Upson Woman Injured In Fall

Amy Quinzon, 23, of Upson County was life-flighted to an area hospital around 6:30 pm Thursday evening after being thrown from a horse.

Upson EMS responded to the scene of the accident on Turkey Creek Road and transported her to an open field off of Hendricks Church Road where the Emory air ambulance was waiting.

First reports indicated that she had been knocked unconscious and struck a tree during the fall. Amy told Upson Today through a Facebook post on June 22nd, “I blacked out for a few seconds but was very alert and aware before the first responders even got to where I was and stayed that way the whole time. I broke my tailbone and 2 small bones in my back and am doing fine.”

The Thurston Fire Department also responded.

Ribbon Cutting At SCTC

Southern Crescent Technical College held a ribbon cutting ceremony Thursday to officially dedicate the new Industrial Training Facility.

Dr. Randall Peters welcomed the large group to the Flint River Campus and praised those in attendance that were instrumental in the $8,000,000 addition. Peters said that Thomaston residents should be proud that they live in “a mill town too tough to go away when the mills did.”

The new 32,000 square foot building houses the Automotive, Diesel and Electronics Technology programs and has nine classrooms, five training laboratories, nine faculty offices and one administrative office. The total construction cost was $6,300,000 for the building and another $1,260,000 to furnish and equip the facility.

Ron Jackson, Commissioner of the Technical College System of Georgia, saluted the staffs of both the Griffin and Flint River campuses for their efforts during the merger of the two schools. Jackson told the crowd that “it doesn’t matter what the name is on the sign out front, this community will not be forgotten.”

Among those in attendance were Thomaston Mayor Hays Arnold, Upson County Commission Chairman Maurice Raines, State Senator George Hooks as well as State Representatives Robert Dickey and Billy Maddox.

For a slideshow of the ceremonies, click HERE or the photo link on the right.

Arrest In Copper Theft

The Thomaston Police Department responded to a report of a smoke odor on C Street Tuesday morning and discovered a transformer belonging to the City of Thomaston that had been stripped of copper and burned.

Officers located the resident at 110 C Street, 29 year old Jason Daniel Gish who admitted to taking the transformer and selling the stripped copper to Teal Recycling. Gish was arrested and charged with felony theft of government property. The transformer was valued at $1,100.00.

SCTC Ribbon Cutting

A ribbon cutting will be held at Southern Crescent Technical College Thursday at 1pm for the official dedication of building E that houses industrial training.

Ron Jackson, Commissioner of the the technical college system will be the guest speaker.

The Flint River Campus will hold an open house until 3pm.

Thomaston Texaco Country Showdown

The Thomaston Texaco Country Showdown was held Saturday night at the R. E. Lee auditorium featuring artist from Canton to Jacksonville.

Jennifer Allen of Thomaston won and will compete in the state finals later this year

The first runner-up was Thomaston’s Jay Eubanks, second runner-up was Ashley Helms from Atlanta and finishing fourth was Hanna-Claire Marks of Thomaston.

For a slideshow of more pictures, click HERE.

KIA Job Fair

Malone Staffing, the recruiting firm hired by Kia Motor Corporation, held a job fair at the Thomaston-Upson County Civic Center Wednesday.

Kia is expanding at it’s West Point, Georgia facility and will increase production to 360,000 new vehicles a year. The 20% increase will create nearly 1,000 new jobs.

The job fair attracted over 200 applicants that ranged in age from 16 to 60 with the majority of the group falling in the late 20’s to early 30’s range.

Malone will also be recruiting in the Newnan, Georgia and Wedowee, Alabama areas.

Wreck On Roland Road

An Upson County man was life-flighted to the Columbus Medical center following a single vehicle accident around 7 pm Saturday evening on Roland Road.

Jack Tonson McDonald, Jr. left the roadway on the right side of the road before crossing back over to the left side, taking out a section of fence and crashing into a large pine tree.

McDonald, of 816 Waynmanville Road, has been charged with DUI, open container, no seat belt and failure to maintain his lane.

Trooper Mitchell Day investigated the accident, the Thurston Fire Department and the Upson Sheriff’s Department also responded.

Deadly Friday Afternoon

The Upson County Sheriff’s Department answered two separate calls about five minutes apart Friday afternoon involving murder and suicide.

An apparent murder/suicide at 177 Harvey Street in the Sunnyside area, the bodies of 45 year old David Clayton Garrett and his uncle 75 year old Richard Earl Garrett were discovered by a paint contractor, both had been dead for approximately 24 hours. The GBI was called in to assist in the crime scene investigation and preliminary evidence indicates that Clayton Garrett was the shooter.

Earl Garrett lived in the main dwelling on the property and Clayton Garrett lived in a small renovated apartment behind the house.

Major Dan Kilgore told TGA news, “This appears to be a tragic ending to a family dispute and only the two deceased men were involved.”

Deputies were working on an unrelated suicide on Lawrence Road when the Harvey Street call was received. A 47 year old white male was pronounced dead at the scene from a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head.