Police Scanner
10:33pm Residential alarm.
10:33pm WSA has been working on a leaking fire hydrant for the past two hours.
10:34pm 10-28
10:35pm 10-28
10:39pm 10-28
10:42pm Missing person/runaway reported. I think probably the latter.
10:44pm Three people have been arrested in another county.
10:45pm One by name and DOB.
10:47pm One person has been arrested.
10:51pm 10-28
10:52pm Mechanical breakdown w/ no tag.
10:55pm 10-28
10:56pm Domestic problem reported.
10:59pm Business alarm.
11:01pm One person has been arrested.
11:02pm Domestic problem reported.
11:03pm 10-28
11:04pm Mechanical breakdown. Someone ran out of gas.
11:13pm 10-28
11:14pm Two adults missing.
11:14pm I-20 Eastbound reckless tractor trailer near North County Line Rd.
11:15pm Business alarm.
11:16pm Suspicious vehicle in a vacant lot.
11:17pm 10-28
11:19pm Vehicle on side of I-20 changing a tire.
11:21pm BOLO for subject with firearms—may have been found.
11:24pm Officer dispatched to vehicle on side of I-20—an officer is already there.
11:26pm People discharging firearms (or fireworks, I couldn’t hear if it was a 10-83A or a 10-83B) across from Kroger on Chapel Hill Rd.
11:28pm 10-28
11:32pm Concern for welfare reported. House does not have power.
11:32pm People walking in someone’s driving, have fled scene.
11:33pm Deputies have GPS units in their patrol cars in order to help them find an address.
11:36pm Domestic problem reported.
11:38pm 10-28
11:39pm Something about someone’s radio chirping.
11:40pm 10-28 on I-20
11:42pm 10-28
11:44pm Someone locked their keys in their vehicle.
11:45pm Someone called from a hotel and said someone is acting suspicious in a parking lot.breaking into a vehicle.
11:47pm 7-8 juveniles running around on a property.
11:49pm Reckless motorcycle on I-20. GA State patrol trying to find motorcycle.
11:50pm Someone wants someone to patrol an area, someone talked over the dispatcher so I don’t know why.
11:50pm 10-27 (2)
11:53pm Apparently there is a chase going on involving the motorcycle. An officer asked if they wanted to continue the chase or go “resume normal operations”.
11:54pm Police approaching Post Road (chasing motorcycle).
11:55pm The feed stopped so I had to restart it.
11:56pm Shots fired somewhere—screams were heard. Not related to police chase.
11:58pm More police joining chase or either helping clear a path.
12:10pm I think they may have arrested the person on the motorcycle.
Douglasville Smog Levels High Today
June 25, 2008 
This was at AJC.com:
Metro area’s violated air standards 13 days
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published on: 06/25/08
By 1 p.m. Wednesday, smog levels had started creeping toward the red zone, when the air quality is considered unhealthy for most people.
The highest eight-hour measurement of ground-level ozone, an ingredient in smog, was 56 parts per billion in Douglasville. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency considers ozone unsafe at levels above 75 parts per billions. Smog enters code red at 96 parts per billion.
At that level, public health officials advise people to confine their workouts to indoors, or do their outdoor exercise in the morning or late evening. Ground-level ozone, a colorless gas formed when manmade emissions mix with the heat, can be particularly bad for people with asthma and other lung and heart diseases.
The state’s air quality forecasters had expected Tuesday’s air quality to enter the red zone. While smog levels did violate the EPA’s limit in Conyers, south Dekalb County, central Gwinnett County and McDonough, they did not reach the red zone.
Forecasters issued an orange alert for Thursday’s air quality, which would be another violation of the EPA standard. As of Wednesday afternoon, the region had violated the EPA standard on 13 days, starting May 6.
Note: I have a link to the current smog levels for Douglasville on my blogroll, which is in the right-hand column of my blog. Currently the one hour average is 65 (just 10 parts per billion BELOW unsafe levels) and the eight hour average is 61.
Robbery At Arbor Place Mall
June 25, 2008 
There was a strong armed robbery at Marks & Morgan jewelers in Arbor Place Mall today shortly before 1:30pm. No weapons were involved and it is not known if anything was taken. Someone who works at the mall confirmed hearing heliocopters hovering over or around the mall. No word if the perpetrator(s) was apprehended. If anyone has any other details please feel free to post a comment.
Sign Placement Disputed
June 25, 2008
Filed under Crime News
Tags: campaign signs, Douglas County, James Bell, politics
This is from today’s Douglas Neighbor.
Sign Placement Disputed
by Stephanie Siegel
Douglas Neighbor Staff Writer
With the election season underway, the issue of campaign signs is again a hot issue for some Douglas residents.
Captain Eddie Morris, commander of the Douglas County Sheriff’s Criminal Investigations Division, said after receving recent phone calls about missing campaign signs, the department was forced to take action.
“We got a complaint from two citizens about somebody taking down campaign signs,” Morris said. “We did some investigating and found it was Mr. [James] Bell. He admitted to it. We just gave him a warning and told him if he took property that wasn’t his, he was subject to arrest for theft by taking. If you take property that doesn’t belong to you, that’s a theft.”
Bell did it again and was arrested, Morris said.
Bell, who lives in Douglas County, said he had asked campaigners to remove signs from a beautification area known as Dogwood Strip, which is owned by the Norfolk Southern Railroad.
“I’ve asked the candidates not to place signs along the strip. Their response was to put even more signs there,” Bell said. “Let them go back to their own neighborhoods and trash them. We don’t want their trash here.”
Though the strip is not owned by Bell, but the railroad company, he said civic groups have helped maintain the property for years, even erecting a flag and community clock.
Bell runs a civic group called Lithia Springs Clean and Beautiful that has held various community clean-up projects.
“Codes should be enforced equally across the board. When politicians are allowed to violate the codes they enact, I see a real problem. It’s the old story of ‘Do as we said, not as we do.’ All we are asking is that the campaigns respect our community and not place signs on Dogwood Strip.”
When told that a Georgia Department of Transportation spokesman said campaign signs are not allowed along state highways, Morris said, “Who are they? What authority do they have to say that? They probably don’t make the ordinances and laws.”
David Spear, a GDOT press secretary, said political signs are not allowed on state right-of-way, and GDOT crews pick them up when they find them, and throw them away.
If GDOT employees pick up signs along Highway 78, would a Douglas County deputy arrest them?
“We would have to see what they’re doing,” Morris said. “We haven’t had a complaint on them. When we have complaints, we have to follow up on them. The property belongs to other people.
“The candidates are told that they can place their signs six feet off the roadway when they qualify,” Morris added. “We have to go by what the county ordinances say. I don’t work for the state.“
However, Major M.O. Harper of the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office said, “We don’t enforce ordinances here. We only enforce state laws.”
Morris and Harper agreed that “theft by taking” is a state law. But the question of where signs may be placed is not in their jurisdiction.
Spear said Highway 78 is under state jurisdiction, so state rules apply.
“From our perspective, if [Bell] was taking signs from our right-of-way, it would be prosecutable only if we elected to bring charges, which is certainly not something we’d consider doing,” Spear said.
Morris said if Bell or others think the law conflicts, “They get to go to court. That’s why we have courts. Then the judge will teach us all something. Maybe he’ll make a ruling that everybody can follow.”
