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THIS WEEK’S INSIDE DEALS ►►► INGLES • smartsource . save . p&g brandsaver
INSIDE ► ►►
Spring Home &
Garden: Ennis
loves growing
his own food
SEE PAGES 1-5C
Meet the MCMS
Diamond Dogs
SEE PAGE 4-5B
WELCOME
TO THE FAMILY
Pruitt Health- Forsyth
Brandy Baxter
‘Lucifer’ caught in Forsyth
Deputies shoot out tires of suspect in Forsyth robbery, and maybe others
By Steve Reece
stevereece@gmail.com
A Florida man who identi
fied himself as Lucifer while
robbing the Lee Street Shell
station was captured after
deputies shot out his tires in
the early morning hours of
Tuesday, March 15. The man,
Steven Johnson, 34, of Dav
enport, Fla., is now a suspect
in at least 6 other robberies
around the state, according to
Forsyth police.
Here’s what happened, all
according to city and county
police reports: Forsyth police
officer Anais Benjamin was
dispatched to the Shell Gas
Station on North Lee Street
after a robbery was reported
around 1:12 a.m. on March
15. Clerk Melvin Davis told
Benjamin that the suspect,
Steven Johnson, 34, bought
some goods and after pump
ing gas, returned to the reg
ister and said he was Lucifer
and that he hated to do this
to him. When the clerk asked
what he was doing to him,
Johnson said he was robbing
him and not to call anyone for
10 minutes. Johnson also told
Davis he left something for
him at Pump No. 2.
Davis handed Johnson
a bag of cash and he left.
He was described as being
slim, having a bald head and
tattooed hands, and left the
station driving a black Volk
swagen sedan.
Dispatch soon was told that
someone matching Johnsons
description was trying to rent
a room at the Days Inn but
had left. The hotel clerk told
Benjamin that the suspect
See LUCIFER Page 5B
Steven Lucifer
Johnson
Deputy Dustin Ramsey and his K-9 Gustav survived this week last Wednesday.
Elderly man
charged with
shooting and
beating dog
By Steve Reece
stevereece@gmail.com
NEW SUBSCRIBERS
OF THE WEEK
DEATHS m6A
Larry Leaptrot
Debra Etheredge-
Doyal Bowden
Edward Holmes
Everleigh Lott
Robert Crouch, III
Bystanders helped to
rescue deputy, dog
By Will Davis
publisher@mymcr.net
A High Falls man and
other bystanders pulled
Monroe County deputy
Dustin Ramsey and his
K-9 “Gustav” out of his
patrol car as it caught
fire after it wrecked at
130 mph while chasing a
fugitive on 1-75 south last
Wednesday, March 16.
Jody Hammond of
Unionville Road said he
was traveling 1-75 south
just south of Forsyth on
his way to Harbor Freight
in Macon to pick up a
motor when he saw the
chase come up behind
Jiim around 4 p.m. A for
mer fireman, Hammond
sped up to 120 mph to get
out of the way, and the
chase passed him in the
emergency lane doing at
least 130 mph. Hammond
watched as the suspect,
Juan Antonious Boone,
33, of Americus, took the
Rumble Road exit ramp
and Ramsey tried to use
the PIT maneuver on the
back of Boones vehicle
at the top of the ramp to
send him into the grass.
“It all happened so fast,”
said Hammond.
Ramseys patrol car
wrecked violently into
some trees and Hammond
and others stopped to
help. Ramsey had an ankle
injury and Hammond
and two other bystand
ers grabbed the top of the
drivers door and bent it
down to get him out. Then
he started hollering that
his K-9 unit was in the
back seat. Meanwhile a
See WRECK Page5B
A 78-year-old
Hwy. 87 man who
admitted to shoot
ing a dog then
beating it with a
baseball bat has
been charged with
felony animal cru
elty on March 19
around 7:16 a.m.
According to the
Monroe County
sheriff s report,
deputy Jonathan
Joyner responded
to a call at the
Whispering Pines
Mobile Home
Park on Hwy. 87
where Brenda
Colis Torres told
him her dog had jumped the fence in her backyard and
she believed one of her neighbors had shot it. Her brother-
in-law, Pablo Rangel, told the deputy he heard a gun shot
from Lot 41 and saw the man who lived at the trailer beat
ing a dog with a bat at the end of the driveway. He said the
dog eventually escaped and went into the woods. The dog
was found still alive but severely injured.
This dog has died after being shot
and beat with a baseball bat off
Hwy. 87. (Photo/MCSO)
See ABUSE Page 5B
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3
End of an
The three cats running around the
old milk barn on a farm formerly
known as the Peters Dairy Partner
ship must be missing their daily
supply of fresh milk from the 120
dairy cows that were shipped to
a slaughterhouse in Augusta last
month ending a 4-generation busi
ness tradition of the Peters family
in Monroe County. The business’s
closing also ended an era in an area
where there were once 350 dairy
farms as recently as the 1960s. The
Peters Dairy Partnership was the
last remaining dairy operation in
Monroe County until the high costs
era: County’s last dairy closes
of doing business and the ages of its
owners forced its closing.
A former Monroe County com
missioner of District 4 for eight
years and a 1968 Mary Persons
graduate, Jim Peters formed the
partnersliip with his two brothers,
Thomas and Nathan, and his father,
Wiiliam James Peters in 2001. His
father was also a former county
commissioner. His mother Geneva’s
maiden name was Goodrum, and
he also has four other siblings Davis
(now deceased), Barry, Russell, and
See LAST DAIRY Page5B
Long-time dairy man Jim Peters reflects on the closure of his family dairy.
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