Michael Peter Marrero stood in front of Paulding Superior Court Chief Judge Tony Beavers and pled guilty to 61 counts of Sexual Exploitation of Children (possession of child pornography). The plea was non-negotiated and Judge Beavers sentenced Marrero to 40 years where he would serve 20 years in state prison.

The GreyStone Power Foundation Scholarship is a $3,000 scholarship that was created as a means to give back to exceptional students who contribute to their community. This year, after evaluating dozens of applicants, Auburn Merritt of Dallas, Emmanuel Eziakor of Cobb, Jake Strickland of Dallas, Jordan Houle of Hiram and Jaden Lamar of Douglasville were chosen by Foundation board members as recipients of these scholarships.

Volunteers at WellStar Douglas and WellStar Paulding Hospitals recently presented the WellStar Foundation with a combined donation of $130,000. A total of 154 individuals volunteered more than 28,000 hours to support both hospitals. Donated funds were raised through gift shop sales, personal contributions and special fundraisers hosted throughout the year.

Chattahoochee Technical College’s Department of Public Safety has named Alfredrick Campbell, of Cobb County, as the college’s new Chief of Police. Campbell, who was originally hired as a campus police officer, was promoted to Deputy Chief of Police in December of 2015.

Paulding County Board of Commissioners voted to approve an Intergovernmental Agreement between the county, the school district, and the Sheriff's Office providing for the utilization of school resource officers in Paulding County schools.

Paulding’s Elections and Registration staff have been seeing a good showing of early voters for the July 24th Run-off Election. According to Deidre Holden, supervisor, Paulding County Elections, and Registration, early voting is going well leading into Run-off week. Ms. Holden updated Paulding commissioners during last week’s morning session.

This was the second graduation of the Paulding Judicial Circuit Drug Court Program. Together with the four participants who graduated in January, this brings the total number of program graduates to eight. These graduates have been in the program for approximately two years. The program lasts a minimum of eighteen months, but it takes some graduates considerably longer to complete it.

Chattahoochee Technical College’s Paulding Engagement Committee volunteered recently to help with the YMCA Summer Lunch Break Program. This volunteer effort marks the third year in a row that this group has helped with this initiative.

Paulding County Sheriff’s Office is offering a free “Safe Kids” child fingerprinting event to residents. This is an opportunity to have pertinent information about your child recorded in the event a child gets lost or goes missing. The event will be held in the lobby of the Paulding County Sheriff’s Office on the remaining three Thursday evenings in July.

Small Town Bank, is coming to Paulding County. Genevieve Cole has joined the team of Small Town Bank as their Paulding County President. Cole states, “I’m honored to have served my county for 44 years as a community banker and that I will continue banking as the residents have come to know and appreciate where they have a name, not a number.”