ONE YEAR AGO, MAY 27, 2021
Originally scheduled for the first week of April but postponed due to statewide COVID-19 restrictions, the death-penalty trial of Donnie Rowe is starting to appear once again on the court-calendar horizon. A pretrial hearing was held Monday, May 17, in Putnam County Superior Court with Chief Judge Brenda H. Trammell presiding. Rowe, dressed in street clothes, sat at the table with his defense team – Adam S. Levin and Erin Wallace of the Northeast Georgia Regional Capital Defender Council in Athens, and Frank Hogue of Macon.
FIVE YEARS AGO, MAY 25, 2017
The finalists for Georgia’s 2018 Teacher of the Year were announced May 18, and Putnam County High School’s Jonathan Deen is one of the final 10. Deen had been announced as Putnam County Charter School System’s Teacher of the Year in November during the system’s annual Teacher of the Year reception.
25 YEARS AGO, MAY 29, 1997
When the Putnam County Commission adopted the county’s $9.2 million 1997 budget Tuesday morning, it did so over the protest of District 3 Commissioner Steve Layson and Russ Cartmill, president of the Lake Oconee Property Owners Association. The protests came because the new budget does not include funding for two satellite ambulance sites, one at Harmony and the other at Flat Rock. Prior to the commission’s vote on the budget, Layson proposed a revision which would have provided an increase of $182,000 for emergency medical services and $3,850 for the Tax Commissioner’s office.
50 YEARS AGO, MAY 25, 1972
One hundred twenty students will graduate next week from schools here in Putnam County. Students of Gatewood Schools Inc. will graduate its second class on Monday night, May 30, at the school auditorium. Sixteen seniors will receive diplomas from Gatewood headmaster Melven Charles and Walter C. Rocker, chairman of the board of trustees of the school. Sixty-one boys and 43 girls will graduate from Putnam County High School Wednesday night.
75 YEARS AGO, MAY 29, 1947
Commencement festivities continue Friday night, when members of the Class of ’47 present their annual Class Night program, “A Southern Rosary.” The frame of the program will be the Old South with its colorful costuming. Following the Class Night, Miss Katheryn Hallman, honor student, will entertain members of the class with a party at her home. Sunday morning, at 11:30, the Rev. Andrew Anderson, presbyterian minister, will give the baccalaureate sermon in the school auditorium.
100 YEARS AGO, MAY 26, 1922