The Banks County news. (Homer, Banks County, Ga.) 1968-current, December 20, 2023, Image 6

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The Banks County news., December 20, 2023, Image 6

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Newspaper Page TextPAGE 6A BANKS COUNTY NEWS WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 20, 2023 Public Safety COMPLETES JAIL OFFICER TRAINING The participants in a 40-hour Jail Training Officer (JTO) Course hosted at the Banks County Sheriff’s Office Training Cen ter are shown. Students learned skills related to leadership, communication and trainee supervision. All six participants achieved certification after passing a test proctored by Bill Hallsworth, director of Jail and Court Services at the Georgia Sheriff’s Association. A training was held in the new training center at the Banks County Sheriff’s Office. U.S. Sen. John OssofF: Child welfare agencies need tools to protect foster kids By Dave Williams Capitol Beat News Service U.S. Sen. Jon Ossoff, D-Ga., vowed Thursday to help two federal agencies responsible for child welfare to develop the tools needed to protect foster children from abuse and neglect. The Senate’s Hu man Rights Subcommit tee, which Ossoff chairs, launched an investigation last February to assess the safety of children in foster care. The National Center for Missing and Exploited Chil dren (NCMEC) found in October that between 2018 and 2022, 1,790 children in the care of Georgia’s foster care system were reported missing. Dining a hearing of the subcommittee last month in Atlanta, witnesses testified that children missing from foster care are particularly vulnerable to sex traffick ing. “What is happening to foster children across the United States is not accept able,” Ossoff said Thursday during another hearing held by his subcommittee. “The number of children who are going missing from foster care is unacceptable.” Ossoff and Sen. Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee, the subcommittee’s ranking Republican, criticized lax oversight by federal and state child welfare agencies when it comes to missing children. Ossoff cited audits of multiple states that found 45% of missing child in cidents were not reported to NCMEC and that most missing children were not screened for sex trafficking after they were recovered. Blackburn said the fed eral government can’t find 85,000 missing migrant children. “We’ve seen reports of these children working in factories (and) food pro cessing plants,” she said. “We should not have to read more reports of children be ing used for child labor or sex trafficking rings.” Jose Perez, deputy assis tant director at the FBI, said one of law enforcement’s biggest challenges is end- to-end encryption, a tech nology that allows partici pants in organized criminal rings to communicate with each other without anyone else gaining access. Perez said the FBI’s 56 field offices operate more than 85 task forces across the country. Investigators prioritize cases involving missing children ages 12 and under who have gone missing under suspicious circumstances, he said. “If we believe it’s a kid napping, that’s an all-hands- on-deck scenario,” he said. Rebecca Jones Gaston, commissioner of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Adminis tration on Children, Youth and Families, said her agen cy requires state child wel fare departments to submit plans outlining their poli cies. Those that don’t meet federal requirements are of fered technical assistance so they can improve, she said. Ossoff said making sure states have adequate poli cies for dealing with foster children isn’t enough. “Putting something in a policy manual is not always implementing that policy in practice,” he said. Jones Gaston said en suring polices are put into practice is up to state and local child welfare agencies. However, her agency can and does issue corrective action plans and assess pen alties if those policies aren’t followed. Ossoff said the full Senate Judiciary Committee will hold a hearing next month to hear from CEOs of tech companies on steps they’re taking to protect children from online predators. Early News Deadline for next week Noon on Thursday. Email news items to angela@mainstreetnews.com 9 arrests reported by Banks sheriffs office The Banks County Sheriff’s Office charged nine people last week, including the following: •Jeffery Lamar Johnson, 53,81 Third Street, Lavonia, hit and run and not returning to the scene to an accident. •Michael Timothy Nation Sr., 60, 2283 Homer Road, Commerce, possession of marijuana and driving under the influence of intoxicants (DUI). •Junior Vergara, 23, 140 Hanover Place, Athens, speed ing and driving without a valid license. •Patrick Crissy Nicole, 39, 276 Waterplant Road, Com merce, failure to appear. •John Samuel Shannon, 25, 235 Hollywood Canyon Drive, Clarkesville, possession of methamphetamine, pos session of a controlled substance, possession of marijuana and possession of a weapon during the commission of a crime. •Kevin Daniel Gardiner, 36, 483 Greasy Creek Road, Homer, criminal damage to property. •Chloe Mollie-Ann Meyer, 33, Homer, hindering appre hension or punishment of a criminal. •Marcus Darryl Dove, 28, 5309 Morgan Manor Drive, Lula, probation violation. •Jesse Lee Powers, 50, 23 Maple Drive, Toccoa, DUI. Incidents reported to sheriffs office listed Incidents reported to the Banks County Sheriff’s Office recently include the following: •damage to property at an Eisenhower Drive, Commerce, business. •simple battery at an Old Highway 441 North, Baldwin, business. •possession of marijuana at a Hwy. 441, Commerce, ad dress. •dispute at a Faulkner Road, Commerce, location. •abandoned vehicle found at a Hwy. 441, Homer, ad dress. •wanted person located at a Waterplant Road, Com merce, address. A $7,500 Jackson EMC Foundation check to Joshua’s Voice, Inc., Buford, will help purchase sensory kits and educational materials for its Autism Spectrum and Sensory Processing Disorder Awareness, Training and Tools Program for first re sponders and other organizations in Banks, Gwinnett, Hall and Jackson counties that may encounter people with autism and a sensory processing disorder. At the check presenta tion were (L-R): Jill Wilson, Joshua’s Voice board member; Jennifer Fennell, Jackson EMC Gwinnett district manager; Beauty Baldwin, Jackson EMC Foundation board member; Shawnette Good, executive director of Joshua’s Voice; Dee Anderson, Jackson EMC Foundation board member; and, Kenny Lumpkin, Jackson EMC Foundation representative. Jackson EMC Foundation awards $7.5Kto organization serving Banks County residents The Jackson EMC Foundation board of directors award ed a total of $114,500 in grants for organizations during its recent meeting, including $7,500 to an organization serv ing Banks County. The grant went to $7,500 to Joshua’s Voice, Inc., Buford, for its Autism Spectrum and Sensory Processing Disorder Awareness, Training and Tools Program to purchase sen sory kits and educational materials for first responders and other organizations in Banks, Gwinnett, Hall and Jackson counties that may encounter people with autism and a sen sory processing disorder. Jackson EMC Foundation grants are made possible by the 213,228 participating cooperative members who have their monthly electric bills rounded to the next dollar amount through the Operation Round Up program. Their “spare change” has funded 1,893 grants to organizations and 426 grants to individuals, putting more than $19.9 mil lion back into local communities since the program began in 2005. Any individual or charitable organization in the ten counties served by Jackson EMC (Clarke, Banks, Barrow, Franklin, Gwinnett, Hall, Jackson, Lumpkin, Madison and Oglethorpe) may apply for a Foundation grant by complet ing an application, available online at https://www.jack- sonemc.com/foundation-apply or at local Jackson EMC offices. Applicants do not need to be a member of Jackson EMC.