Newspaper Page Text
Established in 1882
Wednesday, Janaury 14, 2009 - $1.00
Vol. 128, No. 40 - Waynesboro, Ga. 30830
INSIDE
Teachers spared
in budget cuts
Several teaching positions
in Burke County Public
Schools could be eliminated
next term, but officials say
current employees aren’t
likely to get a pink slip in the
process.
- Page 2
Broxton named
to Team USA
No. 51 will be on the dia
mond again before baseball
season gets underway.
LA Dodgers’ pitcher
Jonathan Broxton was named
to the tentative roster for Team
USA in the 2009 World Base
ball Classic set to begin in
March.
- Page 7
Altell customers
in limbo after
Verizon purchase
While Verizon Wireless’s
buyout of Alltel Wireless last
week will affect millions of
customers, many Burke
County residents with Alltel
contracts won’t see a change
for now.
- Page 7
Sports
Bears split
weekend games
The Panthers clawed a little
hai der than the Wildcats.
The Burke County Bears (7-
4) put the Richmond Hill Wild
cats away 75-65 Friday night
but weren’t able to repeat Sat
urday against the other cats
south of Savannah. The Liberty
County Panthers beat the Bears
68-51.
- Page 10
Spartans pull off
overtime win in
first region game
The Spartans pulled off
what could have been their
biggest win of the season
yet, while Junior Boyd
Lively kept his double
double average for the sea
son alive.
- Page 11
By Elizabeth Billips
lizbillips@yahoo.com
he bottom line is freedom.
That’s what 60-year-old Jeff
Brown says as he pivots on his
heels and takes a long look at
American Dream and Soaring
Eagle.
Both three-wheeled "motorcycle cars” are
crafted from his imagination and junkyard
Volkswagens.
American Dream came first, and she was
just that. He rode her big red stripes to ev
ery single state, then returned to base camp
in Burke County to build her a patriotic sis
ter, Soaring Eagle.
When Jeff wasn’t transforming salvaged
parts into sleek custom trikes, the highway
was screaming his name.
But a decade and 50 states later, his great
ride of freedom has ended.
The cancer that started in Jeff’s pancreas
has seeped into his lungs and bones.
He settles back into the trike’s leather seat
and hopes he’ll live through the week.
The Connecticut native found his way
to Burke County a dozen years ago when
he met Rusty Eskew and decided to stop
off at Graystone Ranch for a night or two.
Before he knew it, two years had passed
and he was tinkering with plans for Ameri
can Dream.
“I didn’t have the money to buy a bike,
and I wanted to build something that I could
sleep in and get out of the rain,” Jeff says,
gesturing to the Bug’s reworked cab where
he curls up like a cat when the weather turns
bad. “There’s always Mother Nature, and
Mother Nature doesn’t always want to treat
you right.”
The cab is plastered with front page sto
ries and photographs of a Jeff who’d not
yet met cancer.
Lean-limbed and bright-eyed, he smiles
for shots with old men. Hooter’s girls and
freckle-faced kids.
“All I had to do is park, and people would
come running over,” he says, proclaiming
Wal-Mart his favorite stop.
They’d walk circles around American
Dream, whistling at the cleverness of her
creation and poking their heads into her
chamber. Most would push a dollar bill into
the donation jar and ask about his journey.
“I drove all the way across America be
cause people I didn’t know helped me one
dollar at a time,” Jeff proclaims. “I broke
down 35 times, and every time somebody
came out with a part or an idea to keep me
going. There’s way more good out there than
bad... it’s just that the good doesn’t get talked
about.”
Every four or live months, Jeff straggled
back to Graystone all windblown and road
weary. But he’d rest right up and set off again
in search of America’s pulse.
And he didn’t always like what he found.
“This is the greatest country on earth, and
people don’t even know it because they’re
so hung up on material things,” he says, pull
ing on a tuft of beard dyed blue to match
the flag. "Houses, cars, boats, motorcycles
... once we get headed in that direction, there’s
no turning back.”
It was an infirmity of soul he glimpsed
in so many people - and it was feeding on
making and spending.
“We all know we’re going to die, but too
many people forget their dreams... or never
even ask themselves what they want out of
life,” Jeff says as the old frustration rises in
his belly. “They’re so caught up in getting
through the week, they can’t look beyond
that.”
Some folks that gathered around Ameri
can Dream couldn’t fathom Jeff’s free fall
through life, but they’d throw out scraps of
some nearly forgotten dream like surfing
Santa Cruz or climbing Mt. McKinley.
Jeff kept a running list of those people
and their unanswered quests, and months
or years later, a photograph of American
Dream would show up in a mailbox here or
there. Behind her stars and stripes would be
the spot they’d imagined visiting.
“Everybody has a dream,” Rusty Eskew
says as he lays a hand on Soaring Eagle and
makes arrangements to stay with his friend
until his last hour. “I guess he was living
dreams for a lot of people.”
- See Ride, page 9
Both of Jeff Brown’s bikes sport patriotic paint jobs
and dozens of custom creations.
Pipeline will bring
workers, dollars
By Elizabeth Billips
lizbillips@yahoo.com
Some cash will soon be channeled into Burke County’s
flailing economy, compliments of 23 miles of pipe.
Construction is set to begin on the Elba Express Pipe
line, a long-haul natural gas line that will cross the south
west portion of the county on its 191-mile trek from Elba
Island, near Savannah, to Anderson County, S.C.
According to Bill Barrick, a spokesperson for El Paso
Company, as many as 650 employees will work on the
pipeline during peak construction. “I’m not exactly sure
how many will be in your county,” he said, “but it will be
a large number.”
Crews will likely be divided among several “spreads”
or sections along the route. In most cases, the pipe will
be laid approximately 20-30 feet parallel to the company’s
existing gas lines that were constructed in 1953 and 1978.
While a firm timeline hasn’t been etched, Barrick says
Burke County could see actual construction as early as
April.
Right now, crews are hauling huge stockpiles of pipes
to storage areas along the line. That line enters Burke at
Jenkins County, crosses Porter Carswell Road and runs
through Di-Lane Plantation. It intersects Highway 56,
about seven miles south of Waynesboro, and then crosses
highways 24, 305 and 80 on its course into Jefferson
County.
At last count, the total project was estimated at $850
million and was expected to affect around 42 landowners
in Burke County. Barrick said easements have been ac
quired from all but one landowner here.
- See Pipeline, page 9
LONG-HAUL
Pipe size: 3 1 /2 feet
Rated: at least 1,200 pounds of pressure per square inch
Depth: minimum 36 inches underground
Where to: industries and distributors along the pipeline's
southeastern route; it will hook into two transportation pipe
lines, Transco and Southern Natural Gas
On top: no structures or large trees, but landowners may
farm, operate machinery and plant shrubs or gardens
05
i
MLK Day events
planned in Burke
From Staff Reports
The 24 th national celebration of the Martin Luther King Jr.
holiday honoring the American civil rights leader will get
underway in Burke County with the theme, “Yes, We Can
Achieve.”
The NAACP Martin Luther King Jr. ecumenical prayer ser
vice will be held Saturday, Jan. 17, at Mt. Olive AME Church
at 10 a.m. with the Rev. William J.T. Patterson, pastor of Sec
ond McCannan and New Light Baptist churches, serving as
speaker.
On Sunday, Jan. 18, the "I Have a Dream” program will be
presented at 4 p.m. at Mt. Olive. The Rev. George A. Moore,
pastor of St. Philip Monumental AME Church of Savannah
will speak.
The Sapphirettes will conduct Freedom School ’09, high
lighting the life and legacy of Dr. King, Monday, Jan. 19, at
the Burke County Head Start Center on College Street, and
the commemorative march, sponsored by the Burke County
Improvement Association, will begin at 11:30 a.m., also on
College Street and will end at the city park.
All events are open to the public.
mployee
Pricing Pi
706-554-2114
www.mizeilford.com