HELLO EVERYONE AND THANKS FOR JOINING US.... I'M LEAH JOHNSON..
THIS IS EYEWITNESS NEWS AT SIX...
A FEDERAL JURY FOUND FORMER WARNER ROBINS CITY COUNCIL MEMBER JOHN WILLIAMS GUILTY ON ALL THREE CHARGES.
THEY CONVICTED HIM FOR EXTORTION UNDER COLOR OF OFFICIAL RIGHT... LYING TO AN F-B-I AGENT... AND TAMPERING WITH A WITNESS.
LORRA LYNCH JONES WAS THE IN THE COURTROOM AS THE VERDICT CAME DOWN.
LORRA... HOW DID MR. WILLIAMS REACT?
HE HAD NO REACTON AT ALL. HE CONTINUED TO LOOK FORWARD.. VERY STOIC AS HE HAD THROUGHOUT MOST OF THE CASE.
HIS WIFE... SON AND DAUGHTER SAT ON THE BENCH BEHIND HIM.
THEY TOO DID NOT REACT TO THE GUILTY VERDICT.
WILLIAMS AND HIS FAMILY LEFT THE COURT HOUSE TOGETHER.
JUDGE MARC TREADWELL CHOSE TO LET WILLIAMS RETURN TO HIS WARNER ROBINS HOME UNTIL SENTENCING.. WHICH WILL BE IN THE NEXT 90 DAYS.
TREADWELL TOLD WILLIAMS BEFORE HE LEFT THE COURTROOM THAT HE WILL HAVE TO FOLLOW ALL THE RULES SET IN HIS PROBATION... WHICH INCLUDES HOUSE ARREST.
HE SAID THE LAW FAVORS TAKING WILLIAMS INTO CUSTODY AFTER A GUILTY VERDICT... BUT HE'S GOING TO GIVE HIM A CHANCE.... AT LEAST FOR NOW.
WILLIAMS TOLD THE JUDGE HE APPRECIATED THAT.
THAT WAS THE ONLY THING WILLIAMS SAID IN COURT.
NEITHER HE NOR HIS ATTORNEY... TINA HUNT... WOULD TALK AFTER THE CASE
U-S ATTORNEY MICHAEL MOORE SAYS AN ELECTED OFFICIAL WHO ABUSES THE POWER OF THEIR OFFICE...VIOLATES THE PUBLIC'S TRUST.
i'm always sad to see a public official who abuses his or her office for personal gain.i think it lets us all down, it lets society down, the community down.
MOORE SAID TWO OF THE CONVICTIONS... EXTORTION AND TAMPERING WITH A WITNESS CARRY A MAXIMUM OF TWENTY YEARS IN PRISON.. EACH.
LYING TO FEDERAL OFFICER CARRY'S A MAXIMUM OF A FIVE YEAR SENTENCE.
THANKS LORRA.
THE JURY REACHED THEIR VERDICT IN A LITTLE LESS THAN FOUR HOURS.
THEY DID NOT WANT TO COMMENT ON THE CASE.
AN EASTMAN WOMAN SAYS SHE STILL HAS TWO BULLETS IN HER BACK... ONE NEAR HER SPINE AFTER BEING SHOT MONDAY NIGHT.
65-YEAR-OLD PHYLLIS JEAN LANDIN WAS SHOT BEHIND HER HERITAGE VILLAS APARTMENT.
ACCORDING TO A POLICE REPORT... LANDIN WAS SHOT ON HER PATIO WHILE SHE WAS STANDING UP TO GO INSIDE HER HOME.
THE SHOOTER HAS NOT BEEN ARRESTED.
TODAY...LANDIN TOLD 13WMAZ'S CANDACE ADORKA THAT SHE'S WALKING AROUND ...AND JUST CAME BACK FROM A DOCTOR'S VISIT.
SHE SAYS SHE DOESN'T KNOW WHO SHOT HER OR WHY.... AND SAYS SHE'S NOT AFRAID.... JUST VERY ANGRY.
CANDACE WILL HAVE ON THIS STORY ON EYEWITNESS NEWS AT 11.
THE SUPREME COURT APPEARS READY TO LET ARIZONA ENFORCE A STATE LAW THAT REQUIRES POLICE TO CHECK THE IMMIGRATION STATUS OF PEOPLE THEY THINK ARE IN THE COUNTRY ILLEGALLY.
THAT COULD HAVE AN IMPACT HERE IN GEORGIA... WHICH HAS A SIMILAR LAW IN PLACE.
MERCER LAW PROFESSOR DAVID OEDEL JOINS FRANK MALLOY NOW TO SHARE A LITTLE PERSPECTIVE.
THANK YOU GENTLEMEN... TONIGHT'S C-B-S EVENING NEWS WILL HAVE MORE ON THE SUPREME COURT'S DISCUSSION OF THE LAW... COMING UP AT 6-30.
IT'S THREE MONTHS OVERDUE... MERLE HAGGARD WILL TAKE THE STAGE TONIGHT AT THE MACON CITY AUDITORIUM.
KATELYN HECK CAUGHT UP WITH THE COUNTRY MUSIC STAR THIS AFTERNOON BEFORE HIS SOUND CHECK...
KATELYN... WHAT DID HE TELL YOU?
i just want to say thanks for holding on to your tickets and allowing me to make up te date and your prayers, they certainly works and were going to try our best to make it a good show for those people...i had some sort of hay fever and i got close to macon and it started healing up, must be something about this town...
its the only thing i know how to do, its what i do and its what ive been doing for many many years, so i would just have to go sit around somewhere and that doesnt sound like fun to me
THANKS KATELYN...
THE CONCERT BEGINS AT 7-30.
AS WE TAKE A CLOSER LOOK AT THE MACON-BIBB CONSOLIDATION PLAN.. WE COMPARE IT TO ONE GEORGIA CITY AND COUNTY THAT MERGED MORE THAN 16 YEARS AGO.
Hatfield: "At midnight when we started, consolidation to be effective we knew where we needed to be there
CHIEF DEPUTY SID HATFIELD BREAKS DOWN HOW THE AUGUSTA-RICHMOND COUNTY MERGER CHANGED THE DYNAMIC OF THEIR LAW ENFORCEMENT.
AND HOW THEY WORKED THROUGH THE TRANSITION.
BRITTINY BARBER BRINGS US THE DETAILS TONIGHT AT 11.
BIBB COUNTY SCHOOL RECORDS SHOW THAT ROMAIN DALLEMAND STARTED PLANS TO ATTEND A CONFERENCE IN BELGIUM LAST FALL.
THAT WAS LONG BEFORE THE SCHOOL BOARD ACCEPTED HIS "MACON MIRACLE" PLAN IN MARCH -- AND EVEN BEFORE HE ANNOUNCED DETAILS OF THE PLAN A MONTH BEFORE.
RECORDS OBTAINED BY 13WMAZ UNDER AN OPEN RECORDS REQUEST SHOW THAT THE DISTRICT PAID NEARLY 39 HUNDRED DOLLARS IN REGISTRATION FEES FOR DALLEMAND TO ATTEND THE WORLD APPRECIATIVE INQUIRY CONFERNCE IN GHENT. THE CONFERENCE STARTS TOMORROW.
THE RECORDS DO NO COVER LODGING, AIRFARE OR OTHER COSTS.
LAST WEEK... SCHOOL OFFICIALS SAID THE TOTAL COST WILL BE AROUND 9 THOUSAND DOLLARS.
CONSTRUCTION IS UNDERWAY AT A NEW TRAINING COMPLEX IN PERRY.
THE GUARDIAN CENTERS OF GEORGIA TOOK OVER THE FORMER NORTHROP FACILITY OFF THOMPSON ROAD.
GUARDIAN CENTERS OF GEORGIA...IN LESS THAN A YEAR'S TIME...WILL BE THE PLACE FOR FIRST RESPONDERS TO SHARPEN THEIR SKILLS.
AUSTIN LEWIS HAS MORE ON HOW THE FORMER NORTHROP CENTER...HAS CHANGED.
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JUST THREE MONTHS AGO...THE BACK OF THE NORTHROP PLANT WAS FULL OF DIRT MOUNDS AND CONCRETE....
nats of constuction
BUT NOW....YOU CAN SEE THE BEGINNINGS OF A METROPOLITAN CITY.
WITH SEVERAL STORY BULIDINGS....INCLUDING ONE THAT WILL HAVE A HELIPORT ON TOP....
Geoff Burkart, CEO Guardian Centers of Georgia: 4th clip 01:01 We found a unique city grid that was downtown Seattle where it essentially has a dog-leg in it so from one end of the boulevard you can't see through to the other.
` nats of construction
THIS CITY BLOCK...HAS A SOLID FOUNDATION...BUT IT'S BEING ENGINEERED IN A WAY...THAT'LL FALL APART IN A SIMULATION.
Geoff Burkart, CEO Guardian Centers of Georgia:02:10 One of the key componenets of any disaster area is rubble, you knoe in jst about any disaster you can think of, buildings that fall down, blown, up they have an earthquake and crumble so you really need to create that environment for the first responders.
nats of gsubway stuff... it's essential a maze...
THE GUARDIAN CENTER...WILL EVEN HAVE IT'S OWN 1800 FOOT DUAL SYSTEM SUBWAY...TO TRAIN FIRST RESPONDERS TO DEAL WITH TERROR ATTACKS AND OTHER DISASTERS.
Geoff Burkart, CEO Guardian Centers of Georgia:4th clip 00:29 These respond teams, these response teams need a place where they can practice they're not under the time constraints of a real subway tunnel you have to stop everything and you've got to start it again, after the train comes through, here they can do just about any disaster scenario they can think of.
GEOFF BURKART...THE CEO OF GUARDIAN CENTERS OF GEORGIA...SAYS WHAT HE'S CREATING WILL SHOW EMERGENCY TEAMS WHAT IT'S LIKE.
Burkart 01:49 Your critical members of the first response team for an event that are sound asleep they do their duty, it's middle of the night, or it's middle of the day, or they've worked all night, that alarm goes off, that phone call happnes and they've got to go.
AND BURKART SAYS THAT'S WHAT THEY'RE TRYING TO CREATE.
AUSTIN LEWIS 13WMAZ EYEWITNESS NEWS. >>
THE CENTER IS EXPECTED TO BE READY EARLY NEXT YEAR.
YOU HEARD A LITTLE BIT OF IT EARLIER... BUT WE WANTED TO GIVE YOU ANOTHER TASTE OF THE SOUNDCHECK THIS AFTERNOON... BY THE OAKY FROM MUSCOGEE HIMSELF... MERLE HAGGARD.
AGAIN... THAT CONCERT STARTS TONIGHT AT THE MACON CITY AUDITORIUM AT 7-30... AND AS OF ABOUT HALF AN HOUR AGO... TICKETS WERE STILL AVAILABLE.
THE GEORGIA STATE FAIR WILL BEGIN FRIDAY AFTERNOON.... FOR ITS FIRST YEAR UNDER NEW MANAGEMENT.
AND SETUP IS ALREADY UNDERWAY AT CENTRAL CITY PARK.
VENDORS AND ORGANIZERS ARE PUTTING TOGETHER RIDES... AND TENTS FOR FOOD AND OTHER ACTIVITIES AT THE FAIR.
IN ADDITION TO LOTS OF RIDES THIS YEAR... MUSICAL ACTS INCLUDING GINUWINE AND THE BELLAMY BROTHERS WILL TAKE CENTER STAGE.
BUT ONE VENDOR WE TALKED TO SAYS SHE HOPES THE FOOD WILL BE THE MAIN ATTRACTION.
Shirley Betancourt, Brendan, FL: The food, it's got to be the food, I know when I went to fairs before I had to always go get something to eat
THE FAIR STARTS FRIDAY AND RUNS THROUGH MAY 6TH.
TODAY'S 13WMAZ DOT COM WEB POLL ASKS... WILL NEW OWNERSHIP IMPROVE THE GEORGIA STATE FAIR?
SO FAR... 65 PERCENT OF YOU SAY NO... IT WON'T.
AND 35 PERCENT THINK THE FAIR WILL DO BETTER UNDER ITS NEW OWNERS.
VOTE NOW... VISIT 13WMAZ DOT COM AND LOOK FOR THE QUESTION ON THE RIGHT SIDE OF THE HOMEPAGE.
THANKS FOR JOINING US.... FIRST MORNIN COMES YOUR WAY AT 5 A-M.
THE NEWS IS ALWAYS ON AT 13WMAZ DOT COM.
LETTERMAN'S NEXT.
HAVE A SAFE NIGHT EVERYONE.