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Vol. 142, No. 31 - Waynesboro, Ga. 30830 Established in 1882 Wednesday, September 21,2022 - $1.00
Rezoning request takes an unseen turn
SHELLIE SMITLEY
thetruecitizen.shellie@gmail.com
Attendees of the City Council
meeting Monday spilled into the
hallway as the panel made its deci
sion of whether to approve a zoning
request from R-l to R-3 that would
allow for the construction of town-
houses on Herndon Road.
BCHS Football coach Eric Parker
addressed the council first, repre
senting residents who opposed the
construction project.
“I don’t think that you will find
many people in here that would
argue with the fact that Waynesboro
needs additional housing. We under
stand that,” he said. “I don’t think
anyone in here would argue that at
some point that tract is going to get
developed.”
Parker said that he and his neigh
bors want to see the construction of
single-family homes, versus multi
family homes and rental properties.
“We don’t think that is fair,” he
said. “As much as Waynesboro needs
housing we don’t think it needs to
be done at the expense of the people
that have pretty much invested their
life there and this is why we are ask
ing you to please not
rezone that area from SEE
R-l to R-3.” REZONING,
Jim Johnson, vice- 2
A rezoning request for property on Herndon Road filled the city hall with
attendees.
Local woman heads for the Capitol
The Burke County Public Schools nutrition director has a seat at the table for a historic conference in
Washington DC. Donna Martin has been asked to speak on a panel regarding Food Access for Children
and Families at the White House Conference on Hunger, Nutrition and Health, September 28 at the Ronald
Reagan International Conference Center. It’s been more than 50 years since a White House conference
focused on food, nutrition and health. The only other conference, held in 1969, helped galvanize actions
that included the creation of life-changing programs like WIC and SNAP.
Gunfire sends
partiers running
SHELLIE SMITLEY
thetruecitizen.shellie@gmail.com
Only one arrest was made in a
weekend party where multiple gun
shots sent a large number of attend
ees running for their lives.
A Burke County Sheriff’s Officer
was conducting a security check at a
residence on Anns Way around 12:48
a.m. Saturday, September 17 when
he heard multiple gunshots coming
from several locations. More than
500 people began to run from the
scene in three different directions,
the deputy wrote in the official inci
dent report. While walking from the
front yard to the backyard the deputy
observed three unknown black males
simultaneously bring weapons from
three properties across the street.
Wendell Washington, 25, of Sardis
was standing next to his vehicle on
one of the properties when the deputy
witnessed him bre four shots into the
air with a Clock 19 9mm handgun.
Washington then attempted to leave
in his car. Before he could drive
away, the officer drew
his service weapon on
Washington and in
structed his to turn his
SEE
PARTIERS,
8
County takes first
step toward broadband
SHELLIE SMITLEY
thetruecitizen.shellie@gmail.com
The Burke County Commission
is interviewing both Comcast Busi
ness and Planters Communications
Wednesday after the budget hearing
and it is expected they will make a
decision as to which company will
assist in providing broadband across
the county.
“This is our brst step toward a
broadband project,” said County
Manager Merv Waldrop during the
monthly meeting September 13.
“A lot of the grants want us to bnd
a partner that is in the broadband
business to bring a proposal together
for a grant.”
The commissioners asked for bid
proposals for a broadband network.
The county plans to build a hber-
based 100/10Gbs broadband net
work with a minimum symmetrical
lOOmbs/OOMbs Fiber-to-The Prem
ise (FTTP) access to all underserved
locations in Burke County. The
planned service area is the entirety
of Burke County with the exception
of the City of Waynesboro and those
areas which already have broadband
service. The zip codes included in
the plan of new coverage include,
30830,30815,30816,30456,30441,
30442 and 30426.
Burke County has made a three-
year build commitment to the State
of Georgia and is seeking partnership
to design, build operate and support
a rural broadband network.
Student violence rises as schools struggle to intervene
SHELLIE SMITLEY
thetruecitizen.shellie@gmail.com
According to the National Center
for Education Statistics, during the
2019-20 school year 77% of public
schools recorded that one or more
incidents of crime had taken place,
amounting to 1.4 million incidents.
In June, three students between
the ages of 8-10 years old, broke into
a Louisiana school and destroyed
every single classroom in the build
ing, causing hundreds of thousands
of dollars worth of damage. In May,
a 10-year-old boy was arrested for
threatening to commit a mass shoot
ing at his Florida school.
Two weeks earlier, a high school
student threw boiling hot noodles at
his teacher’s face in Massachusetts.
In April, a 16-year-old student in
Las Vegas choked his teacher with
a rope, knocked
her unconscious
by slamming
her head into a
table and moved
a shelf on top of
her while he sat
on it. He admit
ted that he tried
to rape her when
she was uncon
scious and when
she awoke he was
pouring some
thing on her to
set her on fire.
In March, a
south Florida teacher was taken to
the hospital after she was attacked by
a 5-year-old student. The teacher’s
injuries were so severe she had to
baseball in Texas was attacked by
four middle school students during
baseball practice, leav
ing him with a broken
arm.
In November 2021,
two 16-year-old stu
dents followed their
Spanish teacher into
the woods and killed
her with a baseball bat.
In the 2021-2022
Georgia Student Health
survey, 636 out of 2,000
students responded. All
of the students in grades
6-12 selected either
“Somewhat agree” or
“Strongly agree” when
asked if students at their school fight
a lot. Approximately, 80% of the
respondents say they had never been
bullied or threatened in the 30 days
prior to taking the survey, while 15
% say they had once or twice. Ap
proximately 5% indicated they had
been bullied a few times.
Although things are a bit quieter
on the home front, Burke County
Public Schools Superintendent
Angela Williams said over the past
couple of years, the school system
has seen an increase in the number of
fights. She believes that much of the
aggression stems from conflict that
has very little, if anything, to do with
the classroom settings. Rather, it’s an
extension of things occurring in and
between neighbor
hoods, some gang- SEE
related and some VIOLENCE,
not. 3
“ We all need to keep a closer eye on our
children, talk with them, and get more
involved in their business. They need to
know we care but also that we ’re all on
the same page when it comes to their
education and wellbeing
— Angela Williams
Superintendent
be intubated.
In February a teacher who coached