Latest news with #MitchellCounty
Yahoo
31-05-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Georgia mayor and two others jailed for trying to halt local election
CAMILLA, Ga. (WSAV) — The mayor of Camilla, Ga., and two former election officials have been jailed on felony charges stemming from efforts last November to halt a local election after one of the mayor's allies, Venterra Pollard, was disqualified from a city council race. Mayor Kelvin Owens was held at the Mitchell County jail Friday, two days after a grand jury indicted him on a felony charge of election interference and a misdemeanor count of conspiring to commit election fraud. Camilla, a farming community of about 5,000 people, is about 225 miles from Savannah. The city's former elections superintendent and her former deputy superintendent were also jailed. Rhunette Williford and Cheryl Ford were charged with the same crimes as the mayor, plus misdemeanor counts of failing to perform their duties as public officers. Mayor Owens had blamed the local upheaval on racial politics, saying that Pollard, who is Black, was targeted by white residents trying to wrest power from the majority Black population. The city of Camilla is nearly three-fourths Black. All three defendants remained in jail awaiting a hearing Monday. District Attorney Joe Mulholland, whose circuit includes Camilla, declined to comment on the indictment Friday. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Associated Press
30-05-2025
- General
- Associated Press
Georgia mayor and 2 others are jailed on felony charges for trying to halt a local election
SAVANNAH, Ga. (AP) — The mayor of a small city in Georgia and two former election officials have been jailed on felony charges stemming from efforts last November to halt a local election after one of the mayor's allies was disqualified from a city council race. Camilla Mayor Kelvin Owens was being held at the Mitchell County jail Friday, two days after a grand jury indicted him on a felony charge of election interference and a misdemeanor count of conspiring to commit election fraud. Also jailed were the city's former elections superintendent, Rhunette Williford; and her former deputy superintendent, Cheryl Ford, who is currently Camilla's city clerk. They were charged with the same crimes as the mayor, plus misdemeanor counts of failing to perform their duties as public officers. Chaos roiled special elections for a pair of city council seats in Camilla last November amid a long-running legal battle over local politics in the town, a farming community of about 5,000 people in rural southwest Georgia. The case revolved around Venterra Pollard, a city council member removed from office last summer after a judge ruled he wasn't a Camilla resident. Pollard ran to regain the position in the fall special election. Another judge ordered Pollard disqualified and ruled that votes for him should be discarded. In addition, the city was ordered to post signs saying votes for Pollard wouldn't be counted. On Nov. 4, the day before Election Day, both Williford and Ford quit as the city's two top elections officials. Their joint resignation letter blamed 'mental duress, stress and coercion experienced by recent court decisions regarding our role in elections.' Owens, citing his emergency powers as mayor, moved swiftly to halt the city's elections. Signs posted at City Hall and a notice on Facebook declared the election was canceled. Polling places were closed to both poll workers and voters in the morning. The elections were held, albeit several hours behind schedule, after Superior Court Judge Heather Lanier appointed new supervisors to oversee the voting and ordered polls to remain open until nearly 4 a.m. Elections for president, Congress and other offices weren't affected. Mayor Owens had blamed the local upheaval on racial politics, saying that Pollard, who is Black, was targeted by white residents trying to wrest power from the majority Black population. The city of Camilla is nearly three-fourths Black. The Georgia NAACP said in a statement on Facebook that it was 'deeply alarmed' by the allegations of election interference as well as the arrests of Owens and the two former election officials, all of whom are Black. 'We were shocked that there were indictments,' said Gerald Griggs, president of the Georgia NAACP. 'We are still in a fact-finding mode to see what actually happened.' All three defendants remained in jail awaiting a hearing Monday. It was not immediately known if any of them had attorneys who could speak for them. Messages seeking comment were left at two phone numbers for Owens. The Associated Press could not find working phone numbers for Williford or Ford. District Attorney Joe Mulholland, whose circuit includes Camilla, declined to comment on the indictment Friday.
The Independent
12-05-2025
- Climate
- The Independent
Western North Carolina faces ‘first noteworthy flooding threat' since Hurricane Helene
Western North Carolina is again being targeted by hazardous rainfall that forecasters say is expected to lead to its 'first noteworthy flood threat' since last September's deadly Hurricane Helene. The Southeast state, which has been recently charred by weeks-long, wind-driven wildfires and pounding rain, has continued to pick up the pieces in months since the storm left communities flooded with muddy, brown water and resulted in the deaths of more than 100 people. This storm is not anticipated to be anywhere near the magnitude of Helene, but 'it is the first noteworthy flooding threat in the area since Helene according to the National Weather Service,' Mitchell County told residents. The slow-moving low-pressure system is projected to bring showers and thunderstorms, including the potential for isolated tornadoes on Monday afternoon and into the evening. A flood watch is in effect near the Blue Ridge Encampment into Tuesday morning, according to the National Weather Service. Another flood watch was issued through early Tuesday in central North Carolina, bringing rainfall totals of two to four inches. Northeast South Carolina is set to get one to three inches by Tuesday. Mitchell County, which borders Tennessee, is about an hour from the hard-hit Buncombe County, said three to five inches of rain were possible there, with some other areas 'getting as much as six to ten inches in a 24-hour period.' The rain could continue through Wednesday evening, but a slight chance of showers resumes on Thursday, according to The Asheville Citizen-Times. There might be more over the weekend. "The potential for flash flooding, even landslides, being mentioned by the National Weather Service office, there's a lot of concern for these communities," FOX Weather Meteorologist Britta Merwin said. The landslides and flooding could impact Helene clean-up in the coming days. The efforts have been ongoing for months, with roads still closed months later. "It is eight months since Hurricane Helene just devastated parts of our country," Merwin said. "You think about western North Carolina, eastern Tennessee, just changed forever. They are still recovering. But, with today's flash flood threat, the recovery process could become more complicated."
