Georgia
Critics accuse Georgia sheriff of silencing them on social media in lawsuit
Three Georgia residents are accusing Cobb County Sheriff Craig Owens of violating their free speech rights, alleging in a lawsuit that he silenced their critical opinions on Facebook following a viral incident in which he called deputies to a Burger King over a botched order.
The legal filing in U.S. District Court lists David Cavender – a Republican who unsuccessfully ran against Owens for the sheriff position this election season – as one of the plaintiffs.
“Defendant Craig Owens was displeased that certain persons, including the Plaintiffs, were publicly criticizing his performance as the Sheriff of Cobb County, Georgia,” the lawsuit says. “Instead of upholding the First Amendment and stomaching speech he found personally distasteful, Owens decided instead to utilize the powers of his office to censor the speech of Plaintiffs, and others, based on viewpoint.”
An attorney wrote that in October, in the weeks leading up to Election Day, a video that emerged of “Owens utilizing Cobb County Sheriff deputies to intercede in a personal dispute with Burger King employees became viral” and that the plaintiffs “had been leveling harsh criticism against Owens” over it and other matters.
GEORGIA SHERIFF CALLS DEPUTIES FOR HELP AFTER BECOMING UPSET THAT BURGER KING GOT HIS ORDER WRONG
READ THE FILING BELOW. APP USERS: CLICK HERE
In that March 2023 incident, three deputies were dispatched to the fast-food restaurant in Mableton with sirens blaring.
“Hey, do me a favor. I need to get, all I need is the owner name of whoever owns this damn facility or the manager,” Owens is heard telling one deputy who showed up on scene.
“I wanted her [to get his female passenger] a Whopper, no mayo, cut in half, right?” he continued.
The sheriff added: “I don’t need no damn money back no more. I just need to find out who owns this place so I can do an official complaint.”
The lawsuit says on Oct. 29 of this year, Owens put in place “sweeping restrictions” over who can post comments on the Cobb County Sheriff Office’s Facebook page.
EX-GEORGIA POLL WORKER INDICTED FOR MAILING BOMB THREAT TO POLLING PLACE: FBI
Cobb County Sheriff Craig Owens called his deputies to the Burger King on Veterans Memorial Highway in Mableton on March 4, 2023. (Cobb County Sheriff’s Office)
“On information and belief, these restrictions were put in place because of the viewpoint of commenters’ posts grew increasingly critical of Owens and his performance as Sheriff; in other words Owens put the restrictions in place to prevent the expression of a viewpoint,” the lawsuit says, adding that some of the posts made by the plaintiffs were deleted or hidden by the Sheriff’s Office Facebook account.
The Sheriff’s Office then wrote on Nov. 1 that it is “committed to providing a safe and respectful space on our social media channels.
“To keep our posts focused on community safety updates and educational info, we’ve turned off the comments feature,” it added.
The lawsuit is asking a judge to “declare the actions of Defendant Owens… to be view-point based restrictions in violation of the First Amendment”, prohibit his “unlawful practice of retaliatory censorship” and to prevent him “from deleting comments, blocking posters, or restricting commenters to those who are friends or referenced within posts,” among other damages.
The lawsuit against Cobb County Sheriff Craig Owens states the plaintiffs posted critical comments of him online following an incident involving the sheriff at a Burger King in Georgia last year. (Getty Images)
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Both the Cobb County Sheriff’s Office and the law firm that filed the lawsuit did not immediately respond Thursday to requests for comment from Fox News Digital.
Fox News’ Landon Mion contributed to this report.
Georgia
Georgia loses another outside linebacker to the transfer portal
ATHENS — Gunner Stockton could be on the verge of taking a big jump in his quarterback skills this offseason, according to former Georgia quarterback Jake Fromm.
Mike Griffith
Georgia
Georgia Men Defeat Florida State; Women Take Down Florida State and Arkansas
Georgia vs Arkansas vs Florida State
- January 10, 2026
- Athens, GA — Gabrielsen Natatorium
- SCY (25 Yards)
- Full Meet Results
- Team Scores Women
- #14 Georgia 170 — Florida State 116
- #14 Georgia 169 — Arkansas 124
- Arkansas 195 — Florida State 101
- Team Scores Men
- #4 Georgia 183.5 — #10 Florida State 114.5
The Georgia Bulldogs swept Florida State and the women also took down Arkansas in their first dual meet of 2026. The Arkansas women beat Florida State in their dual, 195 to 101.
Women’s Meet Recap
The #14 ranked UGA women easily defeated Florida State and Arkansas in their double dual meet on Saturday, outscoring Florida State by more than 50 and Arkansas by more than 40.
Despite earning the overall win, the Georgia women did not take home either relay titles, but they had the fastest times in most of the individual events.
Freshman Kennedi Dobson continued to build on her strong NCAA season, taking home three event wins with the top times in the 1000 free, 200 back, and 500 free. In the 1000, she swam 9:29.05, a new personal best time and the 3rd fastest time in the country this season.
She also swam the 200 back and 500 free double, which sees only the 200 breast come in between, setting a new best time in the 200 back of 1:53.66 and in the 500 free, she swam 4:39.48 for the win.
The only other Georgia swimmer to set the fastest time in multiple events was Ieva Maluka. She won the 200 fly in 1:56.29, a new season best time. She also had the fastest time in the 200 IM, touching in 1:58.11, but the Bulldogs exhibitioned the last event to allow Arkansas and Florida State to score more points.
Charlotte Headland and Elizabeth Nawrocki split the breaststroke events for Georgia. Headland swam the 100 breast in a personal best 1:00.50, building on her progression this season. She came into the year at 1:01.39, and has dropped three times since then.
Nawrocki, a freshman, swam 2:11.48, just missing her personal and season best of 2:08.44 This swim was still more than a second faster than the 2:13.00 she started college with.
Marie Landreneau won the women’s 200 freestyle for Georgia, touching in 1:44.46 to beat teammate Shea Furse‘s 1:46.77 by a little over two seconds.
Finally, senior Olivia Della Torre won the 100 fly in 53.09, just off her season and personal best of 52.95 from the UGA Fall Invitational.
Arkansas bested Florida State in their dual meet, due, in part, to the strong performance from Harriet Rogers. Rogers won both the 50 and 100 free, swimming 22.23 in the 50 and 48.77 in the 100 to earn the top spots.
Holly Robinson won the 200 IM with her 2:03.06 coming in as the fastest non-Georgia swimmer, so she won the event, picking up nine points for the Razorbacks.
Arkansas also won the 400 free relay. Tammy Greenwood led off in 49.69. Rogers swam 48.38. Delaney Harrison was 3rd in 49.54, and Viola Petrini swam 49.73.
They also had the top two divers at the meet with Lotti Hubert earning the top spot on the 1 meter board in 314.75, leading three other Razorbacks to take the top four overall spots in the event. The 3 meter went to Maria Jose Sanchez in 348.00, more than 20 points ahead of 2nd place Kayleigh Clark from Florida State.
Florida State won one individual event and one relay. They started the meet with a win in the 200 medley relay with their team of Alice Velden (24.50), Martina Fanunza (28.07), Maryn McDade (22.95), and Mary Leigh Hardman (22.20) swimming 1:37.72 to beat the Georgia ‘A’ team by half-a-second.
Velden also won the 100 backstroke in 53.76, missing her season best of 52.40 by about a second.
Men’s Meet Recap
The men’s meet was just a dual meet between Georgia and Florida State, and the Bulldogs came out on top, scoring 183.5 points to Florida State’s 114.5.
Georgia won both relays, starting with the top time in the 200 medley relay where they swam 1:24.38 to come in just two tenths ahead of Florida State. Luca Urlando led off for Georgia, splitting 21.10 to earn the Georgia team a near seven tenth lead. Elliot Woodburn was 23.94 on the breaststroke, Ruard Van Renen split 20.18 on the butterfly, and Tane Bidois was 19.16 on the freestyle.
Florida State’s relay consisted of Max Wilson (21.77), Tommaso Baravelli (23.72), Michel Arkhangelskiy (19.91), and Sam Bork (19.20), and they touched in 1:24.60.
The 400 freestyle relay was made up of Van Renen (43.26), Tomas Koski (42.81), Bidois (43.04), and Luke Sandberg (43.21) swimming 2:52.32 to win the event by more than two seconds.
Luca Urlando won three events for the Bulldogs, swimming 1:39.59 in the 200 fly to win by almost four seconds over teammate Drew Hitchcock. He also won the 100 fly in 45.27, coming in more than a second ahead of Florida State’s Michel Arkhangelskiy‘s 46.72
Urlando also swam the 200 IM for the first time this season, touching in 1:42.95, the 15th fastest time in the country this season.
Georgia freshman Sean Green won two events, swimming 8:57.64 in the 1000 and 4:19.57 in the 500.
Hayden Meyers and Ruard Van Renen split the backstroke events. Van Renen won the 100 back in 44.68 and Meyers won the 200 back in 1:41.66.
Florida State picked up event wins in both distances of breaststroke and the 50 and 100 freestyles. Michel Arkhangelskiy won the 50 free in 19.64 and he won the 100 free in 42.92, off his season best times in both.
Tommaso Baravelli won the 100 breast for the Seminoles in 53.63, coming in more than half-a-second ahead of teammate Liam O’Connor‘s 54.26 in 2nd.
Mathias Christensen won the 200 breast in 1:57.15, just 17 hundredths ahead of Georgia’s Cale Martter, who swam 1:57.32.
Up Next
Georgia will race Tennessee on January 24th in Knoxville.
Florida State will host Florida on January 30th.
Arkansas will race kansas on January 23rd in Kansas.
Georgia
Alabama linebacker to transfer to Georgia Tech
Pro Football Focus graded Noah Carter Alabama’s third-best tackler this season.
Georgia quarterback Gunner Stockton runs against Alabama linebacker Noah Carter during the first half of a Southeastern Conference championship NCAA college football game, Saturday, Dec. 6, 2025, in Atlanta. (Mike Stewart/AP)
A third Alabama player is transferring to Georgia Tech for the 2026 season.
Noah Carter, a 6-foot-4, 243-pound linebacker, intends to transfer to Tech, On3 reported Saturday. Carter spent two seasons with the Crimson Tide.
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