Georgia News Briefly

Lone Doerun candidate to join Council

DOERUN (TNS) — A single candidate has qualified for an open city council seat in Doerun.

Mike Blair will be sworn in at the next council meeting, a city spokeswoman said. He was the only person who sought to replace Councilman Michael Campbell.

Campbell resigned last month to run for the mayor’s post that was vacated upon the death of Mayor George Saunders in June.

Campbell, who had served on Doerun’s council more than 20 years, is running against Larry Brady.

The city election will take place Nov. 3, but it will be separate from the county vote on the Transportation Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax that will be held the same day.

Fewer Georgia students taking SATs

ATLANTA (TNS) — The College Board released the latest results for its SAT exam today, and they won’t tell you much except that fewer Georgia students are taking the redesigned test.

Because of changes to the the exams, the results for the class of 2017 cannot be compared to those of predecessors.

For the class of 2016, when some students took the old version of the SAT and others took the new, a total of 69,922 Georgians participated.

That number dropped to 63,805 for the class of 2017.

The Georgia Department of Education touted the state’s results, reporting that students here outperformed the nation on reading and writing. The state did not mention, though, that Georgia students underperformed the nation by a greater margin in math.

In Georgia, the mean score on the math portion was 515 and the mean score on reading and writing was 535.

Nationally, 1,715,481 students took the exam, scoring 527 in math and 533 in reading and writing.

The state DOE notes that a larger proportion of Georgia students took the exams than was the case nationally. In Georgia, 61 percent of graduates in the class of 2017 took the tests versus 47 percent nationally, the state reported.

Nurse delivers baby at store

BUFORD (TNS) — Tanya St. Preux got more than she bargained for on a recent trip to a Gwinnett County Target.

Instead of leaving with a cart of groceries and household goods, she left with a healthy baby boy.

Last month, while shopping at the Target near the Mall of Georgia in Buford, St. Preux unexpectedly went into labor.

Luckily, Piedmont Atlanta Hospital labor and delivery nurse Caris Lockwood was out running errands at the same store, according to a post on the Piedmont Healthcare Facebook page.

She jumped into action and safely delivered St. Preux’s 7-pound, 10-ounce baby boy at the store’s entrance, according to the hospital.

“Caris was God-sent and amazing,” St. Preux said. “She was sweet and caring and exceeded everyone’s expectations. She went way over, far and beyond.”

By noon Tuesday, about 5,500 people had reacted to the story on Facebook. It was shared 257 times.

Lockwood’s mother, Lisa Bozeman, was one of the more than 125 people who commented under the Facebook post.

“She has always had the most beautiful heart and loves people so well,” Bozeman said. “And we are so blessed to know Tanya and that sweet baby!”

Federal officer accused of impersonating cop

ATLANTA (TNS) — Aside from the blue light mounted in his unmarked SUV and the weapon on his hip, a man recorded during a traffic stop didn’t look like an officer at all.

But looks can be deceiving, the Cherokee County Sheriff’s Office learned Tuesday morning.

Hours after officials asked the public to help them identify a “suspected police impersonator,” they issued a retraction and said that the man is in fact an officer with a federal agency.

“We have positively identified him as a certified law enforcement officer in an off-duty capacity at the time of this incident,” sheriff’s spokeswoman Sgt. Marianne Kelley said in a statement.

The name and agency of the officer were not released.

The mix-up began about 4 p.m. Monday, when the officer pulled over a citizen in the area of Ball Ground and Hightower roads in Ball Ground.

“The citizen who was stopped felt concerned over what he described as an irregular contact,” the sheriff’s office said in the statement.

The officer never identified himself or the agency he represented, according to the sheriff’s office. He even backed off once he realized the citizen was recording the encounter.

“He was wearing his agency-issued badge,” Kelley said, “but did not have on any other identifying credentials or documentation.”

Law enforcement officers generally are “in uniform or will identify themselves to you and advise you of the agency where they work,” she said.

The sheriff’s office notified the officer’s immediate supervisor of the traffic stop.

“I don’t know what their protocol is,” Kelley said. “It would not be appropriate for one of our own officers to pull someone over and then not identify what agency they work for.”

‘Singer’ attacks cop with stun gun

COLUMBUS (TNS) — A 27-year-old man was singing before he allegedly attacked a police officer with a stun gun that he took from another official, according to testimony Monday in Columbus Recorder’s Court.

Quamae Bellamy pleaded not guilty to reckless conduct (HIV), criminal trespassing, aggravated assault against a law enforcement officer, animal cruelty, entering a vehicle and obstruction. He was ordered held in the Muscogee County Jail under bonds totaling $65,250.

Judge Mary Buckner bound the case over to Superior Court.

Columbus police officers Cpl. David Podger and Nichole Reeves were called to the 1800 block of Dee Avenue around 3:30 p.m. Saturday to investigate a car break-in.

A man later identified as Bellamy was seen walking into a backyard in the 2800 block of Blan Street, where two dogs barked at him. He allegedly broke into a vehicle before striking the pets with a PVC pipe, causing them to bleed.

Officer Reeves said she found Bellamy in the backyard of a Cornell Avenue residence with a running water hose in one hand and the pipe in the other.

Authorities said Reeves was holding a stun gun in her hand, but it fell after Bellamy struck her with the pipe. He allegedly grabbed the stun gun and fired it. One of the prongs struck Podger on his right ankle as he was walking into the backyard, according to police.

Podger then retrieved his stun gun from his holster and fired it at Bellamy. At the time, officers weren’t sure whether any prongs struck the suspect. Podgers fired his Taser again, striking Bellamy once under his chin and once in his groin area. Bellamy fell back on the cement carport, causing a small laceration on the back of his head.

Bellamy was immediately handcuffed and ordered to sit down. He was dry stunned after he refused to comply, according to the report.

He allegedly continued to resist arrest by kicking at officers and spitting on them. Officer Michael White said he was trying to place Bellamy in the back of a patrol vehicle when the suspect allegedly bit him on the left forearm, breaking skin.