Memories of 2008 include several memorable trials, an unprecedented six elections, and two murders, one of which remains unsolved.

The state legislators appeared to be consumed with discussions of tax reform during the 2008 session, and an attempt led by House Speaker Glenn Richardson to replace local property taxes with a statewide sales tax failed, to the relief of officials of Georgia cities, counties, and boards of education.

January

The Jones County Sheriff’s Department was credited at a Macon press conference Jan. 17 with assisting the Macon Police Department in a six-month drug investigation that resulted in the arrest of a major drug supplier.

Nine arrests were made in the operation, and suspects face sentences of 25 years and a fine of $1 million. Macon officials said the operation was distributing approximately four kilograms of cocaine a week, including powder and crack cocaine, and two and one-quarter kilos of cocaine and a pound of marijuana were seized with a street value of $208,000.

Cash and personal property with a value totaling over $500,000 were also seized.

February

The first election of the year took place Feb. 5 as a part of the national ‘Super Tuesday’ primaries. Jones County Democrats chose Barack Obama over Hillary Clinton, and Jones County Republicans selected Mike Huckabee over John McCain. The county’s voter percentage was 51 percent.

Jones County students were the big winners in the local election with the Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax for education passing with a margin of five to one. School Superintendent Jim LeBrun spent the first part of the year making more than 20 presentations about the SPLOST referendum.

Jones County welcomed new football coach Dwight Jones at a reception Feb. 26. The coach has 28 years of coaching experience in Georgia and Alabama with his most recent before coming to Jones County at McIntosh High School in Peachtree City.

A Macon man was sentenced to 20 years in prison by a Jones County jury Feb. 27.

Richard Dean Wilson was sentenced as a repeat offender. According to the law, the recidivist sentence means Wilson will not be eligible for parole, and the entire sentence will be served.

The crime occurred Feb. 2, 2007, at the residence of Joy Marchman.

March

Gray firefighters were called to Bridges Funeral Home March 3 to extinguish a fire that broke out in its crematory located behind the funeral home. The fire was confined to the crematory building. It was a total loss, as was a hearse that was inside the garage, but the main funeral home building was not damaged. The crematory is being rebuilt on the property.

After more than 100 years in operation as an independent bank, Jones County’s oldest banking institution merged with United Central Bank of Garland, Texas, March 17.

Jones County Bank President L.M. ‘Woody’ Woodcock Jr. made the official announcement and explained that Central Bancorp is a bank holding company with assets of approximately $787 million and total deposits of approximately $636 million. Woodcock said his bank has received several offers over the years, but the timing of this offer made a big difference.

Darian Bryant, 21, received a life sentence plus 15 years March 28 for the fatal shooting of Joshua Oshea Smith. The shooting took place Jan. 3, 2007, and the victim was 22. Bryant was found guilty of one count of malice murder and two counts of felony murder.

Under Georgia Law, because the crime resulted in one death, the mandatory life sentences from the murder convictions were rolled into one, and the firearm charge added another 15 years.

April

Jones County’s 13th Relay for Life had perfect weather and raised $153,000. Jarrell Green once again headed the event but added a co-chairman, Leslie Poythress, who brought a renewed exuberance to the Relay. Forty-five teams joined forces to raise money to find a cure for cancer.

The annual event began April 10, and cancer survivors Mitchell Mock and Kody Perry jointly cut the ribbon during the opening ceremonies. Approximately 125 people spent the night at the Jones County High School track for the event and attended breakfast at the Gray United Methodist Church.

May

Jones County schools held the first film festival in May, and students competed for ‘Jaceys’. The red-carpet event was held in the Performing Arts Center at JCHS, and best picture awards were won by Gray Elementary School, Clifton Ridge Middle School, the Ninth Grade Academy, and Jones County High School.

June

Gray Station Better Hometown’s fifth Daylily Festival had more than 3,000 in attendance despite the 100-degree weather. Mother Nature has not been a friend of the festival with the event essentially being shut down in 2007 with rain and 45-degree weather. The festival, which takes place in the pecan orchard next to Gray Elementary, had 115 vendors and is the major fund-raiser for the organization.

The Daylily Festival takes place the first weekend in June because that is the peak blooming season for the flowers for which the festival is named.

Three carloads of Jones Countians traveled to Statesboro June 11 to attend a meeting of the OneGeorgia Authority board and bring home a check for a half million dollars. Gov. Sonny Perdue and board members met at Ogeechee Technical College in Statesboro to distribute grants and loans from the agency’s portfolio of financing programs.

Jones County’s Georgia Regional Industrial Park received $500,000 for the construction of a four-lane divided median entrance road that will extend 5,000 linear feet into the new park, which spans a 962-acre tract in the southern tip of Jones County.

The property for the park was purchased in January of 2007 from the Plum Creek Timber Company for $3.2 million.

Keith Robert Collins was captured approximately 130 yards from his point of escape June 23 approximately five hours after he escaped from the custody of the Jones County Sheriff’s Office. The inmate faked an illness and was using the help of crutches to walk, and, as he was getting back into the transport vehicle, pushed his crutches aside and bolted for the woods.

Collins, originally from Naples, Fla., was at the Jones County Law Enforcement Center since April and was originally charged in Jones County with statutory rape, child molestation, burglary, and kidnapping in 2004.

The 50-year-old pled guilty and was sentenced July 24 for his original charges of burglary, kidnapping, child molestation and rape and received 20 years for each count. Three of the counts were allowed to run concurrently giving him a total of 40 years, with 25 to serve in prison.

He will come back before the court at a later date to face additional charges for felony escape and felony obstruction.

July

Incumbents did not fare well in the July 15 primary with challengers defeating two of the three opposed in the election. Tommy Robinson defeated Incumbent District Three commissioner Mell Merritt, and Alfred Pitts grabbed the District Two Board of Education seat from Willie Fluellen, who had served the county for 21 years.

Commissioner Larry Childs, however, held onto his District One seat, over challenger Greg Becham.

Jones County’s first murder of 2008 occurred July 25. The body of Thomas Stanford Griffis, 75, was discovered at his barber shop on Railroad Street. The Gray Police and Jones County Sheriff’s departments have worked on the case jointly, but it has not been solved.

Griffis opened his barber shop in Gray approximately 10 years ago. A press release issued by the Sheriff’s Department immediately after the murder stated that Griffis suffered a stab wound to the torso. The man who discovered the body of the victim went to the offices of Newberry and Newberry across the street from the barber shop for help, and the body was sent to the crime lab in Atlanta the next day.

The following week Jones County Sheriff’s Department Investigator Capt. Earl Humphries released the victim’s cause of death as two bullet wounds. He said the crime lab determined the stab wound was delivered post mortem. The cause of death was originally withheld with the hope of identifying possible suspects in the case.

Investigators determined the crime occurred between 11 a.m. and 3 p.m., and the motive for the murder is thought to be robbery.

A reward is offered for information leading to the arrest of a suspect.

August

The turnout percentage for the Aug. 5 Democratic runoff was a dismal 4.53 percent. Jim Martin edged out Vernon Jones in Jones County, 50.62 percent to Jones’ 49.38 percent. The runoff determined the Democratic Senate candidate who would face Republican incumbent Saxby Chambliss in November and was the only item on Jones County’s ballot.

Elam Baptist Church celebrated its 200th anniversary in August. Members celebrated the occasion over a weekend with period clothing, a communitywide picnic, and special services. Elam was also the featured subject for the Old Clinton Historical Society Christmas ornament in 2008.

The year contained good news for Jones County taxpayers; neither the Board of Education, county commissions, nor city council increased taxes.

September

Gray’s Downtown Development Authority was activated by Gray’s City Council at its Sept. 2 meeting and held its first meeting Sept. 8. Board members are president Cecil Ethridge, vice president Ashley Mackin, secretary Kema Clark, treasurer Alan Childs and members Mickey Parker, David Tufts, and Sheri Rollins. The purpose of a DDA is to bring funding options to revitalization projects.

Loan funds of $250,000 are available to DDAs from the Georgia Department of Community Affairs, and another $250,000 is available from the Georgia Cities Foundation at 3 percent interest.

Gray Station Better Hometown held its first Hometown Celebration Sept. 13, which was a first-rate representation of all that Jones County has to offer. Booths included local authors, artists, and craftsmen in the hall of the W.E. Knox Center, and musical talent performed on the stage.

Food was provided courtesy of GSBHT as a way to give back to the community for its support.

Jones County’s Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax passed by a percentage of 83 percent in the Sept. 16 special election. The SPLOST was the only item on the ballot. Proposed projects for the SPLOST are: water and sewer expansion and improvements, expansion of recreational facilities, road paving and equipment purchases, new cars and equipment for the Sheriff’s Department, rehab of government buildings, preparation of Jones County’s new industrial park, golf course improvements, EMA equipment and construction of additional fire departments, and preservation of a historic tan yard discovered in Clinton.

Commissioners hope to collect $14,000,000 over six years, and the sales tax funds will be shared with the City of Gray at the rate of 19.2 percent.

The busy election year brought about the revival of Jones County’s Democratic Party. The first meeting was held at the Lake Jonesco Clubhouse Sept. 18, and officers were elected. The officers are Jimmy Mills, president; Josh Lurie, vice president; Ida Dennis-Hunter, secretary; and Woody Woodcock, treasurer.

A child molester was sentenced to a total of 150 years by a Jones County jury Sept. 25. Antonio Vazquez was charged with nine counts of child molestation charges and was convicted in part because of the testimony of his daughter.

After the calculations were finished, Superior Court Judge Lee Parrott Jr. informed Vazquez, 29, he had 40 years to serve in prison in addition to 10 years probation. Because of the laws concerning sexual offenders, Parrott said Vazquez will not be eligible for parole until the 30 years for aggravated child molestation have been served.

October

An Oct. 2 raid of electronic video gaming machines in Jones County and Gray stores by local law enforcement agencies netted a seizure of $140,000 in cash. Investigators with Jones County Sheriff’s Department said all the stores with the gambling machines operating within Jones County had been under investigation for about two months, and the first part of the investigation was determining which businesses were paying off illegally.

Ten warrants were executed and money and receipts were seized from nine of the businesses.

After a two-year debate about impact fees in Jones County, commissioners adopted the fees Oct. 7 with a vote of 3-1. The $1,800 fee will become effective July 1, 2009. A development impact fee is a fee charged to cover a new development’s impact on infrastructure.

The commissioners identified libraries, emergency management, the Sheriff’s Department, and parks and recreation as areas that can be funded with impact fees, and 70 percent of new growth can be paid for by the fees. The July 1 effective date was included to give the housing market time to recover.

One of Jones County’s ‘best and brightest’ was recognized in the October edition of Georgia Trend magazine as a member of the elite group 40 Under Forty Georgia’s Best and Brightest.

Greg Mullis, vice president of energy services of Tri-County EMC and chairman of the Development Authority of Jones County, was not only among the 40 chosen but was in the top four selected. He was featured on the cover and is the first profiled in the article. The 40 Under 40 selection is an annual tribute to individuals who will lead Georgia’s business, cultural, academic, and government institutions in decades to come.

Jones County’s second murder took place Oct. 17. Investigators had suspects under arrest hours after the body of 76-year-old Joseph Kitchens was found at his home on Hungerford Road.

Terrence Sanchez Burney, 18, and Tyrone Terrill Richardson, 20, both with addresses of Hungerford Road, were arrested and charged with burglary, kidnapping, and murder. The suspects were connected to the crime through items, including firearms found in their car during a routine traffic stop later in the day.

Because of the similarity of the victims and the way the crimes were committed, the suspects in the Kitchens murder are being looked at as possibly being involved in the Griffis murder.

November

The presidential election Nov. 4 was Jones County’s fifth of the year. The historic election of Barack Obama as president was not reflected in Jones County’s totals; however, democratic incumbents District Two Commissioner David Gault and Coroner Jerry Bridges had no problem holding onto their offices. Challenger Bubber Epps, a Democrat, defeated Republican Allen Freeman for the Georgia House District 140.

Seventy-eight percent of the county’s 15,569 registered voters cast ballots Nov. 4, including 6,684 electors who chose to take advantage of early voting. The percentage of early voters was 55 percent.

Jones County’s eighth Veterans Appreciation Day took place Nov. 8 and succeeded in its goal of paying tribute to the county’s veterans. The veteran’s walk honored service men and women marching behind banners depicting the nation’s conflicts from World War II to the Persian Gulf War. A new feature of this year’s program was interviews of World War II veterans Harvey Chase, Arthur McConnell, Grady Tyler, and Korean War veteran Jim Moughon. The veterans were interviewed by Dr. Bob Cramer.

The guest speaker for the day was Brig. Gen. Larry E. Dudney Jr., commander of Decatur’s 78th Troop Command of the Georgia Army National Guard and former commander of Macon’s 48th Infantry Brigade Combat Team.

Legendary UGA football coach Vince Dooley visited Gray Nov. 19 for a speaking engagement with the Jones County Rotary Club and a book signing at Kema’s Hobby. The former coach entertained the crowd of 130 in First Baptist Church of Gray’s fellowship hall and then signed copies of his book for several hours at the bookstore.

The event was a fund-raiser for the Ferst Foundation for childhood literacy.

Jones County’s biggest courtroom event of the year was the trial of Robert Allen Danenberg for a murder he committed 20 years ago. The defendant pled guilty to the murder of Deborah Penland Lamb in 1989 but won the right to a trial for the charges in 2005 because the effect of steroids he took the day of the shooting was not pursued at the time and there was a question of a conflict of interest with his defense attorney.

The trial began Nov. 13, which was exactly 20 years from the date of the crime. The jury took less than two hours to make their decision Nov. 20, and Superior Court Chief Judge William Prior Jr. told Danenberg he was sentenced to the penitentiary for the remainder of his life.

LifePointe Urgent Care in Gray opened its doors Nov. 29, and from that time forward Jones Countians will have access to medical care every day. The urgent care facility is located next to Walgreen’s and across the highway from Ingles and offers care that is one step down from an emergency room.

LifePointe contains state of the art equipment and has rooms for pediatric care, sight and hearing testing, a therapy room, digital X-ray, and an ultrasound will soon be installed.

Dr. Alan Justice and John Jeffers Jr., who are also the owners of LifePointe Medical in Byron, are partners in LifePointe Urgent Care in Gray. The groundbreaking for the facility was held in February, and at that time it was announced that the complex would be named the Rowena Wood R.N. Healthcare Complex. The project was financed by Piedmont Community Bank.

December

The Gray Police Department moved to what is hoped to be its permanent home Dec. 1. The building is located at 151 James St., near the entrance to the Jones County Sheriff’s Department. The building was reconstructed by Chris Wiedner.

The new police station contains 6,000 square feet heated and had a price tag of $463,000.

The sixth and final election of the year took place Dec. 2, which was a runoff between Republican incumbent Saxby Chambliss and Democratic challenger Jim Martin. Chambliss held onto the seat capturing 62 percent of the vote in Jones County.

Jones County/Gray Chamber of Commerce held its annual meeting Dec. 4, and chairman of the Chamber board of directors, Jason Barnes, passed the gavel to Hoyt Brown for the coming year. Brown is also currently serving as the president of the Jones County Rotary Club and will be performing double duty until June, the end of Rotary’s fiscal year.

The Chamber also recognized Central Georgia Technical College as Business of the Year; Michael Andrew Kitchens, Student of the Year; Judy Webb, Volunteer of the Year; and Debbie Lurie-Smith, Citizen of the Year.

The Gray Jaycees’ eighth annual Lighted Christmas Parade took place Dec. 9 with the theme ‘A Better Hometown Christmas’. The grand marshal of the event was Pat Daniels who has served as manager of Gray Station Better Hometown since 2002.

This year’s overall parade float winner was the entry from Jones County Fire Station One. Other float winners were broken down into two categories, business and community. The winner for the best use of theme business was the Movie Gallery and best use of lights business was Old Clinton Barbecue. Bradley Baptist Church captured the trophy for the community best use of theme and the Jones County Board of Commissioners won for community best use of lights.

The Exhange Club of Jones County and Jones County Lions Club held their annual dinners Dec. 11 recognizing public servants. The Exchange Club gave awards to firefighter Wesley Griswell, EMT John Herndon, Gray Police Officer Mitch Lovick, and Jones County Deputy Bub Lister. Sheriff Butch Reece was recognized as an honorary member of the club for his continued support of its projects.

The Lions Club presented awards to Gray Police Officer Jacob Hunnicutt, firefighter Max Wood III, and Jones County Deputy Boisey Hunt.

The final milestone of the year was the groundbreaking of Jones County’s next elementary school on Turnerwoods Road. The new school will be located off of Turnerwoods Road and the entrance is approximately one-half of a mile from Morton Road. The day was bittersweet for the Jones County Board of Education because it was the last day for Maintenance and Facilities Director Earl Colvin, who retired after 32 years of service to the county, and it was Fluellen’s final official event.