Newspaper Page Text
VOL. 105, NO. 25, JANUARY 7, 2009 LEGAL ORGAN OF JENKINS COUNTY MILLEN, GEORGIA • 75 CENTS
2008 uo w/ieu)
By Deborah Bennett
Millen News Editor
Highlights of 2008 from the files of The Millen News are as
follows:
• The State Board of Pardons and Paroles denies parole for
James Edward Addison who was convicted for armed robbery
and murder of Jenkins County resident Betty Bennett in 1992.
• King Rocker is sworn in as Mayor of Millen. and Darrel
Clifton and Lee Ward Williams take the oath of office for city
councilmen.
• Julie Drake receives the WJBF News Channel 6 Scholar
Athlete Award.
• Support of Gov. Sonny Perdue for proposed Lake Clarke
project is reported.
• Upward Basketball program at Oak Hill Baptist Church is
reported to be successful.
• Jenkins County holds number one spot in unemployment
rankings for the state.
• Round’s Fishin’ Hole opens for business.
• Florida fugitive Sonny Lee Thornton of Orlando is arrested
in Jenkins County by deputies of the Jenkins County Sheriff’s
Department.
• Grand opening for the school system’s new gymnatorium
is held in February.
• Vandy Mack Daniels, convicted of the March 6,2006 armed
robbery of the Quick Stop, goes to trial in Statesboro for March
7, 2006 armed robbery of Might Mike’s Hot Stop.
• Coordinators of the local Toys for Tots campaign report
that more than 330 children were served by the program.
• Democrat Barrack Obama and Republican Mike Huckabee
were local winners in the Presidential Preference Primary Elec
tion held in February. John McCain wins locally in November
Presidential race. Obama wins on national level.
• Mabel Jenkins is named chairman of the Jenkins County
Development Authority after Bobby Dwelle relinquished the
post he had held for 35 years.
• Two Sisters Salon begins operation.
• Dorothy Danielle Davis and Nancy Deal are named Jenkins
County’s STAR student and teacher, respectively.
• Jenkins County Emergency Medical Services assist with
transport of those burned in Imperial Sugar fire in Port
Wentworth.
• Jenkins County Commissioners reported a decline in local
property tax collections of approximately $718,858.
• Dr. Judy Holton, principal of Jenkins County Elementary
School (JCES), and Cynthia McNeely, assistant principal, at
tend Celebration of Excellence Banquet for Title I Distin
guished Schools in Georgia.
• Millen Post Office employee Otis Dailey retires with 25
years of service.
• Jenkins County Sheriff Tim Fields announces intentions to
seek re-election.
• Agriculture awards are presented during the annual Agri
culture Banquet, sponsored by the Jenkins County Extension
Service, as follows: Roy Harris, Lifetime Service Award;
Edison Harris, Lifetime Service Award; and the late Dewey
Newton, Agriculture Hall of Fame.
• Local school system makes cuts in personnel amid public
protests. Members of Jenkins County Board of Education
(BOE) address public concerns over personnel reduction dur
ing a called meeting held at the Jenkins County Agriculture
Center.
• Jenkins County BOE approves sale of the old primary
school property to Turning Leaf, Inc.
• Work begins on last section of Savannah River Parkway
through Millen Jenkins County.
• Kirk Rocker and Sandy Becton leave Regions Bank as the
company implemented cutbacks in its Commercial Loan De
partment.
• Tour de Georgia cyclists pass through Millen and Jenkins
County en route from Tybee Island to Augusta.
• Tony Taylor and Robert Oglesby announce intentions to
seek the position of Jenkins County Sheriff.
• Dwayne Herrington is named Director of Public Safety for
the City of Millen. His duties were to include overseeing the
Millen Fire Department and Millen Police Department.
• Patrick Neeley is shot and killed by Jenkins County Sheriff’s
Department Deputy John Sharkey who was responding to a 9-
1-1 call.
• Frank M. Edenfield, former editor/publisher of The Millen
News, dies in a boating accident on the Ogeechee River.
• Stitch and Print, Inc. opens plant in Millen.
Dr. Judy Holton resigns as principal of JCES. Jim Jarvis is
named JCES principal.
• County is hit hard by Mother’s Day storms. Weather ser
vice confirms an EF-1 tornado struck the Emmalane area of
the county on May 11.
• Brookes Brinson and Dorothy Davis are named Jenkins
County High School’s (JCHS) valedictorian and salutatorian,
respectively.
• Brookes Brinson and Boyd Sasser are recipients of the Rob
ert Williams Scholarship award for Female and Male Athletes
of the Year at JCHS.
• City of Millen receives a Georgia Fund sewer grant in the
amount of $99,623 to be used to finance a sewer extension
project to 18 residents on Jeanette Drive.
• The Jenkins County school system names Teachers of the
Year as follows: Tabatha Bennett, JCES and system-wide;
Wendy Ivey, Jenkins County Middle School; and Annette Cobb,
JCHS.
• Billy Nelson Hammock, an escapee from the Jenkins
County Jail, is recaptured near Charlotte, NC.
• Jim Andrew, Administrator, USDA Rural Development
Utilities Program, is honored by Georgia House of Represen
tatives for his service.
• Five qualify for three BOE seats. They were Roderick
Campbell, District #1; Roy Cook and Mike Lane, District #3;
and Vicki Odom and Freddie Brinson, District #4.
• Robert W. Fries Sr., former City of Millen Mayor, died
June 26.
• Tim Fields and Robert Oglesby face-off in a run-off elec
tion for Jenkins County Sheriff.
• H. Lamar Faircloth is named City of Millen Administrator.
• Minimum wage increases to $6.55 per hour in July.
• Robert Oglesby wins run-off for Jenkins County Sheriff.
• JCES and JCMS make Annual Yearly Progress.
• K & K Antiques and Old Fashioned Soda Shop and
Thompson’s Corner open for business.
• BOE proposes property tax increase and holds a series of
public hearings on the matter.
• Tosha Williams pleads guilty to aggravated assault in new
trial in connection with the 2004 death of Nicholas Bershaun
Foster. She received a sentence of 15 years, eight to serve and
seven on probation.
• Jimmie Cooper is charged with murder in the Aug. 20 death
of Joe Mathew Walton Jr.
• Jenkins County receives “Community of Opportunity” des
ignation by Gov. Sonny Perdue.
• Committee forms to seek a recall election for the BOE
District #5 seat held by Chairman Carroll Gay. Chairman Gay
announces he will fight the action. Case is later dismissed in
Jenkins County Superior Court.
• Budget cuts by the Department of Natural Resources may
force the closure of the Bo Ginn Aquarium.
• Jenkins County School Superintendent Joan Blackwood
resigns, and Melissa Williams is named Interim Superinten
dent.
• Cedric Michael Cutter, a Florida man wanted on two counts
of murder, was apprehended in Millen by the Jenkins County
Sheriff’s Department.
• Lula Burton and Michelle Brannen are chosen to partici
pate in the annual Portraits of Life photography exhibit featur
ing local breast cancer survivors.
• Jenkins County Hospital Administrator Alvin Burke re
signs his position.
• Andy Barrows is named Park Manager for Magnolia
Springs State Park.
• Jenkins County Courthouse suffers major water damage
from leaking valve in the heating/cooling unit.
• Jenkins County Family Enrichment Center (JCFEC) is the
recipient of a $319,691 System of Care grant from the
Governor’s Office of Children and Families.
• Christopher Derek Chance of Millen and his cousin,
Raymond "Trey” Sapp of Waynesboro are charged with mur
der in the death of Simpson “Tyrone” Cates, Jr. of Burke
County.
• MI Metals announces that it will "idle” local plant with
only three employees until the end of the first quarter of 2009.
• JCFEC is named "proficient” county within the Georgia
Family Connection Partnership. The organization was one of
only two collaboratives in the state to earn the designation.
• Anna Amiss resigns as 4-H program director.
• County officials are sworn in as follows: Jenkins County
Probate Judge, Wanda Burke; Superior Court Judge, Ogeechee
Judicial Circuit, William Woodrum; Jenkins County Sheriff,
Robert Oglesby; Jenkins County Clerk of Court, Elizabeth
Landing; Jenkins County Tax Commissioner, Brenda Mathern;
Jenkins County Coroner, Henry Young; Jenkins County Chief
Magistrate Judge, Janice Cheney; Jenkins County Commis
sioners, Floyd Chance, Tommy Lane and Domingo Green;
Jenkins County Board of Education, Freddie Brinson, Roy
Cook and Roderick Campbell; Deputy Clerk of Superior Court,
Linda Pittman; Clerk of Jenkins County Probate Court, Gail
Boyd; and Jenkins County Magistrate Judge, Hester Oglesby.
Jenkins County Grand Jury hears 20 cases
By Deborah Bennett
Millen News Editor
The Jenkins County Grand
Jury convened Dec. 8 in
Jenkins County Superior Court
and handed down indictments
and accusations as follows.
• Buffie Lakietha Davis,
possession of cocaine with in
tent to distribute.
• Terrence Dale Oliver, pos
session of cocaine with intent
to distribute and possession of
a firearm/knife during crime/at
tempted crime.
• Robert Lee Mosley, pos
session of cocaine with intent
to distribute and possession of
firearm/knife during crime/at
tempted crime.
• Latrell Shayvon Gaines,
possession of cocaine.
• Calvin Jeffrey Ball, terror
istic threats and acts, receipt,
possession or transfer of fire
arm by convicted felon and
battery-misdemeanor.
• Nicholas Dudarenke, ag
gravated assault and possession
of firearm/knife during crime/
attempted crime.
• Floyd Brinson III, bur
glary and criminal damage to
property in the second degree.
• Bobby Lee Roberts, bur
glary, three counts of theft by
taking and receipt, possession
or transfer of firearm by con
victed felon.
• Walter Parrish, burglary
and possession of
hydrocodone.
• Jessica Pierce Hunt, two
counts of possession of a
Schedule V Controlled Sub
stance and theft by taking-mis
demeanor.
• Jessica Pierce Hunt, theft
by taking-felony.
• Crystal Williams, terroris
tic threats and acts and obstruc
tion of officers.
• Jonathan Maurice Edwards,
two counts of terroristic threats and
acts and harassing phone calls.
• Jermarkus Enoch Kelly,
armed robbery.
• Casey Daniel Pierce, armed
robbery.
• Leigh Briane Golff, two
counts of forgery-first degree.
• Anthony Brown, entering
auto and theft by taking.
• Carol Ann Wimbush, two
counts of burglary.
• Ronnie Charles Harper,
possession of marijuana-less than
an ounce and criminal trespass.
• Kwmaine Santez Shingleton,
possession of cocaine with intent
to distribute and possession of
marijuana-less than an ounce.
From left, Roy Davis and Lee Ogden, servicemen home
for the holidays, perform a song Davis wrote about their
hometown, Millen. (Staff photo by Deborah Bennett)
Former residents
sing about Millen
By Deborah Bennett
Millen News Editor
Songs about different towns and cities across the United States are
a staple of country music radio, producing mega-hits for the artists
who sing them. None, however, can match the heartfelt, soulful lyr
ics recently written about Millen.
E-4 Sr. Airman Roy Davis, U.S. Air Force, and Cpl. Lee Ogden,
U.S. Marines, traded their military weapons for a guitar and har
monica while home on leave for the holidays as Davis put pen to
paper and wrote a song about the town they both grew up in.
“On that country radio, you ’ll hear those songs about all of those
cities and how things can go wrong. Like El Pasco, Muskogee and
that Amarillo sky. When you think about it, it’ll bring a tear to your
eye, cause we've got companies gone with people trying to make a
living; seems like someone would have wrote a song about Millen.”
The opening lyrics tell the stoiy of how the song came into being.
“We were just sitting around and playing around, picking and grin
ning, thinking about what’s changed here since we’ve been gone,”
said Davis who sings and plays the guitar as Ogden accompanies
him on the harmonica. “And I just started working on it.”
Dressed in civilian clothes, the two young men disguise their ma
turity and dedication to duty with bright smiles and relaxed attitudes
as they perform. Most would never guess that Ogden, now stationed
at Camp Pendleton, Calif., has already experienced a tour of duty in
Iraq or that Davis is stationed on the other side of the world at RAF
Molesworth, United Kingdom and is waiting deployment to Iraq in
2010. For the moment, they are caught up in the “Song about Millen.”
“Down on Cotton Avenue, not much has changed. Places may
have traded hands, but the buildings are the same. But those bricks
will be gone with a few more cracks. Just like Mr. Johnson’s place
down by the railroad tracks. And just after two years of being away,
so much is different, but some how the same. People have grown up
and some faces have changed. And I just do my best to remember
their names. But no matter what I know, e\>eryone here is ready and
willing; just wish their story could be told in a song about Millen.”
“In the short time that I was gone, there were some folks missing
when I got home. They are the ones that we love but have found their
way on up above. But one in particular I want to call by name is the
man known as Kacey Lane. The day you left us, we didn ’t know what
we ’d do, so this song, it’s for you. And for all those people who share
the same feeling; because of that, someone should have wrote a song
about Millen. In the end, there’s just so much to say. But that’s an
other song for some other day. Until then, I guess time is all Music
Row will be killing. And maybe then they ’ll have a song about Millen,”
Then, the music stops, and Ogden begins to talk about his time in
Iraq.
“The news broadcasts don’t give a true picture of the situation,” he
said. “They show only the bad things that happen, not the good. We’re
rebuilding schools, medical facilities and helping to establish a new
government in the country. We’re making a great difference there.”
For a few more days, the two friends are content to sing and play a
song about their hometown. Too soon, however, the young hands
that hold a guitar and harmonica will once again pick up military
weapons and set about the task of seiving their country.
Davis, a 2002 graduate of Jenkins County High School (JCHS), is
the son of Roy Davis and Delane Davis. Ogden’s parents are Deborah
Shockley and Gary Ogden. He is a 2004 graduate of JCHS.
EMT of the Year
Henry Young was recently named the 2008 EMT of the
Year. He was chosen for the honor by his Jenkins County
Emergency Medical Services coworkers. Young is shown
displaying a plaque commemorating the honor, along with
a memoriam plaque in honor of EMT Chris Richardson
who died Oct. 18,2007. (Staff photo by Deborah Bennett)