Newspaper Page Text
April 27,2022
iReporter
Page 5C
Win cash in Monroe Co. essay contest
Essays are due at 5 p.m. on Friday, May
6 on the topic “What I love about Monroe
County” with $700 in cash on the line. Mon
roe County will celebrate its 201st Birthday
on May 15, and as is a Reporter tradition,
residents can win big prizes by submitting es
says on the topic, “What I love about Monroe
County”. Monroe County’s Todd Tolbert,
owner of Bolder Investments, an insurance
and financial planning firm, are offering
$700 in prizes for the “What I love about liv
ing in Monroe County” essay contest. Judges
will name a first and second place in two
categories, youth (up to 18) and adult (over
18). Essays must be at least 400 words and
maybe emailed to publisher@mymcr.net,
faxed to 994-2359 or mailed to P.O. Box 795,
Forsyth, GA 31029. The deadline is 5 p.m.
on Friday, May 6. The winning essays will be
published in the May 11 edition, along with
Founders Day information including specials
offered by local businesses encouraging
Monroe County residents to shop at home.
The coimty will celebrate its 201st birthday
this year as it was created by the Georgia
legislature on May 15,1821.
DEAL
Continued from 1A
conceded to the Reporter
that governments are not
required to post dollar
amounts, since property
owned by local government
is not taxable anyway.
Bob Harris, current at
torney of the development
authority, said he could not
find any intergovernmental
agreement showing what
the terms of the deal were.
Harris’ former law partner
Charlie Haygood, who’s now
retired, was the attorney for
the authority in 2009. Har
ris joked that they haven’t
thrown anything away in
70 years. But Tom Baugh,
chairman of the authority,
later conceded they could
find no intergovernmen
tal agreement passing the
land to the coimty in their
records.
Former Monroe Coimty
commissioner Mike Bilder-
back was on the board at
the time of the deal in 2009.
He was also an advocate of
rehabilitating the water plant
on the property. He told the
Reporter last week that he
and commissioner Tarry
Evans, who was also on the
board in 2009, both remem
ber $750,000 as the price the
county paid the develop
ment authority for the land.
And an article in the April
8,2015 Reporter seems to
back them up. The article,
by Richard Dumas, details
efforts by a private company
to rehabilitate the water
plant in partnership with
Monroe County. Dumas,
who covered county govern
ment for nearly a decade,
reports in the article that
“the county bought the plant
in 2009 for $750,000 with
plans to use it to have its
own water source from the
adjacent Ocmulgee River.”
Dumas is now the county’s
public information officer.
It’s hard to confirm that
price since none of the
current members of the De
velopment Authority or the
Monroe County Commis
sion were in office in 2009.
And both agencies claim
they don’t have any records
left showing a price.
Focal realtor Kerri Swear
ingen was chairman of the
authority in 2009. She said
she cannot remember the
details of the deal.
Cattle farmer Jim Peters
was a county commis
sioner at the time. He said
he doesn’t recall. Another
commissioner at the time,
Jim Ham, died in an auto
accident in 2016. The county
attorney at the time, Mike
Dillon, is retired and living
in France.
County finance director
Forri Robinson said she
cannot find any payment
records from 2009. She said
the county was on a differ
ent software system then
and changed in 2016. Asked
if she had any bank records,
she said she checked those
too and found nothing.
She said bank records only
have to be kept for five years
under Georgia law.
An article in the Dec. 24,
2008 Reporter lends cre
dence to the claim that the
county paid for the property.
“Monroe County commis
sioners agreed unanimously
last week that the county
needs the Plant Camellia
water treatment facility in
Juliette and asked for 60
more days to come up with
the money’ reads the article.
“The commissioners are
asking the authority to pay
off the $675,000 loan on
the water plant by the end
of the year. Then, commis
sioners said they would
buy the property from the
authority within 60 days.
County commissioners
have set aside $6 million
for water projects in their
current SPLOST, but that
money must be broken
down at $1.2 million in each
district. The county only
has $550,000 set aside for
water projects in the county
at-large.”
The article says that then-
Chairman Harold Carlisle,
who would leave office at
the end of2008, had sent a
letter to the development
authority asking it to sell the
water plant for $ 1. It says the
letter was ignored. Carlisle
died in 2018.
The transaction was appar
ently consummated on Feb.
26,2009. Nobody seems to
know for sure how much
the county paid. Whether
county taxpayers lost money
or not, most everyone seems
to agree that commissioners
didn’t sell the tract properly,
and that it could’ve been
sold for more. Greg Jar
rell, owner of adjacent Gro
Green, and Macon invest
ment broker Ron Woodford
bought the land, Jarrell
reportedly for his business
and Woodford reportedly
for duck hunting. Woodford
is the son in law of former
Monroe County commis
sion candidate and Ambrose
friend John Martin.
GAS
Continued from 1A
The deputy then spoke with Goss who told
him he left his camper to tell Cook that he
needed to stop. He said Cook then pointed
a 20-gauge shotgun at him and said that he
was shooting beer cans and that he’d shoot
him too. Goss said he then went inside of
his camper and locked the door. All three-
witnesses told Maples that 53-year-old Faura
Cowan, who was also intoxicated, went
inside the camper with Cook.
Maples noticed several spent shotgun
shells outside the camper and music playing
at Tot 8 as he knocked on the door, an
nounced he was a deputy with the Monroe
County Sheriff’s Office and gave loud
commands for the couple to exit the camper.
The music was turned off and the camper
began to rock from side to side as if some
one was moving around. Maples continued
to give commands for them to exit as well
as knocking loudly on the windows and
door. He then determined the subjects were
barricading themselves inside and radioed
for other units. Cpl. Tarry Sullivan and Cpl.
Jaleel Brown arrived, and the deputies took
tactical positions of cover around vehicles
and other RVs while Maples continued to
give loud verbal commands for the pair to
exit the camper.
At 4:14 p.m. several other units and com
mand staff arrived and once the camper
was locked down deputies began to evacu
ate people from surrounding campers and
cabins. Deputies continued giving loud
commands for the occupants to exit the RV
and after they refused to comply, Ft. Thomp
son fired a round of tear gas into the camper
and the subjects quickly exited with their
hands up and were immediately handcuffed.
Due to the exposure to tear gas, Cook and
Cowan were provided medical attention
from Monroe County EMS, then taken to
the Monroe County Jail and charged with
aggravated assault.
Several firearms and a box of 12-gauge
shotgun shells were found inside the camper.
Around the area outside the RV, were several
spent 12-gauge rounds and a spent 20-gauge
shell.
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Ext. 313
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www.sheridansolomon.com
Macon, GA 31204
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