Newspaper Page Text
Vol. 131, No. 31 - Waynesboro, Ga. 30830
Established in 1882
Wednesday, October 19, 2011 - $1.00
Brier Creek fish kill blamed
on kaolin quarry runoff
By Elizabeth Billips
lizbillips@yahoo.com
Dead fish were everywhere.
“Largemouth bass, bluegills,
catfish, warmouths, mudfish,
garfish ... even snakes,”
Keysville resident Donald
James said looking out over the
Brier Creek waters he’s lived
on for 11 years. “Hundreds
were dead on the banks... oth
ers were washed up and gasp
ing for breath. It was an up
setting thing.”
That was Saturday morning,
less than 24 hours after he’d
noticed the water was unusu
ally clear.
“I knew then something was
wrong,” James said, describing
bass and bream circling with
dorsal fins above the surface
like sharks. “Usually the wa
ter is dark and murky, but it
was clear as a crystal that Fri
day afternoon.”
At first, he thought it was
nitrite poisoning from a
wrecked fertilizer trucker that
spilled its load near the Sandy
Run Creek tributary on Oct. 9.
But EPD spokesman Kevin
Chambers says no.
“Nothing from that wreck
made it to the waterway,” he
said, noting that officials have
not yet pinpointed what killed
the fish, now estimated in the
thousands.
Savannah Riverkeeper
Tonya Bonitatibus has her own
ideas.
"I think it’s runoff from ka
olin retention ponds near
Thomson,” she said after col
lecting water samples up and
down the Burke County por
tion of Brier Creek. "This is a
blackwater system ... the river
shouldn’t be clear like this.
Something has been put in the
water that’s causing things to
settle out.”
She thinks that “something”
is alum - the aluminum sul
fate used at kaolin quarries to
separate clay from water.
It works as a coagulate, caus
ing particles to settle together
on the bottom for easier filter
ing.
High concentrations of alum
are toxic to aquatic life because
of the rapid pH level changes
it produces, but the compound
is not typically dangerous to
humans.
Although the riverkeeper’s
hunch has not been confirmed.
Chambers said it’s a possibil
ity.
“We are looking at every
body and we haven’t ruled out
anything,” he said, noting the
troubles are concentrated in the
Keysville portion of the creek.
“Right now we’re inspecting
four facilities located along the
stream.”
Waynesboro officials aren't
waiting for an answer. Water
superintendent Jody Ellison
shut down the city’s intake
plant downstream on Brier
Creek after learning about the
fish kill from True Citizen re
porters on Monday.
“My first question for the
EPD is why didn’t they notify
us?” he asked Monday night as
he shined a flashlight along the
creek bed by the facility. He
didn’t find any dead fish, but
the water was clear right to the
bottom.
City workers typically draw
around 200,000 gallons from
Brier Creek each day to supple
ment the more than 800,000
gallons supplied by the Sixth
Street well. Without knowl
edge of Saturday’s fish kill, the
regular pumping was done
through Monday morning.
“Until I know what’s in the
creek. I’m not pumping
again,” Ellison said.
Bonitatibus believes resi
dents with private wells near
the creek should follow suit.
“My biggest concern is that if
EPD has known about this
since Saturday, why has no
body told those citizens to stop
drinking the water?” she asked.
“These people needed to have
been warned.”
While EPD officials did call
Ellison Tuesday morning with
an apology for their failure to
notify city workers, Chambers
said drinking water is safe for
both Waynesboro customers
and residents along the stream
on groundwater well systems.
Direct contact with the wa
ter and the eating of fish, he
said, should be avoided until
water samples are studied.
Findings from the first of
those samples, which were col
lected early Sunday, could be
released as early as Friday.
In the meantime, Bonit
atibus’ water quality samples
indicate her suspicions might
be on target. Samples taken
Tuesday, when the water was
already “rebounding” show
extremely high conductivity, a
pH level of 7, which is double
the usual reading, and very low
levels of dissolved oxygen.
The water quality, she said,
when paired with the water
clearness is highly indicative of
aluminum sulfate.
While immediate water
safety does remain a huge con
cern for residents along the
creek, it’s the months and years
ahead that worry them most.
“This beautiful creek ...,”
Evans transplant Pat Lord said
with the slow shake of his head.
As he walked along his prop
erty just above Farmers Bridge,
the stench was growing strong
and flies were lighting on the
bloated bellies of trophy bass.
“What are the long term ef
fects?” he asked, peering down
at firecracker-sized minnows
rotting in clumps along the
weeds. “What’s going to be
come of this creek?”
His neighbor Donald James
wants to know, too.
“Ain’t a day goes by, if I’m
able, that I don’t go down to
the creek,” James said, calling
the waters his solace between
treatments for lung cancer.
"It’s my life and my liveli
hood.”
Fish of all sizes and species were among the dead, in
cluding hundreds of largemouth bass.
Deputies hunt
for felon accused
of raping teen
By Elizabeth Billips
lizbillips@yahoo.com
A convicted felon is accused of raping a 16-year-old.
Burke County deputies have been hunting for Darrell Wil
liams, 44, since Monday when he allegedly forced his way
into a Blythe home where the teenager was alone.
“He knocked on the door and (the vic
tim) told him he had to come back when
her dad was home,” Sgt. Dedric Smith of
the Burke County Sheriff’s Office said,
describing Williams as a friend of the fam
ily. “He pushed the door open and then
raped her ... she tried to fight him off.”
Williams had reportedly been living with
a woman on Corley Road since his release
from prison on May 24.
According to Sgt. Smith, the woman has
an 11-year-old girl who has been placed in protective cus
tody while Richmond County authorities investigate past al
legations that Williams forced himself on her, as well.
“It was described as the same type situation,” Sgt. Smith
said, adding that the offender has a long history of violent
crime.
He most recently served 11 years of a 15-year sentence for
a 1990 aggravated assault conviction.
Williams has not been seen since he left the victim’s High
way 88 home Monday night in brown pants, a maroon pull
over sweater and a beige knitted hat.
Sgt. Smith said fluids, believed to be semen, were col
lected in the home and have been sent to the crime lab for
DNA analysis.
Anyone with information on Williams’ whereabouts is asked
to call investigators at 706-554-2133.
Armed robbers
get 20 years for
home invasion
By Anne Marie Kyzer
annemariek@thetruecitizen.com
A pair of interrupted burglars who held a woman at gun
point with a sawed-off shotgun admitted their guilt just be
fore opening statements were given in their trial.
After hours of jury selection last week, Reginald Bernard
Hughes, 30, and Charles Danta Owens, 35, opted to enter
guilty pleas to 10 felony charges including burglary, false
imprisonment, aggravated assault, armed robbery, possession
of a sawed-off shotgun, possession of cocaine with intent to
distribute, possession of a firearm by a convicted felon and
three counts of possession of a firearm during the commis
sion of a crime.
Superior Court Judge James G. Blanchard sentenced each
of them to 20 years in prison and 10 years probation, follow
ing a recommendation from the DA’s office.
According to assistant district attorney Justin Jones, the pair
kicked in the back door of a woman’s home north of
Waynesboro late one evening in August 2010. They were
interrupted when the homeowner and her cousin returned from
a shopping trip and immediately noticed the lights on in the
ransacked house. After calling out, she ran to the front yard
and hid behind her SUV, but her cousin, who ran to the back
yard didn’t escape. She was forced to lie on the ground at
gunpoint after handing over her purse and cell phone. When
she couldn’t tell them where her cousin ran to, she was or
dered to the front yard, pleading for her life, Jones said.
Meanwhile, the homeowner had crawled to a neighbor’s
house to call 911.
Owens and Hughes left but had parked their car in a way
that required them to drive back by the house to leave the
area, giving the victims a clear view of their Cadillac and
authorities the tip they needed to track them down.
Law enforcement responding to the call were able to head
the vehicle off. Hughes tried to flee when the car was stopped
but was captured and arrested along with Owens. In the car,
deputies found the shotgun and a large amount of cocaine.
Hughes’ attorney told the judge the pair had not intended
to involve the homeowner and her cousin, explaining that
panic escalated what was intended to be a burglary.
But Jones quickly squashed that argument.
“You do not take a sawed-off shotgun to a house to commit
a burglary,” he said, adding the men were wearing masks at
the time. “The victims fled. (Hughes and Owens) had an op
portunity to flee.”
Darrell Williams
7
T8122
'04420
7
BUY 4 TIRES,
GET $100
REBATE!
HL U3B04T3F
LIE
HU63&C4T3F
^5^ IOC
Come see us for your
Tire Savings!!!
^ mmm 706-554-2114
www.mizellford.com
SEE PEMifl TAHS