2009 in review: July, August and September

From Staff Reports

AMERICUS — JULY

• July started off on a sad note as “Lucky,” a cat born with two faces in Ellaville passed away a day after being born. According to research found on the Internet, only about one in a million cats are born with two heads, however the deformity is more common among other animals, especially snakes and turtles

• Former mayor and long supporter of the arts in Sumter County, Johnny Sheffield, 80, died July 1, at his residence. He, with his brother and father, built Lake Collins which they named in honor of his father-in-law, James Chalmers Collins, and together they developed the area around Lake Collins.

• On July 4, in the shadows of the large trees that dot the Downtown City Park in Plains, and under the shadows of Jimmy Carter, a group of 250 plus concerned citizens gathered to let their voices be heard. The people gathered for the July 4 Tea Party, sponsored by the Tea Party Patriots. People were concerned about the state of overspending and bailouts that the national administration was doing.

• Schley County Schools bid farewell to William C. Johnson, their longtime superintendent. During his time as superintendent, Schley County Schools saw the building of a new elementary school, a return of the high school to the community, a surge in population growth, state recognition for academic excellence, new athletic facilities built and success in athletic programs.

• The Americus Times-Recorder brought home several awards in the 2008 Georgia Press Association Better Newspaper Contest. Chris Whitaker, sports editor, took second place in Daily Division D in Sports Writing. Columnist Stick Miller took the second place award (Joe Parham Trophy) for humerous column. The newspaper also recieved the third place award (W. Trox Bankston Trophy) for local news coverage.

• Brad Bennett took over as superintendent of the Andersonville National Historic Site in mid-July. Bennett filled the shoes left by Fred Boyles, former Park superintendent.

• The Tax digest and property tax reevaluations that went out in July. The “little blue envelope” as it became known held the property tax assessments for the homeowners property, and for some the new appraisals were hard to digest.

It was with those envelopes going out, and the questions that were sure to come that Monica Horne, Sumter County’s chief tax assessor, made an appearance at the Sumter County Board of Commissioners’ work session, where she presented the board with some of the findings from the digest and tried to answer as many questions as possible. Citizens who opened their envelopes might have been shocked that their property value have risen, and also by the amount that they had risen. In these tough economic times, how can my little piece of property rise so much in value? Board Chairman Brent Williams tried to explain the increases. “ We didn’t have the bubble here that other places have had. We never had high values, and when the sales do occur, we are holding our values.”

• Deputies from the Sumter County Sheriff’s Office responded to a call regarding a possible kidnapping in th Andersonville area. According to a statement released by the Sumter County Sheriff's office, they opened an active investigation into an alleged drug related aggravated assault/ kidnapping. It was reported that two people sought medical treatment at Crisp Regional Hospital and Sumter Regional Hospital in regards to this alleged assault. Sumter County Sheriff Pete Smith, in an interview with the Times-Recorder said, “We received a call from family members that they felt like some members of their family were being held hostage. We received this call ..., and were told that those who were being held hostaged were released, and we were able to take three individuals into custody, while two others were not able to be found at that time.”

• A grandmother who lives in Leslie recieved the shock of her life when she won a $50,000 top prize playing Jumbo Bucks Classic. Helen Grant, 61, was on her way to work when she purchased the ticket at Pepo Food Mart No. 0004, at 540 Tripp St., Americus, and scratched it in the car.

• The Georgia Governor’s Task Force, led by Lt. Eddie Williams, commander, flew into town as part of a joint effort and with the approval of Sumter County Sheriff Pete Smith, Williams and his team of around 25 members — air and ground crew (officers of the Georgia Department of Public Safety) — were surveying Sumter and surrounding counties like Webster and Lee, for the illegal growing of marijuana.

According to Williams, “This is a federally funded project that involves at least six state agencies and three federal agencies, as well as local departments … it is a federally funded project, utilizing resources that the state already has and at no extra cost to tax payers, with a purpose of defeating the illegal drug problem in the state.”

• Phones rang all through the city of Americus and the question was asked, “Have you seen the cows?” Sometime midafternoon, two loads of cows, fresh from the stockyards, was seen traveling through Americus. One of the loads was headed to Cordele, while the other would be headed east to Dublin. Around Mayo and Forsyth Streets, three of the cows, one black, one orange and another a darker color, possibly “adolescent” cows, escaped from the trailer.

• The Americus Theater and Cultural Authority received some fresh blood when the authority voted in new members to director positions. After the resignation of Chairperson Julie Megginson, who resigned because of prior family and business commitments, the authority was left to choose a new head. The authority also needed to vote in a new vice-chair, and secretary. Authority members Leila Case, Anita Barron, and Betty Bendimire had previously discussed the new appointments in a committee meeting, and they recommended Leila Case as vice chair, Anita Barron as secretary, and Elise Miller as Chairperson of the Authority. Treasurer Suzanne Freeman was also voted in as Treasurer for the Authority.

• The Americus-Sumter County Airport Authority, with Frank Joiner as chairman, and members Lou Chase, Al Hurley, Wally Summers and Chris Usrey, hosted a dedication ceremony as the terminal at Souther Field was renamed in memory of Brown Creighton Hodges.

• Just two days shy of a month since Phoebe Health Systems and Sumter Regional Hospital joined forces to become Phoebe Sumter Medical Center, another restructuring took place — this time affecting 15 jobs at the hospital. In a phone interview with the Americus Times-Recorder, Keith Petersen, interim CEO of Phoebe Sumter, said “this restructuring directly impacts 15 positions — most of them on the management level.”

• A groundbreaking ceremony was held for the new Georgia State Patrol Post 10 and Troop G Headquarters, to be constructed next to the Sumter County Agricultural Center, U.S. Highway 19 South.



AUGUST

• August started out on a positive note, as the city of Ellaville dedicated four new murals downtown. Thirty-five people gathered around to gaze at the new murals that decorated the neighboring businesses wall. The four murals, made up of a Kwanzaa stamp mural, a mural of local doctor Linton Boyette, a mural of Endine Hart, and a mural of Napolean Aldridge, Jr. were painted by Linda Adams of Linda Adams Designs as part of the Grassroots Arts Program, made possible from a grant from the Friends of the Rylander.

• The numbers kept climbing at South Georgia Technical College. The college set a new all-time high annual enrollment record with 3,558 students for this past year and its summer quarter enrollment is up over 33 percent from last year, announced SGTC President Sparky Reeves. The 3,558 unduplicated students for fiscal year 2009 represent 10 percent growth over the previous year’s enrollment.

• Members of the Americus-Sumter County Payroll Development Authority voted to loan funds for two projects that could create some 60 jobs for the area.The PDA approved a loan of $240,000 for five years at 4.5 percent interest to Georgia Packing LLC which is expected to create 10 new jobs initially.

• At a Sumter County Board of Commissioners meeting, commissioners received notice that Superior Court Judge Rucker Smith had authorized Sheriff Pete Smith to hire outside counsel against the board in hopes to receive funding to hire more personnel for additional security in the new Sumter County Courthouse.

• Sumter County received its first confirmed cases of the novel H1N1 flu in August. “There are four Georgia Public Health State Lab confirmed cases of the Novel H1N1 flu in Sumter County.” The West Central Health District in Columbus confirmed five cases of H1N1 in Sumter County. According to Dean Crist, Epidemiologist and Pam Fair, public relations information coordinator for the district, the four teenagers and one young adult had tested positive for the illness. Those five people infected by the virus were stated by the department to be getting over the virus and suffering from a mild case of the virus.

• A prisoner was taken back into custody an hour and half later after escaping from the Sumter County Correctional Institute in August. Deputies with the Sumter County Sheriff’s Office were kept busy for approximately an hour and half as they searched for an escaped Sumter County Correctional Institute inmate.

• As cold as the temperature was inside of the large courtroom at the Sumter County Courthouse, it did not stop temperatures and tempers inside of the joint meeting between the Sumter County Board of Tax Assessors and the Sumter County Board of Commissioners meeting in mid-August. The large courtroom was packed as citizens came to the board to ask questions about property tax revaluations. Monica Horne, chief appraiser for the Board of Assessors office took the barrage of most of the questions from the crowd. Starting off, Horne went through the reasoning for conducting the reevaluations, and how the reevaluations were conducted, and who exactly conducted the appraisals. Horne said, “One of the main questions that we were being asked is how could Sumter County property values go up, when the nation average are lower? First of all we were not up to National average as of January first of this year. We only use sales in Sumter County, and not those of any other area of Georgia or the United States.”

• The silence of the late night was broken one August night when what appeared to be several rounds of gunfire was exchanged between a group of individuals along the block on Cherokee Street.

As a result of this incident, Americus Police Chief James Green said in a telephone interview that one died and the other was critically injured.

Courtney Jones, 19, of Americus and Cornelius Rashad Lewis, 22, were charged in the shooting.



SEPTEMBER

• The Central Bank of Georgia in Ellaville received orders from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. to improve their practices. The bank had received the “cease-and-desist” orders in July, which were made public by the FDIC in early September.

Central Bank was required to add three board members to comply with state law and have at least two independent directors to verify the accuracy of financial data reported to the FDIC. The agency also issued an unusual 13-page notice detailing “unsafe and unsound” practices. They included manipulating and misstating the bank’s quarterly financial condition. Twice last year, the FDIC said, the bank’s holding company borrowed $500,000 from a board member and injected the money into the bank’s surplus capital account. A short time later, the bank paid a dividend to the holding company, which repaid the loan to the board member. These practices “inflated the bank’s capital at quarter and misstated the true condition of the bank,” the document said.

• In SEB No. 2008-000096 Sumter County, the Board voted to continue the case involving F.D. Norton Sr. and refer the case involving Sherry W. Ratliff, supervisor of the Sumter County Board of Elections, to the Attorney General’s Office.

Matt Matt Carrothers, director of media relations, Office of Secretary of State Karen C. Handel, would not comment on the pending cases; however he said the Ratliff case deals with the possible violation of state election Code 21-2-431(a ) “Execution of voter’s certificate; procedure upon qualification of elector; elector unable to sign name; voting outside precinct of residence; registration as prerequisite to voting.

Carrothers could not comment further because the cases are still under investigation.

• The Sumter County Board of Commissioners and the Sumter County Board of Education proposed an increase in property taxes. The BOC will increase property taxes it will levy this year by 5.14 percent over the previous year rollback rate for the Incorporated City of Americus. The new millage rate the Incorporated City of Americus is estimated to be 11.656.

• Jason Ellis Frazier, 36, of 1000 Poole Gin House Road, Americus is charged with failure to maintain lane, headlight requirements, driving without license on person and DUI (first offense), but missed out on jail time due to Frazier claiming that he had swine flu.

Lt. Terrell Coley transported the subject to the Americus Police Department where he was tested on the Intox 5000, registering .198 grams blood alcohol content. The legal limit in Georgia is .08.

Coley writes that the subject “was afforded a bond, but refused to make the bond.” Coley also said the Sumter County Sheriff’s Office would not take custody of the subject because “he said he had the swine flu.”

• A request made by Sumter County Sheriff Pete Smith for five additional deputies was a main topic of discussion at the Sumter County Board of Commissioners work session in September. Smith made the request to the commissioners for $200,000 to be taken from the regular contingency portion of the budget, which now holds around $650,000, and placed into a contingency line item in order for the sheriff to hire the five additional personnel.

The money would not be part of the 2009-2010 budget, but would rather serve as a special line item fund for the Sheriff’s Office.

• At a work session of the Sumter County Board of Education, Superintendent Dennis McMahon, shared that after five years of service in Sumter County Schools, he is retiring at year’s end. 2010.

• Friends and relatives here are mourning the unexpected and sudden death of a native son, Jody Powell, who is better known to the world as White House press secretary during the administration of former President Jimmy Carter.

•The Americus Theater and Cultural Authority once again narrowed its search for a new managing director for the Rylander Theatre to three candidates. Those vying for the position are Heather L. Cross, John McCall Jr. and Dagmar Bardo.

• At a special called meeting of the Sumter County Board of Commissioners the Board approved moving $95,581.52 from the regular contingency fund into a special line item in the budget for the Sheriff’s department. The money was said, by Sgt. Tony Woodall of the Sumter County Sheriff’s Department “to be used for the hiring of three certified officers and two ‘civil assistants’ for use in the new courthouse.”

• The Sumter County Board of Commissioners unanimously approved two separate motions at a special called meeting that will let the county create their own fire services department apart from the City of Americus. The topic had been on the minds of commissioners, knowing that the contract that they county currently held with the city was to end on December 31 of this year. Added to that it was made known that the city was looking for a more substantial commitment from the County, other than the year by year basis that the contract had been on.

• President Jimmy Carter celebrated his 85th birthday with a party held at the Rylander Theater. The Rylander was filled to capacity with those wanting to catch a glimpse of the former president, and send him best wishes for his birthday (Oct. 1).

• The long search for a managing director for the Rylander Theatre came to an end when a press release was sent out by the Americus Theater and Cultural Authority, stated “The Americus Theater and Cultural Center Authority is please to announce the candidate for Managing Director is Heather Cross. Ms. Cross was selected to carry out the mission of the Rylander Theater and to enhance the cultural experience of our local area with affordable programming.”

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