Newspaper Page Text
Vol. 141, No. 21 - Waynesboro, Ga. 30830
Established in 1882
Wednesday, July 14, 2021 -$1.00
Couple explains why people should fear COVID-19
SHELLIE SMITLEY
thetruecitizen.shellie@gmail.com
Editor’s note: This is part 1
in a 3-part series about real
life COVID-19experiences.
According to the Georgia De
partment of Public Health, as
of July 9, only 33% of Burke
County is fully vaccinated.
A Keysville couple says
they would never want to
experience COVID-19 twice.
Laurie Davis Jr., 74, said
that in August 2020, he con
tinued to work in spite of a
dry cough and chills.
“I thought it was just a
cough and I would take
something for it,” he said. “I
thought it was just a cold.”
His wife Mary finally con
vinced him to get tested for
COVID-19. He got tested in
the afternoon, but that eve
ning before he could even get
the results, he ended up in the
Intensive Care Unit of an Au
gusta hospital. His symptoms
increased to include shaking
and confusion. Mary called
for an ambulance after he fell
more than once.
“I was out of it,” Laurie
said. “I couldn’t think. I don’t
even remember falling.”
He spent the next week
in the ICU on oxygen. He
developed sepsis, a life-
threatening complication
that occurs when infection
fighting chemicals released
in the blood trigger inflam
mation throughout the body.
He suffered kidney failure
and fought for his life while
his entire body felt like it was
shutting down. Laurie was not
accustomed to being sick. The
experience traumatized him.
“When they took me to
the ICU room, they covered
the bed and I couldn’t see
anything or hear anything but
the bed rattling,” he said. “It
was the first time I stayed in
a hospital that long.”
Every 4-6 hours Laurie
was awakened to hospital
personnel either taking blood
or administering medica
tion. Too weak to understand
what they were doing, he just
hoped they were going to get
him better.
Laurie spent six more days
in a private room before the
doctor released him. Almost
a year later, he is suffering
the long-term effects of CO-
VID-19. He continues to ex
perience numbness and sharp
pains in his thighs, even after
physical therapy. Doctors tell
him he might suffer from the
nerve damage for the rest of
his life. Although he con
tinues to see improvement,
he still experiences short
ness of breath and short-term
memory loss.
“It does something to your
mind and your whole body,
really,” he said of the virus.
The damage that COVID-19
did to his body mandates
that his doctor g^
prescribe both
blood thinners COVID-19
and insulin for 3
Laurie Davis Jr. spent nearly
two weeks in the hospital
fighting COVID-19.
Tree falls on Liberty Street, blocking traffic
Waynesboro’s Police and Fire Departments responded to a fallen tree July 10. Located on city prop
erty in front of the office of Mary Yelton Realty, the tree blocked a lane of traffic on Liberty Street for
several hours. At least 150 years old, the tree apparently just gave up and fell into the street.
Waynesboro man
killed in crash
DIANA ROYAL
jdianaroyal@gmail.com
A fiery crash claimed the
life of a Waynesboro man
Saturday afternoon.
According to a report from
the Georgia State Patrol
(GSP), 28-year-old Michael
A. Rhaney was traveling
south on Highway 25 around
1 p.m. on July 10 when the
front of his 2010 Ford Fu
sion struck the driver’s side
of a 2010 Buick Enclave.
The driver of the SUV, Arius
Duane Keyes, 32, of Augusta,
had been traveling east on
Greiner Circle and failed to
yield at the stop sign when
he approached the intersec
tion of the two roadways, the
report said.
Rhaney died from injuries
sustained in the crash, and
Keyes was transported to Au
gusta University for reported
serious injuries. Both vehicles
were totaled in the wreckage.
No charges have been hied
as the crash is still under
investigation by the GSP
Special Collision Reconstruc
tion Team. Drug and alcohol
results are pending on both
drivers. Tests of such nature
are typical when a serious
injury or fatality occurs.
This marks the fifth traffic
fatality on Burke roadways
for 2021.
Shop closure is met
with mixed emotions
SHELLIE SMITLEY
thetruecitizen.shellie@gmail.com
Zebedee and Evelyn Dixon
say closing shop is a bitter
sweet experience.
The Dixon’s decided to
retire and close the doors to
Zeb’s Automatic Transmis
sion shop effective June 30.
Zebedee is working on the
final vehicle repair as the
couple prepares to say good
bye to the business that has
served them well for 40 years.
“I have been doing this so
long and I knew retirement
was going to come one day,
but now that it’s here, I have
to get used to the fact that I
don’t have to get up and come
into work every day,” Zebe
dee said. “It’s sweet that I got
to the point that I can retire.”
Zebedee has not worked on
his last vehicle though. He in
tends to spend his retirement
years involved in ministry
work along with tinkering
with friends’ vehicles and his
1969 Chevrolet C-10 pickup
truck.
Evelyn intends to take care
of projects around the house
and visit with children, grand
children and great-grandchil
dren. If COVID-19 subsides,
she would like the couple to
take a cruise and revisit Des-
tin, Florida.
The couple opened the
business in 1981 because
Zeb saw a need for automatic
transmission repair in the
community.
“Forty years ago, I started
to call other shops and I would
ask them if they worked on
automatic transmissions,” he
said and pointed out that he
felt inspired by the fact that
most of them said they did
not. “If that many cars have
automatic transmissions and
the majority of the shops
don’t fool with them, then I
need to be there.”
Evelyn was initially appre
hensive about the move into
entrepreneurship. Her fears
quickly subsided as the busi
ness began to grow. In 2,000
the couple moved the busi
ness into the building they
constructed on Davis Road.
They ran the business jointly,
and Evelyn says working
together brought them closer
as a couple. Zebedee said,
although it was often a chal
lenge to find employees who
were willing to learn the trade,
the benefit of owning his own
business included wages that
were not set.
“You can make
the decision (of SEE
what you earn) by ZEB'S
offering quality ^
work, fair prices
AUTOMATIC
TRANSMISSION
701 DAY S RD. WAYNESBORO. GA. 30830
Zeb’s Automatic Transmission officially closed June 30.
Evelyn and Zebedee Dixon have retired after 40 years in
business.
2021 ford Explorer XLT
Includes Navigation, Adaptive Cruise Control, Dual A/C, 3rd Row Seating and MORE!!!
Beginning At
1,799
Prices Include $499 Dealer Fee PlusTVAT Fee, Ga Warranty Rights Fee, Title and Tag Fees. 0% Financing Available For 36 Months Thru FMCC With Approved Credit
330 US HWY. 25 NORTH, WAYNESBORO - 706-554-2114 - www.mizellford.com