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THE BANKS COUNTY NEWS • THE COMMERCE NEWS
WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 2, 2016
Commerce Police Department arrests
Battery victim arrested for firearm possession
A woman beaten up by her
boyfriend was arrested after
she called the Commerce
Police Department when she
— a convicted felon — admit
ted carrying his pistol in her
purse.
It was a bad day for Frances
Belinda Dewalt, 30, of Char
lotte, NC. She, her boyfriend
and two other occupants were
traveling from North Carolina
to Atlanta and decided to get
a motel room at Banks Cross
ing. In the motel parking lot,
Dewalt received a Facebook
message from a male friend
that angered her boyfriend,
who called her names, threat
ened to kill her and began
hitting her. The others with
her tried to stop him and she
tried to run away but she got
back into the vehicle with the
other three.
The group drove into Com
merce. The man stopped
the vehicle at the intersection
of Park and Troy streets, got
out, and resumed hitting the
woman. He asked for her cell
phone, which she claimed to
have left at the motel room.
He continued to threaten her
and hit her and threatened her
daughter.
Dewalt told police she’d
had her boyfriend’s gun in her
purse. He could not keep it,
she said, because he is a con
victed felon. She said he tried
to get the gun back from her,
broke her purse in the pro
cess as he continued to beat
her. She freed herself from
the man, ran to a residence,
threw the gun into the woods
and hid under the porch. The
owner of the residence let
her in so she could call 911,
and the irate boyfriend drove
around looking for her for a
while, then departed.
When police arrived, they
found Dewalt visibly upset
with swelling under an eye,
bruises and lacerations.
She freely admitted to
police that she was a felon,
and dispatch advised the
officers that she had multiple
felony convictions, which led
to her arrest on the weapons
charge.
Police also issued warrants
for the arrest of the boyfriend.
Others Charged
Others arrested or cited
by city police during the past
week include:
• Ryan Andrews Wages, 26,
Lenox Drive, Jefferson, disor
derly conduct. Police arrested
him at Ingles, Hwy. 334, after
responding to a report of an
irate male. When an officer
located him and inquired if
he was okay Wages said he’d
driven a friend to the store
from Nicholson and en route
the two argued. When they got
to the store, the friend disap
peared, and Wages was irate
that he’d not been given any
money for gasoline. A witness
said he came over to the gas
pumps and began cursing at
a customer, then yelled and
cursed at the witness. Wages
allegedly admitted that he
may have cursed some of the
patrons, so the officer arrested
him.
• Ronald Stewart Clark, 59,
4142 Harmony Church Road,
Gillsville, driving under the
influence (DUI) of alcohol,
failure to maintain a lane and
driving on the wrong side of
the road. An officer stopped
Clark on North Broad Street
at Homer Road at 12:47 a.m.,
responding to a one-vehicle
wreck where Clark had pulled
onto the railroad tracks after
inadvertently turning left from
Homer Road onto North
Broad, going the wrong way.
When he tried to cut over to
the correct road (North Elm
Street), he got hung up on the
tracks. Detecting an odor of
alcohol, the officer cited him
for DUI. At the Jackson Coun
ty Jail, Clark blew a .174 and
.180 in the Intoxilyzer 9000,
more than double the limit for
a DUI charge.
•Timothy James Brown,
36, 223 Woodbine Street,
Superior court grants Maxwell
a continuance in theft case
Former Nicholson mayor
Ronnie Maxwell’s trial got a
continuance in the Superior
Court of Jackson County last
week.
Maxwell is facing charges
of theft by taking and vio
lation of oath by a public
officer after he used $10,607
in Special Purpose Local
Option Sales Tax money to
pave a road into his mother’s
property.
His case was among sev
eral cases to be heard by
the court in November. No
date has been set for the
continuance.
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Commerce, DUI-alcohol and
a brake light violation. An offi
cer pulled him over at 10:23
p.m. for the brake light viola
tion, and as he approached
the vehicle, the officer heard
Brown on the phone telling
someone he’d just been
pulled over and to “get down
here now.” The officer said
Brown struggled to remove his
driver’s license from his wallet
and said he noted the “mod
erate” smell of alcohol. Asked
about his drinking, Brown said
he had “one or two beers,”
but when asked how big, he
said they were “ponies” (small
containers). He agreed to a
field sobriety test, after which
the officer concluded that he
was under the influence of
alcohol and charged him.
•Lacy Dawn Holbrooks,
19, 801 Swilling Road, Easta-
nollee, misdemeanor posses
sion of marijuana, violation of
the open container law and
speeding. Holbrooks’ prob
lems began when an officer
pulled her over on U.S. 441
at about 11:30 p.m. for speed
ing. He noticed after pulling
her over that a passenger was
moving around and reaching
into the driver’s side. The offi
cer asked if there was anything
illegal in the vehicle, to which
Holbrooks said there was not.
She gave consent to search
the vehicle, but the passenger
refused to allow her person to
be searched. At that time, the
officers used K9 “officer” Max
to do a free-air sniff, and he
alerted on the vehicle, which
enabled the police to do a
probable-cause search. In
addition to finding two open
containers of beer, they found
a cigarette container in Hol
brooks’ pocketbook contain
ing marijuana.
•Charles Edward David,
64, 70 Woodbine Street, Com
merce, possession of marijua
na, driving without insurance
and possession of drug-relat
ed objects. The arrest came
after police responded to an
apartment near Duncan Cir
cle where a citizen thought
buying and selling of narcotics
were taking place. At the time,
they did not locate the vehicle,
but just over an hour later an
officer saw it going north on
Homer Road and pulled it over
because the vehicle had no
valid insurance. David handed
the officer an insurance card
that expired in 2012, and the
officer noticed a small amount
of what appeared to be mari
juana around the cup holder
in the center console. A sec
ond officer said he smelled
burned marijuana and asked
David if there was any in the
vehicle. David allegedly said
there was a “dime” bag, but
said there was nothing else
illegal in the vehicle. Search
ing the vehicle, police found
marijuana residue all over the
driver’s seat and floorboard,
found two grinders in the cen
ter console, two plastic bags
containing marijuana, a set of
digital scales, a box of plastic
sandwich bags and “multiple
denominations of currency”
though the report did not
reveal the cash total.
• Karen S. King, 43,18 Mar
tin Luther King Jr. Boulevard,
Commerce, picked up walk
ing near Homer Road by an
officer who recognized her as
having a Jackson County war
rant. The nature of the warrant
was not identified.
•Donald Alonzo Huff, 28,
20 Woodbine Street, Com
merce, arrested on an unspec
ified warrant after being
stopped for failure to wear a
seat belt.
Republican
JIMMY
HOOPER
Banks County
Commission
Chairman
The day to day administration of Banks
County Government requires experience
and training. Listed below are mine:
EXPERIENCE
3 1/2 years of successful administration of Banks County
30 years as school administrator in Banks County
Vice Chairman and Chairman Elect Board of Directors
Lanier Technical College
Vice Chairman Banks County Board of Health
Sunday School Superintendent Commerce First United
Methodist Church
Former Vice Chairman Banks Jackson Commerce Hospital
Authority
Former Vice Chairman Habersham County Federal Credit Union
Former Board of Directory Northeast Georgia Girl Scouts
Former Chairman of Church Council Commerce First United
Methodist Church
Chairman of Pastor / Parish Board
10 years Chief Financial Officer and Manager for Dealer
Remarketing
Owner of Jefferson Village Pharmacy
TRAINING
Associate of Science Degree
Bachelor of Science
Master of Science
Master of Administration/Supervision
Specialist Degrees
(Advanced Administration)
Certified County Commissioner
Advanced Certification Commissioner
Graduate of Leadership Academy
30 years certified Georgia Sports Official
ORGANIZATIONS
Mason
Gideon
Rotary
Stephen Minister
Alumni Walk to Emmaus
Sunday School Teacher
Kiwanis
Gainesville College
University of Georgia
University of Georgia
University of Georgia
University of Georgia
ACCG
ACCG
GHSA
Banks County needs a Chairman
with experience and training.
I know I can do the job!
PAID FOR BY THE CANDIDATE
