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DIANA ROYAL
jdianaroyal@gmail.com
While many protests across the
country have turned violent and
destructive, the Burke County
community came together on
two separate occasions over the
weekend to peacefully make their
voices heard.
On Saturday morning, citizens
along with community and church
leaders, sheriff’s deputies and
police officers gathered at Jones
Lake for the BC Love Link, a
demonstration of love shown by
the linking of different races.
The white community stood
in solidarity with their friends
and family members of color,
acknowledging their grief and
vowing to be supportive.
Organizer Christy Smith says
now is a crucial time to make an
effort to start a movement toward
change.
“We need to encourage people
to put their words into action,” she
said. “Having bi-racial children,
I'm more aware of the existing and
ever-present inequities that people
of color face. I believe in equal and
fair treatment of and justice for all,
and long for my grandchildren to
grow up in a better world.”
Smith’s daughter, Leah Smith, an
activist and musician in the CSRA
and Burke County High School
graduate, addressed the group,
encouraging the community’s
“white allies” to listen
and help educate others.
“Looking out here at you
— this is how you do it.
This is how it starts. You
have to show up for black
people,” she said, adding
that the shelter-in-place
order has forced people to
watch and see more of the
racism still taking place
in America. “Something’s
changed. Something is
different. You can’t look
away. Even if you want to,
you can’t. We are forced
to see it and because of
that, we see each other’s
humanity. Until we have
truth and reconciliation
we can expect for there to
always be tension ... but this is a
start. Here today is a beginning.”
As cars slowly passed, many
drivers and passengers yelled out
their windows, “We love you!”
and “We support you!,” honked
their horns or threw a thumbs up
in the air.
Members of the group stood,
kneeled or laid face down for
8 minutes and 46 seconds, the
amount of time George Floyd
was pegged down, knee to neck
by a police officer, crying that he
couldn’t breathe — until he took
his last breath on that Minneapolis
street.
The crowd shed tears and shared
hugs as Waynesboro Mayor Greg
Carswell read a proclamation
declaring the first Saturday in
June as George Floyd’s Day of
Solidarity and Fove.
“Here in Waynesboro, we want
to show the solidarity and love
among all of the citizens here in
our city and that we can and will
come and stand together in love
and peace for change and justice,”
he read.
“I was happy to see the numbers
and mixed cultures that turned
out, and their courage to stand
against peer pressure and for what
they believe,” Christy Smith said
following the event. “I'm thankful
that we had the support of our city
and county.”
Sunday afternoon saw another
demonstration of unity, this time
as citizens stood together against
gun violence.
The event, hosted by Mayor
Carswell and B.R.I.D.G.E.
(Building Responsible Individuals
Developing Great Examples), is an
initiative that began locally in 2016.
Participants wear orange as they
march to recognize Gun Violence
Awareness Month. This year,
a Stop the Violence Motorcade
with morticians, funeral directors
and families affected by injury or
loss of life due to gun violence
made its way through the streets
of Waynesboro.
Carswell held a presentation
at the steps of the old courthouse
declaring June “Gun Violence
Awareness and Call for Change
Month” as he handed the
proclamation over to B.R.I.D.G.E.
founder Kenya Sullivan-Crumbley.
Ceretta Smith, a candidate for the
Senate District 23 race, attended
both events and called the unity
in the Burke County community
refreshing. “Burke County
is leading the way,” she said.
“Both events this past weekend
demonstrated people’s desire for
real change and to see the mayor,
the sheriff and the police officers
standing with the citizens was
amazing. Trust is so important,
especially now, and that starts with
relationship and relationship starts
by you simply just showing up. I’m
looking forward to attending again
next year.”
Williams earns second term
as sheriff, 2,000 absentee
votes still to be counted
DIANA ROYAL
jdianaroyal@gmail.com
With a new voting system and an
unprecedented number of absentee
ballots due to the COVID-19
pandemic, many county election
offices across the state closed up
for the night with a few thousands
votes left to count in the state and
presidential preference primaries.
For Burke County, approximately
2,000 absentee ballots remain left to
count, though one race in particular
appears to have a clear winner. In
his bid for a second term as sheriff,
Alfonzo Williams garnered a total
of 2,244 votes with all 16 precincts
reporting. This number includes all
early voting as well as one-third of
the absentee votes. His challengers
Wayne Scott and Xavier Wimberly
had 327 and 94, respectively. This
gives Williams 84.2 percent of the
current vote. To push Williams into
a runoff, Scott would need to pull
nearly every vote of the remaining
2,000, and those ballots are a mix
of both Republican and Democratic
tickets. Williams’ had 1,042 election
day votes and 484 through advanced
voting. Scott’s election day total was
184 and 55 citizens voted early in his
favor. Wimberly had 62 supporters
on election
day and 16 SEE
in advance. PRIMARY ELECTION,
Absentee 12
Unemployment rate
here is 10.5 percent
DIANA ROYAL
jdianaroyal@gmail.com
Unemployment claims across the
state are continuing to see a decline
from the massive spikes they had as
a result of the global coronavirus
pandemic.
Just in the last week, Georgians
hied 149,163 unemployment claims,
according to the Department of
Labor, a number that is down more
than 16,000 from the previous week.
It’s also the fourth decline the state
has seen over a five-week period.
Statistics for the month of April
show Burke County at 10.5 percent
unemployment with 1,676 new
claims. In March, Burke had just 318
claims, and in April 2019, only 93.
In February, prior to the pandemic,
Burke County’s labor force totaled
9,272; the report for April shows a
work force of 7,618.
Local employers say getting some
employees to return to work has
not been an easy task considering
the $600 federal supplement that’s
been paid out on top of regular
unemployment benefits, yet the
majority of businesses The True
Citizen has spoken to say things
are getting back to normal. Kersha
Cartwright, a spokesperson for the
Georgia Department of Labor, said
Congress is currently in discussion
about the supplement. “It is scheduled
to be available through July 25,” she
said. “We will probably see some
sort of extension.”
The labor department paid out
$160.8 million in benefits last week,
up $1.3 million from the previous
week, says Dave Williams, Bureau
Chief of Capitol Beat News Service.
Since March 21, when Georgia
businesses began shutting down to
discourage the spread of COVID-19,
the state has distributed more than
$1.3 billion in regular unemployment
benefits. Last week, the agency
issued more than $51 million in
benefits to self-employed Georgians,
gig workers, independent contractors
and laid off employees of churches
and other nonprofits through
the federal
Pandemic SEE
Unemployment UNEMPLOYMENT,
Assistance c
Retired minister
dies from virus
DIANA ROYAL
jdianaroyal@gmail.com
Just a few weeks after celebrating
his 100th birthday, a World War II
veteran and retired minister passed
away from COVID-19.
Henry Erwin hit triple digits on
May 2, and family members joined
his party at the Georgia War Veterans
Nursing Home via a Zoom meeting
as staff presented him with cake and
balloons. On Sunday, June 7, his
church and family reported that he’d
contracted the coronavirus; he died
on Monday morning.
Erwin was the oldest living South
Georgia Conference clergy member
at the time
of his death,
having
come from a
long line of
Methodist
ministers
within his
family. He
was number
17.
A
graduate of
Young Harris College, Erwin served
with the Merchant
Marines during SEE
WWII. He went on DEATH,
to graduate from 7
Henry Erwin
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