Newspaper Page Text
PAGE 6A
^Reporter
IN MEMORY
John Wesley Ham, Jr.
December 3, 1922 - June 26, 2016
John Wesley Ham, Jr, age 93, passed away on
Sunday, 26 June 2016. Mr. Ham was born in Smarr
to John Wesley Ham Sr. and Laura Belle Benson
Ham, who preceeded him in death. Also preceding
him in death were brothers, James (Ellen) and C.
Julian Ham; sister and brother in law, Elmo and
Jean Ham Quick; sister, Mary Elizabeth “Betty”
Ham Elam; sisters-indaw, Elsie S. Ham and Cel
Ham. Mr. Ham retired from the U.S. Navy and
then worked for Delta Airlines for over 15 years.
Survivors include his wife of 69 years, Vecia
Vernarelli Ham; son, John Wesley Ham III,
(Pamela) of Jonesboro; daughter, Patricia
Townsend, (Michael) of Blue Ridge; grandchildren,
John William (Allison), Caroline, and James. Mr.
Ham is also survived by brothers, Robert S. Ham,
Benson Ham (Ruth), sister, Gloria (Ham) Harbuck,
brother-indaw, Frank Elam, and numerous nieces
and nephews.
Linda Russell Walton
March 2, 1960 - June 24, 2016
Linda Gail Russell Walton, of High Falls, passed
away Friday, June 24, 2016. A Memorial Service
was held Thursday, June 30 at Monroe County
Memorial Chapel. Burial was private. Rev. Dean
Conkel officiated.
Mrs. Walton was born March 2, 1960, in Forest
Park, Ga. Her father, John Thomas Russell, pre
ceded her in death. She was a homemaker.
Survivors include her husband, Cliff Harris
Walton III of High Falls; son, Clay (Alice) Walton of
High Falls; mother, Eva Russell of Walton County;
brothers, Gary (Brenda) Russell of Walton County
and John Russell of Memphis, Tenn.
In lieu of flowers the family suggests donations to
Save A Pet, P.O. Box 933, Forsyth, GA 31029.
Please visit www.monroecountymemorialchapel.
com to express tributes. Monroe County Memorial
Chapel had charge of arrangements.
Forsyth man to serve 6 years
for ’13 vehicular homicide
BY RICHARD DUMAS
forsyth@mymcr.net
A Forsyth man accepted
a sentence last month
of 12 years with six to
serve in prison
after pleading
guilty to vehicu
lar homicide in
Monroe County
Superior Court.
Kendall
Lamont Davis,
39, was driving
a white Range
Rover on 1-75
South near
Johnstonville
Road at about 3 a.m.
on June 12, 2013 when
he ran off the road and
over-corrected, causing
his SUV to flip multiple
times. Monroe County
sheriffs deputies found
the SUV on its right side
blocking the far right-
hand lane.
A passenger, Angelina
Raymond, 28, was ejected
and suffered fatal inju
ries. A second
passenger was
also hospitalized
with non-life-
threatening inju
ries. Davis, who
was also charged
with DUI and
three other
charges, tried to
DAVIS escape on foot
from the scene
but was quickly
tracked down and arrest
ed by Monroe County Sgt.
Randy Grindstaff.
The trio was coming
from the Atlanta area at
the time of the wreck.
Assistant Monroe
County district attorney
Paul Hemmann said 45
cases in all were closed
by pleas during the June
27-July 1 trial week,
which included pre-trial
hearings on June 8 and
June 10. He said 22 more
cases are in the status
of rehab, counseling or
treatment while 15 other
cases are in bench war
rant status for failure to
appear in court. Several
other cases were contin
ued, principally because
of attorney conflicts due
to schedules in other
courts. Other defendants
who received prison sen
tences after accepting
pleas in Monroe County
Superior Court last
month included:
• Michael Court - 10
years with 8 in prison for
second degree burglary
• Jonathan Jackson - 8
years with 3 in prison for
shoplifting
• Rickey Garey - 10
years with 3 in prison for
possession of metham-
phetamine, fleeing and
attempting to elude
• Michael Dorrough
-- 3 years in prison for
failure to register as a sex
offender
• Jordan Rhodes - 10
years with 3 in prison
for obstruction, making
terroristic threats and
battery
• Gloria Watkins - 10
years with 3 in prison for
theft by shoplifting (3rd
offense)
• Tony Pennington - 5
years with 1 in prison for
auto theft, simple battery
Dispute
continued from front
chest of information” that
explains why his bound
ary is the one lawmak
ers intended when they
created Bibb County in
1822. Scarborough said
his presentation will
also include heretofore
unseen evidence about
how the legislature’s 1877
Holt alteration led to
the boundary migrating
northward.
Scarborough said he’s
concerned that Kemp will
let Bibb County attorneys
raise objections, inter
rupt his presentation
and interrogate him,
even though he’s a state-
appointed expert, not a
witness in a court of law.
“I am intent upon pre
senting this. I’ve always
wanted to do it,” said
Scarborough. “But I’m at
a loss as to what I intend
to do. I wonder if I want
to be a part of it. With
an honest tribunal, my
survey would stand; I’m
absolutely confident. But
Kemp is not going to go
with my survey. The deck
is stacked against me
and Monroe County and
has been from day one.
They’re going to throw
out my survey any way
he can.”
At Thursday’s confer
ence, Kemp told the attor
neys that if they have
other interpretations of
the line, they need to
submit a survey with that
intepretation. However,
Scarborough said using
those would contradict
Georgia case law. He
cited a Georgia Supreme
Court decision in Fine v.
Dade County in 1944 that
only allows surveys to be
used from the governor’s
appointed surveyor: “If in
fact it is obscure the line
must be made clear and
definite by an official gov
ernmental survey under
order of the governor and
in accordance with the
Act of 1887, and not by
the evidence of engineers
or surveyors privately
engaged.”
“He’s just wanting to do
this to let Bibb County
have their way,” said
Scarborough.
All parties have been
asked to submit evidence
for both sides to see as
they prepare for the Aug.
30 hearing.
If accepted, the
Scarborough line would
leave Monroe County
with more valuable terri
tory in the fast-growing
Bass Road area. Bibb
County has said it would
lose more than $1.2 mil
lion annually in property
tax revenue annually if
the Scarborough line is
accepted. Monroe County
has spent more than $2.5
million on the dispute.
See Kemp’s remarks
on the hearing and a
County Line Timeline in
the accompanying stories
that begin on page 1A.
Kemp
continued from front
kind of how we were envisioning the
process working leading up to that
and answer any questions that they
have. So that’s what the meeting
was about today.”
MCR: Where will the Aug. 30
hearing be held?
KEMP: “I would imagine we’ll
have it here at the Capitol like we
did last time.”
MCR: How much time are you
going to allow each side to present
evidence at the Aug. 30 hearing?
KEMP: ‘Well that’s something
that a lot of questions were raised
about today. The parties I will
say seemed to be wanting to work
together to resolve this. The timing
and some of the logistics we talked
about we’re going to be working
on in the next couple of days. So
I don’t really know the answer to
that question just yet. Plus it will
depend. We’re asking all sides to
submit any documentation that we
don’t have that they would like to
submit or any additional informa
tion so that we have the complete
record to make the final decision.
So we’re asking them to do that 14
days prior to the hearing. So I think
as we get that documentation in, I
think it will give us a better idea of
how long it’s going to take.”
MCR: Are you banking on being
able to finish in one day? When the
two parties went before administra
tive law judge John Sherrill, it was
almost a week-long process.
KEMP: ‘Yeah, I think it’s going
to depend on how things shake out
with what’s coming in and what will
have to be reviewed.”
MCR: Will the Aug. 30 hearing be
open to the public?
KEMP: “Oh yeah. Just like our
last hearing was that we held.”
MCR: “Why did you reconsider
allowing Terry Scarborough to pres
ent his evidence that he tried to
present after the fact last time?
KEMP: “I would just say I didn’t
reconsider. The reason I didn’t
accept the information last time
was it was after the deadline I
had set for the original hearing. So
it was not that I didn’t want the
additional information, it’s just that
I didn’t feel it was fair to the par
ties involved to break the deadline
rule that we had just like a court
wouldn’t. And look, he still had the
opportunity to come to the hearing
and testify and present that evi
dence, but he failed to do so. But,
and this is what I’ve told the parties
today, really everything in the past
is behind us. We are where we are,
and I’m moving forward to make a
decision. I know people are ready
to put this to bed, and that’s what
I’m intending to do. And that being
said, I want to base that on the
entire record, so everybody feels like
they’ve had the opportunity to get
everything back on the table where
I can make the best educated deci
sion that I can.”
MCR: Will you serve as the judge
and jury of the Aug. 30 hearing as
opposed to having any kind of inter
mediary to advise you?
KEMP: “I mean I envision this
just like the last time where I’ll have
my counsel up there with me, and
we’ll conduct the hearing and call
the sides to give their arguments
and present. And we’ve asked who
people would call to testify, so we
can gauge about how long that will
take. So we’ll call those and then
give time for questions and answers
from both sides.”
MCR: If following the hear
ing you choose not to accept the
Scarborough survey, would you ask
Gov. Nathan Deal to appoint anoth
er surveyor?
KEMP: “Well I wouldn’t want
to speculate on anything that will
come out of this hearing.”
MCR: Is there any timetable on
how long after the Aug. 30 hearing
you would be expected to render a
decision?
KEMP: “I wouldn’t want to specu
late on that either. Those are good
questions, but I just can’t answer
them. I don’t want to give any pre
conceived notions on it. And listen, I
told the parties, my mission here is
I want to get this resolved and I’m
pressing forward to do that, but I
also want to be fair to all sides. And
that’s what I’m going to do as we go
through this process. And I’m sure
there will be issues that come up
that we’re going to all have to deal
with and consider. But I will say,
the legal side on both sides today
were very amenable to working with
each other to share information so
we can have a better idea on time
line and logistics and kind of work
through those same things to hope
fully save us some time of having a
week-long hearing or something.”
July 6, 2016
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You heft 6ehind the broken hearts of those who lovedyou so.
N sea of tears and endless grief will simply e66 away
If only you could cele6rate your special day today.
Yhis birthday to hen 6rings you love,
it’s just a simple touch to let you fiiow how dear you are
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~Sadly missed by family and friends
Car + Home =
BIG SAVINGS
See me for Car and Home Insurance and save.
Steve Osborne, Agent
80 Martin Luther King Jr Drive
Forsyth, GA 31029
Bus: 478-994-1041
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Newspapers are the most popular and
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shopping information, and information
on candidates in Georgia.
American Opinion Research recently did a study on media
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