it in
public,” Joiner said.
A heated discussion then fol
lowed with Joiner asking Kidd
and councilman Bosie Griffith
why they want to eliminate
Killip’s position.
Kidd said he suggested it
as a way to eliminate $90,000
from the budget. He said that
Killip’s position was added at
a time when the city antici
pated growth and that has not
occurred. He added that there
are people in place in the water,
street and sewer departments
who could serve as supervisors.
He pointed out that is how it
was done before a public works
director was hired.
“The growth is not here,”
he said. “We can be saving
money.”
Joiner questioned whether the
council could eliminate a posi
tion and Kidd quickly pointed
out that the council created the
position.
Joiner questioned Griffith
about a conversation they
had two weeks ago and said
that Griffith told him that he
wanted to eliminate the posi
tion because Killip is not a
professional engineer, is not an
American citizen and is not
friendly to him.
“You are spreading this
all over town,” Joiner said.
“Anyone who votes with you
is opening themselves up to a
federal lawsuit...He (Griffith)
told me three times that Jeff
Killip is gone.”
Councilman Roy Plott asked,
“I don’t understand this. Is there
some vendetta you have against
Jeff Killip?”
Kidd said he had received
complaints about Killip, includ
ing that he uses his city car for
personal business. He added
that his main issue is that the
city could save $90,000 by
eliminating the position.
City manager John Ward said
eliminating the position would
not save the town $90,000
because consultants would have
to be brought in to manage the
projects that Killip supervises.
“The $90,000 is a fallacy,”
he said.
Kidd said, “John, you have
time to do some of this.”
Kidd then asked that the dis
cussion be postponed.
Joiner said, “I suggest y’all
think what you are getting your
self into. Meeting adjourned.”
Enola Gay crewman speaks at JHS
ENOLA GAY NAVIGATOR
Theodore Van Kirk was the navigator on the Enola
Gay, the plane that dropped the first atomic bomb
on Hiroshima, Japan. He can be seen above as the
guest speaker in Robert Pittard’s World War II class on
Monday at Jefferson High School.
Osborne gets 12 months
probation in baby’s death
BY KATIE HUSTON
HERALDED AS a tragedy
by some and a necessary step
toward victory by others, the
dropping of the atomic bomb on
Hiroshima, Japan on August 6,
1945 was undoubtedly an event
that will long live in history.
At Jefferson High School
on Monday, students in Robert
Pittard’s senior World War II
class gained some insight of
their own about the event as they
listened to a guest speaker who
had firsthand experience.
Theodore Van Kirk, a naviga
tor in the United States Army
Air Corps during WWH and
the navigator of the Enola Gay,
which dropped the first atom
ic bomb on Hiroshima, spoke
to the class about that historic
event.
He spoke of how different
the war today is from the war
he served in, saying that people
were enthralled and consumed
with it, having no other choice.
“World War II was nothing
like (today’s wars),” Van Kirk
said. “You send the people over
there and they’re there for a
while - and don’t get me wrong.
I’m not belittling what they do -
I respect what they do, they’ve
got a tough damn job to do and
they do it well — but World
War n was not like that at all.
When you went into the service
in World War n, you were there
for the duration. The duration
meant until the end of the war,
period.”
Van Kirk said that before
the event at Hiroshima can be
understood, the students would
need to understand what the war
was like.
He mentioned how at the
time, Japan’s air force and navy
were depleted, but they had a
very strong ground force to face
an American invasion and that’s
why the bomb needed to be
dropped.
Van Kirk spoke of the training
he and the other crewmembers
underwent prior to the mission.
He said that practically all of the
scientists in the country were
working on this one project -
how to make an atomic bomb.
Van Kirk recalled one scien
tist saying that he thought the
crew would be okay after drop
ping the bomb, as long as the
plane was 11 miles away when
it exploded. Otherwise, the plane
would be in the bomb’s radius
and be blown up.
“Everything we did in order
to train and drop the bomb
was train to get away from the
bomb,” Van Kirk said.
All guns and any items that
were unnecessary were removed
to lighten the plane and that’s
how the crew was able to get out
of the bomb’s radius.
The crew basically had three
instructions for dropping the
atomic bomb. The first was that
it had to be dropped visually
as opposed to through clouds.
They were ordered to drop the
bomb in the ocean if it could not
be dropped visually and under
no circumstance bring it back
to base for fear of annihilating
the base.
The second instruction was
that the crew would have to drop
the instrument to measure the
shock at the same time the bomb
was dropped. Van Kirk added
that a popular misconception is
that the bomb was dropped by
parachute. Eyewitnesses were
seeing the measurement instru
ment, which was dropped by
parachute, and mistaking it for
the bomb.
The final instruction was that
the crew had to get pictures of
the bomb dropping for scientific
and historical purposes.
Van Kirk said that one of the
B-29’s accompanying the Enola
Gay was donned with cameras
for photographing purposes.
“That B-29 was supposed
to fly right toward the target
and when the bomb exploded,
it was supposed to get really
good pictures of the bomb when
continued on page 2A
BYANGELA GARY
A NICHOLSON woman
was sentenced to 12 months
probation, as well as given a
$1,000 fine and 200 hours of
community service, Monday
morning in the September
2008 death of an infant in her
foster care.
Wendy Osborne, 30, was
sentenced on one count of
involuntary manslaughter, a
misdemeanor charge, in the
death of 9-month-old Jessica
Scovil.
The sentence was a negotiat
ed plea between district attor
ney Brad Smith and Osborne’s
attorney, Phil Pilgrim. Smith
told Judge Bob Adamson, a
retired senior judge who pre
sided at the hearing, that he
recommended the 12 months
probation. Adamson added
the monetary fine and com
munity service, which are the
maximum that can be given
in misdemeanor charges such
as this.
“There is no way the court
can lessen the anger and frus
tration of those who loved this
child,” the judge said. “This act
is at the highest level of crimi
nality of a misdemeanor invol
untary manslaughter charge. If
not for the recommendation of
the district attorney, the court
would have considered time
(in jail) in this case.”
Osborne did not speak, but
quietly cried as the details of
the incident were read by the
judge and as witnesses spoke.
Scovil’s grandmother spoke
on behalf of the baby’s family,
while three people spoke in
support of Osborne, including
her husband, her pastor and a
friend.
Georgia Nichols, the mother
of the baby’s father, spoke on
the pain the family has suf
fered.
“Jessica’s passing has tom
our lives apart,” she said. “I
don’t understand how some
one would leave a baby in a
van.”
The grandmother also spoke
on the lack of an apology from
the Osborne family.
“Never once in all of this
time has she attempted to
apologize to any of us,” she
said. “How could that be?
Who is this person? ... I hope
this is a wake up call for
all care providers. Never take
on more than you can handle
which is what happened in this
case...I’m so angry and in so
much pain. I don’t know how
she can get through a day. I
know I couldn’t.”
Nichols said she also had a
problem with how the family
was notified of the death.
“We were not notified for 16
hours and then we were told
it was an accident,” she said.
“The only accident was leav
ing the baby in Mrs. Osborne’s
care.”
SPEAKS ON BEHALF
OF OSBORNE
Mrs. Osborne’s pastor at
Community Baptist Church
spoke on the grief that she has
suffered.
“I can’t think of any pun
ishment that could be given
that is more difficult than
what she lives day after day,”
he said.
Mrs. Osborne’s husband,
Chris, also spoke on how his
wife continues to suffer.
“September 2 will never be
forgotten in our household,”
he said. “It has not been an
easy year and a half. My wife
has lost many nights sleep
over this. This is something
that she is never going to get
over.”
He also turned and faced
Mrs. Nichols and offered an
apology. He said that he and
his wife had wanted to apolo
gize, but didn’t know how to
do it.
“We have wanted to apolo
gize, but how can you? From
deep in my heart, tell your
son I am sorry... I am very
sorry for you and your daugh-
ter-in-law and other family
members.”
DIED OF
HEAT STROKE
Scovil died of heat stroke
after having been left in
Osborne’s van at her home
on Hwy. 334 in Nicholson.
Osborne had returned home
around 2 p.m. on Sept. 2 and
taken two 3-year-old children
into the house, leaving Scovil
in the closed van. Around 5
p.m., Osborne awoke from
a nap and realized the baby
was still in the vehicle. She
found the baby unresponsive
and called 911, according to
authorities.
The child’s body tempera
ture was above 108 degrees
when tested at BJC Medical
Center later that day. Two
other foster children in the
home, both teenagers, were
taken by DFCS to another
location after the incident.
Osborne had been active in
foster care in the county and
had helped with training new
foster parents.
Scovil had been temporar
ily removed from the care
of her birth mother and the
family had been working to
regain custody at the time of
the incident.
Osborne said she had been
sick with strep throat at the
time of the incident and was
taking medication.
RAINBOW OVER JHS
In between recent rains, this rainbow was spotted over Jefferson High School.
Photo by Eugena Stockton