Georgia News Briefly — April 3, 2016

Woman’s body found in Lake Lanier

ATLANTA (TNS) — Fishermen in Hall County found a woman’s body floating in Lake Lanier shortly before noon Sunday, police said.

The fishermen called 911 and officials pulled the body from the lake with a Hall County Fire marine rescue boat, Sgt. Kevin Holbrook, a spokesman for Gainesville police, said.

Deputies confirmed the body was badly decomposed and an autopsy would be performed by the DeKalb County Medical Examiner’s Office.

Two killed in Amtrak wreck

ATLANTA (TNS) — Two people were killed and at least 31 were injured in an Amtrak accident reported at 7:53 a.m. Sunday in Chester, Pa.

Amtrak Train 89 was operating from New York City to Savannah when it struck a backhoe that was on the tracks and partially derailed the lead engine south of Philadelphia, Kimberly Woods, a spokeswoman for Amtrak, said.

“There were approximately 341 passengers and 7 crew members on board,” Woods wrote. “Initial reports are that approximately 31 passengers are being transported to area hospitals, none with life-threatening injuries. Local emergency responders are on the scene and an investigation is ongoing.”

All Amtrak service was suspended between Wilmington, Delaware, and Philadelphia, but no delays were reported from the Amtrak station in Buckhead.

Chemical tank found floating in river

ATLANTA (TNS) — A huge chemical tank was floating down the Chattahoochee River Friday afternoon, until authorities fished it out, according to Channel 2 Action News.

Douglas County officials were able to take a closer look at the drum, which measured about 12 feet long and 9 feet tall. They then tied it in place to secure the drum until it could be taken out Saturday morning.

“We have found just about everything you can possibly imagine during our cleanup and river patrols, but this one’s new,” river keeper Jason Ulseth told Channel 2.

The massive metal drum was empty, but the find prompted an investigation by the United States Environmental Protection Agency. Authorities want to know whether or not the tank ever held toxic contents.

Ulseth told the station he has never seen a drum this size. He said the drum has stickers with red and black letters warning the tank may contain lethal fumes, a picture of a skull and cross bones, and several ‘Warning: Danger ’ notices.

“The most concerning part was whether or not there were actual chemicals in this tank,” Ulseth said.

The organization alerted the EPA and an emergency response unit responded to the Chattahoochee at first light Saturday to inspect, then carefully tow the tank down river, according to Channel 2.

They could tell it was empty, but initial tests inside the drum found no evidence of hazardous compounds or a toxic release into the water.

Judge: No excessive force in restraint chair

LAWRENCEVILLE (TNS) — A federal judge found in favor of Gwinnett County Sherriff Butch Conway and staff over the use of the jail’s restraint chair, officials said Friday.

A 2013 lawsuit claimed excessive force by the Rapid Response Team, which is a jail tactical team that trains regularly for jail emergencies and whose members are tasked with restraining disruptive inmates.

“I’ve been proud of the Rapid Response Team and their excellent work since the team was formed in 2008,” Conway said. “They train hard to maintain a safe environment in the jail for inmates and staff alike.”

Craig Jones and John Cicala filed the lawsuit on behalf of former Gwinnett County Jail inmates. They had hundreds of hours of tapes that they said showed “takedowns” by the Rapid Response Team, Channel 2 Action News previously reported.

Despite videos and testimony by a use-of-force expert and the former commissioner of the Georgia Department of Corrections, the RRT was cleared of any wrongdoing.

The court found that no constitutional violations had occurred and dismissed all the plaintiffs’ claims in their entirety.

Oxendine seeks to reverse ethics decisions

ATLANTA (TNS) — Former Georgia Insurance Commissioner John Oxendine is asking a Superior Court judge to reverse state ethics commission decisions in December that kept alive complaints that he accepted illegal donations and spent campaign money on races he never ran in 2010.

The allegations stem from Oxendine’s 2010 campaign for governor, and in part, from Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports about what he did with about $750,000 in contributions after he lost the Republican primary that year.

A hearing has been set in the case for June 17 in Fulton County Superior Court.

Stefan Ritter, the executive secretary of the commission, said the court doesn’t yet have jurisdiction to take up the case because the commission hasn’t made a final determination in the case. In court filings, Oxendine’s lawyer, Douglas Chalmers, disagrees.

If Oxendine is successful, the case could lead to more politicians asking the courts to interpret state ethics laws, rather than leaving it up to the commission. The ruling could also affect other ethics complaints awaiting commission action.

Chalmers filed the “petition for judicial review” on behalf of Oxendine after the commission essentially gave the former longtime state official a split decision in a case that began about seven years ago but was revived last fall after an AJC report.

The commission dismissed complaints that Oxendine took 19 contributions that were over the legal limit during his 2010 race, citing the state’s statute of limitations on such donations.

But it also decided to move ahead on charges that Oxendine spent more than $200,000 in 2010 runoff and general election contributions, despite the fact that he never ran those races after losing the primary.