WEDNESDAY, MARCH 1, 2017
Upcoming events in Coweta and beyond... Read more page 6 PHOTO BY CLAY NEELY
Deputy Adam Montgomery receives a happy embrace from Donja.
Teaching new dogs old tricks THE K-9 UNIT OF THE SHERIFF’S OFFICE IS BACK ON TRACK WITH NEW BLOOD condition was too much. While some K-9 handlers may feel a period of mourning is needed, Hastings decided the best way to cope was to get back out on the road as soon as possible. “It might sound strange, but I just felt like because we went from having four drug dogs down to two, I didn’t want others to bear my end of the work,” he said. “I took the first opportunity to get back to working with a K-9.”
By CLAY NEELY clay@newnan.com In only the span of a few months, the Coweta County Sheriff’s Office has seen a great turnover in their K-9 unit. On the afternoon of Feb. 17, members from the Coweta County Sheriff’s Office gathered to honor K-9 Donja for her nine years of service. Donja is now the third K-9 to retire from the sheriff’s office since October 2016. In her career, she was deployed over 500 times according to Deputy Adam Montgomery, Donja’s handler. Deputy Mark Storey has been the K-9 instructor for the sheriff’s office for over a decade and was Donja’s handler before Montgomery took over the responsibility in 2011. “Nine years of service is exceptional for a K-9,” Storey said. “She came straight from Holland to Coweta, ready to work out of the gate and her service speaks for itself.” At the end of the month, Montgomery will be heading to Northport, Ala. to begin training with a new K-9 at the Alabama Canine Law Enforcement Training Center. Meanwhile, Donja will be holding down the fort at his house. “She’s going to miss working, but she’ll adjust to being a regular dog,” he said. “She’s just getting older. Her brain isn’t ready to quit working, but her body is.” Deputies Trent Hastings and Ryan Anderson recently returned from Northport where they spent five weeks training with their new sidekicks. This marked Anderson’s first adventure into the world of handling a K-9. For Hastings, it was a return to training after the loss of his longtime K-9 partner, Jeffries. Last October, Hastings faced the heartbreaking task of putting down Jeffries after determining the suffering from an ongoing neurological
PHOTO BY BELLA BABY
From left, Brayden, Kenlee, Bryant and Brandon Miller continue to grow and thrive at home, aided by the love and support of mom Kortney, dad Justin and big brother Bentlee, along with other close friends and family members.
County’s first quadruplets arrive home By MAGGIE BOWERS maggie@newnan.com All four Miller quadruplets have arrived safely at home following a two-month stay in Piedmont Newnan Hospital’s Neonatal Intensive Care Unit. From pregnancy to delivery and beyond, the birth, growth and continued development of Newnan’s first-ever quadruplets is cause for celebration throughout the county. “Things are going great,” said mom, Kortney Miller. “We are so happy to have them all home.” Born via cesarean section on Dec. 16, at 29 weeks gestation, Brandon, Brayden, Bryant and Kenlee, each weighed less than 4 pounds. The infants were delivered and cared for by a team of experts in Piedmont Newnan’s Level 3 Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU). The “quad-squad” had been assembled weeks in advance and was led by
neonatologist, Dr. Adegboyega Aderibigbe, known by staff as “Dr. Ade.” Like most of the NICU staff who cared for the Miller babies during their extended hospital stay, Dr. Ade is proud to have been a part of the historical delivery. “The quads are all healthy and met their required milestones to go home, and we expect them to continue to grow and thrive,” Ade said. “It is a celebration for us when our NICU babies go home, and we look forward to seeing them progress along their journey.” Piedmont Newnan NICU nurse Stephanie Devers said, though it is sometimes bittersweet, watching healthy babies like the Miller quadruplets prepare to go home is part of what makes her job at the local hospital so rewarding.
QUADS, page 2
Netflix to film ‘Candy Jar’ in Newnan By REBECCA LEFTWICH becky@newnan.com A permit request to film the Netflix Original movie “Candy Jar” in Newnan has been conditionally approved for mid-March. Jason Underwood, the film’s location manager, agreed to notify residents of Powell Place by the end of the week as a condition of the Newnan City Council’s granting his request. Filming is set for March 15-19. In his written request, Underwood asked the city for permission to permanently close one lane of Powell Place between Clark and Elm streets to provide a parking area for the film crew’s work vehicles. The vehicles will be marked with traffic cones, the request stated, and the crew will make sure residents have access to their driveways. Offduty police will provide on-site assistance. While most of the filming will take place inside a private residence on Powell Place, according to the request, exterior dialogue scenes to be shot in front of the home will
require the sidewalk to be closed temporarily. Traffic control will be needed for driving scenes, and one night scene will require a lighting platform, he wrote. The proposed film schedule would close one lane of Powell Place between Clark and Elm streets from March 5-19; close the sidewalk in front of the picture house for the duration of filming; and require traffic control and platform lighting placement on Sunday, March 19 to film night-driving scenes. Underwood brought the request before council at its Feb. 21 meeting, the only meeting scheduled for the month. At the time, he had not yet notified Powell Place residents. “I apologize for that,” he told council members. “This location requires a lot more lead time because I have to bring it before you, and you don’t meet every day.” Underwood said he would notify Powell Place residents of closures and delays that could impact them by the end of this week. 1 Xtra front
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K-9, page 2
Deputy Adam Montgomery, center, is flanked by Ryan Anderson, left, and Trent Hastings, right, during the retirement ceremony for Montgomery’s K-9, Donja, on Feb. 17. Anderson and Hastings recently returned from Alabama where they spent five weeks training with their new partners, Rocky and Rex.
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Ready to Work Arriving at the Alabama Canine Law Enforcement Training Center last month, Hastings and Anderson met their new partners – Rex and Rocky. Rocky is a Belgian Malinois, while Rex is a Dutch Shepherd and is “night and day” from his predecessor, according to Hastings. “You never f ind one that can replace your first,” he said. “Jeffries was playful and liked to be loved on, but Rex is all business.” Along with 14 other members of law enforcement from around the Southeast, Hastings and Anderson immersed themselves into five weeks of obedience training, tracking and searches. Utilizing areas such as abandoned schools, hospitals, lumber yards, vehicles – even BryantDenny Stadium in Tuscaloosa, the purpose was to expose the dogs to as many environments as possible with intentional distractions. For Anderson, the experience was eye-opening. After seven years of working on the road, the challenge and opportunity of working with a K-9 was something he has wanted to tackle for a long time. Even with experience raising hunting dogs, Anderson said the process was entirely new.
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COOK TAMARKUS RESULT FOR BAPTIST CHURCH NARY PHOTO BY IMAGE BEULAH MISSIO
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Many families have different traditions they look forward to each holiday season, and the Ridley family in Newnan looks forward to their annual display of hundreds of snowmen. Linda Ridley has put her snowmen out for everyone to see for over 20 years. “She gets them out every year for the family,” said Buck Ridley, Linda’s son. “The family can bring over whoever they want to see them. She has one that’s 20 feet fall and some all the way down to an inch. She’s been collecting them for years.” Linda Ridley has snowmen made from glass, crochet, pillows, stuffed snowmen and fiber optic ones. Snowmen are also distributed to every room in the house, including the bathrooms. She begins the Friday after Thanksgiving by taking the books down from a bookcase where some will be displayed and getting the snowmen out of the storage of the family business, Coweta Car Care in Sharpsburg. It takes her about two weeks to put the snowmen in their respective places. “We call it the snowmen migration,” Buck Ridley said.
Also online at times-herald.com
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multiple seizures throughout each day. The attacks come often and without warning and can lead to a number of complications. “We have really good weeks and really bad ones,” Erin Scharko-Fisk explained. “He could have a seizure just from being overly tired, anxious or even just excited.” Micah’s condition was discovered in his first month of life when the seemingly healthy baby began experiencing seizures that would stop him from breathing. As he grew, SE, THE Micah’s seizures only became stronger and more frequent, A HIGH-SPEED CHA occurring in clusters, or, sometimes in the form of absence R BACON LED TOJURY FOR JUSTICE seizures which are short periods of “blanking out” or staring R A DISPUTE OVE TO A AFTE with g ice cream into space. RY MAN TURNED A father who was havinSims ANG and aske d Doctors treating Micah have tried a number of treatments, appr oach ed h Sims his fami ly his language, to whic face, LY though few yielded any long-term or significant results. As h By CLAY NEE m him to watc you don’t get out of my Disan alternative to medications, The Fisks began in January to newnan.co clay@ responded “If o a physical g to Assistant
Calendar of events
Dec. 21, 2016
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Family 770-683-1707 displays Fisk family 16 Jefferson Street • Newnan, GA 30263 20 ft. tall halfway to times-herald.com snowman By KANDICE BELL kandice@newnan.com Many families have different traditions they look forward to each holiday season, and the Ridley family in Newnan looks forward to their annual display of hundreds of snowmen. Linda Ridley has put her snowmen out for everyone to see for over 20 years. “She gets them out every year for the family,” said Buck Ridley, Linda’s son. “The family can bring over whoever they want to see them. She has one that’s 20 feet fall and some all the way down to an inch. She’s been collecting them for years.” Linda Ridley has snowmen made from glass, crochet, pillows, stuffed snowmen and fiber optic ones. Snowmen are also distributed to every room in the house, including the
fundraising goal
By MAGGIE BOWERS maggie@newnan.com Four-year-old Micah is a happy and active child, and, like most little ones his age, has recently begun attending preschool — a feat his mom was not certain he would be able to accomplish this year. Micah suffers from severe epilepsy and experiences multiple seizures throughout each day. The attacks come often and without warning and can lead to a number of complications. “We have really good weeks and really bad ones,” Erin Scharko-Fisk explained. “He could have a seizure just from