Page 6A December 12, 2018
eReporter
IN LOVING
James Claude Warren
January 23, 1944 - December 5, 2018
Forsyth - James Claude Warren passed away Wednes-
day, Dec. 5, 2018. Funeral services were held Saturday,
Dec. 8, 2018, at Rock Springs Chapel with burial in
the church cemetery. Dr. Benny Tate and Rev. Craig
Walden officiated.
James, the son of the late Burt Warren and Lula Simp-
kins Warren was born Jan. 23, 1944, in Nashville, Ten-
nessee. He was retired from commercial construction
and was a veteran of the United States Army serving as
a paratrooper during the Korean conflict. James was a
member and former deacon of Rock Springs Church,
a member of Mary Persons Touchdown Club and a for-
mer volunteer fireman.
Survivors include his wife, Linda Warren of Forsyth;
children, David Warren (Lauren) of Forsyth and Lisa
Lawson (Barry) of Monroe County; sisters, Tressa
Strawn of Whitehouse, Tennessee, Jean Morgan of
Chapmansboro, Tennessee, Debbie Patterson (Robin)
of Nashville, Tennessee and Sheila Cox (Fred) of Hen-
dersonville, Tennessee; and nine grandchildren.
Please visit www.monroecountymemorialchapel.com
to express tributes.
Monroe County Memorial Chapel had charge of ar-
rangements, m ) . .
21"
Arthur Sanders
Ocfbber1, 1928 - December 2, 2018
F0rs Funeral services for Deacon Arthur Sand-
e s, were Saturday, Dec. 8 at Freeman Funeral
tiome Chapel, Forsyth. Reverend Robert Walker, II
o ciated.Burial was in Rest Haven Memorial Cem-
ete Forsyth. Freeman Funeral Home in Forsyth was
in charge of arrangements.
/:,f
Sara Beth Schaaff, shown with her
husband Collin and the first of their
two children, said it was crushing to
learn that the plane crash that killed
Collin was due to human error.
By Will Davis
pubhsher@mymcr.net
A Forsyth widow whose husband
was killed in a 2017 military plane
crash said last week's report that poor
maintenance at Warner Robins Air
Force Base contributed to the crash
was a tough blow for the single mother
of two.
"It's another punch to the heart" said
Sarah Beth Schaaffof Forsyth, whose
husband Cpl. Collin Schaaffwas one of
15 Marines who died when their KC-
130 tanker crashed near Jackson, Miss.
on July 10, 2017. He was 22.
The military released a command
investigation last week into the crash
of the C-130 that killed 16 servicemen
total. The report, which included 2,000
pages of supporting documentation,
said that a corroded blade broke offof
the plane, sliced through the fuselage,
and caused the plane to split into three
pieces before crashing into a Missis-
sippi soybean field.
Schaaff said the military gave her the
results of the inquiry on Tuesday. She
said they had a hint that something
Continued from l A
Judge Bill Fears at the Monroe
County courthouse this week.
Bobbitt said surveillance video from
the C&B robbery on Dec. 22, 2016
was a key in solving the crimes. After
Johnson and White pepper sprayed
the clerk, Johnson dropped the stolen
money as he's leaving the store, and
White, who was pretending to be a
customer, calmly picked it up and
put it in his pocket Lamar deputies
thus surmised he was in on the crime.
Cell phone records also showed the
suspects were in the area at the time
was wrong with, the propeller but didn't
know that civilian contractors at War-
ner Robins sent a corroded blade back
into service.
"They knew it" said Schaaff. "It was
64 percent corroded and they put
bubble gum on it and gave it back to
them:'
Schaaff said military records are
destroyed after two years so they can't
assign blame on who authorized the
blade to be put back to use. But she
noted that propeller has been corroded
since 2011 so it's no surprise that it
finally failed.
"I'm more angry than sad at the fact
that Collin could still be here;' said
Schaaff. "The whole situation could've
been avoided."
Asked if she and the other families
are considering a lawsuit, Schaaff said
no comment.
Schaaff said they were told that the
company which serviced those propel-
lers also put corroded props back on 12
other C-130s, but this is the only one
that crashed. She said the Air Force has
since replaced all the propellers.
"But it's a little too late;' said Schaaff.
of the robberies, said Bobbitt.
White and Stodghill were captured
by deputies at a Clayton County hotel
the next day, Dec. 23. Johnson was
captured later on.
Bobbitt said deputies did a good job
collecting evidence that made for an
airtight case and an easy plea.
/2
Contourfrom 1 A
.
for me both personally and
professionally.
2('
Q.) were some of the
persons you leaned on for
a&!ce ;iuring the cam-
paign,and what was some
ofthe b est advice ti at yoU
run. And they were telling
me, 'No, you can't retire.
You can only quit: There-
fore, I would lose my leave
time, which would have
been a substantial amount
of money for me. And law
enforcement officers don't
make that much money to
begin with, so that would
have hurt my family with
three kids in college at the
Q.) What were your emo-
tions like last Tuesday when
the early returns came in
and showed you had a
lead? And how did you feel
later that night upon learn+
ing that your victory was
official?
trated about that. And they
wanted to make sure that I
would make a promise to
them that if I was elected
that I would not forget the
problems they were having
in their little sections of
the county. Whether it was
speeders on a certain road
A.) When the early or whether there was a
returns came in and people
were asking me, 'Do, you
received? time. It would have been want to go ahead and call
A ) During campaigr
? ;: +. 'idetrlmental.to, my family, it and claim that you've
process, there were many But fortunately enough, I won?' all I could think
people who I wo dn't was able to talk with some about was a class I took in
want to name publicly
who gave me good sound
advice. I was fortunate
enough to have a person
working for me by the
name of Jeremy Brand
who was able to give me
some good political advice
and keep me from making
mistakes in the campaign.
Some of the advice I got
was, "Be yourself" and
"Don't make promises that
you cannot keep" Those
were probably the two big-
gest pieces of advice I got,
and I got that from several
people.
Q.) Did you have any ini-
tial trepidation about run-
ning against your longtime
boss'family? And if so, how
did you get past that? If not,
legal professionals and
ultimately they made the
decision to allow me to
take leave. That was the
biggest issue I had.
Q.) How much of a
chance did you believe you
had heading into the gen-
eral election? Then, based
on how you performed in
the general, what did you
make of your chance to win
the run-off?
A.) In both the general
election and the run-off I
really had no idea. Every-
body seemed to line up
people differently of who
they thought would be the
highest two vote-getters.
Some people told me they
thought I would be in the
running. Other people
college where the paper
claimed Dewey had won
the presidency over Tru-
man. And I thought there
is no way I would do that. I
was very reserved. Once all
the precincts had come in
except for High Falls and
I had a fairly substantial
lead, I felt like I was going
to win it and I was willing
to go out on a limb and tell
people, 'I think I'm going
to win this.' When the win
was official, I was elated. A
lot of me felt that I'd always
worked hard when I was
here from the first day I
started. I worked hard in
every position I've ever had
here. I tried to excel and
do my best. I never looked
past one job to go to the
other. I was able to focus
why not? thought it would be two on this, and I felt like the
A.) Well the biggest of the other candidates . hard work paid off both
problem!ihad wifih :run Once I made the run,off, in my career and in the
ning was originally about I felt like I did have a fairly campaign:'
the leave time because I decent chance to win if I
felt they were being unfair just got out there and kept Q.) What are the most ira-
about the leave time be- doing what I was doing, portant things you learned
cause I was very willing to Because obviously it had from constituents while
drug problem in a certain
area or whether it was
ATVs not paying attention
to the rules of the road or
even being on the road.
It might not seem big to
us, but to them it's a huge
issue. They're the ones
that have to live there, and
they want something done
about it.
Q.) Do you feel your win-
ning this election signals a
change in the political land-
scape of Monroe County
that the longtime families in
power may be ceding con-
trol to a different generation
of leaders?
A.) I'd say no for the
simple fact that at the end
of the day I was running
against an individual who
happened to have a name
that had been in politics
and the sheriff's office for
increase the number of
deputies assigned to patrol.
Number two would be to
create a crime scene unit.
Number three would be to
have a more robust drug
investigation unit. The
patrol one has already been
accomplished today. We've
already re-assigned one
deputy, and I hope to get
two or three more within
the first six months. But
obviously we've got some
issues in staffing where
we're just short period all
the way around. The crime
scene unit is in the process
of being accomplished
today. We're looking at
vehicles, and we're looking
at personnel that would
be interested in taking on
those responsibilities. We
will probably post that job
within a week."
years. But I came from
a good family too, and I
hope family doesn't have
anything to do withit. I
hope people look at it past
the family and look at it as
can the man they are elect-
hag orthe woman they are
electing cto the job they are a starting point.
electing them to do. And
who they feel is the best Q.) Will thepublic be able
Q.) What is the most
important goal you hope
to achieve during your first
two years in office?
A.) I think the long-term
goal within the next two
years is I would love to see
the deputies get rewarded
for training and education.
And I think that would
help us recruit deputies.
It's my understanding
that there is a 66 percent
decline in applications
nationwide in law enforce-
ment, and we've got to do
Q.) Given that your op-
ponent, Sgt. Lawson Bittick,
announced his resignation
from the Monroe County
Sheriff's Office before you
took office on Friday, do
you expect to see much staff
turnover as a result of your
winning the sheriff's race?
A.) Actually I wasn't even
expecting that (Bittick's
resignation)i but I respect
his decision to leave and
he's welcome to come back
if he wants to. Maybe there
will be one or two, but it's
just the process of people
deciding that they want
to go somewhere else in
their careers. And they
probably would have left
anyway eventually. Actu-
ally, one of my first orders
of business as sheriff was to
sign a piece of paper that a
school crossing guard had
decided to leave. It wasn't
because of me. He decided
to pursue seminary.
Q.) Are you ready to an-
nounce officially your chief
deputy?
A.) Yes, Mike Hull. I
think Mike's been here 20-
plus years. He's always been
an officer who got things
accomplished in the rid&
Anytime you gave him a
mission, he completed it
successfully. And I believe
he has the respect of all
something to stem the tide. thedeputies hereiand he's
And I believe this would be ce ainly got myr.espect.
+
Q.) Is there anything I
didn't spec#call y ask that
say I'm going to retire and been successful, campaigning that you can candidate for the job. to see any significant change you would like to say to the
use as sheriff? from the way in which for- public?
A.) Many people pointed Q.) What are thefirstmer sheriffBittick ran the A.) I would like people
out that there are problems three things on your agenda Sheriffs Office? If so, what to know that if they have
in the county that seem to upon taking the office of will it be? If not, why? any problem with what is
go unnoticed, and a lot of sheriff? A.) I dont think theygo!ng on in the county and
these people were frus- A.) Number one is to would see a huge change they feel like the sheriff's
Call your local Monroe County representative
Scott Harrell
478-256-3586
or toll free: 800-551-1102
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run it similar to the way he need to call. They pay our
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be a few changes, but very and they need to call.
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x ,' I
