Savannah attorney facing perjury charge

July 26– Savannah attorney and Hardin County Commission candidate James Powell waived arraignment today on a charge of aggravated perjury, according to the Hardin County Circuit Court Clerk’s office.

The charge comes in connection with Powell’s representation of Concerned Citizens for Community Schools, a grassroots group which sued the county in opposition to the upcoming schools consolidation.

The organization also engineered a failed local sales tax referendum in an effort to deprive the associated school construction project of its funding source.

No charges have been levied against the Concerned Citizens group.

"We did not initiate this or have anything to do with it," said Dannie Gean of Walnut Grove, one of the plaintiffs in Concerned Citizens for Community Schools' unsuccessful civil suit to keep the county’s rural classrooms from closing.

Powell was not immediately available for comment.