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PAGE 8A PICKENS COUNTY PROGRESS THURSDAY. APRIL 29. 2021
Five sought in connection with murder
n
Megan Colone
AKA Grace Beda
Mario
Barbosa-Juarez
Juan
Ayala-Rodriguez
Oscar
Garcia
5th suspect in Gilmer
murder investigation
By Andy Ashurst
Publisher
Times Courier
Authorities are looking for
five people in connection
with the murder of a woman
which occurred in Gilmer
County.
Murder warrants have
been issued for Megan
Alyssa Colone, 30, of Stone
Mountain; Juan Ayala-Ro
driguez, 35, of Gainesville;
Oscar Manuel Garcia, 26, of
Austell; and Mario Alberto
Barbosa-Juarez, 29, of Okla
homa City, Okla., according
to a Georgia Bureau of Inves
tigation press release. Au
thorities are seeking help in
identifying a fifth suspect.
“We can’t comment on
why or how, but we feel real
comfortable these people are
not in the area,” said Gilmer
County Sheriff Stacy Nichol
son.
A GBI press release
echoed the sheriff, saying the
suspects may no longer be in
the state. Colone is believed
to be traveling with her minor
children, possibly using the
alias Grace Beda.
The investigation began,
Tuesday, April 20, when the
Gilmer County Sheriff’s Of
fice conducted a welfare
check at a residence in
Cherry Log. GBI agents were
called in to assist.
Rossana Delgado, 37, of
Bethlehem, was identified as
the victim at the scene. She
was reported missing Friday,
April 16 and was last seen in
DeKalb County.
Autopsy results are pend
ing, according to the GBI re
lease.
“At this point in the inves
tigation, there are absolutely
no ties with any of the sus
pects or the victim to this
area,” Nicholson said.
Both the sheriff and the
GBI said this is a “very active
investigation.”
Anyone with information
about the whereabouts of
Colone, Ayala-Rodriguez,
Garcia or Barbosa-Juarez or
the identity of the fifth sus
pect are asked to call the GBI
Tipline at 1-800-597-
TIPS(8477) or report the in
formation online at
https://gbi.georgia.gov/sub-
mit-tips-online.
Election board members Tara Cannon, Paul Lindsey and William Bell at their Friday
gathering. Lindsey objected to handling any business that day as he felt their bylaws re
quired two members to call for a meeting and it had only been Bell, and as “the hound
dogs are at the door” someone was sure to call the state.
Election board votes to cease work
but chair refuses to stop
By Dan Pool
Editor
dpool@pickensprogress.com
Facing ongoing contro
versy and the coming disso
lution of their board in June,
members of the elections
board gathered on both Fri
day and Monday.
The Monday meeting was
cut short and likely signaled
the end of this group when
Paul Lindsey, who has served
on the board for 20 years, in
troduced a motion to cease all
further work and let the
county commissioners han
dle anything that arises until
a new board is in place.
The elections board is set
to be dissolved at the end of
June and re-formed on July 1
with a new appointment pro
cedure, a move that hasn’t sat
well with current election
board members.
In his motion, Lindsey
said, it’s the commissioners’
“little red wagon” and they
need to figure out how to
handle the void created when
the Elections Supervisor Ju-
lianne Roberts quit with no
advanced notice a week ago.
The office’s only other em
ployee is out for extended
medical leave, and, as Lind
sey said, having someone
without proper certification
performing election work
will land us “all in hot water.”
Lindsey and Rebecca
Cantrell, who was only ap
pointed to the board on Fri
day, voted to shut it down on
Monday.
Member Tara Cannon in
dicated she wasn’t in favor,
nor was Acting Chair
William Bell. But with the
chair only voting in the event
of a tie, the two-vote majority
carried it. Cannon pointed
out that a general legal chal
lenge by an outside group
over all Georgia election
changes could stall the for
mation of a new board here.
If they don’t get the office
functioning now, it could be
a long time if a legal chal
lenge succeeds.
Several hours after the
meeting, Bell sent this e-mail
to the Progress, “The two
members of the board who
voted to hand over daily op
erations to the commission
ers may have voted for it.
The Sheriff’s
Beat
From the Pickens
Sheriff’s Office
During this past week, the Pickens Sheriff’s Office responded
to or initiated 1,146 calls for service. These numbers are
taken from the report provided directly from the 911 Center
where all calls are logged as they are performed. Below is a
breakdown of all dispatched calls by the call type for each in
cident.
Accidents 15
Suicide Threats / Attempts 0
Domestics 18
Theft / Burglary Related 5
Forgery / Fraud 2
Traffic Stops 67
Citations Issued 18
Animal Investigations 6
Suspicious Persons/Activity 21
Alarm Calls 15
Stranded Motorists 6
Street Hazards 9
Vandalism 5
Abandoned Vehicles 2
Extra Patrol - neighborhoods, businesses, residences 767.
In addition to these, other calls include search warrants, civil
service, 911 hang-up calls, assaults, disorderly persons, miss
ing persons, assistance with medical calls, natural death in
vestigations, demented persons, funeral escorts, harassment,
trespassing, and many more.
Breakdown of Charges for those Arrested:
22 individuals were booked into the Adult Detention Center on
charges from the Pickens Sheriff's Office. Out of these, the following
charges were taken by PSO deputies (note: some individuals have
multiple charges):
Bond Violation 3
Aggravated Assault 2
Obstruction of Law Enforcement 1
DUI-Alcohol 1
DUI-Drugs 1
Failure to Maintain Lane 2
Possession of a Controlled Substance
Possession of a Drug Related Object
Cross Guard Lines with Weapon/ Drugs
Drive with Suspended License
Probation Violation
Criminal Trespass
Simple Battery- Family Violence
Simple Assault- Family Violence
Theft by Shoplifting
Stalking
No Tag Light
Disorderly Conduct
Possession of Weapon During Crime
Failure to Stop
In addition to the above
activity from the Uniform
Patrol Division, Court
Service Deputies reported
the following statistics for
the past week:
Persons Scanned at
Front Door: 1213
Weapons Found: 6
Courts Held: 14
Arrest Made in
the Courthouse: 2
Civil Papers Received : 52
Civil Papers Served: 4
In the Adult Detention
Center:
Total Jail population: 75
Total male inmates: 55
Total female inmates: 20
Sex Offenders:
There are currently 74 sex
offenders registered with
the Pickens Sheriff’s Office.
Rebecca Cantrell was sworn in by Probate Judge David
Lindsey to fill a spot on the elections board Friday. The
board voted to cease all work Monday, leaving her a very
short tenure in politics.
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But, as acting chairman of
the Board of Election. The
office will be staffed and
open to the public. I am
working with the SOS [secre
tary of state], our attorney,
and the commission chair to
do what we are ‘Legally
Bound’ to perform.”
Prior to his motion for a
handover, Lindsey asked act
ing chair Bell several pointed
questions including whether
Bell and Rick Jasperse had
gone to the capitol to discuss
this board, and whether Bell
and Jasperse had gone to any
of the commissioners’ homes
to discuss this, to which Bell
answered absolutely not to
both.
The board gathered Friday
but after swearing in new
member Rebecca Cantrell to
replace a member who had
moved away, the plans went
off the rails as Lindsey and
Bell disagreed over proper
protocols.
Bell intended to do some
basic work to allow county or
state personnel to secure the
office’s computer system, but
Lindsey strongly objected, as
he felt they needed to offi
cially have two members call
any meeting and have it an
nounced publicly before
hand.
“We have already caught
enough hell, we don’t need
anymore,” Lindsey said. He
felt that someone would
likely call the state if they did
anything, as “the hound dogs
are at the door.”
As for her first meeting,
Cantrell said she had been re
searching the local situation
and was not surprised, as she
knew political actions were
underway.
At the Friday gathering,
both Lindsey and Cannon
took time to note that Lind
sey had 20 years on the board
and Cannon six years and
they had never had any prob
lems until now. Lindsey, who
represents the Democratic
Party here, and Cannon, who
represents the Republican
Party, both blamed members
of the local GOP for stirring
up trouble. Lindsey con
firmed again Monday that
this situation is infighting
among the GOP, not a parti
san fight.
Several GOP members in
cluding local party chair
Chris Mora came to the brief
meeting, with another GOP
member there telling the
party leaders it was time for
some changes.
Bell said from his conver
sations with the secretary of
state, there didn’t appear to
be any set deadline to get the
office re-opened or any spe
cific mandates they are fail
ing to meet.
In a later phone interview,
Commission Chair Kris Stan-
cil said he was clearly caught
by surprise by suddenly
being handed a new office
but he would contact the sec
retary of state’s office and get
things rolling to do whatever
is recommended.
GRISHAM, POOLE
& CARLILE, PC
Criminal Defense I Family Law
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