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Archer’s Bullard twins split Wrestler of the Year honors
Gwinnett Daily Post WEDNESDAY, MARCH 9, 2016
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Vol. 46, No. 101
Details emerge in fatal Tucker house fire By Joshua Sharpe
joshua.sharpe @gwinnettdailypost.com
LAWRENCEVILLE — Newly unsealed law enforcement records reveal details of the investigation into the house fire that killed Kathy Patterson and her young daughters last month. Evidence logs released to the Daily Post on Tuesday
show Gwinnett County investigators seized various notebooks, paperwork, prescription drug bottles and more from the burned husk of 1079 Pointer Ridge. They went there searching for evidence of arson, driven by inconsistent statements made by lone survivor Brent Patterson, the husband and father, the search warrant says.
“The conflicting statements given by Mr. Patterson could not explain the fire behavior, fire patterns or the speed of the fire spread,” the warrant affidavit says. “Also, the minor injuries sustained by Mr. Patterson are not consistent with his explanation of his actions that evening in either of his accounts.” Despite some media reports, District Attorney
Danny Porter said Tuesday morning that the Feb. 9 blaze hasn’t been ruled an arson. “There’s been no determination,” he told the Daily Post. The search warrant lists arson as the crime being investigated, but Porter said authorities have to list what crime might have taken
In a Feb. 10 photo, Brent Patterson speaks with investigators at the scene of the fire that killed his wife and young daughters. (File Photo)
See FIRE, Page 8A
EVERY STUDENT SUCCEEDS
Wilbanks named to committee By Keith Farner keith.farner@gwinnettdailypost.com
Four Gwinnett County Sheriff’s Office deputies helped administer Narcan to a woman believed to be overdosing on heroin last week. From left, they are Deputy David Saunders, Deputy Larry Parnell, Sgt. Allen Fleming and Deputy Randolph Leggs. (Special Photo)
Lifesaving measures
Deputy recounts first use of anti-overdose drug By Joshua Sharpe
“
general. The mere fact that Parnell was at the hotel off Medlock Bridge Road was a symptom The woman was about 20 of drug issues in Gwinnett. He — Butch Conway, Gwinnett sheriff years old, the kind of young and the other deputies hadn’t woman who worried about known anything about the worrying her mother. She’d apwoman when they happened to parently overdosed before and Moments later, Larry Parnell, pull up in the middle of the 911 didn’t want her mom to know if one of four sheriff’s deputies call around 1:30 p.m. it did. Then it happened again. who responded, noticed track They had started their day Last Tuesday afternoon, she lay marks and bruising on her looking for wayward accountin a green Honda Accord at an arms, a syringe at her side. ability court defendants. They extended stay hotel near NorHere, he thought, might be caught the first, a man known cross, looking not quite dead heroin’s latest victim in Gwin- in local heroin circles, Parnell but headed that way quickly. nett County. said. Then they came to the But a glint of hope appeared The numbers have been hotel seeking another man, a at Allround Suites as a passerby soaring in recent months. At defendant in the local Veterans spotted the woman. least 22 people fell to the drug Treatment Court, also allegedly “She’s making gasping in the county last year, a record involved in heroin. noises. She’s turning blue,” the in a record-breaking year for If the deputies had any doubt caller told a 911 operator. substance-related deaths in about the problem Gwinnett joshua.sharpe @gwinnettdailypost.com
With heroin use on the rise, every first responder should carry this lifesaving drug.”
County faced, here it was, in the form of a gasping woman who didn’t like to disappoint her mother in the a green Honda Accord, turning blue. A 41-year-old father of four with clear blue eyes and creeping gray along the sides of his head, Parnell grabbed the woman’s arm to check for a pulse. He found it weak. At one point, he and Randolph Leggs, the other deputy assessing the woman, could find no breath. They thought of their training. Back in August, the sheriff’s office, like the county police department, had distributed through its ranks a drug called
See NARCAN, Page 8A
Cops: Murder suspect may be armed, dangerous
By Joshua Sharpe
joshua.sharpe @gwinnettdailypost.com
Police are searching for a man accused in a recent Lilburn-area murder, according to the Gwinnett County Police Department. Winston Sylvester, 31, faces charges of aggravated assault and felony murder in the Feb. 21 death of Vernie Burroughs, a 43-year-old man. Burroughs was gunned
down at Indian Trail Apartment Homes. Police asked for the public’s help in the hours folWinston lowing the Sylvester shooting to find out what happened. They now are seeking help finding the suspect. “Sylvester has ties to the Atlanta area and should
be considered armed and dangerous,” said Cpl. Deon Washington, spokesman for the police department. No information was released about how Sylvester became a suspect. Arrest warrants released to the Daily Post allege that the suspect shot the victim multiple times with a handgun. Witnesses quoted in the initial incident report spoke of seeing a car driving around the complex on
Indian Trail-Lilburn Road before Burroughs fell outside Building 13. Anyone with information can contact 770-513-5300. To remain anonymous, tipsters can contact Crime Stoppers at 404-577-TIPS (8477) or visit www. crimestoppersatlanta.org. Crime Stoppers offers a reward of up to $2,000 for information leading to an arrest and indictment in the case.
J. Alvin Wilbanks and a former Gwinnett high school principal were recently named to a committee to draft proposed education regulations. Wilbanks, the Gwinnett County Public Schools CEO/superintendent, and Eric Parker, who was the Shiloh High School principal from 2011 Alvin Wilbanks to last summer, were added to the group that will address assessments and federal money to supplement high-need schools. This is the latest step in the process of implementing Every Student Succeeds Eric Parker Act, which President Barack Obama signed into law in December to replace the No Child Left Behind law. The legislation returned decision-making power about how to use students’ test performance to the states in assessing teachers and schools. It also ended federal efforts to encourage academic standards such as Common Core. Members of the committee were chosen to represent board members, parents, students, teachers, principals, civil rights and business communities, as well as all regions of the country. In July, Parker left Shiloh for a position as executive director of leadership and K-12 continuous improvement at Montgomery (Ala.) Public Schools. This is the latest state or national group that Wilbanks has joined in recent years to address education policy. Two years ago, Wilbanks co-chaired the Large Countywide and Suburban District Consortium that focused on drawing back the focus on testing in schools. At that time, Wilbanks also called for the reauthorization of the ESSA, and state and federal accountability systems to be aligned with the skills and knowledge that students will need to be successful in the 21st century. Last year, Wilbanks was also appointed by Gov. Nathan Deal to the Education Reform Commission, which studied the state’s education system and gave Deal recommendations. The ESSA committee will convene meetings open to the public on March 21-23 and April 6-8 with an optional session April 18-19. The Obama administration in a press release said that ESSA promotes equitable access to educational opportunities in critical ways, such as asking states to hold all students to high academic standards to prepare them for college and careers and ensuring action in the lowest-performing schools, high schools with low graduation rates and in schools that are consistently failing subgroups of students.
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