Barrow Journal

The Winder Lions Baseball youth organization has removed an official from its board and a Winder Police Department investigation into a potential mishandling of funds is underway.
A message posted on the organization’s Facebook page Sunday said the board became aware last week of missing funds and voted to remove the official in question.
The official did not attend the meeting, board member Marvin Tarver said.
“The Winder Lions are extremely saddened by the recent developments and are committed to providing the best baseball experience for the children of Barrow County,” the message said. “The board met (Sunday) and established new policies and procedures to prevent a situation like this in the future. All money from our current fall season registration is accounted for and will be used to make this the best fall season yet. The Winder Lions Ballpark means so much to our community and we’re committed to coming out of this stronger.”
Tarver said Monday the group conducted a fundraiser this spring to pay for improvements to the organization’s field, but that money instead apparently went to pay regular bills on the field and there was not money available for the field improvements.
“We don’t know if anything was actually stolen yet and we’re praying there’s nothing there,” Tarver said. “It’s a hard situation.”
Winder Police Chief Jim Fullington said the department received a formal complaint from the group Tuesday and is in the preliminary stages of an investigation.
No one has been charged as of now.
The organization has about 350 youth players. Its board, which consists of around 15 people, meets at the ballpark the first and third Sunday of each month from 2-4 p.m.

The Barrow County Sheriff’s Office would cover shifts in Statham at no cost, according to an email exchange read aloud at the Statham City Council meeting Tuesday.
The Statham Police Department has been criticized by a group of people for much of the past three years. Several federal lawsuits have been filed over arrests by a single Statham officer. Nearly all the cases involved DUI-less safe charges and nearly all of them were dismissed by the district attorney.
Dwight McCormic, newly elected to the council in November, said in April that he would like to gather information from Statham police and the sheriff about costs of dissolving the city police force and having the sheriff’s office patrol the town.
In May, the council passed a motion to keep the police “as is permanently” with only McCormic opposed. Councilman Perry Barton made the motion to retain the police force.
Sheriff Jud Smith has not talked with the Statham council in a public meeting.
At Tuesday’s council meeting, Katie Corkren, one of the consistent speakers before the council, read from an email she exchanged with Smith.
She said she asked Smith if his office charges Statham for covering shifts now. He said no charges are made to Statham.
See more in the July 18 edition of the Barrow News-Journal.

Drivers on State Route 316 will see single-lane closures during the day between Carl-Bethlehem Road and State Route 81 (SR 81) starting Thursday and continuing through Aug. 2 as part of work on a new interchange at 316 and 81.
A westbound lane will be closed from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. daily, Monday through Friday. This will allow construction crews to install a temporary concrete barrier wall, which will protect traffic as construction activities for the new interchange get closer to the current roadway, according to a Georgia Department of Transportation news release.
The interchange project was awarded to CMES, Inc. last August and has a scheduled completion date of Oct. 31, 2020. Its projected length is 2.24 miles and includes widening and construction of a bridge and approaches. The construction contract amount is $26 million.