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The Monroe County Reporter
marks 50th birthday
1972-2022
j, 9 A > Monroe County Reporter Timeline 1972-2022
eludes dozens of officers after
allegedly shooting his mother to
death and fleeing into a wooded
area surrounding his home. The
teen, Jason McClendon, 1 3, is
eventually persuaded to turn himself
in.
1996
April 1 0 *The network television
show Unsolved Mysteries" planned
an episode in order to draw
national attention to the January
1 995 double murder of two Mercer
students at Lake Juliette. The reen
actment is filmed at the site of the
murders.
May 29 • The Monroe County
Courthouse celebrates its 100th
birthday with several activities,
including the opening of the cor
nerstone. The contents of the box,
sealed since 1 896, included news
papers, photos, other documents
and a bottle of sn uff.
July 1 7 *The U.S. Men’s Olympic
Rowing team arrives in Forsyth
amidst patriotic fanfare and is
treated to two weeks of Monroe
County hospitality as the athletes
train at the newly-built course on
Lake Juliette.
Dec. 1 1 • Jones County resident
Andrew Allen Cook is arrested in
connection with the double murders
of two Mercer students found shot
to death at Lake Juliette in January
1995.
1997
Jan. 22 • Ebon Academy tells
students to pack their bags and an
nounces it may close its doors due
to financial difficulties. Two months
later, a civil suit was filed against
the school on behalf of students
and parents.
Oct. 1 5 • With an upgraded fiber
optic system, Forsyth City Council
votes to get into the cable television
business.
Dec. 3 • A real disaster is narrowly
averted for Monroe County as the
boiler in the historic courthouse
overheats. An hour later, and offi
cials say the courthouse would have
burned to the ground.
1998
Feb. 1 1 • Mary Persons football
coach Dan Pitts announces his
retirement after 39 years as head
coach of the Bulldogs.
March 25 • Andy Cook is sen
tenced to die in Georgia s electric
chair after being found guilty of ho
micide in the deaths of two Mercer
students in 1 995.
May 20 • The Trane Company
announces it will locate a new
manufacturing plant in the Monroe
County Industrial Park.
1999
Feb. 1 7 • Southern Textiles, Inc., a
manufacturer of "over-the-mattress
bedding, announces it will move
its headquarters and main opera
tion to Forsyth in the old Pridecraft
building.
March 1 7 • First county water meter
is installed in High Falls.
2000
April 1 2 • Scott Cowart, principal
of Carrollton High School, is hired
as superintendent of schools at a
salary of $93,000 by a 5-3 school
board vote. He was chosen to re
place the retiring Charles Dumas.
May 24 • Residents in the Pate
Road area persuade the state DOT
to scrap plans for an 1-75/Pate
Road interchange and exit ramp.
Aug. 1 6 • Gov. Roy Barnes appoints
Kevin Wangerin to the judgeship
of the Towaliga Judicial Circuit
over two other candidates, Tommy
Wilson and Bobby Melton. Wilson
resigned his chairmanship of the
Monroe County commission to pur
sue the post, though in the interim
he was seriously injured when a gas
hot water heater he was working
on exploded.
Oct. 4 • Monroe County buys Tift
College for $9.4 million, and county
commission chairman Butch Cope-
lan says it's one of the best things
the county has done.
Nov. 1 5 • Monroe County voters
give a 61 -39 percent edge to
George Bush over Al Gore for
president, a 62-38 percent vote to
Saxby Chambliss over Jim Mar
shall for Congress, and District
2 voters re-elect Jim Ham by a
1,1 88-747 margin over challenger
Jim Fletcher. Monroe County voters
also approve Sunday alcohol sales
in restaurants.
2001
Feb. 7 • Eighteen Monroe County
schoolchildren are taken to area
hospitals after two buses crash into
one another on Martin Luther King
Drive.
June 6 • Crescent Media Group of
Spartanburg, S.C. buys the Report
er from Community Newspaper
Holdings Inc. of Birmingham, Ala.,
calling the Reporter a perfect fit for
its family of newspapers.
June 20 • Dr. Dan Whitaker, pastor
of First Baptist Church of Forsyth for
1 9 years, announces he II be retiring
at the end of the month and moving
to Ringgold, Ga. The Forsyth City
Council proclaims the day of his
final sermon, June 24, as Dr. Dan
Whitaker Day.
July 4 • Monroe County sheriff John
Cary Bittick is sworn in as the 60th
president of the National Sheriffs
Association.
Sept. 19 • Monroe Countians react
to the Sept. 1 1 attacks on Wash
ington and New York, and Dr. Clell
Morris says he hopes that the U.S.
strikes with might against those
responsible for killing more than
3,000 Americans.
Oct. 1 7 • With nerves still on edge
from the Sept. 1 1 attacks, the For
syth Post Office is evacuated when
a vial of foul-smelling chemicals
burst in the post office. The contents
are determined not to be a danger.
Two weeks later the Trane building
is evacuated when a white granular
substance falls out of a shipment
from Italy.
Dec. 1 9 • After 1 0 months of
alterations, the Monroe County
Sheriffs Office finally opens its new
headquarters and jail, a $6.5 million
facility. The old jail had 50 beds
and the new one has 1 50.
2002
Jan. 23 • Gov. Roy Barnes proposes
$4.6 million in his 2002-03 budget
to buy Tift College for an educa
tional institute. However county
commissioners Harold Carlisle and
Larry Evans say they won’t sell the
Tift property, which they bought for
$ 1 0 million, at a loss.
April 1 0 • After three months of ne
gotiations, Monroe County commis
sioners approve selling Tift College
to the state for $5.35 million despite
taking a $5 million loss.
Aug. 28 • Mike Bilderback surprises
incumbent Harold Carlisle to win
the Republican nomination for the
District 3 seat on the county com
missioners. Joe Proctor wins overJay
Pace in a run off for the Democratic
nomination in District 4.
Nov. 1 3 • Republicans carry the day
in Monroe County as Mike Bilder
back defeats Rueschelle Ambrose
and Jim Peters defeats Joe Proctor
for county commissioner. Monroe
County goes for surprise winner
Sonny Perdue, who ousts Gov. Roy
Barnes.
2003
• New Gov. Sonny Perdue meets
with Forsyth and Monroe County
officials about possible uses of Tift
College. While his predecessor had
wanted to use Tift as an education
institute, Perdue says he’d rather
use it for a headquarters for the
Georgia State Patrol.
• Forsyth Cable customers vent their
anger after popular Macon TV
station WMAZ is dropped from the
city’s cable service at the same time
the city hikes rates. The city drops
WMAZ because the station wanted
to charge the city for broadcasting
it. After six months of negotiations
WMAZ finally goes back on the air
in Forsyth after the city agrees to
put a camera for WMAZ on one of
its towers.
• Glenn Dorner, the director of
Monroe County Emergency Ser
vices, is dispatched to the Middle
East to serve as an emergency
nurse in the Iraq War.
• Jimmy Pace is elected Forsyth
mayor, defeating George Willis.
Melvin Lawrence, Hal Clarke and
Sandra Dews are elected to city
council and James Calloway loses
his seat.
• Monroe County begins a housing
boom as construction is under way
at River Forest and other new de
velopments with more than 1,000
lots now available for new homes
which will sell for nearly $500,000.
2004
Jan. 7 • Monroe County s own
Stewart Rodeheaver assumes com
mand of the 48th Brigade.
March 1 7 • Department of Correc
tions commissioner James Donald
reveals that Tift College is one of
three finalists to be a new head
quarters for the department.
July • Larry Evans beats challenger
James Calloway to keep his District
1 seat on the Monroe County
Board of Commissioners.
Aug. 4 • Renovations to the Rose
Theater are finally complete and
the facility opens with a Country
Music Showcase that is called a
rousing success.
Oct. 27 • Rep. Curtis Jenkins
announces that the Department
of Corrections has included in its
2005 budget funds to study a possi
ble move to Tift College.
Nov. 3 • The election's a Republi
can tidal wave as Jim Cole beat
incumbent Democrat Curtis Jenkins
to represent Monroe County from
House District 93. Republican Har
old Carlisle defeats Democrat Ben
Spear to become Monroe County
commission chairman and Repub
lican Jeff Davis defeats Democrat
Ralph Bass for magistrate judge.
Nov. 1 7 • The Monroe County
grand jury calls on county commis
sioners to determine the Mon-
roe-Bibb county line, launching an
9-year ordeal that’s not over.
2005
Jan. 25 • Timothy Don Carr is
executed for the 1 994 murder of
Keith Young of Warner Robins in
Monroe County. Carr is the first
person to be executed for a murder
in Monroe County since Roosevelt
Green in 1 985.
July • The 4,500 members of the
48th National Guard brigade,
including the 1 48th battalion sta
tioned in Forsyth, are deployed to
Iraq under the command of Monroe
County native Stewart Rodeheaver.
After five soldiers are killed and 61
injured from attacks, Rodeheaver’s
sister Connie Ham organizes Oper
ation Uplift to send care packages
to the soldiers.
November • The Monroe County
school board makes a controversial
decision to relieve Mary Persons
head football coach Steve Chafin
of his duties despite seven play
off appearances in eight years.
Chafin had restructured the athletic
department in the spring of 2005,
stepping down as athletic director
and hiring five new coaches. One
of those coaches hired, Rodney
Walker, is named the new head
coach.
December • Sgt. Philip Dodson of
Forsyth, a member of the 1 48th
battalion stationed in Iraq, and two
other 1 48th soldiers are killed when
their military vehicle overturns.
Funeral services are held on Dec.
1 1 at the Georgia Public Safety
Training Center where he worked
as a corrections officer.
2006
March • The Georgia Legislature
approves the first $7.5 million
on moving the Department of
Corrections from Atlanta to Tift
College and Gov. Sonny Perdue
participates in a ground-breaking
ceremony at Tift.
May 19 • Forsyth and Monroe
County host a welcome home
parade for members of the 1 48th
support battalion with the 48th
National Guard unit returning from
Iraq after an 1 8-month deployment.
December • Residents of Indian
Springs Drive file a federal law
suit to try to stop Super Walmart
from locating there claiming it will
devalue their historic, charming
neighborhood.
• Monroe County commission
chairman Harold Carlisle and Bibb
County commission chairman Char
lie Bishop craft a compromise on
the county line dispute that would
mark the line where it is currently
recognized. But Monroe commis
sioners Jim Ham, Mike Bilderback
and Larry Evans shoot down the
compromise, sending the issue to a
surveyor.
2007
May • Monroe Academy wins the
state soccer title.
June • County voters approve a
new education sales tax to build
a third elementary school, and the
school board buys property for
what will later be named Sutton
Elementary on Hwy. 83 at the old
Green Dairy.
July • The Monroe County Reporter
is locally owned for the first time in
10 years as Will Davis and Robert
Williams purchase the newspaper
from Millard Grimes. Davis takes
over as editor and publisher.
November • Forsyth voters replace
the mayor and all three members of
the city council up for re-election.
The new mayor is Tye Howard and
new council members are Desi
Hansford, James Calloway and
Melvin Lawrence.
December • Walmart announces
that it’s moving forward with con
struction of a new store in Forsyth,
but neighborhood opponents file an
injunction trying to stop it.
2008
November • Monroe County voters
replace county commission chair
man Harold Carlisle, a Republican,
with Democrat James Vaughn.
County voters give John McCain a
big edge in the presidential elec
tion but Barack Obama is elected
as the nation s first black president.
March • The Georgia legislature
approves another $1 5 million for
Tift College renovations to move
the Department of Corrections to
Forsyth.
April • The Monroe County school
system is one of just 1 7 systems in
Georgia (out of 286) to meet all
No Child Left Behind standards for
three years in a row.
Anthony Pack is named the new
Monroe County school superinten
dent, replacing Scott Cowart who
returned to Carrollton.
2009
April • A big crowd gathers on the
courthouse square for a parade
and send-off for the 1 48th National
Guard battalion as it deploys to
Afghanistan.
July* After years of financial strug
gle, Monroe Academy closes to the
chagrin of alumni and students. The
Monroe County school board buys
the facility and Central Georgia
Tech offers classes there.
November • Controversial Hub
bard Elementary School principal
Kay Williams is re-assigned to the
central office upon complaints that
Williams was injecting political
correctness into the schools, saying
the Pledge of Allegiance in Spanish
and having students write book
reports about President Obama.
December • The year 2009 goes
down as the wettest year since the
Monroe County Extension Office
began keeping rain records with
more than 66 inches of rain.
2010
January • State Rep. Jim Cole
spurns an offer from Gov. Sonny
Perdue to be appointed Secre
tary of State, instead resigning his
legislative post to take the job as
athletic director of Mercer Uni
versity. Cole is not done with state
government though, as he’s soon
appoi nted to the DOT board.
March • After years of legal battles
and delays, the Walmart Supercen
ter opens in Forsyth.
April • The Georgia legislature
names Forsyth-Monroe County
as the Public Safety Capital of
Georgia.
June • Dominique Davis, a Mary
Persons football, tragically drowns
in the pool at the Forsyth Best
Western.
July • Monroe County voters re
place county commissioners Jim Pe
ters and Mike Bilderback with Joe
Proctor and Pasty Miller, respec
tively, in the Republican primary.
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