Headlines

Following the lead of several other counties, the Lamar County commission agreed last week to contract out right-of-way mowing and litter pick-up on county roads. BCLS of Dacula, Ga. got the contract with a bid of $212,940. [Full Story »] 

The LC school system is hosting a financial aid information night in the hope of getting more parents involved in seeking financial aid for their college-bound children.

For more information, call 770.358.8641

The young killers of Barnesville's Roderick Crawford have been sentenced to long prison terms after entering guilty pleas.
[Full Story »] 

The 10-county Three Rivers region, in which Lamar is included, set records for employment and labor force in December. The unemployment rate was 2.8% compared to 3.6% in 2018.

The regions labor force increased to 250,562, an all-time high. That number was up by 1454 the previous month and 2606 from December 2018.

The region, which also includes Butts, Carroll, Coweta, Heard, Meriwether, Pike, Spalding, Troup and Upson counties, was home to 243,611 employed residents, another record high.

The annual Dad-Daughter Dance, sponsored by First United Methodist Church, will be held Saturday, Feb. 8 at the civic center from 6-9 p.m. This is a dress up event designed to give fathers a chance to spend quality time with their daughters during the Valentine season.

The dance will run from 6-9 p.m. Tickets are $5 and available at the church office, Ace Hardware and Goggans Florist.

Local artist Tinn Man will serve as DJ and photos will be taken by Reflections Photography.

Volunteers are needed Friday, Feb. 7 to help decorate for the dance. For more information, call the church office at 770.358.1494.

Steady rain interspersed with heavy downpours have made a mess of unpaved roads in the county. Brinkley Road near Hwy. 36 East is impassable as are sections of Perdue and Perkins roads. There have been trees down across several roads and more will fall due to saturated ground and high winds.

Stay off the roads if at all possible.

The Georgia State Patrol and the Lamar County Sheriff’s Office are requesting assistance with locating a vehicle involved in a hit and run collision that resulted in a serious injury.

UPDATE: The driver of the S-10 pickup has come forward and is being questioned, according to sheriff Brad White.

The collision occurred on Sunday, February 2, 2020, at approximately 7:45 PM on GA #7 Northbound in the area of Shirley’s Surplus and Sales. The vehicle is a 1994-1997 Chevrolet S-10 pick-up. The vehicle is red in color with a gray accent on the lower portion of the vehicle. The vehicle should be missing the lower air dam (located below the front bumper) and have front end damage.

If you have any information as to the location of the vehicle or its driver please contact the Georgia State Patrol at (770) 254-7247 or the Lamar County Sheriff’s Office at (770) 358-5159. The vehicle shown in the photograph is not the actual vehicle. It is unknown if the vehicle is a regular cab or extended cab Chevrolet S-10.

A 24-year-old Aldora Mills employee was arrested by GBI agents and Lamar investigators at his home Jan. 28 for threatening to take an AK-47 rifle to work and shoot up the plant. [Full Story »] 

As expected, the Lamar County commission discussed log truck damage to pavement on Silver Dollar Road at its regular meeting Jan. 21. Trucks traveling to and from a large logging site have nearly destroyed the pavement in many areas. Most of the damage is along a 2.3-mile stretch from Hwy. 41 North to Liberty Hill Road.
[Full Story »] 

By Walter Geiger

The Barnesville city council put up a unanimous front when hit with allegations that it does a poor job cleaning and maintaining the minority areas of the community at its regular meeting Jan. 6.

Eddie Felton, chairman of an organization called Lamar on the Move, was in attendance to further discuss allegations he made in an earlier letter. In the letter, he noted nothing was being done about abandoned vehicles marring the landscape on Washington and Jackson streets. He also said trees needed to be trimmed in order to maximize the efficiency of the new lighting and bushes and shrubs were overgrown at the E.P. Roberts Center.

There were also questions about trash cans with lids torn off and litter pick up. “Mill Street is one of the main thoroughfares into the city and it is one of the most unappealing. We can do better to represent our city,” Felton wrote.
[Full Story »] 

Two people with Lamar County connections were killed in recent days as a result of traffic accidents in Monroe County.

David Holmes, 36, of 126 Red Oak Drive died at the Macon Medical Center three days after a Dec. 31 crash on I-75.

Mikayla Shay Singletary, 22, died Jan. 8 after her Kia ran off Hwy. 42 and hit a tree.

Full coverage of both crashes is published in the 1.14.20 print edition of The Herald Gazette.

Trials are set for early March for a teenage prostitute and her accomplice in the ambush killing of a 46-year-old Barnesville man in late 2018.

According to court documents, Roderick Crawford contacted then 18-year-old Kiera Williams through an online escort service Dec. 28, 2018. [Full Story »] 

Convicted killer Jennifer Clark has filed a motion for a new trial and a hearing on the matter is set for Jan. 13 in Lamar superior court. Clark is serving life plus 60 years for the murder of her husband, Donald Clark. [Full Story »] 

From Anna Lewis, PIO, Monore County Sheriff's Office:

On Friday, January 3, 2020 at approximately 10:00am, Sheriff Brad Freeman received a call from Sheriff Gary Long of the Butts County Sheriff’s Office. Sheriff Long informed Sheriff Freeman that in the course of a Drug Investigation that Butts County was conducting, information was discovered that a Deputy was involved in illegal drug activity. Sheriff Long quickly learned that this Deputy was a Monroe County Deputy. Sheriff Freeman immediately sent two Investigators from Monroe County to offer any assistance that Butts County
needed.

Within eight hours, Investigators from both Butts County and Monroe County arrested Paul Nicholas Stewart. He was wearing insignia identifying himself as a Deputy with Monroe County at the time of his arrest and during his illegal activity. Stewart was a Monroe County Deputy, hired in August 2018, assigned to our Support Services Division.

Stewart is being charged with possession of Schedule III, IV, or V Controlled substance with intent to distribute and use of Communication Facility in Commission of a felony involving a Controlled Substance at this time. More charges may be forthcoming.

Sheriff Brad Freeman has said “It goes without saying that I am extremely disappointed that this incident occurred and I do not and never will condone this sort of behavior in any of my employees. Stewart is being dealt in accordance with the law.”

This is an ongoing investigation at this time and as more information becomes available, we will release it.