Newspaper Page Text
Wednesday, November 24, 2021 - $1.00
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Vol. 141, No. 40 - Waynesboro, Ga. 30830 Established in 1882
Perrin Smith, 5, Sella Brookes Lee, 4, above, and Steve Scott, 5, below, are all in the cooking spirit and excited
to help in the kitchen on Turkey Day. Read on to see what other local children think are the best main courses,
side dishes and desserts to have for Thanksgiving.
JuRKEY TALKIN
W e asked for it, and
Burke County’s
smallest chefs
provided us with
interesting, hilarious, decorative
and some pretty spot-on recipes
for this Thanksgiving. We are sure
you’ll find something here to go
along with your special meal.
J/Uxfi/ OcuXMs
SPARTAN TURKEY
I just eat my turkey in the lunch
room.
Cal Saxon, Mrs. Quick's K3
Class at Edmund Burke Academy
(EBA)
SEE
TURKEY TALK,
12
Sheriff sues county
over budget issues
BEN ROBERTS
benroberts@bellsouth.net
Burke County Sheriff Alfonzo
Williams has sued the board of
commissioners, alleging their inter
ference in how he spends his depart
ment’s budget.
The 57-page petition for manda
mus, hied with the Burke County
Clerk of Superior Court last Thurs
day, Nov. 18, accuses the commis
sion of denying the sheriff “his
right to control his payroll and
employees.”
In a statement to The True Citizen,
Sheriff Williams said, “We have
done our very best to work with the
[commission] on the assumption
of certain governmental functions
formerly performed by the county
manager’s office. After nearly five
years of doing things their way, we
opted to assume certain functions
like payroll, purchasing, information
technology, vehicle maintenance and
repair and janitorial services in an
effort to save tens of thousands of
tax dollars....”
In a statement on behalf of the
commission, Chairman Terri Lodge
Kelly stated, “... we have greatly
increased the budget of our Sheriff
over the past few years to allow
him the resources needed to police
the county. We are disappointed
the sheriff has resorted to suing the
commission over his budget when
he is one of the best funded sheriff
departments in the state of Georgia
for a county our size. We will analyze
the suit and continue to work with the
sheriff and encourage him to dismiss
this legal action. Fighting in court
does not help the citizens of Burke
County.”
Williams first publicly threatened
his lawsuit at the commission’s
regular meeting in August. It was
during that meeting that Williams, at
times becoming heated, made several
accusations against the county man
ager, Merv Waldrop, and his office’s
involvement in the Sheriff’s Office
(BCSO) budget.
Williams’ demands that night in
cluded 50 acres of land and $400,000
to construct a new outdoor bring
range as well as $250,000 to fund
four certihed deputy positions previ
ously funded through a grant from
Plant Vogtle.
At the close of that meeting, the
commission went into executive
session to discuss the matter but
emerged and took no official action
prior to adjourning. The commission
held several more closed meetings
to discuss “legal” matters over the
course of the next few months but
again did not take any official action.
According to Williams’ statement
Sunday, at the commission’s request,
representatives from both parties met
in September and agreed on a plan
to move forward.
“...we drafted an intergovern
mental agreement, which was to be
signed by both parties and enacted
prior to October 1,2021. The [com
mission] refused to sign the agree
ment and said they would not allow
us to control our budget absent an
order from the court. Therefore, we
were left without a choice to ble the
mandamus....”
An intergovernmental agree
ment was included as an exhibit to
the bling. Among that document’s
stipulations was an item calling for
the BCSO to be paid 25 percent of
its approved budget on Oct. 1,2021,
with 50-percent following on Jan. 1,
2022, and the bnal 25-percent due on
April 1,2022.
The 2022 bscal year budget for the
BCSO was $6.4 million and an ad
ditional $3 million for the detention
center. Waldrop has previously said
paying lump sum amounts in such
a manner would create a bnancial
strain on the county.
In response to the sheriff’s accusa
tion that county officials backed out
of the agreement, an email statement
on behalf of the commission said,
“No such document was agreed to.
The commission consents to agree
ments by board action. The board
did not take action on an intergov
ernmental agreement, never agreed
to act on an intergovernmental
agreement, nor proposed an inter
governmental agreement, and did
not receive answers from the sheriff
on several legal issues regarding the
changes he desired such that they
could even begin to consider enter
ing into an intergovern
mental agreement.” SEE
Asked how the two SHERIFF,
parties ended up in court y
Bears win again, face Carver this Friday
BEN ROBERTS
benroberts@bellsouth.net
Burke County defeated Stephens
County 41-24 last Friday in The
Bear Den to punch their ticket to the
Georgia High School Association
(GHSA) quarterhnals for the brst
time since 2017.
Bears’ head coach Eric Parker
believes his team is in stride and
playing well on both sides of the ball
right now.
“We’re playing our best ball,” he
said. “I feel like that’s important.
What we’ve got going right now is
just a bunch of guys that are playing
well together. We haven’t played
perfectly, when you look at him, you
still see some mistakes. You still see
things you could do better. That’s not
ever going to change; but our kids are
playing together and bnding a way
to get it done.”
The Bears will face the Region 5,
number 2 seed, Carver-Atlanta Pan
thers , in Atlanta this Friday, Nov. 26,
at 8 pm. Carver beat Liberty County
last week, 53-12, to advance.
The Panthers made it to the quar
terhnals last year where they were
eliminated by the eventual AAA
champion, Pierce County Bears.
Burke County was beaten by Pierce
in the brst round.
“They’re so athletic offensively,”
Parker said of Carver,
“just have weapons all
over the place: quar
terback, two running
SEE
BEARS,
13
Bears’ running back, Charlie Dorsey, cuts through the Indians’ defense during last Friday’s GHSA Round 2
matchup. The Bears defeated Stephens County 41 -24, to advance to the quarterfinals this Friday, Nov. 26, in
Atlanta against the Carver-Atlanta Panthers. See page 13 for story.
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