Newspaper Page Text
PAGE 6A
BANKS COUNTY NEWS
WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 3, 2024
Public Safety
Volunteers with the Shop With A Hero program are shown at Walmart at Banks Crossing.
BCSO sponsors Shop With A Hero
The annual Shop With
A Hero program was held
recently with area chil
dren taken on a shopping
trip with donations from
the community. Law en
forcement officers assisted
the children in picking out
items at Walmart at Banks
Crossing.
Agencies participating
along with the Banks Coun
ty Sheriff’s Office includ
ed Banks County Fire &
EMS, Banks County EMA
& E-911, Maysville Police
Department, Alto Police
Department, Law Enforce
ment Division — Georgia
DNR, Georgia Bureau of
Investigation. A law enforcement officer helps an area child shop at Walmart.
One of the shoppers in the Shop With A Hero program
looked through clothes. See Page 6 for article and more
photos.
Robe shopping was part of the Shop With A Hero effort held
recently at Walmart at Banks Crossing.
8 arrests reported
by sheriffs office
The Banks County Sheriff’s Office recently charged the
following:
•Joshua Bello-Hemandez, 26, 114 Loggins Lane, Com
merce, possession of methamphetamine and obstruction of
an officer.
•Courtney Natasha Snyder, 35, 45 Brooklyn Chase,Jef
ferson, possession of methamphetamine.
•Tanya Lynn Allison, 52, 733 Garland White Road, Alto,
possession of a controlled substance and sale of a con
trolled substance.
•David Michael Mitchell, 53, possession of metham
phetamine.
•Julio Cesar Sanchez-Alvarez, 19, Howard Johnson Inn,
Commerce, failure to yield while turning left and driving
without a valid license.
•Briana Jenai Galarza-Dickenson, 25, 952 Neal Road,
Commerce, driving while license suspended or revoked.
•Juan Velasquez Maldonado, 19, 470 North Maple
Street, Simpsonville, S.C., driving without a valid license
and following too closely.
•Bryan Sanchez, 36, 533 Valleyview Drive, Winder,
driving while license suspended.
Incidents reported
to sheriffs office
The following incidents were reported recently to the
Banks County Sheriff’s Office:
•shoplifting at a Banks Crossing business.
•shoplifting at a Banks Crossing business.
•dispute at a Fort Lamar Road, Commerce, address.
State senator taking
aim at ‘swatting 5
By Dave Williams
Capitol Beat News Service
A state senator plans to introduce legislation dining
the upcoming session of the General Assembly aimed at
“swatting,” false reports of criminal activity that send po
lice to the homes or offices of targeted victims.
Since Christmas Day, three Republican state senators, a
Democratic state senator, GOP Lt. Gov. Burt Jones, and
U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Rome, have been tar
geted by swatting calls.
“This issue goes beyond politics - it’s about public safety
and preserving the integrity of our institutions,” said state
Sen. Clint Dixon, R-Buford, one of the victims of swat
ting, who announced Thursday that he will back legislation
strengthening penalties for false reporting and misuse of
police forces.
“We will not stand for these threats of violence and in
timidation. Those involved in swatting must be held ac
countable under the full extent of the law.”
Besides Dixon, other state senators targeted by swatting
calls include Republicans John Albers of Roswell and Kay
Kirkpatrick of Marietta, and Democrat Kim Jackson of
Stone Mountain.
Greene told The Hill, a Washington, D.C.-based newspa
per covering Congress, that her two daughters were targets
of swatting on Thursday, just days after she experienced
what she estimated was the eighth swatting call aimed at
her.
“Whoever is doing this, you are going to get caught and
it won’t be funny to you anymore,” Greene wrote on X, the
social media platform known as Twitter.
The 2024 session of the General Assembly will begin
Jan. 8.
Raffensperger renews call to end general election runoffis
By Dave Williams
Capitol Beat News Service
Georgia Secretary of
State Brad Raffensperger
has renewed his call for the
General Assembly to end
general election runoffs in
the Peach State.
In a statement released
last week, Raffensperger
said getting rid of runoffs
following the November
elections would give Geor
gians a holiday-season
pause from politics.
“Next year, there will
be a contentious presiden
tial election - and fami
lies across Georgia will be
settling down for the holi
days shortly after,” he said.
“Let’s give them a break
and take another costly
and unnecessary election
off the Thanksgiving table.
I’m calling on the General
Assembly to visit this topic
next session and eliminate
this outdated distraction.”
Raffensperger raised the
issue of runoffs last Decem
ber after incumbent U.S.
Sen. Raphael Wamock,
D-Ga., defeated Republican
challenger Herschel Walk
er in a runoff. However,
it didn’t gain any traction
during this year’s legislative
session.
While some second-place
finishers in general elec
tions have gone on to turn
the tables and win runoffs,
Wamock finished first in
both the 2022 general elec
tion and runoff, lending cre
dence to the argument that
general election runoffs are
an unnecessary waste of tax
dollars.
Georgia lawmakers have
made changes to the vote
threshold general election
candidates must meet to
avoid runoffs since 1968,
when voters approved a
constitutional amendment
requiring the governor’s
race to go to a runoff if none
of the candidates received a
majority of votes in the gen
eral election.
After Democratic incum
bent Sen. Wyche Fowler
lost to Republican chal
lenger Paul Coverdell in a
1992 runoff, the General
Assembly’s then-Demo-
cratic majority reduced the
50%-plus-one vote require
ment to avoid a runoff to
45%. That worked out for
the Democrats four years
later when the late Max Cle-
land won the seat of retiring
Sen. Sam Nunn with more
than 45% of the vote but
less than 50%.
Republicans responded
to that 1996 loss when the
GOP won control of the
legislature in 2004. During
their first legislative ses
sion in power, Republicans
%
ARNELL
DESIGNS
EMORIALS
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changed the requirement
back to the 50%-plus-one
threshold.
Georgia and Louisiana
are the only two states that
feature general election
runoffs. A handful of other
states - mostly in the South
- limit runoffs to primary
elections in which no candi
date receives a majority of
the vote.
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