Tag Archives: Georgia

Air Force veteran detained for picking up flag off of ground

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voldosta-1VALDOSTA, GA — According to the Valdosta Daily Times, a military veteran was “detained but not charged” by Valdosta State University police after she interrupted a demonstration by taking the flag they were walking on off of the ground.

It appears that Air Force veteran Michelle Manhart was contacted by a student informing her that a group of protesters were walking on the American flag. She went to pick up the flag and refused to return it when ordered to by campus police.

It is unclear what the demonstration was about as the group refused to speak with The Valdosta Daily Times.

The protestors did not press charges and Manhart was given a criminal trespass warning effectively banning her from any campus activities such as football games.

No justice for Habersham County toddler

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070214_Habersham_toddler_640The Atlanta Journal-Consitution is reporting that Bounkham “Bou Bou” Phonesavanh will receive not justice from the Habersham County grand jury. It is reported that Habersham County officials have withdrawn an offer to pay the $800,000 hospital bills for the child.

The toddler was severely injured in May when a SWAT team through a stun grenade into the room which landed in the playpen where the nineteen-month-old toddler was located.

An incident report indicated that a suspect, Wanis Thonetheva, lived in the house and that deputies could expect a cache of weapons and armed guards at the house.

A search turned up NO guns or drugs. The suspect that they were after did not even live there. Thonetheva was arrested later without incident and only charged with possession of Methamphetamine.

Mawuli Davis issued a statement that the Phonesavanh family is devastated to learn no criminal charges would be brought.

SEE ALSO: WSB-TV

PETA wants monument honoring chickens killed in Georgia truck wreck

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GainesvilleChickenMemorialBy Mike Morris

GAINESVILLE, Ga. — We’ve all seen the wooden crosses and other roadside memorials to loved ones killed in automobile accidents. Three years ago, the Georgia Department of Transportation, deeming the makeshift memorials a distraction to drivers and a safety hazard, began offering to place state-approved memorials at the sites of fatal wrecks.

For a $100 fee, GDOT places a white sign with the name of the deceased under the words, “Drive Safely, In Memory.”

Wednesday, a member of PETA, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, filed an application with GDOT to have a memorial placed at the Hall County site where a truck hauling live chickens overturned on Jan. 27.

Read more at The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Georgia man charged with theft for plugging in electric car

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leafGEORGIA—A man in Atlanta was confronted by police when he plugged his Nissan Leaf into a school outlet “stealing” about five-cents worth of electricity. He was arrested for the “crime” ten days later.

According to ArsTechnia,

Kaveh Kamooneh plugged an extension cable from his Nissan Leaf into a 110-volt external outlet at Chamblee Middle School while his son was practicing tennis. A short time later, he noticed someone in his car and went to investigate—and found that the man was a Chamblee police officer. “He informed me he was about to arrest me, or at least charge me, for electrical theft,” Kamooneh told Atlanta’s Channel 11 News.

Sergeant Ernesto Ford of the Chamblee Police Department told News 11 that a theft is a theft and he would arrest anyone for theft.

City makes gun ownership mandatory

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NELSON, Ga. — The Nelson City Council voted 5-0 Monday night to require every household to have a gun and ammunition, unless the residents of the household opt out.

City council members in Nelson voted on the Family Protection Ordinance at their meeting Monday evening.

The city of about 1,300 located about 50 miles north of Atlanta has gotten a lot of attention in the media since the ordinance was proposed.

Read more at 11 Alive

First Amendment gets sucker-punched in Georgia

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Atlanta, Georgia —WAFB Investigative reporter Jeff Chirico was reporting a story in Georgia when, without warning, he took a clout on the jaw for the First Amendment.

According to the WAFB story and video, Mr. Chirico was reporting on a man who is under investigation for a tax scheme. He was approached by a man who identified himself as Donald Wilder—the father of the man under investigation—who allegedly threatened to punch the reporter. When Mr. Chirico attempted to follow the man into his business, he turned without warning and punched the reporter.

The story does not say whether or not charges will be pressed, but the reporter was not seriously injured.

You can see the whole story including the full video at the WAFB web site.

Georgia soldier in Afghanistan marries on Skype

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WLTZ 38 | Columbus Georgia Regional News
(CNN)-A couple from Georgia did not let the thousands of miles separating them keep them from getting married. They used Skype to bridge the gap and tie the knot.

Jacqueline Durham spent her wedding day like most brides. From her bedazzled bride outfit, she got ready with her bridesmaids and took plenty of pictures.

“Say cheeeesee.”

And something not on a typical bride to be list, check her Internet connection.

Jacqueline would marry her Fort Gordon Soldier while he is still stationed overseas in Afghanistan- through skype! “He told me about it. And he’s like what do you think about that? Do you want to do that? And I was like, of course. Since we can’t be together, it’d make it special”

After two years of dating Trey, Jacqueline told me she couldn’t wait any longer.

Read more at WLTZ Channel 38

Inmates extort money from outside prison

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By Rhonda Cook
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

First there was a picture sent to Jimenna Whitner’s cell phone of her brother, who was bloody and beaten.

Next, she got a text message from somewhere inside Baldwin State Prison 950 miles from her home in Michigan, demanding $1,000. Otherwise her inmate brother, Thomas Maher, would be killed.

“From the pictures and stuff we knew they weren’t playing,” said Whitner, who earns $800 to $900 a month cleaning rental mobile homes for new tenants. “We don’t have money.”

But Whitner found a way to pay the inmates who had allegedly punched and kicked her brother, a convicted rapist, for about two hours in a cell block shower. She raised the money from relatives and paid the inmates through “Green Dot” cash cards that carry VISA or MasterCard logos.

Read more at The Atlanta Journal-Constitution