Newspaper Page Text
December 29, 2021
AReporter
YEAR IN REVIEW
Pro Football Hall of Fame.
Protests end mask mandate
In a sudden reversal, the Monroe County
school board rescinds its mask mandate on
Aug. 11 just 24 hours after imposing it after it
sparked a community wide backlash.
The board voted 6-0 on Wednesday night
with one abstention to adopt a recommenda
tion from superintendent Mike Hickman to
highly recommend masking and to encour
age students and teachers over 12 to be
vaccinated. Only board member Dr. Jeremy
Goodwin abstained, saying everyone knew
he favored a mask mandate, but that in the
interest of unity he wouldn’t oppose it.
The surprising reversal came as school
boards across the country made similar
moves under pressure from fed-up parents.
At a regular meeting Tuesday, Aug. 11,
Goodwin had insisted on mandating masks
for all staff and students, pre-K through 12th
grade, starting as young as four. That was
more stringent than the school rules last year
when masking was optional for elementary
students.
Two charged for stealing school bus
One suspect is in jail, and another has
warrants for his arrest for stealing a Monroe
County school bus and taking it for a joy ride
last Wednesday, Aug. 11.
Christopher Michael Alexander Clayton,
19, of Macon was arrested on Saturday
and charged with theft and possession of a
weapon during commission of felony. Inv.
Tellas Daniels of the Forsyth Police Depart
ment said someone recognized Clayton on
a video of the joyride posted to the Reporter
Facebookpage on Thursday and called po
lice. Daniels said Clayton admitted to the bus
theft and called the joyride a “dumb mistake”
Meanwhile Daniels has taken a warrant
charging Cedric James Mayes, 17, of Union
Hill Drive with being the driver.
Overrun hospital asks for help
Monroe County Hospital is asking for
volunteers to help take care of an overflow of
COVID patients.
The hospital is set up to have 25 beds but
had 31 patients on Saturday, 26 of them with
COVID. In addition, on Saturday, Aug. 21,
there were 30 patients in the emergency
room waiting for treatment.
“It was really bad,” said Mac Brown, a
member of the Hospital Authority of Mon
roe County. “We had three doctors and every
available nurse in the ER trying to sort it out.”
September
Hospital adds oxygen for COVID
Monroe County Hospital has plenty of
oxygen for the current surge in COVID pa
tients after getting a new 900-gallon tank last
week The hospital had run low on oxygen
two weeks ago due to a flood of COVID
patients needing 02. So the hospital had its
oxygen supplier, AirGas, install a 900-gallon
tank to replace the hospitals 300-gallon tank.
Forsyth man gets probation for shoot
ing brother with shotgun
A Forsyth man was given 5 years probation
on Aug. 17 for shooting his brother with a
sawed-off shotgun. According to the report,
Marvin Perkins, then 57, who lived with
his brother, Fred Perkins at 21 Brandywine
Drive told deputies he had gone under their
house on Nov. 29,2017, to retrieve some
Christmas items that were in storage and
took them into the house with plans to sell
them that evening after he got home from
work.
He said when he got home all the items
were gone. He asked Fred where the items
were, and he replied that he had already
sold them. An argument then ensued, and
Marvin broke a plate and cut his hand,
leaving a blood trail around the back door
in the kitchen and down the hallway to his
bedroom.
He said Fred then went down to his garage
bedroom and returned with a sawed-off
shotgun. While Marvin was standing at the
front door, his brother pointed and fired the
shotgun, hitting him on the hand and hip.
Black History Museum opens in Forsyth
Monroe County s Black History Museum
celebrated its permanent home with a rib
bon cutting sponsored by Forsyth Monroe
County Chamber of Commerce on Saturday,
Sept. 4. A crowd of supporters came to tour
the museum and salute those who have
worked to collect, preserve, organize and
attractively display the artifacts that comprise
the museum and “tell our story” as the sign
in front of the museum attests.
Stroud cleared of ethics complaint
Forsyth city attorney Bobby Melton an
nounced at a Sept. 7 council meeting that he
was clearing councilman Julius Stroud of an
anonymous ethics complaint filed against
Stroud for his Facebook post claiming pro
testors against a mask mandate in Monroe
County schools would have been treated
differently if they were black.
Secular groups demand
BOEstop praying
An anti-religious group has demanded the
Monroe County Board of Education stop
opening meetings with prayer.
School board members received a letter
dated Sept. 1 from ‘Americans United for
Separation of Church and State” in Washing
ton, D.C. stating, “We have received a com
plaint regarding the practice of the Monroe
County Board of Education of opening its
meetings with prayed’ and ending the para
graph with “Please stop this practice.”
Monroe County school board members
who responded did not seem deterred.
Dog, family OK after house fire
Monroe County fire trainee Thomas
Shephard carries the family dog to safety
after a Hwy. 41 family lost its home to fire
on Monday, Sept. 13. Forsyth and Mon
roe County firefighters were dispatched to
the blaze at 2612 Old Atlanta Highway, or
Hwy. 41 toward Barnesville, around 3 pm.
Members of the Guined family including two
small children and the family dog were able
to escape.
Run for the border?
A police officer helped Forsyth Taco Bell
employees kill and remove what the officer
says was a 1-foot rattlesnake found under
neath the drive-thru register.
Taco Bell employees called police after
spotting a snake inside the store on North
Lee Street around 2:30 pm. on Tuesday, Sept.
28. According to the report, officer Jeremy
Malone checked the restaurant and found
a one-foot-long rattlesnake coiled beneath
the drive-thru register. He pulled it out with
his expandable metal baton and stomped it
until it was dead. He then picked it up with a
napkin and threw it in the outside trash can.
October
Campbell Brown crowned
MP Homecoming Queen
Mary Persons senior Campbell Brown is
crowned Miss Homecoming on Friday night,
Oct. 1 at halftime of the MP-Crisp County
football game. Brown and her grandmother
Leona Howard respond with glee to the an
nouncement on Friday. The game didn’t go
as well for the Bulldogs.
New cell tower to solve Forsyth woes
Monroe County commissioner George
Emami announced on Tuesday, Sept. 4 that
the new Verizon cell tower behind the county
maintenance shop on Montpelier Road will
be turned on later this month, perhaps solv
ing Forsyths woeful cell coverage. Emami
said that may end Forsyth’s reputation as an
Iron Dome of poor cell service.
Juliette woman gets 20 years for
battering her own baby
A Juliette woman was sentenced to 20 years
in prison on Thursday for abuse that nearly
killed her then-3-month-old daughter in
2017. Rachel Stone, 26, cried and hugged her
family before she was led off to prison after
her trial at the Monroe County courthouse.
“Even after this trial we still don’t know
what happened,” said Judge Tommy Wilson
as he announced his sentence. “Nobody is
responsible for what happened to that girl.
That’s bulls—.”
Welcome to Forsyth, Starbucks
A Monroe County farmer was doing
some tractor work on Monday afternoon
when he decided to drive through the new
Starbucks to see what the fuss was all about.
The farmer ordered a black coffee and said
he was surprised when, given Starbucks’
expensive reputation, it only cost him about
$2.60. “Tastes like coffee,” said the farmer.
The Forsyth Starbucks opened Oct. 14.
Violent fugitive wants clerk arrested
forfiringathim
A convicted felon accused of firing at a
Monroe County deputy and turning the
county upside down while fleeing arrest in
November 2019 is now trying to have store
clerk, Steve Reece, who fired warning shots at
him charged. Justin Donley, 28, of Rockmart,
has been in the Monroe County Jail since
Nov. 6,2019, since being accused of firing
shots at Monroe County deputy Christian
Sawley. After a hearing, assistant magistrate
judge Hugh Sosebee grants Donley’s request
and issues a warrant for Reece’s arrest for
aggravated assault. But district attorney Jona
than Adams said after reviewing the case he
is dropping the charge against Reece.
Bowden gets 35 years in prison for
shootout with deputies, police
A Forsyth man shot 9 times in a 2020
shootout with police after ripping the head
off of a parakeet he had given his girlfriend
for Mothers Day was sentenced to 35 years
in prison on Thursday.
Deon Bowden, 28, pled guilty to aggra
vated assault on a police officer and was
sentenced to 35 years in prison, and 15 more
on probation.
Campbell Brown was crowned
Mary Persons Homecom
ing Queen in October. Right,
Herschel Walker brought his
senate campaign to Forsyth
in September, meeting sheriff
Brad Freeman.
November
Road tax passes,
Hewett re-elected
Coimty voters approved a road
tax 1,367 to 930 on Nov. 2. After
five tries, commissioners finally
succeeded in raising the sales tax
from 7 to 8 percent for roads.
Chris Hewett was reelected to
city council over Walter Good-
son 268 to 170.
Rob's Place founder named
Ga. Caregiver of Year
Ellen Criswell shed a few tears
on Tuesday, November 2 when
she was surprised by the an
nouncement that the Rosalynn
Carter Institute for Caregivers
(RCI) has chosen her Georgia Volunteer
Caregiver of the Year. She was congratulated
by the leadership of RCI and award sponsor
Seniorlink as well as several of her Monroe
Coimty friends and supporters.
Rushing to MP record
Mary Persons sophomore running back
Duke Watson breaks Alvin Toles’ all-time
season rushing record of 1,663 yards. Toles
set the record, which has stood for 40 years,
during the 1980 state title season. But he had
15 games to do it. Watson broke the record in
just 11 games.
Bolingbroke's Alan Walden r
eleases'Southern Man'
Monroe County’s own music legend Alan
Walden releases his memoir, “Southern
Man”, this week and it’s already the No. 1R &
B book on Amazon.
Herschel wows Bolingbroke fundraiser
U.S. senate candidate and former UGA
great Herschel Walker told a crowd of
Monroe and Bibb Coimty supporters at a
Bolingbroke home last Thursday, Nov. 11,
that he asked God to send someone else to
run for senate.
Walker said a lot of people think his friend
former President Trump asked him to run.
But Walker said he was waiting to hear from
a higher authority. He quipped that his pastor
and friend, Dr. Tony Evans of Dallas, pointed
out that they had been asking God for a
while to send someone else, and no one was
coming forward.
DUI in Bolingbroke train wreck
A Macon man was charged with DUI after
his car was struck by a train in Bolingbroke
on Saturday, Nov. 20.
Tony Andrew Baughman, 64, of Macon,
was charged with DUI-drugs after the back
end of his 2001 Cadillac Seville was struck
by a Norfolk Southern train in front of the
Country Oaks store in Bolingbroke around
1:35 pm.
'Dodged a bullet'
The fire that destroyed the Smarr fire
station on Saturday night, Nov. 27, could’ve
been much worse if firefighters hadn’t gotten
out seconds before the roof caved in, com
missioner Eddie Rowland told the Reporter.
“We dodged a bullet,” said Rowland, whose
son Carson, a Monroe County fireman, was
among those battling the blaze. “We had guys
in there seconds before that roof collapsed.”
December
Monroe schools lose out on career
academy grant this year
Monroe County schools will have to wait
at least another year before they can start a
College & Career Academy.
The school system was not one of the three
school systems in Georgia selected last week
to receive a $3 million grant to start a College
& Career Academy.
Forsyth parades into Christmas season
Large crowds lined downtown Forsyth
streets on Thursday, Dec. 2, for the 32nd An
nual Hometown Holidays parade sponsored
by the Forsyth-Monroe County Chamber
of Commerce. Downtown restaurants told
the Reporter they had one of their best
nights ever entertaining and feeding the large
crowds.
Gov. Kemp: 'We are ready for this fight'
Gov. Brian Kemp told a Forsyth fund-raiser
on Friday, Dec. 10, that his decision to keep
Georgia open for much of the COVID panic
has paid off with a booming state economy,
a point he’s eager to make in his challenging
re-election bid.
“Were gonna have to work like we’ve never
worked before,” Kemp told the crowd at the
West Johnston Street home of Jim and Gay-
lyn Cole. “But make no mistake, we are ready
for this fight.”
Teen slays bobcat for eating chickens
Jonathan Head of Forsyth shot a bobcat on
his family’s property on Boxankle Road last
Friday, Dec. 3.
Windham winsAR-15
The winner of the AR-15 and large box
of ammo in this year’s Reporter Christmas
drawing said he has never won anything be
fore. Franklin Windham, 84, right, a retired
high school teacher who lives in the Provi
dence subdivision in Monroe County near
the Bibb County line, won the drawing after
his name was pulled from a spinning barrel.
Murder suspect attacks jailers again
A Monroe County inmate awaiting trial
for killing a Bibb County jailer in April is
accused of a fourth attack on a jailer on Dec.
10. Inmate Albert Booze attacked deputies
Justyn Weaver and Tabitha Kent with closed
fists as they tried to wrestle him to the floor
and left a two-inch gash in Weaver’s fore
head and a bruise on his left elbow. He was
subdued by deputies.