News From Madison County

Owner trying to keep course open
Seeks permission to sell beer, wine
Sunrise Golf Course owner John Byram says he wants to keep the Colbert course open. So he sold his 200-acre farm in Oglethorpe County, started a work-for-play deal with local golfers and appeared before the county commissioners to ask for permission to sell beer and wine at the course.
He said he’s taken these measures to raise revenues and cut expenses in hopes of keeping the struggling course open.
The course owner was recently denied a rezoning that would have allowed him to turn the golf course into a subdivision.
Asked after the meeting with the commissioners if he planned to sue the BOC on the rezoning matter, Byram said “no” and added that he bought the course with the intention of keeping it, not turning it into a subdivision.
Byram said he’s seeking “to build community support” for the course. And he pointed out that golfers can now volunteer to work eight hours a week at the course. In exchange, they can play all the golf they want for free.
The course owner told the BOC Monday that selling alcohol would be another revenue source and he noted that a large percentage of golfers already drink alcohol on the course.
Byram asked if the board could exempt the golf course from restrictions that require at least 70 percent of gross revenue to be from food before an establishment can sell alcohol and free him from a mandate that alcohol sales be at least 400 yards from the nearest residence.
“I see it as something that’s a good income stream,” said Byram. “A lot of golf courses have it. It’s another way to make it (the golf course) float.”
The board of commissioners took no action Monday, agreeing that they needed to have their attorney review the county’s beer and wine ordinance.
Commissioner Bruce Scogin said he did not feel good about approving any alcohol sales at the golf course, adding that he doesn’t approve of drinking.
Scogin said he feared that there would be no control over how much golfers drank and whether they left the course driving drunk.
Byram said golfers currently drink and that allowing him to sell alcohol would at least give him a little control over alcohol consumption since he could refuse to sell beer or wine to those who appeared inebriated.

Fortson to take the stand in murder trial
Second trial of accused killer in progress in Effingham Co.
Tracy Lea Fortson will take the stand in her own defense, said her new defense attorney Bill W. Crecelius, Jr., who maintains the accused murderer “did not do any of the accused crimes.”
Fortson is standing trial for the June 2000 death of her boyfriend, Doug Benton, whose body was found on an Oglethorpe County hunting preserve in a steel horse trough covered with concrete.
In his opening statement, Crecelius told the jury to pay close attention to the times and dates as the story is told. He said that evidence will dispute not only the probable time of death, but also the dates and times when Benton was known to be alive, and Fortson’s own movements during the time of his disappearance.
This is the second trial for Fortson. She was convicted by a Madison County jury in July 2001. An appeal by Fortson was upheld by the Georgia Supreme Court, which ordered a new trial due to a legal technicality involving jury selection
Judge Lindsay Tise agreed to move the new trial at least 150 miles from Madison County. He made it clear that he wanted a jury that was not familiar with the case. At 200 miles, distant Effingham County filled the bill. As jurors were questioned Monday, March 22, in Springfield, almost all indicated that they had not heard of the case.
In his opening statement, District Attorney Bob Lavender detailed the case against Fortson. He described the at times argumentative relationship between Fortson and Benton, suggesting that Benton wanted to end the affair. He described how Fortson purchased the trough, the concrete and a shower curtain used to hide the body. He described efforts to burn Benton’s home by pouring kerosene in the house and leaving burning candles behind. He indicated that expert witnesses would say that Fortson probably forged a note left on Benton’s truck at a friend’s house, and that the bullet that killed Benton could have been fired from Fortson’s gun.
Key to the prosecution’s case is the tape used to post the note on the window of Benton’s truck. The tape is similar to “fingerprint tape” used by law officers to lift fingerprints from crime scenes. Fortson was a deputy sheriff in Oglethorpe County for a number of months and would have had access to such tape.
Lavender described the discovery of the body on a hunting preserve in Oglethorpe County. He said that Fortson was an avid hunter and was familiar with the preserve.
He said that he would come back to the jury after the evidence had been presented to ask that Fortson be found guilty of all charges.
Crecelius countered by saying that his expert witness will say that Fortson did not forge the note, that the concrete residue in her truck could have come from any source, that thousands of rifle barrels could have fired the fatal round, and that an unidentified blood splatter in Benton’s home was from some male other than Benton.
Crecelius told the jury that a sales slip from Wal-Mart that included a time and date conflicts with the prosecution’s time line. He said that Fortson would take the stand to say that she saw Benton on June 5, after the proposed time of death, but he refused to talk to her.
For the rest of this story see this weeks Madison County Journal.

IDA, Colonial contract on hold
The industrial development authority (IDA) plans to ink a deal with Colonial Pipeline for almost $1 million for water service to the Colbert Grove Church Road area off Hwy. 29, where the petroleum company contaminated deep well water with oil spills.
But that deal may be on hold, at least temporarily.
County commissioner Bruce Scogin told IDA members at their called meeting Monday morning that the BOC has not been adequately informed about the negotiations between industrial authority representatives and Colonial.
Industrial authority chairman Tom Joiner, non-voting IDA member Wesley Nash, the county commission chairman, and IDA secretary Marvin White have been meeting in unofficial, non-quorum settings with Colonial representatives in recent weeks to negotiate a possible deal on a water line to the contaminated Colbert Grove area — with the IDA planning to use an estimated $950,000 in Colonial funds as part of a $1.7 million water system development project that would essentially link Madico Park, Colbert and Danielsville water systems.
Scogin urged the IDA to meet with the BOC before any deal was approved. Later that day, the BOC agreed to hold a work session with the IDA at 6:30 p.m. (today) Wednesday in the meeting room of the old county courthouse.
“I’d just like y’all to explain this stuff to the BOC and not sign the contract until you do that,” Scogin told the IDA.
IDA member Roger Tench told Scogin that the industrial authority could back away from the negotiations with Colonial and leave the matter to the BOC.
But Scogin responded that he felt the industrial authority is the proper group to negotiate a water deal with Colonial. However, he said he wanted the industrial authority to “stop letting Colonial dictate” the negotiations. He warned the authority that Colonial is a business that puts profits before people. The commissioner said he fears Colonial will fund a water line in the area and then “wash their hands” of the contamination they caused.
Colonial Pipeline admits to six petroleum spills around its booster station off Colbert Grove Church Road between 1966 and 1979. Benzene, a harmful contaminant that can cause leukemia, was discovered in deep, residential wells around the station in the mid 1990s, some 15 years after the last documented spill. Deep wells in the area still show benzene contamination. And the company has purchased over 20 pieces of contaminated land in recent years.
Scogin, the county’s District 5 commissioner, spoke with disdain for Colonial Pipeline, saying that the company lies and doesn’t “play ball the way we do.” He noted that there have been health problems in the Colbert Grove area and that he had asked Colonial representatives to meet with residents of the contaminated area to see if their health needs are being met. Scogin noted that a Colonial official had visited several homes, but when he questioned residents about the Colonial visit, they said the company representative didn’t even ask about their health, but offered them a small pen and pad. He said this is an example of how the company is not concerned about residents of the area.
Scogin urged the IDA to insist on Colonial completely funding a 12-inch line directly to the contaminated Colbert Grove area.
“I want them (Colonial) to pay for every red penny,” said Scogin. “If we can figure out the percentage of contamination that the residents of Madison County caused, then that’s the percentage they (Madison County residents) should pay...This county did nothing to cause that contamination.”
For the rest of this story see this weeks Madison County Journal.