Top Stories

A hand grenade left in a vehicle at the service center at Cronic Chrysler Jeep temporarily closed the dealership Thursday afternoon to ensure the safety of customers and personnel. It is back to business as usual today. [Full Story »] 

The GBI is investigating an officer-involved shooting that took place in Jackson Wednesday that resulted in a man who threatened officers with a weapon being lie-flighted to Grady Hospital in Atlanta. [Full Story »] 

Lamar County High School students will see first hand the possible effects of drinking and driving during a simulated wreck with a real-time emergency response. The demonstration is being held right before the April 2 prom and will take place in the field across from the high school. [Full Story »] 

By Rachel McDaniel

Lamar County High School gained a new athletic director and head football coach Tuesday, March 15 as the board of education unanimously approved hiring Bryan Love in a called meeting. He currently serves as head coach at Westlake High School where he has spent the last three years, leading their team to a 24-11 record. His 2015 team went 10-3. When he inherited the team, they had an 0-10 record. [Full Story »] 

There will be several Easter egg hunts for children to participate in this year including one where Easter eggs will be dropped via helicopter at Summers Field Park.

The first Easter egg hunt for local youngsters to enjoy will be hosted by VFW Post 6542 from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday, March 26 for newborns to age 12. Kids should bring a basket to use. For more information, call 770-872-2132 or 770-584-5917.

Barnesville First United Methodist Church will host an Easter egg hunt that is open to the public from 1 p.m. to 2:30 p.m. Saturday, March 26 at the farm of Mardi and Michael Drake at 581 Highway 41 south.

Midway Baptist Church on City Pond Road will have an Easter egg hunt from 1 to 3 p.m. Saturday, March 26 as well.

First Baptist Church will host a Communitywide Easter Egg Drop from 2 to 5 p.m. Saturday, March 26 at Summers Field Park.

Festivities before the Easter Egg Drop will include the Balloon Man, face painting, tours of Lamar EMT vehicles and Ferst Foundation signups. The Easter egg hunt for kids 1 to 5 years old will be at 4 p.m. Easter eggs will be dropped via helicopter at 4:10 p.m. for kids 6 to 12. Parking will be across the street at Gordon State College as the spaces along perimeter of the park are reserved for handicap parking.

“First Baptist Church wants to show people the love of Jesus by giving and wanting nothing in return - like He did,” said Kristi Miller. “We want to love on people by loving on their kids and providing an opportunity for a free family outing.” [Full Story »] 

Readers may receive emails from The Herald Gazette and specifically from news@barnesville.com that are spam or contain malware. Though we take great precautions, it appears our account got hacked after we opened a pdf. file from a Griffin attorney's office.

The e-mail ends with the salutation 'Regards'.

If you get this e-mail, do not open the .pdf file as your device may also be hacked.

We regret this inconvenience.

By Walter Geiger

A hearing on motions to suppress evidence in the case of Bobbie Jo Sumner was suspended by Judge Bill Fears March 17 to give both the prosecution and defense time to search for missing dash camera video deemed critical to the case.

Sumner is scheduled to go to trial April 26 on counts of first degree vehicular homicide and hit and run as well as multiple counts of making false statements. She is charged in connection with the June 29, 2013 death of Alexandra Noelle Desir.
[Full Story »] 

Bryan Love was named head football coach and athletic director of LCHS Tuesday night at a called school board meeting.

Love spent the last three years as head coach at Westlake High where he went 24-11. His 2015 team went 10-3.

More to follow... [Full Story »] 

The Lamar County Board of Education has called a meeting for Tuesday, March 15.

The agenda calls for an executive session to discuss personnel followed by two discussion and action items. They are LCHS football coach and equipment bids for the school nutrition program.

The meeting is set for 6:30 p.m.

More to follow...

By all indications, two sets of arsonists are working the Barnesville area and you can take home $10,000 for providing information leading to the arrest and conviction of any of those involved. [Full Story »] 

A four-car collision on Hwy. 41 South near its intersection with Oliver Road Thursday resulted in multiple minor injuries. One victim was entrapped for a short period of time and later taken to an area hospital. [Full Story »] 

Sheriff Brad White has confirmed that a Monroe County man with a 'news' page on Facebook is a suspect in the theft last year of the Trojan Grill from the local football field and multiple other trailer, equipment and grill thefts in the area [Full Story »] 

Lamar County voters who have not yet cast their ballots in the Presidential Preference Primary may do so today. Polling places throughout the county will be open from 7 a.m. - 7 p.m.


Both the Republican and Democratic ballots will carry multiple names but most national watchers agree the field has been winnowed. Many of those on the ballot have suspended their campaigns.

The frontrunners on the GOP ballot are Donald Trump followed by Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio, Ben Carson and John Kasich.

The only Democrats with a real chance are Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders.

The primary has drawn huge interest. Georgia secretary of state Brian Kemp reported that early voters set a new record with 276,704 ballots cast by Thursday. The previous record was 271,418 set in 2008.

Of this year’s ballots cast, 171,917 were Republican and 104,499 were Democratic.

Local interest has been high as well. Elections supervisor Anita Reid reported Lamar voters cast 908 early ballots. Reid mailed out 97 absentee ballots of which 46 have been returned.

Election Hotline

As always, The Herald Gazette will be your go to source for election results. Realtime results will be available instantly at barnesville. com. Once all the votes are counted, the results will be available by phone at 770.358.NEWS.