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Vol. 143, No. 21 - Waynesboro, Ga. 30830
Established in 1882
Wednesday, July 12, 2023 - $1.00
Mayor explodes over accusations of mismanagement
SHELLIE SMITLEY
thetruecitizen.shellie@gmail.com
After Councilman Freddie Flarden
questioned Mayor Linda Wilkes
about the $200,000 of SPLOST
IV funds pledged to go toward the
$397,000 second well project, Wil
kes admitted she applied the money
to other water-related issues.
“When anything happens with
water, we take it out of SPLOST,”
Wilkes said.
However, included in the city’s
SPLOST IV budget was $79,000
pledged for water and sewer projects
outside of the $200,000. Addition
ally, the city budgeted an estimated
$454,500. In actuality, the city has
received $533,165.13 in SPLOST
IV funding as of June 2023.
Councilwoman Maggie Terrell
reported that just $26,379.15 remains
in the city’s SPLOST fund account.
Mayor Wilkes said she is waiting
for the County to release $197,000
in grant funds attributed to Senator
Raphael Wamock’s congressionally
directed spending requests, in order
to finish paying for the second well
project.
Harden brought up a previous
promise that Wilkes made that
the roads fund contained enough
money to repair washout damage on
Tyrone Brooks and Martin Luther
King Roads. However, last month a
discussion took place involving ap
proximately $54,000 that was taken
from road funds to assist in paying
for the second well. A heated debate
took place as Wilkes explained the
money hadn’t been taken out of
the roads fund last month, but had
come from a special revenue account
containing American Rescue Funds
(ARFs) .Wilkes claimed more than
$67,000 remains in the roads fund
account.
However, Terrell also report
ed during Monday’s g^
meeting that an ad
ditional $22,000 had KEYSVILLE >
been transferred from ^
Keysville Mayor Linda Wilkes went ballistic July 10 after Concerned Citizen
James Neely accused her of poor money management.
Keysville Councilwoman Kathy Couch and her husband Jerry grew this
sunflower that stands approximately 11 feet tall.
Keysville citizens can file open
government complaints
SHELLIE SMITLEY
thetruecitizen.shellie@gmail.com
Keysville Councilman Harold
Kight said Mayor Linda Wilkes
continuously ignores the Council’s
request for financial records.
“She acts like she is hiding some
thing,” he said. “I don’t know what
is going on.”
The City pledged to spend $75,500
of SPLOST IV funds on parks and
recreation. Kight says he has been
told $80,000 was spent on the bas
ketball court, however, he would like
to see proof.
A meeting discussing the con
struction of the second well was held
shortly after Kight took the vacant
seat on the panel, however, the meet
ing took place without an invitation
to council members to attend.
“I figure if they are going to spend
(approximately) $400,000, they
ought to invite us,” Kight said.
The Council held a special called
meeting June 29 with City Attorney
Doug Kidd, to discuss the city’s
finances and hiring of city person
nel. Mayor Wilkes did not attend.
A resolution passed Monday will
ensure that Councilwomen Sharon
Neely and Maggie Terrell will have
access to the accounts and obtain in
formation straight from the banking
institutions. Currently, only Mayor
Wilkes and City Administrator
Sherell Russ have access to banking
information. Neely said under Kidd’s
advisement, the panel will be going
over financial statements to gain a
better understanding of how more
than $500,000 of SPLOST IV funds
have been spent.
None of the council members
know which CPA firm conducts the
city’s audits. Kight said getting that
kind of information from the mayor
is nearly impossible to obtain. Wil
kes’s tendency to keep the panel in
the dark sparks controversy and
chaos during the public meetings.
“People look at us like we are the
laughing stock of Burke County,”
Kight said. “It’s disgusting.”
However, the panel may soon ask
the Georgia Municipal Association
for help through arbitration.
President of the Concerned Citi
zens James Neely handed out an
open records request during the
July 10 meeting, asking for the
city’s 2019 through 2022 audits. If
the mayor does not comply with the
request, there is another remedy.
The Department of Law through
the Georgia’s Office of the Attorney
General has created an informal
mediation program to help Georgia’s
citizens with questions or concerns
about local government’s decisions
to close meetings to the public or
governmental responses to Open
Records requests.
Upon receiving a complaint from a
citizen, attorneys at the Department
of Law work to ensure that local
governments provide all the access
to meetings and records that citizens
are entitled to under the law. The
complaint may be shared with the
government entity involved to allow
them to respond. After the complaint
is filed via online form, an attorney
from the Department of Law will
contact the citizen who filed the
complaint. The
complaint form SEE
can be accessed at COMPLAINTS,
law.georgia.gov/ 7
Revolutionary War divides Burke Countians
SHELLIE SMITLEY
thetruecitizen.shellie@gmail.com
Both Patriot and Tory families in
Burke County suffered during the
war, especially after the British inva
sion of the state.
Tragic incidents of bitter fights be
tween Tories and Patriots ensued be
tween December 1778 and July 1882
while Burke Countians belonged to
both opposing forces. In the battle of
Burke County jail, the Tories were
led by Colonel Brown and joined by
troops under the command of Major
Henry Thomas Sr. A Tory detach
ment squad was headed by Major
Henry Sharp. Both Thomas and
Sharp were prominent Burke County
planters. The American forces were
led by Cols. Francis Pugh, John
Twiggs and Capt. Joshua Inman, all
from Burke County as well. Many of
the rank and file of both sides were
Burke County natives.
One Tory camp was in the general
area of what is currently known as
Girard.
By 1780, tension in Burke County
rose to such that the final British
Governor on American soil, James
Wright, dissuaded an Episcopal
missionary from entering the Burke
County area because his life would
be in danger. Gen. William Moultrie,
in his memoirs, wrote that by the
time Gen. Anthony Wayne was sent
to Georgia in January 1782, that it
had been entirely laid waste by the
desolations of war.
Tory parties scourged the sur
rounding countryside after British
troops took Augusta for a second
time from May 1780 to June 1781.
Many residents fled to South Caro
lina. Abandoned homes and crops
were left to the mercy of oppos
ing partisan groups, author Patrick
O’Kelley states in his book on the
war. As it waged on, shortages
became critical. Salt for the pres
ervation of meat and for cooking
became a dire need. Sugar, medicine,
coffee and ammunition were in short
supply. Children, women and the
elderly were left at home as men
went to fight.
For a brief period in October 1781,
while Myrick Davies was presi
dent of the Executive Council, the
headquarters was housed in Burke
County at Howell’s Plantation. The
Executive Council was established to
act as a separate government. How
ever, Davies was captured by Tory
troops in Burke County and mur
dered. Josiah Lewis Myrick Davies
was a miller on Brier Creek. Initially,
his signature joins 113 others who
rejected the Resolutions of August
10, 1774, condemning taxation and
holding trials outside of colonists’
jurisdictions. In addition, as the Brit
ish overran the state, Myrick-Davies
braved the danger of serving as a
member of the Executive Council.
Myrick Street in
Waynesboro is SEE
named after him. REVOLUTION,
In Burke Coun-