Newspaper Page Text
Vol. 131, No. 28 - Waynesboro, Ga. 30830 Established in 1882 Wednesday, September 28, 2011 - $1.00
Pedestrian killed
Driver sought in
fatal hit and run
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Burke County drum major Nakia Williams greets Roger Ramble, Deputy Lieutenant of London, representing
Her Majesty the Queen.
The Royal Treatment
The Pride of Burke County to march in London
By Anne Marie Kyzer
annemariek@thetruecitizen.com
The Queen of England sent
her representative across the
Atlantic to deliver a special in
vitation to Burke County High
School.
The Honorable Roger
Bramble, Lord Lieutenancy of
Greater London, traveled from
Westminster to invite The
Pride of Burke County march
ing band to perform in
London’s New Year’s Day Pa
rade in 2013. The annual event
is the world’s largest, twice the
size of the Macy’s Thanksgiv
ing Day parade, and boasts
more than 10,000 participants.
A select number of high school
marching bands from the
United States are invited to par
ticipate each year.
The Deputy Lieutenant ex
tended the official invitation at
a ceremony at the high school
Tuesday.
"Music is my passion, and I
passionately hope you will ac
cept my invitation today,” he
said. “If you do, you will be
ambassadors for your school,
your state and your country.”
Band director Charles
Westman and Principal Sam
Adkins were quick to accept
the invitation.
"We want to recognize the
significance of this day,”
Adkins said. "We are honored
the students are being recog
nized for their hard work and
for their opportunity to repre
sent our school and community
not only here but abroad.”
The Honorable Bramble was
accompanied by Mr. Robert
Bone, executive director and
founder of London’s New
Year’s Day Parade, and his
wife, Geraldine.
“Perhaps the most important
part of it is that you will be
able to enjoy the City of Lon
don where there is amazing
history and amazing culture,”
Mr. Bone told band members.
“Hopefully, the parade and
concerts will give you some of
the greatest memories of your
lifetime.”
While in London, the Burke
County musicians will also per
form at Cadogan Hall, where
the renowned Royal Philhar
monic Orchestra (RPO) per
forms regularly. Westman
called playing at such a venue
a once in a lifetime opportu
nity and an honor for him and
his students.
Drum majors Ja’Qwan
Simpson and Nakia Williams
were equally thrilled.
“It’s very exciting because
we work so hard,” Simpson
said. "Mr. Westman always tells
us ‘results, not excuses.’ To
day, we saw results.”
During the ceremony, Mr.
Bramble and Mr. Bone ex
changed gifts with a number of
local officials. They were each
presented with a plate painted
with a bird dog and
Waynesboro’s Bird Dog Capi
tal of the World slogan.
“I feel right at home here in
the Bird Dog Capital of the
World,” the Deputy Lieutenant
said. “I can’t remember a day
in my life there weren’t three
bird dogs living in or around
my home.”
Sardis, Hephzibah
Two indicted for murder
By Elizabeth Billips
lizbillips@yahoo.com
A grand jury has indicted
one man accused of shooting
his girlfriend to death and
another accused of killing a
man with a chair.
Sardis resident Nibrent
Berdell Carter will face mur
der charges nearly 12 months
after he struck 45-year-old
Timothy Lawton Murray in
the head with a chair during
an argument.
Murray remained in a coma
from Oct. 26, 2010 when
emergency workers found
him unconscious and bleed
ing profusely, until May
when he died.
Carter, who was 23 at the
time of the attack, was ar
raigned in January for his
original charge of aggravated
assault.
According to District At
torney Ashley Wright, the
charge has now been up
graded to murder and the
count of aggravated assault
will no longer be pursued.
In a separate case made dur
ing Carter’s incarceration at
the Burke County Jail, he
was also indicted for cross
ing the guard lines with
marijuana.
Another murder indict
ment was handed down to a
Richmond County man ar
rested for killing his live-in
girlfriend at his father’s
home on Greiner Circle.
Jamie McCook, then 31,
was jailed in July after he
claimed to have accidentally
shot 29-year-old Amy Nicole
Brown in the stomach while
showing a gun to his father.
At the time, Burke County
investigators accused
McCook of purposefully
pulling the trigger and hid
ing the gun outside before
calling authorities.
Autopsy results released
during the investigation sug
gested the gun had actually
been pushed into the victim’s
stomach rather than fired
from across the room as
McCook told deputies.
He is additionally charged
with possession of a firearm
during the commission of a
crime and possession of a
firearm by a convicted
felon.
Deputies also arrested
Ralph McCook, who they
claimed corroborated his
son’s story. He was indicted
on a single charge of giving
false statements in a govern
ment matter.
The grand jury returned
true bills against each of the
other 23 defendants on their
Sept. 22 docket, indicating
sufficient evidence for those
cases to move forward in the
court system. They include:
• Keyan Sammuel Brad
ford: possession of cocaine
with intent to distribute and
possession of marijuana with
intent to distribute;
• Lila Dawn Burrell: theft
by taking and false report of
a crime;
- Indict, page 9
By Elizabeth Billips
lizbillips@yahoo.com
A Girard man has been killed, and state troopers want to
know who was driving the vehicle that struck him.
The body of Charles Anthony Carter, 42, was found on
the centerline of Stoney Bluff Road early Saturday morn
ing.
According to Sgt. Ben Lorehand of the Georgia State Pa
trol, he was last seen around 2 a.m. at a local club and was
apparently walking home.
Sometime in the next two hours, he was hit by a driver
who kept going.
“Several people drove past him but thought they’d seen an
animal or something else in the road,” Sgt. Lorehand said,
noting Carter was on a dark stretch of road two miles north
of Girard. “Linally a driver going to work at Plant Vogtle
stopped and got out... then realized it was a human.”
Monday, troopers interviewed a young Girard man whose
vehicle description was provided by another driver who’d
seen him swerve away from the centerline and believed he
may have been responsible.
Sgt. Lorehand said the man may have unknowingly run
over Carter once he was down, but is not believed to have
been involved in the initial accident.
“The damage (to his vehicle) just isn’t there to support
him striking someone who was standing up,” he said, noting
that significant damage would be expected on the headlights
or grille.
With no new leads and little to go on, Sgt. Lorehand is
hoping someone else saw something.
Because Stoney Bluff is a connector from Allendale, S.C.,
to Highway 301, as well as a common commuter route to
Plant Vogtle, officers say they can’t presume the driver is
local.
“I need people at body shops to be looking for vehicles
with damage,” Sgt. Lorehand said, noting the impact might
be blamed on a collision with a deer or other animal. “We
need to talk to anybody who knows of any vehicle with sus
picious damage.”
KNOW SOMETHING?
Call the Sylvania GSP post at 912-564-2018 or the Burke
County Sheriff’s Office at 706-554-2133.
Propeller came off
Details released in
fatal plane crash
By Elizabeth Billips
lizbillips@yahoo.com
Mechanical failure is blamed for a July plane crash that
killed a Burke Medical Center physician.
According to a preliminary report filed by the National
Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), Dr. Thomas Wilson
was actually taking his recently repaired single-engine Mooney
for a test run at Bush Lield when things went wrong.
NTSB officials reported the 53-year-old Mooresville, N.C.
resident was planning a ferry flight back to his hometown on
the afternoon of July 18 but first wanted to take the plane up
to 8,000 feet to make sure everything was operating correctly.
An April accident at the same airport had left the Mooney
with substantial propeller and fuselage damage and, accord
ing to information obtained through the Lederal Aviation Ad
ministration, a damaged three-blade propeller had been re
placed with two-blade propeller just two days before the fatal
flight.
While NTSB officials have not yet pinpointed the exact
cause of the accident, witnesses who watched Dr. Wilson take
off said the engine sounded extremely loud. It became pro
gressively louder, they told investigators, as the plane climbed
slowly and then made a sharp left turn. One person heard a
"loud bang” and saw the propeller come off the plane and fall
to the ground.
After that, NTSB reported, the plane went into a nose-
down spiral, crashed on a secondary runway and burst into
flames.
At the time, Dr. Wilson had been working at Burke Medi
cal Center for several months through NES, a company that
staffs the emergency room. He had treated patients in
Waynesboro just hours before the accident.
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