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Ring in the
ew Year with
King of Liquor
WE HAVE EVERYTHING YOU NEED
FOR YOUR CELEBRATION
291 N. Lee Street
Forsyth, GA 31029
KING
478-226-5570
OF LIQfOR
Located Beside
Valero Gas Station
INSIDE
Firemen
free cat in
Christmas
Eve rescue
PAGE 2A
Notable
passings
in 2021
PAGE 6A
WELCOME
TO THE FAMILY
Ronnie & Winnie Miley
Tim Hall
Tammy Moore
NEW SUBSCRIBERS
OF THE WEEK
DEATHS »>6A
Charles Fisher, Jr
OfiflOS
3341b
Cheers, jeers: Cop gets hug
broken finger in wild month
By Steve Reece
stevereece@gmail.com
One minute they’re giving
you grateful hugs. The next
they’re breaking your finger.
Such has been the life for
Forsyth police Cpl. Jeremy
Malone over the past few
days.
Malone went to help a
Forsyth woman who called
police from a shot house
at 252 Kynette Street who
couldn’t find her keys. The
call came in around 9:15
p.m. on Dec. 12. According
to the report, Sonya Bowden
of Forsyth told Malone she
wanted to leave but was un
able to find her keys. Malone
noted they would not let him
into the shot house to look
for her keys. She told him
they had already looked in
side but could not find them.
Malone checked the area but
was unsuccessful and said he
could not do much more for
her. Bowden appeared to be
drunk so he offered her
a ride home so she could
try again in the morning.
While talking with her,
Malone kept hearing a
jingling sound and after a
few seconds, saw her keys
were clipped to her bra strap.
Bowden was extremely
happy to have found her
keys and wanted to drive
home. But Malone told her
she wasn’t in a condition to
drive. After talking with him
for a minute, she decided to
let him give her a ride.
See MALONE Page7A
Forsyth officer Jeremy
Malone has gotten tear
ful hugs and a broken fin
ger in a wild December.
Above, Mary Persons students protested after the Monroe County BOE voted 4-3 in August to require masks. The
protests worked as the BOE reversed itself the next day. Below, Forsyth welcomed a Starbucks this fall and of course
one of the first customers came on a tractor. Also in 2021, Forsyth bid farewell to legendary coach Dan Pitts.
County grew, lost and ditched masks in 2021
Here are the top stories
you read about in the Re
porter in 2021:
January
New Year tornadoes
New Years Day 2021
rolls in with a vengeance
as two tornadoes rock
the area, including one
that flipped over a mobile
home on Dames Ferry
Road. Thankfully no inju
ries were reported.
Davis takes oath
New District 1 commis
sioner Lamarcus Davis
takes the oath of office
as the new year begins,
but the man he defeated
still takes the spotlight.
At the same meeting at
which Davis was sworn
in, former commissioner
Larry Evans makes a failed
bid to stop commissioner
George Emami from get
ting his tiny home project
approved. Emami told
Evans his outburst shows
why he wasn’t re-elected.
Meanwhile in one of his
first actions in office, Davis
replaces Evans’ long-time
supporter Connie Gantt
on the zoning board.
Goodwin, Caldwell
among first to get
vaccinated
Monroe County Hos
pital is full of COVID
patients and local Drs. Jer
emy Goodwin and Craig
Caldwell are among the
first to get the brand-new
COVID vaccine, the first
week in January.
Forsyth couple
die with COVID
A Monroe County
husband and wife die of
COVID within days of one
another and one of their
sons was in ICU as the
virus continues to take its
toll. Ronald Davis, 86, of
Hwy. 74, founder of Ron
ald Davis Logging, died
on Jan. 4 just two weeks
after testing positive. It
was at his funeral on Jan.
9 that family members
were told that his wife,
Hilda, had also died. The
son did recover.
Fire claims man
A South Monroe County
man dies in a fire at his
Faith Court home af
ter making a confused,
nonsensical 911 call that
leaves investigators with
few clues about what hap
pened. John Stafford of 27
Faith Court, Juliette died
on Jan. 5.
See REVIEW Page 5C
Crypto
farm,
more
homes
slated
for city
City recruiting N.Y man
with mining farm' for
currencies like Bitcoin
The city of Forsyth is
recruiting a Brooklyn,
N.Y. man to build a crypto
currency mining farm on
Bemer Avenue.
Nathaniel Persky of Brook
lyn, N.Y. has applied to re
zone 1.8 acres at 40 Bemer
Avenue from multi-family to
industrial for the data center.
The property owner, Forsyth
developer Wes Cone, plans
to sell the property for the
mining farm. Cone said the
city approached him and
asked him if he would sell
the property for the crypto
mining farm. The city is
already getting thousands
of dollars a year through a
crypto investment it shares
with the Municipal Elec
tric Authority of Georgia
(MEAG). The Forsyth
planning and zoning board
has set a called meeting for
5 p.m. on Thursday, Dec.
30 to hear the request. City
council would have a final
say at its Jan. 3 meeting.
Persky said he plans to put
specialized shipping contain
ers that have been modified
to house the data mining
equipment, which require
power and internet connec
tivity in a climate-controlled
environment. Persky said
he plans to use about half
of tire property and operate
the mining farm on the side
furthest from the street. He
said he will keep the trees on
the rest of the property to
maintain the aesthetic feel of
the neighborhood.
A mining farm is a data
center, consisting of one or
more rooms that are techni
cally equipped to house
specialized computers and
servers used in mining for
cryptocurrencies, such as
Bitcoin, which have grown
in popularity in recent years.
The physical characteristics
of a mining farm can vary in
size, ranging from a home
basement to a large-scale
data center facility, said
Persky. Cone had originally
planned to build duplexes on
the property with his father
in law, Forsyth veterinar
ian Dr. Kevin Smith, whose
practice is nearby on Bemer
Avenue.
Also on Thursday, the
zoning board will decide
whether to annex 35 acres
across from Manor at Mont
pelier subdivision into the
city to allow the developer
Three Oaks Construction to
add 56 more homes to the
subdivision.
