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www.MyMCR.net • Vol. 50 • No. 12 2 Sections, 28 Pages • Wednesday • March 24,2021
INSIDE ► ►►
Recalling
the first
winery in
Georgia
PAGE 2C
Gov. Kemp
gets Forsyth
haircut
PAGE 2A
WELCOME
TO THE FAMILY
Jennell Regula
Ralph Stokes
Thomas Wilson
Darlene Rabinson
Steven Heath
Dan Proctor
Phil Fowler
Robin Baker
David Walton
Amy Reeves
Don Faircloth
Rex Tidwell
NEW SUBSCRIBERS
OF THE WEEK
DEATHS m6A
David Sundeen
Aileen Palmer
Lorena Peach
Leanne Hager
Ginger Foshee
Archie Hughes
Wesley Shannon
6 06605 “1341b
6
1 6 2 6 4
3
Stroud: Investigate Facebook post
'We enforce criminal law, not hurt feelings’ - Sheriff Brad Freeman
By Will Davis
publisher'-mymcr.net
Forsyth city councilman
Julius Stroud is calling for
an investigation of Monroe
County commissioner John
Ambroses social media
posts after Ambrose wrote
that Speaker Nancy Pelosi
and vice president Kamala
Harris slept their way to
the top.
Stroud emailed Monroe
County commission
ers George Emami, Greg
Tapley, Eddie Rowland
and Ambrose last Tues
day, March 16 to ask for
a formal investigation of
Ambroses social media
post after the District 3
commissioner wrote that
Pelosi “screwed her way
up the ladder” and that she
“had so many in her she
looks like a porcupine”. He
also said Pelosi looks like
“s—“ and appears “rode
hard and put up wet”.
“I am writing this mes
sage not only as a city
council member, but as
a concerned citizen in
District 1,” wrote Stroud.
“Pm sending this message
in regards to Mr. Ambrose
Facebook post about
Speaker Nancy Pelosi and
VP Kamala Harris. It is
sad to see, in the middle of
Womens History month he
can write such a misogy-
See PROBE • Page 7A
Raymond Chambliss, middle, watches jurors file out during his murder trial on Tuesday. (Photo/Will Davis)
Oh God what
have I done?
Shertila Brantley testified on Tuesday that Raymond Cham
bliss said Oh God what have I done as he looked on
Tonia Herrings body. (Photo/Will Davis)
By Steve Reece
and Will Davis
“Tonia get up! God, what have I
done?”
That’s what Shertila Brantley testi
fied she heard Raymond Chambliss,
66, say after shooting and killing
his girlfriend, Tonia Herring, 49,
on Tuesday, the opening day of his
murder trial. Chambliss’ trial at the
Monroe County courthouse is the
first jury trial in more than a year
due to the COVID shutdown.
Brantley, 31, told jurors that she
stayed with her grandmother, Shir
ley Henderson, at her Jones Court
home but had gone to Chambliss’
house next door the night of Aug. 3,
2018 to smoke pot after getting off
work at Taco Bell. She said she often
did.
“My grandmother is Christian and
doesn’t allow smoking and drink
ing,” said Brantley.
Brantley said while she was there,
Chambliss was arguing on the phone
with his girlfriend Tonia Herring.
But she said she didn’t think much
of that.
“They fuss and fight all the time,”
said Brantley. Soon Herring ar
rived and knocked on the door and
Chambliss let her in. Brantley said
Herring in the past had accused her
of having a sexual relationship with
Chambliss. But she did not on this
night, said Brantley, adding that
Herring knew it wasn’t true. Defense
attorney Dwayne Singleton of Grif
fin asked if Herring was a jealous
girlfriend.
“Like any other woman about they
man,” replied Brantley. Brantley
confirmed she remembered one
time that Chambliss had gone to the
ER after Her
ring hit him in
the chest with
a frying pan,
putting him
out of com
mission for
several days.
But she said
they also had
good times.
“They loved
each other,”
said Brantley,
“they had
good days and
bad days.”
After Her
ring arrived,
Brantley went
home and was
on the phone
with her own boyfriend when she
heard gunshots. She said she looked
out the door and saw Chambliss
running around in the yard and
near his vehicles and called him. He
answered and told her to call 911.
Brantley said she did and then went
over to Chambliss’ house and saw
Herring’s body on the driveway.
Brantley said Chambliss was trying
to hold her and saying “get up Tonia’
and “God what have I done?”
Earlier, in opening arguments,
assistant district attorney Carolee
Jordan said police found Chambliss
sitting on top of Herring when they
arrived and told them, “I did it.”
Prosecutors said Herring was a
hardworking mother of four who
walked everywhere. They said she
had left Chambliss’ home with her
purse and umbrella in her hand
when Chambliss went outside, shot
her on the right side of her face
above her lip and she fell and died
instantly. They said Chambliss then
went into his house and left his
pistol on the sofa to call 911. He then
returned to Herring and sat on her
who was lying in a pool of blood in
the driveway.
The prosecution finished their
arguments by saying, “To take a life
was not his choice to make.”
In his opening, Chambliss’ at
torney Singleton argued that his
client acted in self-defense. He said
Herring destroyed the inside of his
house with an umbrella and even
broke the glass top of the kitchen
table. He said she was hitting him
with the umbrella broke in half and
he grabbed his pistol and shouted,
“Get out!”
Singleton claimed Chambliss was
scuffling with the victim and she
was hitting him with her umbrella
See MURDER . Page 6A
C I smell
a rat..’
City eyes
another big
annexation
for H & H as
county rejects
road closure
By Diane Glidewell
and Will Davis
It appears Forsyth is ready
to expand its boundaries
again by another large an
nexation for H & H Tim-
berlands and its subsidiaries
even as tension still festers
from the first one.
“I smell a rat,” said Mon
roe County commissioner
George Emami, referring
to a recent flurry of activity
related to the H & H tract.
The annexation plan to
add another 591 acres to the
city of Forsyth came to light
on Monday at a city zoning
meeting. Emami happened
to be at the meeting and now
wonders if it’s connected to
last week’s request to Monroe
County commissioners ask
ing them to abandon Mays
Road, which cuts through
the same property that is
seeking annexation into the
city. Emami had questioned
last Tuesday whether H &
H developers Tye Hanna
and Ken Hurt had anything
to do with the request since
they were the only property
owners affected. Commis
sion chairman Greg Tapley,
county manager Jim Hedges
and code enforcement offi
cer Jeff Wilson all denied any
communication with H & H
about the road closure. They
said the dirt road had be
come a dumping ground for
trash and mud boggers. But
Emami, in whose District 4
the road lies, had questions.
He said property owners
ask the county all the time
to close roads with similar
complaints and the county
hasn’t closed one single road
in his 4 years in office.
“I get called about tons of
roads,” said Emami, “but
I’ve never been called about
Mays Road.”
Emami noted that no one
lives on the road and wanted
to know why the sudden
urgency.
“Who initiated this pro
cess?” asked Emami. “I want
straight answers. I did ask
our DA and it’s a felony not
to share the truth with this
board. Where did this origi
nate? I want the real answer.
The more I looked into it the
more it’s bothered me.”
See SMELL . Page7A
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