CLASSIC CITY NEWS

By Joe Johnson Jennifer Ashley Lueke, 39, of Glendale Heights in Winterville, was arrested for aggravated assault after she allegedly threatened neighbors with a gun According to police, the incident occurred on the afternoon of August 20th when Lueke reportedly waved a handgun while yelling at Hispanic neighbors across the street. One woman told police that she left with her children because she claimed Lueke pointed the gun and was afraid she was going to shoot them. The w

By Joe Johnson An Athens grand jury has indicted a Jackson County man for allegedly sexually assaulting a 22-year old woman last year in her eastside apartment. Jacob Steven Dockery, 19, of Jefferson Road, was charged with rape and aggravated sodomy with force, according to the indictment that was filed on August 11th. He is currently incarcerated at the Madison County Jail for a sexual assault that allegedly occurred in Hull. The Athens incident reportedly happened in Septem

The Morton Theatre Corporation presents Synchronicity Theatre’s acclaimed musical adaptation of Catching the Moon: The Story of a Young Girl’s Baseball Dream on Friday, Sept. 25, with performances at 10 a.m. and noon at the historic Morton Theatre in downtown Athens. Based on the beloved children’s book by Crystal Hubbard and adapted for the stage by Tyrone L. Robinson, Catching the Moon tells the remarkable true story of Marcenia Lyle, the determined young girl who grew up t

By Joe Johnson A 20-year-old University of Georgia student’s hazy recollection of a night drinking with friends in downtown Athens has launched a police investigation into whether she might have been sexually assaulted. Before walking up Friday morning on the landing of City Hall’s staircase, her last recollection was that of drinking with friends at Woodford bar on East Washington Street. She had slept on a flattened out cardboard box, and upon waking saw a homeless man behi

ACCPD has released the following The Athens-Clarke County Police Department has made an arrest in connection with the investigation into a possible sexual assault that occurred in downtown Athens on August 21, 2026. On August 25, 2026, Timothy Evans, a 49-year-old male of Athens, GA, was charged with Financial Transaction Card Theft, Financial Transaction Card Fraud, and Identity Fraud in connection with this case. As the investigation continues, additional charges may be for

Released this afternoon from the Gwinnett County Police Department (Snellville, Ga., August 25, 2026) – The Gwinnett County Police Department is asking for the public's assistance in locating missing person Kevin Thompson. On August 17, 2026, 49-year-old Kevin Thompson was last seen leaving his residence in the 3500 block of Exeter Court in Snellville after stating he was going to a store to purchase cigarettes. Thompson does not have a cell phone. His current whereabouts are

The following was released today by the Barrow County Sheriff’s Office: (Bethlehem) – On Tuesday, August 25, 2026, at approximately 9:15 a.m., the Barrow County Sheriff’s Office responded to a motor vehicle accident involving a dump truck at the Super H gas station located at 752 Christmas Avenue. The preliminary investigation indicates that the dump truck experienced an apparent mechanical issue while traveling in the area. According to the driver, the vehicle lost power, ca

By Joe Johnson Marvin Frank Thompson III, 47, of Trailwood Drive in Watkinsville, was recently arrested in Athens for a DUI crash in which he offered the other driver $500 to not call the police. The incident happened at about 10:15 p.m. August 14th on Atlanta Highway where Thompson’s pickup truck rear-ended another vehicle. The responding officer said before arriving at the scene he was notified by dispatch that Thompson had tried to bribe the other driver. Still behind the

By Joe Johnson Athens police recently arrested a man who was reportedly behaving suspiciously in the heart of the University of Georgia’s Sorority Row. Officers responded at about 8 p.m. on August 16th to investigate a report of a suspicious man sitting in a pickup truck parked in a South Milledge Avenue driveway. Callers to 911 said “they believed he was looking at the females involved in sorority activities in the area,” one of the officers reported, Identified as Mathew

By Joe Johnson Detectives have identified a homeless man as a possible suspect in the sexual assault of a University of Georgia student last week. Police learned about the assault on Friday when the hospital reported that they were treating the victim of an assault that occurred sometime overnight in the area of Athens City Hall. This is an ongoing investigation and police asked for anyone with information regarding the incident to contact Detective Elmore at Giselle.Elmore@a

By Albert DeSimone I happily toiled as a mid-level administrator for the better part of my career at The University of Georgi, where I was a communications director in the IT department with an identity problem. "You don't need to know corn to sell corn flakes.” This old business maxim might resonate with some, but not me. If I was going to “sell” IT services, I felt it necessary to learn about those services. So I did. I acquired a bit of a reputation for my ability to “tal

By Erik Hogan Science may explain the night to us. It describes an aspect of the spherical Earth rotating away from the illumination and warmth of the sun’s light. In those hours of facing the emptiness of space, darkness covers that part of our planet, diminishing ambient light and cooling off the atmosphere. But the Earth continues to rotate and, invariably, the hours of visibility and warmth return. This does not even begin to portray the human experience of the night. Beg

By Joe Johnson Athens police are investigating a sexual assault that reportedly happened in the area of City Hall. They learned about it on Friday when the hospital reported that they were treating the victim of an assault that occurred sometime overnight. A police spokesperson did not know if the victim had been raped, “There is no further information at this time. The investigation is being investigated as a sexual assault,” Lt. Katie Jenkins said. This is an ongoing invest

By Joe Johnson Emergency personnel on Thursday responded to a collision between a school bus and car on the Athens Perimeter. It happened at about 7:15 a.m. on the highway’s outer loop between Chase Street and Prince Avenue, where the car crashed into the rear of the bus and wedged underneath. Children were on board the bus at the time, but none were injured, The driver of the car was transported by ambulance to the hospital with unknown injuries.

By Joe Johnson Brianna Morgan Hill, 26, of Loganville, was arrested last week by police who responded to a report she was screaming inside a vehicle for about 30 minutes in downtown Athens. Police said they received the 911 call at 2:49 a.m. on August 13th and when officers found the woman in her SUV on East Clayton Street they could hear her still screaming. They observed the vehicle pull out of a parking space before stopping directly behind the police car, with Hill conti

(ACCFD) By Joe Johnson Emergency personnel this morning responded to a collision between a school bus and car on the Athens Perimeter. It happened at about 7:15 a.m. on the highway’s outer loop between Chase Street and Prince Avenue. Children were on board the bus at the time, but none reported being injured, The driver of the car was transported by ambulance to the hospital with unknown injuries.

Photo by Mandy King By Joe Johnson Emergency personnel this morning responded to a collision between a school bus and car on the Athens Perimeter. It happened at about 7:15 a.m. on the highway’s outer loop between Chase Street and Prince Avenue, Police, fire and EMS responded to the scene, but it was not immediately known if any children had been on the bus. This story will be updated when more details are known.

By Joe Johnson An employee at the county tag office on Lexington Road was arrested this week following an investigation of suspected fraud. The investigation was launched on August 7th when the county tax Commissioner JP Lemay advised the Athens-Clarke County Police Department that 54-year-old Lilia Banderas-Lozano had committed theft by falsifying a vehicle title transfer document. A county audit of the transaction was given to detectives for investigation, and the employee

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By Joe Johnson Terry Bernard Ball Jr., 38, of Simmons Street, has been indicted for shooting a man last month on The Block, a popular hangout in east Athens. On July 17th he committed assault with a deadly weapon “by shooting Mario Orlando Baker in the butt,” states the indictment filed in Superior Court last week. The incident happened at around 12:30 a.m. when Ball shot Baker at the corner of Vine and Gressom streets, according to the police report. Baker, a 38-year-old