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Early voting start is from
Monday, May 2 - Friday, May 20,
this includes two Saturdays:
May 7 and May 14.
The hours of voting are 9am-5pm.
This will take place at the
Burke County Board of Elections and Registration Office
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Vol. 142, No. 10 - Waynesboro, Ga. 30830
Established in 1882
Wednesday, April 27, 2022 - $1.00
Child molester gets maximum sentence
SHELLIE SMITLEY
thetruecitizen.shellie@gmail.com
The mother of a minor child vic
timized by Brayan Estir Gonzalez-
Colocho wept as she told Judge
Ashley Wright that she hoped he
never gets released from prison.
“”I just don’t understand why he
would do that,” she told the judge
during the April 20 sentencing
hearing.”! ask myself every night,
‘why my daughter?’ I’m never going
to forgive him and I hope he goes to
jail for the rest of his life.”
Colocho received the maximum
sentence of 25 years’ incarceration
and probation for life for the charge
of aggravated child molestation.
Wright gave him 20 more concurrent
years of lock-up for a charge of child
molestation. The District Attorney’s
Office elected not to prosecute him
on a third charge involving sexual
intercourse with a child under the
age of 10 years old.
According to the October 2020
indictment, Colocho performed
an immoral and indecent act on a
7-yeay-old child, involving sodomy
sometime between November 2019
and February 2020.
“The child was subjected to mental
and physical abuse to ensure silence,
but this brave little person spoke up
and told the truth,” a press release
from District Attorney Jared T. Wil
liams stated.
After hearing the evidence, the
jury deliberated for less than an hour.
Colocho chose not to speak during
the sentencing hearing. His attorney,
Kara Stangl, told Wright that Colo
cho resided in the area since the age
of 6 years old and had wanted to help
build houses for the homeless.
Brayan Estir Gonzalez-Colocho
Visitors from Florida assist Stephanie Scott in inspecting and securing hives before inclement weather af
fects the area.
Mother of missing
child arrested Friday
SHELLIE SMITLEY
thetruecitizen.shellie@gmail.com
Tamia Cooper was arrested for
making a false statement regarding
the welfare of her child.
According to Investigator Angela
Collins, the Waynesboro Police De
partment responded Monday, April
22, to an alleged kidnapping on the
800 block of Davis Road.
During the WPD’s initial investi
gation, interviews with Cooper and
other witnesses indicated the child’s
biological father, Travis Griffin,
jumped out of a window and fled the
scene with their infant child after a
physical altercation between the two
parents.
r CFF
WPD investigators acc
made multiple unsuc- ARRESTED
cessful attempts to 7,
Tamia Cooper
Travis Griffin
Bee Keeping JO/
Mayor Rosemary Baughman threatened to resign April 20 after she was
confronted about spending American Rescue Fund money without a pub
lic vote and not disclosing to the council unfinished work that remained
on the South side of town.
Vidette Mayor
threatens to resign
SHELLIE SMITLEY
thetruecitizen.shellie@gmail.com
There are few beekeepers in the
Burke County area that engage in
pollination.
“We don’t really have any big
pollinators,” said Stephanie Scott
of Scott Family Farm. “They are
trucked in from outside the state.”
Scott suggests that people in
terested in beekeeping need to
consider the level of desired
involvement first. Beekeeping
can be conducted as a hobby or
as a supplemental income after
retirement.
“Do I want to go gangbusters
and do I see myself five years from
now quitting my day job?” Scott
asked hypothetically.
Bee starter kits come with a
bottom board. Scott recommends
a screen bottom board that allows
for ventilation.
“I can look underneath and see
what is happening and I can hear
them better,” she said. “It’s just a
personal preference.”
Inside the hive kits are brood
boxes that contain about 10
frames. Scott says new beekeep
ers need at a minimum, one hive
kit and one brood box. The kits
also contain inner lids. Summer
inner lids look like a thin piece of
plywood. Winter lids are deeper
and contain a lip, that allows for
placement of a pollen substitute
during the winter season. The bees
need to build up for a year before
the beekeeper should expect to
extract any honey. Hives should
be set up facing the East so that
when the sun rises, bees know it
is time to get to work.
Scott recommends that newbies
stick with Italian or Carniolan
bees. Russian and German bees
are much more aggressive and
should only be handled by sea
soned beekeepers. Attracting bees
naturally is also an option. Scout
bees will bring others to the hive
if it fits their needs. Wild bees
often possess the best genetics,
Scott said.
A good beekeeper suit is a must.
When beekeepers find themselves
with 30,000 bees flying around
them, it can be very unnerving.
They must be able to trust their
suit. Scott rec- g^
ommends that
beekeepers do ®EE KEEPING,
not purchase a 6
SHELLIE SMITLEY
thetruecitizen.shellie@gmail.com
After a heated city council meeting
April 20, Vidette Mayor Rosemary
Baughman said she is resigning
within the next three months.
Under the advice of City Attor
ney Chris Dube, the city is taking
painstaking steps to reorganize
after years of chaotic
management practices. ° 1 - 1 -
The city’s main source MAYOR,
of revenue is water. Until 3
Stone
SUPERIOR COURT JUDGE
TO KEEP THE ONLY BURKE COUNTY JUDGE
ON THE BURKE COUNTY SUPERIOR COURT,
VOTE JUDGE
Jesse Stone on may 24 th