The Rams stop here
3
takeaways from the Rams’ playoff run
PAGE 1B The story of your life
SUNDAY, March. 1, 2015
Vol. 150, No. 9
150 YEARS OF SERVING NEWTON COUNTY
preview day We invite you to experience the LCA story by joining us at a Preview Day.
THE COVINGTON
Thursday, March 19th at 9:00am
NEWS
C N
digital exclusive Kelsey’s Law to close child pornography loophole
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MAN CONVICTED OF 2001
NEWTON COUNTY
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MERIS LUTZ mlutz@covnews.com
i
Celebrating Black History Month
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Kelsey Upton was just 15 years old when she received a terrifying text from a registered sex offender in another state. The middle-aged man had seen a pornographic image of another woman that had been posted online along with Kelsey’s name, phone number and address in Oxford. Her father, Randy, a retired law enforcement officer, contacted the district attorney and the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, but was shocked to discover that no law had been broken. Because the photograph was not Kelsey’s, the image did not qualify as child pornography, and posting a minor’s information on a porn website was also not illegal. The former classmate who initiated the cruel, dangerous prank went unpunished. “That’s the first thing everybody said, ‘you mean it’s not illegal?’” recalled Randy Upton, speaking at the Capitol this week where he spoke in favor of a new bill that would close that loophole and make it illegal to identify a minor in an obscene depiction. Randy Upton said felt helpless as he watched his daughter spiral into depression as unsavory rumors swept her school. “Some girls confronted her [and said], ‘we heard you were making porn movies’,” He said. “She started struggling with her classes, started having nightmares because she knew, and I knew, that there are sexual predators out there.”
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During its 5th Annual Black History Program Covington held a celebration, themed “A Century of Black Life, Culture & History” in the Newton County Historic Courthouse.
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Covington looking at utilities changes
(Above) Leslie Brown recites his essay featuring a teacher who inspired him.: Chelsea Williams performs “What if I Am A Black Woman”. (Right) : Khristie French performs a solo to a receptive crowd in the Newton County Historic Courthouse Saturday.
submitted photo / The Covington News
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Honoring Hardeman The Newton Co. Historical Committee honoring Sarah Hardeman Friday.
LOCAL, 2A
From the
AMERICA’S first war on
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Colleen Capes Jackson cooks and raises funds for homeless shelters
How pirates led to our first terror policy in the US
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