Georgians Demand More Information On Crime Statistics

Atlanta, GA
Amid rising crime rates, the decreased ability of law enforcement agencies to protect citizens and public admissions by local politicians that the state is unsafe, many Georgia residents and civic organizations are demanding better access to information on crime statistics.

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Some Seek More Crime Reports

Statistics wanted: Those trying to get information to try to determine trends in neighborhoods can run into obstacles.

By Megan Matteucci, Tim Eberly

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Sunday, April 12, 2009

Fred Pangle uses a neighborhood map, Post-it notes and word-of-mouth to track crime statistics in his Rex subdivision.

The handyman said he maps crime for his Amberwood Neighborhood Association because he can’t get enough information from the Clayton County Police Department.

“They say they can’t tell us anything unless you’re the victim,” Pangle said. “Maybe if we had crime statistics, people might come to the realization of how unsafe it is and know what’s really going on.”

Under the Georgia Open Records Act, almost all initial crime incident reports are open to public review. Across the metro area, people get individual reports every day —- mostly for use in traffic cases or incidents in which they were victims.

But amid rising interest in crime rates, residents, civic groups or even reporters trying to determine broader trends in neighborhoods can find that getting information is more complicated.

Several county departments, including Clayton, Cobb and Gwinnett, generally limit access to reports on a specific incident or for a specific address. There is no ready access to incident logs.

“Open records law does not require an agency to allow open inspection of bulk or all reports,” said Cpl. Illana Spellman of Gwinnett County police. “Open records law requires that if a specific report is requested and is open to public disclosure, that the information be released.”

That’s wrong, said Hollie Manheimer, executive director of the Georgia First Amendment Foundation. Initial incident and arrest reports, she said, “are the classic public record. All of them are open, immediately and always, for public inspection.”

More at AJC.COM.

Winter Storm Hits Atlanta With Snow, Winds And Power Outages

Atlanta, GA

A winter storm has brought wind and snow to northern Georgia resulting in road hazards, power outages and school closing across metro-Atlanta. The snow moved in early Sunday morning and is expected to continue through Monday.

The storm had blanketed Alabama with four inches of snow on Saturday and the northern Georgia area can expect anywhere from two to four inches.

High winds and fallen trees coupled with the weight of the snow on power lines have knocked out electricity for nearly 5,000 residents of Butts, Spaulding and Gwinnett counties and additional outages are expected throughout the night as the snow continues to fall and the high winds increase.

Six Flags amusement park postponed it's season opening that was scheduled for today. The Atlanta History Center and the Atlanta Zoo have also announced closings due to the hazardous weather conditions. Many churches have canceled Sunday evening services and numerous businesses, school districts and government agencies have announced closing for Monday.

Gas Prices Soar Across Metro Atlanta

Atlanta, GA

Fuel prices in metro Atlanta skyrocketed to over $5 per gallon in some areas Friday afternoon as wholesalers and retailers anticipated potential damage to refineries in the Gulf region from the approaching hurricane.

One Ingles Gas Express store in Lawrenceville was charging as much as $5.25 cents per gallon on Friday. That price later dropped to $4.51 per gallon, then dropped again to $4.35, which was still nearly $1.00 higher than yesterday's average price per gallon in the Atlanta area.

A spokesperson for Ingles said the dramatic rise in price was related to the company's purchase of five tankers of gasoline on Thursday at an inflated rate, and that the company was passing that cost along to it's customers.

Arrest Made In Gwinnett County Nursing Home Identity Thefts

Buford, GA

Police have arrested Iniabel Ferrer at her home in Buford after someone reported that Ferrer and Jose Luis Cuiro had approached them and asked that they use their computer skills to steal money from the bank accounts of elderly Alzheimer's patients at a Gwinnett County nursing home.

Ferrer, 36, was arrested and charged with six felony counts of Exploitation of a Disabled Adult and six felony counts of Financial Indentity Fraud, when police stopped her vehicle as she and Cuiro were leaving their residence and found in their possession documents containing the medical and financial records of several nursing home patients. An arrest warrant was also issued for the 44 year old Cuiro.

The pair had stolen financial and medical records from six residents of a nursing home where Ferrer worked in Buford and intended to use that information to remove funds from the bank accounts of these elderly victims. Ferrer is being held under a $68,400 bond.

Gwinnett County Sheriff Can't Enforce Immigration Laws

Lawrenceville, GA

Despite pleas from the County Commission, Gwinnett Sheriff Butch Conway declares he doen't have the manpower to combat the flood of illegals into the growing metro-Atlanta county.

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The Gwinnett County Commission chairman wants the sheriff's department to begin enforcing federal immigration laws.

Chairman Charles Bannister is calling for Sheriff Butch Conway to sign up for a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement program that trains deputies to start deportation proceedings for illegal immigrants booked into the jail.

In 2007, Cobb County Sheriff Neil Warren became the first sheriff in Georgia to initiate the ICE program. A spokeswoman for ICE, Pat Reilly, said Whitfield County in north Georgia will begin training deputies this month.

Conway said he doesn't have the resources to designate the five or six deputies needed for the task. He said Wednesday his department had 60 deputy vacancies last year. Conway said commissioners denied a request for more than 40 additional deputies in 2008 because of budget constraints...

Story continued here.

More Illegal Immigrant Back Alley Dentistry

Lawrenceville, GA

Police have shut down another illegal dentist's office, the second in just two weeks, this time in an apartment in Gwinnett County. Authorities say that maintenance personnel at the Wesley Place apartments on Sweetwater Club Drive in Lawrenceville entered the apartment to fix a water leak and discovered a fully operational dentist office.

A 29 year old immigrant, Jesus Urdaneta-Casanova was arrested at the scene on felony charges of practicing medicine without a license. Earlier this month police in Carroll County arrested an illegal immigrant who was also practicing dentistry in home without a license.

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LAWRENCEVILLE - The maintenance crews were investigating a water leak at Wesley Place apartment complex Wednesday afternoon when they found a fully functional dentist office

They called police who arrested Jesus J. Urdaneta-Casanova, 29, and will charge him with practicing medicine without a license, a felony.

"It is unknown how long or how many patients Casanova has treated," said Cpl. Darren Moloney, Gwinnett County Police Department spokesman. The investigation is ongoing and further details were not available.

The maintenance people were looking into a leak at unit 1011 at the complex on Sweetwater Club Drive.

Gwinnett Daily Post

Negro Dog Breeders Starve Animals In Filthy House

Snellville, GA

Gwinnett County Animal Control and the police department say they found a dozen malnourished dogs in a filthy "puppy mill" ran by negro animal breeders, Elliot Reese and his wife, Shawn Reese. Police responded to complaints from neighbors several days ago and upon entering the home at 2666 Ashworth Lake Rd, they found nine starving dogs in cages and several dead animals including one dead puppy in a cage inside the home and another badly decomposed dog in a garbage bag near the back door.

Shawn Reese, 40 was arrested at the scene and her husband Elliot Steven Reese, 43, an employee of Emory University who remained on the run for a number of days, turned himself in to the Gwinnett County Police earlier today. The couple faces 2 counts of felony animal cruelty and 9 counts of misdemeanor animal cruelty.

Local Mayor Fears Spill-Over Of Immigrant Violence

Lawrenceville, GA

Just weeks after the the city of Snellville began to impose legal restrictions to quell gang violence resulting from the large influx of immigrants and minorities flooding into Gwinnett County, the mayor of a nearby city is afraid that the perpetrators of these violent crimes will migrate to his city after being ran out of Snellville.

Rex Millsaps, mayor of Lawrenceville, GA called for a meeting to discuss enacting laws similar to the anti-gang laws that were recently set forth in the neighboring community of Snellville, which now regulates minority housing in a effort to stop gangs of immigrants from further terrorizing the area. Millsaps hopes to have the laws in place before the summer.

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Lawrenceville Mayor Rex Millsaps has called a special council meeting Wednesday to speed up enacting a proposed law to uproot gang members and stop others from setting up house.

The mayor was inspired by the passage of a law in Snellville this month that makes gang activity on a piece of property a code violation and allows the city to force landlords to evict gang members.

"When they displace them, I don't want them landing in Lawrenceville," Millsaps said.

The mayor wants the new law passed before summer when school-age gang members will have even more time on their hands. The law requires proposed laws to have a public reading at one council meeting before being voted on at a subsequent monthly meeting.

Gwinnett, like much of the suburbs, has seen a growth in criminal and teenage gangs, many of which have migrated here from other states, Central America and Mexico.

"Our police chief started seeing gang activity six months ago, and he was concerned because he had no way to get at these people," Snellville Mayor Jerry Oberholtzer said. "A lot of these landlords will rent to anyone who can come up with a deposit."

The Snellville law, on which the proposed Lawrenceville law is based, allows landlords to streamline eviction in civil court if at least three gang members are living together. Evidence to show they're gang members include gang paraphernalia, tattoos, graffiti and gang-related arrests.

"We can declare that a nuisance," Oberholtzer said.

The Snellville law arose from a case involving four brothers who were suspected of a being gang members and arrested in an investigation involving burglary, statutory rape and holding a teenage girl against her will. The family, who was evicted, has denied the charges. They had moved to Snellville after being evicted in another county, police said.

The Lawrenceville meeting is at 3 p.m. Wednesday at City Hall.

Controlled media article:

Lawrenceville Mayor Takes Que From Snellville Gang Law

Junior Monkey-Man Arrested In Gwinnett Crime Spree

Stone Mountain, GA
A young Stone Mountain negro has been arrested and is a suspect in a recent rash of crimes in Gwinnett County. Late yesterday Gwinnett police announced they had arrested the negro, 17 year old Darrian Bryant and charged him in 7 of 12 burglaries that occurred in a Stone Mountain neighborhood over the past three months.

Bryant, who is a resident of East Parke subdivision, the neighborhood in which these crimes occurred, is also a suspect in three violent crimes occurring in the same subdivision. These include the rape of a 15 year old girl as well as the violent beatings of two other women. Earlier today a judge in Gwinnett County denied bail for the young negro criminal.

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The rape of a 15-year-old girl has had a Gwinnett County neighborhood on-edge. Members of the community met with police on Tuesday night, looking for answers and solutions.

Hundreds of people showed up to the meeting, saying they were not afraid to fight back.

More than 400 people packed the Mountain Park Elementary School cafeteria to get the latest on the police crackdown in the East Parke subdivision.

"What's sitting here is certainly every bit as valuable as any alarm system," said Gwinnett County Police Chief Charlie Waters.

Waters and others detailed a massive operation to respond to the surge in violence and crime. They also announced results -- the arrest of 17-year-old Darrian Bryant, charged with seven counts of burglary in the neighborhood. He also lives in the East Parke subdivision.

A string of 12 burglaries and three attacks over the last few months has neighbors on edge.

(Controlled Media story continued here)

Local City Battles Gang Terrorism

Snellville, GA
Police in one metro Atlanta city are considering a new proposal to hold landlords accountable for criminal activity and street terrorism perpetrated by tenants. The issue will be discussed further at a City Council meeting in early April.

Gang activity and violence have been increasing in Gwinnett County due to high volumes of negroes and illegal aliens flooding into the area. County officials have indicated that they are considering putting such an ordinance in place county wide. Slumlords in Snellville and across the County are opposed to the ordinance.

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Snellville city officials are considering passing a measure that would in effect make landlords responsible for the gang activity of their tenants.

“We had a situation in the city where a street-level gang terrorized a Snellville neighborhood,” said Police Chief Roy Whitehead.

According to the chief, these individuals committed such acts as burglary, breaking and entering, and statutory rape. Under the new ordinance, the landlord of the property in which the alleged gang members resided would be responsible for evicting the offenders.

According to the police chief, Snellville’s proposed gang and terrorism ordinance would put landlords on notice to do their due diligence when considering renting their property.

“This is a significant action. We want to tell people that that kind of activity is not welcome here,” Whitehead said. Activities and indications of gang activity would have to be present in order for an eviction to take place, such as gang colors and symbols, the presence of stolen property and “tagging.”

Some real estate professionals have questioned the legality of evicting tenants based on alleged illegal activity. Such an ordinance is not on the books in any other Gwinnett city, but according to Whitehead, Gwinnett officials are already considering taking similar measures.

“Fulton County has used a similar ordinance to go after pornography,” said the police chief.

“This is a proactive measure by us to warn people off and let people know that we won’t tolerate this stuff,” said Mayor Jerry Oberholtzer.

The Snellville City Council did not take any action on the matter Monday night. The issue will be heard in a scheduled public hearing on April 9.

Original Controlled Media article here:
City Mulls Putting Landlords On Notice For Gang Activity

Savage Footballer Faces Animal Abuse Charges

Lawrenceville, GA

An Atlanta football player has been charged with felony animal cruelty following the death of a dog in Gwinnett County.

Jonathan Babineaux, a defensive lineman for the Atlanta Falcons was arrested at an Animal Emergency Center in Lawrenceville on February 18th, after Blair Anderson arrived at the Center with a dead pitbull mix.

Anderson, 24, later told police she had argued with Babineaux earlier in the day and had left their to go and see a movie. While she was out Babineaux called her and told her she should "check on her dog". She said that she had returned from the movies and found "Kilo" in physical distress and that the dog died on the way to the Emergency Center.

Veterinarians at the Center said the dog had suffered extensive head injuries. Police believe that the 25 year old football player, and supposed "role model", acting on savage instincts kicked or punched the animal in the head after arguing with Anderson.

Babineaux arrived at the Center and denied involvement in the crime. He was arrested when police determined that the animal's injuries were not consistent with his account of the incident. He was released the following day after posting $2300.00 bond.

Another pitbull owned by the couple has been taken into the custody of County Officials.