Family and friends of a Lavonia minister gunned down Tuesday by an undercover police officer continue to look for answers about how he died.
Stephens County Sheriff Randy Shirley said Jonathan Ayers, 29, was not the target of their sting operation and that authorities were looking for a woman they say Ayers dropped off minutes before the shooting. That woman, whose name has not been released, had been charged with cocaine possession and distribution, he said.
Ayers’ family maintains he was not involved in illegal drug activity.
“He is one of the Godliest men I’ve ever known,” his brother-in-law Matt Carpenter told AccessNorthGa.com. “We’re all shocked and absolutely do not believe he was involved in anything illicit or illegal there.”
Carpenter also told AccessNorthGa.com that the family was first informed Ayers died in a traffic accident, and then that he had been shot. Hours later, they learned he died in an officer-involved shooting.
Shirley said Wednesday that Ayers dropped off the sting suspect in downtown Toccoa around 2:30 p.m. and that two agents from the joint task force -- composed of officers from Stephens, Habersham and Rabun counties -- followed the pastor and attempted to question him.
WNEG-TV has surveillance video showing Ayers casually entering a Shell convenience store in Toccoa around 2:30 p.m.
According to that video, a black SUV carrying undercover officers pulls into the parking lot after Ayers left the store.
The pastor tried to avoid them, Shirley said Wednesday, striking one of the agents after putting his car in reverse.
“They yelled, ‘Police. Stop,’” Shirley said.
Witnesses to the incident also said the officers identified themselves, said Georgia Bureau of Investigation spokesman John Bankhead.
Shirley said Wednesday that Ayers maneuvered his car towards another agent in a “threatening manner.” However, that is unclear from the video.
Shirley first said that one shot was fired by one of the three agents on the scene, striking the pastor in the upper torso. WNEG-TV reports that Shirley said the agent fired two shots into the car.
Ayers drove off before losing control of the vehicle a block away, striking a telephone pole, Shirley said.
Ayers was pastor of Shoal Creek Baptist Church in Lavonia. On his blog, he wrote, “I have three loves in my life: Jesus Christ, my wife Abby, and the Church.”
The couple was expecting their first child.
Shirley would not reveal the identity of the woman arrested in the sting. The agent struck by the pastor’s vehicle was treated and released from a local hospital, Shirley said.
“Jonathan would have wanted to witness to the police officers involved in the shooting,” his family said in a statement.
The GBI is investigating the shooting. The task force agents involved have been placed on administrative leave with pay, Shirley said.
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Wednesday, October 28, 2009
Thursday, October 15, 2009
No easy fix for those dealing with Georgia pet overpopulation
Litter by litter, more than 300 puppies and kittens streamed into Madison Oglethorpe Animal Shelter this summer. It should have been cute, but it was heartbreaking and frustrating for shelter Director Susan Fornash.
The shelter provides low-cost spaying and neutering, but too many people don't take advantage of the service - even when they've seen the consequences, Fornash said.
"Unfortunately, I don't think they even think about it," she said. "They bring us their puppies, and they bring us their kittens, but they don't bring us mama to get her fixed."
The shelter has offered low-cost spaying and neutering for more than five years.
Visiting veterinarians have performed 2,500 sterilizations since January, and the shelter's board and Fornash plan to expand the service as soon as they can raise the money for a second operating table.
However, this year's 2,500 surgeries barely will make a dent in Madison and Oglethorpe counties' overpopulation problem.
The shelter, which is built to hold 130 dogs at a time, took in almost 600 in June and July alone. The shelter took in 3,000 pets in 2008.
"All you have to do is look at the numbers of animals we have surrendered to us; it's obvious that people aren't spaying and neutering like they should," Fornash said.
Pet owners in Georgia have more access to affordable spaying and neutering than they used to, but many still don't want to fix their pets or just don't care, said Susan Thompson, a co-founder of Pet Mechanics - a low-cost spay and neuter nonprofit that serves Elbert, Jackson, Stephens and Whitfield counties.
Thompson and veterinarian Amber Polvere launched a mobile spaying and neutering clinic in 2005, bringing low-cost sterilization to every corner of rural Northeast Georgia in a customized RV. Over the past five years, similar programs have started up, and they have moved their program into four stationary clinics, Thompson said.
People must begin to understand how many dogs are euthanized because of overpopulation, and that while their dog is cute, it will be hard to find homes for all of its puppies, Thompson said.
"I think we're definitely at the stage where we just need to stress education," she said. "They just have no idea how many animals have to be euthanized."
Other areas of the country, where altering pets is an almost compulsory part of ownership, don't have nearly the overpopulation problem Georgia does or the euthanasia rates, she said.
Adoptable pets are in demand in Northeastern states because people spay and neuter. Local animal advocacy groups routinely transport dozens of Georgia shelter dogs to foster homes in New York, Connecticut and New Jersey.
MOMS Rescue, of out New Jersey, last week led a "Georgia Puppy Caravan," loading dozens of Atlanta-area shelter dogs in danger of being put to sleep into almost 100 vans and taking them up North, according to www.georgiapuppycaravan.org.
"We can send 25 dogs," Thompson said. "They can get there on Friday, and half of them can be adopted out on Saturday. And it's just random puppies. It's not like we're sending them purebreds or anything."
Adopting a stray from Georgia has almost become a status symbol for Northeastern animal advocates, Thompson said.
"We don't advertise that the dogs are from Georgia," said Marguerite Pearson, spokeswoman for the Animal Protective Foundation outside of Schenectady, N.Y. "But when we do tell them where the dog came from, they think it's pretty cool. ... It's almost like by adopting this Georgia shelter dog who could have otherwise been euthanized, they're doing something extra to help."
Georgia has a reputation for pet overpopulation and euthanasia, said Michelle Humphries, executive director of the Georgia Humane Society.
A lot of people have the attitude that a dog's life isn't worth much, she said. That's not going to change quickly. Stricter spay and neuter laws may be the only way to get people to make the effort to have their dogs neutered.
The only state law requiring spaying or neutering applies to strays adopted through shelters or rescue groups, she said.
Some states, counties and cities charge pet owners hefty fees if they do not have their dogs and cats fixed, Thomas said.
"I compare it to seat belts," Humphries said. "Drivers knew that seat belts could keep them from being killed in car accident. They knew they could keep them from being maimed in a car accident. But no one wore their seat belt until there was a law that said they had to."
Fornash agrees that education alone may not change attitudes, but knows that mandatory spaying and neutering would be unpopular and almost impossible to enforce in Madison and Oglethorpe counties, she said.
"They can't afford to have basic animal control, and if they can't afford to have animal control, how can they afford to enforce something like that?" she said.
Source
The shelter provides low-cost spaying and neutering, but too many people don't take advantage of the service - even when they've seen the consequences, Fornash said.
"Unfortunately, I don't think they even think about it," she said. "They bring us their puppies, and they bring us their kittens, but they don't bring us mama to get her fixed."
The shelter has offered low-cost spaying and neutering for more than five years.
Visiting veterinarians have performed 2,500 sterilizations since January, and the shelter's board and Fornash plan to expand the service as soon as they can raise the money for a second operating table.
However, this year's 2,500 surgeries barely will make a dent in Madison and Oglethorpe counties' overpopulation problem.
The shelter, which is built to hold 130 dogs at a time, took in almost 600 in June and July alone. The shelter took in 3,000 pets in 2008.
"All you have to do is look at the numbers of animals we have surrendered to us; it's obvious that people aren't spaying and neutering like they should," Fornash said.
Pet owners in Georgia have more access to affordable spaying and neutering than they used to, but many still don't want to fix their pets or just don't care, said Susan Thompson, a co-founder of Pet Mechanics - a low-cost spay and neuter nonprofit that serves Elbert, Jackson, Stephens and Whitfield counties.
Thompson and veterinarian Amber Polvere launched a mobile spaying and neutering clinic in 2005, bringing low-cost sterilization to every corner of rural Northeast Georgia in a customized RV. Over the past five years, similar programs have started up, and they have moved their program into four stationary clinics, Thompson said.
People must begin to understand how many dogs are euthanized because of overpopulation, and that while their dog is cute, it will be hard to find homes for all of its puppies, Thompson said.
"I think we're definitely at the stage where we just need to stress education," she said. "They just have no idea how many animals have to be euthanized."
Other areas of the country, where altering pets is an almost compulsory part of ownership, don't have nearly the overpopulation problem Georgia does or the euthanasia rates, she said.
Adoptable pets are in demand in Northeastern states because people spay and neuter. Local animal advocacy groups routinely transport dozens of Georgia shelter dogs to foster homes in New York, Connecticut and New Jersey.
MOMS Rescue, of out New Jersey, last week led a "Georgia Puppy Caravan," loading dozens of Atlanta-area shelter dogs in danger of being put to sleep into almost 100 vans and taking them up North, according to www.georgiapuppycaravan.org.
"We can send 25 dogs," Thompson said. "They can get there on Friday, and half of them can be adopted out on Saturday. And it's just random puppies. It's not like we're sending them purebreds or anything."
Adopting a stray from Georgia has almost become a status symbol for Northeastern animal advocates, Thompson said.
"We don't advertise that the dogs are from Georgia," said Marguerite Pearson, spokeswoman for the Animal Protective Foundation outside of Schenectady, N.Y. "But when we do tell them where the dog came from, they think it's pretty cool. ... It's almost like by adopting this Georgia shelter dog who could have otherwise been euthanized, they're doing something extra to help."
Georgia has a reputation for pet overpopulation and euthanasia, said Michelle Humphries, executive director of the Georgia Humane Society.
A lot of people have the attitude that a dog's life isn't worth much, she said. That's not going to change quickly. Stricter spay and neuter laws may be the only way to get people to make the effort to have their dogs neutered.
The only state law requiring spaying or neutering applies to strays adopted through shelters or rescue groups, she said.
Some states, counties and cities charge pet owners hefty fees if they do not have their dogs and cats fixed, Thomas said.
"I compare it to seat belts," Humphries said. "Drivers knew that seat belts could keep them from being killed in car accident. They knew they could keep them from being maimed in a car accident. But no one wore their seat belt until there was a law that said they had to."
Fornash agrees that education alone may not change attitudes, but knows that mandatory spaying and neutering would be unpopular and almost impossible to enforce in Madison and Oglethorpe counties, she said.
"They can't afford to have basic animal control, and if they can't afford to have animal control, how can they afford to enforce something like that?" she said.
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