About The Banks County news. (Homer, Banks County, Ga.) 1968-current | View Entire Issue (July 5, 2017)
50<t • WEDNESDAY, JULY 5,2017 Homer, Banks County, GA 30547 • A Publication of MainStreet Newspapers, Inc. • 16 Pages, 2 Sections Plus Supplements • Vol. 49 No. 31 Index •Crime —6A •Obituaries —7A •Classifieds — 4B • Legals — 6B-7B •Sports —IB-2B, 8B Blood drive planned July 24 The Banks County High School HOSA (Future Healthcare Professionals of America) is hosting a blood drive on Monday, July 24, from 2 to 7 p.m. in the activity room at the school. “This is an urgent need time of year for the Amer ican Red Cross,” organiz ers state. “Please help and donate. Bottom line is you will help save lives plus send students to conference this fall. Stu dents will receive $10 per pint over the first 30 pints donated. This money will go towards the students HOSA activities for the fall leadership conference.” Go to redcrossblood. org and enter “BCHS” to schedule an appoint ment. Historical society to present mock trial The Banks County His torical Society will present a mock trial on Saturday Sep tember 2, during the 45th annual Holiday Festival. The mock trial will be per formed in the upstairs court room of the historic court house between the hours of noon and 6 p.m. Updated information can be found at MockTri- al2017 @ B anksCountyHis- toricalSociety.org Send us your recipes Banks County cooks are asked to submit their favor ite recipe to the MainStreet Newspapers Inc. to be fea tured in an upcoming issue. Recipes can be emailed to angie@mainstreetnews. com Those selected will receive a free one-year subscription (or renewal) to the newspaper. When you submit the recipe, also include whether your sub scription is a renewal or a new subscription. Suspect caught in bank robbery Banks County inves tigators have obtained warrants for the female who has been identified as the suspect in the bank robbery that occurred on Monday, June 19, at Northeast Georgia Bank in Banks Crossing. Christi Diane Slade, 44, of Rensselaer, New York, was detained at Rensselaer County Sheriffs Office (New York) when she arrived to visit with her incarcerated husband last Thursday evening. Slade ultimately confessed to the Banks County bank robbery, as well as one in Washington County, and is currently awaiting extradi tion to Maryland from New York to face Washington County Sheriff’s Office’s outstanding charges. Once in Maryland, she will then face extradition to Georgia to face the charge of armed robbery. “Our agency was con tacted when Washington County Sheriff’s Office in Maryland had received information concern ing our recent bank robbery and the eerily familiar similarities that were present in their own recent bank robbery,” Banks County Sheriff’s office spokesman Caris- sa McFadden stated. “Washington County investigators were success ful in developing a suspect in their agency’s case that occurred in Hagerstown, Md. last Wednesday at approximately 4:20 p.m. Banks County and Washington County Investigators were able to compare notes and during their extensive investigation, an overwhelming amount of evidence connected the suspect to both crimes. A national lookout alert was sent out which included the particulars of the sus pect.” During the investigation, it was discovered that Slade has been convicted of charges related to conducting a bank robbery in 1993 and 2008. She was released from federal prison in 2013. On Monday morning, June 19, at approximately 10:30 a.m., Banks County deputies received a report of an armed robbery that had already occurred at Northeast Georgia Bank located at 30990 Highway 441. The suspect was described as a thin white female in her early to mid-30s with blonde hair. Witnesses stated that she stood at approximately 5’4, wear ing a white T-shirt and brown shorts. She was observed with a black bandana on her head but removed it after leaving the bank. She was armed with a firearm and left the business on foot towards Days Inn. SLADE SUMMER CAMP DAYS HAVING FUN Kayla Duncan helps campers tie-dye shirts during last week’s fun camp at the Banks County Parks and Recreation Department. Photos by Charles Phelps DODGEBALL STARTS! Campers at the Banks County Parks and Recreation Department’s fun camp charge towards the middle of the gym floor to retrieve balls at the start of one of the many dodgeball games played throughout last week. 4 8 7 9 1 4 1 4 3 o BOC approves funds for improvements at 9-1-1 center BY ANGELA GARY The Banks County Board of Commissioners agreed at its meeting last week to purchase a console and phone switcher for the 9-1-1 department at a cost of $289,781. The bid was awarded to Frontier Solution. 9-1-1 director Deidra Moore pre sented the request to the BOC at the June 27 meeting. In other business, the BOC approved the following: • a fire/EMS software and tech nology agreement with Conduit Government Systems for $5,387. • a wastewater spray field clean up and maintenance agreement with Baird Enterprises Inc. for $91,000. The cost break-down includes $53,000 for the initial cleanup, $10,000 for yearly main tenance on the small field and $28,000 for yearly maintenance at the Racetrack plant. • an agreement with NSync Inc. for $1,175 and $2,350 for an annex audio visual systems service agree ment and a courthouse audio visu al systems service agreement. •approved a budget amend ment resolution. Finance direc tor Randy Failyer stated: “We were not changing anything as far as increasing or decreasing the 2017 budget. This just allows me to make adjustments between departments to clean up or pre pare the county’s budget for the annual audit. BOC chairman Jimmy Hooper said, “We are going to finish this fiscal year in the best shape we’ve been in. Randy does an outstanding job.”
