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JUDGE ANDREW PALMER
CHIEF MAGISTRATE JUDGE, BURKE COUNTY
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WPD officer arrested for DUI
DIANA ROYAL
jdianaroyal@gmail.com
A Waynesboro Police
officer who was touted earlier
this year for an act of heroism
has been arrested for driving
under the influence.
According to WPD Maj.
Gary Jones, Sgt. Harold
Drummond, 62, was off duty
when he was stopped around
3:30 a.m. Tuesday, Sept. 15,
in Grovetown after an officer
noticed him weaving on the
roadway. Drummond was
reportedly driving recklessly,
nearly striking first a WOW
cable company utility vehicle
on one side of the street and
then just missing a second
vehicle on the opposite side
of the road.
The reporting officer
detected the smell of alcohol,
and asked Drummond to
perform a series of field
sobriety tests, to which
Drummond agreed. Jones
said Drummond then refused
the state administered blood
test. He was arrested and
taken to the Columbia County
jail. According to Jones, he is
currently on administrative
leave without pay pending
investigation of the incident.
"The Waynesboro Police
Department will not tolerate
any misconduct from our
officers," Jones said. "We are
all expected to be held to a
higher standard."
Reports show this is not the
first time Drummond has been
suspected of DUI. In 2011,
while he was working for the
Richmond County Sheriff’s
Office, he was arrested for
suspicion of DUI.
Drummond caught national
attention in January after
the release of body camera
footage showed him reviving
a five-month-old infant who
had stopped breathing
At right, Sgt. Harold
Drummond
Sally's rains cause flooding here
CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS
SpooK*y S-fcor**
Coia-kes-k now
underwork
DIANA ROYAL
jdianaroyal@gmail.com
While Burke County was
spared from the destruction
Hurricane Sally wreaked
across the Southeast, heavy
rainfall did lead to flash
flooding in some local areas.
Amylia Lester,
spokesperson for the
Burke County Emergency
Management Agency, said
that just before the flash flood
warning hit on Thursday, the
National Weather Service
reported the rain that was
headed toward Burke County
was falling at a rate of two
inches per hour.
Exact measurements of
rainfall were not available,
but Lester was able to provide
approximate numbers for
various areas: Vidette,
Waynesboro and Keysville,
4-6 inches; Alexander, 3
inches; Midville, 2-3 inches;
and Sardis and Girard, 1-1.5
inches.
The City of Waynesboro
reported the most issues, with
flooding on Perry, Shadrack,
North Liberty, Waters,
Council and Barron streets,
as well as East Seventh Street,
the intersection of Eighth
Street and Academy Avenue,
Burke Veterans Parkway at
Davis Road and the Spring
Valley Road area.
Flooding also occurred at
the B. Lamar Murray Public
Health Center, Brentwood
Health and Rehabilitation,
Southern Bank and the water
department and public works
buildings that belong to the
City of Waynesboro.
Shadrack Street and the
parking lot at First Baptist
Church looked like a deep
lake by the time the rain
stopped mid afternoon, and
customers using Southern
Bank’s drive-thru window
had to back up
after completing
transactions as
the roadway was
DIANA ROYAL
jdianaroyal@gmail.com
It’s time for local students
to tell us their tales of terror.
This week,The True
Citizen will begin accepting
submissions for our annual
Spooky Story Contest, open
to fifth-sixth grade students
enrolled in either public,
private, or home school in
Burke County.
We are looking for creative,
original stories. They should
have a great plot and be
frightening enough to make us
lose sleep at night! Students
should avoid graphic violence
and plots found in movies and
books, such as killer clowns
or super spooky dolls.
Stories can be entered one of
two ways: mail or bring them
to our office, located at 629
Shadrack St. in Waynesboro
(there is a dropbox beside the
door) or email submissions to
truecitizennews @live .com.
Entries must be typed and
should be no more than 500
words. Handwritten entries
will not be accepted. They
must also include the author’s
first and last name, grade,
the teacher’s first and last
name and the school the child
attends. If these guidelines are
not followed,
the submission SEE
will be CONTEST,
ineligible for 13
COVID CORNER
The Georgia Department of Public Health showed a total
of 308,221 confirmed COVID-19 cases for the entire state
as of Tuesday afternoon, including 6,677 deaths and 27,490
hospitalizations. On Tuesday, 1,017 newly confirmed cases
were reported as well as 73 deaths and 96 hospitalizations.
Locally, according to the B. Lamar Murray Public Health
Center, Burke County has reached a total of 774 confirmed
positives, up 42 from last Tuesday. The county has had a
total of 9 deaths since the beginning of the pandemic.
SEE
STORM,
14
Local leaders across Georgia boost census
BEAU EVANS
Capitol Beat News Service
Local leaders from Rome to
Savannah pressed Georgians
on Monday to complete the
2020 census with only days
left before the deadline.
Georgia ranks near the
bottom of states in its progress
on the decennial count, which
influences federal money
allocations and political
representation. The deadline
is Sept. 30.
As of Monday, nearly 91 %
of households in Georgia had
completed the census either
on their own initiative or after
census takers tracked them
down via door-to-door visits
or phone calls.
That’s an increase from the
81% completion rate seen
earlier this month but still lags
behind every other state in
the country except Alabama,
Louisiana, Mississippi, South
Carolina and Montana.
Without a serious push to
count more people, many
cities and counties in Georgia
could find themselves left
with fewer dollars to provide
services for more people -
and will be stuck with that
problem for another 10 years.
“This is the only thing we
need to be talking about for the
next 10 days,” said Savannah
Mayor Van Johnson. “This is
the overtime.”
Johnson joined mayors and
other officials from Rome,
Moultrie and East Point in
a news conference urging
people to fill out their online
census forms or send them in
the mail.
Mayor Bill McIntosh, from
the South Georgia city of
Moultrie, noted smaller and
more rural communities like
his could suffer worse from
an undercount than urban
areas, both by losing critical
federal dollars and having less
representation in the Georgia
General Assembly through
redistricting.
McIntosh said he’s seen
some resistance to completing
the census from people who
fear the federal government
may use their personal
information for negative
purposes. That will not
happen, McIntosh and others
stressed.
“The census matters and
it matters in very significant
ways in our lives,” McIntosh
said.
The census count affects
the state’s share of a huge pot
of federal dollars provided
annually for a wide range
of programs like Medicaid
and Medicare, food stamps,
housing vouchers, highway
construction, child-care
services, special education
and more.
Roughly $1.5 trillion will
be available for states to tap
into depending on the size
of their census-determined
populations, according
to research from Georgia
Washington University. The
larger the population, the
larger the share.
The census
also plays ®EE
a major CENSUS,
political role 13
2090 Ford
EXPLORER
Beginning at
mM9
706-554-2114 www.mizellford.com Waynesboro, Ga.