Year in Review: Top 10 Stories for 2012
Year in Review
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1. Guardian Centers opens
Guardian Centers of Georgia broke ground at the old Northrop facility located off of Thompson Road in Perry in February.
By the end of 2012 the 830-acre one-of-a-kind training facility was complete.
The Guardian Centers allows for first responders to prepare for natural and man-made disasters.
CEO Geoff Burkart said the center has over 10 full time employees at this time, but he hopes to increase that number as they gain contracts. The facility is designed to host training for first responders on all levels. Burkart noted it would be available at local, state, national and international levels.
There is a section of houses located in an area that can be flooded in order to replicate what happened in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina. The center also offers three square-blocks of metropolitan area in order for first responders to train for wide-area searches. A 1,600-foot long tunnel will be used in training for disasters that involve rapid transit, such as the subway or MARTA.
The Guardian Centers is also a corporate member of the Association of the United States Army.
2. Carmen Collins accused of sister’s murder
Carmen Collins, 17, was charged with murder and arson in relation to India Collins’ homicide in July.
Collins is accused of shooting her 12-year old sister India multiple times and then allegedly setting her family’s Addington Drive home on fire, according to police. She was found in Columbus driving the 2011 Acura TL that had been reported missing from the Addington Lane home just after the fire.
In August, Collins was indicted by a Houston County Grand Jury on one count of malice murder; two counts of possession of a firearm during the commission of a crime, one count of arson, one count of aggravated assault and one county of felony murder.
Judge Katherine Lumsden denied Collins’ bond in September after hearing arguments from Deputy Chief Assistant District Attorney Daniel Bibler and Carmen Collins’ attorney, Public Defender Nick White. White said the parents of Collins wrote a letter to the judge expressing their views on the case. White told the court Collins’ “parents are in favor of bond.”
In November, she entered a plea of not guilty.
3. Kit Colburn found outside house on Kimberly Road
After an intensive multi-day search, 10-year-old Kit Colburn was found by exterminators who were spraying the bushes of a home located on the 500 block of Kimberly Road.
“At any given point, there was probably an excess of 600 volunteers here helping in the search effort,” said WRPD Chief Brett Evans. “It pleases me to know that as a community, as a city, as a county, as the entire middle Georgia area, people have come together for the benefit of one young man.”
4. Perry names new police chief
The Perry City Council voted unanimously to hire Stephen Lynn as the Chief of Police.
Lynn currently works for the Houston County District Attorney’s Office as an investigator. He previously worked for Warner Robins Police Department where he spent most of his law enforcement career.
Lynn started in Warner Robins as a patrolman in 1981 and quickly rose through the ranks to Captain, the position he held at the time of his retirement in 2007.
Lynn said that he would start his new job sometime in January, noting he had a few things at the District Attorney’s Office to complete before moving to the new position as head of Perry’s Police Department.
The city council met several times to interview candidates for the position, which was opened due to Chief George Potter’s retirement in June
5. Russell Holt accused of killing Jessica Wolfe
In March, officers of the Warner Robins Police Department responded to a call made from the 100-block of Ledford Way. Reports state that upon arrival police found Jessica Wolfe, 27, of Bonaire, lying inside the home with a gunshot wound to her upper torso. Russell Holt, 28, of Warner Robins, who was a probation officer, was charged with felony murder and aggravated assault in connection with the shooting.
The former state probation officer who is accused of murdering his girlfriend had his first court appearance and after the hour long preliminary hearing Macon Judicial Circuit Judge Tripp Self found probable cause to bind over Holt’s warrants for continued prosecution.
Macon attorney Franklin Hogue is representing Holt. The case is being tried by District Attorney Peter Skandalakis of the Coweta Judicial Circuit.
Holt was indicted on five counts that included malice murder, felony murder, aggravated battery and two counts of possession of a firearm during the commission of a crime.
He was later released on bond.
6. Ball Street Extension opens
The long-awaited Ball Street Extension in Perry is now complete.
The $4 million road project was funded mainly from the 2001 Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax. Mayor Jimmy Faircloth and other dignitaries cut the ribbon officially opening the new road on Thursday.
Faircloth, along with many other leaders who spoke at the ceremony, said the project was planned to help with access for the large trucks coming and going from Tolleson Lumber Company.
Rusty Wood of Tolleson Lumber Company said nearly 200 trucks would use the road daily. Wood explained the new extension would alleviate the trucks in the downtown sector helping the flow of traffic and also help the drivers because they wouldn’t have to make such difficult turns and maneuver the tight downtown area.
Former Perry city councilman Ralph Gentry said he and others worked on this 10-year project. “It’s been a long time coming.”
Faircloth noted the project came in $500,000 under budget. Doyle Hancock and Sons Construction Incorporated completed the work.
7. Robins Air Force Base host the Air Show
The 2012 Robins Air Show was a hit with a record-breaking attendance.
According to Chrissy Miner, the chief of media operations at Robins Air Force Base, the attendance for Saturday and Sunday reached around 180,000. The majority of the crowd attended Saturday with numbers between 70,000 and 110,000.
The U.S. Navy Blue Angels, the F-22 Raptor Demo Team and many other performers were in town for the Robins Air Show on April 28 and 29.
8. Chick-fil-A
Hundreds upon hundreds of customers flocked to Chick-fil-A in support of the company’s president, Dan Cathy, and his public Biblical views on marriage. Customers stood in lines that extended out of the building while others waited in their cars at the drive-thru.
At times the line for the drive-thru was wrapped around the building twice.
Chick-fil-A managers in Warner Robins and Perry said it was busy all day at their stores.
9. Air Force restructuring initiative affects RAFB
Robins Air Force Base officials announced that the total reduction of 452 civilians would be required to fulfill the Air Force’s workforce restructuring initiative, which was announced in November. A total 16,500 positions were scheduled to be cut across the Air Force, and the original number of cuts slated for Robins Air Force Base was 516.
During the first round of early retirement or voluntary separation offers, 238 employees accepted the incentives, two were separations and the rest were retirements.
Because the base did not meet the goal of 600 positions, a second round of was initiated.
In addition to the 600 people, the base offered the same incentive in a separate initiative to the 402nd Maintenance Wing.
10. Husband found guilty in Murder for Hire
Two men involved in the murder of a Warner Robins woman plead not guilty.
James Clements and Robert Sybert each plead not guilty to the 14 counts they were indicted on June 28, 2011.
On Feb. 8, 2011, Joni Clements was found shot to death inside her 309 Westwood Dr. home.
Richard Sybert, the man accused of shooting Joni, agreed to kill her in exchange for $1,000, a car and a date with a stripper. Richard’s father, Robert Sybert was accused of being the “getaway driver” and also providing the gun used in the murder.
A Houston County jury found Clements guilty of hiring two men to kill his wife.
The week long trial ended with closing arguments and then jury deliberations began. After deliberating less than two hours, jurors convicted Clements on all 14 counts that included, felony murder, and conspiracy to commit murder, burglary and numerous other charges.
He was sentenced to serve life in prison without the possibility of parole.
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