the rockdale news saturday nov 8th, 2014

The woman seeking to sue Probate Judge Charles K. Mays, Sr. for $20,000 in al-leged unpaid backpay was her-self federally indicted on nine counts in Missouri recently for allegedly stealing $480,000 from a lotto winner.

Freya Pearson, 41, has three counts of wire fraud, four

counts of money laundering, one count of tax evasion and one count of making false state-ments being brought against in the Western District of Missou-ri for incidents that took place over a four year span, begin-ning in 2010, and cost local and federal governments and a 65-year-old woman to lose a combined total of $640,667.

Pearson was indicted in the U.S. District court for the Western District of Missou-ri on Tuesday, Oct. 28. She

bonded out on a $10,000 unse-cured bond and entered a not guilty plea at her first appear-ance. She was back in Rock-dale on Wednesday, Nov. 5, for adisposessory case hearing in Magistrate Court against her, which was dismissed at the last minute.

Pearson’s attorney Mike Waldrop, who is representing her in the case against Mays, said Wednesday he was aware of her federal indictment. “I’ve been in communication

briefly with an attorney” in Missouri, he said. Waldrop is not representing Pearson in the Missouri case. It was his understanding that Pearson had borrowed money from the victim and had been unable to pay it back, he said.

“I’m sure they’re glad to find out and muddy the waters,”

rockdalenews.com Serving Rockdale County and Conyers

the NEWSNov. 8, 2014 Volume 6, Issue 31 75 cents

Page 2

Acuity discussion hits snag

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Page 4

$63.5 million pitched for 2015

3

SeaSon PreviewSRHS basketball

season previews are inside

See JUDGE, Page 15

Also: Mays loses lawsuit against him, Page 3

Celebrating our veterans

Page 10

Woman suing probate judge indictedBy Michelle Kim & Martin Rand III

[email protected]

Budget ProPoSed

Veterans Day

SEEING BLUE

Williams wins BOC Post 2 seat with strong showing. Historic change to all Democratic BOC

It went silent at Rockdale County Post 2 Commissioner JaNice Van Ness’ political campaign headquarters on Parker Road Tues-day night just moments after she saw the final tally of votes.

In the race for the BOC Post 2 seat, Democratic challenger Do-reen Williams, who has never held a public office, supplanted Re-publican incumbent Van Ness by winning 54 percent of the votes to Van Ness’ 46 percent.

Van Ness, who has sat on the BOC for the past eight years, said only one word as she stared at the results while shaking her head, “Unbelievable.”

Visibly shaken by the election outcome, she went to a back room of the facility and was soon followed by her husband, friends and

By Martin Rand [email protected]

See ELECTION, Page 8

Van Ness

46%

Williams54%

A Second ChanceThe News2 • Saturday, Nov. 8, 2014

ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

Board of Commissioners meeting, Tues., Nov. 11, 10 a.m., 901 Main St.

Board of Education meeting, Thursday, Nov. 13, 7 p.m., 954 N. Main St.

Rockdale County Board of Health, Fri., Nov. 14,8:15 a.m., 985 Taylor St., open to public.

Meeting Place

1Standoff ends with kidnap-ping suspect in custody

2Woman stabs husband with kitchen knife

3 Warrant applied for judge’s arrest

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the NEWS

See rockdalenews.com for the full story

Discussions between Acuity Brands and the county on incen-tives for its planned renovations and expansion in Rockdale hit a bump in the road Tuesday morning when the Development Authority of Rockdale County, the financial vehicle for the county’s econom-ic development efforts, balked at approving part of the incentives package that had been offered to the company.

Mayor Randy Mills said after-wards he was optimistic things could be worked out. “Hopefully good minds will come together and put this thing to bed. We’ve got a couple days. I’m optimistic the community can get this done.”

Development Authority Chair-man Mike Sullivan said at the outset of the tense meeting he un-derstood there were confidentiality agreements in place, but there had been not much information given to him or to the rest of the board about the incentives package and what the Development Authority board would be asked to approve. “We start digging into it. There are some problems with it, as far as I’m personally concerned.”

Development Authority member Roland Vaughn said he thought the tax abatements offered were for improvements and future devel-opment, not for currently existing property. “I applaud Acuity for pro-posing a good deal for Acuity,” he said. “But I cannot support what’s in front of us today.” He expressed concern it would set a precedent that other large companies existing in Rockdale would seek to also be awarded.

Members Gerald Rakestraw and

Rick Simons echoed Vaughn’s thoughts.

The incentives package, offered in August, included full tax abate-ment, or exemption, for five years on property and equipment. Over the next five years, that exemption would gradually ramp back, with a 100 percent at year 11. According to a study by Robert Lann Consult-ing, commissioned by the Devel-opment Authority, the incentives would mean a difference of $1.6 million in taxes the county collect-ed over 10 years and a $2 million difference over 20 years. School tax abatement was not included as part of the incentive package.

Conyers-Rockdale Economic Development Council Director Marty Jones wrote after the meet-ing that the Acuity expansion with the incentives proposed, would have a $950,000 positive impact on Rockdale County Revenues over ten years and the school sys-tem would have a positive impact of $2,900,000 over ten years.

“That is just short of 4 million dollars to help fund both our Coun-ty Government and School System over the next ten years,” Jones wrote.

The negotiations were carried out through the state’s economic development arm.

Jones said he, Commission Chairman Richard Oden and May-or Randy Mills were bound by confidentiality agreements. But he said he would take responsibility in that he should have asked Acuity for leeway to inform Development Authority Chairman Mike Sulli-van.

Acuity discussions hit snagBy Michelle Kim

[email protected]

Martin Rand, III/The News

(From left to right) Members of the second graduating class of the Rock-dale County Drug Court, Lynn Christian, Nora Shannon, Rockdale County Superior Court Judge Robert Mumford, Brandi Moon. The three new grad-uates of the Rockdale County Adult Drug Court stand with Judge Robert Mumford as they receive a crystal plaque and certificate for completing the 18-month program. This brings the Adult Drug Court total number of grad-uates to six since the program starting in January 2013. The guest speaker at the graduation held Thursday, Nov. 6, was Georgia Supreme Court Jus-tice Robert Benham.

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criMe BriefsTitleBucks armed rober caught with license plate reader help

Less than a week after TitleBucks on Ga. Hwy 138 was robbed at gunpoint, the suspect in that robbery and several other pawn and title store robberies - Avery Frazier, 47, of Douglasville - was captured with the help of license plate reading technology and the sharp eyes of Conyers Officer Spencer Holland and Douglasville police officers.

Man breaking into neighbor’s home caught

Two suspects were caught breaking into a home in Olde Salem Township, near the suspect’s own home, thanks to the sharp eye of another neigh-bor and the quick reaction time of Rockdale deputies Thursday. John Mabry, 26, of Conyers, was charged with tresspassing. The other suspect, a thin black male, escaped. If you have more information, call 770-278-8157.

A contractor who sued Pro-bate Judge Charles K. Mays Sr. for $10,500 of unpaid work and materials won his case against the judge Wednesday in Magistrate Court. A dispos-sessory case from the Mays family seeking to evict a former Probate Court worker living in Mays’ home, who is also suing Mays for $20,000 of alleged unpaid backpay, was dismissed minutes before the hearing was to start Wednesday.

The two cases took place be-fore Judge Phyllis R. Williams of DeKalb County Magistrate Court. Williams was sitting in for Rockdale’s Magistrate Court judges, who recused themselves because the matter involved a judge sitting in the same circuit.

The Mays Family Trust has filed a disposessory case seek-ing payment of rent and to evict Freya Pearson, who is living with her 13-year-old daughter and 5-year-old granddaughter at the rented McCalla Street home of Judge Charles K. Mays and his family in Conyers.

However, just minutes be-fore the slightly delayed hearing at Rockdale Magistrate Court, originally scheduled at 1 p.m., attorney Michael Waldrop, who represents Pearson, was served by DJ Asante with a motion to dismiss the case. The motion was filed in Rockdale County Clerk of Courts office at 1:01 p.m.

A line from the motion, which referred to Pearson as having vacated the premises as of Oct. 24 was struck at Waldrop’s re-quest and the motion to dismiss was accepted.

In the case that moved forward, after hearing nearly four hours of testimony, Judge Williams con-cluded the parties did not ques-tion that the work had been done to the condominium, but there had been no formal contract re-garding the work and that the lease purchase contract did not address the upgrading work Scott had done.

Contractor Rodney Scott, who was not represented by an attor-ney, was awarded a little under $10,000 and termination of the lease purchase contract between Scott and the Mays Family trust, as Scott requested. Scott was ordered to pay the October and November rent and move out of

the condominium at the end of 30 days, at the end of November.

A counterclaim filed by DJ As-ante, who represented himself to the court as a trustee of the Mays Family Trust, had asked $2,000 be awarded to Asante for damag-es. That claim was dismissed.

In June and July, Scott had been brought on board by Judge Charles K. Mays, who has a home repair and contracting busi-ness, to repair the condominium, which Scott described as not being in livable condition. Scott expressed interest in buying the condominium, he said, as a way to help the Mays family who were behind on their payments for the condominium and be-cause he needed a more perma-nent home; at the time he was living with his daughter and her children. Scott thought he was buying a home from Mays and had put about $10,500 worth of renovations into the condomini-um, where he currently lives. He said there had been a verbal agreement between Mays and himself that Mays would cover the cost of the repairs.

“I felt I was being taken ad-vantage of to spend the money I do have and the skills I do have,” said Scott during his opening statement in court.

Scott said he also made two down payments of $1,500 and one payment of $1,000 to the Mays family, with no receipts.

“I thought I was trusting a judge,” said Scott, on why he

never asked for receipts for his payments.

Mays and Asante contended there had been no evidence giv-en to them of the work and no receipts turned in for the work, besides receipts for parts of an electrical panel Scott had repaired by a certified electrician.

“You got all the payment you deserved,” said Mays on the stand.

Asante said when he tried to ask for the receipts and to go onto the property, Scott became “bel-ligerent,” refusing to talk with Asante and wanting to talk with Judge Mays.

Scott later testified that he had talked over the phone with Mays and attempted to arrange a way to submit the totals, either by phone or in person, but was turned down. Scott said he had recorded the phone conversa-tion with Mays.

Scott previously told The News he considered himself a supporter of the Mays family and had even loaned them $300 in order for them to come back from a trip to Florida, he said.

He began noticing red flags when the paperwork for the con-dominium was a long time com-ing. When the contract did arrive, Scott’s lease purchase option con-tract was drawn up between the Mays Family Trust and himself; later he found out just a month earlier the condominium had been sold to Charles Kevin Mays Jr.

DJ Asante, who sat in court next to Mays’ attorney Prince Brumfield, testified that the prop-erty had been transferred from Charles Kevin Mays Jr. to the Mays Family Trust.

The security deed between Mays Jr. and the previous owner specified there would need to be written notice of any transfer of property. The previous owner and deed holder told The News in Oc-tober she was not aware the Mays family had attempted to transfer the property.

Judge Mays and the Mays fam-ily still face more court hearings.

Last week Pearson filed a warrant for Mays’ arrest for fel-ony theft; Rockdale’s Superior Court Judges have recused them-selves from the warrant hearing. DeKalb County Superior Court Judge Gregory Adams will hear the warrant hearing, which has

not been scheduled.The Viewpointe East Con-

dominium Association is suing Charles K. Mays, Jr. over unpaid association fees.

The president of the View-point Condominiums Home-owners Association, Mike Za-netti, is also suing Judge Charles Mays Sr. for about $2,500 of un-paid wages for supervisory work he did for Mays on a contract for the Marriott hotel in Conyers, near Home Depot.

Pearson also faces separate federal court actions in Kansas City, Missouri where she was re-cently indicted by a federal grand jury for nine counts, including wire fraud, money laundering, tax evasion and false witness. The charges are related to Pear-son allegedly stealing more than $400,000 from a Missouri lotto winner. (See front page)

By Martin Rand, [email protected]

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Contractor wins lawsuit against probate judgeDEVELOPING STORY

11th hour dismissal of disposessory case against woman suing judge for backpay

The News4 • Saturday, Nov. 8, 2014

Rockdale County Chairman Richard Oden made his pro-posal for the county’s 2015 budget available for public viewing Monday.

The proposed budget is about $63.5 million, which is approximately $5 million more than approved budget from a year ago.

The public safety division of the county is set to receive more than half, $32.4 million, of the annual budget under this proposal. The Rockdale Coun-ty Sheriff’s Office would be allotted the most public safety money with about $21.1 mil-lion for operating expenses.

The department requested a $2.3 million increase for per-sonnel, but is only receiving a $1.8 million bump in funding.

Other department allocations include $9.4 million for the Rockdale County Fire and Res-cue, $6.6 million for Finance $2.2 million for the Rockdale Department of Transportation and $1.2 million for the Plan-ning and Development.

The Chair’s proposal also keeps funding the Conyers Rockdale Economic Develop-ment Council with $125,000. Post 1 Commissioner Oz Nes-bitt has urged for the board to increase the county’s contribu-tions to as much as $250,000.

The public safety department would dominate the funds of

the county’s $2.4 capital bud-get under Oden’s proposal. The fire department would receive a little more than $1 million, 44 percent, of the budget next year.

After receiving about 75 percent of the capital budget-ed funds for 2014, the RCSO would only receive $95,200, about four percent of the cap-tial budget, for the replacement of patrol vehicles in 2015.

The RCSO had request-ed more than $2.1 million in capital funds for 2015, which is $1.4 million less than the department’s a request from a year ago but would eat up 90 percent of the county’s capital budget.

The Rockdale County Board of Commissioners will hold a

public hearing in relation to the proposed 2015 budget Nov. 11 at 10 a.m. in the Assembly Hall, 901 Main Street, Conyers. The regular meeting of the Board of Commissioners will follow the public hearing.

The first reading of the 2015

budget is scheduled to take place Nov. 25 at 10 a.m. and the second reading and adoption of next year’s budget should oc-cur at the board’s regular meet-ing scheduled for, Dec. 9 at 10:00 a.m. Both meetings will be held in the Assembly Hall.

Submitted photo/The News

The Rockdale County celebrated its newly completed Black Shoals Retreat House and Nature Trail project with a ribbon cutting and trail walk Oct. 20, attended by officials, including Commis-sion Chairman Richard Oden, Commis-sioner JaNice Van Ness, Commissioner Oz Nesbitt, Parks and Recreation Director Jackie Lunsford, Capital Projects Manager Andrew Hammer, Parks and Recreation SPLOST Subcommittee chair Chuck McCullough, and more. The natu-ral trail is a 1.8-mile unpaved scenic trail. The Retreat House is the first-ever indoor facility at Black Shoals Park/Veteran’s Park/Walk of Heroes with heat and AC, toilets, kitchen, a porch with picnic tables, and space for large meetings or events. Beginning in January 2015, the new facility will offer community classes and programs such as yoga.

County Chairman proposes $63.5 million budget for next year

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Black Shoals ribbon cutting

Last week a neighbor friend passed on to his own personal

sunset; the last month of his life was filled with anxiety about his life and what the future was to be for him.

During the last two weeks of his life he was r a c k e d w i t h n u m b i n g pain be-cause of fast grow-ing can-cer.

I can a s s u r e you there is no way that you can be calm suffering numbing pain.

Just a few days ago he fi-nally accepted hospice as his health manager

He was immediately given the medicine needed to take his pain away and for a short time. He finally seemed to be in peace.

During my time I worked with hospice I came to an un-derstanding about life that I had not experienced before. I wrote the following column when I was in Arizona work-ing with RTA Hospice, I hope it helps you as you deal with relatives and friends who are about to die or for those of you who are left behind to mourn.

More than a month has passed since I joined the staff of RTA Hospice, filled then with a passion to do something that would make a difference in people’s lives. If anything, I actual-ly feel more of that passion. It’s not necessarily because of my own energy and enthu-siasm, but because every day I am buoyed by the strength, courage and quiet dignity of our patients and the strength and courage of the RTA Hos-pice staff.

We all experience those days when we feel down from just the tension and pressure of “living.” For me it changes when I walk into

the in-patient unit here at Hospice House. Whether I’m just stopping in for a short visit with a patient here for symptom management or to chat with a someone whose caregiver needed some re-

spite time and will soon re-turn home, or to visit those who are here because death is imminent and they will soon pass away.

Whatever the reason, my contact with them makes me feel at peace. These are fan-tastic people who have led fulfilling and varied lives, but who are approaching their own journey with a de-termination to be in control of their lives until the very end. The have chosen com-fort, dignity and peace and are happy to have their fam-ilies with them. These indi-viduals – full of pride for the lives they have lived – make me smile and occasionally shed a tear – as I witness their strength and courage.

Sadly, last week, as I was making my rounds, I real-ized that several of my new friends had already passed away. I only knew them briefly, but I still felt a very real loss. It made me wonder how the hospice staff – the physicians, the nurses, the personal care attendants, so-cial workers and chaplains – all of whom work so very closely with our patients and their families – deal with the continued losses they face. The hospice relation-ship – patient and family and hospice staff is a rela-tionship that begins at the

very moment a person elects comfort care over aggres-sive treatment. Our staff becomes deeply involved in the lives of their patients’ and throughout the course of care; the hospice staff be-

comes an integral part of that family’s life. They provide comfort, they worry, they often smile and occasionally they cry with them, and they grieve for them when they pass.

How do we all – families and staff – deal with our grief when a loved one pass-es?

Some of us handle loss with great stoicism and a de-termination to show no emo-tion at any cost. Some are much more emotional and cry – even wail – as though his or her heart is forever broken. The way that each handles his or her grief is unique.

As I thought about my own grief and the grieving that all of our families and our staff face, I realized more fully the importance of the Hos-pice bereavement program. A program that offers grief counseling and support to families both before (if needed) and after death and continues for thirteen months.

It’s important to remem-ber that grieving is a nor-mal process, that every-one’s grief is different, and the journey through it oc-curs within one’s own time frame. But it is something that must occur so that the person left behind can even-

tually move on with “liv-ing.” It brought to mind, the times that I have told some-one - out of love and with the best of intentions - to stop grieving and get on with life; that their loved one would not want them to spend their time grieving. Now I know how wrong I was and how sorry I am that I ever uttered those sentiments. It is of ut-most importance to keep the spirit of your loved one alive by celebrating the life that you shared.

The word “bereavement” is often scary and carries negative connotations for some, but it shouldn’t. It now seems to me, that after talking to so many of our families after their loved one has died, that bereavement should include a time to ac-knowledge and celebrate the life of the one you loved. It should include a testimony of the good things that your loved one was or meant to you. Will your sadness be eliminated – of course not – but that’s OK as sadness is a normal part of the grieving process.

Remember, bereavement is not about hiding your feel-ings away; it’s about honor-ing the person that you love.

T. Pat Cavanaugh is the Publisher of The News in Rockdale and Covington. You can reach him at [email protected]

We welcome letters to the editor. Letters must be 350 words or less. They should be limited to issues of public interest and may be edited for content, grammar, spelling and length. • Mail: Editor, The News, 1009 Milstead Ave., Suite 200, Conyers, GA 30012 • Email: [email protected]

HAVE YOUR SAY

OpiniOnSaturday, Nov. 8, 2014

RockdaleNews.com/opinion

Our Thoughts

EDITORMichelle Kim

[email protected]

SALES DIRECTORAnnette Godwin

[email protected]

COMPTROLLERDebbie [email protected]

PUBLISHERT. Pat Cavanaugh

[email protected]

CIRCULATION DIR.Amanda [email protected]

DESIGN EDITORSabastian Wee

[email protected]

the NEWS

ChangeWhile the recent elec-

tion brought about a sweep of Republicans into office across the state and nation, in Rockdale it was Democrat Dr. Doreen Williams who was swept into office and Republican JaNice Van Ness who was swept out of office.

It’s too bad we couldn’t have both Van Ness and Wil-liams in office.

We want to thank Van Ness for her service. We respect her direct honesty and ener-gy. She has never been afraid to fight for what she has be-lieved in and is a successful businesswoman and educator.

We don’t think she is going to fade off into the sunset after this; that’s not her per-sonality.

She has shown she loves her community and is willing to put in the time to see that it stays the progressive com-munity that is.

Dr. Doreen Williams is from a western state and with all of our dealings with West-erners we have found them to be direct and to the point and for the most part honest.

The major concern that we have heard expressed is if she will be an independent think-er as she serves on the BOC Post 2 position, that she will not be swayed by political party affiliation or any other type of like pressure.

Williams has made it clear that she will be her own per-son; we believe her.

We wish JaNice Van Ness the very best in her future activities and we wish Dr. Doreen Williams the very best in helping to bring our county into a positive future.

T. Pat Cavanaugh

Publisher

Thoughts of a Baby Boomer

A peace before sunset

“ Bereavement should include a time to acknowledge and celebrate the life of the one you loved. It should include a testimony of the good things that your loved one was or meant to you.

“

6 • Saturday, Nov. 8, 2014 The News

6


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Gregory B. Levett & Sons Funeral Homes & Crematory Inc., Rockdale Chapel 770-285-6673. For more informa-tion Text ESimon to 7272

The Rockdale NewsNov. 8, 2014

ObituaryThe Community Calendar

deadline is noon Thursday. Email a description, place, time, phone number to [email protected].

SATURDAY, NOV. 8Praise in the Park for Phoenix Pass

10 a.m.-5 p.m.; Free; Enjoy a day of free music and good company with Phoenix Pass’ Praise in the Park event in Lighthouse Village; donations are greatly appreciated; Phoenix Pass benefits women and families expe-riencing temporary homelessness by giving them an opportunity to reestab-lish self-sufficiency; For more, www.phoenixpass.org

Teen Leadership Summit8:30 a.m. - noon; At Rockdale

Career Academy; registration closed, volunteers/sponsors needed; [email protected]

Monastery Lectures6:30-8 p.m.; Monastery of the Holy

Spirit, Conyers, GA;2625 Georgia 212, Conyers, 30094 (770) 483-8705; Admission of $20 is required

TUESDAY, NOV.11

Walk of Heroes Veteran’s Day Ceremony

11 a.m., Walk of Heroes Veterans Memorial at Black Shoals Park, 3001 Black Shoals Rd., Conyers; key note speaker at the event will be Captain John Warren, Marine Corps 2004-2008; In 2006, he fought in the Battle of Ramadi in Iraq; now president and founder of Lima One Capital; For more, go to www.walkofheroes.org

American Legion Veteran’s Day Ceremony

11 a.m.; American Legion Post 77, 674 AmericanLegion Road, NE; hon-or guard, color guard; guest speaker Bob Green; luncheon afterwards; public invited

GPTC Veterans Day Celebration

12-2 p.m. Luncheon; 4-6 p.m. Veter-an and Military Support Center Recep-tion; Ga. Piedmont Technical collge DeKalb Campus; To RSVP 404-297-9522 ext: 1165 or [email protected]

DMS Veterans Day events2 p.m. WWII biplane Stearman

Squadron flyover, 2:30 p.m. ceremony at gym guest speakers The News’ “A Veteran’s Story” columnist Pete Mecca

and Herb Smith, former guard at the Tomb of the Unknowns.

WEDNESDAY, NOV. 12Healthy Living with Diabetes Event

10 a.m.- 4 p.m.; Hoasted by Rock-dale Medical Center Conyers, GA 30012;(770) 918-3000; this event is open to the public and no registration is required.

THURSDAY, NOV. 13HHS fall musical “The Addams Family”

7:30 p.m. Nov. 13-15, 20-22; 2:30 p.m. Sundays Nov. 16, 23; A new musi-cal comedy; tickets $10 adults, $8 senior citizens, $5 students; 770-483-5428 x27177, [email protected], www.patriotplayers.com

SATURDAY, NOV. 15Ella the Elephant at Stonecrest

11 a.m., 12:30 p.m., 2 p.m., 3:30 p.m., join Ella the Elephant for her Christmas Adventures; free; Stonecrest Mall off Turner Hill exit on I-20, Lithonia

SUNDAY, NOV.16Prematurity Awareness Service

8 a.m.; Hosted by The Phi Omicron Zeta Chapter of the Zeta Phi Beta Soror-ity, Inc; Bethlehem Baptist Church of Covington; Near Usher, St Clark St and

Emory St; to educate the public about the importance of prenatal care

Civil War 150th Anniversary marker dedication

3 p.m.; Olde Town Conyers Depot/Welcome Center; dedication of state historical marker for Conyers events along the path of Sherman’s Army and Sherman’s March to the Sea

THURSDAY, NOV. 20XYZ Organization meeting

10:30 a.m.; First Baptist of Conyers at 2100 GA. Hwy.; Lunch is $6.00; Deadline to register is Nov. 14, 2014; For reservations call 770-760-0083.

Mobile Food Pantry12-4 p.m.; The Resource Center for

Community Action; 1400 Parker Road Conyers, GA. 30094; food is available while quantities last to anyone in need; 678-288-5433 ext.101

SHS fall musical “25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee”

Nov. 20-22, 8 p.m. and Nov 23, at 3 p.m. Salem High School is Performing “25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee”;3551 Underwood Rd SE, Conyers, GA 30013;Tickets are Presale $5.00 for students and seniors and $7.00 for adults. At the door $6:00 for students and seniors and $8.00 for adults.Ticket info (770) 929-0176

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campaign supporters. Moments later, she returned from the back room with her entourage in tow and her teary eyes red.

“It’s been a long race, so I’m just glad for tonight to be over,” Van Ness said. “I wish her (Wil-liams) well in her tenure over the next four years. It’s been an incredible job serving the people of Rockdale County. I’ve done the best that I can, and I feel hap-py with that.”

The happiness wasn’t evident on the face of Van Ness, but the Williams camp was exuding with joy at her campaign celebration event at Sudo Bar & Grill, 2270 Salem Road, Conyers, after hear-ing the news of Williams’ victory.

With Kool & the Gang’s clas-sic 1980’s hit “Celebrate” blast-ing through the speakers of the restaurant, the Rockdale Coun-ty Democratic Party Chairman Tommy Palmer asked the DJ to pause the music for a moment to congratulate Williams and share in a round of applause with all of her supporters at the event.

“You can’t do this by yourself,” Williams said later in the event. “It takes a lot of people support-ing you.”

It also takes a lot of votes, and Williams believes the voters sid-ed with her during this mid-term election year because of her de-sire to get the county’s ethics commission up and running and wanting to implement an overall strategic plan for the county.

“I think they like the vision I have for Rockdale County,” she said. “… We need to know what Rockdale County wants and where we want to be in five, 10,

15 (or) 20 years from now, so that the decisions we make now fit into that plan and they’re not just in isolation that may or may not work with where we decide to go in the end.”

On the other side of the politi-cal spectrum, Van Ness described reasons as to why the Rockdale citizens chose to not vote her back into office.

Those reasons included not having a high voter turnout be-cause it wasn’t a presidential year, not getting enough Democratic voters on her side through cam-paigning and voter’s feeling dis-enfranchised by state and national candidates in other election races.

“But I think we ran a great ethical race and I think anyone who really looked at the facts and credentials of the candidates certainly would easily have been able to choose me, unfortunately voters today, those are not the things that they look at,” said Van Ness. “It could be the way someone name is, the way they look, the party they’re af-filiated. We see a lot of that.”

When Williams takes office in January 2015, it will mark the first time in Rockdale’s history that all

Democrats will sit on the county board of commissioners. Williams says she’s “scared to death,” but is looking forward to the opportunity to serve Rockdale.

“I’m very excited. It’s the cul-mination of months of hard work, so that’s very gratifying,” she said. “I know that I have a lot to learn, but I’ll do it. I’ll put in the work just like I put in the work for my campaign.”

Her win brought approval of other Democratic officials. Rock-dale County Post 1 Commission-er Oz Nesbitt, Rockdale County Sheriff’s Office Eric Levett and Rockdale County Tax Commis-sioner RJ Hadley joined Williams at Sudo to congratulate her.

Rockdale County Chairman Richard Oden didn’t attend the event but did send Williams a congratulatory text message, said Williams.

In a later conversation with The News, Oden called Williams’ victory in the election a “super result” and has no doubt that the citizens chose the right candidate.

He says he’s looking forward to hearing Williams’ goals and strategies for moving Rockdale County forward.

“I’ve watched her work and her work ethic. She’ll bring that calm voice and calm reason to the ta-ble, and maturity,” he said. “I’m a firm believer in that. I look for-ward to working with everyone and taking care of the people’s business. I think Doreen Williams is going to help me get there, as well as Post 1 (Commissioner Nesbitt), as a team.”

Oden also took a moment to speak about Van Ness’ departure from the board.

“I wish her well as she runs her education business (Peachtree Academy),” he said. “Any time a citizen steps for-

ward to make that sacrifice to serve the public as an elected official, as she did for eight years, it’s worth recognizing.”

The Rockdale County Republi-can Party Chair Lynn Brown isn’t as thrilled about Williams elec-tion to the BOC.

On top of thinking Van Ness was the better candidate due to her experience in office and in business, Brown feels that with three Democrats on the county board issues won’t be addressed with different perspectives.

Brown valued Van Ness’ ten-dency to test issues, ask questions and challenge her fellow com-missioners.

“I don’t think they’ll chal-lenge each other,” Brown said during a phone interview. “They’ll be walking foot-in-line with each other.”

Brown also doesn’t see an eth-ics commission coming into frui-tion any time soon, even though enacting an ethics board was a key platform issue of Williams during her campaign.

“I believe Rockdale is in for a much rougher time now,” she said. “I hope for the sake of Rock-dale I’m wrong.”

ON the other hand, Rockdale County Democratic Party Chair-man Tommy Plummer believes that having three Democrats on the board won’t be as big of an issue as Brown does.

“Rockdale County will have the finest commission,” said Plummer. “No disrespect to JaN-ice Van Ness, but it’s time for Do-reen Williams to step up,” he said.

As long as their all doing the jobs and making good de-cisions for the betterment of the county, having three people from the same political party shouldn’t be a worry of the cit-izens, says Plummer.

ELECTIONFrom front page

We need to know what Rockdale County wants and where we want to be in five, 10, 15 (or) 20 years from now, so that the decisions we make now fit into that plan and they’re not just in isolation that may or may not work with where we decide to go in the end.

—Doreen Williams

“SENATE

ATTORNEY GEN.

STATE HOUSE 114

GOVERNOR

SEC. OF STATE

STATE SUPERINT.

RockdaleDeal40.2%Carter58.01%

StateDeal54.1%Carter43.5%

RockdalePerdue39.77%Nunn58.77%

StatePerdue54.3%Nunn43.75%

RockdaleCarter56.16%Kemp43.79%

StateCarter41.12%Kemp58.88%

RockdaleOlens43.63%Hecht56.33%

StateOlens58.33%Hecht41.67%

RockdaleWilson57.72%Woods42.21%

StateWilson43.47%Woods56.53%

RockdaleKirby54.42%Thomas45.52%

StateKirby75.39%Thomas24.61%

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Petty Officer 1st Class Angel Jimenez, a 1994 George Walton Academy graduate, is serving aboard one of the U.S. Navy’s newest and most advanced ships, the destroyer Zumwalt (DDG 1000), which is currently under construction at Bath Iron Works in Bath, Maine.

Petty Officer 3rd Class Valencia Benton, a boat-swain’s mate and 2009 Newton High School gradu-ate from Covington, Ga., is serving in the U.S. Navy aboard one of the world’s largest warships, the San Diego-based aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan (CVN 76).

Air Force Reserve Senior Master Sgt. David F. Strickland has retired from the U.S. Air Force Re-serve after serving honorably for 26 years. Strickland was last serving as a First Sergeant with 94th Airlift Wing, Dobbins Air Base, Ga.

Army Pvt. Delante N. Williams has graduated from Basic Combat Training at Fort Benning, Ga.

Army Pvt. Joseph D. Wright has graduated from basic combat training at Fort Jackson, Columbia, S.C.

Army Pfc. Leondra Alexander has graduated from basic combat training at Fort Jackson, Columbia, S.C.

Army Pvt. Sydney Livingston has graduated from basic combat training at Fort Jackson, Columbia, S.C.

Army Pvt. Mukal Smith has graduated from ba-sic combat training at Fort Jackson, Columbia, S.C.

Army Spc. Dixie Robinson has graduated from basic combat training at Fort Jackson, Columbia, S.C.

Army Pvt. DeAsia Rudder has graduated from basic combat training at Fort Jackson, Columbia, S.C.

Air Force Airman Donovan D. Howard grad-uated from basic military training at Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland, San Antonio, Texas.

Air Force Airman 1st Class Akil J. Maynard graduated from basic military training at Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland, San Antonio, Texas.

Air Force Airman Jaron J. Johnson graduated from basic military training at Joint Base San Anto-nio-Lackland, San Antonio, Texas.

Air Force Airman Ramonte T. Grier graduated from basic military training at Joint Base San Anto-nio-Lackland, San Antonio, Texas.

Air Force Airman Charles D. Tait graduated from basic military training at Joint Base San Anto-nio-Lackland, San Antonio, Texas.

Air Force Airman Joshua A. Felice graduated from basic military training at Joint Base San Anto-nio-Lackland, San Antonio, Texas with distinction as an honor graduate.

Army Pfc. Skylar K. Holcombe has graduated from basic infantry training at Fort Benning, Colum-bus, Ga.

Air Force Airman Isaac D. Alexander graduated from basic military training at Joint Base San Anto-nio-Lackland, San Antonio, Texas.

Air Force Reserve Airman 1st Class Leandre R. Webb graduated from basic military training at Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland, San Antonio, Texas.

Air Force Airman Bryan C. Johnson graduated from basic military training at Joint Base San Anto-nio-Lackland, San Antonio, Texas.

Navy Seaman Alexander Booker recently com-pleted U.S. Navy basic training at Recruit Training Command, Great Lakes, Ill.

Navy Seaman Christi C. Hatch recently complet-ed U.S. Navy basic training at Recruit Training Com-mand, Great Lakes, Ill.

By Sandra [email protected]

Rockdale students and residents have gone on to serve in many branches of the military. Here are a few recent military training graduates.

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Walk of Heroes to host Veterans Day program

The Georgia Veterans Memo-rial Park Foundation will host a Veterans Day program honor-ing late and current veterans next week.

The event will begin at 11 a.m. Tuesday, Nov. 11 and take place at the stage area of the Walk of Heroes Memori-al, which is located at Black Shoals Park, 3001 Black Shoals Rd., Conyers.

The key note speaker at the event will be Captain John War-ren. He served in the United States Marine Corps for four years, from 2004-2008 and. In 2006, he fought in the Battle of Ramadi, which was part of the Iraq War.

Warren is now president and founder of Lima One Capital, a lending company for residential real estate investors.

GPTC Veterans Day Celebration

Nov. 1, noon – 2 p.m. Lun-cheon; 4-6p Support Center Reception

GPTC DeKalb Campus Georgia Piedmont Technical

College celebrates students and employees who are veterans with a Veterans Luncheon from noon -2 p.m. at the Conference Center and a Veteran and Mil-itary Support Center Reception at room A170

To RSVP, 404-297-9522 x1165, [email protected]

At the time, Julie Pearson just wanted to do something for her fi-ancé, who was beginning his sec-ond tour of Iraq. With her moth-er, Virginia, she put together 32 Christmas stockings stuffed with 420 pounds of snacks, toiletries and other items and sent them to her fiancé to share with his unit.

The idea of sending care pack-ages to troops stationed in a com-bat zone snowballed. Donations came in and volunteers showed up to help pack boxes. Since its beginning in November 2004, Operation Sandbox-Georgia has reached more than 86,000 men and women from across the Unit-

ed States serving overseas, said Virginia Pearson, co-founder and president of Operation Sand-box-Georgia.

The name Operation Sand-box-Georgia came from veter-ans, Pearson said, who claimed serving in Iraq was like being in a sandbox. Now a nonprofit or-ganization, Operation Sandbox has moved its operations from a small church to the Nation-al Guard Armory in Covington and continues sending boxes to troops serving in combat zones, mainly in Afghanistan.

“I did it at first to support my daughter,” Virginia Pearson said. “I wanted to let troops know that I appreciated what they were doing for my freedom. When I got into

it, I saw what it meant to the sol-diers and their families.”

The boxes, which range in size from small to large, can carry anything from coffee, Q-tips, cotton balls, beef jerky, pow-dered drink mixes and a variety of toiletries, to games, phone cards, blankets, heaters and DVD players. A packet contain-ing a “thank you” letter to the troops and a form that soldiers can fill out to request specific items is also included. Boxes can be individually tailored to meet requests and needs.

“If you have someone serving over there [in a combat zone], all it takes is an email telling us about them and we can send the unit a box,” Pearson said. “It

doesn’t cost you anything.”Unfortunately, Pearson said,

there has been a decline in inter-est in the project since U.S. troops pulled out of Iraq three years ago. According to military reports ear-lier this year, there are still 38,000 troops in Afghanistan.

Pearson said there is a need for beef jerky, Slim Jims, mouthwash, toothpaste, travel size baby wipes, individually packed peanuts, hard candy, de-odorant, lip balm, dental floss, flavored drink singles and in-dividual microwaveable meals. Left over Halloween candy can be donated as well.

Volunteers meet at the Na-tional Guard Armory on Carroll Street in Covington on Wednes-

day mornings, packing boxes and getting them ready to mail from 9 a.m. to noon.

“I would love to see more peo-ple help,” Wolcott said. “Every-one talks about supporting the military and this is a great way to do it, even if they can only come once a month.

Operation Sandbox-Georgia serves not only troops in all branches of the military from the state, but from around the country.

For more information about Operation Sandbox-Georgia, vis-it the website or send an email to [email protected]. A list of requested items is also available for download at Opera-tion Sandbox-Georgia’s web site.

upcoming veterans day events

Giving back to the troopsveterans day

Operation Sandbox celebrates 10 years


11

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Tyrone King will take over as Rockdale County basketball head coach this season after serving as an assistant under former coach Al Williams last year. The Bulldogs are coming off a 10-17 (5-7 region) sea-son that ended in a first round exit in the state playoffs, but

that team was young and King thinks this year the team could win state.

The Rockdale News: With this being your first season as Rockdale’s head coach what are some of the things you want to do and implement?

Tyrone King: Well basically I just want keep on the tradition

that coach Williams had the guys know. Being his assistant I learned about the program. We’ve got some great athletes in the program and I think we can do a lot. The main thing is just getting them committed to defense and rebounding. Last year we were very young and I didn’t think they understood the importance of even though you’re athletic, we still need to play tough on the defensive end. The rebounding aspect was big for us last year espe-cially when we played teams

Saturday, Nov. 8, 2014

rockdalenews.com SportS

See King on PAGE 13

SEASON PREVIEWS

Last year, Rockdale County High School’s Lady Dawgs finished the region tied

for second, but took third as the result of a coin toss. The team eventually suffered a tough loss in the third place region game against Alcovy 42-38.

On a team that has just four seniors and young but inexpe-rienced talent, Lady Bulldogs’ head coach Gladys King has her work cut out. King has been preaching fundamentals and discipline to her team, and more importantly, playing within the system.

The team returns three start-ers from last year and the rest are players brought up from JV and middle school.

“We’re kind of young,” King

said. “My thing is just work on the fundamentals and the confidence level to build those girls and get them strong to get them where they need to be as a young team. Some of the ones that are returning, I want them to come out and play their role and we can get back to being at the top of the region. I don’t have doubt that we can’t, but I feel that we can work hard to get there.”

Kings says that the team has a defense-first approach toward this season, which is evident in their practices. Watching the Lady Dawgs practice against the ninth grade boys, you can see that playing against the guys adds a level of aggression and physicality to the way the girls play.

In practice the girls go after the boys and pressure the ball.

They forced multiple turnovers in the scrimmage by pressuring the ball and knowing where to be when trapping a ball han-dler.

With the way Rockdale plans to pressure the ball, they also need to be able to dribble/pass outside of pressure/traps. They worked on both in their simu-lation against the ninth grade boys.

“We’ve been working on a lot of ball handling. We’ve been working on a lot of defense. As we all know, defense wins games. We’ve been working on our defense a lot and different defenses – press (defense) and things like that. Defense has been the key,” King said.

Rockdale travels to open its season against Green Forest Christian on Tuesday at 5:30 p.m.

By Shakeem [email protected]

Lady Bulldogs

look to climb the ranks

Q&A: King takes over Rockdale basketball

By Shakeem [email protected]

A Rockdale player drives to the bas-ket for a layup during warm-ups.

Rockdale boys basketball head coach Tyrone King talks to players before they scrimmage on Friday.

Shakeem Holloway /The



that were bigger than us.

RN: Coach talk a little bit about the system that you’re going to have.

King: We’re very athletic this year and I think we’re even more athletic than last year especially at the bigger posi-tions. It just depends on the type of team we’re playing. If we just see weakness in teams with their guards we’re going to apply a lot of pressure. Basically, we’re trying to score in transition this year. Just keep the same prin-ciples on defense, but just be more intense on defense this year. Getting our hands in the passing lanes – that’s one of the things after reviewing last year’s film and just

talking with coach Williams last year, that’s one of the things we can focus on. Another thing we focus on, just perfecting the basics. Let’s finish at the rin and make free throws. Free throws and field goals win champion-ships in basketball and football...If we’re not making free throws we’re not gonna win those close games…

RN: I know you’ve got some of your players playing football. So coach how has that affected you as far as practice goes?

King: Right now it’s really not affecting us. We have a lot of guys that are out for basketball. You might get a cou-ple guys from football, but mainly these guys have been playing all summer. We have about 14 or 15 guys that are just strictly basketball guys. We might catch about one or two kids on the varsity that are from football, but it really hasn’t slowed down anything. It’s the teams in

South Georgia that have the whole basketball team as the football team. I think we’re faring pretty well with that.

RN: What are your goals for this season?

King: I just let the kids know that we have the potential to not only make it to a state championship, but to win a state championship. We have all the pieces that we need. We’re loaded at the guard position. We’re really deep. I think with the addition of Dwayne Brown this year. He’s had bad luck the last two years. He’s had back surgery last year, so he missed his whole 11th grade year. I know that if this team plays to the capability that they can play, I know that not just the state tournament but the state championship is a goal that we have and there’s no rea-son that we can’t make it if everybody comes together and does what they’re supposed to do

The News Saturday, Nov. 8, 2014 • 13The News Saturday, Nov. 8, 2014 • 3

13

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KingFrom 12

YACS Middle School Volleyball team won the MACAC Conference. Overall, the team finished the season with a 9-2 record. Coach Kerry Brown stated: “I could not be more proud of these girls. They worked incredibly hard and nev-er gave up! They did all of this while keeping a positive attitude.”

submitted photo YACS Middle School Volleyball Wins the MACAC Conference


14

said Waldrop, referring to Mays’ party. “But the case there has nothing to do with whether the good judge violat-ed the law.”

Waldrop pointed out several of the accusations against Mays, including theft - for spending money establishing a veteran’s or mental health court after Mays had been advised of its legal impossibility under a Pro-bate Court judge - and forgery - on a document Mays submitted to Rockdale Water Resources to reduce his overdue water bill - did not depend on Pearson.

When asked Wednesday about the indictment, Pearson declined to comment and re-ferred questions to Waldrop.

Mays also declined to com-ment Wednesday on Pear-son’s indictment and referred questions to his attorney Gary Washington. Washington said he is acting in an advisory role, since no official charges have been pressed. He declined to comment but added, regard-ing Pearson’s indictment, “As a legal matter, there’s been no conviction. But where there’s

smoke, there’s fire.”According to an article in the

Kansas City Star, Pearson met the victim, Marva Wilson, who was described as financially unsophisticated, in 2010. Wil-son, then had won $2 million in the lottery in 2008. Pearson convinced Wilson to withdraw money from an annuity that had been set up for Wilson and give it to a nonprofit Pearson had set up called Recidivism At Work, Inc.

Wilson told KSHB Chan-nel 41 Action News in Kansas City, “They said that I signed some papers. I didn’t know what the hell I signed. What I signed was a way for my mon-ey to be gone.”

“I didn’t know it,” said the 65-year-old, weeping.

“”One time I called her, and she was getting ready to board the plane to the Bahamas,” Wilson said to KSHB. “She was a smart, slick, lying, edu-cated crook.”

Pearson is facing up to 40 years in federal prison if con-victed of all the charges.

Pearson has a history of evic-tions, garnishments and other civil cases against her in Missouri stretching back at least to 1997.

Lotto winner

The 65-year-old female victim in this case won approximately $2 million in the Missouri lot-tery in 2008. She would meet Pearson two years lat-er in January 2010.

According to the indict-ment records, in the spring of 2010, Pear-son allegedly c o n v i n c e d the victim to transfer a total of $480,000 into a checking account setup for a nonprofit organization, Recidi-vism at Work, Pearson founded.

When questioned by law en-forcement about the transfer, Pearson allegedly stated the money was an investment and the total supplied from the vic-tim was only $200,000. She also allegedly claimed to have used the money strictly for business purposes.

However, according to the indictment, Pearson alleged-ly used the money to gamble, travel, buy cars, clothes and furniture and pay rent while she lived in the St. Louis met-

ropolitan area while there is a lack of evidence to suggest any of the money was used for the

nonprofit.In 2013,

P e a r s o n produced a loan agree-ment where the victim a l l e g e d l y agreed to lend Pearson $ 4 2 0 , 0 0 0 and Pearson would repay the victim the full amount loaned in three years.

However, this never happened and after making payments to-taling $38,170, allegedly using Wilson’s own money, Pearson stopped making payments in August of 2011 and still owes the victim $441,830.

Tax evader

In May 2010, Pearson setup a second bank account for RAW, which was allegedly used to only receive transfers from the first RAW checking account that held the money from the victim.

Pearson filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy protection in De-

cember 2010, allegedly under the guise that she had only $1,770 in assets, $91,883 in un-secured debt and no job. Pear-son allegedly didn’t disclose ei-ther of the RAW bank accounts which had a combined balance of $56,506 at the time.

Pearson also neglected to disclose any of the debt she al-legedly owed to the victim.

She received a discharge of her debts, worth $122,000 in March 2011.

Fraud

In March 2010, Pearson al-legedly applied for federal housing benefits, specifically the Section 8 tenant voucher housing program. Later that month, she was admitted into the program.

Pearson continued to receive benefits for a rental home in Kansas City, Missouri, while living in St. Louis, Missouri through March 2012. Later that month she was approved for transfers of benefits to Orange County, California, although her benefits were still paid by the Western Housing Authority.

Pearson received feder-al housing benefits from the Weston Housing Authority from April 2010 through April of this year totaling $76,837.


JUDGEFrom front page

One time I called her, and she was getting ready to board the plane to the Bahamas, ... She was a smart, slick, lying, educated crook.

—Marva Wilson, victim

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the rockdale news saturday nov 8th, 2014

Documents

rockdale county post

boc post

van ness46

missouri case

district court

freya pearson

western district of

insidesee judge