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PAGE 2A- THE MADISON COUNTY (GA) JOURNAL. THURSDAY. NOVEMBER 28. 2019
Day
continued from 1A
Ring’s bullet-proof vest is un
der his sweater. It’s bulky.
"That can’t be comfortable,”
Isay.
He says he’s used to it.
"It’s hot in the summer; it's
hot in the winter,” he said. “You
can be out here directing traffic
in 20-degree weather, but with
that vest, you will still sweat.”
Truth is, if I wore the bul
let-proof vest while riding, I
might not even fit in the passen
ger seat. Ring has a Toughbook
computer that sits mounted on
the passenger side of the vehi
cle, and I have squeezed in with
about three inches to spare over
my gut, reminding me that diet
ing should be back on my life
agenda.
I've brought a pack of peanut
butter crackers and I hand him
one, too. But eating isn’t much
of a priority to Ring on work
days, he says. He gets by on en
ergy drinks and dip as he rides
the roads. Officers work two
days one week, five days the
next week for an 84-hour pay
period.
"I usually eat once a day,” he
said.
Ring, the son of the late Jim
Ring, a long-time teacher and
coach at Madison County High
School, oversees one of the four
patrol units for the sheriff’s of
fice, and his laptop allows him
to see where each of the depu
ties under his command is in the
county. We talk of the good and
bad of technology. One good
thing — he can know where ev
erybody is under his command
at all times.
"We used to not know where
people were,” he said.
Ring moves like a roverback
over the whole county, going
where needed. There's a Hwy.
106-area deputy, a Hwy. 72-
area patrol person, someone in
the Dogsboro/Hull area. Col
bert has a day-time deputy four
days a week. There’s a “one-to-
one” officer working a 1 p.m. to
1 a.m. shift.
“If it’s hot, I'm there,” said
Ring. "Hot” means serious busi
ness. And yes, there’s frequently
serious business. It’s all in the
incident reports that come every
Monday to this newspaper from
the sheriff's office. I am well
acquainted in reviewing reports
that qualify as "hot” in the bad
way.
But this morning, dispatch
er Amy Duncan’s voice isn’t
sounding any alarms for major
incidents. There are no “10-16s”
or “domestic” calls. No one is
hurting anyone. Love hasn't
turned ugly today in Madison
County.
Earlier we stopped at a Col
bert man’s house to inform
him that the man who stole his
vehicle is being released from
jail. The sheriff's office notifies
victims of crime about the re
lease of perpetrators from pris
on. But the man isn't answering
his door.
Last night was "hot.” There
was an armed robbery at Tiny
Town in Carlton, with two men
reportedly holding a clerk at
gunpoint. But today, the scanner
is pretty chilled like the weather.
And then, “Oh look, that car
doesn’t have a tag.” So, Ring
puts the car in drive, pops on the
blue lights and hits the gas. The
acceleration is remarkable. If
the woman driving the beat-up,
white Geo Prism without a tag
thinks she can outrun this 2019
Dodge Charger, then well, no.
“They could maybe outdrive
you, but they can't outrun you,”
Rings says. At a certain point,
speed becomes a weapon. It’s a
matter of context and judgment.
On a straight away, he’ll push it
more. On Glen Carrie Road, or
any other hilly and curvy road,
he said the risk of hitting some
one is too great to get over-zeal
ous. He has advice for motor
ists who see blue lights behind
them. Just calmly pull over. He
said some people recklessly
jerk the car off the roadway. He
said he’s had a driver stop in the
roadway directly in front of him.
“Yeah, that happened,” he
said. “Sometimes people freak
out. ”
He writes up the woman for
not having a car tag and gets a
court date to put on her ticket.
He does it the old-fashioned
way, a ticket with carbon paper,
because I’m blocking access to
his in-car computer and he also
can’t pull up information from
the Georgia Crime Information
Center (GCIC) with me able to
see it, since I don’t have authori
zation to see such data.
“I haven't done it this way in
forever,” he said.
Ring tells me after the stop
that he sees more cars without
a tag since the state changed
its car tag laws, requiring full
tax payment up front on vehi
cle purchases. For the severely
cash-strapped, that tax can be
almost as much as a low-budget
car. Some people just don’t have
the money to pay both that fee
and the car cost. They end up
driving for a time without a tag.
Corporal Josh Smith has also
pulled over a car this morning
without a tag. And I hear talk
on the scanner of a brown sub
stance and possible heroine.
Ring says the woman arrested
is well known to the department
and has just been released from
jail. She is taken to jail and re
portedly having a fit at the sher
iff’s office. We’re headed back
that way.
“And here she is again, back
in trouble,” he says, adding that
whatever is in her trunk is sure
ly some form of drug. Ring is
right. The test kit strikes positive
for meth. "Everything stems
from dope or domestic. That’s
your two main things. And most
of your robberies are drug-relat
ed somehow.”
We pull back into the sheriff’s
office. The arrested woman is
no longer in the booking room,
but I see the restraint chair and
helmet where people who are
terribly agitated are sometimes
put to calm down. It looks any
thing but pleasant.
The lieutenant soon gets
called to deal with a walk-in
request from a woman seeking
a report for her damaged car for
insurance purposes. She said
someone hit her about a week
before. But she doesn't know
when or where.
Ring tells her he can sim
ply take her information and
give her a report that says she
showed the damage to the sher
iff’s office.
We walk back in to the report
room. Cpl. Smith is sitting at one
computer typing up the meth ar
rest and Ring sits at another typ
ing up the car damage report he
just received. In between them
is a television with news about
yet another school shooting, this
time just north of Los Angeles.
No one stops typing. I don’t feel
shocked by it either, not today.
It’s just more news, more of
the same. It’s so perversely fre
quent. I don’t feel like talking
about it in that moment. Doubt
they do either. I turn to investi
gator Steve Kimbrell and ask
him about his duties overseeing
the evidence room. Ring has
mentioned Kimbrell's evidence
duty in the car: “That’s the last
job I would want,” said Ring.
“What a headache.”
Before long, we’re back out
on the road. I’ve already brought
up the topic on everyone’s mind,
the shooting just four days earli
er. I bring it up again with Ring.
I scheduled the ride along a
couple of weeks before the in
cident. And then on the previous
Sunday night, Madison County
deputy, Winford "Trey” Adams,
32, was charged with murder
of Benjamin Lloyd Cloer, 26,
Athens.
Adams had been at the of
fice since August 2018. He was
nicknamed “Milkbone” at the
department because he had got
ten bitten by a dog on his first
day and had a couple of other
canine incidents.
Ring said the shooting blind
sided the sheriff’s office.
"That was a train wreck,” said
Ring. “That was bad. I went out
there. He called one of the other
guys. I just went out there, hear
ing about it. He was one of our
guys. We didn't hang out and
stuff like that. But he seemed
like a good dude, a jam up guy.
It was a shock.”
Ring was the officer who
talked his co-worker into sur
rendering and handcuffed him.
"Yeah, that’s definitely one
that will stick with you,” he said.
I ask Ring about tough calls.
"Some have seen things
worse than I have,” he said.
But he said anything involv
ing death, particularly children,
gets to him. There are some im
ages he can’t forget. He talked
about one fatal wreck with a
child from several years ago.
Days after this ride-along,
a Hwy. 98 wreck claimed the
life of a 5-month-old boy and
severely injured two other chil
dren. Ring, and all those who
respond to such calls, see the
worst things up close.
Ring said his brother, Matt,
was an officer in Athens the day
Madison County resident and
Athens police officer Buddy
Christian was killed on the job.
"He was there beating the
same ground that day when all
that happened,” said Ring.
His brother recently got out
of law enforcement, working
at an electric motor business
instead.
Ring likes the thought
of leaving, too. The job has
changed, he said. He notes that
the county is growing as we ride
past numerous homes under
construction during the patrol.
He said the staff size is the same
as when he started in 2001.
“We're going to need more
people,” he said.
Ring said the life of patrol
work is hard on a family. He has
a wife and two kids and says
he’d like to find another line of
work one of these days. Ring
has a second job doing grading
work with Wesley Chandler. He
said many at the department
work two jobs. One guy shoes
horses. One works at Home De
pot. Others have lawn business
es. Others pick up court duties
for extra hours.
“You basically have to,” he
said about the finances.
Ring said humor helps of
ficers get through it all. He
said a group of co-workers
enjoy pranking each other. He
pulls out a little bottle of “Liq
uid @$$” and says he hit one
co-worker's car with it when he
left his window partly cracked.
“It lasts about 20 minutes,” he
said, smiting. “It smells awful.”
I chuckle, but no demonstra
tion for me. I’m content with
taking his word for it.
We roll back to the depart
ment. I have to go pick up my
daughter from school. Ring said
he enjoyed a few hours without
drama.
“Some days, it’s four or five
calls back to back,” he said.
But not today. That bul
let-proof vest never touched my
chest. And I'm fine with that.
For others, putting on that vest
is just part of getting dressed in
the morning — or at night. It's
the unseen part of the uniform
that carries weight, literally and
figuratively.
Power
continued from 1A
Strickland continued from 1A
causes my eyes, throat, and
lungs to bum, and gives me
disorienting headaches.”
Health hazards now top
the list of concerns for res
idents and they are con
cerned about creosote runoff
from the stacked ties. The
Georgia Environmental De
partment published notice of
the proposed change in The
Atlanta Journal Constitution
but not in the newspaper of
record for Madison County,
The Madison County Jour
nal. Local residents were
unaware of the proposal un
til after the comment period
expired.
Organizers plan to have
three local scientists speak
at the meeting. Wendy
Meehan holds a Masters of
Public Health degree and
will contrast what the com
munity was promised by
Georgia Renewable Pow
er with the present reality.
Dave Ramsey, also with a
Masters in Public Health,
will talk about the poten
tial hazards from biomass
plants as described by the
American Lung Association
and other health organiza
tions. Finally, David Vogel,
with a Doctorate in Bio
physics, will describe the
volatile compounds that can
be found in emissions from
burning crossties. A ques-
tion-and-answer session will
follow the presentation.
Madison County Clean
Power Coalition members
say they want residents of
Madison County and sur
rounding counties to be
aware of the health risks
associated with living near
a facility that burns railroad
ties. According to Vogel,
public pressure “may induce
management of the plant to
address some of these is
sues, but potential creosote
emissions can only be elim
inated by discontinuing use
of the ties.” He adds that it
is “illegal to bum used ties
in the European Union, and
in many other countries and
states, and it was illegal in
the U.S. from 2011 to 2016.”
BOC
continued from 1A
for the 2020 county elections.
They are as follows: sheriff:
$1,943.28: BOC chairman:
$1,943.28: clerk of superior
court: $1,591.05; tax commis
sioner: $1,591.05; probate court
judge: $1,591.05: coroner:
$351.81; BOC commissioners,
$216; board of education: $94.62.
Qualifying dates are March 2,
9 a.m. through March 6 at noon.
All qualifying will be done at the
elections office.
PAY CHANGES
The board approved the fol
lowing pay grade changes in the
road and recreation departments.
In the road department, a heavy
equipment operator I moving to
a heavy equipment operator II
gets a $.75 cent per hour increase;
a heavy equipment operator II
to heavy equipment operator El
receives a $.75 an hour increase;
a mechanic I to mechanic II re
ceives a $1.50 an hour increase; a
mechanic II to mechanic III gets
a $1.50 an hour increase; an em
ployee who gets a CDL class B
driver certification gets $.75 more
an hour; a CDL Class A driver
gets $1.25 more an hour; an on-
call employee gets $.20 more an
hour and an employee with an
EPD blue card gets $.25 more an
hour.
In the recreation department, a
part-time seasonal position mov
ing to a part-time recreation lead
er gets a $.25 an hour increase,
while a recreation leader moving
to a recreation supervisor gets a
$.50 an hour increase.
LIBRARY REPORT
The commissioners heard
from library branch manager
Jennifer Ivey, who presented the
library’s quarterly report for July
through September. She said
there were 66 adult programs
during those three months, with
986 in attendance. Meanwhile,
there were 92 youth programs
with 2,957 in attendance. Ivey
also informed the board that the
library has two sewing machines
that are available for use by the
public at no cost. Ivey said she is
thankful for library patrons, for
the support library receives from
county commissioners and for
assistance the library gets from
the Friends of the Library, which
helps cover the cost of materials
as the library faces state budget
cuts.
experience. I am thankful for the opportuni
ty to have served as your Clerk of Superior
Court and the many friends I made along
the way.”
Michelle Holliman Strickland is the
daughter of the late Ohel C. Holliman of
Quitman, Mississippi, where she was bom,
and Hubbard and Edna Conwell of Comer.
She moved to Transco Village in 1963, at
tended Madison County High School and
graduated in 1970. She is married to Amal
Strickland. They have one son, Sam. Her
brother, Toni Holliman, is married to Cher
yl Rhoden and they have three children and
two grandchildren.
"The ability of a political jurisdiction to
function properly requires those that serve
to have the particular balance of knowl
edge, compassion, strength, humility and
integrity that, without question, Michelle
has exemplified over her many years of ser
vice,” Comer officials said. “Her yearround
Spirit of Christmas attitude is summed up in
her statement that ‘I am certainly honored
to have been chosen to serve as the Grand
Marshal for the Comer Christmas Parade.
I have many fond memories of the Comer
Christmas Parades in the past. The parade
has always been the official kick off for the
holiday season for me.’”
MADISON COUNTY BOARD OF EDUCATION
SCHEDULE OF APPROVED LOCAL OPTION SALES TAX PROJECTS
YEAR ENDED JUNE 30, 2019
SCHEDULE "4"
AMOUNT
AMOUNT
ORIGINAL
CURRENT
EXPENDED
EXPENDED
ESTIMATED
ESTIMATED
IN CURRENT
IN PRIOR
PROJECT
PROJECT
COST (1)
COSTS (2)
YEAR (3) (4)
YEARS (3) (4)
STATUS
2006 SPLOST
(1) Acquiring, construction, equipping and furnishing
of new school building and facilites, including, but
not limited to, a new middle school.
(2) The addition, renovation and repair and improvement
of existing school buildings and facilites, including,
but not limited to, the existing middle school, other
schools, transportation facilities and administrative
offices.
(3) the acquisition and purchase of systemwide
technology and safety equipment, including, but not
limited to, computer hardware and software and
security and safety equipment
(4) the acquisition and purchase of school vehicles,
including, but not limited to, school buses and
maintenance vehichles.
(5) acquiring of any property necessary or desirable
therefore, bother real and personal Fund 308 $ 10,000,000 $ 23,094,137 $ 79,936 21,673,639 6/30/20
2011 SPLOST
(1) Acquiring, constructing and equipping new schools
and facilities, including physical education/athletic facitlites
Madison County High School
(2) Adding to, renovating, repairing, improving, and
equipping existing school buildings and school system
facilities (including physical education/athletic faciliites
and parking lots), but not limited to construction and
renovation at Madison High School.Comer Elem, lla Elem
(3) Acquiring miscellaneous new equipment, fixtures and
furnishing for the school system, including technology
equipment and safety and security equipment.
(4) Acquiring school buses and transportation
and maintenance equipment
(5) Acquiring a portion of a psycho-educational faciltty
(6) Paying portion of principal and interest due on the
Series 2006 G/O Bonds not to exceed $3,718,537
(7) Paying a portion of the debt service on the
General Obligation Debt of the School District
not to exceed $10,000,000.00
(8) Paying Expenses incident to accomplishing the
foregoing. Fund 311/318
14,300,000 $
31,800,807 $
211,671 #
29,876,146
6/30/30
$
24,300,000 $
54,894,944.00 $
291,606.75 $
51,549,785
(1) The School District's original cost estimate as specified in the resolution calling for the imposition of the Local Option Sales Tax.
(2) The School District's current estimate of total cost for the projects. Includes all cost from project inception to completion.
(3) The voters of Madison County approved the imposition of a 1% sales tax to fund the above projects and retire
associated debt. Amounts expended for these projects may include sales tax proceeds, state, local property
taxes and/or other funds over the life of the projects.
(4) In addition to the expenditures shown above, the School District has incurred interest expense to provide advance funding
for the above projects as follows:
Prior Years $ 6,610,424.62
Current Year 478,947.19
Total $ 7,089,371.81