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The Houston Home Journal
91te Second cT/tont
HOUSTON HOME JOURNAL THURS., AUG 17, 1978,
V /
High Speed Chase
Results In Shooting
By Perry Officer
Warrants for
aggravated assault and
terroristic threats were
served Tuesday on a
Perry man who was shot
last Saturday morning by
a Perry police officer
after the officer at
tempted to give the man a
traffic ticket.
Det. Larry Rooks of the
Houston County Sheriff's
Department told the
Home Journal Tuesday
morning he would serve
the two warrants on
Eugene Haslam, 45, who
is now a patient at the
Macon Medical Center
after being shot in the
stomach by Officer A.G.
Buckles.
The shooting occurred
at the Frank Bledsoe
farm west of Perry after
a six mile high speed
chase.
Rooks said the latest
bulletin trom authorities
at the Medical Center list
Haslam as being in "fair
condition."
The sheriff's detective
said if Haslam is unable
the accept the warrants
because of his condition,
the warrants would be
turned over to the
medical center security
section with a request
that Haslam not be
released until the
warrants are served.
Det. Rooks said all of
the information he has
gathered concerning the
case leads him to believe
that Officer Buckles shot
Haslam in self defense.
Perry Police Chief B E.
Dennard, who disclosed
that the Georgia Bureau
of Investigation had also
been asked to assist In
investigating the case,
said the city will file three
charges against Haslam
when he is able to accept
them.
He said charges to be
filed by the city are for
reckless driving, at
tempting to elude a police
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Officer Charles Lewis Examines Scene Os Police Shooting
officer and resisting
arrest.
Rooks said the incident
started when Buckles
attempted to give
Haslam a traffic ticket
for driving erafically. He
said Haslam, of 900 Cathy
St. in Perry, was
following Buckles' patrol
car to Perry police
headquarters when
Haslam took off at a high
rate of speed.
Buckles then chased
Haslam's car until-
Haslam spun out after
sideswiplng the curb on
Big Indian Creek bridge
on Highway 41 South. As
Buckles approached
Haslam's car on foot, he
Prisoners Indicted Here
(cont'd from front)
E. McTier, 35 of Warner
Robins for violation of the
Georgia Controlled
Substance Act by
possessing more than one
pound of marijuana.
+ Malcom Porter, 22,
of Warner Robins for two
counts of theft by taking.
+ Orlando Wyche, 20,
of Macon, for three
counts of theft by taking.
+ James Gregory
McGuire and Ralph
William Smith Jr., for
armed robbery in excess
of SIOO cash.
+ Ronnie Roundtree
Webb, 17, of Warner
Robins, for burglary.
-I- Michael Lynn Reece,
17, Centerville, for two
counts of burglary.
+ Larry Hardnett, 17,
and Cedrlck Z. Dean, 17,
both of Warner Robins,
for burglary.
+ Bennie Lee Beasley
and Cedric Zackey Dean
for burglary.
+ George Dinkins, of
Warner Robins, for
aggravated assault.
+ William "Bill"
Wright, 28, Daniel Moore,
22, and Barry Moore, 24,
all of Warner Robins, for
heard Haslam say that
one of them was going to
die, according to Rooks.
The detective said
Haslam then drove off
again with Buckles
pursuing him at speeds
up to 115 miles per hour.
The chase ended at the
Bledsoe farm about three
miles outside of the city
where Haslam was
employed.
Then, according to
Rooks, Haslam allegedly
told Buckles, "I am going
to make you kill me this
morning or I'm going to
kill you."
Rooks said information
furnished to him in
dicated that Buckles fired
criminal damage to
property in the second
degree.
+ Jessie Lee Robinson,
also known as Jessie Lee
McCrary, 18 of Warner
Robins for motor vehicle
theft.
+ Ivan Davis, 17, of
Warner Robins for
criminal damage to
property.
-(-Gregory Everett
Tackett, 17, ot Warner
Robins, for motor vehicle
theft.
Card Os
Thanks
I want to thank
everyone that came to
visit me during my recent
stay in the Perry
Hospital. I appreciate all
the gifts, money and
many kindnesses
everyone has shown.
Thank you Rev.
McKinney for your
prayers, and
most of all thank you Dr.
Arnall. May God bless
and keep you all.
Eva Mae Williams
PAGE 2-A
a warning shot from his
.357 magnum into the
ground and told Haslam
to, "Get your hand out of
your pocket and if you
take one more step I'm
going to shoot you."
Rooks said his in
formation indicated that
Haslam took another step
and Buckles shot him in
the stomach about two
inches to the right of his
navel.
Buckles then called an
ambulance, according to
Rooks, but decided to
take Haslam to the Perry
Houston County Hospital
in his patrol car to save
time. While enroute to the
hospital, Rooks said
Haslam reportedly ran
his hand around the cage
separating him from the
police officer, and tried to
grab him.
Rooks said Haslam told
Buckles that he was going
to wreck the patrol car
and kill them both. The
detective said Buckles
had to drive the patrol
car leaning up so Haslam
wouldn't grab him.
Haslam was given
emergency care at the
Perry hospital and
transferred to the Macon
Medical Center. , . «
Det. Rooks said
Charles Lewis, another
Perry police officer,
drove up in time to wit
ness the shooting. Rooks
said he has interviewed
three persons who either
witnessed the shooting or
had other knowledge of
the case, and would in
terview two more wit
nesses before his in
vestigation is concluded.
Rooks said as tar as he
knew, Haslam didn't
have a gun on him. He
added, however, that he
would ask for a court
order to go through
Haslam's personal
belongings to see if ad
ditional evidence could be
found.
-V 1 ' s k
- *
Trooper Vernon Wells Looking For Speeders
55 Mile Speed Limit Being Enforced
Perry Patrol
‘Cracks Down’
On Speeders
m The directive was plain
and simple, "55 means
55."
Declaring that "there
is no speed limit
tolerance," Georgia
Public Safety Com
missioner Herman Cofer
has directed a speed
crackdown.
The directive was
issued to field com
manders of State Patrol
units throughout the
state in late July and
called for a statewide
crackdown against
violators of the 55 mi le
per-hour speed limit law.
"We intend to convince
the motoring public that
the 55 mph speed limit is
not a farce in Georgia,"
Cofer declared.
Responding to the
directive, Perry State
Patrol Post No. 1 head
Sgt. John Wright alerted
his troopers and the 55
crackdown began of
ficially on Wednesday,
July 26 in this district.
"There is no allowance
on 55," Wright told The
Home Journal this week.
"55 means just that, and
while we used to give
some allowances as did
most units in the past,
we're setting our units to
enforce the Colonel's
directive."
Radar Enforcement
To enforce the new
directive, the local post is
putting to use all radar
units assigned to the
district.
"We keep at least one
radar unit busy all of the
time, and we're really
going to be using all five
with this crackdown,"
Wright stated.
With all but one of the
six cars the local post has
in operation carrying a
radar unit, the post has a
better chance to make the
crackdown more
meaningful to the public.
The radar units which
Wright's troopers are
utilizing are the moving
vehicle type units. They
send out an electrical
beam in the direction of
approaching cars. When
the beam strikes the
vehicle, it responds back
and the unit
automatically computes
the speed of the ap
proaching vehicle.
If the speed is sufficient
to be above the speed the
unit's activator is set for,
it sets off an alarm to
alert the trooper of a
speeding vehicle.
With the new units, it is
no longer necessary for
the "gun" or antenna
part of the unit to be
mounted outside the
vehicle, and in fact, most
of the time, the gun is
placed in a bracket on the
dash of the patrol cars.
As for accuracy, the
units are calibrated each
morning before being
placed into service. A
tuning fork is provided
with each unit. When
struck against the metal
of the car, the fork sends
out a sound which ac
tivates the unit. If for any
reason the unit does not
display the correct
figures on its display, the
unit is removed from
service for repairs.
"We've had no
problems with these units
as to accuracy," Wright
points out. "There have
been no problems of
errors or inaccuracy at
all."
Using the Radar
Georgia laws have
placed few restrictions on
the use of highway patrol
radar. They may be
mounted in what Wright
calls plain cars, and what
the public generally
refers to as unmarked
cars.
Radar is not used
within one-half mile of a
speed reduction sign on
the approach to a town
area, nor is it used on
hills of more than seven
degrees in incline.
The trooper is to be
visible to the motorist
within 500 feet when the
radar unit is in use. The
trooper may use the
radar in any type of
weather conditions.
Fuzzbusters
Going under the
assumption that all is fair
in love and war, to
paraphrase an old
statement, many
motorists have pur
chased "Fuzzbusters" or
other radar detection
devices in an attempt to
defeat the 55 mph limit.
"As far as Fuzzbusters
or other devices, Wright
reports, "All I can say is
that those motorists that
have gotten by without a
ticket in the past have
been lucky."
Explaining his
statement, Wright notes
that if the radar detection
device is set off to alert a
motorist of the radar in
use, then his vehicle has
already been intercepted
by the radar and the
speed he is traveling has
already been recorded on
the patrol radar unit.
"If they didn't get
stopped in the past they
were either within our
tolerance level or the
trooper had a good reason
for not making a case
such as a feeling that he
might not be able to make
a substantial case for
court. With the new limit
crackdown, Fuzzbusters
won't help because they'll
still get a ticket," Wright
Vocational Center
Offering I\ew Courses
Houston Vocational
Center announces two
short courses: Real
Estate Salesperson
Course No. 5. Begins
August 21st at HVC. Ken
Greer, broker, KEG
Realty Co is the in
structor. This is a 48 hour
course which offers
opportunities to acquire
skills necessary to suc
cessfully take and pass
the State exam for
Salesperson License.
Nurses Aide-Orderly
Course No. 7. Begins
August 29th at HVC.
Taught by Iris Allen,
R.N. This course
provides classroom
theory and 24 hours on
the-job experience in
Houston County Hospital.
Enrollment in both
courses is limited.
Students may register
and pay fees daily at HVC
from 2:30 p.m. to 10:30
promises.
Like all patrol units in
the state, Wright's cars
are equipped with CB
radios. "The only
problems we have with
them is that people see a
patrol car and want to
chat with 'smokey' and
thus clog up the air
waves. We don't want to
appear unfriendly or
anything, but our
troopers cannot just chat
with people. We want
these units to be used for
their purpose —for
relaying emergency or
distress calls to our
troopers."
Wright's units utilize
heavy concentrated
enforcement on various
selected roads in the area
"at least once or twice
per month," he ex
plained.
Concentrated means
that all available units
are placed in heavy
patrol on these selected
highways for a two day
period to crackdown on
all violators of Georgia
laws.
p.m. Employment op
portunities in both fields
are good at this time.
Revival
Begins Here
This Sunday
Revival services will be
held at Memorial Heights
Baptist Church, 521
Carroll Blvd., Perry, Ga.
on August 20, 1978
through August 25, 1978.
Sunday services will
begin at 11:00 and 7:00
and week night services
will begin at 7:30. Elder
Elvis Gregory of Pine
Haven Baptist Church,
Columbus, Mississippi
will be the guest speaker.
Elder Gordon Buchanan
of Griffin, Ga. is pasfor of
Memorial Heights
Church.