Good evening, everyone.
I'm David Earl.
Frank and Leah are off tonight.
Macon police put out false information...failed to interview all the witnesses...and cleared the scene of a fatal shooting in barely an hour.
Thats what two city council members are saying about the death of Sammie Davis Junior.
A Macon police officer shot him three times...outside the Midtown Kroger on December 21st.
Tonight... The council members say they're hearing from people in the community who are fed up with how the case has been handled.
Jennifer Moulliet spoke to them...and she joins us with more.
David... Both Councilman Henry Ficklin and Henry Gibson say members of the community want answers.
Ficklin wrote a letter to both the Mayor and District Attorney urging them to ask the Georgia Bureau of Investigation for help.
He says the main reason he wanted an investigation from an outside agency is because Macon Police released false information
<"the initial report was that he was serving a warrant and when you get that kind of information that is incorrect in the community people start asking questions and distrusting what is happening through the whole process."
"this is causing a lot of problems that spread a dark cloud over Macon Police department and this whole investigation if the public relation officer didn't have proper information she should have made sure" >
Gibson says several people told him they were at that Kroger when Sammie Davis Jr. Was shot...baut were never interviewed by police.
We were on the scene that day...and it appeared that investigators left after barely an hour.
I asked Gibson... Who's a retired Macon Police investigator....about that
<you probably should lock the parking lot down the entrance and you need to know what everybody saw and that is time consuming it has taken to my knowledge three or four hours to completely do a canvas of the immediate area>
I spoke with Rodney Wall... Special Agent in charge of the GBI office in Perry... He says they've received District Attorney... David Cooke's letter asking them to investigate .. And will start tomorrow.
Wall says the GBI does not automatically get involved with a case involving a local officer... and says it's up to the local department to ask for their help.
House Democratic leaders are pressing Speaker John Boehner to let the House vote on a Senate approved compromise.
If passed, the deal would avert much of the impact of the so-called fiscal cliff.
Following a nearly three-hour private meeting today between Vice President Joe Biden and House Democratic lawmakers, Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi said Democrats expected Boehner to allow the House to vote on the accord.
Boehner has said the House will vote on the Senate measure or vote to amend it.
Meanwhile, some Republicans say the plan needs more spending cuts.
The compromise would allow tax increases on the nation's highest earners but prevent tax hikes for everyone else.
The Senate passed the measure early this morning in an 89-8 vote.
Among those who gave the measure the nod...
Georgia's two senators...Saxby Chambliss and Johnny Isakson.
In a statement today, Chambliss defended his vote, saying "this deal is far from what the country needs...but I cannot in good conscience allow taxes to be raised on all Americans and send our economy into turmoil."
Isakson wrote, "Now it is time for the president to get serious about spending cuts and entitlement reforms, and I look forward to enacting significant measures in the coming weeks that will reduce our debt."
Today, the ball is in the House's Court...and Georgia's tenth district congressman Paul Broun says he's not happy with the way his colleagues in the Senate voted.
Broun went into yet another closed session around 5:15... But before he did, he told us there was no way he would vote to pass the same measure Isakson and Chambliss approved yesterday.
< We must cut spending, and frankly, I don't care what the senate did and how Republican senators have sold out the American people, and that's cutting spending.
A couple of your colleagues in the Georgia delegation ,and that's Senators Chambliss and Isakson, voted for this. What's your reaction? Are you unhappy with the two of them?
I think the deal that the senate put together is wrong for america, It's terrible policy. We're headed to being a nation just like Greece. I don't know why senators on the Reupublican side voted for it. You'll have to ask them but it's not policy that is sustainable long-term.>
We reached out to other members of Central Georgia's House delegation...Congressmen Austin Scott and Sanford Bishop both say they wanted to wait for more developments in the House before speaking....and John Barrow's office did not respond.
You'll find more coverage on the fiscal cliff on the CBS Evening News immediately following this broadcast...and as news happens on 13WMAZ-dot-com.
This is the first full day... Of 2013...Today...you may have high ambitions like healthier eating... Dropping a few pounds... Or organizing that closet.
On 13WMAZ-dot-com today, we asked...
do you make new year's resolutions?
Only 20 percent say yes... The other 80 percent of you... Do not.
To vote now... Visit 13WMAZ.com.
Look for the question on the right side of the homepage.
Another New Year's staple for lots of people... football.
Georgia waited a month to get back on the football field and this afternoon was their chance.
Courtney Lyle joins us now for more on the Capital One Bowl... and Courtney the first quarter set a new bowl record.
David there were 30 points scored in the first quarter alone.. That beat the previous Capital One Bowl record of 21 set in 1997.
This is the first full day...of a whole new year...and who knows what the year will bring?
Well...we do...at least part of it.
Here are some things to look forward to in 2013.
This month... students at Macon State...and Middle Georgia College in Cochran will be attending a new school..with a new name.
Last year...the state approved a merger of the two schools...and it should become final this month.
The new name: Middle Georgia State College.
The new school will have campuses in Macon..Warner Robins...Cochran...Eastman and Dublin.
The schools will have more than 9 thousand students.
Also this month...look for a celebration in downtown Forsyth...when the Grits Cafe reopens...less than nine months after a devastating fire.
Grits was an anchor of the town's restaurant scene.
But it was a total loss...after that fire.
The owners still say they expect to open soon...but haven't set an exact date.
There will be some new faces coming to Central Georgia institutions.
One of them will be at Fort Valley State...where president Larry Rivers is leaving after seven years.
He leaves at the end of June...and the school hopes that the new chief will be in place...before the next school year.
2013 will be a big year for politics...but then...isn't every year?
Warner Robins will elect a mayor...and we'll find out in August whether Chuck Shaheen will seek a second term.
One possible challenger...the man he beat in 2009....Chuck Chalk.
And this summer could be a political free-for-all in Macon and Bibb County...as people here pick a consolidation government.
The city and county merge in January 2014.
In July....voters countywide will pick nine county commissioners....and a new mayor.
Candidates for the top job could include Macon Mayor Robert Reichert...County chairman Sam Hart...and former Mayor C. Jack Ellis.
Romain Dallemand's Macon Miracle rolls on in 2013.
That's his master plan for improving Bibb County schools.
Parts of it ... already in effect.
But Dallemand said he also want the district to start up a year-round school calendar...starting this August.
He hasn't provided details on the move...and the school board hasn't approved that calendar yet.
Also this fall...after 70 years....Mercer University asks....are you ready for some football.
The Bears kick off their first football season...since they let the program lapse at the start of world world II.
Their stadium is under construction on the Macon campus...and Coach Bobby Lamb plans to sign his second recruiting class this spring.
A new airline will be flying customers from Macon...to Atlanta soon.
SeaPort Air won a federal contract to run the subsidized service....which will cost taxpayers more than a million dollars a year.
They originally planned to start up service back in November....but asked federal regulators for a delay.
So far...there's no day for the first flight.
We'll know by April...if not sooner...if the Georgia State Fair will return to Macon.
The fair has run in Central City Park for more than a century.
Last year's fair...was in April.
The Tennessee company that now owns the fair tried out a fall edition this year...in Hampton. But they said the spring fair will be back in 2013.
But so far...there's no date on the company web site...and we could not reach Universal Fairs for an update.
Here's a recap of our top story tonight...two Macon city council members say police released bad information...didn't interview all the witnesses...and spent barely an hour investigating a fatal shooting by one of their own.
Henry Gibson and Henry Ficklin are criticizing the response to the December 21 fatal shooting of Sammie Davis Junior.
Macon police say that day that the shooting happened after Officer Clayton Sutton...tried to serve a warrant on Davis.
But that was wrong.
Today...the police spokesperson told us that was based on the best information police had at that time.
She declined to comment further.
Sutton is on administrative leave...while Macon police...and the GBI...investigate further.
Times Square may have had its famous Ball Drop ... But in Macon, what would the Cherry Blossom Capital be without a Cherry Ball ...
Tom George was there for the main event ... Along with a whole bunch of you..
And while he was watching the festivities...he checked in on some New Year's resolutions too.
Cherry Blossom President Jake Ferro says the Cherry ball is made of steel and takes about two minutes to drop ... The steel pole is goes down was also made by the people of Macon.
That's all the time we have for Eyewitness news at 6.
Have a great night, everyone.
We'll see you back here tonight at 11...until then, catch us on 13WMAZ.com.