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Vol. 142, No. 34 - Waynesboro, Ga. 30830 Established in 1882 Wednesday, October 12, 2022 - $1.00
Armed robbery arrest leads to wanted mass murderer
SHELLIE SMITLEY
thetruecitizen.shellie@gmail.com
On Monday, October 10, deputies
from the Burke County Sheriff’s
Office arrested James Douglas Dray
ton, 24, of Spartanburg, SC after he
committed armed robbery at Taylor
Brothers Express on Hwy 25 north.
During the investigation of the rob
bery and Drayton, it was learned he
was a suspect in the murder of five
individuals that occurred October
9th, 2022 at a home in Inman, South
Carolina.
Investigators from the Spartan
burg Sheriff’s Office traveled to
Burke County where they inter
viewed Drayton and received a full
confession to the mass murder.
Spartanburg investigators have
obtained three murder warrants for
Drayton and will be securing ad
ditional warrants once they have
completed the identification of the
remaining victims and notification
of their families.
Drayton remains in the Burke
County Detention Center.
A Taylor Bros Xpress clerk called
for law enforcement Monday morn
ing around 4:32 a.m. after Drayton
held her at gunpoint and led her
from the kitchen to the cash register.
Afterward, he fled the scene with
approximately $200.
Responding deputies spotted a
vehicle matching the clerk’s descrip
tion, traveling south on Hwy. 25 near
Waynesboro Jeep-Chrysler. Depu
ties attempted a traffic stop on the
vehicle but Clayton refused to pull
over. After a brief chase, Drayton
crashed the vehicle on Liberty Street
near A&W One Stop. He
attempted to flee on foot, SEE
but was captured after a ARREST,
lengthy chase and while o
Man faces numerous
charges after arrest
Midville Police Officer Ahmed Ismael and his wife Heather and son Achilles.
LIVING IN
SHELLIE SMITLEY
thetruecitizen.shellie@gmail.com
This is part 3 of an ongoing
series of stories involving inter
views with naturalized citizens
who reside in Burke County.
Midville Police Officer Ahmed
Ismael shed some light on what
life was like growing up in Iraq.
Ismael lives in the Burke
County side of Blythe with his
wife Heather and son Achil
les and began his role with the
Midville Police Department last
month. However, the naturalized
citizen was born and raised in
Baghdad, the Capital of Iraq and,
after Cairo, second largest city in
the Arab world. Located on the
Tigris River near the ruins of the
ancient city of Babylon, Baghdad
is considered a significant cultur
al, commercial and intellectual
center of the Muslim religion.
“I miss it,” he said of the cul
ture in Iraq. “It was simple.”
Ismael dismissed the concept
that many Americans may have
that Iraq is impoverished. Lor
example, he and his three sib
lings grew up in a 4-bedroom,
2.5 - bathroom brick home. His
dad owned a car dealership that
sold American, Japanese and
German manufactured vehicles.
His mother was a homemaker.
Schools functioned a bit dif
ferently in Iraq, operating in two
shifts divided by age groups.
Children were required to attend
either from 7
a.m.-noon or SEE
from noon - 5 IMMIGRATION,
p.m. English «
SHELLIE SMITLEY
thetruecitizen.shellie@gmail.com
Christopher Xavier Hughes of
Waynesboro has some serious legal
problems stemming from multiple
incidents.
It started in January, when the
Waynesboro Police Department
obtained warrants for Hughes for
terroristic threats, simple battery and
criminal trespass in January after
he tried to hit the mother of his two
children with a box truck.
According to the official incident
report, Hughes tried to run over the
mother of his children after she spot
ted him in a parking lot and got out
of the car to speak to him. Allegedly,
Hughes exited his vehicle with a pipe
and broke the right rear window of
the car in which she was sitting. She
received cuts to her nose and hand
from the shattered glass.
After the woman arrived home,
Hughes called her continuously and
she told officers that he stated that
if he had a gun, he would have shot
up the car.
In April, the WPD issued warrants
for Hughes on charges of battery
and cruelty to children in the third
degree. This time, the mother of his
children told deputies that Hughes
got physical with her as she held her
5-year-old daughter. Additionally,
Hughes went outside the residence,
removed an air conditioning unit,
and attempted to pull the woman
Christopher Xavier Hughes
outside through the window.
Most recently, during a traffic stop
October 7, the Burke County Sher
iff’s Office pulled Hughes over for
failure to wear a seatbelt. The deputy
found 27.5 grams of crack cocaine
on the driver side of the vehicle.
While Hughes was in custody, he
pushed a Lieutenant in an attempt
to flee the scene. During the effort
to keep Hughes detained, $1,000
worth of damage was sustained to a
patrol vehicle.
Hughes was charged with posses
sion of cocaine with intent, manu
facture/possession of a controlled
substance and a felony charge of in
terference with government property.
Public input wanted on proposed 5G cell tower
SHELLIE SMITLEY
thetruecitizen.shellie@gmail.com
Next month’s Midville City Coun
cil meeting will include an oppor
tunity for the public to weigh in
on AT&T building a 5G cell phone
tower on Jones Street.
A September 27 letter from the
Baker Donelson law hrm states that
in order to improve coverage and
capacity issue due to increased wire
less congestion, AT&T requires a
new cell site in the City of Midville.
Upon concluding that there are no
available suitable structures in the
area upon which to co-locate that
meet AT&T’s engineering require
ments, the only option is to build a
new tower.
The law hrm submitted an appli
cation for a special use permit, ap
plication for variance and supporting
documentation to allow for the con
struction of the wireless tower to the
council for its review. The 255- foot
self-support facility will be located
on property owned by Charles and
Patricia Brannen at 125 Jones Street
N. The unmanned tower will include
a hve- foot lightening rod at its top.
The proposed site will be compli
ant with Enhanced 911, a federally
mandated program to improve the
reliability of E911 service to the
surrounding area and citizens of
Midville. Additionally, in order to
maintain a level of playing field
with its competitors, AT&T needs
the proposed tower, at the proposed
location, to deliver a consistently
reliable signal in the geographic area.
The tower would specifically
beneht the Burke County Sheriff’s
Office. Deputies often hnd that their
radios don’t work in Midville. Dur
ing the October 4 council meeting,
Police Officer Ahmed Ismael said
he had to call the dispatcher twice
that day.
Councilwoman Norma Thorne en
couraged residents who were present
at the meeting to look up the health
risks associated with 5G cell phone
towers.
“We know they are going to tell
us that there are no risks involved,”
she said. “We have a lot of young
children here.”
According to a May 31, 2022
Lorbes Health article, in 2017, doc
tors and scientists launched a petition
to stop the 5G rollout in the EU,
citing cancer risks. One 2021 study
noted genetic effects of electromag
netic helds (EML) depend on factors
such as frequency, intensity, cell
type and exposure duration, and the
types of gene expression affected are
consistent with hnds that EML cause
genetic damages. One worry is that
since 5G is so new, there hasn’t been
enough time to test whether it’s safe.
Representatives will be present at
the November meeting to address
residents’ concerns. It was suggested
during the meeting that the city
might work out a deal with AT&T
to place the tower at an alternative
location at no charge. It is estimated
that the Brannen’s stand to make
$30,000 per year to have it placed
on their property.
The Midville City Council meets
November 1 at 6:30 p.m. at the Com
munity House.