The market offers fresh vegetables, baked goods, preserves and jellies, eggs, crafts, soaps, jewelry and plants. Vendors are welcome at $5 per table.

ASSAULT: On May 11, Deputy Alan Stratton was dispatched to a home on Young Harris Road, where a woman said she had been assaulted and wanted to leave the house.

The suspect, Humbert L. McElreath, 56, denied hitting the woman, but said they had engaged in an argument over a car. The woman had a burn on her chin, where she said McElreath had burned her with a cigarette. She also had bruises on her legs and knots on the top of her head.

While the deputy was questioning the pair, McElreath fell to the floor in an apparent seizure, but the woman said he often acts like he is having a seizure.

McElreath was arrested and charged with battery.

ASSAULT: On May 12, a deputy was dispatched to a home on Blacks Creek Church Road, where a woman said a man hit her in the head as they argued about the bills.

The man said the woman was chatting with another man over the Internet and when he objected to this, she called him retarded then hit him in the nose. Neither person had any injuries, but they were told how to obtain warrants.

DRUG FOUND: On May 7, Deputy Shawn Rhoades made a traffic stop on U.S. Highway 29 after observing a woman almost turn into the driveway of a home where deputies were serving a search warrant.

The driver, Christina N. Hogan, 27, of Hull was charged with driving while her license was suspended, but a search of her car turned up an anti-anxiety pill. She was charged with possessing the drug, Alprazolam, along with not having her child properly placed in a child restraint seat.

HARASSMENT: On May 7, a resident of Fleming Street, reported she had been receiving harassing telephone calls from a man and woman since the early-morning hours, but refused to answer.

The caller left messages that she was going to whip the complainant’s rear end.

THEFT: On May 7, Cpl. Jason Luke was dispatched to Comer, where a man said someone stole his cell phone after he left it on the trunk of the car while he went inside a store after pumping gasoline.

He contacted AT&T and learned an unknown person was using the phone. The man said he would like to have the phone back because he paid a lot for it.

BURGLARY: On May 8, Deputy Alan Stratton was dispatched to a home on Jot Em Down Road, where a man said he found the door kicked in and two television sets stolen.

METH SEIZED: On May 8, Deputy Shawn Rhoades was working a safety checkpoint on Neese-Commerce Road at Cody Fowler Road, when a Dodge Ram pickup arrived and he learned the passenger was on probation for possession of methamphetamine.

The K-9 was brought over to search the pickup and the dog made a hit on the passenger door. A search revealed a piece of aluminum foil containing some meth.

Bryant D. Cromer, 36, of Webbs Creek Road, Commerce, was charged with possession and the driver, Melissa l. Wioskoski, 29, of Nicholson was charged with possession of a drug-related object after a glass smoking device was found in the console wrapped in a diaper.

PHONE TAKEN: On May 9, a student at Madison County High School reported someone removed her cellphone from a jacket while she went into the restroom near the gymnasium.

TRAILER STOLEN: On May 9, a man reported he was on Wesley Chapel Road about 9:30 p.m. when a tire went flat on a single-axle trailer he was pulling. He stopped at a church parking lot and left the trailer overnight, but when he returned the next morning to replace the tire, the trailer was gone.

THEFT: On May 9, Deputy Josh Smith met with two people in the parking lot of Ingles off U.S. Highway 29, where a man was returning a purse he had found. The woman who took the purse said it belonged to her mother.

The deputy located the mother at home on Glenn Carrie Road and she explained the purse had been stolen while she was shopping at the Dollar General in Hull. Everything was in the purse, except her checkbook.

NO HELMETS: On May 9, Deputy Michael Moore was dispatched to Allen Road, where two people were seen riding motorcycles without wearing helmets.

Moore arrived and saw a motorcycle with a male driver and female passenger, neither wearing helmets. However, after activating his blue lights, the motorcycle fled up Georgia Highway 98 toward Jackson County.

As the deputy proceeded in that direction, he spotted some stopped vehicles and a man and woman standing near a ditch, where the motorcycle had wrecked. He ordered the pair to lay on the ground, but when the man ignored him, the deputy pulled out his Taser gun and both complied.

Jason E. Smith, 24, of D Williams Road, Commerce, was charged with attempting to flee, reckless driving, and not wearing his helmet. A Georgia State trooper arrived and charged Smith with DUI and weaving in the road.

An investigation also showed the motorcycle was stolen from Seymour’s Towing in Commerce. Smith was also charged with having stolen property.

PEDESTRIAN ARRESTED: On May 9, Deputy Josh Smith was dispatched to Davis Street to check on a suspicious person going door-to-door in Hull.

Smith spotted the person riding a bicycle on Georgia Highway 72 heading towards Glenn Carrie Road, where he stopped at the Golden Pantry.

The deputy approached the man, who smelled of alcohol and had to lean on the bike to keep from falling over. He admitted to drinking a beer.

Thomas J. Moreland, 51, of Fernwood Court, Athens, was charged with being a pedestrian under the influence.

TRESPASSING: On May 9, Deputy Brandon Hanley was dispatched to Davids Home Pentecostal Holiness Church on Davids Home Church Road, where the heat pump was tampered with by someone who cut a copper tube and removed a section of copper wire.

CHURCH THEFT: On May 9, Deputy Brandon Moss was dispatched to Liberty Church on Georgia Highway 106, Danielsville, where a deacon reported that during the service on May 6 the church was hot as the air conditioning unit was not working.

An electrician was contacted he found about 75 feet of copper pipe had been cut from under the church.

A camera positioned to overlook the area where entry was made was provided to investigators to see if it had evidence identifying the thieves.

THREAT: On May 9, a deputy met with a granite shop owner in Carlton, who said he had to fire an employee and this ex-employee told another employee he was going to kick the owner’s rear end.

PORN, DRUGS FOUND: On May 9, Sgt. Jeff Vaughn was dispatched to a home on Pine Valley Farm Road to assist Probation Officer Stan Jones with checking on a registered sex offender. Jones called for assistance after he heard a baby crying inside the house, where no one responded to his knocks.

Both officers knocked on the door and Vaughn also heard the baby. Finally, a woman answered the door and explained it was her baby and she had been sleeping.

Jones advised the sex offender’s wife, Deborah Burton, 50, that children should not be staying in this house.

The offender was in his bedroom and was told to come out.

The room was searched and deputies found 11 narcotic pills and pornographic DVDs.

Deborah Burton was charged with possessing a drug not in its original container. The woman with the child left the residence. The violations made by the sex offender were documented.

RECKLESS DRIVING: On May 10, Deputy Brandon Moss was traveling on Winns Lake Road and stopped a Chevrolet Blazer in connection with a domestic case.

As Moss began to walk up the Blazer with three occupants, it sped off. A pursuit followed, reaching speeds around 80 mph. The vehicle turned onto Duffel Martin Road, then onto dead-end Happy Hollow Road.

The vehicle drove through a locked red gate into a field and down a path in the woods about a mile. Moss lost sight of the vehicle as it topped a hill, but when he came over the hill he saw the Blazer parked in the woods with no one around.

The deputy ran the tag and it came back stolen out of Banks County.

Deputy Shawn Rhoades arrived with the K-9 unit and they attempted to track the offenders, but the dog lost the scent after about 20 minutes.

The men escaped, but Moss had recognized the driver as Frederick O. Brooks of Comer. He didn’t know the other two men. Warrants charging Brooks with fleeing, reckless driving, damage to property and receiving stolen property were secured.

Brooks, 39, of Davids Home Church Road, Comer, was arrested later in the day.

THEFT: On May 10, Deputy Brandon Moss spoke to a resident of Christian Strickland Road, who reported someone stole her mother’s ring while she was at church.

BURGLARY: On May 10, Cpl. Michael Moore met with a resident of Rogers Church Road, Danielsville, who said he came home to find his barn door open. Then he discovered someone had gotten inside his home by going through a window.

A number of items were reported stolen.

BURGLARY: On May 10, Sgt. Jeff Vaughn was dispatched to the Chastain Farm on Parham Town Road, where about 100 feet of copper wire had been removed from chicken houses.

THEFT: On May 10, Investigator Doug Martin spoke with an investigator for First Citizen Bank, who reported that on April 30 a Madison County woman brought in a check for $145 and while the check was cashed, the teller made a mistake and gave the woman $1,450.

Later the bank contacted the woman and she acknowledge the mistake, but said she had already spent the money. The bank made arrangements for her to pay it back, but now the woman cannot be found.

METH SEIZED: On May 10, Deputy Josh Fowler was working a safety checkpoint on Paoli Road at Elm Road, when a pickup stopped and he learned the driver, Ryan M. Shuman, was wanted on warrants from Madison and Gwinnett counties.

Shuman, 31, of Comer was placed under arrest. When deputies looked through the vehicle they found needles and small plastic baggies containing methamphetamine. He was also charged with possession.

FIGHT: On May 11, Lt. Mark Jerome investigated a fight at Madison County High School. He was told one student shot a “hornet,” described as a wadded piece of paper with a rubber band, and hit another student in the shoulder.

The student then hit the offender in the face, Both students were charged with disruption of a public school.

DAMAGE: On May 11, Deputy Wesley Bryant was dispatched to Perfect Image Hair Salon on Old Danielsvile Road, Hull, where the front door had been shattered.

The owner arrived, but nothing was found missing.

BURGLARY: On May 11, Deputy Greg Bryson was dispatched to Paoli Road, where a woman said she was asleep when she was awakened by noise.

She looked outside and saw a vehicle near her storage building behind the house and three men getting into the vehicle with her weedeater.

The suspects were described as black males, with two being older than the third. One was bald and the younger man had dreadlocks. They were in a light gray four-door car, possibly a Honda Accord.

A Husqvarna weedeater, chain saw, pressure washer, socket set, electric drill, trolling motor, battery charger and other items were stolen. The suspects are possibly from Elberton and they were possibly in a car owned by the girlfriend of one of the thieves.

BURGLARY: On May 11, Lt. Jason Ring spoke to a man on Georgia Highway 72 East who said his wife spotted a red SUV in front of their garage and a man carrying a box out to the vehicle.

The man checked and discovered a blower, a chainsaw and another saw were missing.

DUI: On May 11, Sgt. Jeff Strickland was dispatched to a wreck on Bonds Lake Road, where a Saturn was resting on its roof in the roadway.

No one was at the wreck, but a check of the tag showed it was registered to Abbe J. Daniel of Jot Em Down Road.

Strickland reached the suspect’s mother, who said her daughter called earlier saying she had wreck. As he investigated, a man in Franklin County called to say the suspect was passed out at his home.

The deputy went to the home and spoke to Daniel, who kept saying she didn’t understand what he was saying. Daniel was unable to stand on her own, but admitted she had been driving when she wrecked,

Daniel, 56, was charged with DUI and failure to report a wreck.

SHOPLIFTING: On May 12, Deputy Greg Bryson was dispatched to Ingles on U.S. Highway 29, where a shoplifting suspect had left the store, but was located by a Georgia State Patrol trooper on Old Danielsville Road.

The suspect had filled a buggy with disposable diapers and pushed the cart outside, where he was confronted. Odell N. Waller, 44, of Cedar Grove Road, Lexington, was charged with shoplifting.

SHOPLIFTING: On May 12, Deputy Greg Bryson was dispatched to the Dollar General Store on Glenn Carrie Road, where a man was seen opening a box of Pop-Tarts and placing two packs in his pockets.

When the offender was confronted, he denied having the Pop-Tarts, but when she told him she saw his actions, he confessed.

DeQuinnte S. Carter, 17, of Hull was charged with shoplifting.

DUI: On May 12, Deputy Alan Stratton was dispatched to Hardman Morris Road for a wreck. The vehicle was off the road and in the tree line. The driver said his brakes locked down. The man smelled of alcohol and admitted having three beers.

Paul C. Bennett, 23, of Winterville was charged with DUI.

DISORDERLY HOUSE: On May 12, Lt. Jason Luke was dispatched to check on reports of kids yelling at a home on A.C. Carey Road.

When Luke and Sgt. Gary Floyd arrived, they saw several juveniles standing outside the home, but the young people ran into the woods as the officers approached. The deputies spoke to the homeowner, Angela D. Hughes, who appeared intoxicated, and she said no one there had been drinking.

However, deputies saw more juveniles inside her home including one who was so intoxicated she couldn’t stand and was vomiting into a trashcan. For the next four hours, juveniles that ran off began returning to the house and nearly all had been drinking alcohol.

Parents were contacted and were concerned, as some said they understood their children would be visiting Hughes’ daughter and eating popcorn and watching movies.

Parents became irate when they learned an underage drinking party was taking place.

Hughes, 49, was charged with furnishing alcohol to minors, maintaining a disorderly house, reckless conduct and contributing to the delinquency of a minor.

Evan Escoe of Hull was killed instantly and his best friend, Samuel Hart of Comer, died later in the hospital.

Both boys were 10 years old, and were being driven to Sandy Creek Park when a truck driven by 58-year-old Thomas Green Land Jr. rear-ended their car.

Land pleaded guilty to two counts of second-degree homicide by vehicle and one count of following another vehicle too closely, and last Thursday was handed a two-year sentenced by Clarke County State Court Judge Ethelyn Simpson.

The judge ordered Land to serve six months of the sentence in jail and the balance on probation, during which time his driver’s license will be suspended, according to court records.

The trucker from Hudson, N.C., had remained free on bond until he signed a plea agreement with prosecutors and was sentenced by Simpson and booked into the Clarke County Jail that same day.

Land was remorseful from the day of the wreck and was prepared to be punished for his actions, according to his attorney, Kevin T. Almeroth.

“He indicated early on that he intended to enter guilty pleas as to accept responsibility for what happened and not unnecessarily burden the Escoe and Hart families with having to endure the court process any longer than necessary,” Almeroth said.

The day of the double-fatal wreck, Land was driving a tractor-trailer north on Commerce Road so close behind a car that he was unable to stop when the car slowed for another car making a turn, Athens-Clarke police said.

Traveling at 55 mph, it would take an 18-wheeler 200 to 300 feet to come to a stop, police said, but Land’s rig left only about 50 feet of skid marks leading up to the crash.

Escoe, who was in the back seat, was killed instantly, police said; he was sitting next to Hart, who died the next day at an Atlanta hospital.

Hart’s mother was driving the boys to go swimming at Sandy Creek Park, and later that night the boys planned to camp out in Hart’s yard.

The woman survived the wreck, as did her 8-year-old son, who was buckled into the front seat next to her.

The boys in the back seat were wearing seat belts, according to police, but the collision caused so much damage neither could have survived.

After the wreck, police took a blood sample from Land, and tests determined he wasn’t under the influence of alcohol or drugs, according to police.

The boys who died may have lived in different parts of Madison County, but the entire county united as they mourned the tragedy.

Escoe and Hart first met in pre-kindergarten, went to different elementary schools, and were excited about the upcoming school year when they would attend the same school again.

“They were in the back seat talking about going to middle school together,” Samuel Hart’s mother, Elisha Hart, told the Athens Banner-Herald soon after her son was killed. “Samuel said, ‘We can get in trouble like we did in pre-k.’”

Moments later, the tractor-trailer slammed into the car.

Elisha Hart said Escoe and her son were more like brothers than friends.

“They squirted each other with the water hose and climbed trees,” she said in an interview last June. “I’d say, ‘Don’t get hurt,’ and he’d say, ‘We won’t, Mama. We’re tough, Mama. We’re redneck boys.’”

The day before the wreck, Hart’s Little League baseball team won the Madison County championship.

Escoe earned his nickname “Evanator” because he was very energetic, according to his father, Jayson Escoe, but he also was respectful and addressed people with “yes, sir” and “no, sir.”

Helecia Escoe recalled her son and Hart as “two peas in a pod” who both loved outdoor activities.

Her last memory of her son was him leaving for Sandy Creek Park.

“He threw his towel on his shoulder and looked at Elisha (Hart) and said, ‘Do you think I need to bring some underwear?’ and (Hart) said, ‘Evan, that would be a good idea,’” Helecia Escoe told the Banner-Herald.

“Then he walked out the door.”

• Follow Criminal Justice reporter Joe Johnson at www.twitter.com/JoeJohnsonABH or www.facebook.com/JoeJohnsonABH

The state Board of Education last week granted the school system “charter system” status, approving the school district’s plans to alter the way students learn in the county.

The state’s approval sets the stage for a school partnership with the county’s big agriculture industry. They hope that by showing how subjects like math and science are important to the real world of farming, students will see how those subjects are relevant — and learn better.

“We don’t know exactly what it’s going to look like yet,” said Sherrie Gibney-Sherman, assistant superintendent for curriculum and instruction for the Madison County School System.

As a charter district, the county will be able to get “waivers” from the state, excusing schools from having to meet some of the rigid state rules that dictate how schools have to be run and classes have to be taught.

Governing boards will be set up for each county school over the summer, and only after they get some training will these boards begin to meet and hash out exactly what waivers they want to ask for.

“At individual schools they can make recommendations for individual waivers they want to enact,” Gibney-Sherman said.

That doesn’t mean they can decide to start their school days earlier or later, for example; that would create transportation issues, she said. And school plans will have to be vetted by administrators.

But schools may get some flexibility, for example, in how they prepare Individual Educational Plans, which lay out the educational needs and goals for children with a disability.

“We’ll develop our own,” Gibney-Sherman said.

Students will have to take the same standardized tests and end-of-course tests all other public school students in Georgia must take to demonstrate they’ve learned what state education officials say they should be learning in schools.

“We won’t be excused from being accountable,” said Madison County School Superintendent Allen McCannon.

But the big idea is simple, Gibney-Sherman said.

School officials want to bring the farm into area schools — and take students to the farm.

Agriculture is big in the county just north of Athens. Madison County was the state’s fourth-ranking agricultural county in 2009, producing more than $73 million in poultry, beef and other farm products, according to the Georgia Farm Gate Value Report.

Madison County farmers will pitch in to help, said Terry Chandler, a Madison County cattle grower — and students will learn on the farm. If they spend time on a cattle farm, for instance, they’ll learn genetics, physiology, marketing, soil chemistry, entomology and microbiology, among other subjects, he said.

“You can just go in a thousand different directions with it. That’s just the tip of the iceberg,” he said.

Students in teacher Trisha Lastly’s Madison County High School agriculture class said they’re believers in the new approach. During a meeting on Monday that brought together Chandler and other community leaders to hear about the school district’s plan, the students showed off the lush flowers and ornamental plants they’ve been growing in a greenhouse on the high school campus, as well as the irrigation system they built themselves.

Nearby, radishes and other food plants grew in container gardens. They’re building more of the gardens, and hope soon to begin serving some of what they grow in the school lunchrooms around the county.

“This is what we’re talking about in the charter system. This is where we’re headed,” said McCannon.

Friends Amber Wilbanks and Jordan Collins, who will be juniors next year, said their agricultural classes have helped them learn more than just subject matter.

“I like just being able to work with my hands and take charge,” Collins said.

When students use what they’ve learned in actually doing something such as raising food, they’re also learning teamwork, leadership and other skills that will help them in real work situations, Collins said.

“We’re going to participate in everything (as opposed to just absorbing knowledge in the classroom),” Wilbanks said.

Wilbanks recently learned a little math during her metal fabrication class. A Madison County man asked the class to build metal frames for a solar water heater he’s working on. The frames will hold a parabolic mirror, which will focus light on a pipe full of water, heating the water up to steam to power a small engine. As part of the project, the students had to learn the calculations to find the center of a parabola, Wilbanks said.

Williams hosted about a dozen visitors, including state Sen. Frank Ginn, R-Danielsville, who arranged for students to tour the Transco compressor station on Winns Lake Road.

“I love the opportunity to answer questions like this,” said Larry Hjalmarson, Williams’ vice president for safety, environment and pipeline integrity.

The students in Joe Costyn’s high school environmental science class became interested in Madison County’s gas line compressor when they attended a Feb. 2 meeting where the public was allowed to comment on a request to renew a Transco permit.

Students questioned the compressor station’s effect on the nearby environment and residents during the meeting.

Ginn helped arrange the tour after he received several letters from students who seemed to misunderstand some facts about natural gas, Ginn said.

Students asked if officials believed the compressor station’s emissions could be linked to cancer cases in the nearby community.

“Everything that we’re seeing, the answer to that question is no,” said Hjalmarson.

The Georgia Department of Public Health tested nearby soil, air and water supplies and found that the station does not pose a health risk.

Chase Klugh asked about upgrading Comer’s compressor station with technology that would help lower the station’s pollution.

“We’ve actually already done that at other plants,” Hjalmarson said.

Williams hasn’t installed the technology on all of its compressor stations because it’s not required and because it’s expensive, he said.

Spending the extra money doesn’t mean it’ll be able to recoup the cost from its customers and could put the company at a disadvantage when dealing with competitors, he said.

“That becomes a very expensive decision for us,” Hjalmarson said.

It’s likely that Comer’s compressor station eventually will receive the new technology, said Mark Mulder, a Williams district manager. Federal regulations that exist for other compressor stations likely will go into effect for the Comer facility in the future.

“It’s a question of when that will happen here,” Mulder said. “It’s not a question of us not wanting to do this.”

The Comer compression station was built in 1950 and is one of many such stations along Transco’s more than 1,600-mile route from the Gulf of Mexico to New York City. Students toured the facility and got to watch a giant V-16 engine pushing natural gas to the next compressor station.

Williams does not deal directly with residential customers. Instead, it sells natural gas to other utility companies who then sell to businesses and homes, Mulder said.

“We don’t sell directly to you, which is why you’ve probably never heard of us,” he said.

The natural gas industry isn’t one many people understand, Hjalmarson said.

“We’re kind of a quiet industry. People don’t know about us because we’re literally underground,” he said.

Williams does want to prevent any pipeline accidents, and as a company leader in safety, he’s aiming for zero pipeline failures, Hjalmarson said.

“I think about people who live along our pipeline all the time,” he said.

“I don’t work, I fish,” Tessier said and laughed.

Tessier is one of many people who noticed changes in the park when the state’s Department of Natural Resources downgraded the 1,118-acre Watson Mill from a state park to an outdoor recreation area last summer due to budget cuts. Trash built up, fewer people came to the park and a vandal threw a picnic table into the river, locals said.

As of May 1, Watson Mill is again a state park, and Tessier already has seen improvements, he said.

“They’ve cleaned up a whole lot,” he said. People can rent canoes again, buy a soda and the bathrooms are unlocked.

“There’s even toilet paper,” Tessier said.

Local and state leaders came to Watson Mill this week to celebrate the area’s reinstated state park status — an accomplishment that included financial aid from Madison and Oglethorpe counties, as well as the Friends of Watson Mill State Park.

“It would’ve been easy to give up,” said state Rep. Chuck Williams, R-Watkinsville.

But people from Madison and Oglethorpe counties — the park spans both — continued to write letters, send emails, call and remind their representatives that Watson Mill needed more funding and state park status to stay a safe, clean environment, Williams said.

State officials worked with local leaders to come to a compromise about how Watson Mill could again become a state park.

“It took an effort by everybody to get us to this point,” said Madison County Commission Chairman Anthony Dove.

The park boasts amenities like the covered bridge, built in 1885, a 5-acre mill pond, log cabins, nearly a dozen horse camps and miles of trails.

Without state park status, Watson Mill didn’t have an employee available to take reservations for campsites, the pavilion and other amenities. Without reservations, residents worried that tourists would stop coming to the park, and sales tax dollars would dry up, Dove said.

Madison County will give $21,700 to the state to help fund two park positions and allow park visitors to make reservations.

“Madison County is going to get more than its share back,” Dove said.

Oglethorpe County commissioners agreed to fund the park another $5,000 and the Friends of Watson Mill State Park kicked in another $3,300.

Weyman and Diane Cochran both ride horses along Watson Mill’s trails, and they’re glad to see the park back on track.

“There’s a lot of beautiful area down here and there’s a lot of history here,” Weyman Cochran said.