Gwinnett County Commission Chairman Charles Bannister resigned Friday morning as a special-purpose grand jury convened for the final meeting following a nine-month investigation into questionable land purchases. Shirley Lasseter, vice chairman of the board, will serve as acting chairman until a more permanent solution, most likely a special election, is made. Bannister issued the following statement, citing a “trying” year that has put strain on his family and his health: “While I am proud of Gwinnett County Government’s many accomplishments over the past six years and had hoped to guide more of this Board’s work to completion, I find myself near the end of an extremely trying year that has placed an undeserved strain on my family and has threatened my own health.

LAWRENCEVILLE – To call Benjamin Olsen “armed” is a colossal understatement. He’s more like a walking arsenal. At any given moment, the 25-year-old Suwanee contractor is strapped with a Kel-Tec 9 mm in his cargo pocket, a Springfield XD .45 caliber in a hip holster and, nearby in his truck, a loaded shotgun. Another 13 guns await Olsen at home. All this from a hulking guy who stands 6-foot-3, weights 285 pounds and projects the no-nonsense scowl of a courtroom bailiff. So why all the firepower? “When seconds count, the police are minutes away,” says Olsen, grinning. “If the bad guy’s got a gun, (the guns) are necessary. The only way to minimize force is to meet it with equal or greater force.”