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www.MyMCR.net • Vol. 51 • No. 43
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Disinformation
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■ 4 Sections, 32 Pages • Wednesday • October 26,2022 • $2.00
INSIDE ► ►►
Saluting
Monroe Co.’s
Women in
Business
SEE SECTION INSIDE
NEW SUBSCRIBERS
OF THE WEEK
Wenyuan Wu
Ciara Brooks
Rheba King
DEATHS m6A
Bruce Walker
Lucio Perez
Schyuler Fields, Sr.
Larry Zellner
Dr. William Oxford
Ruth Conner
Arrest made after drowning
Monroe County firefighter
Doug Adams escorts
Amanda Garmon after her
boyfriend drowned Tuesday.
By Will Davis
publisher@mymcr.net
A Macon woman was ar
rested for trespassing
at her late boyfriend’s
house just days after
he drowned on Lake
Juliette last week.
Amanda Garmon,
39, was in a 12-foot
boat fishing boat with
her boyfriend Ricky
Mercer, 60, on Tues
day, Oct. 18 when it
apparently capsized.
It was very windy
and choppy that day.
Garmon was able
to swim to shore and asked
motorists for help on nearby
Hwy. 18. After six days of
searching, DNR rangers
found Mercers body on Sat
urday morning floating 100
yards from where his boat
had been found. The DNR,
which led the investigation,
said they didn’t suspect any
foul play.
But Mercer’s nephew,
Jessie Aysh of Moultrie, told
the Reporter he has a lot of
questions.
“I do a lot of math
as a carpenter,” said
Aysh, “and this
doesn’t add up.”
For one, said Aysh,
the family had to call
authorities in Craw
ford County, where
Mercer lived, when
Garmon showed
up at the house and
started putting his
personal possessions,
including family photos,
in a bag. Deputies went to
Mercer’s home on
Margie Court in
Byron on Thursday, Oct. 20
and warned her that she was
not to be on his property.
When she returned later
that day, she was arrested
and charged with criminal
trespassing and was taken to
the Crawford County Jail.
“She went through his
house the same day, getting
his s—,” said Aysh.
Aysh said there was also a
restraining order to keep her
away from Mercer’s special
needs daughter. Aysh said
as far as he knows the DNR
only interviewed Garmon
one time, the day of the in
cident. He would like to see
her questioned again.
See DROWNING Page 5A
MERCER GARMON
Woman with kid gets 5th DUI
A Bolingbroke woman
was arrested for her fifth
DUI in five years on Sunday
while her 6 year old son was
in the backseat.
Erin Beall, 45, of
Woods Road, was
arrested after two
witnesses called 911
to report seeing her
driving recklessly
and then appearing
to fall asleep at the
wheel of her Subaru
SUV in the John-
stonville Road area.
Monroe County
deputy Thomas
Morgan couldn’t find her af
ter the first call. But a second
caller said she was on Smith
Road and Morgan found
her there around 10:50 a.m.
She appeared to be under
the influence of drugs and
admitted to drinking and
taking medication. She
failed a sobriety test and
was arrested
for DUI and
no car registra
tion. While she
went to jail, her
mother came
and picked up
the 6-year-old
boy at the sher
iff’s office.
Deputy Cody
Maples also came
to the scene. He
told the Reporter they have
filed paperwork to have her
license suspended. Beall
said she was on her way to
Floyd Road to pick up her
daughter, said Maples.
Beall made the news in
2020 when she was charged
with DUI after leaving her
then 3 year old son home
alone on July 24,2020. She
then wrecked her car on
1-475. A neighbor found her
son naked at the end of the
driveway almost in the road.
Beall was found at the home
later but had wrecked her
car on 1-475. She pled guilty
to that.
In 2021 she was arrested
for possession of meth with
intent to distribute in Bibb
County. That case is still
pending.
She was arrested for DUI
in 2018 in Monroe County
and was allowed to plead
nolle prosse in 2020, which
means the charges were
basically dropped after she
did some jail time and com
munity service. She was also
convicted of DUIs in Bibb
County in 2017 and 2018.
District attorney Jonathan
Adams said that DUIs are
handled by probate or mu
nicipal court until someone
gets their fourth DUI case in
10 years. Then, it is treated
as a felony and comes to
his office for prosecution,
which will happen now, said
Adams.
The family is no stranger
to suffering. Beall’s brother
and husband, James Pit
tman Wood and Russell
Jacobs, were killed at the
family’s Wood Road home
back in 2013.
Forsyth man
charged in
assault on
funeral home
and deputy
If he hod kept punch
ing, he would hove at
tended his own funeral.
- Sheriff Brad Freeman
A well-known Forsyth
trouble maker is in the
Monroe County Jail after he
threatened to
kill the own
ers of Mon
roe County
Memorial
Chapel and
then assault
ed a Monroe
County
deputy try
ing to arrest
him on Tuesday.
Rodney Mayes will be
charged with aggravated
assault on a peace officer,
obstruction and terrorist
threats after he entered the
funeral home on Main Street
on Tuesday morning and
threatened the staff. Spanky
Beck, owner of Memorial
Chapel, told the Reporter
that Mayes had come up on
the steps of his downtown
See ASSAULT
Page 7A
County scrambles after
Scherer loses big value
By Will Davis
publisher@mymcmet
Monroe County commissioners are
scrambling to cut spending after they
were blindsided on Thursday, Oct. 20
with news that the county’s biggest tax
payer, Plant Scherer, is losing 36 percent
of its taxable value this year.
Commissioners will likely have to
drop any new construction plans, freeze
hiring and adopt other belt-tightening
measures to close the new $2.6 million
See SCHERER Page 7A
BEALL
06605
Kroger, CVS
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Publix, Dollar General, Circle K
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^Reporter
MCR giving away Lifetime Subscription
Can you imagine receiving a ser
vice or product for the rest of your
life without having to pay for it?
Well, we can! It’s the Reporter’s
50th birthday next month and
were so excited, were giving away a
lifetime subscription. To be eligible
for this gift of a lifetime, subscribe or
renew for one year ($50) and your
name will be included in the draw
ing. Publisher Will Davis says, “May
the oldest person win!” Deadline is
Friday Nov. 4. Call 478-994-2358 or
subscribe atwww.mymcr.net. Also
be sure to check out our commemo
rative 50th Birthday edition com
plete with a look at the newspaper’s
history in the Nov. 9 Reporter. And
the community is invited to an MCR
Birthday Celebration at 5:30 p.m. on
Thursday, Nov. 10.
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