no doubting thomas

There was no way former Randolph-Clay High and University of Georgia stand-
out Thomas Davis was going to miss Super Bowl 50. Not after three ALC surgeries on
the same knee. So a broken arm two weeks ago was really no obstacle at all. C1.

Sunday
The Chattahoochee Valleys Interview

SUNDAY
Largest News Team SAM WELLBORN
ON GARDENING

February 7, 2016 | Breaking news as it happens at ledger-enquirer.com | $1.50

How do juvenile suspects Iatwas too busy down

wind up charged as adults?

that damn bank.
Thats why Im so
involved in camellias.
In light of three teens now facing charges for the Upatoi homicides, I never had time
for camellias, back
attorneys explain how the S.B. 440 law affects the seven deadly sins then. I was raising a
family and fighting
the bank wars.

Read the interview on A13.

In Nation & World

gop candidates
spAR in crucial
N.H. debate
Read the story on A16.
Age: 19

Age: 15 Age: 17 Age: 19 In Living

By TIM CHITWOOD
tchitwood@ledger-enquirer.com
Attorneys sometimes refer to the
offenses simply as the seven dead-
lies, short for the seven deadly sins,
crimes that can push suspects ages 13
to 16 out of Georgias juvenile justice
system and into adult court.
The colloquial title is easier to recall
than the crimes themselves: aggravat-
ed child molestation, aggravated sex-
ual battery, aggravated sodomy, rape,
voluntary manslaughter, armed rob-
bery using a firearm and, of course,
murder.
Three counts of murder, in the case of
15-year-old Rufus Lanard Burks, whom
Columbus police charged Wednesday
in the Jan. 4 homicides of Gloria Short,
her 17-year-old son Caleb Short, and
her 10-year-old granddaughter Gian-
na Lindsey.
Burks preliminary hearing in Co-
lumbus Recorders Court is set for 2
p.m. Monday. He is one of three teen-
agers charged in the case. The others
are Jervarceay Tapley, 17, and Raheam
Gibson, 19.
Burks, a Spencer High student, is
being held in the Crisp County Youth
Detention Center in Cordele, Ga., po-
lice said. Beside murder, he is charged
csu professor
with two counts of auto theft and one
count each of burglary and using a overcomes
knife to commit a crime.
Though hes 15 now, Burks on Feb.
24 will turn 16, according to his ar-
loss, retires
rest report. Columbus attorney Jen-
nifer Curry will represent him during Read the story on E1.
his Monday hearing, and presumably
during his trial.
Now that hes in custody, the clock
is ticking: Once a juvenile is arrested
on adult charges, prosecutors have 180 In Sports
days from the date of that arrest to get a
See juveniles, A5 five players
to watch for

Taking care class of 2017

Joe Ann
Howe has
raised her
grandson
and grand- Read the story on C1.

of family
daughter,
pictured
on the wall,
since they
were young
children. Job Spotlight
Proposed state laws may help ROBIN
TRIMARCHI/

grandparents raise grandchildren Gallery owner

rtrimarchi@
ledger-enquirer.
com

By ALVA JAMES-JOHNSON ers home about 16 years ago babies, who were then 4 and al- mountain of challenges, which passionate
and placed them in the foster most 5 years old. So she filled included court battles with the
for local art
ajjohnson@ledger-enquirer.com
care system. out the necessary paperwork childrens birth mother, anger
Child Protective Services But Howe, then a resident to have them placed in her management counseling for her
removed Joe Ann Howes two of Woodland, Ga., didnt want custody.
grandchildren from their moth- strangers caring for her grand- From there, Howe faced a See caregivers, A4 Read the story on A20.

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