Man arrested for trespassing at Macon visitor center spreads holiday cheer in court
A man who earlier this month was arrested for allegedly trespassing at Visit Macon’s Downtown Visitor Center greeted those assembled in a small courtroom for a first-appearance hearing at the Bibb County jail on Dec. 10 with multiple, hearty, “Happy holidays.”
The man went on, adding, “I just want to tell everybody happy holidays. This is December. Happy holidays to everybody.”
Magistrate Jerome Sinclair replied, “OK, well, happy holidays. Do you understand the charge being presented against you?”
The man assured the judge that he did.
After Sinclair set bond for the man, the judge reminded him that he was banned from the Visitor Center.
“Stay away from 450 MLK Jr. Boulevard if you want to avoid coming back to jail,” the judge said. “Stay away.”
The man said he understood.
As he walked off, he offered the room one more “happy holidays.”
Dispatches: A Monroe County sheriff’s deputy spotted a 30-year-old Chicago man standing beside a Dodge Durango along Interstate 75 north of Forsyth on Dec. 4 after someone reported seeing the SUV weaving down the freeway. The man, who smelled of alcohol and whose eyes were glassy, said he had recently downed five beers but that he wasn’t the driver. The man said the driver had left and he pointed toward some woods. But there was no one there. The man then admitted that he was the driver and that he had pulled over because his car wasn’t working. After the man flunked some sobriety tests, the deputy found a case of Bud Light Platinums, two of which were empty, inside the SUV. . . . When a Monroe sheriff’s deputy smelled the reek of weed coming from a Honda CR-V at a sobriety checkpoint on Nov. 19, a 19-year-old woman from Savannah who was in the SUV said she didn’t smoke marijuana. As it turned out, there was weed in the car. A search of her purse turned up some ecstasy pills, which, according to an incident report, she said were not hers. She was jailed on drug charges.