Barrow Journal

After enduring a lengthy board debate Tuesday night that threatened to undo a month of work on his plan to salvage the county’s finances, County Chairman Danny Yearwood then faced a brutal public flogging by Sheriff Jud Smith. [Full Story »] 

The community is invited to participate in a patriotic farewell Monday morning for the 250 Winder-based soldiers who are being deployed to Afghanistan.

The soldiers will board buses at the Georgia National Guard Armory in Winder and at 9 a.m. head south on Hwy. 81 and then west on Ga. Hwy. 316.

The public is invited to bring flags and posters and to line up along Hwy. 81 south of Winder. The buses will be escorted out of town by Sheriff Jud Smith, whose brother Andy Smith, is among those being deployed.
[Full Story »] 

Barrow County narcotics investigators last Friday night made their biggest heroin bust in more than a decade. They arrested a Snellville drug dealer a little before midnight in the parking lot of a Bethlehem business and recovered 8 grams of heroin. That was enough for up to 160 single doses with a street value of about $3,000, according to the Barrow County Sheriff’s Office. [Full Story »] 

A Snellville man was arrested Friday night in a Bethlehem parking lot for allegedly trafficking heroin and other drugs. [Full Story »] 

One man has been charged in the 2005 arson of New Life Deliverance Church in Barrow County. Maurice Arnold, 24, of Dacula, was charged last week by the Barrow County Sheriff's Office with arson, conspiracy to commit arson and vandalism to a place of worship. He is the son of the church's pastor. [Full Story »] 

Barrow County’s retiring sheriff has asked the Georgia Bureau of Investigation to look into an ongoing dispute with a Snellville supply firm that in 2007, outfitted 36 sheriff’s office vehicles with allegedly overpriced equipment that did not meet county specs. [Full Story »] 

Is the cold weather keeping people too close for comfort? Or is it the pressure of the worsening economy? Or maybe the stress of the holiday season? [Full Story »]