Wildfire burns 250 acres in southeastern Ga.
SOUTH CHAPEL
K.C. Hopkins
Mr. K.C. Hopkins, age 90, of Silver Creek, passed away on Tuesday, March 28, 2017, at a Cedartown hospital.
Mr. Hopkins was born on September 4, 1926 in Lindale, son of the late James Marion Hopkins and the late Ethel Baker Hopkins. K.C. was a United States Navy veteran, serving during WWII. After his service to our country, he went on to start a career in Electrical Engineering that led him to be the Plant Engineer at Pepperell Manufacturing, which later became West Point Mills. K.C. retired after 40 years of service and also played textile league baseball during his time with the company. He was a member of McClain-Sealock American Legion Post #136 in Lindale and also served as Grand Marshall for the Lindale 4th of July Parade. K.C. will be remembered as being a friend to all, never meeting a stranger and influencing many people over the years with his larger than life personality. In addition to his parents, he was preceded in death by his wife, Irene Galloway Hopkins, and a grandson, Keith Corbin Hopkins.
Survivors include 2 daughters, Leah Hopkins Henry and her husband, Michael, Atlanta, Lynne Hopkins Bateh and her husband, Ron, Atlanta; 2 sons, Ronald K. Hopkins, Sr. and his wife, Judy, Jefferson and Gregory J. Hopkins and his wife, Shelley, Rome; 9 grandchildren, Ronald K. Hopkins, Jr. and his wife, Ann, Jefferson, Kristy Eubanks and her husband, Clay, Jefferson, Dr. Holly Aldridge and her husband, Chris, Jefferson, Dr. Heather McGurk and her husband, Tom, Marietta, Brooke Sumner and her husband, Aaron, Rome, Reid Bateh, Blaze Bateh, Zachary Henry and Stokes Henry, all of Atlanta; 15 great-grandchildren, McKay Dickens, Jack Eubanks, Hopkins Aldridge, Max Aldridge, Annie Aldridge, Fields Hopkins, Tripp Hopkins, Crew Hopkins, Bella Kayt Hopkins, Kemper Hopkins, Connor McGurk, Madelyn McGurk, Hudson Sumner, Chandler Sumner and Ethan Sumner.
Funeral services will be held on Friday, March 31, 2017, at 1pm at Henderson & Sons Funeral Home, South Chapel, with Dr. Michael Helms officiating. Interment will follow in Floyd Memory Gardens.
The family will receive friends at Henderson & Sons Funeral Home, South Chapel, from 11am until 1pm on Friday. At other hours, they may be contacted at their respective residence. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to Restoration Lindale, Inc., 534 Reeceburg Road, Silver Creek, GA 30173.
Pallbearers are requested to assemble at the funeral home on Friday by 12:30pm and include: Ronald Hopkins, Jr., Reid Bateh, Blaze Bateh, Connor McGurk, Zack Henry, McKay Dickens, Hop Aldridge, Stokes Henry and Jackson Wayland.
Henderson & Sons Funeral Home, South Chapel, has charge of the funeral arrangements.
Starling E. Sams
Mr. Starling (Punch) E. Sams, 71, of Cave Spring Ga. formally of Chicago, passed away Friday, March 24, 2017 a t Redmond Regional Hospital surrounded by his loving family. Services for Mr. Sams will be Saturday, April 1, 2017 12:00 noon at New Hope Baptist Church in Cave Spring, GA 30124. He will lie in state at 11:00 am until hour of service.
Among his many surviving relatives, he leaves to cherish his precious memories, his faithful and dedicated loving wife, Mary A. Sams ; three sons, Eugene, Kevin and Brian of Cave Spring Ga; two daughters, Maxine and Tanisha of Arizona; three surviving sisters, Ida Lawler of Gadsden, Ala, Della Ferguson (Minister Ephraim Ferguson) of Cave Spring, Ga., and Lester Richardson of Matteson IL.; twelve grandchildren; nine great grandchildren; and sister in-laws, Marie Sams and Mary Webster.
Wright Memorial Mortuary, Inc. has full charge of arrangements. 901 E. Second Ave. 706-232-3646 Since 1895 www.daniels-funeralhome.com
Don Harlan Snider
Don Harlan Snider, 82, of Silver Creek, passed away late Tuesday evening, March 28, 2017, at his residence.
Funeral arrangements are incomplete and will be announced at a later time by Daniel’s Funeral Home. A complete obituary will be published in Friday’s newspaper. Shannon L. Harlan
Mr. Shannon L. Harlan, 67, passed away on March 3, 2017 in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
He was born on August 25, 1949 to the late J.B. Harlan and the late Leann Shannon Harlan. In addition to his parents, he was preceded in death by his wife, Barbara Locklear Beasley- Harlan. He is survived by his children, grandchildren, great grandchildren and his church family at Eden Valley Church.
A Memorial Service will be held on Saturday, April 1, 2017 at 11:00 a.m. at Eden Valley Baptist Church, 348 Eden Valley Road SE, Rome, GA 30161 with The Reverend Jerry Chisolm officiating.
Miller and Richards Oaknoll Chapel Funeral Home and Cremation Services is honored to serve Mr. Harlan’s family, please visit www.oaknollchapel.com to share your memories or to leave a condolence message.
SAVANNAH — Crews worked Wednesday to contain a wildfire that destroyed a family’s mobile home and several other buildings as it burned about 250 acres in a densely wooded area of rural southeast Georgia.
Firefighters had the blaze 80 percent contained Wednesday morning, said Wendy Burnett, spokeswoman for the Georgia Forestry Commission. It had charred less than half of a square mile after breaking out Tuesday afternoon in Brantley County, about 90 miles southeast of Savannah, where conditions have been unusually dry compared to a normal spring.
Fire crews equipped with bulldozers and a water buffalo, a large vehicle used to transport water to remote areas, were reinforcing fire breaks plowed around the perimeter of the fire Wednesday and using hoses to douse any smoldering hotspots to keep them from reigniting, Burnett said.
“They’ve done a tremendous job getting it
DECATUR (AP) — A notorious 86-year-old jewel thief has pleaded guilty to a felony shoplifting charge.
The charge stems from Doris Payne’s December arrest at a mall just outside Atlanta. Police said she put a $2,000 necklace in her back pocket and tried to leave a Von Maur department store. WXIA-TV reports Terry Dickson /
A Brantley County firefighter hauls hard on a fire hose as he wets down hot spots in a fire that destroyed a workshop off Britt Still Road.
under control,” Burnett said. “We’re going to be out there monitoring for the rest of the week or until fire officials are satisfied that it’s completely out.”
She credited volunteer and full-time firefighters from six local departments with saving 45 structures in the fire’s path Tuesday while helicopters dropped buckets of water on the flames from the air.
The cause of the fire was still being investigated. Lee said initial reports indicated the wildfire that Payne entered the plea Wednesday. A DeKalb County Superior Court judge sentenced Payne to serve four months of house arrest and three years of probation.
Authorities have said she’s stolen pricey jewels from stores around the world in an illicit career spanning six decades. The Florida Times-Union via AP
may have started from a prescribed burn that got out of control.
“We understand a burn permit had been issued to a landowner to burn timberland,” Lee said. “They had fire breaks and all, but it escaped them.”
No one was injured, but 25 families had to be evacuated Tuesday. Red Cross volunteers were assisting one family whose mobile home was destroyed.
“It was actually in among a bunch of trees and we couldn’t get back there with a truck to save it,” said Michelle Lee, emergency management director for Brantley county.
Lee said seven other buildings also burned, including a couple of unoccupied mobile homes being used for storage and a garage where a resident worked repairing cars behind his home. Firefighters saved the man’s home, Lee said, but couldn’t spare the garage.
Georgia officials are bracing for a busy wildfire season as unseasonably dry weather covers most of the state. Much of central and southern Georgia, including Brantley County, is considered abnormally dry, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor.
And a large portion of northern Georgia is suffering from moderate to extreme drought.
“We’re looking at a very active wildfire season,” Burnett said.
Drought was blamed for wildfires that burned more than 40,000 acres, or 62 square miles, in north Georgia last fall. Southeast Georgia has seen fires grow much larger.