Newspaper Page Text
Burke County resident Shirley Mack was killed inside her home on Scotts Store Road which she shared with five children.
Sex offender killed by teenage niece
Child charged
with murder,
held at youth
detention center
By Elizabeth Billips
lizbillips@yahoo.com
A convicted sex of
fender was stabbed to
death by her 14-year-old
niece.
Monday night, para
medics found the body
of 49-year-old Shirley
Elaine Mack on the
kitchen floor of her
small brick home on
Scott Store Road just
north of Midville.
She appeared to have a
single stab wound to her
chest.
The child accused of
killing Mack had been
living in the house along
with four younger chil
dren.
“It appears that they
got into some kind of ar
gument and the girl got
a knife and stabbed
(Mack),” Sheriff Greg
Coursey said, noting a
911 call was received
around 8:30 p.m.
Although the child’s
name has not been re
leased, the sheriff con
firmed the 14-year-old is
being held at a youth de
tention center in
Sandersville. GBI Spe
cial Agent Pat Morgan
told The True Citizen she
is charged with murder
and possession of a knife
during the commission
of a crime.
Chief Investigator Sgt.
Dedric Smith of the
Burke County Sheriff’s
Office is imploring the
media to cover the news
story “with integrity" for
the sake of the victim’s
family, including the
young children who were
in the home when Mack
died.
“Regardless of what
has happened we have
four other kids we have
to be concerned about,"
he said, noting they have
been placed in a foster
home. "They have al
ready been traumatized
enough and are just try
ing to cope. Their lives
have been changed for
ever regardless of the
outcome of this situa
tion.”
While deputies are try
ing to determine exactly
what transpired between
the aunt and niece Mon
day night, they are also
trying to determine if
Mack was legally permit
ted to have children in
her home.
Mack, who has several
aliases including the first
name “Sherry" and last
name "Bush,” has a 1990
conviction for lewd and
lascivious acts on a child
under 16. She was living
in Florida at the time,
where sex offender sen
tencing differs substan
tially from Georgia’s.
Shirley Elaine Mack
war ana peace,
Daughters of Confederacy to
restore 135-year old monument
By Elizabeth Billips
lizbillips@yahoo.com
It was erected just af
ter the Civil War to
honor Burke County’s
fallen soldiers.
Now, the 135-year-old
Confederate Monument
is slowly falling too.
But descendents of the
women who saw fit to
construct the 30-foot me
morial in Waynesboro’s
historic Confederate
Cemetery don’t plan to
let that happen.
A restoration project
has been launched by the
Margaret Jones Chapter
No. 27 of the United
Daughters of the Con
federacy.
“Two moves, time and
weather have all played
a part in the considerable
damage to the monu
ment,” UDC member
Brenda Lackman said,
describing its original
construction in the Sixth
Street cemetery and sub
sequent move to down
town Waynesboro during
the 1899 "historical re
vitalization."
The monument was
positioned on a four-foot
thick concrete base right
in the middle of Liberty
Street, and it quickly be
came a landmark as trav
elers passing through
town stopped to read the
inscriptions on its four
marble shields.
But when World War II
moved into full swing,
the much-loved monu
ment became a sore
thumb for the war effort.
Liberty Street was along
the military highway and
the giant structure was
causing truck traffic to
bottleneck.
So, in 1942, it was
moved back to the cem
etery where a new base
was built from two lay
ers of red brick and con
crete.
It’s sat there since ...
but the years haven’t
been kind.
-Continued, see
monument, page 7
This monument was erected after the Civil War
to honor Burke County's fallen soldiers.
BANK
HEIST
Capital City
robbers still
on the loose
Waynesboro Police Officer Bruce Jones tapes off
the parking lot behind the bank after the robbery.
By Anne Marie Kyzer
annemariek@thetruecitizen.com
Authorities are still looking for masked robbers
who stormed into Capital City Bank last Thursday
afternoon and demanded money from tellers.
The two men, both African American males pos
sibly in their 30s, entered the Liberty Street bank
through the back entrance facing its Shadrack Street
parking lot just after 12:30 p.m.
An employee said one of them yelled out, indi
cating it was a robbery. She slid under her desk and
pressed the emergency notification button.
While one robber wearing a cloth tied around his
face stayed in the main corridor of the bank, the
other, wearing a hood, jumped behind the counter
where two tellers were on duty. He emptied an un
disclosed amount of money from their cash draw
ers before both men rushed back out the Shadrack
Street entrance. No customers were in the bank
while the robbery was in progress, though the men
passed one unsuspecting customer on their way out
the back doors.
Once outside, the men sprinted across the back
parking lot to their silver four-door Honda Accord,
possibly a late 1990s model, which was parked along
Shadrack Street in front of the old Goldberg’s Fur
niture warehouse.
Employees, clearly shaken and terrified, said the
robbers indicated they had a gun during the rob
bery. However, the ladies rushed to the rear of the
bank to get an idea of where they were headed af
terwards.
-Continued, see robbery, page 7
KNOW SOMETHING?
Anyone with information or
who might recognize the men
pictured above are asked to
call the Waynesboro Police at
706-554-8029 or the GBI at 706-
595-2575.