Banks County Sheriff's Office is accredited through the Office of Sheriff Accreditation Program (Banks County Sheriff's Office/Facebook)
The Banks County Sheriff’s Office has earned accreditation through the Office of Sheriff Accreditation Program, becoming one of the first five counties in Georgia to achieve the recognition.
The accreditation, bestowed through the Georgia Sheriffs’ Association, is granted for the department’s commitment to upholding high standards of professionalism in law enforcement, according to the Banks County Sheriff’s Office.
The voluntary program is designed to assess and acknowledge top practices specific to the duties of the Office of the Sheriff.
To achieve accreditation, officials say the sheriff’s office underwent a rigorous evaluation process, which included comprehensive assessments of policies, procedures and operations. The evaluations covered a range of areas, including on-site inspections.
It also gauges whether operations are conducted in line with the Constitution, Georgia statutes and case law.
The accreditation process also focuses on five key areas:
Sex Offender Module
Law Enforcement Module
Detention Module
Courthouse Module
Administration Module
“The Office of the Sheriff Accreditation Program, established by the Georgia Sheriffs’ Association, aims to promote exceptional professionalism and credibility,” Banks County Sheriff Carlton Speed said. “Through evaluations and a commitment to continuous improvement, this program equips Sheriffs’ offices to achieve excellence, building trust in every interaction. We are proud to have received this accreditation for our agency and our citizens.”
Sen. Bo Hatchett (R-Cornelia) says he started drafting Senate Bill 154 after then-candidate Donald Trump began talking about eliminating the U.S. Department of Education. (Ross Williams/Georgia Recorder)
ATLANTA (Georgia Recorder) — A bill aimed at preparing Georgia for the potential dissolution of the U.S. Department of Education passed through a House subcommittee Wednesday with an addition from a Democratic state representative.
Senate Bill 154 changes references to the department throughout state code, adding “or its successor.”
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The bill’s author, Cornelia Republican Sen. Bo Hatchett, said the change will allow Georgia to keep accrediting professionals like dentists, nurses, optometrists and others if the agency is abolished.
“Who its successor is, we are not aware of right now,” he said. “It may be kicked back to the states or maybe another federal agency, but that’s not for us to decide. What’s for us to decide is do we want Georgia to be prepared or not? And this will help Georgia to be prepared if and when the U.S. Department of Education is disbanded.”
Hatchett said he began work on the bill after President Donald Trump made campaign trail pledges to get rid of the department, but recent developments have made the measure more urgent.
“Timing is everything, and I had no way of knowing this was going to happen, but if you haven’t seen the news lately, I think the U.S. Department of Education is probably on its last few weeks if not days,” he said.
On Tuesday, the department announced it will be cutting about half of its current workforce.
Democrats and education advocates say gutting the department would risk programs Georgia students benefit from like speech services, career counseling and after school programs.
Newly sworn-in Education Secretary Linda McMahon has indicated she intends to wind the agency down and return its duties to the states, though eliminating it entirely will require an act of Congress.
Rep. David Wilkerson. (Ross Williams/Georgia Recorder)
Powder Springs state Rep. David Wilkerson said that’s not likely to happen.
“Defunding something does not remove the agency,” he said. “And I can pretty much be assured, as much as the president has made promises, you’re not going to get the votes in the (United States) Senate to do this. So you may have an empty building, you may have half of the staff, but I would be shocked if one side of the aisle decides to abolish the Department of Education. And they need that in the Senate, as we know how it works there. So is this just encouraging the behavior that we see coming from D.C. to say, ‘Look, states are already passing things to anticipate this?’”
“I don’t know of any other state that has done this yet,” Hatchett said.
“So every other state is going to be out of work, except for Georgia?” Wilkerson asked.
“I honestly haven’t looked at other states’ laws,” Hatchett answered. “What I’m doing is just trying to make sure – I mean, I looked at our laws, and the way they’re written, we would not technically be able to license a nurse moving forward if we don’t make this change. What happens in D.C., like you said, I can’t read their mind, but at least we know – and it looks like it’s going in this direction – we’re gonna be ready. And if nothing happens, we’re still gonna be ready.”
Wilkerson moved to amend the bill so that the relevant parts of it would not go into effect unless the department is officially abolished. He pitched it as a way to get Democratic support in the House after it passed along mostly party lines in the Senate.
Hatchett demurred at first, but eventually gave his support to the amendment because he said it would mean the bill could go into effect sooner if the Trump administration drops the ax on the department before the summer.
“Now that I’m thinking about it, I probably support this, because if it is to be dissolved faster, if it were to be dissolved tomorrow, his amendment would help that. So right now it’s effective on July 1, 2025, and if it were to be dissolved in the next couple of weeks, this would actually help us out.”
Before the bill can become law, it will need to pass out of the full House Education Committee as well as the full House before April 4 and receive Gov. Brian Kemp’s signature.
Demorest officials discuss aspects of planning and the city's future at a retreat held at Piedmont University’s Swanson Center on Saturday, March 8 (Megan Chastain/City of Demorest)
Earlier this month, many of the 70-plus residents surveyed and those who provided input to Demorest officials during two town halls offered common sentiment on the future of the city: Limit growth, enhance parks/recreation spaces and preserve the downtown area.
That input from the community will serve as a basis for city officials to develop a long-term strategic plan, which was discussed among council at a planning retreat held at Piedmont University’s Swanson Center on Saturday, March 8.
Since the retreat, city officials have established various short-term objectives to bring some of those enhancements in the near future.
Dog park
The first step in that was a verbal consensus among council to move forward with improvements on Demorest’s dog park located off Florida Street. By April, council members will likely approve additional fencing to separate areas where children play from a portion of the park where residents walk dogs.
“You have about 70% of the outfield fence that is there,” Demorest City Manager Mark Musslewhite said. “We’re going to get some quotes on enclosing some additional gates, so the parks are separate there – a kids park and a dog park.”
Code enforcement changes
Without a concrete policy on dilapidated and neglected properties, Demorest officials plan to proceed with a strategy to clean up parts of the city.
Musslewhite said on Tuesday that officials already have identified 16 properties that they considered derelict. Now, while attempts have been made to contact the owners, official notices could be delivered that require them to appear in court and address the apparent abandonment of homes and vehicles.
As planned, Fire Chief David Scheurer will have a prominent role in the enforcement of the city’s codes after Demorest City Attorney Thomas Mitchell drafts an official policy for the ordinance, according to Musslewhite.
“That is actively underway,” Musslewhite said. “…a couple of them are out-of-state (property) owners. Some of the people have responded to the certified letter (from the city), and some of them have not. So they’ll be working to get them to a court date.”
As part of the cleanup effort, in addition to dilapidated properties, Musslewhite said abandoned vehicles without tags and swimming pools left in disrepair also could be subject to code violations.
“Please, start to clean that up,” Musslewhite said as a message to residents. “We just need everybody to clean up.”
Other improvements
Musslewhite said council members also plan to approve upgrades to the pavilion by the U.S. Post Office building in downtown Demorest, as well as determine best use of more than $36,000 recently received through GDOT’s Local Maintenance and Improvement grant. That grant will require a 36% match from the city.
“I think, overall, (the retreat) gave mayor and council camaraderie to work through this,” Musslewhite said. “To think you could be spending your day with your family, or spending it with fellow elected officials and city department heads…I think it just helps the city be able to do our planning.”
Demorest Mayor Jerry Harkness called the retreat constructive and said the city plans to follow through on the feedback received from residents.
“Through community input, over some of our last open sessions, we analyzed a lot of that data and we really talked about what we wanted to see. By focusing on that, I think that we’re focusing on what our community wants us to do – and continue to be a voice for our community.”
WASHINGTON (States Newsroom) — Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer appeared to announce Wednesday that a partial government shutdown will begin on Friday at midnight when a stopgap spending law expires.
“Funding the government should be a bipartisan effort, but Republicans chose a partisan path drafting their continuing resolution without any input, any input, from congressional Democrats,” Schumer said during a brief floor speech. “Because of that, Republicans do not have the votes in the Senate to invoke cloture on the House CR.”
Schumer, of New York, said Senate Democrats were “unified” on instead passing a stopgap spending bill that would fund the federal government through April 11, which he argued would give Congress more time to negotiate final agreement on the dozen full-year spending bills.
“I hope our Republican colleagues will join us to avoid a shutdown on Friday,” Schumer said.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., speaks on the Senate floor at the U.S. Capitol on March 12, 2025, in Washington, D.C. (livestream image)
Republicans hold 53 seats at the moment, but moving past procedural votes requires at least 60 senators to vote in favor of limiting debate.
Kentucky GOP Sen. Rand Paul has publicly opposed the House’s stopgap spending bill, meaning that at least eight Senate Democrats would have to break ranks to move toward final passage.
Further complicating matters, the House left Tuesday for its weeklong St. Patrick’s Day recess and won’t return to Capitol Hill until Monday, March 24.
So were the Senate to amend the House-passed stopgap spending bill, which funds the government through the end of September, that chamber wouldn’t be around to vote on it before the Friday shutdown deadline.
And even if the Senate were to pass Democrats’ month-long stopgap spending bill as Schumer suggested, which seems highly unlikely, the House wouldn’t be around to vote to send it to President Donald Trump.
What happens in a shutdown?
The federal government has experienced its fair share of partial government shutdowns in the past when Congress and the president failed to come to agreement on time.
The executive branch has broad authority during such a funding lapse to divide federal workers up as either exempt, meaning they keep working, or non-exempt, who are essentially furloughed. The military is exempt.
Both sets of federal employees under federal law receive back pay after Congress and the White House reach an agreement to fund the government, usually with a stopgap spending bill.
But partial government shutdowns have sweeping impacts on federal operations and any funding lapse this year would have much broader repercussions than the one that lasted for well over a month during Trump’s first term.
That shutdown, which began in December 2018, didn’t impact the Departments of Defense, Education, Energy, Health and Human Services, Labor or Veterans Affairs, because Congress had already approved the four full-year spending bills that cover their operations.
Lawmakers had also approved the Legislative Branch appropriations bill, meaning members of Congress and their staff were exempt from negative repercussions.
None of the dozen annual spending bills have yet to become law, meaning all the departments and agencies that make up the federal government would be affected.
Administration of Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid is generally not hindered by a shutdown, though the Trump administration had yet to post any contingency plans as of Wednesday afternoon.
‘Often difficult and rapid’ judgments in shutdown
The only remnant of the Biden administration’s shutdown guidance that remained on the Office of Management and Budget’s website was a 17-page Q&A document that notes every “operational decision during a lapse in appropriations requires individual, and often difficult and rapid, judgments about facts and the law.”
“In preparing contingency plans for potential future lapses in appropriations, agencies should ensure that this analysis is undertaken carefully, but with a view towards allowing funded and excepted activities to continue in an effective manner,” it states.
The Internet archive maintains the agency-by-agency breakdown of how the federal government would have operated during a shutdown during the Biden administration. But those plans will likely be updated, possibly completely rewritten, by the Trump administration.
Shutting down the federal government is also disruptive to the economy.
A report from the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office said the 2018-2019 shutdown “delayed approximately $18 billion in federal discretionary spending for compensation and purchases of goods and services and suspended some federal services.”
CBO estimated that shutdown reduced gross domestic product by $11 billion “lower than it would have been.”
Carolyn Dillard Buchans, age 82, of Lawrenceville and formerly Clarkesville, passed away on March 7, 2025.
Born in Ingomar, Mississippi, on August 22, 1942, Mrs. Buchans was the daughter of the late Elton R. and Isabel Dillard. Mrs. Buchans worked in finance and management and was former CFO for Beaver Street Fisheries and Southern Micro Instruments. After moving to Clarkesville Mrs. Buchans worked in the deli at Ingles. She had been living in Lawrenceville for the last two years.
Survivors include daughter and son-in-law Cindy and Phil Hody, daughter Crystal Buchans, grandchildren Alison, Emily, Phillip, and Audrey, and great-grandchildren Cayden, Books, Dean, Anna, and Lily.
A private interment will be held in Hillside Gardens Cemetery.
Gerald A. Puetz, age 92, of Clarkesville, passed away on March 3, 2025.
Born in Illinois on October 12, 1932, Mr. Puetz was the son of the late Peter and Agnes Kroschel Puetz. He was a United States Navy Veteran and an engineer with Lockheed. Mr. Puetz was a member of St. Mark Catholic Church. In addition to his parents, Mr. Puetz is preceded in death by his brother, Norbert Puetz.
Survivors include his wife Gloria Caro Puetz of Clarkesville, sons Jerry Puetz of Clarkesville and Jim Puetz of California, daughter Debra Saverini of Marietta, brother Peter Puetz of Wisconsin, sisters Jean Puetz and Sharon Puetz of Illinois, as well as grandchildren Valerie and Maria.
Service information will be announced at a later date.
An online guestbook is available for the family at HillsideMemorialChapel.com.
Arrangements are in the care and professional direction of Hillside Memorial Chapel & Gardens, Clarkesville.
Phenix City bicycle wreck kills one (NowGeorgia.com)
A Gainesville man was killed in a single-vehicle wreck early Wednesday morning, March 12 on Tanners Mill Road, according to the Hall County Sheriff’s Office.
The victim has been identified as Jason Jeffery Jones, 51, who was the driver and sole occupant of a 2008 Chevrolet Tahoe. Deputies responded to the scene of the crash at around 12:05 a.m. near Tanners Mill Circle, where they found the SUV overturned.
Authorities say Jones was pronounced dead at the scene.
Initial investigations by authorities revealed Jones was traveling north on Tanners Mill Road when he lost control of the vehicle. Police say the SUV crossed into the southbound lane, drove onto the grass and traveled across three driveways before striking a culvert, which caused it to overturn.
Authorities say Jones was not wearing a seatbelt at the time of the crash.
Tanners Mill Road was closed for about an hour as authorities worked to investigate the scene. The incident remains under investigation.
A student at Habersham County’s Success Academy was arrested in late February following a physical altercation with another student, according to the Habersham County Sheriff’s Office.
School officials have declined to comment on policy matters related to the incident.
The incident occurred on Feb. 27 when a school resource officer on duty responded to a disturbance in the cafeteria during lunch.
According to the report, the officer arrived to find Ninth Grade Academy Principal David Leenman, teacher Shawn Bertrang and another staff member attempting to separate two students involved in the altercation.
The report states the officer intervened and demanded the students separate before breaking up the fight.
One of the students, 18-year-old Uriel Galvan Vallejo, allegedly continued to shout obscenities despite being instructed to stop. The other student is not identified in the report and didn’t appear to face charges following the incident.
Bertrang later provided a statement that he was allegedly pushed into a lunchroom table by Vallejo during the confrontation.
Vallejo, a student at the Success Academy, was taken to an office for questioning. He reportedly explained the altercation began after he learned the other student had been speaking negatively about him.
Vallejo stated in the report that he confronted the student, and the situation escalated when the other student allegedly threw a punch.
The unidentified student, who did not want to press charges, claimed in the report that Vallejo shouted threats at him across the cafeteria before the encounter.
That student told officials he attempted to restrain Vallejo until authorities intervened, according to the report.
Statements in the report say Leenman expressed concern over Vallejo’s behavior and felt threatened by his actions. Success Academy Principal Vickie Martin later indicated that charges would be pursued due to the physical altercation and alleged disruption.
Vallejo was arrested and charged with disorderly conduct, disruption of public schools and simple battery. He was taken to the Habersham County Detention Center.
When asked about the school’s policies regarding fighting, disorderly behavior or the student’s potential expulsion or graduation status, incoming Superintendent Patrick Franklin declined to comment, citing “privacy concerns.”
The boil water advisory issued for parts of Demorest earlier this week has been lifted, according to officials.
The advisory came amid the city’s continuing efforts to update its fire hydrant system.
The Demorest Water Department issued a notice on Monday, March 10, announcing that residents from the Hazel Creek intersection on Camp Creek Road to the intersection of Dicks Hill Parkway could be affected.
Lumpkin County firefighters respond to brush fire on Tuesday, March 11 (Lumpkin County Sheriff's Office/Facebook)
No injuries were reported after a brush fire in Lumpkin County on Tuesday, March 11, according to the Lumpkin County Sheriff’s Office.
In a coordinated effort, the Lumpkin County Fire Department, EMS, the Forest Service and Camp Merrill Fire Department contained the brush fire near Camp Wahsega Road on Tuesday afternoon.
The flames had initially spread from a nearby brush fire, and although it caused significant damage, first responders were able to extinguish the blaze.
Officials say a quick response prevented further destruction to the main residence, though several sheds on the property were destroyed. One of the sheds contained a tractor and gas containers, which contributed to explosions heard in the area.
The fire was eventually contained by 7:47 p.m., with the combined efforts of the responding teams keeping the situation from escalating further.
A Canon city employee was arrested last week after an alleged tense encounter with elected officials, according to the Canon Police Department.
Canon is a city with shared borders in Hart and Franklin counties and has a population of just over 900.
Employee William Terrell Whitworth, 54, was arrested after being accused of speaking obscenities to Mayor Annie Wallace and Councilman Eli Brown over a tool used to detect underground objects.
Whitworth was taken into custody without incident on charges of disorderly conduct on Thursday, March 6, according to police.
The announcement from police sought to dispel previous false reports the altercation had involved a firearm.
The Canon Police Department, along with the Franklin County Sheriff’s Office and the Georgia State Patrol, responded to the incident. After a thorough investigation, authorities say no firearm or spent shell casings were found, and there was no evidence to suggest a firearm was present during the incident.
Claims an elected official was shot also have been determined to be false, and no injuries were reported in connection with the altercation.
The investigation remains ongoing, but at this time, authorities have confirmed that no further threats were involved.
A view of the Old Federal wildfire from the Fort Mountain camera. (Courtesy: U.S. Forest Service.)
Amid ongoing dangerous fire conditions, White County officials have urged residents to take proactive steps to protect their homes and property from the threat of wildfires. Since February 1, local fire personnel have responded to 24 brush fires, burning an estimated 11.5 acres across the county.
“Brush or wildfires can happen quickly and with little warning,” White County Public Safety Director David Murphy said. “By taking a few precautionary measures, homeowners can reduce the risk of their homes becoming fuel for a wildfire.”
White County Public Safety is advising residents to follow these essential steps to safeguard their homes:
Remove leaves, pine needles, and debris from roofs, gutters, and decks.
Store flammable materials, such as firewood, propane tanks, and outdoor furniture, at least 30 feet away from structures (and check under decks).
Trim trees and shrubs, ensuring branches are at least 10 feet away from chimneys and other trees.
Maintain a lawn height of no more than four inches.
Make sure your home’s address is clearly visible from the street to assist first responders in an emergency.
For more detailed information on how to make your home more fire-resistant, click here.
