Newspaper Page Text
Tuesday, March 16,2021
barnesville.com
Barnesville, Ga. 30204
HERE’S THE
SCOOP
Blood drive
March 25
The Red Cross re
ports a severe shortage
of blood and organizers
of Lamar County’s next
blood drive which is set
for March 25 hope to help
alleviate the crisis.
The local drive will be
held from 1-6 p.m. at the
fellowship hall at First
United Methodist Church.
The goal is 56 units.
Last March, the local
drive collected 61 units.
The last drive here, held
in January, collected 53
units.
The Red Cross will
continue to test for
COV1D-19 antibodies.
Those who have received
the COV1D vaccine are
encouraged to donate
blood. Red Cross person
nel will need to know
which vaccine blood
donors received.
The drive is sponsored
by the Barnesville Rotary
Club. For more informa
tion, call the church of
fice at 770.358.1494.
‘Snapped’
episode on
Jennifer
Clark airs
Sunday
An episode of the pop
ular TV series ‘Snapped’
covering the murder of
Donald
Clark and
the subse
quent trial
of his wife
Jennifer
Clark will
debut
Sunday,
CLARK March 21
on Oxygen
Network. The episode will
air at 6 p.m. and 9 p.m.
Jennifer Clark is serv
ing life plus 60 years for
beating Donald Clark to
death while he slept and
dumping his body in a
Redbone cornfield.
The episode was
filmed here last summer.
Subscribe. Your name goes
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Driver in wrong way crash
charged with vehicular homicide
WALTER GEIGER
news@barnesville.com
Nathaniel Suggs, 38, who
was critically injured in a
wrong way driver crash on Ga.
Hwy. 7 near Milner March 5
died at Grady Hospital March
8. Suggs was flown there after
the 10:10 p.m. crash on the
four-lane near the Zebulon
Road intersection. Suggs was
removed from life support af
ter his organs were harvested
for donation.
In the aftermath of Suggs’
death, state troopers took out
an additional warrant for the
at-fault driver Felicia What
ley, 55, of Thomaston for first
degree vehicular homicide.
Whatley appeared in magis
trate court here March
11 and was granted
a $100,000 bond by
Judge Kathy Martin.
Whatley later made
bond and was re
leased.
On the night of the
crash, Whatley was
charged with DU1, driv
ing on the wrong side of the
road and reckless driving.
The state patrol finally
released its report on the ac
cident Friday morning. It states
Whatley was under the influ
ence of alcohol and driving
south in the northbound lane
when her 2008 Honda Accord
LX hit a 2005 Toyota Tacoma
being driven by Jeremy Ryan
Knight, 25, of 1041 Gunn Road
in Madison. The Honda
hit the Toyota in the
left rear side with its
left front. The Toyota
left the roadway and
overturned before
coming to rest upright
on its tires. Suggs was
the lone passenger in
the Toyota and had to
be extricated from the truck.
Neither Whatley nor Knight
were taken for medical treat
ment.
Witnesses at the scene
reported Whatley had traveled
in the wrong lane from the area
of the Griffin Ingles.
Funeral services for Suggs
were private.
SUGGS
THE HERALD GAZETTE/WALTER GEIGER
Felicia Whatley, 55, is ushered into magistrate court by Capt. Ron Buchanan of the LCSO March 11. She ap
peared on her fourth charge in connection with a March 8 wrong way collision on Georgia Hwy. 7 near Milner that
took the life of Nathaniel Suggs.
The latest charge was first degree vehicular homicide. She was charged with DUI, driving on the wrong side of
the road and reckless driving on the night of the collision.
LCHS cadet gets recognition
after rescuing mother, child from car
Maj. Paul Stinson (left) stands with cadet 1LT Hunter Raybon as he
receives the commendation for bravery.
KAY S. PEDR0TTI
kayspedrotti@gmail.com
Hunter Raybon, junior at
Lamar County High and a 1LT
in the school’s Army Junior
ROTC unit, received a “com
mendation for bravery” from
the board of education at its
regular meeting last week.
Raybon’s actions freed
Diane Slade and her grandchild
Mae Slade from an overturned
automobile involved in a T-
bone accident at Old Highway
41 and Brown Springs Road
Feb. 3.
In a later interview, Raybon
said, “1 live on that road and
1 saw it all happen. It seemed
in slow motion -1 had never
seen anything like that car
flipping twice and stopping
upside down.” He said he first
went to the distraught 3-year-
old, who was screaming she
was “hanging upside down
like a monkey!” When she was
released from the car seat and
handed off to another stranger
who stopped to help, Raybon
said, “1 went around and got
the driver’s door open and
helped the woman out. Neither
one had any evident injuries,
except bad shock, and they
were checked by first respond
ers. The child’s car seat really
did its job.”
Raybon added that he had
some prior experience with
emergency situations because
he “grew up in a firehouse”
learning from a relative who
was a firefighter. His uncle,
Dustin Daniel, is a Lamar
County firefighter. He cannot
walk away from a situation in
which people need help, he
said, “and I thank God 1 was in
the right spot at the right time
to help these people.”
Raybon has tentative plans
to become an anesthesiologist;
he plans to join the Army after
SEE CADET RECOGNIZED 3A
VOTE
★ ★★★★
Magistrate
race,
ESPLOST
on ballots
today
Lamar County voters go to
the polls today to cast ballots
in a special election to select a
chief magistrate judge and de
termine whether a one percent
sales tax to benefit the local
school system will continue to
be collected.
The magistrate race was
necessitated by the death last
year of Judge Karen Rhyne
Henson. Four candidates are
seeking the post. They are
(in alphabetical order) Brutz
English, Paul Kunst, Jeff Mason
and Shannon Williamson.
The ESPLOST is designed
to raise $13.2 million for the
school system.
Early voting ended Friday at
noon. At that point, elections
supervisor Anita Reid and her
staff had served 1,003 early
voters. They also mailed out
109 absentee ballots of which
72 had been returned at press
time Monday.
Polling places are open
throughout the county today
from 7 a.m. - 7 p.m. Those
polling places are District 1:
Barnesville library; District
2A: Parker Branch fire station;
District 2B: Senior Citizens
Center; District 2C: Redbone
Community House; District 3:
Lamar County Service Center;
and District 4: Milner library.
For up to the minute lo
cal results tonight, monitor
barnesville.com.
GSC eyes
return to
normal for
fall classes
Gordon State College is plan
ning for a full return to face-to-
face instruction for fall semes
ter, if vaccinations continue
to dampen
further
outbreaks of
COV1D-19.
“This past
year has
taught us
a lesson in
being flexible
and resilient.
This com
ing year will
teach us
how to navigate a way back to
a new normal while increas
ing the number of face-to-face
course sections and student
programming,” GSC president
Kirk Nooks said.
The hope is fall semester
will also see a return to full ca
pacities in residence halls and
dining facilities. The college
will continue to monitor the
pandemic closely and follow
guidance from DPH, CDC and
the university system.
It is expected face masks
will still be required for fall
semester.
“We are excited by the
thought of having wider access
to the vaccine over the next
few weeks. The availability and
administration of the vaccine
will provide an additional layer
of protection against the virus
but we will still have to remain
vigilant,” noted Dr. Samantha
Bishop, GSC’s director of nurs
ing.
BISHOP
©2021 THE HERALD GAZETTE, BARNESVILLE, LAMAR COUNTY, GA 30204, 770.358.NEWS