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Vol. 129, No. 40 - Waynesboro, Ga. 30830
Established in 1882
Wednesday, January 13, 2010 - $1.00
McDonald’s robbed
in shotgun hold-up
By Elizabeth Billips
lizbillips@yahoo.com
A McDonald’s manager was
forced to empty the restaurant’s
safe during a hold-up by shot
gun-wedding robbers.
Around 10:20 p.m. Sunday,
three black males rushed the
counter, two armed with shotguns
and the third with a pistol.
According to Waynesboro Po
lice Investigator Claude Wade,
the entire robbery was recorded
by security cameras, and officers
are currently trying to identify the
three men, whose faces were par
tially concealed.
While no customers were in
side the North Liberty Street eat
ery, around five employees wit
nessed the hold-up, including one
who was hit with a garbage can.
Investigators say the employ
ees were forced into the cooking
area while the manager was taken
to the safe and ordered to open
it. Another employee was robbed
of her personal cash and cell
phone.
The robbers fled on foot and
were tracked by a police canine
to the bypass area where officers
believe a vehicle was waiting.
KNOW SOMETHING?
Call investigators at 706-554-
8029 or leave an anonymous tip
on the crime tip hotline at 706-
554-8021. Information leading
to an arrest and conviction
qualifies for a cash payout un
der the county commission’s
$10,000 reward program.
Three men, two weilding shotguns and one armed with
a pistol, charged into McDonald’s late Sunday evening
and forced the manager to empty the restaurant’s safe.
Although no customers were in the restaurant, sev
eral employees witnessed the hold-up.
Midville man sentenced
Ancient Indian site plundered
Above, Thomas
Gresham surveys
the damage after
the illegal excavat
ing, which mea
sured approxi
mately 100 yards
long. At left, these
ancient pottery
pieces and human
remains were
among the piles
recovered after the
dig.
“It touches us on an emotional and spiritual level to
have burial sites dug into and disrespected.”
-Thomas Gresham of the
Georgia Council on American Indian Concerns
ByTres Bragg
tresbragg@bellsouth.net
Two looters were caught waist
deep, sifting through human re
mains in an attempt to recover
Native American artifacts.
In September 2009, Wesley
Linton Hodges, 52, of Midville
and James Seaborn Roberts, 57,
of Swainsboro were discovered
illegally digging on private prop
erty in Burke County. When
Georgia Department of Natural
Resources Ranger Jeff Billips
found the pair, they had already
dug up piles of artifacts and sev
eral human bone fragments.
Hodges and Roberts appeared
before State Court Judge Jerry
M. Daniel last Wednesday where
they entered guilty pleas for ex
cavating without written permis
sion, criminal trespass and titter
ing.
DNR ranger Grant Matherly
discovered the dig site, and days
later, Billips sat watching the pair
for approximately half an hour
before approaching them, at
which time he discovered the
freshly dug bones amongst the
piles of relics. Hodges had pieces
stuffed in his shirt pocket, and
more were found in a cooler next
to bottled drinks.
The incident report stated that
Dr. Tersigni-Tarrant, a forensic
anthropologist and adjunct pro
fessor at the University of Geor
gia and Medical College of Geor
gia, confirmed the remains were
human, specifically two adult
metacarpals. Among the non-hu
man items were pottery, chert and
a shell gorget (status symbol),
which officials say are commonly
sold at tradeshows across the na
tion.
This time, however, was dif
ferent - according to Judge
Daniel, neither man had permis
sion to dig on the premises, and
the money they could have prof
ited from the illegal dig right
fully belonged to the property
owner.
“So what do you think I should
do about that?” he asked the
defendents regarding ownership
of the artifacts. Hodges blankly
replied, "Well, it was our hard
labor that went into it.”
In an interview with The True
Citizen, Thomas Gresham of the
Georgia Council on American
Indian Concerns said digging
without proper authorization
harms all Georgians.
"It’s destroying the history and
prehistory of our state,” he said.
“It touches us on an emotional
and spiritual level to have burial
sites dug into and disrespected...
we are also upset by the loss of
archeological value - an impor
tant piece of prehistory is lost
forever.”
Dave Crass, a state archeolo
gist, agreed, stating that archeo
logical sites are nonrenewable
resources. “Nobody’s making
any more four-thousand-year-old
sites,” he said, adding that the law
distinguishes between people who
pick up arrowheads out of fields
and folks who dig into archeo
logical sites. “Picking artifacts up
off the surface is not an activity
that causes damage versus dig
ging into a site with no prior re
search or plan.”
According to sentencing docu
ments filed at the Burke County
Clerk of Court’s Office, Judge
Daniel sentenced Hodges and
Roberts to three years probation,
24 days in jail (that may be
served on weekends), 80 hours
community service and a $3,000
fine. Restitution, which rangers
said could be anywhere between
$7,500-$25,000, was left open.
During the sentencing, Judge
Daniel also banned each man
from Burke County as well as
future tradeshows and archeo
logical activities.
Two other men were arrested
the day prior to Hodges and Rob
erts as they were heading to the
same dig site. Charles Bradford
Phillips, 57, and Ronald Harold
Flynt, 54, both of Metier, were
charged with criminal trespass
and interference with the perfor
mance of a ranger’s duty after
being apprehended following a
brief chase through the woods.
Several digging tools were dis
covered during the arrest includ
ing shovels, gloves and a ground
probe. Judge Daniel sentenced
Phillips and Flynt to 12 months
probation and a $2,000 fine.
They were also banned from
Burke County and future artifact
related activities. All of the arti
facts from the site and the tools
used during the dig were turned
over to authorities.
Bears head
to state in
wrestling
By Anne Marie Kyzer
annemariek@thetruecitizen.com
After starting the season with the best record in the school’s
history, Burke County High School’s wrestling team has quali
fied for the state tournament.
Though the school has previously sent individuals to the
state competition, this marks the first time the Bears have
qualified as a team for the Georgia High School Association’s
Team Dual Wrestling State Tournament.
Burke County earned the chance after placing second in
Region 3-AAA last weekend. West Laurens took home the
region championship.
Bears head coach Johnny Castro pointed to numbers as the
team’s greatest strength this year.
“We have such great numbers now,” he said. “Everybody
is fighting for a position, and when you have competition
like that on a team it makes the whole team better.”
Castro called the team very young, which presents both
challenges and opportunities for the Bears. Though the team’s
youth will likely be a liability at the state tournament this
year, they will only lose two experienced seniors next year.
Most of the Burke County wrestlers are freshmen and sopho
mores.
Unlike most sports, two state tournaments, spaced about a
month apart, are held in wrestling. The first, the team duals,
will be held this Friday and Saturday at the Centreplex in
Macon.
Coach Castro said that when the area tournament rolls
around Feb. 5, he hopes to see a half dozen or so Bears ad
vance as individuals to the State Sectional Tournament.
Commemorating MLK
A number of events will be held in Burke County this week in
conjunction with the commemoration of civil rights leader Dr.
Martin Luther King Jr. They are:
•Thursday, Jan. 14 at 7 p.m.: “A Night with the King” at Neely
Grove Christian Methodist Church, hosted by the Georgia Cli
ents Council. Elder Lerone Lewis is the speaker.
• Saturday, Jan. 16 at 9 a.m.: MLK Ecumenical Prayer Ser
vice at Mt. Olive African Methodist Episcopal Church, hosted
by the Burke County branch of the NAACP with speaker John
I. Jones.
• Monday, Jan. 18 at 9 a.m.: Freedom School at the Burke
County Head Start Center, presented by the Sapphirettes.
• Monday, Jan. 18 at 11 a.m.: MLK Commemorative March
and Motorcade beginning at Head Start on College Street and
ending at the Waynesboro City Park where a program will
follow. Music provided by Watkinsville Baptist Church.
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