The theme of 2022 appeared to be getting back to normal with the court system working to clear cases that were stalled during the pandemic and governing bodies catching up on delayed projects.
One of the challenges of catching up, however, is that criminals continue in their bad deeds, and new projects keep being necessary.
JANUARY
The year began with a discussion by Board of Education members at their Jan. 11 meeting about the need for metal detectors at school system sporting events, which stemmed from a shooting at a December Jones County High School basketball game.
No one was injured in the shooting, but board members considered it a wake-up call.
Board of Education members met with representatives of the Maggie Califf Alumni Association at the property Jan. 13 to show support for donating a portion of the complex to the association to ensure the preservation of the historic Maggie Califf complex. The community received another wake-up call with the Jan. 23 report of a Jones County Sheriff’s Office Deputy being shot during a routine traffic stop. Deputy John Kile was protected by his bullet proof vest and was able to get back in his vehicle to pursue Zachary Lucas Olivar of Snellville. Several officers joined the chase, and Olivar was taken into custody and charged with aggravated assault.
The bid for the long-awaited construction of a new wastewater treatment plant for the City of Gray was approved at a Jan. 24 called meeting of City Council. Haren Construction was awarded the bid in the amount of $10,520,650 for the upgrade of the Wolf Creek WPCP to 0.80 MGD.
The first trial of 2022 started Jan. 31 and ended two and a half days later with a not-guilty verdict for defendant Willie Earl Sanders Jr. He had been incarcerated since his Oct. 17, 2018, arrest in connection with the death of a toddler that occurred in the parking lot of a local grocery store.
FEBRUARY
The good news of the award of a $1 million Community Block Development Grant was announced at the Board of Commissioners Feb. 1 meeting. The grant was for the renovation of the Jones County Health Department Building.
Reagan Hicks, a senior taking dual enrollment classes at Georgia College, was named Jones County High School STAR Student. Hicks honored math teacher Mark Higginbotham by selecting him as the STAR Teacher for 2022. Hicks scored 1580 on her SAT.
Patsy Johnson Childs was awarded the Hamilton-Williams Preservation award Feb. 10 by Jones County History and Heritage at their annual banquet.
The community received more good news from the Jones County Library with the announcement of Saturday hours that began Feb. 26. The library is now open from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. each Saturday.
Commissioners announced the receipt of a $4 million grant for water improvements at their Feb. 22 meeting. The grant was from the State Fiscal Recovery Fund and targets areas in the county without access to county water.
MARCH
A Jones County jury found James Mark Slater guilty of two counts of aggravated assault and two counts of possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony March 1 after deliberating for less than an hour.
Slater received a sentence of 20 years each for the aggravated assault counts and five years each for the firearm charges. Superior Court Judge Terry Massey sentenced Slater March 3. He ordered the assault charges to run concurrently and the firearm charges consecutively for a total of 30 years to serve in prison.
Tri-CoGo celebrated a milestone of connecting its 1,000th customer to high-speed broadband March 5. The milestone also marked the laying of nearly 500 miles of fiber. Senior Vice President Greg Mullis said the goal was to have 3,000 customers by the end of the year.
Heather Johnson officially became the new Executive Director of the Jones County/Gray Chamber of Commerce March 14. She had been employed as the membership coordinator of the organization since January.
Johnson is originally from Perry and moved to Jones County in 2009. Before working at the chamber, she had 12 years of marketing, consulting, management and sales experience.
The discovery of the body of a 59-year-old woman in a Jones County neighborhood led to charges for two individuals. Jones County Sheriff’s Office Investigator John Simmons identified the deceased at Terri Potts.
Cynthia Foley was arrested March 28 and charged with reckless conduct and voluntary manslaughter. Tammy Arnold was later arrested and charged with reckless conduct.
Simmons said the report of the discovery of the body was received March 22, but it appeared she had been lying in the driveway for several days.
Foley and Potts had reportedly been out for the evening and the victim passed out in the car. When she could not wake Potts upon arriving at her home, Foley got her out of the car and left her in the driveway.
Foley entered a guilty plea Sept. 22 to the charge of involuntary manslaughter in Jones County Superior Court and received a sentence of 10 years with the first 180 days served in confinement as the result of a negotiated plea.
Christin White, a fourth-grade teacher at Dames Ferry Elementary was announced as the Jones County School System Teacher of the Year March 29. The annual ceremony honoring Jones County teachers was held at JCHS.
White is the daughter of the JCSS 2021 Teacher of the Year, Debbie Cox, who is also a teacher at Dames Ferry Elementary.
Jones County’s long serving Probate Judge Mike Greene retired March 31 after 40 years of service. His service was celebrated with a reception in his honor, held at Butler Hall the day of his retirement.
Greene was elected to the position Nov. 24, 1981, receiving 74 percent of the vote despite having two opponents. He was 25 at the time and was the youngest judge in the state.
APRIL
Jones County parents were invited back into schools at the April 12 Board of Education meeting. School Superintendent Charles Lundy made the announcement during his opening report at the meeting.
Lundy said the county had zero COVID cases reported for six to eight weeks, and parents would be welcome back into school to have lunch. He said other events such as the Grad Walk could also resume.
A jury found Jeremy Ross Gunnells not guilty at the conclusion of a trial that started April 20 and concluded following the April 21 verdict at 3:14 p.m. He was charged with theft, conspiracy to tamper with evidence and trafficking meth.
Gunnells’ codefendant, Jennifer Conn Tingle, pleaded guilty April 8 and received a sentence of 20 years with seven years to serve for possession of methamphetamine, tampering with evidence and theft by receiving.
The defendant remained in jail despite the verdict due to other charges he was facing.
Gunnells was subsequently found guilty by a jury May 23 and was sentenced to five years for one of two charges of interference with government property. The charges were the result of an incident the happened while he was incarcerated in the Jones County jail.
He was charged as a recidivist due to his record of convictions, which means he will serve every day of his sentence.
Jones County District 1 Commissioner Sam Kitchens ended his long reign as clean up champion for the county at the April 23 Community Pride Cleanup event. District Three Commissioner Wendy Vaughn surpassed Kitchens and received the trophy, but the real winner was Jones County with a total of 475 bags of trash, two trailer loads of electronics and over 1,000 tires taken off the streets.
Troy Newton Scarborough was charged with murder April 27 as the result of his wife’s March 27 suicide. Scarborough was arrested March 28, following the report of the suicide, for two counts of possession of a firearm by a convicted felon or first offender.
Four counts of aggravated assault and felony murder were added after investigators viewed video of what took place prior to the suicide. JCSO Investigator Kenny Gleaton said the victim was assaulted by Scarborough multiple times over several hours leading to her death.
APRIL
Scarborough entered a guilty plea to three charges of aggravated assault in Jones County Superior Court Dec. 15 and received a sentence of 60 years to serve in prison.
MAY
Three candidates for Board of Education Chairman participated in an April 28 forum sponsored by the Jones County/Gray Chamber of Commerce, Jones County Republican Party and The Jones County News.
Incumbent Ginger Bailey was joined at the forum by challengers Brady Skinner and Max Wood. The candidates answered questions emailed prior to the event and questions asked by people attending the forum.
The event was also live streamed on the chamber of commerce Facebook page.
Bailey, who was elected to the position in 2010, was victorious in the May 24 election, receiving more than 53 percent of the vote.
JCHS teacher Christine Geske-Stewart was awarded the Sylvia W.
McGee Excellence in Education Award at the Golden Eagle Awards ceremony May 12. The award recognizes innovative teaching. Geske-Stewart has taught for 20 years with the past two years at JCHS.
The City of Gray broke ground on a new wastewater treatment plant May 3, which had been in the planning stages for decades.
JUNE
finish payroll!!
Silvano Gerardo Espinoza and Amy Crane were arrested June 9 and charged with cruelty to children in the first degree and deprivation of sustenance. Their arrests were because of a 9-year old child in their care who was found walking along New Clinton Road March 31.
The child had been left to live alone in a South Jones County home. She told investigators she had been living alone for months and was put in the care of DFCS.
A routine warrant service by JCSO investigators June 22 ended in the unexpected discovery of a significant stash of marijuana. A building found on the property covered by the warrant reeked of marijuana.
Investigator Barron Hall said once in the building, marijuana was found everywhere.
The discovery included marijuana plants, packages of marijuana and cash.
The packaged marijuana was estimated to weigh six to seven pounds. Thomas Joshua Smith, who lived at a residence on the property, was arrested June 28 and charged with manufacture of marijuana and possession of marijuana with the intent to distribute.
JULY
Lisa Collins was announced as the new Jones County College and Career Academy CEO and JCSS Executive Director of CTAE programs July 19. Collins was most recently Career and Technical Education Director for Fayette County Schools for nine years and has 30 years of education experience.
Response to the fatal shooting of elementary students in Uvalde, Texas, by the Jones County Sheriff’s Office was to work with the Board of Education to ensure the safety of Jones County students.
JULY
The training known as Advanced Law Enforcement Rapid Response Training was led by certified instructors JCSO Capt. Travis Douglas and Investigator Lt. Kenny Allen. Certified instructor Sgt. William Jackson and MCCD (Motor Carrier Compliance Division) SFC Richard DiPaolo also assisted in the training.
The training was held at the Maggie Califf Complex July 11-14. The training was mandatory for officers with JCSO and was attended by officers with the Gray Police Department, Baldwin and Wilkinson counties’ sheriff’s Offices and two officers with the U.S. Marshals Regional Fugitive Task Force.
Justin Kelly and his crew at Dairy Queen of Gray pulled off another amazing fundraiser July 28, leading the community- wide effort to raise over $81,000 for the Beverly Olson Children’s Hospital.
That total is even more impressive considering the more than $80,000 raised by the restaurant in 2021. Miracle Treat Day is a nationwide event at Dairy Queens, but unlike most of the stores, Kelly donates 100 percent of the day’s intake to the charity.
Dairy Queen employees not only work hard that day but also donated their salaries for the day toward the effort.
Jones County Sheriff Butch Reece made the announcement of an interactive smart phone app in a July 29 Facebook post. The JCSO app can be downloaded on any smart phone or tablet and makes communication between law enforcement and community as simple as reading and/or sending a text.
AUGUST
The Board of Commissioners made the decision at their Aug. 6 meeting to add nine fulltime firefighters to the county’s volunteer and part-time force for the safety of the community.
The decision was part of budget discussions that also included increasing salaries for JCSO deputies, jailers and dispatchers.
Magistrate Judge Lewis Patterson was the sole qualifier to fill the position of Jones County Probate Judge that was left vacant with the retirement of Judge Mike Greene. Patterson qualified on the first day of qualifying Aug. 22, which put him on the Nov. 8 ballot.
SEPTEMBER
Two juveniles were arrested Sept. 12 for an armed robbery attempt in a south Jones County neighborhood. One of the juveniles was shot in the arm during the incident. The youths face charges that include three counts of aggravated assault, attempted armed robbery, possession of a firearm during the commission of a crime and possession of a firearm by a juvenile.
The murder trial of Cameren Banks, Justierious Canty and Jaqualan Clark that had been put off because of the pandemic began Sept. 26 and would span almost two weeks. The three men were charged in the Nov. 13, 2017, shooting death of Donald Marquise Hardwick.
The trial concluded Oct. 6 with guilty verdicts for each of the defendants, which in affect brought to four the number of lives taken due to the senseless act of violence. The jury was given the case following six days of graphic testimony and deliberated two hours before bringing back the guilty verdicts. Banks, Canty and Clark each received sentences of life without the possibility of parole and additional sentences of 20 to 40 years to serve in prison.
David “Demun” Jones donated $22,500 to the Jones County School System Sept. 21, which were the proceeds of a Sept. 17 concert by the musician to raise money for the art program of the Jones County schools.
Jones’ concerts have given more than $100,000 to Jones County schools.
Butler Hall in Gray was the site of the 15th annual Lieutenant Governors Business and Education Summit Sept. 29. The theme of the summit was connecting businesses and education to develop opportunities for the next generation of workers, while keeping Georgia the best state to do business, a title the state has owned for the past nine years.
Hundreds of educators from across the state were in attendance along with state elected officials and industry leaders, many of whom spoke at the event.
OCTOBER
A Haddock man was shot multiple times Oct. 4 and was transported to the trauma center for treatment to undergo surgery. Two suspects, Rashad Anthony Lay and Daenisha Kaylia Grubbs, were arrested Oct. 18. Lay was charged with aggravated assault and possession of a firearm or knife during the commission of a crime, and Grubbs was charged with being a party to the crime of aggravated assault. Daisy Bivins, 40, was arrested Oct. 5 and charged with maintaining a disorderly house and being a party to a crime.
Those charges escalated to murder when the victim, Trentarius Jade Greene, 32, died Nov. 4 as the result of the injuries he received in the shooting.
Danny Daniel lost his life Oct. 13 during a fire that happened at his residence on Lite-N-Tie Road. The report of the fire stated firefighters responded to the structure fire at 6:30 a.m. and were unable to perform an interior search due to the heavy fire conditions. Jones County Fire Chief Don Graham said the fire started on or near a day bed in the residence. The fire fatality was the first for Jones County since 2019.
Jones County Sheriff Butch Reece once again hosted the Georgia Sheriff’s Association annual salute Oct. 22, held at the Walnut Creek Shooting Preserve. The keynote speaker at the event was Gov. Brian Kemp, and Carlton Speed of Banks County was recognized as the 2022 Sheriff of the Year.
NOVEMBER
Jones County Commissioners voted to move forward with long-needed repairs and renovations of the Jones County Courthouse at their Nov. 1 meeting. The unanimous vote to approve the project took place following a presentation by Warren Selby with Warren Associates detailing the need.
Board Chairman Chris Weidner displayed two big checks from the Georgia Department of Community Affairs at the same meeting, one in the amount of $500,000 to assist with sewer for the industrial park and a $1 million check for the renovations of the Jones County Health Department.
Jones County veterans were honored Nov. 12 at Jones County’s annual Veterans Appreciation Day, which has been held each year since the first event in 2001.
The year drew to a close with a miracle of sorts when a Jeep Gladiator crashed through two brick walls of Magnolia State Bank Nov. 22 without injuring anyone, not even the driver. The report of the accident by Gray Police Officer Brad James stated the jeep crossed the median of Gray Highway about 100 feet before the intersection of the Bill Conn Jr. Connector.
The truck continued into the bank parking lot and the bank building. James said the tracks showed no indication of braking. The driver, Ashley Wiggins, of Ailey said he blacked out and the last thing he remembered was leaving a building and supply store.
Gray Police Chief Adam Lowe said it was nothing short of a miracle that no one was injured. He categorized the crash as an accident and no charges were filed against Wiggins.
DECEMBER
The first businesses in Landmark Pointe opened in December. Suds Bucket Carwash was the first with Scooters Coffee close behind. The development is located at the corner of the North Gray Bypass and Gray Highway and includes 35 acres.
Landmark president TJ Heath said the development is planned as a gateway to Gray that would set a new standard for development. The construction of Ranchers, a 7,000 square foot convenience store and fueling center, is expected to be completed by spring.
The target of a 2021 Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act that resulted in more than 100 arrests entered a guilty plea in Jones County Superior Court. Willie Michael Wood entered his plea Dec. 8 and received a prison sentence of 20 years to serve.
The Jaycees Christmas Parade held Dec. 13 ushered in the holiday season with a unique theme of the “Nightmare Before Christmas” that brought out the community to cheer on the lighted floats and several Santa Grinches.
