News Around Us

Bainbridge- Bainbridge police announced Thursday they have arrested three suspects in the case of a pizza delivery driver whose SUV was carjacked last week.

Bainbridge Public Safety Investigator James Dollar identified the three men charged so far in the case as Nichokus Keri Gaines, 18; Richard Bernard Handford, 18; and Rashneik O'Hara Henry. All three were charged with armed robbery, false imprisonment, aggravated assault and theft by taking a motor vehicle.

Dollar said police are looking for Lucious Gregory Sparkman, 21, as a fourth suspect. The investigator said warrants have been issued for Sparkman's arrest, but he apparently left Bainbridge after the robbery and remains at large.

The carjacking happened on the night of November 21; a pizza delivery driver reported four men stole her SUV as she was making a delivery in a neighborhood off Southwest Street.

The vehicle was recovered nearby the following day, minus the driver's personal items, money and pizza.

Blakely- Following a permitting process that extended over two and a half years, the Georgia EPD issued permits May 10 for construction of the Longleaf Energy coal-fired power plant in Early County.

The Sierra Club and Friends of the Chattahoochee filed a petition for a hearing on the permit June 14. The petition alleged that the EPD permits would not force the company to meet state and federal clean air standards and did not require Longleaf to use the best available technology.

Over the past six months the parties which include EPD and Longleaf, prepared their respective legal cases and then spent 21 days before administrative law judge Stephanie Howells in Atlanta with lawyers and expert witnesses arguing their sides of the issue. The final day of testimony was Thursday. Judge Howells has stated that she plans to render her findings by December 20.

Pelham - A Pelham man was arrested and charged with possession of marijuana with intent to distribute and traffickingof cocaine, according to a news release.

Travis Maxwell, 27, of 4427 Ridge Road in Pelham, was stopped by officerswith the Southwest Georgia Drug Task Force on Thursday, November 29. The officerswere assisted in the arrest by the Mitchell County Sheriff's officeand the Cairo Police Department.

Maxwell was arrested at Burger King after task force officers received a tip that he would be traveling to Camilla from Albany with an unspecified quantity of crack cocaine.

During his arrest Maxwell was found in possession of four and a half pounds of marijuana and 49 grams of crack cocaine, which has an estimated street value of $10,000.

Cairo - Another, local young person was killed in a traffic accident in Grady County this weekend.

Christopher Bates, a 17-yearold Cairo High School student, died Saturday in a two-car accident on Georgia Highway 93.

Around 11:50 p.m. Saturday, Bruce Dandridge, 44, of Tallahassee was traveling south on Georgia 93 in his Ford Escort when he crossed the center yellow line and struck Bates head-on. Bates was traveling north in a Chevrolet Camaro.

Dandridge, who sustained "minor" injuries, has been charged with failure to maintain lane and second-degree vehicle homicide, a Georgia State Patrol operator said Tuesday afternoon.

CHS Principal Tim Helms said Bates, a senior, always came to school "focused and ready to do his job."

He added the school was "shocked" and "deeply saddened" by his death.

"Chris Bates was a fine young man, and this is a tremendous loss to our school. We are deeply saddened here at CHS to lose one of our seniors," Helms said.

"He was a young man about business here and never gave us any problems. He was focused on his classes and ready to go every day. Any time we lose a young person is a tragedy. Out of the 1,100 students here, we have an empty desk today. We're very saddened by this loss. He will be greatly missed."