Wednesday, January 1, 2014 | The Newnan Times-Herald — 1B
2013 Review OUR YEAR IN
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JANUARY
Coweta County courts get new judges • Judges take new positions in Coweta County courts: Emory Palmer and Bill Hamrick take Superior Court positions, Robert Stokely takes a position with the Magistrate Court, and Joseph Wyant takes a position with the Juvenile Court. • Zion Hill Baptist Reverend W.J. Johnson dies at age 71. Ja'Taurean Payton, born at 2:31 a.m. Jan. 1, is Coweta County's first baby of 2013. • Qualifying period begins for Georgia House District 71 election, which became vacant after the withdrawal of newly-elected State Representative Robert Stokely. • Victor Allen Moorer dies after his vehicle drives off roadway, overturns and strikes a tree. All eight other family members in the vehicle are injured, and two children airlifted to Egleston. • Abby Bacho, a 9-year-old wreck victim, passes away, and her heart, kidneys, liver and corneas are donated to others needing organs. Her father, Stephen Bacho, remains in an induced coma. • Newnan City Council approves a 2 percent cost-of-living salary increase for city employees. • Five Republicans seek District 71 seat — Richard Weisser, Michael Farbo Jr., Thomas G. Crymes, Darryl Marmon and David J. Stover. • Democrat Cynthia Conradt Bennett is sixth and final qualifier for District 71 seat. • Un iversit y System B oa rd of Regents agrees to buy old Newnan Hospital on Jackson Street for new satellite University of West Georgia campus.
University System Board of Regents in January agrees to buy the old Newnan Hospital on Jackson Street for new satellite University of West Georgia campus.
Organized by Chapter 483, Order of the Eastern Star, the 26th annual Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. parade marches through downtown Newnan.
• Due to the American Taxpayer Relief Act being passed by Congress, the Internal Revenue Service will not begin processing tax returns until Jan. 30. • Study shows ha lf of Coweta County 2012 high school graduates took at least one course at the Central Educational Center while in high school. • Chapter 483, Order of the Eastern Star, hosts the 2013 Martin Luther King Jr. parade through downtown Newnan. • Piedmont Newnan Hospital institutes new policies that may charge patients $150 if they visit the Emergency Room wit hout emergency symptoms. • Fire damages two homes — one heavily damaged on U.S. Highway
29 Jan. 14, and one severely damaged by heat and smoke on Gordon Street Jan.15. There were no injuries. • Jay Boren is named chief executive officer of the Coweta County Water and Sewerage Authority. • Jimmy Bass is named executive director of the Coweta County Public Library System. • Atlanta Braves pitcher Tim Hudson speaks at East Coweta High School on the dangers of texting and driving. • Forty-seven Coweta County high school sophomores and juniors honored as nominees in 2013 Georgia Governor's Honors Program. • Lisa Hedenstrom, RN, Senoia resident and Piedmont Healthcare's senior vice president, is appointed to Georgia Nursing Board. • Rain causes delays on construction
of the Newnan Centre scheduled to open in April. • Georgia House District 71 candidates express views in a public forum on Jan. 17. • Northgate High School senior Timberli Williams presents Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" speech during the televised service at Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta. • The Supreme Court of Georgia reinstates the murder conviction of Michelle Hall, who was tried in Coweta County, upholding Hall's sentence of life in prison. • New na n Cit y Counci l una nimously approves contracts to turn the old Newnan Hospital on Jackson Street into a satellite campus of the University of West Georgia. • A 16-year-old East Coweta High School student is arrested for selling marijuana brownies at school. • Two male juveniles, ages 15 and 16, are charged with breaking into about 50 vehicles in north Coweta County looking for money.
• Cutbacks at Plant Yates on the Chatta hoochee R iver may negatively impact Coweta County schools' budget. • Newnan Police off icers begin manhunt for two suspects who fled officers, wrecked and abandoned their vehicle. Marijuana was discovered near the wrecked car and about 10 cell phones were found inside. • It is reported at a Newnan Kiwanis Club meeting that Coweta County is in good shape with population growth and tax collections increasing, but with the county's revenue and budget declining. • The Coweta County Board of Education considers adding classroom space to East Coweta High School, reinstating prison crews for grounds maintenance and increasing police at elementary schools. • Twenty Coweta Charter Academy students attend the Georgia School Choice Celebration and Rally in Atlanta.
FEBRUARY
Senoia gets double exposure in Georgia travel guide • Dean Jackson becomes 2013 chairman of Newnan-Coweta Chamber of Commerce. • Senoia is featured on two separate cover choices of the 2013 Georgia Travel Guide, showing AMC’s “The Walking Dead” and country music star Zac Brown. • Newnan home on Carriage Light Way is destroyed in fire. • Rhythm-and-blues singer Monica Denise Arnold Brown speaks at Smokey Road Middle School for Black History Month. • Coweta residents participate in 5K and 10K Run for Angels benefitting Angel's House Children's Shelter. • Candidates David Stover and Thomas Crymes scheduled to participate in runoff on March 5 for Georgia House District 71 seat. • Yaslyn Pratt is killed when her mobile home catches fire on Caldwell Drive in Palmetto. • David Bennett is arrested for severely beating a woman with a baseball bat. Surgery was performed on the victim's arms and face. • Bette Jo Hickman, local art educa-
tor, civil worker and Global Achievers director, is selected at the 2013 Coweta County Citizen of the Year. • Mattie Carmichael Hill of Senoia turns 103 years old, making her one of Coweta County's oldest residents. • Newnan City and Cultural Arts Commission seeks public comments on how the Municipal Building on Jefferson Street should be used after construction of new Public Safety Complex. • Bonnell Aluminum plant plans for $17 million expansion to start up in early 2014. • Newnan City Council votes to remove eight trees from the immediate Courthouse Square. • The 2012 Southern Living Idea House charity presents a check of $37,056 to the groundbreaking of Zac Brown's Camp Southern Ground. • Peter Mallory, former owner of TV 33 LaGrange, is sentenced to 1,000 years in prison for 64 counts of child pornography. • Coweta County Board of Education approves demolition and rebuilding of Evans Middle School to begin in
May 2014. • Coweta County crews demolish vacant Georgia State Patrol Building on Hospital Road. • Fou r pe ople , i nclud i n g t wo inmates, are charged for attempting to smuggle matches and tobacco into the Coweta County jail. • Some 206 exhibitors bring more than 2,500 birds to the 2013 Chattahoochee Valley Poultry Association poultry show at the Coweta County fairgrounds. • Claude Hunter of Moreland pleads guilty to growing 95 marijuana plants in his barn and is sentenced to two years in prison. • Two homes are destroyed in separate fires, one south of Moreland on Highway 27 Alternate, and the other on Vaughn Road Northeast of Thomas Crossroads. • An 81-year-old woman is rescued without injuries after her vehicle flips upside down. • Senoia Enterprises receives the Economic Development Award at the 2013 South Metro Development Outlook awards banquet.
Bette Hickman is honored as 2013 Coweta Count y Citizen of the Year.
• Republicans Tom Crymes and David Stover participate in forum discussing their ideas for the runoff election of Georgia House District 71. • Coweta man is charged with aggravated assault after shooting at a group of men doing donuts in his yard in a pickup truck, hitting one in the hand. • Nicole Hernane, victim of a brutal beating alleged to be at the hands of her boyfriend David Bennett, speaks out about her situation and domestic
violence. • Grantville pays Coweta County $66,773.92 to settle dispute over south Coweta library branch. • Off-duty Coweta County f irefighter Frank Jones rescues an unconscious woman from a house fire on Georgia Highway 54. • Downtown Newnan merchants file an appeal with city council to save eight oak trees on the Courthouse Square.