Entries by Walter Geiger

Two patients, reportedly young children, were flown out of a soybean field near the intersection of Brent and Community House roads Wednesday night on separate medical evacuation choppers. The last helicopter left the scene at 9:38 p.m. Both went to Atlanta hospitals.

There were indications the children somehow ingested medication at a home on Community House Road.

There were no accidents or law enforcement issues in the are at the time.

More to follow....

By Mike Ruffin

I’m in the middle of teaching a college course on the New Testament, and we just finished talking about the Gospels. I’m also about to start teaching another course, this one on just the Gospels.

So I’ve had the Gospels on my mind. This is a good thing.

Here are a few fun facts about the Gospels.

First, they were all written well after Jesus lived, died, and rose again. The Gospel of Mark is probably the oldest of the Gospels, dating to around 70 A.D. The Gospels of Matthew and Luke were probably written ten to twenty years after Mark, and John a few years later than Matthew and Luke. During the years between Jesus’ departure and the first written Gospel, preachers and teachers shared the stories about and teachings of Jesus orally.
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A 21-year-old Forsyth man was sentenced to five years with four years to serve in prison Oct. 10 by Judge Tommy Wilson for punching a female BPD officer in the face during a Jan. 18 melee at the local Waffle House. [Full Story »] 

By Walter Geiger

At the first Greenwood Cemetery Lantern Tour two years ago, Byron Smith portrayed his grandfather Walter B. Smith. This year, Smith will portray his great-grandfather’s one-time partner in the buggy manufacturing business George L. Summers.

Historic Summers Field, now Summers Field Park, is named for Summers who donated $500 for the grading and development of the old peat bog that for generations was home to a tannery.

Summers (1837-1916) was a native of Virginia and served in the 17th Virginia Regiment in the Civil War. When the hostilities ended, Summers returned to Barnesville where he had spent some time before the war. In 1866, Summers entered into a partnership with Smith and they developed the business of manufacturing the Barnesville buggy, known for quality and durability.
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A 2:15 p.m. crash on Ga. Hwy. 7 at the Hwy. 36 bypass sent three women to the hospital here Tuesday.

Initial indications were a Honda Civic pulled out of the bypass into the path of a northbound Kia Sorrento which struck it broadside. The driver of the Civic, the lone occupant of the car, was unconscious at the scene for some time and taken by ambulance to Macon Medical Center.

Two women in the Kia were also transported. One had a laceration to her nose. Another was suffering chest pains. A small child in a safety seat in the Kia was unhurt.

More to follow...

Between Friday, October 4 and Thursday, October 11 the following were processed through the Lamar County jail: [Full Story »] 

The Diamond Trojan baseball program (middle and high school) will again be smoking Boston butts just in time for Thanksgiving. This will mark the 16th year of the fundraiser.

Finished butts can be picked up Nov. 22 at Aldora Field. Butts smoked and wrapped are $30. You can have yours smoked, pulled and panned for $40.

For more information, call coach Mike Oberg at 770-358-8641.

The chamber of commerce and Pinta Lodge #88 F&AM are working together to combine the lodge’s annual golf tournament and the chamber’s membership barbecue.

Both will be held Oct. 17 at Morgan Dairy Golf Club.

Tournament registration and lunch will begin at 11:30 a.m. with golf starting at 1 p.m.

Three-man teams will compete. Registration is $300 per team. Sponsorships are available at various levels.

The membership barbecue will follow at 5 p.m. For more information, contact Melissa Lee at 770-358-5884 or e-mail [email protected]

Life looks a lot better today than it did two weeks ago for nine puppies found zipped up in a black vinyl book bag and abandoned in downtown Griffin Sept. 26 during a record heatwave. A concerned citizen noticed the book bag wiggling amongst a pile of trash on the roadside near downtown and called 911. [Full Story »] 

Earlier this year, we observed the 35th anniversary of the torture murder of Donna Ogletree Johnson. Her car, with her two dogs inside, was found about 4:30 p.m. on July 16, 1984 at a dumpster site on Piedmont Road not far from her home where she had gone to dump the trash.

A search for her ramped up. It rained that afternoon. Some still say that was the hardest rain they have ever seen. Sadly, it washed away evidence. Some say the crime scene was not secured. Others say it was. It is known the GBI changed its crime scene security protocols if the aftermath of the case.

Some four hours after her car and dogs were found, Johnson’s body was located. She had been gagged with her own bra and panties. Her blue jeans had been cut and pulled down to thigh level. She was hogtied, sexually violated with a metal rod, run over by a vehicle and finally dispatched with three blows to the head from a roofing hatchet or similar tool.

Johnson lived in Pike County. Her car and body were found in Lamar County. This created jurisdictional issues and further complicated the investigation. As time passed, the investigation petered out. It was never abandoned but crime never sleeps and investigators have full plates of new horrors to deal with daily.
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