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Georgia History Timeline / Chronology 2003
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| January 1, 2003 |
A 17-year old woman walks into the Douglasville,
Georgia, police station and reports that she had been forced to have sex with a group of teenagers at a nearby hotel. Police return to the hotel room, find a group of males and evidence of sexual activity including a videotape of the incident. |
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Genarlow Wilson |
| January 5, 2003 |
Atlanta Falcons beat the Packers at Green Bay, 27-7
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Falcons postseason, 2003 |
| January 11, 2003 |
The Atlanta Falcons Super Bowl dreams are smashed by the Philadelphia Eagles, 20-6. |
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Atlanta Falcons |
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Falcons postseason, 2003 |
| January 13, 2003 |
Sonny Perdue's inauguration as governor of Georgia
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Sonny Perdue |
| January 17, 2003 |
Singer Bobby Brown turns himself in after violating the conditions of bond stemming from a 1999 drunk driving charge. Brown was sentenced to 8 days in jail, 240 hours of community service and a fine of 2,600 dollars.
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| January 28, 2003 |
Ted Turner resigns as Vice-Chairman of AOL Time-Warner
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Ted Turner |
| February 2, 2003 |
Danny Heatley wins MVP honors at the National Hockey League All-Star game. His incredible performance included four goals.
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Atlanta Thrashers |
| February 6, 2003 |
James Oglethorpe statue on Augusta Common dedicated
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James Oglethorpe |
| February 9, 2003 |
The NBA All-Star Game is held at the Philips Arena in Atlanta, Georgia
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| February 23, 2003 |
India.Arie (Stone Mountain), Alan Jackson (Newnan) and the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra are among those honored at this year's Grammy Awards
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| February 27, 2003 |
Tony Cole makes charges of academic fraud in the University of Georgia basketball program on ESPN
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University of Georgia, Athens (UGA) |
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Vince Dooley |
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Coach Jim Harrick suspended |
| February 27, 2003 |
Bomb found in post office in Blairsville, GA
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| March 10, 2003 |
University of Georgia suspended basketball coach Jim Harrick.
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University of Georgia, Athens (UGA) |
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Vince Dooley |
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Coach Jim Harrick suspended |
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UGA sexual assault |
| March 20, 2003 |
Tornadoes strike Mitchell and Worth Counties
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Worth County, Georgia |
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Mitchell County, Georgia |
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Tornadoes strike Camilla and Bridgeboro |
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Georgia Tornadoes |
| March 23, 2003 |
Ronald D. Young, Jr. of Lithia Springs is shot down during heavy fighting in central Iraq
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Ronald D. Young, Jr. |
| March 24, 2003 |
The grisly discovery of a decapitated nun's body in a parking lot in Virginia Beach, Virginia led police to Adrian O. Robinson at a local Burger King. Robinson has been charged with killing his father in Hamilton, Georgia, and abducting two nuns. The second nun was found in Robinson's motel room uninjured.
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| March 25, 2003 |
Larry Eugene Moon, convicted of murdering Ricky Callahan who entered a Catoosa County store to buy aspirin for his wife in 1984, is put to death by lethal injection.
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Catoosa County, Georgia |
| April 2, 2003 |
Winners of the George Foster Peabody Awards were announced by the University of Georgia's Henry Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication. Among the locally important awards:- "Terror on Tape," CNN Productions, Atlanta; examination of training videos made by al-Qaida members.
- "Door to Door," TNT starring William H. Macy in the true story of Bill Porter who battled cerebral palsy. Macy also co-wrote the script
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Peabody Awards |
| April 9, 2003 |
University of Georgia, Athens hires Dennis Felton to replace former coach Jim Harrick, who left the school following a scandal |
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Coach Jim Harrick suspended |
| April 13, 2003 |
Former POW's arrive at Ramstein Air Force Base
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Ronald D. Young, Jr. |
| April 13, 2003 |
Chief Warrant Officer Ronald D. Young, Jr. is freed by Marines who rescued the downed Apache helicopter pilot from his Iraqi captors a few miles south of Tikrit, Iraq
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Ronald D. Young, Jr. |
| April 19, 2003 |
Ron Young is reunited with his family at Fort Bliss, Texas
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Ronald D. Young, Jr. |
| April 20, 2003 |
Ron Young enjoys a church service with President George W. Bush at Fort Hood, Texas
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Ronald D. Young, Jr. |
| April 21, 2003 |
U.S. Supreme Court upholds Carl Issac's death sentence
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Alday family murders
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| April 25, 2003 |
Supercell thunderstorms rake Polk, Paulding, Cobb, North Fulton and Dekalb County in north Georgia as well as Stewart, Marion, Webster, Sumter, and Dooly County in the south during the late afternoon and evening hours. Dade County also suffered some damage.
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Webster County, Georgia |
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Cobb County, Georgia |
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Fulton County, Georgia |
| April 29, 2003 |
Just before 5 a.m. a moderate earthquake, rated 4.9 on the Richter Scale, shook most of the northwest corner of Georgia, south to Atlanta. The epicenter was located in Menlo, Georgia, about 37 miles south of Chattanooga.
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Earthquakes that have struck Georgia
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| May 2, 2003 |
Strong thunderstorms brought rain, high-speed winds and damaging hail to a wide portion of the state. Only the extreme northeast and southeast sections were spared.
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| May 6, 2003 |
Coke re-introduces the "neon spectacular" to Peachtree Street in Atlanta. For 32 years the neon spectacular hung at Peachtree and Pryor Streets in downtown, next to Margaret Mitchell Park. When the city turned the park into a ball field, Coke removed the sign.
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Coca-Cola |
| May 6, 2003 |
The man who orchestrated the Alday Family murders, Carl Isaacs, is put to death by lethal injection. At the time he had been on death row longer than any other person.
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Alday family murders
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| May 6, 2003 |
Strong storms move through north Georgia. Among the counties hardest hit are Floyd, Walker, Catoosa, Gordon, Bartow, Cherokee, Cobb, Fulton, Gwinnett, Dekalb, Clarke, Barrow and Elbert County.
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Gwinnett County, Georgia |
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Fulton County, Georgia |
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Bartow County, Georgia |
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Catoosa County, Georgia |
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Catoosa County, Georgia |
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Gordon County, Georgia |
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Walker County, Georgia |
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Floyd County, Georgia |
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Cobb County, Georgia |
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Cherokee County, Georgia |
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Clarke County, Georgia |
| May 7, 2003 |
Internet Service Provider Earthlink wins a $16 million suit in Atlanta District Court against The Buffalo Spammer, a 36 year-old hack who lives with his mother in a run-down neighborhood in New York.
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| May 8, 2003 |
New Georgia state flag adopted
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| May 15, 2003 |
The Matrix Reloaded world premiere is at the Cannes Film Festival
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Laurence Fishborne |
| May 31, 2003 |
Eric Rudolph is captured in Murphy, NC.
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Eric Rudolph and the Atlanta Area bombings |
| June 13, 2003 |
Dumb and Dumberer, a "prequel" to Dumb and Dumber is released. It was filmed in Marietta and Atlanta
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Marietta, GA |
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Movies filmed in Georgia
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| June 23, 2003 |
Maynard Jackson dies, Washington, D. C.
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| June 24, 2003 |
Lester Maddox, 87, a segregationist who governed Georgia as a moderate Democrat, died in an Atlanta hospice as a result of a fall.
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Lester Maddox |
| June 26, 2003 |
In Georgia v. Ashcroft the U. S. Supreme Court ruled that the goal of the 1965 Voting Rights Act was to create a society where "race no longer mattered," and that the Democratic Georgia redistricting plan of 2000 violated that tenet.
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| July 22, 2003 |
Atlanta radio personality "Skinny" Bobby Harper dies of cancer. He was the inspiration for the Dr. Johnny Fever character on the hit TV show, WKRP in Cincinnati.
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| July 23, 2003 |
UGA library burns causing an estimate $1.5 million in fire damage. Books on each of the 9 floors suffered varying degrees of smoke damage.
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| August 12, 2003 |
Statue of Warren Spahn unveiled at Turner Field
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Boston Braves, Milwaukee Braves, Atlanta Braves |
| August 23, 2003 |
Booth Western Art Museum opens, Cartersville, Georgia
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| September 1, 2003 |
Gwinnett County Judge David M. Fuller resigns following an investigative report by Fox 5 News |
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David M. Fuller |
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Gwinnett County, Georgia |
| September 8, 2003 |
Georgia Lottery Corporation annouces it has accepted Rebecca Paul's resignation. |
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Georgia Lottery |
| September 10, 2003 |
Atlanta's Piedmont Park begins planning an expansion into 53 acres of undeveloped land the city purchased with the original park |
| September 11, 2003 |
Ardena Carter, a Georgia Southern College student is last seen leaving her apartment in Stateboro, Georgia. The 24-year old Masters candidate was 6 months pregnant at the time. |
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Ardena Carter |
| September 18, 2003 |
Friends report Ardena Carter missing |
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Ardena Carter |
| September 23, 2003 |
OutKast releases "Speakerboxxx/The Love Below" including the hit single "The Way You Move" |
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OutKast |
| September 29, 2003 |
Danny Heatley and Dan Snyder are involved in a high-speed car crash on Lenox Road in Atlanta. Healy and Snyder are members of the Atlanta Thrashers hockey team.
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Atlanta Thrashers |
| October 1, 2003 |
OutKast's "Speakerboxxx/The Love Below" becomes the top-selling album in the United States
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OutKast |
| October 5, 2003 |
Atlanta Braves lose the National League Division Championship series 3-2 to the Chicago Cubs
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Boston Braves, Milwaukee Braves, Atlanta Braves |
| October 5, 2003 |
Atlanta Thrashers player Dan Snyder died from injuries sustained when teammate Danny Heatley hit a brick pillar on Lenox Road
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Atlanta Thrashers |
| October 24, 2003 |
Ben Bernanke is confirmed to a full term on the Federal Reserve Board of Governors |
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Ben Bernanke |
| November 1, 2003 |
In the bloodiest day ever recorded, 26 teenagers died in traffic accident (normal is 10). At 8:46 p.m. on SR 60 near Gainesville, Georgia, Ryan David Wagner, 19, of Gainesville died when the 1992 Honda Accord he was riding in, driven by James Lee Thigpen, ran off a road, down an embankment and rolled over before hitting a tree.
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| November 5, 2003 |
Dernell Stenson is found murdered following a night out with friends. The Cincinnati Reds rookie was killed as he tryed to escape four men who were hijacking his SUV.
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| November 10, 2003 |
Barry Larkin and Ken Griffey Jr. joined friends and family in LaGrange, Georgia, paying their last respect to Cincinnati Reds rookie Dernell Stenson, who had been killed the week before.
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| December 7, 2003 |
Whitney Houston calls the Alpharetta Police Department to report that her husband, Bobby Brown, had hit her.
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Whitney Houston
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Whitney Houston hit by Bobby Brown |
| December 7, 2003 |
Hunters find the body of Ardena Carter on the grounds of Fort Benning, Georgia, about 4 miles west of Cusseta in Chattahoochee County. The cause of death has been ruled a homicide. |
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Ardena Carter |
| December 8, 2003 |
The U. S. Supreme Court refused to intervene in a lawsuit over the OutKast song Rosa Parks |
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OutKast |
| December 10, 2003 |
Police talk with Bobby Brown about the attack on his wife Whitney Houston earlier in the week
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Whitney Houston
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Whitney Houston hit by Bobby Brown |
| December 11, 2003 |
Death penalty requested in the Eric Rudolph case by Attorney-General John Ashcroft
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Eric Rudolph and the Atlanta Area bombings |
| December 18, 2003 |
Margaret DeFrancisco Named President/CEO of the Georgia Lottery Corporation. DeFrancisco had been running the New York Lottery for four years. |
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Georgia Lottery |
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