No sign of terror in airport outage

John Robert “Johnny” Forrester,

93, of Rome, died Nov. 25, 2017. Henderson & Sons, North Chapel, has charge of arrangements.

Marilyn Elaine Holcomb,

62, of Rome, died Dec. 18, 2017. Henderson & Sons, South Chapel, has charge of arrangements.

Ernest Kidd Jr.,

64, of Rome, died Dec. 18, 2017. F.K. Jones Funeral Home has charge of arrangements.

William A. “Goat” Montgomery,

71, of Rome, died Dec. 15, 2017. Wright Memorial Mortuary has charge of arrangements.

62, of Rome, died Dec. 16, 2017. F.K. Jones Funeral Home has charge of arrangements.

Bertha Lee Porter, Mary Ethel Hughes Spradlin,

78, of Rome, died Dec. 18, 2017. Henderson & Sons, South Chapel, has charge of arrangements.

Beverly Eunice Womack,

59, of Silver Creek, died Dec. 18, 2017. Henderson & Sons, South Chapel, has charge of arrangements. NORTH CHAPEL

John Robert Forrester

John Robert “Johnny” Forrester, age 93, of Rome, passed away on November 25, 2017.

The family will receive friends at Henderson & Son Funeral Home, North Chapel, on Friday, December 22, 2017 from 3 until 5 p.m.

In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to Salvation Army, P.O. Box 5188, Rome, Ga. 30162-5188 or to Shannon United Methodist Church, 605 Shannon Circle Connector NE, Shannon, Ga. 30161.

Henderson & Sons Funeral Home, North Chapel, has charge of the arrangements.

SOUTH CHAPEL

Mary Ethel Hughes Spradlin

Mrs. Mary Ethel Hughes Spradlin, age 78, of Rome, passed away Monday morning, December 18, 2017, at her residence.

Mrs. Spradlin was born in Paulding County, Ga. on July 1, 1939, daughter of the late Ben and Elmer Mae Barber Hughes. She was also preceded in death by her husband, Jamie Eugene Spradlin; by a daughter, Lynn Spradlin; and by a son, Johnny Spradlin. For many years, Mrs. Spradlin owned and operated the Community Quick Shop, better known as “The Rock Store,” and the Community Restaurant in the Dykes Creek Community. She was a member of Pleasant Hill Baptist Church.

Survivors include three children, Tony Spradlin, Rome; Cathy Brown Gallagher, and her husband, Chris, Marietta; and Teresa Law Parker, Rome; three grandchildren, Jaysie Brown, Jeff Law, and Brent Law, all of Rome; six great-grandchildren, Ariana Greenly, Kolson Camp, Kalli Camp, Makenna Law, AnnLee Law, and Johnny Law, all of Rome; a sister, Debbie Ellis, and her husband, Bill, Bremen; a brother, Jimmy Hughes, and his wife, Carol, Bremen; nieces and nephews.

Funeral services will be held on Friday, December 22, 2017, at 11 a.m. in the Chapel at Henderson & Sons Funeral Home, South Chapel, with the Rev. Ricky Studdard officiating. Interment will follow in Pleasant Hill Baptist Church Cemetery near Kingston.

The family will receive friends at Henderson & Sons Funeral Home, South Chapel, on Thursday from 5 until 7 p.m. At other hours, they will be at their respective homes.

Pallbearers are requested to assemble at Henderson & Sons Funeral Home, South Chapel, on Friday at 10:30 a.m. and include Jeff Law, Brent Law, Kolson Camp, Nick Camp, James Patterson, Daniel Law, Earl Hice, and Bill Ellis.

Henderson & Sons Funeral Home, South Chapel, has charge of the funeral arrangements. Mary Ethel Hughes Spradlin Marilyn Elaine Holcomb

Mrs. Marilyn Elaine Holcomb, age 62, of Rome, went to be with the Lord on Monday, December 18, 2017, at a local hospital following a lengthy illness.

Mrs. Holcomb was born in Birmingham, Alabama on January 19, 1955, daughter of Freida Middleton Hales and the late James Hales. She was a member of the Lakeview Baptist Church.

Mrs. Holcomb was a dedicated Registered Nurse, working for Floyd Medical Center for 38 years. She loved the outdoors, camping, working with Boy Scout Troop 34, and her cats.

Survivors include her husband, Robert Holcomb, to whom she was married on July 16, 1983; a son, Nathan Holcomb, Rome; her mother, Freida Hales, Rome; a brother, David Hales, Rome; her motherin-law, Delia Holcomb; sister-in-law, Linda Hensley; two nieces, Shea Byers and Leslie Henson; special friends, Wilma Chisolm, Larry & Wanda Looney, John & Becky Richards, Lisa & Shane McCarty, all of Boy Scout Troop 34; a special cousin, Ella Mae Randall.

Graveside services will be held on Friday, December 22, 2017, at 2 p.m. at Oaknoll Memorial Gardens. The Rev. Mike Manning will officiate.

In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to Heyman HospiceCare at Floyd, P.O. Box 163, Rome, Ga. 30162 or to the American Cancer Society at www.cancer.org.

Henderson & Sons Funeral Home, South Chapel, has charge of the funeral arrangements.

Ms. Beverly Eunice Womack, age 59, of Silver Creek, passed away on Monday, December 18, 2017, at a local hospital.

Ms. Womack was born in Rome, Georgia on January 31, 1958, daughter of the late Rev. Harrison Lee Davenport and the late Eunice Mae Johnson Davenport. She was of the Baptist faith.

Ms. Womack worked at Galey & Lord for 20 years and currently worked for F & P of Rome.

Survivors include her companion, Lee Smith; three children, Lee Gilreath and his wife, Cathy, Rockmart; Shane Lindsey and his wife, Rachael, Rome; and Brandy Combs and her husband, Robert, Lindale; three step-children, Kandi Sanford and her husband, David; Tareka Smith and her husband, Taron; and Leigh Ann Smith and her husband, Robert; nineteen grandchildren; one great-grandchild; three sisters, Elaine LeMay, Janice Garrett, and Rachel Callies; four brothers, Danny Davenport, Larry Davenport, Gilbert Davenport, and Gerald Davenport; several nieces and nephews.

Funeral services will be held on Friday, December 22, 2017, at 3 p.m. in the Chapel at Henderson & Sons Funeral Home, South Chapel, with the Rev. Vance Stiles officiating. Interment will follow in Rome Memorial Park.

The family will receive friends at Henderson & Sons Funeral Home, South Chapel, on Thursday from 6 until 8 p.m.

At other hours, they will be at their respective residences.

Pallbearers are asked to assemble at Henderson & Sons Funeral Home, South Chapel, on Friday at 2:30 p.m. and include: Active: Dylan Dennis, Tyler Combs, Brayden Gilreath, Austin Lindsey, Jacob Gilmore, Joshua Gilmore, and Cody Hopkins. Honorary: Trevor Combs and Mason Campbell.

Henderson & Sons Funeral Home, South Chapel, has charge of the funeral arrangements. Ernest Kidd Jr.

Mr. Ernest Kidd Jr., age 64, of 231 Smith Road, Rome, Ga., transitioned December 18, 2017. Complete arrangements will follow at a later date. Keep the family in your prayers. Care and direction entrusted to F.K. Jones Funeral Home. Bertha Lee Porter

Ms. Bertha Lee Porter, age 62, of 525 W. 13th St., Rome, Ga., transitioned December 16, 2017. Service for Ms. Porter will be Thursday, December 21, 2017, at noon at Christ Temple RPC in Rome, Ga. The body will lie in state from 11 a.m. until the Celebration hour. Interment will follow at Fife Cemetery in Centre, Alabama. The family will receive friends at the funeral home on Wednesday, December 20, 2017, from 5 p.m. until 7 p.m. Keep the family in your prayers. Care and direction entrusted to F.K. Jones Funeral Home. MEMORIAL MORTUARY 814 S. Broad St., Rome Phone 706-235-0642

William A. Montgomery

Mr. William A. “Goat” Montgomery, 71, of 2 Pinehurst Dr., Rome, Ga., passed away on December 15, 2017.

Services for Mr. Montgomery will be held on Saturday, December 23, 2017, at 1:00 p.m. at Flatrock Baptist Church with the Rev. Dr. Scott McClure. Interment will follow in Floyd Memory Gardens.

The body will lie in state from noon until funeral hour.

At other times, the family will be at 2 Pinehurst Drive, Rome, Ga. 30161.

Please keep the Montgomery and Lee family in your Prayers during the loss of their loved one.

Wright Memorial Mortuary has been entrusted with the arrangements of Mr. William A. Montgomery. File, John Spink /

Power was restored at the world’s busiest airport after a massive outage Sunday afternoon that left planes and passengers stranded for hours, forced airlines to cancel more than 1,100 flights and created a logistical nightmare during the already-busy holiday travel season.

ATLANTA — The FBI is part of the probe into what caused a fire that knocked out power to the world’s busiest airport in Atlanta, but an agency spokesman said Tuesday there was no sign of anything connected to terrorism.

“There’s no indication at this point of anything nefarious,” FBI spokesman Kevin Rowson said.

The federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives has also been involved in the investigation, Georgia Power spokesman Craig Bell said.

“We’re bringing everything we have to bear to the situation to make sure this doesn’t happen again,” Bell said Tuesday.

No conclusions have been drawn as to the cause of the fire, which took out the airport’s power supply and also its backup electricity for about 11 hours Sunday. The blackout stranded thousands of passengers on grounded jets and in darkened concourses and led to the cancellation of more than 1,500 flights just ahead of the frenzied holiday travel period.

Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, the main hub for Delta Air Lines, is a crucial cog in the nation’s air travel system. Delays there typically ripple across the nation because so many U.S. and international flights are routed through the Atlanta hub.

Because of the magnitude of Sunday’s outage, “we want to be able to rule out any possible scenario that wasn’t equipment malfunction,” Bell said. Atlanta Journal-Constitution via AP

“We really don’t expect any answers like that to come forth for a few days,” he said.

The power company is working with the airport to explore how to prevent the situation from happening again.

Among ideas being discussed: Encasing in concrete the area that holds key electric equipment, or moving parts of the system to other areas. The blaze took out the main power and the backup system because the fire burned through parts of both in the same underground utility tunnel, authorities have said.

Delta and other carriers said they expected to be running normally Tuesday. But passengers trying to catch Tuesday morning flights faced wait times of up to an hour just to get through the main security checkpoint in the domestic terminal, the airport’s website showed.

No matter how fast Delta and other airlines move, it will take a few days to get the hundreds of thousands of grounded passengers to their final destinations, said Robert Mann, president of an airline consulting firm in Port Washington, New York. In rare cases, some passengers won’t arrive until Thursday, he said.

“There are just so few seats available during a peak holiday week, that’s just going to take a lot of flights with four or five seats apiece,” Mann said.

On Tuesday — two days after the outage — passengers were still sleeping in the atrium area that’s often used for events aimed at showcasing the world’s busiest airport.