Newspaper Page Text
Page 6B
April 26, 2023
i?Eeporter
Ingles' Jennifer Black is Everyday Hero
Jennifer Black
By Steve Reece
steve.reece@gmail.com
ome people can
turn anything into
art. Even if it’s just a
sandwich. Jennifer
Black, who has worked at
Ingles Deli since August,
says she looks at every
sandwich order just as a
painter would look at his
painting. Presentation is
just as important as taste
and she wants her custom
ers to come back.
Jennifer was born in
Macon at what used to be
known as the Coliseum
Hospital. She is the daugh
ter of Kathy Whitaker and
stepfather, Fred Whitaker.
She has a sister, Kimberly
Chalker of Newnan, and
Brad Adams of Macon.
She began her career at a
Subway sandwich shop in
Macon wheh she was just
14 years old. After a year
at that location, they liked
her work so much that they
transferred her to another
nearby Subway. There she
became a shift supervisor at
the age of 15. She can’t re
member how much money
she was making back then,
but it was substantially
more than minimum wage.
She quit Southeast High
School in Macon in 1992
when she was 17 and
moved in with her sister up
in Newnan. She was hired
at the Newnan Subway
also as a shift supervisor
and stayed at that store for
a couple of years before
moving on to yet another
Subway in Peachtree City.
Meanwhile, she went back
to her studies and got her
GED in 1999.
She then moved back to
Macon and lived with her
mother as a stay-at-home
mother for a while before
starting work as a nutri
tionist assistant with the
public school system.
Jennifer has three daugh
ters, Maggie, 24, who is an
LPN, Madison, 21, who
goes to school at Valdo
sta State University and
12-year-old Mary who is a
student at Monroe County
Middle School.
Jennifer moved to Mon
roe County nearly 14 years
ago and met the love of her
life, William Bearden, who
works for Towaliga Plan
tation.
She worked as a nutri
tionist assistant at KB Sut
ton Elementary School and
later as a cafeteria cashier
at Mary Persons. She said
she loved working with the
students.
When asked what she
would tell those students
today, Jennifer said, “Just
keep pushing, never give
up. If you think negatively,
something negative will
come out of it. If you think
positively something posi
tive will come out of that.”
Jason Connell of Volume
Chevrolet sponsors the Ev
eryday Hero in each weeks
Reporter. To nominate an
unsung hero who works
hard every day to make
Monroe County go, email
stevereece@gmail.com.
MONROE COUNTY SHERIFF'S OFFICE
Deputy who pled to excessive force rejoins MCSO
The Monroe County sheriff’s office
has re-hired a deputy who pled guilty
to excessive force in a tussle with an
inmate in the Monroe County Jail in
2016.
William Jackson was hired a few
months ago as a road deputy after
working the past few years with the
Jones County sheriff’s office, said sher
iff Brad Freeman.
Jackson had been a sergeant with
the sheriff’s office when he was given
probation after pleading guilty to ex
cessive force in 2016. He resigned from
the Monroe County sheriff’s office in
2017. The sheriff’s office also paid Mika
Martin, an Ohio woman, $90,000,
about a quarter of what she was asking
to settle her lawsuit accusing Jackson of
using excessive force in a July 16,2016
traffic stop.
The sheriff’s office liability insurance
carrier, National Service Associates,
paid the settlement out of court in
2019.
Martin was seeking more than
$320,000 in damages saying she was
beaten in the Monroe County Jail by
Jackson in 2016. Jackson had stopped
Martin on 1-75 after her husband
called 911 to report she was drink
ing and being irate as they traveled
through Monroe County. Deputies
found marijuana in Martin’s luggage
and she was arrested, taken to jail, and,
according to her lawsuit, beaten while
in handcuffs.
The incident, which was caught on
videotape, reportedly started when
Martin tried to headbutt and spit at
Jackson. In her suit, Martin said they
merely exchanged words and admitted
that she was very intoxicated. But Jack-
son then pushed Martin against the
wall and slapped, punched, kicked and
elbowed her four times over several
minutes, even while she was restrained
and in handcuffs, said the lawsuit.
Then-Monroe County Sheriff John
Cary Bittick began an internal investi
gation and placed Jackson on adminis
trative leave and requested the GBI to
investigate. The GBI investigated and
turned it over to the District Attorney’s
Office. After reviewing the case, district
attorney Jonathan Adams called a
special grand jury to present the case,
and Jackson later pled guilty but served
no prison time.
Adams said at the time that Jackson
had no prior complaints regarding his
use of force and no prior disciplinary
action during his 14-year career with
the MCSO. And Adams said he
thought that Jackson’s first
of three strikes on
Martin, with his right
hand to her back, was
appropriate because she
was trying to head butt him.
But Adams said the subse
quent blows, a second one to
her shoulder and a third one
to her face, were excessive.
Martin was handcuffed the
entire time and was immo
bilized by a restraint wrap
on Jackson’s final blow,
said Adams. Jackson had
resigned from the sheriff’s
office after he was indicted
in March 2017.
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