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Page 4A — Wednesday, May 26, 2021, The True Citizen
OPINIONS
★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★
The Pledge Of Allegiance
1 pledge, allegiance, to the flag
of the United States of America
and to the Republic for which
*it stands, one Nation under
God, indivisible, with liberty and
justice for all.
★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★
LOOKING BACK
{this week in Burke County history}
10 YEARS AGO-MAY25,20ll
Randy Lester, Willie Latimore and Terri Lodge Kelly all
qualified to run in the special election for the vacant District
2 seat formerly held by the late Alphonso Andrews. The elec
tion was set for June 21.
Alex Sturkie and Dakota Garber led the EBA Spartans to
a spot in the state baseball championship. The team defeated
Gatewood in a best of three series.
A committee was set up to advise in the planning for the
new judicial center to be built here. Superior Court Judge
Carlisle Overstreet, Sheriff Greg Coursey and Clerk of Court
Sherri Cochran were the elected officials on the panel. Jesse
C. Palmer, III was appointed to represent the Waynesboro
business community.
25 YEARS AGO-MAY30, 1996
Karl (Eddie) Allen was appointed as Waynesboro’s new
police chief, succeeding H.L. Ivey. Ivey had retired because
of health problems after holding the position for 12 years.
Evan Lanier won first place in the Farm Bureau essay
contest. Other winners were Katie Cochran and Heather
Poindexter.
Sammy Jenkins of Waynesboro was elected to the Southeast
Region position on the new 11-member Board of Directors
of Oglethorpe Power Corporation.
50 YEARS AGO-MAY26, 1971
Rev. J.M. Ellis was sworn in as a member of the Burke
County Board of Education after being appointed to the post
by the Grand Jury.
J.P McDowell, former veterans service director for Burke
County, died at the age of 75. He had been a member of the
Waynesboro City Council and had served as secretary for the
Rotary Club for 21 years.
Lillian Willis won the Waynesboro Women’s Golf Asso
ciation championship held at the country club. Other players
winning flights included Mary Belle Hubert, Polly Mac ken,
Mae Chalker, Ada Blount, Ann Mincey, Vic Daniel and Grace
Siekers.
70 YEARS AGO-MAY31,1951
Bob Wills was installed as the new president of the Waynes
boro Civitan Club. Other officers included Leo Abbott and
Cole Minnick.
A.H. Westbrook, lessee of the Anthony Wayne Hotel, an
nounced he recently completed the redecoration of fourteen
rooms at the hotel. He also said that telephones and ventilator
fans had been added to the rooms.
Superior court Judge G.C. Anderson was the featured
speaker at ceremonies observing Memorial Day here. The
event was sponsored by the American Legion and a musical
program was presented by Mrs. G.A. Lewis.
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Waynesboro, Georgia 30830
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BEN ROBERTS
benroberts@bellsouth.net
Last Monday’s city council
meeting began with a shock
from Mayor Gregory Car-
swell Jr. when he announced
he would be taking a leave of
absence, effective immediately.
Carswell cited his ongoing
legal situation, a medical issue
concerning his son, the recent
murder of his brother and the
stress of the job as factors be
hind his decision.
Sudden medical issues are
scary because they are out of
your control, especially when
they happen to your children.
That is a private matter for
Carswell and his family and I
wish his son the best prognosis
and outcome.
The Burke County Sheriff’s
Office has arrested and charged
two suspects with murder in the
death of Brian Carswell. The
completion of that trial may, at
least, offer some answers to the
Carswell family in the future.
Carswell’s own legal trou
bles , however, ramped up when
he was indicted by a Bulloch
County grand jury on Dec. 1,
2020, on four counts including
identity fraud, theft by taking,
theft by deception and forgery
in the second degree.
Carswell, nor his attorney,
have offered much of anything
in the way of an explanation for
his arrest. The mayor maintains
his innocence and has claimed
his identity was stolen.
The indictment, however,
lays out a better explanation of
Carswell’s alleged crimes. The
document accuses Carswell
of fraudulently using another
identity to create fake accounts
and steal $11,920 while he was
employed by Check Into Cash,
a title pawn business in States
boro, sometime between Sept.
30,2019, and Jan. 23,2020.
I emailed several questions
to Carswell’s attorney, J. Grady
Blanchard - who also serves as
Waynesboro’s chief judge - but
got no response. One of those
questions concerned the time
line of events and Carswell’s
sudden leave of absence.
According to Daphne J. Tot
ten, district attorney for the
Ogeechee Judicial Circuit,
Carswell was officially notified
of his indictment Dec .18,2020.
His arraignment was Jan. 25,
2021, at which time Blanchard
submitted Carswell’s not guilty
plea via a court filing. Neither
he nor his attorney attended the
hearing.
Neither the DA nor the
Waynesboro city attorney, Ran
dolph Frails, provided a specific
date for when the city may have
been notified of Carswell’s in
dictment. There is speculation
that Carswell’s leave of absence
was spurred on by the fact that
Gov. Kemp’s office was plan
ning to suspend Carswell from
office pending the outcome of
his case as the governor has
done in similar situations. I con
tacted Kemp’s office as well,
but got no response.
According to Totten, there is
no official date for Carswell’s
trial to start, although jury se
lection has been tentatively set
for August.
Frails explained that Carswell
will not return to his duties as
mayor until the completion of
his trial, and he will continue
to receive his mayor’s salary
during that time as is standard
for other elected officials in the
state awaiting trial.
In the event that he is con
victed on any of the charges,
Carswell would be removed
from office. Assuming there are
more than 14 months remaining
in Carswell’s term, which runs
through 2023, a special election
would be held to pick Waynes
boro’s new mayor.
During his announcement,
Carswell alluded to the stresses
of his job as mayor and what
was in the “best interests” of
the city and his family.
If Carswell is really being
honest, both with the people of
Waynesboro and himself, about
what is best for his family and
the city, he would resign, ef
fective immediately. Carswell
could truly focus on his fam
ily and his legal situation and
the government of
Waynesboro could
get back to doing BIRD DOG,
the business of the 6A
Don Lively
CURIOSITY
Mama declared that I was her
most curious child.
Daddy would tell his cronies
that I noticed everything, from
a snake track crossing a dirt
road to the tiny tip of a flint ar
rowhead sticking out of the dirt.
These days, I have to use
my long distance glasses to
spot artifacts or animal tracks.
The old peepers ain't what they
used to be.
But I'm still curious.
For instance, referring to the
above mentioned arrowhead
sticking out of the dirt, every
time I've ever found one, I’ve
always immediately begun to
wonder about who was the last
one who had touched it and if
it had hit its mark?
Those are questions I'll never
know the answers to.
But not knowing doesn't
make me any less curious.
It's been repeated for centu
ries that "curiosity killed the
cat",but also that "satisfaction
brought it back."
I'm curious.
Which is one of the many rea
sons that I find myself ponder
ing useless information when
I could be doing something
more useful, like hunting ar
rowheads.
A few days ago, I was driv
ing home from work and was
nearing the wooded enclave.
I've long noted that the power
line parallels the road in front
of my property on the west side
and across the road from me,
until about a hundred yards
away, at which point it in
explicably crosses the road,
somewhat impairing the view
of my woods. The lines were
strung long before I built my
house, but I've often wondered
why the power company didn't
keep the lines on the other side
of the road where there are no
houses. Once again, I'll never
get a satisfactory answer.
And, that wasn't even the
question that I was mulling as
I drove home that afternoon. As
I neared home, I spied a single
dove sitting on the power line.
I looked all around and saw no
other birds either in the sky, in
the trees, or sitting on the same
power line.
One single, solitary dove.
Why was he, or she, there?
Usually when you see doves
flying, they are in pairs or
groups. You will occasionally
see single ones flying, but this
one sitting on the wire all alone
looked very lonely. Where were
his companions? Did he ac
cidentally get separated from
the rest of his group? Was he an
anti-social dove that prefers his
own company to theirs? Maybe
he was an obnoxious dove and
the rest of the doves in his inner
circle banned him.
I can't help but wonder.
I do a lot of walking in the
woods. I look for vine twisted
wood that I use to make canes
and hiking staffs. Sometimes
I'll find a really unique piece
of sweetgum or oak that the
wild grapevines have wrapped
around and squeezed as the
tree grew, creating beautiful
grooves and burls. What's most
unusual is that right next to the
twisted piece, there will be sev
eral other saplings, same age,
same size, totally untouched
by the vines.
Why?
What caused the vines to
pick that one small tree out of
hundreds nearby to do nature’s
artwork on?
I have no idea.
But I'm curious.
Several months ago, I was
road tripping across the North
ern Plains. As I was driving
somewhere in North Dakota,
through the barren but beautiful
landscape south of Bismarck, I
passed by an arroyo (a dry creek
bed in Out West lingo) that ran
parallel to the highway. About
fifty yards from the road, I spot
ted a 1940s model Ford pickup
truck, partially buried in the
sand. From all appearances, the
truck had been there for many
years because of the weeds and
small trees growing out of it.
You could actually see where
the water, when there water, ran
around both sides of it.
How in the world did that
truck get in that ditch?
Did the driver try to cross the
arroyo, permanently abandon
ing it after getting stuck?
Was it used by bank robbers
decades ago and bogged down
while the bandits were being
chased?
I was so curious, that if
there'd been a house or even
a bam within twenty miles, I'd
have been compelled to stop
and get the scoop.
I still sometimes wonder
about that one.
There's more. SEE
Why do dogs LIVELY,
bark for no good g«