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June 6, 2013
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Man jailed for firing at another
By HOLLI DEAL BRAGG
[email protected]
A Claxton man was
jailed after firing shots at
another man Friday.
Anthony
Kennedy
Verde, 27, of Deloach
Church Road in Claxton, is
being held without bond in
the Bulloch County Jail,
charged with aggravated
assault, possession of a firearm during the commission of a crime, possession
of a firearm
by a convicted felon,
parole violation and
mar i juana
possession.
Deputies
Verde
responded
to a Clevy Deloach Road
home around 9:40 p.m.
Friday after an assault with
a gun was reported, Bulloch
County Sheriff Lynn
Anderson said.
Got a tip?
➤ Anyone with information on this case should contact
Investigator
John
Quattlebaum at (912) 7641785 or submit an anonymous tip to tips@bulloch
sheriff.com.
Deputies spoke with a
26-year-old man and witnesses, who said Verde
became angry with the
man and “fired at least two
shots at him before leaving
in
(Verde’s)
Dodge
Charger.”
After collecting evidence
and taking witness statements, sheriff ’s Investigator
John Quattlebaum issued
arrest warrants for Verde.
Bulloch County sheriff ’s
investigators, “assisted by
the Evans County Sheriff ’s
Office and parole officers,
searched for Verde in
Claxton and at several
See JAILED, Page 3
Groundbreaking at Paulson Stadium
G
eorgia Southern
University mascot Gus tries to
shield some of the
groundbreakers with
his umbrella during a
rain-drenched ceremony Wednesday
morning at Paulson
Stadium. The groundbreaking, held in the
stadium's east end
zone, was for a project
that will add 6,200
seats to the stadium
along with the $10
million Football
Operations Center.
See story in Sports
on page 7.
Denies
personal
care home
By HOLLI DEAL BRAGG
[email protected]
A group home for girls
was approved Tuesday by
Bulloch County commissioners, but a retirement
home for senior citizens
was not.
A number of people
attended the commissioners’ meeting at 5:30 p.m. at
the Bulloch County Annex
to voice concerns over each
proposal.
Kimberly Williams was
first to speak, seeking
approval of turning a home
on Ponderosa Road, in the
Portal area, into a retirement home for six residents
needing assisted living.
She told commissioners
the home would meet all
state requirements and no
Jason Wermers/staff
OTC revamping its oldest building
Receiving $2.9M for Joseph E. Kennedy upgrades
By JEFF HARRISON
[email protected]
Portions of Ogeechee
Technical College’s oldest
building will soon get a
new look.
Administrators are planning approximately $2.9
million in renovations to
the Joseph E. Kennedy
Building, which sits at the
head of the school’s main
campus on U.S. Highway
301 South.
The nearly 24-year-old
structure serves as the hub
of all activities at OTC and
features classrooms, faculty
offices, an auditorium,
bookstore and dining area.
Georgia
legislators
Commission
approves
girls' home
SPECIAL
The Joseph E. Kennedy Building at Ogeechee Technical
College will soon be getting renovations as a result of funding from the state.
agreed to set aside money
for the project in the
recently approved fiscal
2014 budget.
“The local legislative
delegation has done a great
job for us in helping gain
these funds. This will give
us what we need to stay on
the cutting edge of education,” said Barry Turner, the
vice president for college
advancement at Ogeechee
Tech. “By working hard
and taking care of us as a
college, (legislators) are
taking care of students and
citizens of this region.”
The government funding will help renovate the
college’s
auditorium,
expand and improve the
bookstore/student center
and revamp a Student
Affairs Center sometime
next year.
“The areas will be
designed and improved to
See RENOVATIONS, Page 3
residents
would
be
approved who suffered
dementia or posed flight
risks that could prove
unsafe.
Williams said she wants
to open the home because
as a licensed master social
worker, she feels Bulloch
County is underserved in
the personal care home
area and would like to see
potential clients “enjoy
country living as we all
enjoy it.”
However, several neighbors, including Tyler Finch
Jr., expressed concerns
about safety and liability.
Finch owns a large pond
next to Williams’ property
and fears a wayward resident could encounter danger should he or she stumble into the pond, said
Stephen Rushing, an attorney and spokesman for
Williams’ neighbors.
He said the “washboard”
road, being more than 18
miles from East Georgia
Regional Medical Center,
See COUNTY, Page 3
Statesboro to host
Sons of Confederate
Veterans convention
Event to be held at Holiday
Inn Friday and Saturday
By HOLLI DEAL BRAGG
[email protected]
For the second time since
1911,
the
Sons
of
Confederate Veterans annual convention will be held in
Statesboro, as history
buffs
gather
Friday for the
two-day event.
The convention was last
held
in
Statesboro in
2003, Ogeechee
Rifles Camp 941
member Mike Mull said..
The convention will be
held at the Holiday Inn.
Registration will be from
3-6 p.m. Friday, with a
social to follow for Sons of
Confederate Veterans members only.
On Saturday, a prayer
breakfast will begin at 6:30
a.m., with the meal served
at 7 a.m., with Rev. Herman
White, the chaplain of Sons
of Confederate Veterans’
North Carolina division,
speaking, he said.
A business session
will follow, and
after a lunch
break, business
will continue
until an executive
council
meeting. At 6:30
p.m.,
the
Confederate Ball and
Banquet will be held, with
many Sons of Confederate
Veterans members and their
wives dressing in period
attire, including ball gowns
and Confederate uniforms,
Mull said.
See CONFEDERATE, Page 3
Local News on the Go
INDEX
Calendar......... 2 Community..... 16
Classified......... 9 Sports.............. 7
Entertainment... 5 Soundoff.......... 2
Obituaries........ 4
Police Report.... 4
Quick
Scan
Lottery............. 2
Weather.......... 2
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statesboroherald.com | Statesboro herald — Thursday, June 6, 2013 – 3
County approves girls' home, but votes down personal care center
Continued from page 1
would be a concern in case
the senior residents needed
emergency care.
Because the neighborhood is also an agricultural
community, heavy farm
equipment and chemicals
could also pose a hazard to
residents, he said.
Attorney
Michael
Classens,
representing
Williams, countered by
saying the road conditions
and agricultural activity
would remain as challenges
to residents regardless of
whether the conditional
use request was approved.
Bulloch
County
Commissioner Anthony
Simmons
moved
to
approve the request, stating
he agreed with the idea of
senior citizens being able
to enjoy rural settings in
their
later
years.
Commissioner Ray Mosley
supported the motion, but
commissioners
Roy
Thompson,
Robert
Rushing and Walter Gibson
voted against the motion.
Then Thompson moved
to deny the request. A similar vote — with Mosley
and Simmons voting “nay”
to the denial — ended in
the vote of 3-2 to deny
Williams’ request.
The second conditional
use request heard by commissioners was from
Marcella Dickerson Jones,
who hopes to open a girls’
home at a residence on
Shuman Road off U.S.
Highway 301 North.
Jones said she has a
degree in public health, is
certified in CPR and safety
instruction. She told commissioners that the girls,
ages 13-17, would be
supervised at all times,
would not trespass onto
neighbors’ property and
that the property will be
fenced.
Tony Hodge, who will
be the home’s director, told
commissioners the home’s
staff would work closely
with local law enforcement
and the Department of
Juvenile Justice regarding
the teens, whom he said
would “respond better to a
rural area.”
But neighbors, including Gwendolyn Jackson,
protested.
Having 10-14 teens and
staff living in the home
built for a single family
would be “inhumane,” she
said.
Eric Bishop said he is
concerned over jealousy
issues that could arise
between the girls and his
children, who have luxuries
the teens in the home will
not have the same. Also, he
said he has aggressive dogs
he keeps fenced but is worried that the teens would
stray onto his property and
possibly be bitten.
Bobby Jones spoke up in
defense, stating the property will have a privacy
fence containing the teens,
and said the home meets
state regulations regarding
space.
Commissioners unanimously approved the conditional use request.
Holli Deal Bragg may be
reached at (912) 489-9414.
Ogeechee Tech receives funding for renovations of oldest building
Continued from page xx
better serve the students
in a more comfortable
way,” Turner said.
Upgrades to the auditorium, which is relatively
unchanged since it was
first built, will include a
new roof, ceiling, and air
and ventilation systems.
Crews will also add new
seating, replace the floor-
ing, and make several cosmetic changes.
“There will definitely
be a more plush and
updated/revitalized environment,” said Jeff Davis,
the vice president of technology and institutional
support at OTC. “It will be
more collegiate in nature.”
The Student Affairs
Center, currently home to
admissions, financial aid
and counseling offices —
among others — will be
remodeled to include
additional office space.
Flooring, ductwork,
and electrical infrastructure will receive upgrades.
In the campus bookstore, workers will build a
small kitchen and dining
area. Currently, food is
served in the bookstore
but has to be prepared in,
and moved from, a secondary location, Davis
said.
The bookstore/dining
area also will be expanded
by enclosing an outdoor
patio area, and receive
infrastructural improvements similar to those in
other parts of the build-
ing.
Overall, “this will be a
drastic improvement for
the building,” Turner said.
Planning and contracting stages of the project
will take several months,
with demolition beginning in January, Davis
said.
Students will likely
notice construction but
feel only a minor impact.
“There will never be a
point where any services
at the college are discontinued,” Davis said. “We
will only have to move
some students, faculty and
services around to different places, temporarily.”
Jeff Harrison may be
reached at (912) 489-9454.
Sons of Confederate Veterans to hold convention in Statesboro
Continued from page 1
Vendors will be on-site
and while business meetings and social events are
reserved for Sons of
Confederate
Veterans
members and families,
the public is welcome to
browse vendor booths, he
said.
Sons of Confederate
Veterans is “about history,
honor and heritage” as
well as education and
preservation, Mull said.
The Ogeechee Rifles
Camp 941 has 50 members, and meets every
third Thursday of the
month at RJ’s Steakery.
Members “must be
male, at least 12 years old
and 16 to vote, and document kinship to a
Confederate veteran who
honorably served in the
War
of
Northern
Suspect jailed on assault charges
Continued from page 1
other locations over a
t w o - d ay
p e r i o d ,”
Anderson said.
When deputies received
a call about a suspicious
vehicle on Emit Grove
Road, at Emit Grove
Church, they responded
and found Verde in the
vehicle, he said.
After taking him into
custody, deputies found
marijuana in the vehicle.
Verde was taken to the
Bulloch County Jail, he
said.
Verde’s past criminal
history, according to the
Georgia Department of
Corrections, includes a
DUI and charge of possession of a firearm by a
convicted felon in Bulloch
County in 2009; cocaine
possession in Lowndes
County in 2008; and theft
by taking and criminal
trespass
in
Bulloch
County in 2007.
Verde was incarcerated
in the Wheeler County
Correctional
Facility
from September 2009 to
August 2011 for conviction of those crimes,
according to the Georgia
Department
of
Corrections website.
Holli Deal Bragg may be
reached at (912) 489-9414.
Churches split on Scouts'
welcoming of gay youth
By DAVID CRARY
AP National Writer
In suburban Atlanta,
northern Idaho and a number
of other places, churches have
moved swiftly to sever ties
with the Boy Scouts of America
in protest over the vote last
month to let openly gay boys
participate in Scouting.
To date, it's far from the
mass defection that some conservatives had predicted before
the vote by the BSA's National
Council.
But the exodus could soon
swell, depending on the outcome of the Southern Baptist
Convention's annual meeting
next week in Houston.
Baptist leaders say the
agenda is likely to include a
resolution encouraging SBCaffiliated churches to phase
out their sponsorships of
Scout units.
"I would bet there would be
a resolution expressing disappointment with the Boy
Scouts' decision and calling on
Southern Baptist churches to
prepare for the need for alternatives," said the Rev. Russell
Moore, president of the SBC's
Ethics and Religious Liberty
Commission.
"How quickly that happens
will probably differ from congregation to congregation,"
Moore said. "I do think most
Southern Baptists see the Boy
Scouts moving in a direction
that's not going to be consistent with our beliefs."
The Southern Baptists —
the largest Protestant denomination in the U.S. — already
have a youth program for
boys, the Royal Ambassadors.
SBC leaders have suggested it
could expand to accommodate boys leaving the Scouts.
According to BSA figures,
Baptist churches sponsor
Scout units serving about
108,000 of the BSA's 2.6 million youth members.
While many Baptist
churches may be awaiting the
outcome of next week's meeting, some already have decided
to break with the BSA.
In Marietta, Ga., pastor
Ernest Easley said his Roswell
Street Baptist Church is ending its affiliation with Boy
Scout Troop 204 that dates
back to 1945.
"I never dreamed I'd have
to stand up publicly and say to
parents: 'Pull your kids out of
the Boy Scouts,'" Easley told
Baptist Press, the SBC's official
news agency.
Baptist churches in
Elizabethtown and Rineyville,
Ky., Helena and Pelham, Ala.,
and Jacksonville, Ark., also say
they're cutting ties with the
BSA.
Tim Reed, pastor of the
First Baptist Church of Gravel
Ridge in Jacksonville, said in
an e-mail that his congregation — including a 15-yearold boy on track to win the
coveted Eagle Scout rank —
strongly backed the decision to
end sponsorship of a Scout
troop.
"He was set to be one of the
youngest boys to make Eagle,"
Reed wrote. "He said that he
must uphold God's word over
the Boy Scouts' decision no
matter what the personal cost."
Among the latest to cut ties
was Candlelight Christian
Fellowship, a nondenominational church in Coeur
d'Alene, Idaho, which
announced this week that it
would end its charter of a Boy
Scout troop at the end of this
year.
"We're a Bible-believing
church, and the Boy Scouts
have opted to pursue a different moral path," said the associate pastor, Buck Storm. "It's a
sad time for us."
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Aggression,” he said.
Membership information will be available at
the convention, or from
any Sons of Confederate
Veterans member, he said.
For further information,
contact Mull at (912)
764-2822 or Mike Sorrell
JUST IN TIME
for Father's Day
Duck Dynasty
Furniture, Mattress Outlet & GiFts
Hwy. 67 at Fairground • Statesboro • (912) 681-3824
64 East Main Street • Statesboro • (912) 243-9999
Cannon’s Produce
Located 6½ miles out Pulaski Hwy.
Local Green Beans, Squash, Cukes,
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Call For Availability.
Also Peanuts, Tomatoes, Peaches,
Corn, Cantaloupes, Watermelons
& Other Fruits & Vegetables
at (912) 587-2309.
Holli Deal Bragg may
be reached at (912) 4899414.
Scarboro Grove Missionary
Baptist Church
is celebrating their
113th Church Anniversary
Sunday, June 9, 2013
10:00 a.m. - Sunday School
11:00 a.m. - Worship Service
2:00 p.m. - Johnson Grove Missionary
Baptist Church, Pastor John C. Newkirt
Dinner will be served.
912-865-5362 • 21 Pecan Grove • Portal, GA 30450
Grant Turner, Pastor • www.scarborogrovembc.org
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Monday - Saturday: 10am-7pm