Newspaper Page Text
o
04
o
01
03
00
Vol. 140, No. 50 - Waynesboro, Ga. 30830
Established in 1882
Wednesday, February 3, 2021 - $1.00
Former school employee arrested on sex charges
DIANA ROYAL
idianaroyal@gmail.com
A former public school
employee is behind bars after
having an “inappropriate
relationship” with a student.
According to a report from
the Burke County Sheriff’s
Office, school resource
deputies were notified by
school officials on Jan. 25
of the relationship, and upon
investigation determined “the
victim was under the age of
18 and there was sufficient
probable cause to pursue
formal charges.”
Kenyarda Ketrelle Berrian,
36, of Waynesboro was
arrested on Jan. 26, and
charged with sexual assault by
a teacher/principal/assistant
principal/other administrator,
a felony. Georgia Code says
consent is not a defense
against said charge (OCGA:
16-6-5.1).
Berrian, who was an
administrative secretary
and assistant volleyball and
basketball coach for the
Burke County Public School
System, had resigned from
her position the previous
week.
Sources say she was
involved with a 17-year-
old female student, but
investigators could not
confirm that. The initial report
says the incident(s) occurred
between Jan. 4-22.
BCPS Superintendent Dr.
Angela Williams said in a
statement, “This person is no
longer a BCPS employee. The
school system has followed
all established protocol and
is fully cooperative with
law enforcement and other
agencies included in that
protocol."
Kenyarda Ketrelle Berrian
Learning about shadows
Students in Laura Quick’s K3 class at Edmund Burke Academy learned all about shadows Tuesday in honor of Ground
hog Day. The class made their own shadow puppets to show off in the classroom and took turns voting on whether
the official groundhog would see his shadow or not. And what did Punxsutawney Phil see when he emerged from
his burrow in Pennsylvania Tuesday morning? He saw his shadow, which is a prediction of six more weeks of winter.
Judicial circuit breakup
passed the GA Senate
BEN ROBERTS
benroberts@bellsouth.net
The breakup of the Augusta
Judicial Circuit moved one step
closer to reality on Monday,
Feb. 1, as Senate Bill (SB)
9 was passed by the Georgia
Senate and will now move to
the House of Representatives
for consideration.
If approved there and then
signed into law by Gov. Brian
Kemp, Columbia County
would become its own
judicial circuit as of July 1,
2021, leaving Richmond and
Burke counties as Augusta’s
remaining members.
The Burke County Board of
Commissioners held a called
meeting Thursday, Jan. 28,
to consider a resolution that
sought to delay the bill’s
passage until questions about
the costs of the circuit could
be examined. SB 9 states
that under the new makeup,
Augusta will be responsible for
90 percent of the costs while
Burke covers the remaining 10
percent. According to Burke
County Administrator Merv
Waldrop, those figures aren’t
available at this point because
it’s unknown what staff and
equipment could be leaving
along with Columbia County.
Waldrop says Burke’s costs
will certainly increase, but
to what extent is unknown at
this point.
Concerns over the size of
that increase as well as the
population disparity between
Augusta and Burke have
caused some commissioners
to inquire about the possibility
of moving to the Ogeechee or
Middle judicial circuits, both
of which are made up of other
neighboring counties.
During discussion of the
resolution, commissioners
Evans Martin,Tommy Nix and
Art Lively expressed concern
over standing in the way
of another county’s wishes
and the risk of alienating
local representatives who
supported the legislation.
Commissioners finally
agreed to the removal of
language in the resolution that
specifically asked for a delay
in the bill’s passage before
approving it 5-0.
Before the vote,
commissioners heard from
a handful of speakers, all
of whom were African-
American, who made it clear
they wanted Burke to remain
in the Augusta circuit. They
each made reference to the
suggestion that Columbia’s
desire to leave was due to
the recent election of the
Democratic candidate for
District Attorney Jared
Williams, who is also black.
Williams was in attendance
at the meeting but declined
to speak when offered the
chance by chairman Terri
Lodge Kelly.
In an interview on Monday,
Waldrop said he believed it
was in the best interest of the
entire CSRA community for
the Augusta Judicial Circuit
to remain as is, with its three
current members.
Waldrop said with the
commissioners’ decision as
a body to remain neutral on
the legislation, any local
support or objection to the
bill would rely on grassroots
organization from ordinary
citizens.
“It’s in the House’s hands
now,” he said.
Virus toll here continues to climb
ROY F. CHALKER JR
rchalker@bellsouth.net
According to the Georgia
DeAccording to the Georgia
Department of Public Health,
Burke County has had a
total of 2,194 COVID cases
since the beginning of the
pandemic. This number
includes 1558 confirmed
cases and 636 instances in
which antigens were found
which indicated an earlier
infection.
The agency also reported
Tuesday that there had been
a total of 43 confirmed and
probable deaths here from the
virus, including 10 in the last
two weeks.
The county has been
averaging about 14 new cases
per day for the last two weeks
and has had a total of 130
hospitalizations.
The DPH reports that
there have been a total of
917,440 cases of COVID
19 in Georgia, resulting in
14,450 deaths. This total
includes 1,678 probable
COVID deaths and 12,772
confirmed deaths.
As the vaccination program
continues across the state,
7.4 percent of the population
has received one dose and
1.2 percent has received two
doses.
330 US HWY. 25 NORTH, WAYNESBORO • 706-554-2114 • www.mizellford.com