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Vol. 139, No. 50 - Waynesboro, Ga. 30830 Established in 1882 Wednesday, January 29, 2020 - $1.00
Crime decreases three consecutive years
DIANA ROYAL
jdianaroyal@gmail.com
Crime rates have decreased for the
third year in a row in Burke County.
According to data from the Burke
County Sheriff’s Office, the county
still remains more than 50 percent
below the previous years of 2015
and 2016 and saw a small decrease
from last year’s numbers. While
the number of murders did increase
this year, Sheriff Alfonzo Williams,
Waynesboro Police Chief Willie
Burley and Sardis Police Chief
Scotti Sanford say they are working
together to combat these crimes
as all murders took place within
the city limits of either Sardis or
Waynesboro. Four murders were
recorded in 2019. In 2015 there was
one; 2016, three; 2017, three; and
2018, 1.
Aggravated assault, sometimes
referred to as attempted murder in
other states, saw a slight increase
in the last year (there were 14 in
2018 and 19 in 2019); however, the
number has continued to drastically
drop over the years. In 2016 there
was 80 cases; 2016 saw 52; and
2017 had 29.
The crimes that have slightly
increased include rape and robbery.
While there were no recorded cases
of either in 2015-2016, there were
two rapes cases per year from 2017-
2019, six robberies in both 2017 and
2018 and three robberies in 2019.
The sheriff’s office clearance
of cases through arrest has also
increased drastically each year:
while five years ago there were 44
cleared cases, 2019 saw clearance
of 113.
District Attorney Natalie Paine
confirmed that the quality of cases
being submitted for prosecution has
increased tremendously.
“To give you some perspective,”
she said in an email to the sheriff’s
office, “in 2015 we only formally
charged 55 percent of the cases
submitted to our office in Burke
County. In 2016, the percentage was
again in the 50s; in 2017 it was 64
percent; and in 2018 and 2019, over
90 percent of the cases submitted
were formally charged. I attribute
this to you and your administration’s
commitment to training
and providing the tools SEE
necessary to allow CRIME,
officers to perform their
jobs, as well as the high
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Sgt. Harold Drummond of the Waynesboro Police Department holds baby AJ while his mother, Angel Collins, and sister, Arie, look
on. Drummond performed lifesaving measures on the child earlier this month.
Officer revives unresponsive infant
DIANA ROYAL
jdianaroyal@gmail.com
Littie AJ’s big brown eyes search the
room, stopping when they land on his
sister, Arie, and the two begin an array
of coos and baby grunts their mama
describes as their special language.
He’s a happy boy, grinning as folks
stop to speak, his “I love my mommy”
bib catching the drool from his chin.
The small group gathered grows
quiet when Sgt. Harold Drummond
walks in. Though he and the children’s
mother haven’t been introduced, they
know exactly who one another is. For
Drummond, he’s remembering two
sets of eyes — a mother’s, filled with
fear, and AJ’s, listless, almost lifeless.
Midville mother Angel Collins
remembers making the decision to take
AJ (Ariel Jr.) to the Children’s Hospital
of Georgia. It was Saturday, Jan. 18, and
she’d just had her five-month old twins at
the emergency room in Statesboro the night
before; both were diagnosed with RSV and
put on a saline nebulizer.
“His breathing never slowed down, and
I said I better take him back but this time
to the children’s hospital.”
After the babies finished their feeding,
she, the babies’ father, Ariel Sherrod, and
her sister, Joy Diallo, piled into the family’s
SUV and headed toward Augusta. “My
sister kept checking AJ’s breathing, then
all of a sudden she yelled to me, ‘Angel
he’s not moving. He’s not moving at all.’”
Angel immediately called 911, telling the
dispatcher she was almost in Waynesboro
and would stop at Dollar General. As they
prepared to pull into the parking lot, a
Waynesboro Police Department cruiser
turned in just before them.
Sgt. Drummond was a few hours into his
night shift for the WPD when he heard the
call come through.
“I was scanning, which means I can
listen to other agencies on the radio,” he
recalls. “On that particular night, EMS
put out a distress call that there was
an unresponsive child on its way into
Burke County.” Just a few miles away,
Drummond made his way to the Dollar
General. “I knew I was a little
bit closer and advised our SEE
dispatcher to show me en INFANT,
route in case I could assist iqA
Census
counting
begins
DIANA ROYAL
jdianaroyal@gmail.com
Now that Census 2020 counting is officially
underway, residents of Burke County should
know what to look for when strangers knock
on their doors.
Census Bureau workers began pounding the
pavement on Jan. 16, and will continue through
March 30, from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m.
Chief Deputy Lewis Blanchard of the Burke
County Sheriff’s Office said while folks may
be leery of giving out their information, it
is imperative that everyone living in Burke
County, even temporarily, be properly counted
for the Census, and offered tips on how to
identify a held representative.
First and foremost, Census employees’
names can always be verified via the Census
website. Those employees should also have
their photo IDs and driver’s licenses for dual
authentication, he says.
Both temporary and permanent held staff
working in areas and neighborhoods throughout
the United States will be conducting surveys
with a laptop marked with the Census Bureau
logo on a black canvas bag and will provide
residents with a letter on official letterhead
stating why they are visiting the home. The
work ID badge should also contain the worker’s
name, photograph, Department of Commerce
watermark and an expiration date.
Field reps should also, upon request, provide
their supervisor’s contact information as well as
the phone number for a person’s Census Bureau
Regional Office, which supervises the activities
of all held representatives on a more local level.
Residents may also enter an employee’s name
in the Census Bureau’s staff search website or
contact the regional office for Georgia.
Census workers may also call to conduct
telephone surveys, especially if they’ve
attempted to reach someone who was not at
home or a personal visit is
not convenient. The bureau
uses two contact centers: CENSUS,
one in Jeffersonville Indiana 3A
Historic home rezoning set for Monday
BEN PALMER
Waynesboro City Council will
again entertain a request Monday
to rezone the historic Jones Avenue
property known as The Shadows,
which would allow for events and
short-term rental of a cottage on
the site.
The 7-acre property listed on the
U.S. Register of Historic Places
is currently zoned R1 Residential
Single Family. The owners have
requested that the property be
rezoned Residential Single Family
R2.
Owners Chris Gibbie and Tim
Mashburn requested the rezoning
after being served with a notice Dec.
13 from the city that their marketing
and use of the property was in
violation of the R1 zoning ordinance.
The notice stated that the city
had received “several complaints”
concerning advertisement and use of
the property, which are not permitted
in R1 areas.
Gibbie and Mashburn hosted
Christmas parties at their home Dec.
5 for the Burke County Chamber
of Commerce and Dec. 12 for
employees of First National Bank.
On Dec. 14, they entertained at a
personal Christmas party, to which
next door neighbors were invited.
They did not attend.
Several nearby residents expressed
opposition to the proposed rezoning
in a letter published Jan. 14 in The
True Citizen.
On Jan 16, the city Planning
Commission split 2-2 on a vote
on the zoning amendment, which
sent it to the full council without a
recommendation.
At its regular meeting and zoning
hearing Jan. 21, council members
heard comments from an overflow
crowd both for and against the
proposed zoning change. Council
members voted to table the zoning
amendment to give the mayor and
council members more time to meet
with the property owners in order to
learn more about the issues involved.
The council is not expected to
allow additional public comments
at its Monday meeting.
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