Newspaper Page Text
... .The Summerville News, Thursday, March 14, 1991
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STUDENTS AT PENNVILLE LISTEN CLOSELY TO WAR TALES ‘
Sgt. Mortier Returns From Middle East War Zone |
Veteran
Relives
Experience
from front page
that they had relatives serving
in the Mideast. What's the Ar
my like, they wanted to know.
“It's very demanding but
it's verf' rewarding,”” she
replied. I stand here right now
and I see why I did what I
did.” It enables her to serve her
country and help keep it free,
to travel, and “it helps you
grow up fast.” -
SHE SPENT her first year
or so as a medic and then swit
ched to administration. Sgt.
Mortier spent 14 months sta
tioned 1n South Korea.
Several civilian friends have
asked her since her return from
the Mideast whether she plann
ed to continue her career in the
Army after enduring time in a
war zone.
“I THINK if I can handle
this (the war), I can handle
almost anything,” she said.
Jr. Deputy
Programs
Reinstated
Chattooga County Sheriff
Ralph Kellett has reactivated
the Junior Deputy Sheriff's
League for the remainder of the
current school year.
Dep. Sgt. 'l"émmy Owings
will work with Officer Lydia
Robertson of the Summerville
Police Department to Eresent
programs to various schools in
the county and to other groups.
The next meeting with
sixth graders has been plann
ed for April 9, 10 and 11 at
Pennville School, Trion
Elementary School, Summer
ville Middle School, Lyerly
School and Menlo School.
Holland Dues
Needed Friday
Annual membership
dues to the Holland
Volunteer Fire Depart
ment will be due by
Friday.
Residents of the
Holland area who are not
now members of the
department may sign up
by Friday at areduced fee
of $75.
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RIYALS HANDED OUT FOR INSPECTION BY SGT. MORTIER
Pennville Youngsters Fascinated By Saudi Money
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TIM BATTLES (L), KRIS WALLIN CHECK RIYAL
One Saudi Arabian Riyal Equals $3 U. S. Bills
Building Codes Awaited
Commissioner Reviews Enforcement Issue
from front page
Housing Code published by the
Southern Building Code Con
gress International, as well as
fire prevention, swimming
pools, amusement devices, ex
cavation and grading, abate
ment of unsafe buildings, and
existing building codes
AMENDMENTS
The legislation won't allow
cities and counties to amend
the codes unless the amend
ments are as stringent or more
stringent than the standard
codes themselves.
The codes will void all local
building codes now in effect in
local governments throughout
the state, replacing them with
the state standards. For exam
ple, the same codes that apply
to the City of Atlanta will alleo
apply to Chattooga County
and all its towns.
The Construction Codes
and Safety Section, Georgia
Department of Community Af
fairs, will be responsible for is
suing the codes and making
any statewide amendments to
i:he standards, according to the
aw. %
The statewide codes were
supported by the Georgia
Municipal Association,
Association County Commis
sioners of Georgia, Building
Officials Association of
Georgia and the Metro Atlan
ta Inspectors Association.
Council Meeting
The Summerville City
Council will meet at 6 p.m.
Monday at city hall. The
meeting was postgoned from
this past Monday night
because several councilmen
were out of town.
Price’s Sister Facing Charges
Contact With Juror Alleged In Recent Drug Trial
A warrant has been issued
for a Summerville woman for
allefijedly contacting a juror il
letgh y about the cocaine trial
of her brother.
It was issued against Gloria
Adams, 27, 4 West Seventh
Ave., Summerville, charging
her with embracery.
The little used charge ac
cuses Ms. Adams of contactin
juror Deborah Chance, Saddlg
Club Road, Summerville, in an
attempt to influence Ms.
Chance’s actions. Ms. Chance
was a juror in the cocaine sales
trial of Ms. Adams’ brother,
Dan Price, 38, Summerville.
According to a report filed
by Inv. P. R. Hill of the Chat
tooga County Sheriff's Office,
Ms. Chance said she had been
approached by Ms. Adams on
tge morning prior to the start
of Price’s trial.
FIRST NAME
Ms. Adams allegedly asked
Ms. Price if she were a juror in
the Dan Price case, the report
indicated. Ms. Chance reßlied
that she was a juror in a Price
case but couldn’t remember the
person’s first name, the in
vestigator added.
“Well, if it’s Dan Price, he's
not guilty,” Ms. Adams then
told her, according to Ms.
Chance. . ” g
The jury’s foreman brought
the matter to the attention of
Judge Joseph Loggins of Chat
tooga County Superior Court,
who conferred with Bobby Lee
Cook Jr., Price’s attorney, and
with Ronald Adams (no rela
tion), assistant district at
torney, about the matter. The
judge also questioned the jury
as to whether the contact
would have any effect on its
decision an(f individual
members said they wouldn't be
swayed by the contact, Hill
reported.
CHARGE
Asst. DA Adams then told
Inv. Johnny Bass of the
district attorney’s office to con
tact the sheriff’s office and
issue a warrant on embracery
against Ms. Adams.
Inv. Hill said Tuesday that
he understood Ms. Adams had
been arrested in Walker Coun
ty on other charges unrelated
to the embracery count and
would be booked at the Chat
tooga Jail on her return to the
county.
Price was convicted on
March 1 of one count of selling
cocaine and ac&;uitted on two
other counts. Judge Loggins
sentenced him to lgyears with
five to be served in prison.
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& ‘ Of Chattooga County
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INGLES SUPERMARKET BRANCH — SUMMERVILLE — AND — TRION —
10:00 A.M. - 6:00 p.m. 7:30 a.m.-6 p.m.
Monday-Friday Monday-Friday
10:00 a.m. - 2:00 p.m. Saturday Saturday ’til Noon
The maximum penalty for a
conviction on embracery is
from one to five years in prison
or a fine of SI,OOO, or both
ggnagties, according to the
istrict attorney’s office.
ACQUITTED
Meanwhile, a 12-man {:\‘lry
acquitted Michael ay
McGraw, 29, Berryton com
munity, of voluntary
manslaughter shortly before
noon last Thursday in the
shooting death of his cousin.
McGraw had been charged
with murder on June 8, 1990
after his cousin, Dennis Lee
McGraw, 20, Berryton, Sum
merville Rte, 5, was found shot
inside the bedroom of Michael
Fay McGraw and his wife,
Eva. Dennis died en route to a
hospital, suffering three gun
shot wounds from a .22 cafiger
rifle. A Chattooga Grand Jury
later reduced 518 charge to
voluntary manslaughter.
Ralph Van Pelt, district at
torney, said the prosecution’s
case suffered a major setback
when Eva McGraw, Michael’s
wife, invoked the marital ex
emption and refused to testify
against her husband.
Dep. Jerry Davenport of
the Chattooga County gheriff’s
Office testified during the trial
that Michael McGraw told
him, “Jerry, I caught him in
the trailer and I shot him.”
UNAWARE
But McGraw himself
testified that he didn’'t know
that his cousin was in his
mobile home when he returned
home after becoming ill at
work in LaFayette. Michael
said he got home about 3:30
a.m. on June 8. s
He walked in the back door
to keep a tarlike substance on
his shoes from getting on the
car(gjet at the front door,
McGraw told Carlton Vines,
his defense lawyer. He turned
on the kitchen light and noted
that the bedroom door was
shut, McGraw said.
When he opened the door to
the “pitch black” bedroom, his
wife started asking him ques
tions, McGraw continued. Sud
denly, “‘the bed flew up and 1
was pushed back against the
wall.”” An unidentified person
knocked him about the room,
McGraw said, and he found his
son’s .22 caliber rifle and
started swinging it at whatever
had attacked him. He denied
knowing that the person was
his cousin.
SCARED
“T've tried to block this
out,” he testified. ‘“l've had
trouble sleeping." McGraw
told the jury that he didn't
recall firing the weapon but
didn't deny that he shot the ri
fle. “I was'scared . . . It plumb
scared me.”
When the struggle ceased,
he told his wife to call the
police, McGraw said, but she
was hysterical so he walked to
his parents’ home in front of
his mobile home and asked her
to call an ambulance and law
enforcement officers.
Vines asked why he had
shot into the back of his own
station wagon.
“DREAM?”
“It was sort of like trying
to find out if this was a dream
or what,” McGraw replied. ‘I
couldn’t believe it happened.”
He said he fired the gun into
his own vehicle to determine if
;h:d weapon had actually been
ired.
During the struggle in the
bedroom, he told the jury, ‘I
was g’ust tryir)%l to get away
and find out what was going
on.”
Van Pelt tried to shake
McGraw’s story, asking him
several times whether he
believed that his wife knew
that someone was in the
bedroom. McGraw avoided a
direct response to the district
attorney’s queries on that
sub%"ect.
ointing out that an autop-
SK of Dennis McGraw revealed
that he was s’s"’ and weighed
140 flounds. Van Pelt asked
whether Michael believed that
Dennis “‘threw up the bed on
his back and came flying out
after you?”
“It’s very easily done,”
Michael replied, noting later
that the bed was a ‘‘trailer
bed”’ and wasn’t as heavy as a
regular bed.
Van Pelt asked how
Michael’s wife was dressed at
the time. McGraw said he
couldn’t recall her attire. He
also denied slapping her after
the shootinfii
Noting that the .22 semi
automatic rifle was loaded with
a long clip, Van Pelt asked
McGraw i? he had %ott,en the
gun for his 8-year-old son.
“Yessir,” McGraw replied.
“This stranger that sprung
up from the bed like the
booieyman didn’t have a gun
did he?”’ Van Pelt asked.
~ Michael said he didn’t know
because the room was pitch
black: ol il :
He also denied accusing
Dennis of ‘“‘messing’’ with his
wife. However, Dennis
volunteered that he had been
seeing Eva McGraw, Michael
acknowlegs;l‘ to Van Pelt. His
wife also itted that Dennis
had seen her, Michael testified.
Didn't Eva know that Den
nis was in the bedroom? Van
Pelt asked.
“I don’t even know where
she was during this struggle,”
he replied.
A forensic scientist from
the Georgia Crime Laboratory
testified that the muzzle of the’
992 caliber rifle was at least
three feet away from Dennis
when it was fired, Van Pelt
reminded Michael. The
“monster’’ that leaped from
under the bed “‘was well out of
arm'’s reach when you killed
it,” Van Pelt said.
McGraw denied that a hole
in the bed’s mattress was a
bullet hole. The prosecution
had contended tgat Dennis
McGraw was either under or
K{artiallf' under the bed when
ichael fired the rifle through
the mattress, striking Dennis
and causing a puddle of blood
directly under the hole. But
Michael said the bed had been
turned onto its side during the
struggle.
Meanwhile, another Chat
tooga County Superior Court
jury Thursday convicted
Michael Whitehead, 38, Trion,
of two counts of selling mari
juana. Judge Loggins sentenc
ed Whitehead to 10 years with
six to be served in prison.
FINAL TRIAL
One person was convicted
and another was accg‘xitted in
the final trial of the February
term of court last Friday.
A jury convicted Rosie
Helen Adams, West Seventh
Avenue, Summerville, on a
charge of selling cocaine to an
undercover officer on Dec. 8,
1989. The panel also acquitted
Teresa Ann Adams of selling
drugs to the agent that same
day.
A couple of guilty pleas
were entered from Chattooga
Countians during court in
Ringgold Monday.
aul Hix Elrod pled guilty
to two counts of being an
habitual violator, one count of
possessing a misdemeanor
amount of marijuana, and one
count of attempting to elude
officers. He was’placed on a
total of four years probation
and fined SI,OOO plus costs.
Robert Maples pled guilty
to the sale of cocaine in a non
negotiated plea. He was placed
on 10 [irears robation as a first
offender ang fined $2,000 plus
costs.