Joey Roberts (left) chats with Ray Cann after the Chamber of Commerce Eggs and Issues event. (Photo by Jones)

Georgia Department of Transportation Director of Planning Joey Roberts said Thursday that Elbert County’s investment in infrastructure is an investment that will help assure Elbert County parents their kids will come back home to live.

And, in the Eggs and Issues forum sponsored by the Elbert County Chamber of Commerce and hosted by Athens Technical College’s Elbert County campus, Roberts said a ‘yes’ vote on March 19 for a transportation special purpose local option sales tax (TSPLOST) would be a step toward bolstering infrastructure in Elbert County.

“An investment in infrastructure – and that is what TSPLOST is – is an investment for the future of Elbert County,” said Roberts, a former South Georgia legislator who was named DOT’s Planning Director by former Governor Nathan Deal. “Infrastructure improvement leads to jobs and economic development and that makes it easier for (kids) to come back home.”

This week early voting on the March 19 referendum for TSPLOST enters its third week, and Roberts gave a presentation on TSPLOST for individual counties.

He also answered any questions related to the TSPLOST for a crowd of about 55 people.

Early voting ends Friday and polls will be open county-wide March 19 from 7 a.m. until 7 p.m.

If the TSPLOST is approved, the taxes would be collected after an 80-day waiting period and would be collected for the next five years.

Roberts said 30 percent of the roads improved by the TSPLOST would have to be on the county’s STIP (State Transportation Improvement Plan).

The funds would be split between Elbert County, Elberton and Bowman based on a intragovernmental agreement approved by the three governmental entities.

Elbert County Administrator Bob Thomas said there are 81 counties in Georgia who have approved this single-county transportation sales tax. He added that improvements on three bridges have been approved and paid for by the state and that the state has also paid or striping and road signage throughout Elbert County.

Elbert County School Superintendent Chuck Bell said after community feedback on a $2 million central board office construction project, he believes the BOE should assess all district facilities in a master facility plan.

“We need to continue to research and explore options,” said Bell Monday at a BOE work session. “In a master facility plan we can establish a clean timeline not just for the central office but all of our facilities.”

Lynn Bagwell addressed the school board about a proposed central office and told board members that they would “have to prove to me there aren’t existing buildings feasible for your project.”

 A late-hour floor amendment intended to change definitions of “fertilizer” and “soil amendment” and allow the Georgia Department of Natural Resources and Georgia Environmental Protection Division new rules enforcement of businesses such as Broad River Valley Farms was approved on the last day of the Georgia Legislative Session Tuesday.

Just after 6 p.m. Tuesday House Rep. Tom McCall said “another vehicle” was  found for the amendment after the original vehicle – his own House Bill 545 – was stuck in the Georgia Senate Rules Committee. 

With the Georgia legislative clock ticking down on the final day of the session, the amendment was added to HB 512, which received approval from both the House and Senate.

HB 512 – with the rules changes in the amendment – now awaits the signature of Georgia Governor Brian Kemp.

According to McCall, HB 545 stalled in the session that ended Tuesday, but can be brought back in the next legislative session in 2020.

McCall said that rules changes won’t be immediate.

“It ain’t going to start tomorrow,” said McCall. “It does have to have the governor’s signature. I think the Georgia Department of Agriculture needed to get the language in the rules changed, but they were probably working on that while the legislative session was going on.”

When a delegation of commission chairmen (including Elbert County Commission Chairman Lee Vaughn) visited with Georgia Department of Agriculture Commissioner Gary Black last month, the group was told that the rules changes were going to be added to HB 545.

In addition to issues related to Broad River Valley Farms’ actions in Elbert County, similar issues were also being discussed in Wilkes County, Oglethorpe County and Lincoln County.

The meeting was set up between the commissioners in those counties by McCall, Rep. Trey Rhodes (who represents Oglethorpe, Greene and Putnam Counties) and Elbert County’s Georgia State Senate representative, Lee Anderson.

A problem arose in the delegation’s plan when HB 545 was held up in the Georgia State Senate’s Rules Committee, leaving McCall in search of an alternative “vehicle” for the rules changes proposed by Commissioner Black.

Although several changes were made to HB 545, which McCall said was intended to protect legal farm operations in Georgia, there was considerable opposition to the bill.

That’s why, on the last day legislation could be passed during the session, McCall began looking for another bill to attach the rules changes.

“I’m glad that (Rep. McCall) was able to recognize that HB 545 wasn’t going to pass,” said Vaughn Wednesday morning. “We are happy that he was able to find a bill to attach the new rules.”

Vaughn said he is hoping to arrange another meeting with county commissioners, legislators and officials with the Georgia Department of Natural Resources and the Georgia Environmental Protection Division.

“I’d like to get everybody together in the next few weeks and find out what their game plan is on enforcement,” said Vaughn.

Friday, after two heart-wrenching weeks of trial and seven long days of testimony, an Elbert County jury composed of eight women and four men found Sherman Lamont Allen, 36, guilty on all six counts he was charged with in the death of Treston G. Smith in the parking lot of Pyramid Petro on Athens Highway March 16, 2017.

After initally asking Northern Judicial Circuit Superior Court Judge Jeff Malcom for Allen’s bloody boots and Smith’s pocketknife, the jury asked questions about two charges before returning a verdict an hour and ten minutes after they began deliberations.

Allen, who had bowed his head in prayer after the light came on in the courtroom to indicate the jury had reached a verdict, listened and shook his head in silent disbelief as the jury declared him guilty of:

• Malice murder.

• Two counts of felony murder.

• Two counts of aggravated assault.

• Aggravated battery.

Allen’s sentencing process began early this week with a meeting between Northern Judicial Circuit District Attorney’s office and defense attorneys in the trial.

District Attorney Parks White, who admitted the length and the pace of the trial wore him down, said the only two sentences possible in the multi-count murder conviction were a life sentence or a life sentence without parole.

Allen has been in custody of the Elbert County Sheriff’s Office since the early morning hours of March 16, 2017, when he turned himself in – carrying a bag of clothes he was wearing when he encountered Smith in the back parking lot of Pyramid Petro.

The encounter followed Allen’s discovery of Smith and the woman Allen had lived with for the past 14 years sitting together in a Chrysler 300 behind the convenience store.

Testimony showed – and three different video recordings all partially confirmed – a furious fight ensued went Allen chased Smith in the direction of a truck Smith had parked in the parking lot.

A security camera in front of the store recorded Allen’s arrival and a video security camera partially captured – in what Allen’s  attorneys described as “stick figures” –  two men fighting.

The store’s owner, hearing the fight outside, went outside with his cell phone and captured Allen driving away from the scene.

The owner then walked over, with his cell phone recording, to where Smith was lying face-down in a pool of blood.

Allen drove home, throwing Smith’s pocketknife out his car window just off Athens Highway. He testified he didn’t believe Smith was dead when he left the scene.

Allen’s dramatic testimony Thursday had many of the jurors crying.

“He hit me dead in my face,” Allen testified. “I grabbed him … he’s a big guy, a lot bigger than me. We were scuffling. There was no running up ... no attacking nobody.”

According to Allen, the fight continued on the ground.

“I was trying to hold him down with one hand but he was grabbing at me … I’m smaller, the guy’s way bigger than me. I’m trying to defend myself; I didn’t start the fight,” Allen told the jury between tearful sobs.

“I got up to leave; that’s when he stabbed me,” he said. Allen alleges that he has “permanent nerve damage” from a stab wound that he said Smith inflicted on him.

An upset Allen repeated that the two were “scuffling” and that he was trying to defend himself against Smith, who was larger than him.

“After I got up, I kicked him,” he said.

Allen choked up and continued to cry as he told the jury that he “never kicked him in the face or head.”

“I got back in my vehicle,” he said. “I grabbed the knife – it was up under him. I got back in my vehicle and put it on my seat.”

Throughout the testimony, Allen repeatedly denied having any intention to kill or injure Smith. He claimed he was “protecting” himself.

“After I got back into the vehicle, I looked at the knife and said to myself, ‘A knife? Come on, man. Two guys fighting, why you want to pull out a knife and try to take me out? I got kids … try to take me out all over a fight?’”

“I got mad,” Allen said. “I went back and kicked him in the side ... but I never kicked him in the head or face.”

“I just thought he was knocked out from the fight ... if I knew he was laying like that [deceased], I would have called 911 myself,” he told the jury.

Allen testified that after he got home that morning, he called his aunt and his mother-in-law to tell them about the fight.

“I ain’t never been in no fight, so much was going on with the family … I called everybody,” he said.

Allen said that one of his three daughters kept asking him “What’s going on?” as she ran him a shower and helped cleaned up a busted lip.

Allen said that shortly after he got home, he called Elton McIntosh who was “like to big brother” and someone he always talked to for guidance.

McIntosh told Allen that Smith was dead.

“I just kept saying ‘quit lying, stop playing,’” Allen testified.

Allen said that Elton told him Elton and his father, Pastor Willie Sam McIntosh, were coming to his house to talk to him.

“We prayed, we prayed and we prayed,” an emotional Allen told the jury. “I put my clothes in a bag, and Sam told me to go tell my story to the police.”

According to Allen, he called his aunt and cousin to come take care of his children so that he could go to the Elbert County Sheriff’s Office to turn himself in.

When questioned by White about the conversation that Allen had with Elbert County investigators after he turned himself in, Allen responded by saying he couldn’t remember much after he turned himself in.

“How can you really talk to someone when you find out a man is dead?” Allen testified.  “All I did was come in and try to tell the truth.”

Allen said he told investigators never intended to kill Smith, and that he threw the knife out the window when he was upset.

Crying, Allen told the jury, “I’m very sorry. I have thought about it every day for two years. I have a conscience, I do think.”

Allen testified he did not know that his “wife” (despite the fact they weren’t officially married, Allen said they considered themselves husband and wife) and Smith were at Pyramid Petro when he took the drive to “clear his head” after getting off from work at Pilgrim’s Pride and ordering food from Huddle House.

“The first instinct of a human being is survival, is of self-defense,” said defense attorney Bruce Harvey during closing arguments Friday afternoon. “You protect yourself and you fight back – it’s what everyone would do. Mr. Allen is saying to you and Elbert County, ‘I am not guilty.’”

Allen’s testimony and his defense team’s insistence that he was defending himself did not sway the Elbert County jury.

White, in his closing argument, put photos of Smith’s bloodied and battered face on a television monitor in the courtroom in full view of the jury, and compared it with a photo of Smith prior to his encounter with Allen.

The jury didn’t take long to make up its collective mind about the charges after viewing what White referred to over and over in the trial as “steel-toed” boots that he said Allen used to kick Smith’s face repeatedly.

Prior to revealing its verdict, there was a show of law enforcement force in the quiet Elbert County Superior Court government complex courtroom awaiting the jury’s return.

Fifteen armed law enforcement officers stood in the courtroom in an effort to head off any confrontations between families who sat, for the most part, quietly listening to testimony in the trial. After the verdict was announced, law enforcement officers allowed audience members sitting on Allen’s side of the courtroom to leave before releasing audience members from the Smith side of the courtroom.

Change of command at chamber, continuation of command on USS John Warner

Elbert County Chamber of Commerce Chairman Mat Hunt (left) handed the chair’s gavel to incoming chairman Al McCall (right) Friday night at the Chamber’s 95th Annual Meeting at the Historic Rock Gym while guest speaker and news anchor Jane Robelot displays her Tiger Paw trophy from AQ Stone. There are more pictures of award winners  from the Elbert County Chamber of Commerce event on Friday on Page 6 of today’s edition of The Elberton Star. (Photos by Jones)

As Dr. Andrea Daniel prepares to enter her fourth year as President of Athens Technical College (ATC) this spring, she says that she doesn’t label herself as a “female president,” only as “president.”

“While I certainly hope to see more female leaders in the community and I encourage more female presidents, I do not think of myself as a female president,” she said.

As the result of hard work and ambition, Daniel has moved up the ranks while at ATC over the past two decades. She first starting as the Director of Student Affairs at the Elberton Campus’ Operations Center located in the old Regions Bank building while the Elberton Campus was first being built.

This April marks her twenty-third anniversary of working at the college.

It didn’t take long for Daniel to learn the Banner Student Information System and start inching her way toward the top.

She previously took on roles of Registrar, Executive Director of Public Relations, Vice President of External Affairs, Vice President of Student Affairs, Vice President of Economic Development and eventually Executive Vice President of the college before she was named President.

But Daniel says that being named president wasn’t something she had her eye on at first. “It was something (former President) Dr. (Flora) Tydings saw in me,” she said.

As a born and raised Elberton resident, Daniel’s educational background that began locally at Elbert County.

She graduated from ECCHS before beginning her collegiate academic career at Lander University, earning a B.A. in Political Science and History.

After finishing her undergraduate degree, Daniel moved to Athens to complete a M.A. in Public Administration at the University of Georgia.

From there, she went on to intern for Georgia Senator Sam Nunn and worked as a senior analyst for the Atlanta Regional Commission.  While working for the Atlanta Regional Commission, she was involved with the departments of education and transportation.

“When I was working with the Department of Education I caught the technical college bug,” Daniel said jokingly.

After she began her career at ATC, Daniel further pursued her education by completing her doctorate in Business Administration from Northcentral University.

“My combined education in public and business administration has served me well,” Daniel admitted.

It’s clear to see that Daniel loves her job as president and believes in what the college has to offer.

“I want for Athens Technical College to be referred to as a college, not just a technical school. While we do focus on vocational and work force training, we are multi-faceted and our credits transfer to universities throughout the state and the country,” she said. “ATC has so much to offer. It’s often taken for granted. We have great faculty, a wonderful partnership with the University of Georgia and the academic rigor to prepare students.”

Daniel noted that the college has seen significant progress recently and that enrollment is up 35% since she first took on her presidency.

“With enrollment up during a good economy… that’s huge,” she said. “We usually see numbers up when the economy is down and jobs are hard to find, but enrollment up during a good economic time means the college is getting more visibility.”

Daniel credits the success of the Elberton campus to her team (including Executive Vice President of Economic Development Al McCall) and a strong relationship with the Chamber of Commerce, the mayor and city council, and the county chairman and commissioners as well as the legislators who represent ATC including Representative Tom McCall.

“We continue to work with our community and we want people to know we’re here,” she said.

“I’ve seen her explain to students the purpose of service,” said McCall. “She helps students understand that cycle. The perspective she gives me is to work as a team for a common goal … I appreciate the opportunities that she has afforded me. I caught that (technical college) bug too. It’s very infectious.”

McCall encouraged Elbert County residents to “not take for granted” that the president of Athens Technical College is from Elberton. “She knows the ins and outs and that means a whole lot,” he continued.

“We offer a support system and we’ll meet our students at any level,” Daniel commented. At Athens Technical College, we work to break down barriers,” Daniel said.

Daniel has broken down a few barriers herself, as only 30% of college presidents are women though women represent 56.5% of college students across the United States.

While Daniel has served as president, ATC’s Elberton campus has added several programs, including an $8.2 million agriscience building that will be built in the next 18 months. The college’s agriculture program will be completely offered on the Elberton campus and is fully articulated with UGA.

“That is a game-changer,” Daniel said.

Daniel also said that the expansion of the nursing program, including a mega-science lab and an evening License Practical Nursing program is now offered in Elbert County.

More successful programs offered at the Elbert County campus include EMT, welding, diesel mechanic, industrial systems, general education, cosmetology and commercial driver’s license.

The college is also set to start a new conservation law program to help train Department of Natural Resource officers.

“We’ve seen significant progress recently,” she said.

According to Daniel, “Education is a power tool.”

“It can change cycles and solve problems. I watch families live their dreams because of the education they have gotten at ATC.”

Daniel’s number one philosophy as president is to ask herself, “Is this the best thing for our students?”

“And that’s our mission, serving students and the regional workforce” she said.

“I love our students,” Daniel raved. “We have tremendous students who are here to work and gain a career. I’m blessed to have this position and for the leadership that I’ve had to get here.”

Out of the 11 counties that are within ATC’s service area, Daniel said she sees “positives in every county” that she represents.

Though she spends much of her time on the Athens campus and traveling for the college, Daniel still proudly calls Elberton home and lives here with her husband, daughter and two dogs.

“When I come to Elberton, I come home,” she said.

Sherman Lamont Allen, 36, was sentenced to life in prison with the possibility of parole Thursday by Elbert County Superior Court Judge Jeff Malcom of the Northern Judicial Circuit.

Two weeks ago Allen was found guilty of malice murder, two counts of felony murder, two counts of aggravated assault and aggravated battery.

An Elbert County jury composed of eight women and four men found Allen guilty on all six counts.

Judge Malcom, Northern Judicial Circuit District Attorney Parks White and Allen’s defense attorneys – Jim Smith of Athens and Bruce Harvey of Atlanta –  met April 1 to discuss the sentencing before Malcom made his decision on the sentencing.

Allen was charged in the beating death of Treston Smith, who was 32 when investigators found him dead in the back parking lot of Pyramid Petro on the Athens Highway March 16, 2017.

“He was sentenced to life with the possibility of parole for the offense of malice murder,” White said Friday. “The convictions for all other counts merged into this count.”

White said Allen will not be eligible for parole consideration until 2047.

Allen left his job at Pilgrim’s in  the early morning hours of March 16, 2017 and drove to the Huddle House to get something eat before finally driving out the Athens Highway to – according to his defense attorneys – “clear his head.”

But when he got to Pyramid Petro he found Smith in the car with his girlfriend, who was the mother of his three children, two of which Allen was the father.

The girlfriend drove away and Allen ran to  Smith, White said in the two-week murder trial staged in the Elbert County Government Complex courtroom. A deadly fight began that led to the murder charges.

Allen turned himself in to the Elbert County Sheriff’s Office just a few hours after the incident, bringing the clothes he was wearing, including boots White said Allen used to kick Smith to death.

An alert Gilmer County Sheriff’s Office deputy made the traffic stop of a Ford Focus, then assisted East Ellijay Police since it was in their territory. The upshot — five ounces of methamphetamine ready to sell, marijuana for market, ecstasy and a stolen pistol taken off the streets.

Arrested was Thomas Max Hubbard, 51, of 1233 Ford Creek Road in Elberton, on multiple drug and weapon charges (see box). 

Lt. Kenny Wiggins of the sheriff’s office stopped Hubbard on First Avenue on April 11 just before 5 p.m. When it was learned Hubbard did not have a valid driver’s license, Officer Michael Stanford with East Ellijay Police agreed to take over the stop.

While Stanford was talking to Hubbard, he noticed him reaching around in the vehicle and asked him to stop, and he complied. A female passenger was talking on her cellphone, and she was asked to stop and also complied.

“(Hubbard) told me nervously that he did not have a license due to a DUI ... (he) was still moving his hands and could not keep still, so I asked him to step out of the vehicle and he agreed,” Stanford wrote in an incident report.

Dispatch confirmed Hubbard was unlicensed and might have warrants out on him from Elbert County, and while he was being handcuffed, Stanford asked if he could search the vehicle and Hubbard “hesitantly said yes.” 

“While I was escorting (Hubbard) to the front of my patrol car, he told me without me asking him, that (the female) doesn’t know anything and that there was dope in the vehicle ... he explained there was five ounces of methamphetamine in a bag that he threw somewhere in the back seat,” Stanford said in the report.

A search of the vehicle revealed a black bag with seven loaded syringes of an unknown substance, 11 new syringes and two glass pipes, and another bag with a gold-colored Rossi .38 Special revolver loaded with five rounds that was found to be stolen out of South Carolina. Also seized were six medium-sized clear bags of suspected meth, three and a half tablets of suspected ecstasy, measuring scales, a journal with names and dollar amounts, as well as two fixed-blade knives with five-inch blades and a box containing 70 new syringes.

The woman denied having any knowledge of the contraband, but did confess to using meth the day before. She was not charged. Hubbard was taken to the county jail, and when Stanford explained the bonding process, Hubbard said he was “familiar with the process.”

When field tested, the suspected meth and ecstasy proved positive. The syringes were disposed of in a hazardous waste container at the jail.

‘Absolutely no way’

Police Chief Larry Callahan lauded the officers working together in this case and others.

“There’s absolutely no way we can succeed in any facet of law enforcement if we don’t cooperate,” he said last week. “The demands are too heavy and the supply of officers is too small. Just in the last week, I can think of at least four agencies that we’ve worked with closely, whether it be on wrecks, an arrest or whatever. 

“It’s not just needed, it’s vital if we’re going to succeed at this. We’re fortunate in that we get along really good with the sheriff’s office and Ellijay (Police), and all the state agencies. And I feel like it shows in the results.”

Hubbard remained in the county jail Tuesday. A spokeswoman said his bond was set at $57,000, but he has a hold on him from another county.

The Bowman City Council unanimously approved a motion during its regular meeting Monday night to adopt a proclamation that declares Saturday, April 27 as “Mecole Hardman Jr. Day.”   

Mecole announced earlier this year that he would not be returning to play football for his fourth year with the University of Georgia this upcoming fall and would instead be entering the NFL draft that will begin Saturday.

Mecole, who is originally from Bowman, was recognized by Mayor Pete Gibbons and the council for his achievements as an Elbert County Blue Devil multi-sport athlete, as well as his athletic and academic achievements as a Georgia Bulldog.

“I feel like it’s a great time to honor Mecole for all he’s done … he’s worked hard on and off the field,” said Gibbons.

“All the negatives you hear about our athletes … you’ve never heard one negative about anything that Mecole is involved in and that’s what I’m most proud of,” Gibbons said.

Gibbons presented the proclamation to Mecole’s father, Mecole Hardman Sr. in honor of Mecole Hardman Jr., who could not be there due to a “last minute call from an undisclosed team” who flew him out for a training session, according to Gibbons.

Mecole Hardman Jr.’s family will host a watch party of the NFL draft at the Bowman Community Center on Saturday.

Since 2009, Elbert Memorial Hospital (EMH), along with The Medical Center, has offered clinical studies for third-year medical students from the Medical Partnership of Augusta University (formerly the Medical College of Georgia) and the University of Georgia.

The medical students make the 45-minute trip from Athens for a six-week rotation.

“In a nutshell, Elberton provides a quality healthcare system with physicians and hospital staff that many patients know personally and interact with socially,” EMH Director of Marketing and Public Relations Nancy Seymour and Medical Center Practice Administrator Brooke Hall wrote in an edition of the AU/UGA Medical Partnership publication The Athens Advocate). “This partnership is a wonderful experience because it allows students to understand healthcare from a rural standpoint rather than the hustle and bustle of urban life, and they learn first-hand how quality healthcare for patients is not sacrificed in a rural setting.”

With many of the staff at EMH and The Medical Center alumni of the Georgia Medical College, local physicians are eager for the opportunity to mentor the third-year students.

One-tenth of a mile has kept Elbert Memorial Hospital (EMH) from getting 100 percent of Medicare reimbursements for services rendered, but EMH CEO Kerry Trapnell said that may change in the future.

According to Medicare rules, because Elbert County is 14.9 miles from the Abbeville (South Carolina) Area Medical Center, EMH has been denied Critical Access Designation.

With such designation, EMH could recover the full cost of its services through Medicare. Currently, the Medicare system considers EMH a PPS (Prospective Payment System) hospital, and as such the Elbert County hospital can get reimbursed for only 70 percent of the cost of services.

When EMH had a partnership with AnMed Health Systems, AnMed applied for the critical access designation, but in the end Medicare turned down the application because the Abbeville hospital was 14.9 miles from the Elbert County border, when 15 miles in the legal requirement.

“They turned it down because they said 14.9 miles is not 15 miles,” Trapnell told the EMH Authority Board at its monthly meeting Tuesday night.

However, Trapnell said the Georgia Department of Transportation will be submitting information with EMH’s upcoming application for Critical Access Designation that shows Abbeville’s health facility is 15 miles or more from the Elbert County Border.

“They (Georgia DOT) are doing an ‘official review’ and we will be submitting that information when we make the Critical Access application,” said Trapnell. “When we try to get the designation, we will include their analysis with the application.”

As the hospital enters the final quarter of its fiscal year 2018-2019, the hospital’s financial statement shown at the authority meeting reflects good news, but Authority Chairman Daniel Graves warned that the figures in the statement are somewhat misleading.

The statement is showing EMH with a $978,733 profit in FY 2018-2019.

“We are doing well and we are pleased, but there are some things that need to be noted about our financial situation,” said Graves.

Graves said the hospital was gifted with a non-cash contribution of a building, which the hospital will be using to house medical offices and possibly a telemedicine facility. Although there were no funds attached to EMH acquiring the building, the gift is being reflected in the statement.

Also, the hospital received one-time state rural health funding and funds from the Georgia HEART program, which is a direct contribution  to state hospitals through the state tax system.

Those three items on the EMH financial statement reflect a good portion of the revenues over expenses, said Graves.

Graves said funding from the Georgia HEART program can be used only for capital outlay projects, while funding from county millage levies can be used for operations at the hospital.

Graves said after the meeting that the county’s return on investment with tax funding is about 20 percent when the EMH’s $25 million annual economic impact on the local economy takes effect.

Troy Colquitt, an Elberton City Council member, directs comments to Sweet City Attorney Michael Mayo, seated on the front row during the Elbert County Board of Commissioners’ hearing March 11 in the courtroom at the Elbert County Superior Court. The commissioners turned down Sweet City’s application to get EPA approval for a landfill. (Photo by Jones)

Sweet City Landfill, LLC has filed  documents in Elbert County Superior Court asking for a higher court’s review (writ of certiorari) of the Elbert County Commission’s March 18 decision to deny Sweet City’s attempts to develop a landfill project.

Additionally, Sweet City has filed a new suit in the same court, asking the court to recognize that Sweet City had filed its original request for a special use permit in 2009, while also asking for attorney’s fees, litigation costs and “an award for Sweet City and against” Commissioners Kenneth Ashworth, Chris Alexander, Horace Harper, Casey Freeman, Freddie Jones and Lee Vaughn, and County Manager Bob Thomas.

The court documents, filed in Elbert County Superior Court on April 10, also refer to upcoming oral arguments in the Georgia State Court of Appeals over a case last fall in which Superior Court Judge David Sweat rejected charges of conspiracy.

Those conspiracy charges were thrown out by Sweat, but according to court documents the state appeals court has agreed to hear oral arguments on the conspiracy, in which Sweet City claims a former set of Elbert County Commissioners conspired to deny Sweet City’s attempts to get permission to apply for a federal Environmental Protection Agency’s permit to build a landfill.

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