WISK/WDEC

"Local News"

Monday January 30th, 2012

An important community meeting is planned for tonight in the cafeteria at Sumter Elementary on the Bumphead Road. This is an informational meeting set up by community leaders and businessmen that hopefully can provide answers to some of the recent decisions by the Sumter County Board of Education. Some of the questions that taxpayers are interested in hearing about are the decisions on redistricting, closing Cherokee Elementary and changing law firms without any discussion in the work session or any other meeting. Superintendent Dr. Roy Brooks will attempt to give answers to these and other concerns. Board members have been invited and only a few are expected to be in attendance. Organizers of this informational meeting remind those in attendance that this will not be a “shouting match” and it WILL be conducted in a professional and orderly manner. Security will be in attendance to make sure the meeting is conducted without any incidents. The meeting tonight will start at 7pm.

Last Friday, St. Representative Mike Cheokas made public his letter to the US Justice Department calling for his support for the school districts that would be aligned with those of the County Commissioners plus the 2 at-large seats that were submitted for pre-clearance as required by the Voting Rights Act. He concluded his letter by declaring he is in full support of these districts as they are the product of both the local and state governing procedures and are an expression of the will of the people of Sumter County.

Another by-product of all this redistricting confusion is what will this delay do for qualifying? Qualifying is supposed to begin for school board candidates in May but those in charge of that don’t know how to prepare—for the present 9 Board of Education districts or for other districts? Who knows money-wise what this delay is going to cost?

An Americus man was seriously burned Saturday afternoon as he was clearing property at his home on US 27 east of town. While burning debris, it has been reported the accelerant burned Wayne Bowers, owner and operator of Wayne’s World. It was serious enough that he was air-lifted to the Augusta Burn Center. A close friend said on Sunday he had called to leave a message on Wayne’s cell phone but he was surprised when he answered it in his hospital room. He reported that although he was burned, it does appear that it may not have been as serious as first reported. It is even possible that after a few days in Augusta, Wayne Bowers may be headed back to Americus for rehab which is good news indeed.

It was a windshield-scraping kind of morning once again. If you were out and about before sunrise or shortly thereafter, you found yourself scraping your windshield. That’s been the case since Saturday as we finally returned to more January-like temperatures with morning lows dropping to around 30. It looks like the area will rebound with temperatures during the day rising back into the 70s after today. Lows at night will also rise from the upper 30s tonight to the 40s the rest of the week. A chance of rain returns with the warmer weather around Wednesday and lasting until Thursday. After a slight break on Friday, the rain returns for Super Bowl weekend. Stay informed with the changing weather by logging onto www.americusradio.com and click on the weather link.

A Neighborhood Watch meeting for City Council District 3 in Americus will meet at 6 this evening at Calvary Episcopal Church at 408 S. Lee Street. If you reside in City of Americus District 3 and are interested in forming a Neighborhood Watch on your street, please plan to attend. Americus Police Chief Mark Gerbino and others will be presenting tonight’s meeting.

Americus Police were kept busy this past weekend. A counterfeit bill was turned over to police at 1043 E. Forsyth Street at Wayne’s World.

A burglary was investigated at 601 Ashby Street.

At a traffic stop on Winn Street, Marco Cannon was arrested for speeding, driving on a suspended license and he also had an outstanding warrant for probation violation.

A 16-year old was arrested for misdemeanor possession of marijuana on E. Lamar Street.

A criminal damage to property in the 2^nd degree was reported at 307 Varsity Drive.

Chelsea Thomas was arrested for shoplifting at 103 Prince Street at Video Warehouse.

Thefts took place from 224 N. Jackson Street and at 220 Gray Street.

Leon Baisden was arrested for disorderly conduct at 103 Linnie Street.

Brittany Nicole Clark was arrested for an outstanding warrant at 1:11 Sunday morning.

Following a traffic stop at 5:06 Saturday morning on Lamar Street, Sherry A. Edgemon was arrested for DUI, reckless driving, colliding with a fixed object and driving on the wrong side of the roadway.

After a traffic stop was made on S. Lee Street, Edward B. Short was arrested for driving on a suspended license.

Criminal trespass complaints were made 205 Murphy Mill Road, 1G 110 Knollwood Drive and at 709-A Harris Street.

An aggravated assault occurred at 2:37 Saturday morning at 701 Davenport Street.

Officers went to 124 Bay Street Saturday morning before 2am to a fight.

A traffic stop was conducted on Cherokee Street that resulted in the arrest of James W. Belcher for driving on a suspended license, no proof of insurance and driving the wrong way on a one-way street.

An auto was entered at 334 Academy Street.

A shoplifting incident was reported at 103 Prince Street.

Joseph Jones was arrested for obstruction at 12:31 this morning at 300 McCoy Street.

A hit-n-run accident occurred in the Wal-Mart parking lot.

Officers worked 3 reported weekend accidents that had no injuries. After one accident investigation, Timothy Kevin Hayes was arrested for driving on a suspended license.