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Friday, November 14, 2014 | Breaking news as it happens at
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MARSHAL, TWO COURT CLERKS
FILE SUIT AGAINST CITY
Roosevelt Street HOMICIDE
Countryman, Bishop used city credit cards to sue mayor, city
MIKE HASKEY/[email protected]
Police investigate an area along Roosevelt
Street Thursday morning in Columbus near
Brewer Elementary School. Police officials
say Chad Aaron Herring, 32, was found
fatally shot in the head.
By TIM CHITWOOD
[email protected]
Three more of Muscogee
County’s elected officers are
suing the mayor and council over their budgets.
Following Muscogee Sheriff John Darr’s suit filed Monday, the marshal, Municipal
Court clerk and Superior
Court clerk also submitted
claims Thursday that the city
government illegally substituted budgets for those offices instead of considering
budget proposals from their
chief administrators.
Like the sheriff, they claim
the city charter gives the mayor and city manager no authority to submit budgets for
their offices, and that’s what
happened as council deliberated over Columbus’ overall
fiscal year 2015 budget.
“The mayor and city manager are not authorized by
the charter, or the constitution and laws of Georgia to submit to the council
their proposed annual budget plaintiffs and other elective officers, and agencies not
under the direct control and
jurisdiction of the council,”
reads the suit filed jointly by
Marshal Greg Countryman
and Municipal Court Clerk
Vivian Creighton Bishop.
“Instead, they are required
by the charter to incorpoSee
LAWSUITS, A8
ONline Today
View video from both
news conferences at
www.ledger-enquirer.com
Latest slaying
victim was
indicted for
not registering
as sex offender
By TIFFANY STEVENS
[email protected]
The same day patrol officers found him
fatally shot in the head, the Muscogee County
Superior Court indicted Chad Aaron Herring of failure to register as a sex offender,
according to court documents.
Wednesday’s indictment came more
than two years after 32-year-old Herring
was arrested and charged
with the offense. He was
booked into the Muscogee
County Jail on April 5, 2012,
after he falsely reported that
he lived on the 1500 block of
15th Avenue.
Herring’s body was discovered around 11:47 p.m. Herring
Wednesday when officers investigated a Chevrolet Impala parked on
Roosevelt Street near Brewer Elementary School, Columbus Police Lt. Consuelo
Askew said Thursday morning.
Askew said there was no evidence of
other shots fired in the area and no damage to the vehicle.
Muscogee County Chief Deputy Coro-
Photos by JOE PAULL/[email protected]
Attorneys William Stone, representing Superior Court Clerk Linda Pierce, and Charles Miller, representing
Marshal Greg Countryman and Municpal Court Clerk Vivian Bishop, address a news conference in the
Marshal’s Office Thursday. At right, Mayor Teresa Tomlinson listens to a question from the media at an
imromptu news conference on lawsuits filed against herself and Columbus Council Thursday afternoon.
paying for the lawsuits
Countryman, Bishop ordered to
repay $7,500 for using credit cards
By MIKE OWEN
[email protected]
The city’s marshal and clerk of
municipal court have had their
city credit card privileges suspended and have been ordered
to repay the city $7,500 each for
using their city-issued cards to
hire outside attorneys, accord-
ing to copies of letters sent to
them by Finance Director Pam
Hodge.
In response to the letter, attorneys for Marshal Greg Countryman and Municipal Court
Clerk Vivian Creighton Bishop
have filed a motion for a temporary restraining order and a preliminary injunction to stop the
city from attempting to collect
the money and to reinstate their
credit card privileges.
Countryman and Bishop paid
local attorney Charles Miller
and Atlanta attorney Christopher Balch $7,500 each and did
so by making multiple charges
See
CARDS, A5
SECOND AVENUE FATALITY
See
SLAYING, A6
fort benning
Pedestrian killed ID’d as Eyiloni Bonner New security steps
ONline Today
go in effect Jan. 1
By CHUCK WILLIAMS
[email protected]
See a video of the
interview with Mac
Mac Cantrell was driv- Cantrell at www.ledgering north on Second Ave- enquirer.com
See a list of 11 criteria
that could deny your
Visitors to Fort Benning entry to Fort Benning at
who lack proper identifi- www.ledger-enquirer.com
ished working out and had
his windows down and no
radio on. “I saw a quick flash,
then I heard this noise. What
I heard was the lady’s body
hitting the bus stop sign.”
The woman was identified
at Eyiloni Bonner, according
MIKE HASKEY/[email protected]
to Muscogee County Coro- Eyiloni Bonner, 55, of Columbus was killed Wednesday night
See
FATALITY, A6
Inside
today
nue Wednesday night when
he witnessed
a 55-year-old
homeless woman get struck
and killed by an
SUV as she appeared to step Cantrell
into traffic.
“It was not so much what
I saw as what I heard,” said
Cantrell, who had just fin-
ONline only
By BEN WRIGHT
[email protected]
cation may face a national
background check or be denied entry to the post under
new security measures going into effect Jan. 1.
Matt Dillon, the chief of
guards at Fort Benning, said
the new security requirements are part of Homeland
Security Presidential Direc-
after she apparently stepped off the curb into the path of a
northbound SUV on Second Avenue, officials said.
Today’s Forecast: Cold and breezy. High: 50. Morning low: 31. WEATHER, A2
BUSINESS
CLASSIFIED
C6
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COMICS E3, E4
DEATHS B2, B3
EDITORIAL
LEGALS
A7
D5
LEISURE
LOCAL
E1
B1
MOVIES
NATION
E4
A3
SPORTS
STOCKS
tive 12. Installations across
the nation are implementing the security measures
signed by President George
W. Bush in 2004 to properly
vet all individuals entering a
See
BENNING, A4
ONLINE ONLY:
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TELEVISION
WORLD
E2
A3
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