Newspaper Page Text
The Monroe County Reporter
marks 50th birthday
1972-2022
j, 9 A > Monroe County Reporter Timeline 1972-2022
1985
April 24 • Rita Duke is named the
first full-time director of the For-
syth-Monroe County Chamber of
Commerce.
May 8 • The New Orleans Saints
draft former MP star Alvin Toles in
the NFL draft.
Oct. 2 • Forsyth and Monroe Coun
ty officials break ground on a new
1 37-acre industrial park on prop
erty that had belonged to Vernon
Sanders near what will soon be the
intersection of 1-75 and Hwy. 1 8.
Oct. 30 • An Emory U niversity
cardiologist and his doctor wife
are killed in a plane crash off Pea
Ridge Road en route to Atlanta from
St. Simons.
Nov. 20 • The Reporters Quimby
Melton profiles the legendary For
syth ian Sammy Martin, who lost his
ability to speak while a c hild but still
has many friends.
1986
February 1 9 • The Georgia House
and Senate repealed the charter
of the City of Eleanor, which had
been inactive for a generation. The
municipality of Eleanor was located
north of Forsyth around Ensign Mill.
February 26 • Mercer University
President R. Kirby Godsey and
Tift College President O. Suthern
Sims Jr. announced the merger of
the two Baptist-related institutions
effective June 1, 1986.
March 5 • Family Dollar and Piggly
Wiggly opened next to one another
on North Lee Street. Benny Register
was the Piggly Wiggly store manag
er. Monroe County Bank opened
a branch inside the new Piggly
Wiggly.
July 30 • More than 1 3,000 chick
ens died in Monroe County as a
result of a severe drought and heat
wave that gripped the Southeast.
The City of Forsyth also enacted a
temporary outdoor watering ban
due to the drought conditions.
Aug. 20 • Political newcomer Nolen
Howard wins election to the Mon
roe County Board of Commissioners
by defeating incumbent commis
sion chairman Linda Arthur in the
Democratic primary. Incumbents
Robert Williams and Tommy Wilson
are reelected.
Sept. 3 • The Al Burruss Correction
al Training Facility becomes the first
component of the Georgia Public
Safety Training Center to be oper
ational as 30 inmates are housed
there for the first time.
Nov. 5 • Monroe County holds its
first-ever Fall Jubilee, which included
a visit from Santa Claus. The Fall
Jubilee was the forerunner to the
Forsythia Festival.
Nov. 19 • Mercer University Presi
dent Dr. Kirby Godsey announces
Tift College would move from
Forsyth to Macon in 1987, a move
which left the Forsyth campus future
unknown.
Dec. 24 • Monroe County Hospital
stops delivering babies. Hospital
administrator Richard Von Seeberg
said the reason for the halt was
liability concerns.
1987
Jan. 7 • Monroe County Com
missioners adopt the county’s first
zoning ordinance after 2 1 residents
spoke in favor of zoning. The vote
passed 2-1 with commissioner
Tommy Wilson opposed.
Jan. 28 • Georgia Gov. Joe Frank
Harris is among the state dignitaries
who comes to Forsyth for the official
dedication service for the Al Burruss
Correctional Training Facility.
Feb. 25 • More than 400 Tift
College supporters gather at First
Baptist Church at a rally to keep
the college open. The SavTift
group collected more than 3,500
signatures.
March 25 • Benson Ham resigns
as chairman of the Monroe County
Board of Education after 1 4 years
of service to the board. Jimmy
Watkins Jr. is elected to take Ham s
place.
June 1 7 • Larry Evans wins a
special election for one of two
newly-created county commissioner
positions. Jim Ham defeats Horace
Simmons Jr. three weeks later in a
runoff for the other new position.
Aug. 1 2 • A water gate inadvertent
ly left closed at the City of Forsyth’s
water reservoir and dam causes
Tobesofkee Creek to run dry. A
nearby Hwy. 42 South resident calls
Department of Natural Resources
officials to report that fish were
dying by the bucketfuls in the
creek bed.
1988
March 9 • A 40-page court
decision by Judge Sam Whitmire
cancels the 1 986 merger of Mercer
University and Tift College much to
the delight of SavTift, Inc. Attorneys
for Mercer and former Tift trustees
planned to appeal.
March 1 6 • Walmart founder Sam
Walton shocks employees and shop
pers when he visited the Forsyth
location.
April 6 • A group of Forsyth civic
and business leaders announce
plans for a new festival each spring
called the Forsythia Festival. Elaine
Treadwell is named coordinator for
the first festival, which was to take
place in 1 989.
Aug. 3 1 • The EPD orders a total
watering ban in Forsyth after it is
determined the city had withdrawn
too much water from the Tobe
sofkee Creek.
Nov. 30 • A large crowd of
spectators gathered in Bolingbroke
to view the community’s first-ever
Christmas parade.
1989
Jan. 4 • Forsyth City Council
institutes a property tax for the first
time in 1 0 years, setting the 1 989
rate at a maximum of 10 mills.
Jan. 25 • A St. Louis attorney and
actor is murdered at the Forsyth
Days Inn where he is staying for
the night.
March 29 • About 10,000 people
[am the courthouse square on
March 25 for the first-ever Forsyth
ia Festival. Sen. Herman Talmadge
kicks off the event with a speech.
May 24 • An early morning fire
guts four stores on East Main
Street.
Aug. 2 • Businessman Jack Tread
well files suit against the City of
Forsyth, claiming $4 million in dam
ages because of irregularities in the
citys utility department.
1990
Jan. 3 • Forsyth resident Harold G.
Clarke takes the oath as Georgia s
highest judicial officer, Chief Justice
of the Supreme Court.
Feb. 7 • A fire guts a downtown
sporting goods business and dam
aged two other businesses.
June 20 • Lights on 1-75 are turned
on for the first time, providing a
brighter look for the community.
Aug. 1 • City council members
expressed concern over a series of
mysterious break-ins at City Hall.
Two weeks later, council members
voted to change all locks at City
Hall in response to the unauthorized
entries.
Sept. 26 • Chamber of Commerce
officials made a bid to host actual
and related events at the 1 996
Atlanta Summer Olympic Games.
1991
Feb. 6 • Rod Gonzalez becomes
the new mayor of Culloden
succeeding Edd Norris who retires
after his ninth and final term in Jan
uary. Gonzalez initially had com
petition in a special election, but his
opponent Louise Brice stepped out
of the race before it began.
Feb. 1 3 • More than 250 Monroe,
Lamar and Bibb County citizens
gather at the Johnstonville Com
munity Clubhouse to oppose a pro
posed airport in Monroe County.
March 27 • Forsyth City Council
created a city administrator post to
oversee all city departments.
April 6 • After four months of
service to Operation Desert Storm,
Forsyth’s 1 48th Forward Support
Battalion came home. The soldiers
were greeted by a large crowd
of citizens who gathered on the
Courthouse Square with flags and
signs.
June 5 • The movie company mak
ing the film ’Fried Green Tomatoes"
calls for locals to appear as extras
in the film which began shooting in
Juliette on June 10. Jessica Tandy,
Kathy Bates and Cicely Tyson were
among the stars in the movie.
1992
Jan. 1 5 • In the City of Forsyths
first council meeting of 1 992, Paul
Jossey is sworn in as mayor and
outgoing mayor Richard Truitt is on
hand to be honored for his 1 8 years
of service to Forsyth. Truitt passes
away 1 7 days later.
Jan. 22 • Monroe Countians awake
on Jan. 1 9 to find the community
blanketed under 8 inches of snow.
March 1 5 • County commissioners
learn from a Reporter story that
their engineering project manager
on the Strickland Loop landfill is
under indictment on federal drug
conspiracy charges.
April 29 • The Whistle Stop Cafe
opens in Juliette riding a wave
of interest from the movie "Fried
Green Tomatoes.” At the top of the
cafes menu is fried green tomatoes.
July 29 • In perhaps the closest
election ever in Monroe County,
Jim Ham defeats Jim Fletcher for
commission chairman at-large,
avoiding a runoff by only six votes.
Aug. 5 • Monroe County reels from
news the William Carter Compa
ny plans to close its Forsyth plant,
putting 228 persons out of work.
1993
March 1 7 • The storm of the cen
tury brings high winds and eight
inches of snow to Monroe County,
freezing out the Forsythia Festival,
uprooting hundreds of trees in the
community, knocking out power and
water service to most of the county
and stranding dozens of motorists
on 1-75.
June 30 • Monroe County is
buzzing as local convenience stores
gear up for the first sales of Geor
gia Lottery scratch off tickets. Local
businesses report selling a collective
1 5,000-plus lottery tickets on the
first day of sales.
Nov. 24 • The Mary Persons Bull
dogs beat Pike County 35-14 giv
ing MP coach Dan Pitts his 300th
career win. The Bulldogs lose the
state championship game less than
a month later.
1994
Jan. 1 2 • Monroe County native
Otis Andrews wins the states
largest jackpot ever, $1 6.3 million.
Andrews is living in the Atlanta
area at the time of his victory.
Feb. 9 • A Monroe County jury
convicted Melissa Burgeson, 20,
on all four counts she faced in the
1 992 murder of Warner Robins teen
Keith Patrick Young. However, the
jury didn’t issue the death penalty.
March 23 • Gov. Zell Miller de
clares March 26 as Harold Clarke
Day throughout Georgia in honor
of Supreme Court Chief Justice
and Monroe County native who is
retiring.
July 1 3 • Remnants of Hurricane Al
berto cause mass flooding through
out Monroe County. Dozens of
houses along both the Towaliga
and Ocmulgee Rivers are flooded
with muddy water. Some were even
swept off their foundations, as at
least 20 homes are destroyed and
75 others were deemed unlivable.
October 1 9 • Monroe Countian
Charles Collins launches a grass
roots campaign for the Republican
nomination for President.
Dec. 7 • A crowd estimated at
10,000 packs Mitchell Field in
Forsyth to see Mary Persons head
coach Dan Pitts try to set a new
state record for career wins. How
ever, Pitts’ Bulldogs are ousted from
the state playoffs by Washington
County, which wins the showdown
30-14.
Dec. 2 1 • Mercer sells the Tift Col
lege campus to Ebon Research Sys
tems. The Florida-based company
plans to locate its new International
Learning Academy and Preparatory
School on the 44 -acre campus.
1995
Jan. 1 1 • The late night shooting
deaths of two Mercer University
students at Lake Juliette attracts
statewide attention. Andy Cook is
executed for the murder in 201 2.
Jan. 1 8 • Ingles purchases property
from Mercer University with plans to
build a 52,000-square foot grocery
store and other store fronts and to
develop eight to 1 0 outparcels for
new business.
March 1 • A heated exchange
between parents and school bus
drivers in a Board of Education
meeting sparks a shoving match
outside the meeting. The incident
results in a bus driver taking out
criminal warrants against one
parent.
May 3 • Aladdin Mills announced
plans to shut down its carpet yarn
plant effective July 1, and The Bibb
Company lays off employees at
Plant Camellia in Juliette.
July 5 • Two flight students from
Macon, flying a Cessna 1 52,
crashed the plane into Lake Juliette.
Neither student was hurt.
Sept. 1 3 • More than 5,000 Mary
Persons fans packed Mitchell Field
to see coach Dan Pitts set the state
record for coaching wins in a 54-6
win over Wilkinson County.
Sept. 27 • A Monroe County teen
CENTERS Of AMERICA
FORSYTH
255 Tift College Drive
Forsyth, GA31029
478-994-1562
www.ForsythDiscCenter.com
“WE...ARE GRATEFUL TO THE
MONROE COUNTY REPORTER”
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Disc Centers of America Forsyth