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DEADLY PLANE CRASH, 7A
More than 100 feared dead in Indonesia
Wednesday
July 1, 2015
HOLIDAY PUBLICATION NOTICE
The office of the Rockdale and Newton Citizen in Olde Town Conyers
will be closed Friday in observance of Independence Day. Because
Saturday is a mail holiday, the Citizen will not publish print editions on
that day. Please check our websites for updates on news and events.
Rockdale Citizen
www.rockdalecitizen.com
Conyers, Georgia
$1.00 ©2015 SCNI
Vol. 62, No. 78
RCSO: Teen raped by man she met through app
By Aimee Jones
According to the Rockdale
County Sheriff’s Office, the
victim met a man through the
CONYERS — A Rockdale
social meetup app, Tag, and
County man has been charged
had been chatting with him for
with rape after he and another
about a month. The two agreed
man allegedly forced themto meet and go out on June 22.
selves on a 17-year-old girl that
The suspect and his friend,
one of them had met online.
24-year-old Steven Antawan
aimee.jones@rockdalecitizen.com
Spivey, drove to the victim’s
home in another county and
picked her up.
Cpl. Michael Camp said the
three drove to Spivey’s home
on North Tower Way, where
they hung out for about an hour
and smoked some marijuana.
“The victim went into the
bathroom and the other suspect
followed her into the bathroom,” Camp said.
The man began touching her,
but she reportedly told him no
and was able to get away.
She then went to the bedroom to retrieve her cellphone
where it had been charging
when the man came in the
room, pinned her down and
raped her, according to the
RCSO. Spivey then came in
the room and he, too, assaulted
her.
The attack continued in
See ASSAULT, Page 5A
Ga. Supreme
Court upholds
baby murder
conviction
From Staff Reports
CONYERS — The Georgia Supreme Court has upheld the conviction
and life in prison sentence of a man
found guilty in 2011 of murdering his
girlfriend’s 3-year-old son, Cayden
Allen.
Justice Carol Hunstein, writing for
the court, stated that the evidence
presented at the trial of James Revera
Sims II was sufficient to find him
“guilty beyond a reasonable doubt
of the crimes for which he was convicted.”
According to evidence presented at
trial, Cayden’s mother went to work
on the afternoon of April 8, 2011,
leaving him with Sims. Shortly after
6 p.m. that day, Sims called 911 and
asked for an ambulance for the toddler. Emergency responders found the
child lying on his back on the living
room sofa in his underwear. His eyes
were open, there was a lump on his
forehead, and he was unresponsive.
By the time Cayden was transported
to Rockdale Medical Center, he was in
a coma. He was airlifted to Children’s
Healthcare of Atlanta at Egleston
See CONVICTION, Page 4A
Miracle Johnson stacks tables with fireworks and sparklers Tuesday morning under the TNT Fireworks tent outside Walmart in
Conyers in preparation for the day’s sales. (Staff photo: Aimee Jones)
HERE COMES THE
BOOM
By Alice Queen
ever, the new law allows for the
sale of aerial fireworks, or those
that explode in the air, such as
CONYERS — Beginning to- sky rockets and bottle rockets,
day, as Georgia’s new consum- helicopter and aerial spinners,
er fireworks law takes effect,
missile-type rockets, Roman
state residents no longer have
candles, multi-aerial mine and
to drive across the Alabama or
shell devices, aerial shell kits,
South Carolina state lines to
reloadables and firecrackers.
purchase fireworks.
TNT Fireworks, the nation’s
Since 2005, Georgia residents largest distributor of fireworks,
have been able to purchase only has announced that its prodsparkler-type fireworks; howucts will be available at more
alice.queen@rockdalecitizen.com
than 250 locations throughout
the state. Purchasers will find
that the state is charging a 5
percent excise tax on each sale,
in addition to state and local
taxes, and some licensing fees
are earmarked for public safety
purposes.
Jerry Wainright, fire marshal for Rockdale County Fire
Rescue, issued the following
information for a safe July
Fourth:
New
fireworks
law takes
effect
today
• You must be 18 years of age
or older to use, explode or possess consumer fireworks.
• Obey all local laws regarding the use of fireworks.
• Always have an adult
supervise fireworks activities. Parents don’t realize that
young children suffer injuries
from sparklers. Sparklers burn
at temperatures of about 1,200
See FIREWORKS, Page 4A
RCSO donates dog food to animal shelter
From Staff Reports
CONYERS — Rockdale
County Sheriff Eric Levett
and members of the Rockdale County Sheriff’s Office
delivered Thursday 11 bags of
dog food to Rockdale County
Animal Control.
The Snellville Walmart
Store No. 3389 donated bags
of dog food to the RCSO,
which in turn gave the food to
Animal Control to help feed
animals that are housed in the
shelter.
“The Snellville Walmart has
always been a great supporter
of not only the RCSO, but
also the entire community,”
Levett stated in a press release.
“When I received the phone
call about the donation of the
dog food, I knew it would
be a great benefit to Animal
Control. Animal Control and
the Sheriff’s Office often
respond to calls together, and
it is always great when we can
partner and support each other
See DONATION, Page 5A
School choice
transfers being
accepted now
By Manny Fils
manny.fils@newtoncitizen.com
CONYERS — Time is running out
for parents wishing to change their
children’s school under House Bill
251.
Under the guidelines of the bill, five
schools in Rockdale County and eight
schools in Newton County are eligible
to receive students who want to change
schools.
The available schools in Newton
County are East Newton Elementary
School, Heard-Mixon Elementary
School, Livingston Elementary School,
Mansfield Elementary School, Middle
Ridge Elementary School, Porterdale
Elementary School, Clements Middle
School and Veterans Memorial Middle
School.
No high schools in Newton County
have the space to accommodate any
requests.
The Rockdale County schools with
seats available are Sims Elementary
School, Honey Creek Elementary
School, Davis Middle School, Memorial Middle School and Heritage High
School.
If a student wishes to transfer to
a high school after completing their
freshman year, they will not be eligible
to participate in any sport unless they
request a hardship/appeal hearing with
the Georgia High School Association.
Some of the reason for a parent to
switch schools include if their present
school does not offer programs available at the other schools or the school
they which to attend has room.
See TRANSFERS, Page 5A
rockdalecitizen.com
INSIDE
Business.........3B
Comics............6B
Health Rpts.....9A
Perspectives...8A
Calendar.........3B
Crossword.......6B
Lottery............ 3A
Sports.............1B
Classified........4B
Cryptoquip......2A
Obituaries.......4A
World/Nation... 7A
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Copyright 2015 SCNI