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Neighbors react to Barnes’ death
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
A Fulton County Sheriff’s deputy sat in his patrol car in the driveway of the College Park home of Judge Rowland Barnes. Family members declined to talk about Barnes or the news of Brian Nichols’ capture.
Barnes and his wife Claudia live in the Historic College Park area, about a mile from downtown College Park in south Fulton County.
Neighbors say they are relieved that Nichols is no longer at large.
“I’m glad he’s caught,” said 90-year-old Sallie Richey, who lives across Lyle Road from the Barnes home on Flowers Drive. Richey has lived on the block for 47 years, and knew Barnes for at least 35 years.
“I didn’t know anyone in this neighborhood who didn’t like him,” she said.
Across the street, Stephen Howard, 14, bounced a basketball in the street on a warm March Saturday afternoon. He said Barnes was kind to him.
“He always said ‘hey’ when he walked past,” Howard said. “He always worked in the yard with his wife.”
Wendy DeJong just moved onto Flowers Drive last summer, and she didn’t yet get to meet Barnes. But she was still shaken by his killing.
“A judge?” said DeJong, 36, a mechanic for Delta Air Lines. “A judge is a symbol of law and order and civility. It’s just the most heinous crime.”
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