BENNETT, Marcus Donald “Don” BRIDGES, Thomas James “Jimmy”
Authorities say a hacker gained access to a Florida city’s water treatment plant in an unsuccessful attempt to fill the water supply with a potentially harmful chemical
Marcus Donald “Don” Bennett, age 86, of Rome, GA, passed away peacefully at his home February 7, 2021.
Don was born June 19, 1934, in Aragon GA, the son of the late Alma Morgan and Roy Bennett. He was a graduate of Rockmart High School, class of 1952. In 1954 Don was hired by General Electric Co. and was trained as a draftsman through their vocational training program.
In 1957 Don married Alicia Hendrix Bennett and they had three children. He was a member of Fellowship Baptist Church where he served as deacon. Don’s life was a testament to the power of God’s love through kindness to others. In his retirement years he helped many by building handicap ramps for the elderly and doing home repairs for the less fortunate.
Don spent most of his retirement in his workshop where he hung his mantra, “Our time to help one another is limited. While the time of death is uncertain, death is not, if the Lord tarries. None of our good intentions will EH IXO¿OOHG DIWHU ZH GLH 2XU opportunities to help one another will come to an end, Get’er done!”
Don’s family and friends will miss his loving spirit, generosity, and sense of humor. He is survived by his wife, Alicia; three children, Carol (Merrill) Norton, Melody (Carter) Harrison, and Jason Bennett; grandchildren, Kelley O’keefe, Don Burkhalter and Bo Bennett; great-grandchildren, Kaylee, Mckenzie and Braxton Burkhalter; one sister, Rebecca Bond (Bob) their children Cindy Fred (Bob) her family Rachel and Emily Fred.
Funeral will be privately held at Salmon Funeral Home for immediate family with Rev. Dale Levan of¿FLDWLQJ ,Q OLHX RI ÀRZHUV donations be made to Fellowship Baptist Church or cancer research.
The staff of Salmon Funeral Home is honored to serve the family of Marcus Donald “Don” Bennett.
Mr. Thomas James “Jimmy” Bridges, Jr., age 76, of Lindale, GA, passed away Friday, February 5, 2021, in a local health care facility.
Mr. Bridges was born in Rome, GA on August 17, 1944, son of the late Thomas James “Buck” Bridges, Sr. and the late Annie Lee Goss Bridges. He was also preceded in death by his sister, Shirley Bridges Dean. Jimmy was a 1962 graduate of Pepperell High School in Lindale and attended Shorter College, where he was a member of the tennis team. A meat cutter by trade, Mr. Bridges had been employed with Piggly Wiggly and Big Star prior to his retiring as a meat buyer at J. L. Lester & Sons in Rockmart. Following his retirement, he was also employed part-time at Millican’s Food Store in Lindale. Mr. Bridges was a member of Lindale United Methodist Church and was active in their Angel Food Ministry.
Survivors include his wife, the former Brenda Jane Callaway, to whom he was married on September 11, 1964; his son, Jeffrey Bridges (Melissa), Dalton; his grandson, Evan Bridges, Dalton; a niece, Tish Fricks (Blair), Rome; 2 nephews, Tom Dean, Rome, and Mark Bible (Jennifer), Danville, CA.
A memorial service will be held on Wednesday, February 10, 2021, at 2pm in the Chapel at Henderson & Sons Funeral Home, South Chapel. His Pastor, the Rev. Bill &RDG\ ZLOO RI¿FLDWH
The family will receive friends at Henderson & Sons Funeral Home, South Chapel, on Wednesday from 12 noon until the service hour. Social distancing guidelines will be followed, and masks are requested by the family.
,Q OLHX RI ÀRZHUV Phprrial donations may be made to Lindale United Methodist Church, 3401 Maple Road, Lindale, GA 30147.
Henderson & Sons Funeral Home, South Chapel, has charge of the funeral arrangements.
ATLANTA — Georgia’s secretary of state’s office on Monday opened an investigation into a phone call between Donald Trump and the state’s top elections official in which the then-president said he wanted to “find” enough votes to overturn his loss in the state, an official said.
Walter Jones, a spokesman for Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, confirmed the investigation.
“The Secretary of State’s office investigates complaints it receives. The investigations are fact-finding and administrative in nature. Any further legal efforts will be left to the Attorney General,” Jones wrote.
Trump had refused to accept his loss to Democrat Joe Biden and focused much of his attention on Georgia, a traditionally red state that he narrowly lost. During the Jan. 2 phone call, Trump repeatedly argued that Raffensperger could change the certified results, an assertion the secretary of state firmly rejected.
“All I want to do is this. I just want to find 11,780 votes, which is one more than we have,” Trump said. “Because we won the state.”
The investigation by the secretary of state’s office stems from a complaint by George
Washington University Law School professor John Banzhaf III, according to the investigative case sheet.
In an emailed press release sent Jan. 4, Banzhaf said he had filed a complaint with the secretary of state’s office requesting “that this matter be fully investigated, and action be taken to the extent appropriate.” The complaint suggests Trump may have committed one or more violations of Georgia law, including conspiracy to commit election fraud, criminal solicitation to commit election fraud and intentional interference with the performance of election duties, the release says.
Jason Miller, a senior adviser to Trump, said in a statement that there was “nothing improper or untoward about a scheduled call between President Trump, Secretary Raffensperger and lawyers on both sides.”
Investigators will present their findings to the state election board, which will then decide how to proceed. If the board believes there’s evidence that a crime occurred, it could take action ranging from issuing a letter of reprimand to referring the case to Georgia’s attorney general.
Copyright 2021 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
OLDSMAR, Fla. — A hacker gained unauthorized entry into a remote access software system shared by workers at a Florida city’s water treatment plant in an unsuccessful attempt to fill the water supply with a potentially harmful chemical, authorities said.
An unknown suspect breached a computer system for the city of Oldsmar’s water treatment plant on Friday and briefly increased the amount of sodium hydroxide from 100 parts per million to 11,100 parts per million, Pinellas County Sheriff Bob Gualtieri said during a news conference Monday.
Sodium hydroxide, also called lye, is used to treat water acidity but the compound is also found in cleaning supplies such as soaps and drain cleaners. It can cause irritation, burns and other complications in larger quantities.
A supervisor saw the chemical being tampered with — as a mouse controlled by the intruder moved across the screen changing settings — and was able to intervene and reverse it, Gualtieri said. Oldsmar, a city of 15,000 residents, is about 15 miles (24 kilometers) northwest of Tampa.
“At no time was there a significant adverse effect on the water being treated,” Gualtieri said. “Importantly, the public was never in danger.”
Oldsmar officials have since disabled the remote-access system, and say there were other safeguards to prevent the increased chemical from getting into the water. Officials told other city leaders in the region about the incident and suggested they check their systems.
Experts say municipal water and other systems have the potential to be easy targets for hackers because local governments’ computer infrastructure tends to be underfunded.
Robert M. Lee, CEO of Dragos Security, and a specialist in industrial control system vulnerabilities, said remote access to industrial control systems such as those running water treatment plants has become increasingly common.
“As industries become more digitally connected we will continue to see more states and criminals target these sites for the impact they have on society,” Lee said.
The leading cybersecurity firm Fireeye attributed an uptick in hacking attempts it has seen in the last year mostly to novices seeking to learn about remotely accessible industrial systems. Many victims appear to have been selected arbitrarily and damage was not caused in any of the cases, it said in a statement.
Tarah Wheeler, a Harvard Cybersecurity Fellow, said communities should take every precaution possible when using remote access technology on something as critical as a water supply.
“The systems administrators in charge of major civilian infrastructure like a water treatment facility should be securing that plant like they’re securing the water in their own kitchens,” Wheeler told the Associated Press via email. “Sometimes when people set up local networks, they don’t understand the danger of an improperly configured and secured series of internetconnected devices.”
A plant worker first noticed the unusual activity at around 8 a.m. Friday when someone briefly accessed the system but thought little of it because co-workers regularly accessed the system remotely, Gualtieri told reporters. But at about 1:30 p.m., someone accessed it again, took control of the mouse, directed it to the software that controls water treatment and increased the amount of sodium hydroxide.