Newspaper Page Text
Vol. 132, No. 33-Waynesboro, Ga. 30830
Established in 1882
Wednesday, October 17,2012 - $1.0C
Pink for a purpose
EBA’s traditional colors of red and white were overshadowed with a splatter of pink during last week’s football game against Bethesda Day School.The Lady Spartan cheerleading
squad donned pink pom poms in support of October being National Breast Cancer Awareness Month.The ladies highlighted their new gear with an “E-B-A” chant toward the end
of Friday night’s game.The National Breast Cancer Foundation states that one in eight women will be diagnosed with breast cancer in her lifetime, and breast cancer is the second
leading cause of death among women. Both statistics are something that Edmund Burke Academy is trying to change by raising awareness.
Tax, water, sewer, solid waste
Waynesboro considers quadruple hike
By Elizabeth Billips
lizbillips@yahoo.com
If the first draft of the budget
passes, Waynesboro residents
will get a quadruple-whammy.
Not only will property taxes
be raised for the first time in
more than 20 years, the city will
hike its rates for water, sewer
and garbage pick-up.
Waynesboro City Council
members will take their first
look at the rough proposal at an
Oct. 30 workshop and will have
several weeks to call for
changes.
If city council backs all four
increases, the average family
will pay an extra $99 per year
and the city would collect an
extra $186,000.
About $150,000 of that
would come from raising the
millage rate from 11 to 12.5.
With a tax digest that has been
flat for five consecutive years,
the 1.5 mil increase would bring
it to $1.3 million.
Still, 2013’s bare-boned
$8,228,900 budget is 2.6 per
cent lower than this year’s and
includes only $27,000 in capi
tal purchases. There are no al
lowances for pay raises for the
city’s 75 employees and very
little wiggle room.
If city council decides to ax
any of the proposed hikes, it will
have to steer funds from the
$400,000 city administrator
Jerry Coalson had hoped to put
in a reserve fund for emergen
cies. More than $250,000 was
previously banked, but this
year’s money troubles have al
ready drawn it down to
$74,000.
Most of those financial woes
were spurred by a mild winter
and more than $300,000 in rev
enue shortages from decreases
in natural gas sales. But a no
ticeable dip in revenue was also
a product of the economy and
general conservation.
“The city budget hasn’t seen
drastic effects of the economy
until now ... but it’s smaller and
later than what other cities are
seeing," Coalson said. “People
are being conservative.”
Although the water and sewer
rates haven’t been raised since
2008, the city has seen signifi
cant cutbacks in water and gas
usage, both by residents and in
dustries where work has been
dwindling. The downturned
economy has also affected con
struction, and the city’s profits
on roll-off dumpsters are way
down.
Waynesboro officials are
waiting to see how they’ll be af
fected by a newly enacted law
that ended taxation on energy
used for manufacturing. Previ
ously, the city collected sales
taxes on energy and gas used by
five local industries.
HOW MUCH WILL THE
INCREASES COST?
The following estimates are
based on the average cost for a
family living in a $100,000 home
and using one polycart and
12,000 gallons of water per
month.
Property tax: $60 per year
Water: $1.40 per month
Sewer: $1.40 per month
Solid waste: 49 cents per month
Total: $8.29 per month or $99.48
per year
Nearly 1,000 grams
Deputies bust meth traffickers
By Elizabeth Billips
lizbillips@yahoo.com
Two men were jailed for
drug trafficking after deputies
found more than 960 grams of
crystal meth.
For several weeks, they’d
been watching Burke County
resident Wayne Coleman, 42.
It came to a head around
noon Tuesday when they
watched 32-year-old Donta
Betha, a suspected dealer from
Richmond County, go into his
house on Coleman Lane.
According to Sgt. Dedric
Smith, an investigator for the
Burke County Sheriff’s Of
fice, after Betha left, they
pulled him over on a traffic
stop and seized 60 grams of
methamphetamines from his
car.
Deputies then raided
Coleman’s home and discov
ered approximately 900 grams
of crystal meth in vacuum
sealed bags that were hidden
in a cooler. More than $5,000
cash was also seized, along
with several vehicles and elec
tronics.
Both men are being held at
Burke County jail for traffick
More than 900 grams of crystal meth were found in a cooler at the home of Wayne Coleman.
ing in methamphetamine.
Coleman had been recuper
ating from a "suspicious
shooting” last month in
Waynesboro.
He was shot in the abdomen
during an alleged armed rob
bery attempt outside his
girlfriend’s home in the
Westgate neighborhood.
At the time, Waynesboro
Police Chief Alfonzo Williams
said it appeared, instead, to be
the result of a drug deal that
went wrong.
Burke farmer
critical after
electric shock
By Elizabeth Billps
lizbillips@yahoo.com
A Burke County farmer was critically injured when elec
tricity coursed through his body.
Brandon Hargrove, 36, was rushed to Doctor’s Hospital mid
morning yesterday (Tuesday) after a farming accident just off
Highway 80, according to Chief Deputy James Hollingworth
of the Burke County Sheriff’s Office.
Officers said Hargrove was standing in a field when a pea
nut picker clipped a power line. An electrical current went
into is arm and came out of his feet.
As of late Tuesday afternoon, Hargrove was listed in criti
cal condition in the hospital’s bum and wound center.
Sports
• EBA celebrates Homecoming Friday
• BCHS to honor senior athletes Friday
- See Pages 10, 11
7
18122
04420
7
ASK ABOUT OUR $35 TEST DRIVE
■ V.-V.
PRE-PAID GIFT CARD
NOJ
!lt
dii
877-637-3586
www.mizefiford.com