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Vol. 143, No. 25 - Waynesboro, Ga. 30830 Established in 1882 Wednesday, August 9, 2023 - $1.00
Sheriff faces sexual harassment claims
SHELLIE SMITLEY
thetruecitizen.shellie@gmail.com
ROY F. CHALKER JR.
rchalker@bellsouth.net
A July 25 letter addressed to
County Manager Merv Waldrop and
Human Resource Director Renee
Milligan indicates that a former
Burke County Sheriff’s employee
has retained an Atlanta law firm to
represent her on accusations that
she was sexually harassed by Sheriff
Alfonzo Williams.
The letter, signed by attorney Job
Milfort of the Prioleau & Milfort law
firm, gave the Burke County Sher
iff’s Office’s attorney until August 1,
2023, to discuss the matter and ex
plore the possibility of resolving the
potential claims prior to litigation.
The letter states the female em
ployee was hired as a dispatcher in
August 2018. After excelling in that
role, she became a human resource
generalist in December 2020, work
ing directly under Sheriff Williams
in the executive wing of the Sheriff’s
Office. After rebuffing his advances,
the female employee was reassigned
to a sexual offender registration
compliance officer position, which
she held from August 2021 to Au
gust 2022. In August 2022, Sheriff
Williams reassigned her to a grant
writer’s position, where she again
worked directly under the Sheriff.
“It is during this time that Sheriff
Williams continued to create a hos
tile work environment, plagued with
sexual advances and other intimi
dation tactics towards (the female
employee),” the letter states. “Sheriff
Williams’ conduct caused (her) to
become ill, requiring her to take time
off from work. In fact, two of (her)
medical providers confirmed that
her illness was a direct result of the
undue stress and pressure at work.”
Because she needed to remain
employed, the female employee re
quested a transfer to a position that
did not involve working directly with
the Sheriff. That transfer occurred
in April 2023 when she became a
corrections officer in the detention
center. She held that position until
Sheriff Williams terminated her on
May 8,2023.
A May 3, 2023 email sent from
Sheriff Williams to the female em
ployee shows he gave her a “direct
order” that she was to report to work
the next day at 5:45 a.m. to recreate
the order book the BCSO needed
to operate. Williams stated that if
the project was not completed by
5:45 p.m. that day, she would be
terminated.
Beginning in 2020 when she
started working directly under the
Sheriff, and continuing through her
discharge on May 8, 2023, Sheriff
Williams repeatedly made unwanted,
highly offensive sexual advances
towards her, including, among other
things, asking her on numerous occa
sions to “let him taste her” and “suck
on her toes;” expressing a desire to
ejaculate on her, multiple requests
for her to “give him some loving,”
according to the letter.
The law firm also provided a screen
shot of a text from the sheriff to the
employee which
stated, “Bring
my p***y to
Alabama.”
Facebook posts
SEE
SEXUAL
HARRASSMENT,
12
Burke County Bears Football kicked of the 2023 season with a 7 p.m. scrimmage with
the Laney Wildcats in the Bear Den last Friday. The Bears outscored the Wildcats 27-8.
The Bears will face rival Thomson Bulldogs on Friday, August 18th at home at 7:30 p.m.
Trash pick up to begin
sooner than projected
SHELLIE SMITLEY
thetruecitizen.shellie@gmail.com
Ryland Environmental Managing
Partner James Lanier said curbside
pickup in the county is likely to begin
sooner than the estimated January
2024 startup date.
Lanier said his company intends
to implement curbside trash service
October 1, depending on poly cart
delivery. However, he expects to
begin receiving the carts August 14.
“We have a plan to go to each com
munity that wants to host a public
meeting,” Lanier said. “When they
express an interest in having a meet
ing in an area, we facilitate it.”
An informational meeting will
be held at the Midville Community
House, September 12 at 6:30 p.m.
Lanier will explain how the curb-
side system will work and provide
a timeline for poly cart delivery. He
will also answer residents’ questions.
Any community who is interested
in hosting a meeting should contact
County Manager Merv Waldrop.
Keysville releases
2018 and 2019 audits
SHELLIE SMITLEY
thetruecitizen.shellie@gmail.com
The City of Keysville released
copies of their 2018 and 2019 fi
nancial “audits” to The True Citizen
last week.
However, because the city’s ex
penditures are less than $550,000
per year, they are not required to
have audits conducted, but rather
agreed upon procedure engagements
instead.
An Agreed Upon Procedure En
gagement is a financial analysis
that only a CPA firm can complete.
Barmore Hammond, LLC’s Ending
for both years pointed out Keysville
submitted the necessary documents
for the procedure or the SPLOST
schedule on time. Also, manage
ment did not maintain appropriate
documentation for all disbursements
including transfers between bank
accounts pertaining to SPLOST IV
funds.
It is impossible to decipher how
Keysville spent American Rescue
Funds and SPLOST IV funding
based on only the two sets of com
pleted documents. However, the
completed records show the city did
not spend any of the approximately
$55,800 in SPLOST IV funding
received in 2018 and it was still
in the bank at the start of 2019. In
2019, Keysville received another
$111,847. The city spent $19,911
of SPLOST IV funds on water and
sewer, $3,298 on the
city hall and $85,628
on parks and recre- KEYSVILLE,
ation, leaving $58,810 5
Do mental health crises call for SWAT teams?
SHELLIE SMITLEY
thetruecitizen.shellie@gmail.com
Recently, the Burke County Sher
iffs Office Special Response Team
(SRT) failed to defuse an incident
involving a threat of self-harm. The
SRT was also recently deployed to
arrest a 62-year- old man wanted
for possession of child pornography
and in response to a homeowner’s
suspicions that a stranger was in her
house after a fan and a pet moved
the curtains.
The SRT was formed by Sheriff
Alfonzo Williams soon after he took
office in 2017. Examples of calls the
SRT could respond to include hos
tage incidents, barricaded suspects,
service of high-risk arrest/search
warrants, manhunt operations and
any other critical incident requiring
a tactical response, according to the
BCSO website.
During a recent annual Daigle
Law Group Use of Force Summit in
Connecticut, a discussion included
whether SWAT and SRTs can effec
tively serve a purpose at an incident
involving a non-criminal barricaded
subject suffering from mental illness.
SWAT and SRT officers from
agencies that employed less than
100 personnel argued the agencies
did not have the services in-house
to practically, and more importantly,
successfully deal with an incident
where a non-criminal suspect had
barricaded himself in a residence and
was refusing to come out.
Columbia County Sheriff Clay
Whittle said there are no concrete
criteria that dictate when an SRT
team should be deployed. The deci
sion to use the SRT is a judgment
call based on the specifics of each
incident.
“There are some situa-
tions that are going to be
the norm to call the SRT,
such as a hostage situa- 6
The BCSO SRT was deployed to make an arrest of a 62-year-old man
July 21.