Each week journalists Leah Fleming and Charles Richardson of the Telegraph get together to talk about issues on the minds of Middle Georgians. Scroll down to watch the video of the discussion. Here is a summary of what they covered.

Hot topic #1
Macon could be on the way to having’s Georgia’s first national park!

Representatives Sanford Bishop and Austin Scott visited the Ocmulgee National Monument last week to get a better look at the site before working again on a bill they co-sponsor, that would create the Ocmulgee National Historic Park.

Scott and Bishop both blame elections, budget fights and other more pressing issues for lack of progress on the bill in late 2014. “The bill last year got caught up in some minutia that didn’t apply to this situation,” said Charles Richardson. “If you are a landowner in this area you only give up your land if you want to. And you would be paid for it. The neat thing about this area is that most of the land along that area is used for hunting and fishing.”

Hot topic #2
Macon-Bibb Sheriff David Davis recently announced Uniform Crime Rate totals in Macon-Bibb County for the year 2014.

In Macon-Bibb County, homicides for the year 2014 declined by one, from 17 in 2013 to 16 in 2014. According to combined records from the Macon Police Department and the Bibb County Sheriff’s Office, homicide rates for all of Bibb County are at an 8 year low. 2006 was the only year in the past ten years that the number of homicides was this low.
Reported rapes for the year 2014 were down by 7. Commercial Robberies decreased by 26. Commercial Burglaries also decreased by 26, while Residential Burglaries were down by 24. Other thefts dropped by 19. There were 27 fewer vehicles reported stolen in 2014 than in 2013.

There were 151 more entering autos and 72 more shopliftings reported in 2014 than in 2013. This illustrates that mostly nonviolent property crime resulted in the greatest numerical increases in crime categories. Entering autos and shopliftings are found to be mostly committed by opportunists.

Reports of aggravated assault increased by 32 and personal robberies rose by 72 reported incidents. Reported aggravated assaults resulted from fist fights, knife fights, beatings from baseball bats or other items, and shootings. Many personal robberies tended to have stemmed from illegal drug activity or persons in areas late at night where drugs were bought or sold.

Arsons increased by 9 from 2013 to 2014. These incidents were mostly vacant structures, trash dumpsters, and vehicles.

This kind of statistical report tells you what has happened, said Richardson. “But I would be more interested in knowing is how many bad guys have you put away? It’s amazing that many of these crimes are perpetrated by the same people. If you get these people off the street permanently crime would go down.”

Tags: Leah Fleming, Charles Richardson, Macon&Eggs. Telegraph of Macon, Macon