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Metro Spirit

The Hootenanny is Back!

by Metro Spirit May 21, 2019

The 10th Annual Papa Joe’s Banjo-B-Que Music Festival, a Kansas City Barbeque Society sanctioned BBQ Cook-Off offering over $40,000 in prizes, is this weekend at Lake Olmstead Park.

The impressive lineup features the Old Crow Medicine Show, Greensky Bluegrass, The Infamous Stringdusters, Leftover Salmon, Deer Tick, Steep Canyon Rangers, The Steeldrivers, Ghost of Paul Revere, Front Country, Pert Near Sandstone, Trout Steak Revival, Hackensaw Boys, The Little Roy & Lizzy Show, Teddy and the Rough Riders, Honeysuckle, Royal Johnson, The Mason Jars, Matt Dahlheimer and Jaycie & Taylor.

A weekend pass is $90, single day passes are $50 for Friday and $65 for Saturday, and kids 15 and under are free with a paid adult.

The new location is sure to be a huge hit with Banjo B Que regulars, as the new setting offers abundant shade and views, set between Lake Olmstead and the Augusta Canal. And yes…the pig races are back again this year!

Papa Joe’s Banjo-B-Que & Music Festival was created ten years ago to honor the legacy Joe Pond, who was a second-generation owner of A.B. Beverage. All proceeds raised at Banjo-B-Que benefit the Joseph R. Pond Memorial Foundation, which donates to charitable organizations through the CSRA Community Foundation.

Banjo-B-Que is considered among the top barbecue festivals in the nation and was listed in USA Today’s top 10 BBQ Festivals in 2016. The weekend is packed with great music, plenty of beer and bbq and plenty to keep everyone entertained.

Head over to banjobque.com for a handy parking map, or simply take UBER or Lyft and avoid the parking altogether!

10th Annual Papa Joe’s Banjo B Que Music Festival

May 24&25, 2019

Lake Olmstead Stadium

Hours: Friday 4p-11p, Saturday 11:30a-11p

FRIDAY Single Day (GA) PASS – $50
SATURDAY Single Day (GA) PASS – $65
FRIDAY Single Day (VIP) PASS – $150
SATURDAY Single Day (VIP) PASS WEEKEND (GA) – $175 WEEKEND (VIP) $275

May 21, 2019

Jones Creek is up the Creek

by Metro Spirit May 20, 2019

The former pro shop at Jones Creek on a recent afternoon.

Residents of Jones Creek are holding their collective breath, hoping something promising comes to bear on the golf course the neighborhood is built around….and soon. After shuttering last year, the course and clubhouse have fallen into a haggard state, making the drive through Jones Creek one of high stress and worry for those in the neighborhood concerned about the investments they’ve made in their homes. An 18 hole weed covered golf course threading through expensive homes is a real buzz kill in the real estate market.

A recent visit revealed weeds sprouting on the previously meticulously manicured course, with high grass and weeds leading to the pool next to the empty clubhouse. The swimming pool and tennis courts which share a parking lot with the Jones Creek Clubhouse are owned by the homeowner’s association.

The former owners blamed the county for stormwater runoff, saying it made it impossible to run a profitable business there. The county balked at paying to remedy what it says is the neighborhood’s problem, and because of this the previous owners abandoned the course.

Neighboring Westlake Country Club, Bartram Trail and Champions Retreat offer golfing enthusiast plenty of high end options, contributing to the worry surrounding potential suitors being interested in taking on the operation.

On a related topic, North Augusta endured the closing of the 172 acre North Augusta Country Club over a decade ago. Donnie Thompson purchased the abandoned course in July of 2012, maintaining the grass and facilities while attempting to find a buyer for the property.

The city and Thompson are now seemingly close to a deal involving a land swap, with Thompson receiving land at Northview Park off Five Notch Road for the former Country Club property.

It appears to be a win-win, with Thompson turning the centrally located land over to the city for additional greenspace, while accepting a larger, albeit further out tract of land in return.

Is there a Donnie Thompson out there for Jones Creek? Only time will tell. But in the meantime, residents of Jones Creek will have to get used to seeing their once manicured surroundings return back to nature.

May 20, 2019

When Air Force One Orders Your Takeout

by Metro Spirit May 19, 2019

Sconyers Bar-B-Que, which started out as a small business in what was then called an “open-air curb market” in the 1950s, has grown into a three-story log cabin with an elevator and a downstairs kitchen with several giant barbecue pits.

“Barbecue and politics are two things that are ugly to watch in the making, but are a work of art in the end.” – Anonymous

Whether you are talking about former President Jimmy Carter, the late U.S. Congressman Charlie Norwood or the feisty former Georgia Gov. Lester Maddox, it’s a sure bet that at one time or another all of these men could be found with a little barbecue sauce in the corner of their mouths and a piece of chopped pork stuck between their teeth.

Politics and barbecue are a Southern tradition that is rumored to date back to the days of George Washington in Virginia. It doesn’t matter whether the candidate is a Democrat or a Republican, liberal or conservative, generations of politicians have learned, if you’re in the South, the secret to gathering a crowd is a pig and a pit.

To get the job done in Augusta, there’s one man to call: the Barbecue King himself, former Augusta Mayor Larry Sconyers.

Known for once decorating the mayor’s office with tiny, porcelain pig figurines and wearing shiny gold and pink pig cufflinks, Sconyers has fed more Southern politicians barbecue than probably anyone in Augusta and most across the state.

His restaurant, Sconyers Bar-B-Que off Peach Orchard Road near Bobby Jones Expressway, officially opened in 1956 and is known throughout Georgia. In 1989, People magazine ranked his restaurant as one of the Top 10 barbecue spots in the nation. And Sconyers can even be found in the “Glove Box Guide to Barbecue” which identifies the best barbecue joints in Georgia, Alabama and South Carolina.

“I’ve been doing this since I was little boy,” Sconyers told the Metro Spirit back in 2001, sitting in the sun room of his restaurant with the American flag and Georgia’s former flag flying in the background. “My daddy used to drive me around to all of the barbecues we would do for politicians. A lot of them were his friends and it just got to be a tradition.”

Most people don’t realize that Sconyers’ father never set out to open a restaurant. Barbecuing was just something he loved to do.

“My father’s hobby was cooking barbecue,” Sconyers said, as he began pointing to the walls around the restaurant. “If you notice all the farm memorabilia around here, my father was a farmer. And, in the early 1950s, when farming kind of went south, so to speak, he changed his business from farming to barbecue and he changed his hobby from barbecue to farming. He just reversed his roles and I’m certainly glad he did.”

“I’m proud to say, most of the better barbecue comes from a little hole in the wall,” Sconyers said. “And I say this with pride because we had one of those. You can see the pictures downstairs as a matter of fact. But what we try to do is take the food that came out of that little hole in the wall and put it into a nice surrounding that gives you the illusion of going home to grandmother’s house. But we retain the flavor of the food that made Sconyers what it is today.”

Sconyers eventually inherited the business from his father, but not before he learned the art of catering political events.

“Barbecue is a fellowship,” Sconyers said, as fiddle music played in the background. “Years ago, when it got started, people had barbecues, invited their friends out and I think that kind of carried over into the political arena. People began to learn that the best way to get people together in a big crowd is to feed them.”

But, most politicians know, you can’t feed people just anything.

Margaret Mitchell proved in her novel,“Gone With the Wind,” that it’s just not Georgia if there’s no barbecue. “Even before Twelve Oaks Came into view,” Mitchell wrote, “Scarlett saw a haze of smoke hanging lazily in the tops of tall trees and smelled the mingled savory odors of burning hickory logs and roasting pork.”

While Sconyers says he enjoys a good spaghetti or catfish dinner like anyone else, he thinks those political functions don’t quite have as big of a turnout as barbecue dinners.

“It doesn’t have the same appeal,” Sconyers said. “Spaghetti is something that people can do at home. But they can’t get barbecue at home.”

The method Sconyers uses to cook his pork, he said, is the same technique that was used 150 years ago.

“All our meats are cooked for a minimum of 18 hours. Most of them get 24 hours,” Sconyers said, as he walked into the main kitchen of his restaurant.

He lifted up the door to one of his barbecue pits and there were about 20 pork hinds lined up in a row, cooking above a slow burning fire. The mouth-watering aroma of the barbecue filled the air.

“These are the ones for tomorrow. They’re already on the grill. So, it’s a real slow process,” Sconyers said. “All our meats are cut by hand. As a matter of fact, we bought some machines, and I still have them, that we used to cut the meat with, but it changes the flavor of the meat. So, we’ve gone back to cutting it by hand. It’s more labor intensive and more costly but it gives you a better product.”

And the difference between barbecue and other meals, Sconyers says, is the freshness.

“When we go to Savannah or Atlanta for the legislative barbecue, we cook the meat here and we put it in these giant thermos bottles and take it up there,” Sconyers said. “And it tastes just as fresh there as it does here because barbecue has a long life. Whereas fish or chicken, the life is not long because it gets soggy. Barbecue won’t do that.”

In the world of politics, having barbecue fresh and ready to go is important, Sconyers said, because you never know who will be the next person you feed.

“Remember when President (Bill) Clinton came to Augusta State (University) a few year ago with then-Governor (Zell) Miller?” Sconyers asked. “I’ll never forget it. Since I was mayor at the time, we were out at Bush Field Airport and the secret service had us in a little room telling us all what we were supposed to do and what the protocol was when the president got there.”

In the middle of the briefing for the mayor and several commissioners, one of the secret service agent’s cellular phone went off.

“The secret service guy walked over in the corner and he had his little cell phone up to his ear and he looked over to me with a kind of strange look on his face,” Sconyers said. “Then, he walked over to me and said, ‘Do you own a barbecue place?’”

Sconyers said, as a matter of fact, he did.

“The secret service agent then asked me, ‘Well, I have Air Force One on the line here and they want to know if you can provide barbecue for the president when he comes to Augusta today,’” Sconyers said. “I told him, ‘Not a problem. We’ll take care of it.’

“And it was really ironic, and this will show you how the Lord takes care of his children, because that day we were closed. I think it was a Tuesday, but we were already planning to serve the White House press corps, so it wasn’t a problem. We were able to take barbecue over and feed the president.”

Later that day, Miller relayed to Sconyers Clinton’s reaction to his barbecue.

“Governor Miller said, ‘Larry, I’ve seen a lot of people eat barbecue, but never like that,’” Sconyers recalled, laughing.

Miller told Sconyers he was sitting in the back of the limo with the president, when Clinton opened up the large canister of Sconyers barbecue and grabbed a slice of white bread.

In one swoop of the hand, Miller said, Clinton stuck the slice of bread deep into the barbecue, yanked out a big helping and in minutes, “it went straight in.”

“I thought that was pretty good,” Sconyers said, chuckling. “And I remember, President Clinton made a good comment about it on national television when he was making his speech. He said something to the affect, ‘Mayor Sconyers promised him some good barbecue and he knew, being the good politician he was, he would follow through with it.’”

But Clinton is not the only president Sconyers has served.

“We’ve been fortunate enough to serve it at the White House with President Carter,” Sconyers said. “And we served at Congress and of course we go to Atlanta every year and serve it up there. We’ve been real blessed in the business.”

Locally, whether it’s the sheriff’s race or a candidate running for a county commission seat, it’s not a campaign without at least one Sconyers barbecue dinner. So, it was only natural that Sconyers eventually entered the political scene, first as a Richmond County commissioner and then in 1995 as the first mayor of the consolidated government.

When asked what caused him to jump into the political ring, Sconyers just laughs and shakes his head.

“I lost my mind,” he said, smiling. “No, really, I felt like the city of Augusta and Richmond County have been real good to me and to our family over the years and I just wanted to give something back…. And my dad was in politics. He was on the school board as a matter of fact, back in the 1930s and early 40s. He was very politically oriented.”

But Sconyers admits, hosting political campaigns and actually running for office are two completely different animals.

“You have to have a thick skin,” Sconyers said. “You are constantly doing battles. And I learned real quick when I first got into it, there is politically right and politically wrong. And politically right is probably wrong and politically wrong is probably right.

“So, I tried to do what was the right thing and a lot of it was politically wrong. I didn’t understand a lot about the way politics works and I got a good education right quick.”

Being the Barbecue King from south Augusta, Sconyers said he immediately was classified as a politician from the good ol’ boy system.

“I got kid a lot of times about being from the good ol’ boy system, but you know if you look back at what the good ol’ boy system was able to accomplish versus what we’ve got today, it wasn’t that bad,” Sconyers said. “It really wasn’t.

“I think when they said, ‘the good ol’ boy system,’ it got taken in the wrong context. The whole thing was that all those people were trying to help the community and help the people in the community. And I mean, that’s what you are down there for.”

Through the years Sconyers Bar-B-Que has hosted several good ol’ boy victory parties, but according to Sconyers, he’s always happy to serve any candidate, whether he agrees with him politically or not.

“When I’m in business, I’m in business to do business,” Sconyers said. “If you are going to be successful in the business world, I think you’ve got to separate your business from your political background.”

And there is nothing better to start a good political debate, according to Sconyers, than a great big plate of barbecue. Because barbecue itself is notorious for causing heated arguments.

“Barbecue probably changes every 50 miles,” Sconyers said. “It’s probably the most regional food in the world. You know fried chicken is pretty much the same everywhere you go. A hamburger is a hamburger. But barbecue is completely different and people get a little testy about the barbecue sometimes. They really will.”

Just the topic of the best barbecue sauce alone can cause a fist fight.

“In some areas you have a mustard sauce, in some areas you have a plain vinegar sauce, and some areas you have a tomato-base sauce. Ours is sort of a combination of the three,” Sconyers said. “But it changes from state-to-state.

“And I remember asking a guy one time, whose barbecue he thought was the best and his answer was one I remembered because I thought it was pretty unique. He said, ‘The barbecue you think’s the best is the barbecue you grew up with.’”

So, quite naturally, Sconyers says he believes the barbecue he was taught to make by his father years ago is the best around.

“That barbecue is what made us and one of the little things that I live by is, I will never forget where I came from,” Sconyers said. “And so we use that same philosophy in our restaurant. We remember what made the restaurant successful so we won’t ever change that.”

And as long as traditional barbecue is around, Sconyers said, Augustans will always chew the political fat surrounded by a cloud of smoke and some roasting pork.

“Barbecue and politics just go hand-in-hand,” Sconyers said. “I suspect some of the biggest deals that have ever been made in Augusta came either over at Julian Smith’s barbecue pit or in somebody’s private barbecue. Absolutely.”

Stacey Eidson

May 19, 2019

Mudbugs By the Thousands Descend on Downtown

by Metro Spirit May 16, 2019

Now in its 10th year, the French Market Grille West’s Mudbugabeaux-N-Brew is a one of a kind event that combines a New Orleans-style crawfish boil with craft beer and music to provide a solid afternoon at the Augusta Common.

Hosted by French Market Grille West’s Jim Beck, who first got the idea for putting on a crawfish boil back in 1992, this year’s centerpiece, per the usual, is thousands of pounds of crawfish, which festival goers can buy in one- or two-pound increments.

“As soon as we get everything set up, we’re gonna start cooking crawfish,” Beck said.

Crawfish — or mudbugs as they’re known in Louisiana — won’t be the only food available at the festival, however. There will be plenty of other things to eat, including muffuletta sandwiches, Beck’s famous jambalaya, boiled peel and eat shrimp with homemade cocktail sauce, and, for the kids, corndogs.

Starting at 3 p.m. Saturday June 1st and running until 9 p.m., the first 1,000 people through the gates get a free commemorative 10th Anniversary Mudbugabeaux-N-Brew T-shirt.

At the center of it all, like a mirage too magnificent to disappear, will be the craft beer tent, a Mudbugabeaux-N-Brew mainstay.

It turns out, you really can’t serve that spicy hot stuff without offering some good, cold craft beer. Well, you could, but why would you want to?

At only $10 to get in, the family friendly event will also feature plenty of activities for the kids.

Beck said to come prepared for fun… and for the weather.

“We’re in the deep south so be prepared for it to be hot,” he admitted.

The 10th Annual Mudbugabeaux-N-Brew
The Augusta Common
Saturday, June 1
3-9 p.m.
$10
frenchmarketwest.com

May 16, 2019

Man, That’s a Cool Job

by Metro Spirit May 7, 2019

This weekend the 15th Anniversary of the Aiken Bluegrass Festival will be celebrated at the Aiken Fairgrounds with bluegrass royalty Del McCoury headlining a bill that brings the ABF back to the roots of bluegrass while celebrating its future.

“With the Aiken Bluegrass Festival, we are very focused on the newgrass and jamgrass vibes and all of the artists that are involved are just family,” Burns said. “It is really a beautiful group of people, and everybody likes hanging out with each other and playing together, and it really shows. The audience knows. The energy of all of the parts comes across on stage very clearly.”
Greg Burns

McCoury, at 80 years of age, is the living embodiment of bluegrass music’s rich history. Today, the Del McCoury Band enjoys the praise of traditional bluegrass lovers and tie-dyed clad “Del-Heads” alike. Their current dates range from performing arts centers to hardcore bluegrass festivals. After years of playing hip, youth-oriented jamfests such as Bonnaroo and High Sierra, Del launched his own in 2008 — the popular four-day DelFest in Cumberland, Maryland. Spreading the bluegrass gospel wherever he goes, Del has proven not to be a relic of bluegrass music’s past, but an architect of its future.

Another architect of the future of bluegrass is most certainly 26 year old Billy Strings, also playing this weekend. Strings, who has taken that rich bluegrass history, downloaded it into his frenetic brain and added metal and rock influences such as Jimi Hendrix and Black Sabbath, has created a tasty rock and roll bluegrass gumbo. In fact, in January 2019 Rolling Stone Magazine declared Strings “The Bluegrass Star You Don’t Want to Miss,” a head-thrashing banjo phenom whom the venerable magazine referred to as a “breakneck guitar picker”.

Inside Steve’s Beer Hall at last years ABF

In between these two the weekend lineup is jammed with some of the best artists on the scene in town to celebrate 15 years. Keller and the Keels, the Larry Keel Experience, Horseshoes & Hand Grenades, Cris Jacobs, Lindsay Lou, Town Mountain, Brad Parsons & Starbird, Kitchen Dwellers, the Tenth Mountain Division, the Kyle Tuttle Band and Benny Galloway, Artist-at-Large Zebulon Bowles, DJ Bontzilla and Doug & The Henrys.

With the Aiken Fairgrounds feeling like the epicenter of the bluegrass world for a couple of days, event organizers work year round to create the atmosphere and infrastructure that makes the ABF so special.

It’s a family affair at last year’s ABF.

Check-Check. Check. Check.

Hundreds of campers begin descending Thursday-creating a small town for like-minded music fans from all over the country. We spoke to the Head of Production and Co-Director of the festival, Greg Burns, about how he got involved in the industry and the hard work involved in having so much fun.

While there are entertainment programs at colleges around the country, the path to backstage is paved with long hours, low pay and hard work. To move ahead in the industry, Burns says experience is the key. “It’s more like ‘hey, I worked for this person, this person, this person. I did these gigs at this level and these gigs.’ ”

Through his twenties Burns would advance through the field, running sound in the auto expo circuit for Hyundai before moving on to becoming a successful sound engineer for hire-mixing in enough corporate gigs so he wouldn’t starve while pursuing his true passion: music.

“Over time I wound up meeting this band Greensky Bluegrass out of Kalamazoo. When I was 27, they tried me out for a few months and they eventually offered me a full-time job as their tour manager.

The band was becoming increasingly unhappy with their sound engineer. This led Burns to a unique idea, using a blend of left and right brain thinking for the entrepreneurial idea of approaching the band with an offer. “I said, ‘look, give me a little bit of capital and I’ll buy new sound equipment, pay you guys back in one year and I will be your sound guy.’ ”

The road to the top was recognized by how the road was traveled, according to Burns. “We went from being in a band in a van to a van with a trailer to a large RV pulling a trailer to a big tour bus.” Burns laughed,
“Bus touring is whole other level.”

The acts appearing at the ABF run the gamut from van to bus. “A major act may show up to concerts with two tour buses and four semi-trucks full of equipment. An up-and-coming band might only have the finances to tour in a van, and they rely on the venues or festivals to provide additional gear, sound crews and stage crews” Burns said.

This is where the open jam happens, the mash-up of performers created by festival organizers each year, which has given Aiken its own very special place in ABFer’s hearts. The impromptu-planned performances go on for hours, with stages in the parking lots and usually wraps up for performers and staff only in the greenroom, later than anyone would like to admit.

May 7, 2019

A Small Businesswoman’s Fight Against the Golf Hall of Fame, the $13m Boondoggle in Downtown Augusta

by Metro Spirit May 7, 2019

The Metro Spirit ran an interesting story about the long, sordid history of the former Georgia Golf Hall of Fame property on Reynolds Street almost twenty years ago.

When the Golf Hall of Fame was first created by the Georgia General Assembly back in 1982, the project was believed to have the ability to transform Augusta into the “Disney World of Golf.”

In actuality, the Georgia Golf Hall of Fame board managed to spend more than $13 million in state and local funding, but never actually built much of anything.

Following is the story of Mildred Goolsby, who once owned the Riverwatch Convenience Store, formerly Mildred’s Lottery, on 13 St. in downtown Augusta.

She battled against the board of the Georgia Golf Hall of Fame for years trying to protect her property.The building that once housed her lottery store, then a Krispey Kreme Doughnuts, is being renovated and will soon as a Domino’s Pizza.

Here is Goolsby’s story written by former Metro Spirit staff writer Brian Neill that ran about 20 years ago on March 29, 2001.

For 17 years, Mildred Goolsby toiled inside the Bath textile mill across the river in Aiken County, tediously inspecting reams of cloth as they came off the looms.

When she got laid off as the mill shut down operation, Goolsby immediately took a job cleaning houses and worked in her brother’s restaurant, making ends meet however she could.

The point of all this history being, Goolsby always worked hard for what she got. That includes the small plot of land that has, for the past four or so years, become a bone of contention, and which she refuses to give up.

Goolsby owns the Riverwatch Convenience Store, formerly Mildred’s Lottery, at 44 Thirteenth St.

The roughly half-acre parcel sits smack dab in the middle of perfection for organizers of the Georgia Golf Hall of Fame and gardens.

As the stately, serpentine brick wall belonging to the Golf Hall of Fame winds its way down Reynolds Street toward Thirteenth Street, it has to make an abrupt dodge around Goolsby’s store before regaining distinguished continuity on the other side.

Goolsby said organizers of the Golf Hall of Fame have tried in the past to get her to follow suit with former businesses once located nearby, and move, in order to make way for the roughly 17-acre project, which is to cut the ribbon on its gardens on March 31, 2001 — coincidentally, Goolsby’s 50th birthday.
But Goolsby hasn’t budged.

And she took issue with a story that appeared in the March 20, 2001 business section of The Augusta Chronicle that seemed to imply she should.

Goolsby, the article stated, “still won’t sell her small corner lot at 13th and Reynolds streets.”

“From the street,” the article went on to add, “Ms. Goolsby’s Riverwatch Convenience store looks odd next to the well-manicured 17-acre museum and garden project.”

But Goolsby thinks the article failed to point out the most important thing: She was there first.

“They try to make it sound like I’m the bad guy here. But I’m not the bad guy here,” Goolsby said, taking a break from serving the lines of people filing into her store to buy lottery tickets on a recent morning. “Someone else needs to put themselves in my place. I was here first.”

And unlike the other businesses that long since signed on the dotted line, took the check and moved on, Goolsby is determined to stand her ground.

“It’s more the principle now than anything. It really is,” Goolsby said. “The big people are always trying to push the little person around. They’re right, (22) people did sell. That was their right. This is my right. If I want to stay here, I have the right to stay here. They can talk about how ugly my building is or whatever they want to say, I really don’t care.

“I’m not in here for a beauty contest, I’m in here to make a living and that’s what I do. And I do it well.”

Charlie Strawser, project manager for the Golf Hall of Fame and gardens, had a simple response: “We’re not pursuing that property.”

When asked about a claim by Goolsby that representatives from the Golf Hall of Fame approached her several years ago and implied that her property would be condemned if she didn’t sell, Strawser replied, “It wasn’t me.”

Strawser, in the Chronicle article, was reported to say that the Golf Hall of Fame was still interested in pursuing the property, but would not seek condemnation.

Goolsby said she also has had several run-ins with construction workers associated with the development of the museum — once when they attempted to demolish a brick wall on her property behind her store, and again, when a backhoe driver tried to dig on her property in order to run electricity to a bathroom located on the museum grounds.

“Well, you believe what you want to,” Strawser replied to those allegations. “I’m not going to discuss it. You know, we’re not pursuing that property.”

But museum organizers did pursue property adjacent to Goolsby’s, at 46 Thirteenth Street, that she had leased for parking for her customers.

In 2001, Goolsby’s store had been ranked one of the highest sellers of Georgia Lottery tickets in the state (sixth out of nearly 6,000 retailers) and the number one seller in Augusta. Between the years of 1993 and 1999, she sold $12 million worth of tickets.

Goolsby filed a lawsuit against the state and the Georgia Golf Hall of Fame in 1999 in Richmond County Superior Court seeking reparations for customers lost through the decreased parking availability.

The suit alleged that the Golf Hall of Fame, through its agents, took the property, thereby terminating her lease. Golf Hall of Fame representatives, the suit stated, then erected a fence between her existing property and the former parking lot.

Goolsby, through her attorney, alleged in the suit that the taking of the parking area caused her a $526,674 loss of business, a figure arrived at through a professor of finance at Augusta State University.

The suit cited a portion of the Georgia Constitution which states, “…[P]rivate property shall not be taken or damaged for public purposes without just and adequate compensation being first paid.”

The suit also alleged that twice, an offer of $83,500 for the parcel Goolsby’s business currently occupies, was made through letters sent by representatives of the Georgia Golf Hall of Fame.

Paul Dunbar, who represented the Golf Hall of Fame in the lawsuit, said Goolsby’s complaint is a last-ditch effort to save her business from total loss as South Carolina’s lottery looms on the horizon.

Much of Goolsby’s business comes from South Carolinians coming across the Thirteenth Street Bridge to buy Georgia Lottery tickets.

“I think her real complaint Is that she wanted the Golf Hall of Fame to condemn her property so she could claim some tremendous amount of damage through it and the Golf Hall of Fame didn’t do that,” Dunbar said. “Because I think she realizes as soon as this South Carolina lottery goes into effect she’s out of business.”

But Goolsby said that assessment is highly exaggerated and she isn’t afraid of the new lottery’s arrival across the river.

“I got news for those people, they got the wrong person,” Goolsby said. “Because I don’t run from anything.”

Dunbar said the Georgia Golf Hall of Fame continued to allow Goolsby to use the parking lot until her lease expired on May 26, 1997.

He also said the ASU professor’s assessment of Goolsby’s lost business was “worth absolutely nothing” in light of the potential business she’ll lose once the lottery South Carolina voters gave a thumbs-up to last year begins operating.

“She said (in the lawsuit) that she was making over $200,000 a year selling lottery tickets,” Dunbar said. “Obviously, that little fraction of an acre isn’t worth that.

“The only thing the Golf Hall of Fame would be willing to pay her is the value of the land and the value of the land is only a drop in the bucket compared to what she says the value of her business is.”

Surprisingly, Goolsby said the Golf Hall of Fame could have already had her property if she had received a few, simple words of apology.

“You know what, this is the truth,” Goolsby said, “if those people would come to me and apologize to me, I would sell to them. All they do is pay my building off, I’d sell to them. I really would. I just want them to come and face me. That’s all I want. Whoever started this project, that’s who I want an apology from.”

Until then, Goolsby said, she’s staying put.

“They have a right to do whatever they want to do. So do I,” Goolsby said. “And I’m going to do what I want to do. They picked on the wrong person. They didn’t pick on a weak individual. They picked on somebody who is very strong.

“I’ve been through a lot in my lifetime and these people don’t frighten me at all.”

May 7, 2019

Behind the Brick Wall

by Metro Spirit May 7, 2019

More than 25 years ago, Augusta had such grand plans for the 17-acre property along the Savannah River on Reynolds Street now referred to by most locals as “the old Georgia Golf Hall of Fame” site.

When the Golf Hall of Fame was first created by the Georgia General Assembly back in 1982, the project was believed to have the ability to transform Augusta into the “Disney World of golf.”

After purchasing the property in 1987, the original vision was to build a 55,000-square-foot hall of fame building and rotunda in downtown Augusta along Reynolds Street that could potentially attract about 330,000 visitors each year and forever preserve the history of golf across the state.

But over the years, the Georgia Golf Hall of Fame board managed to spend more than $13 million in state and local funding, but never actually built much of anything.

The board constructed a long, stately serpentine brick wall that stretched along the property, separating the public from the site. Then, the board spent more money creating a botanical garden featuring six bronze statues of legendary golfers, only to let the gardens eventually die and the statues, which cost sponsors between $100,000 to $250,000 each, be relocated to the Augusta Museum of History and Augusta Regional Airport.

Over the years, the Georgia Golf Hall of Fame board managed to spend more than $13 million in state and local funding, but never actually built much of anything.

Of the $13 million in state and local funding given to the project, $6 million came from the city’s Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax (SPLOST) and $1 million was provided by the Augusta Neighborhood Improvement Corporation.

Private contributions were estimated to be roughly around $15 million.

However, the project could simply never get off the ground.

Prior to the 2001 Masters, the board announced the opening of a 9-acre botanical garden called the Augusta Golf & Gardens.

“The Augusta Golf & Gardens has the feel of a golf course combined with the the elegance of a first-rate museum,” Dianne Swain, then the marketing and special event manager of the Augusta Golf & Gardens, told the Metro Spirit back in 2001. “Being here feels like being in another world. It’s basically an 8-acre garden with its own lake and an 18-foot waterfall. It’s unbelievably gorgeous.”

Prior to the garden’s grand opening, a landscape architect had already planted more than 300 trees and thousands of flowers at the site. But by 2003, the Georgia Golf Hall of Fame board was back before the city asking for an additional $6 million in SPLOST monies to the utter shock of several Augusta commissioners.

The bad news didn’t stop there.

The original proposal of the 55,000-square-foot Georgia Golf Hall of Fame building, which called for, among other things, multiple conference rooms, a restaurant and an IMAX theater, had shrunk to 6,000 square feet or less — roughly one-tenth its original size.

Many city leaders were outraged.

Specifically, former Augusta Commissioner Ulmer Bridges balked at the request.

He told board members that he served on the commission when the Georgia Golf Hall of Fame got its first, and ostensibly last, $6 million share of the sales tax pie.

“They promised us the $6 million we were giving them would be all they’d ever need. If we would just put that on the sales tax, they wouldn’t come to us for money anymore,” Bridges told his colleagues back in 2003. “So I was expecting them to stick by their word, because we’ve got other things to do as well. And now here they are, coming again and asking for more money for the Golf Hall of Fame. That was supposed to be a tourist attraction. You know, make money, stand on its own. Obviously, it’s not.”

But, at that time, then-Augusta Mayor Bob Young said he believed the project merited completion.

“As much as I don’t think we ought to be in the business of building tourist attractions and subsidizing everybody’s good idea, this thing has just languished so long,” Young said in 2003. “The point is, we need to get it finished, we need to complete it, and if we’ve got to bite our lip and do it, then it’s probably the prudent thing to do in the big picture.”

But Young warned the Golf Hall of Fame board that he wouldn’t want to see the project’s organizers back with open hands again.

“If we give them $6 million, they will raise $3 million in the private sector for an endowment for operation and maintenance for the project so that they will not have to come back to us for some operating subsidy,” Young said in 2003. “It needs to be self-supporting and certainly we don’t want to build something and see it close a year later because it doesn’t have any source of income to operate it.”

The Georgia Golf Hall of Fame and the Augusta Golf & Gardens, combined, were envisioned as a $30 million project, but the city didn’t bite.

Commissioners rejected the Georgia Golf Hall of Fame board’s request for an additional $6 million in SPLOST because the city was facing nearly $90 million worth of infrastructure and drainage problems that were deemed a much higher priority.

That left the Golf Hall of Fame board turning to the state for financial help, which didn’t sit well with then-Gov. Sonny Perdue.

While the Georgia Legislature originally provided the project $6 million to help purchase the land on Reynolds Street and build the botanical gardens, the state also provided $58,000 to $85,000 for almost 10 years for the Augusta Golf & Gardens’ operating expenses.

But the Georgia Golf Hall of Fame board insisted that such funding barely paid the water bill for the gardens.

By 2007, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported that a state audit raised concerns about how some of the money was being spent, citing “meals, bottles of wine and, in one case, a $60 massage for a hall employee.”

As a result, Perdue vetoed the annual funding for the facility and the Augusta Golf & Gardens had no choice but to officially closed its doors in 2007.

The move left egg on the faces of long-time politicians who had been staunch supporters of the project.

“We’re not going to build any more amusement parks, we’re not getting into any museum business right now,” then state Rep. Ben Harbin told The Atlanta Journal- Constitution. “We’re going to focus on core missions. You will not see us bring up another Hall of Fame under my watch that is government supported because it’s not fair to the taxpayers.”

By 2003, the Georgia Golf Hall of Fame board was back before the city asking for an additional $6 million in SPLOST monies to the utter shock of several Augusta commissioners

But, by 2010, then-Georgia Sen. Hardie Davis made a bold request to the state.

Davis asked the state legislators to support giving the city of Augusta the 17-acre Golf Hall of Fame property for $1, even though taxpayers still owed $2.85 million in debt service on the land.

“It’s an eyesore,” Sen. Hardie Davis told the Atlanta paper in 2010. “It’s also a beautiful piece of property, and we’re hoping something can be done with it.”

Of course, many Augustans will remember that around the same time, then Augusta Mayor Deke Copenhaver was hoping that the Reynolds Street property could re-developed as a baseball stadium for the Augusta GreenJackets with the help of the team’s co-owner and baseball Hall of Famer Cal Ripken Jr.

While the Georgia Legislature and city officials were debating over what to do with the Reynolds Street property, former Metro Spirit reporter Robert Long ventured over to the former Georgia Golf Hall of Fame site in 2011.

What he found was jaw dropping: A vacant, overgrown piece of property that some local homeless people in downtown Augusta had decided to claim as their own.

Back in 2011, Long was shocked to find the bathrooms at the park still had flushing toilets and running sinks even though the gardens hadn’t been opened since 2007.

The property was marred by beer bottles, dirty blankets, clothes, toothbrushes, razors and empty bottles of vodka.

When asked about the state of the property back in 2011, Copenhaver acknowledged, “The property is just in limbo.”

Just when there appeared to be no light at the end of the tunnel for the former Georgia Golf Hall of Fame property, the Board of Regents of the University System of Georgia entered the picture in 2012.

The General Assembly approved transferring the 17-acre site to the University System of Georgia because the then-Georgia Health Sciences University expressed interest in using the property to expand its campus following its merger with then-Augusta State University.

All of a sudden, the entire town was buzzing about the potential of having a portion of the university’s college campus in downtown Augusta along the Savannah River.

Then-Medical College of Georgia President Ricardo Azziz even publicly discussed the possibility of using the vacant Georgia Golf Hall of Fame site as a biotech park.

It was music to many local downtown business owners, including Coco Rubio, the co-owner of The Soul Bar and Sky City.

Rubio believes it would be a major “game changer.”

“I really do think that university holds the key to the future of downtown Augusta,” Rubio recently told the Metro Spirit, adding he was encouraged to hear that Augusta University is interested in developing the former Augusta Golf and Gardens property along the Savannah River. “I see the potential there with (Augusta University) having college students possibly taking classes downtown, living downtown and having a presence downtown. I think that will be a big boost and I can’t wait to see that happen.”

Augusta University has the potential of being a positive influence on downtown Augusta, much like Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD) has transformed downtown Savannah, he said.

“That’s the kind of thing that we need to see in Augusta,” Rubio said.

So, the big question that now remains is: What exactly does Augusta University plan to do with the property?

In late June, university officials announced plans to redevelop the botanical garden section of the former Georgia Golf Hall of Fame property into a “grassy field that could be used for everything from intramural sports to alumni events,” Jack Evans, Augusta University’s vice president of communications and marketing told The Augusta Chronicle.

But when the Metro Spirit asked for further details about the university’s plans for the property, the answer was much vaguer.

“At this time, Augusta University is performing site work and soil remediation at the riverfront property,” said Jennifer Smith, Augusta University’s vice president of planning, design and construction. “While no specific events are planned for the site long term, the work going on now is prepping the site for possible future development. Work is expected to be complete in the next several months.”

By 2007, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported that a state audit raised concerns about how some of the money was being spent, citing “meals, bottles of wine and, in one case, a $60 massage for a hall employee.”

As of right now, Smith said there is no specific timeline for future development of the property.

“There are no long-term plans for the property, but Augusta University is confident the property will be an important part of the university’s future growth,” Smith said. “Augusta University hopes the land can be developed at some point for the benefit of the university and the city of Augusta.”

Proof of that fact is the university’s decision to conduct a comprehensive soil remediation of the property, Smith said.

“The comprehensive soil remediation is occurring at the subsurface level and is good stewardship of the property on our part,” Smith said. “This is an intermediate step in prepping the land for its highest and best use.”

Camille Price, executive director of Augusta Tomorrow, believes the former Georgia Golf Hall of Fame property shows great promise in the hands of Augusta University.

“It is an amazing piece of property that is right on the river, so what needs to happen there has to be well thought out and really help the economic development of, not only Augusta University, but of Augusta,” Price said. “And really, it will be a wonderful opportunity for the whole state. It is not just Augusta’s opportunity, it is for the whole state because, of course, Augusta University is a state university.”

Ironically, Augusta Tomorrow was incorporated in 1982, the same year the Golf Hall of Fame was originally created by the Georgia General Assembly.

Since that time, Augusta Tomorrow has developed public-private partnerships with the city of Augusta that has led to several major accomplishments in the downtown area including the development of the Augusta Riverwalk, the Augusta Common and the Augusta Riverfront Center, which includes the Riverfront Hotel and Convention Center.

As a result of Augusta Tomorrow’s commitment to the downtown area, Price said the group has seen many changes to the former Georgia Golf Hall of Fame property over the past few decades.

However, Price is thrilled to see Augusta University considering developing the property and putting the site to good use, she said.

“If the university begins by hosting intramural sports events at the site, it will be a great start to bringing vitality back to that end of Reynolds Street,” Price said. “I do believe that they are going to be starting some of their sporting events on the Golf Hall of Fame property this fall. Therefore, I think we will see a lot more activity by the students coming back and forth between the Golf Hall of Fame property and Augusta University and coming downtown and visiting the restaurants and the shops that we have. So we are really excited that Augusta University is using that property that hasn’t been in use for quite a few years.”

Margaret Woodard, executive director of Downtown Development Authority of Augusta, said she is eager to assist the university in any way to help promote the development of the former Georgia Golf Hall of Fame property.

“Right now, I believe Augusta University is tweaking its master plan,” Woodard said. “They are looking at everything from the gateways to how do you connect with downtown to the impact of when the new dorms will open on 15th Street. So it is an exciting time and we certainly want to work and help assist them when they do decide to develop the Reynolds Street property as well.”

Woodard believes the addition of more college students and campus sites in the downtown area could transform the city.

When the Metro Spirit asked for further details about the university’s plans for the property, the answer was much vaguer.

“It would be exactly what happened in Savannah with SCAD,” Woodard said, agreeing with Rubio. “The same is true with downtown Charleston. The university has made a huge impact on Charleston and Savannah is what it is today because of SCAD. So having Augusta University in the downtown area will be a huge boom for us.”

Whether it is something as small as intramural sports to something as massive as a biotech park, Woodard believes such development will bring more youth and energy to the downtown area.

“I think they fact that they are going to use the property for intramural sports is at least bringing a vitality to a dormant piece of property. It brings foot traffic and it provides a use and that is a use that’s much needed,” Woodard said. “So, it has always been our hope that the university will develop that Reynolds Street property and we have always wanted more of a university presence in the downtown core.”

But such improvements are made one step at a time, Woodard said.

“The Georgia Golf Hall of Fame property has been overgrown and dormant for how many years now?” Woodard asked. “Number one, just the fact that it is cleaned up is great for downtown. And, number two, the fact that there is an outdoor use that is going to increase foot traffic and bring a vibrancy to that end of Reynolds Street is incredible. So we really look forward to working and helping the university further connect with downtown in the future. It will be tremendous for downtown Augusta.”

May 7, 2019

Metro Spirit looks back over 30 years

by Metro Spirit May 3, 2019

This year, the Metro Spirit is celebrating its 30th anniversary. As part of that celebration, the paper has decided to look back at some of its previous stories that shook up this town over the years. One such story was the tale of convicted murder and former attorney William Lumpkin. The article, written by former Metro Spirit staff writer Brian Neill, shed new light on an already horrific tale of Lumpkin, a local attorney who was found guilty of beating to death real estate agent Stan White with an 8-pound sandbag on Labor Day of 1996.

In 1999, a judge’s order unsealing court records in the case of convicted murderer William Lumpkin shed new light on the former attorney’s claim he was inadequately represented at trial.

The records also describe Lumpkin as having the run of the Richmond County jail during his years of incarceration there — to the point of establishing a small law library in his cell and being allowed to cobble together makeshift workout equipment — and how he allegedly sought to barter legal advice and money with inmates in exchange for their killing the key witness in the case.

In the documents, unsealed by Superior Court Judge Carlisle Overstreet in 1999, Lumpkin’s wife, Karen, is said to have admitted to an affair with her husband’s attorney, Terry Jackson of Savannah, while the case was ongoing.

Michael Mears, who was co-counsel in William Lumpkin’s trial, met with Karen Lumpkin on Jan. 8, 1999. It was then that Karen Lumpkin told Mears she was having an ongoing affair with Jackson that began in January of 1997, the records state.

According to the records, Karen Lumpkin phoned Mears and said she had documented 56 episodes of sexual contact with Jackson in her journal. Karen Lumpkin also told Mears that Jackson had spent the night at her house and she had visited him at his hotel room whenever he was in town for the case.

Jackson denied any sexual contact with Lumpkin’s wife, but acknowledged he had met her in various places on several different occasions.

Mears, in his report to the Multi-County Public Defender’s Office, stated that, “Mr. Jackson confirmed that Ms. Lumpkin had been to his beach house and that he had given her a photograph of himself but he denied that there has ever been any sexual act between them or that he had ever behaved in an improper or inappropriate manner toward her.”

At that point, Mears said he had filed a motion for Jackson to withdraw from the case.

In 1999, Jackson called Karen Lumpkin “mentally ill” and said her claims were in keeping with a “pattern of fantasizing and reporting sexual attacks.’’

Shortly after the allegations of an affair surfaced, Jackson cited health problems as his reason for withdrawing from Lumpkin’s case.

In his motion, Jackson stated that a CAT scan had turned up a growth on his lung and he had recently been placed on insulin to control diabetes that had spun out of control.

Jackson, a very well-respected attorney in Savannah who represented more than 50 death penalty cases throughout his career including Carl Isaacs in the 1973 Alday slayings in Seminole County and former Black Panther Jamil Al-amin, aka H. Rap Brown, in the 2000 slaying of an Atlanta deputy sheriff, passed away in 2012.

After pleading not guilty to charges of murder and theft, a Richmond County jury found Lumpkin guilty of beating to death real estate agent Stan White with an 8-pound sandbag on Labor Day of 1996.

Prior to a sentence being handed down on Feb. 24, 1999, Lumpkin admitted he had killed White.

In exchange for the admission and waiving his right to appeal, he was sentenced to life without parole instead of the death penalty.

Despite waiving the right, Lumpkin appealed his case, giving as one of his reasons the alleged conflict of interest with his attorney.

“The fact that he’s waived his appeal will, I feel sure, cause the court to dismiss anything he files along those lines,’’ said then-District Attorney Danny Craig in 1999. “But the clerk of courts does not have that authority.”

Even though Lumpkin’s sentencing agreement stated that an appeal was not possible, Craig said the clerk of court had a responsibility to accept any submission from an inmate “unless it’s a bomb.”

By his own admission and testimony from witnesses, Lumpkin was on his last financial leg in the days leading up to his murdering White.

White had purchased Lumpkin’s home, which Lumpkin had lost to the IRS after declaring bankruptcy, at a foreclosure sale. Witnesses said White had agreed to sell back the home to Lumpkin and arrived at the attorney’s downtown office to collect the final payment the same day he was killed.

To help dispose of the body, Lumpkin employed the help of Augustus Williams, a convicted felon with a knack for passing bad checks.

The prosecution maintained that Williams’ reputation as a con was exactly why Lumpkin had chosen him for the job.

No one would believe a convicted felon and it would be easy for Lumpkin to pin the murder on him, prosecutors maintained.

In fact, the defense told the story of a fight breaking out between Lumpkin and White, and Williams stepping in and inflicting the fatal blows to White’s head and neck with a ream of paper.

But if there was any truth to the prosecution’s theory, Lumpkin had obviously underestimated Williams’ potential influence on the jury.

Williams went on to detail for the court the loud pounding sounds he heard while sitting on the porch of Lumpkin’s office. Williams also said he helped Lumpkin get White’s body, wrapped inside a tarp, into the back of Lumpkin’s car.

White’s body, bound in the tarp and secured to two mushroom anchors with rope and wire, was found on Sept 6, 1996, in the Savannah River near Allendale, S.C., about 50 miles southeast of Augusta.

Included in the unsealed court records were interviews with inmates that suggest Williams may have been lucky to have escaped the same fate before making it to the witness stand.

Initially, according to one inmate, it seemed Lumpkin had leverage over Williams by promising to appeal his wife Vanessa’s murder conviction. Lumpkin had represented Williams’ wife at trial, court records indicated.

“Lumpkin got a rope around Gus neck,” said Walter Hornsby, a former Richmond County jail inmate, during a taped interview with investigators on Sept. 12, 1998. “He got, he was the attorney for Gus wife.”

“This come out of Lumpkin mouth,’’ Hornsby added. “Lumpkin said as long as he (Williams) keep quiet I will get Vanessa out.”

Also, during questioning by Investigator Ken Rogers of the Richmnond County Sheriff’s Department, Hornsby said that Lumpkin had a lot of pull in the jail and managed to have law books stacked up to the ceiling while other inmates could have only a Bible:

Hornsby: Lumpkin did what he wanted when he got ready. You couldn’t make no water bags on the floor but Lumpkin made him some.

Rogers: What do you mean water bags?

Hornsby: To work out with. If you see Lumpkin now you’ll see he in top shape.

Rogers: You’re saying fill a bag full of water and, and use it for weights?

Hornsby: Yeah… Then he roll up his mattress and use it as a weight too, do it, curl that like that and then he run up and down the stairs, which you can’t do that. They’ll say, if it were anybody else working out like that there, they’d get their, they’ll tell you to stop, but they never told Lumpkin to stop.

Another inmate, Cecil Johnson, said Lumpkin delivered a note to him while they were in the Richmond County jail together that advertised a $50,000 contract on Williams’ life:

Rogers: Okay, so, so you’re saying the second note you got from Bill Lumpkin from the sixth floor to what, to your floor, which was the fifth …

Johnson: That’s right.

Rogers: … had Gus Williams’ name in there …

Johnson: Oh, yes.

Rogers: … And it had a fifty thousand dollar contract …

Johnson: Oh, yes.

Rogers: …for you to kill Gus or have somebody else kill him?

Johnson: It wouldn’t have been no problem. I (sic) wouldn’t have been no problem at all.

Rogers: Okay, so are you saying that Bill Lumpkin, through a note, offered you fifty thousand dollars to kill Gus?

Johnson: That’s right.

Johnson said Lumpkin never specified why he wanted Williams dead, but added that there was no need to:

Johnson: No, I already know what the time was, I know what time it was anyhow, because I already know that he had supposed Gus to go with him, you know, to wrap the body up to drop it in the water.

Rogers: Okay.

Johnson: I knowed that much.

Rogers: So, so you knew that Gus was involved in …

Johnson: Right.

Rogers: … helping dispose of the body …

Johnson: Yes, sir.

Rogers: … and you assumed that Lumpkin wanted Gus dead because he was a witness.

Johnson: Oh, yes.

Johnson also told the investigator he approached by an attorney who visited Lumpkin in jail.

The attorney told Johnson he would receive help with his case free of charge, Johnson states in the court records.

Johnson told the investigator that Captain Gene Johnson, then assistant jailor at the Richmond County jail in 1999, allowed the meeting to take place:

Johnson: Yeah, I was, I was on the fifth floor one day about 10:00, 11 o’clock, you know, so the officer from the booth called me to the booth and told me to come through the control doors and I come through the control doors and Mr. Johnson, he was there.

Rogers: Who, who is Mr. Johnson?

Johnson: Captain Johnson.

Rogers: Of the jail?

Johnson: Oh, yes. Rogers: Okay. What did he want?

Johnson: And he wanted me to go up on the sixth floor with him. You know, he stated, he had, I had to go up there and he wanted to see somebody or do something, but I never went to the sixth floor with him. He canceled that, so we stayed on the fifth floor.

Rogers: Okay.

Johnson: Right after that then a lawyer come down there. I don’t know the lawyer name real good. I’m pretty sure that he was with, this lawyer that, here I’m testifying against. He told me he were going to work on my case for me, but the case was free. I told him I done got presented on that once before.

Contacted at the Richmond County jail in 1999, Capt. Johnson said the inmates’ stories concerning the operations of the facility were bogus.

“As far as me setting up a special meeting with anyone, I’ve never done that,’’ Capt. Johnson said in 1999. “That’s never happened. I don’t know what he’s (Cecil Johnson) talking about.”

In 1999, Capt. Johnson also denied that Lumpkin was allowed to liberally exercise and amass a virtual law library.

“I remember one time he had some empty jugs up there he had put some water in, and once they were discovered they were taken away from him,” Capt. Johnson told the Metro Spirit in 1999. “He was allowed to have his legal papers his attorneys brought him. He had some law books in there, but that was OK.”

“Inmates will do anything they can to bog up the system or say anything,’’ Johnson added. “That’s just their nature, I guess.”

While the alleged plots against his life were going on behind the scenes, Williams, as the defense pointed out at trial, was trying to sell his story to the national media.

In a letter Williams wrote to his wife at the Washington State Prison in Davisboro, Ga., dated July 1, 1998, Washington tells of the alleged plots against his life and talks about contacting the Rev. Jesse Jackson and Geraldo Rivera.

Craig, then Augusta’s district attorney, said Williams was out of jail and living in the Augusta area in 1999.

“He’s afforded whatever degree of security we feel is appropriate under his circumstances as they may change from week to week,’’ Craig said in 1999.

May 3, 2019

An Eviction an Hour

by Metro Spirit May 2, 2019

The Richmond County Marshal’s Office is seeking an increase in fees associated with the hundreds of dispossessions they perform each month.

According to Chief Deputy Scott Peebles, appearing before the Public Safety Committee Tuesday, the department is upside down approximately $525,000 carrying out the Marshal’s duties of residential evictions.

The Marshal averages 16 evictions per day in Richmond County, typically scheduling one per hour per officer. The shortfall is hindering the department’s ability to carry out its duties according to Peebles.

“The Marshal’s fee, just like the Sheriff’s fee, is set into state law. However other communities our size, such as Fayette County, have addressed the fact that they can overrule and change the fee because of the cost of the service over the years has gone up while the fee has stayed the same.”

The current fee to evict a non-paying tenant is $72 for the the initial dispossess, of which the marshal receives $25. The second step, the actual writ of possession, is $25 per tenant.

“What we are proposing is a $35 increase on the dispossess fee, so a total of $107 for the dispossess fee, and the writ increasing from $25 to $65.”

“We have four marshals who pretty much work full time doing evictions, but there are a lot more people involved in the process. You can’t forget about the clerical work involved just so you can get it served. So you know it’s actually a lot more people are touching this.”

Additionally, the body cameras the department has access to cannot be utilized due to the lack of funding for the data storage of the cameras. “It’s $80,000 a year to store the body cam footage according to state law and the certification requirements.”

“So the second year we would like to put $90,000 towards that so we can deploy the body cameras we have access to. We have the body cams but we can’t use them, we can’t afford the storage.”

After an eviction, it is the landlord’s responsibility to make sure the personal property is removed from the streetside. “Anyone can come and get it at that point. It is trash essentially. The tenant doesn’t have any personal rights to it once it’s been set out,” Peebles said.

“Well, it will sit there for three weeks and we’ll get a complaint or a horrible Facebook post ‘Look at what your marshal did, this trash has been here three weeks!’’.

Peebles says the resources simply aren’t there for follow-up.

“We want to circle back the next day and make sure the property has been removed. If not, we want to work with the landlord to make sure it is removed. By state law, once you set it on the curb it is technically trash.”

“The city has not addressed the blight issue in an aggressive way in the past four years. We’ve asked for five additional people to assist with safety with our evictions. When our officers go to serve evictions a single officer clears the house. So we want to fix that. And we want to circle back the next day to make sure the property is secured so we’re not trashing up the neighborhood.”

There are also needs within the department for additional funding according to Peebles. “The other resource we want to use to fight code related blight issues-illegal dumping, that sort of thing.”

“We have cameras put out where illegal dumps occur and eventually we’re going to a 24 hour security operation center. Right now a guy who sets them out gets an alert on his phone so if it’s 3 in the morning he isn’t getting it. We just want to be more aggressive in that area.”

Peebles’ request now moves to the full commission.

May 2, 2019

Thunder Cranks it up to 11

by Metro Spirit May 1, 2019

Thunder over Evans Continues to Impress

“It’s funny, I thought about it. It’s kind of redundant to have the lumberjack throwing axes at a target. We now have three areas where weapons are being thrown…you can throw tomahawks at a target, the circus act is bringing a saloon act where they do knife throwing at each other AND they have a girl tied down on a spinning wheel that they are gonna throw knives at. So you have three areas. It may be a little redundant. It’s insane.”

Shane Thompson

Founded in 2009 by area businessmen Donnie Thompson (owner of Windsor Jewelers), Andy Jones (owner of Gerald Jones Auto Group) and the late Dale Phelon, Thunder Over Evans is known as the largest privately funded Armed Forces Day celebration in the country.

Shane Thompson said the reason this whole event came together was because of a display of disrespect that two of the founders witnessed.

“I think when everybody talks about this, they’re going, ‘Well, there’s some twist to it, what are the businesses getting out of it, or how are you making money from it?’ And it all began from three local business guys — two of them were out, and they were traveling back and saw a soldier get disrespected when he was trying to come home in the airport,” Thompson said.

“And I think that had an impact on them, and when they got back they said, ‘We’re gonna make sure that in Augusta, we’ll take out a day and try to bring the civilians together with the military and show a day of appreciation where the military will have a blast, they’ll be celebrated, and the civilians can see the impact that they make by appreciating the soldiers.’”

Taking place on Armed Forces Day, Saturday May 18th, from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m., the day is packed with adrenaline pumping entertainment. Features include extreme sports from freestyle motocross & BMX to pogo stuntmen and hatchet throwing lumberjacks.

Thunder Over Evans is programmed for the gung ho military men and women the event so ably honors, with over-the-top attractions sure to grab everyone’s attention.

Everything, it seems, is high octane. Shane Thompson, son of Donnie Thompson, digs up the performers to organize into Thunder Over Evans each year. An admitted adrenaline junkie himself, Thunder Over Evans has grown to reflect Shane’s interests in pushing the limits.

Crowd favorites are the Lumberjack and Motocross shows. Thompson said “This year motocross star Scott Murray is returning to finish what he started here in Evans two years ago…a double back flip. There are only four other people in the world who can do this stunt, but they all do it indoors.”

“A couple of years ago it was gusty at the end of the day, and we couldn’t afford to pay him but for the one time-it’s many thousands of dollars for him to do this one trick. Well, he comes up to me and says, ‘Shane, if I do this trick right now I’m going to die. I’m not going to do this in front of my kids and my family. You can take the money back, I’m not going to do it.’’’

“We were like, this is supposed to be fun, we’re cool, maybe another time. Well, this year he’s coming back to do it,” Thompson said.

“He’s way up in the air doing two backflips. It’s a split second trick, so if you blink you may miss it.”

Thompson says he is bringing a pad, “something to protect him in case he misses it.”

But, lets face it. The fireworks are truly the star of the show, having raised the bar for locals much the same way the Augusta National has raised the bar for golf. There are so many explosions happening in the air at once Thunder Over Evans organizers actually suggest wearing sunglasses.

“Of all the things that are new, we’re adding two pieces to the fireworks show that will blow your mind,” according to Thompson. “The percussive piece, the sonic wave- it’s a shock wave that goes off at the end. I mean there is nothing like it.”

“Our fireworks guy, Craig Butler, is a wizard. He thinks all this out,” Thompson said.

“It’s beyond a call of duty, it’s like a passion, he’s driving to multiple states to get elements to add to the show.”

“The other fireworks piece, well, it is supposed to be a surprise. But let’s just say it took some convincing to allow it to go forward. The head of the Pyrotechnic Guild International had to write to Columbia County, as well as the founder of the pyro team Thunder is using, to get permission” according to Thompson.

There are essentially three different entities coming together to produce the fireworks show.

The Lumberjack Show is a must-see. The Wisconsin-based Timberworks “Olympics of the Forest” features a log-rolling pool, speed pole climbing, axe throwing, chopping and new this year is the saloon show, featuring the knife throwing Thompson referenced earlier.

There are the BMX motocross pros, including X Games medalist Rob Nolli. The BMX area is set up in the same place as the motorized, freestyle motocross (FMX).

The Kid Zone has more than 20 inflatables and features a 128-foot inflatable course, giving spectators a place to take on friends and members of the military. The circus is coming back this year and we are opening up a little earlier as well. We’d like for the little kids to kind of get in front for everything. Maybe go home and rest and come back out for the fireworks and shows, so we’re opening the gates a little earlier this year, at 10:00,” Thompson shared.

Other entertainment includes west coast party band No Limits performing all kinds of popular hits for every age group and the Augusta Boxing Club is putting on two 45 minute exhibitions.

Amid all the excitement, there also are some important things going on, such as the swearing in of new recruits, who go directly to basic training after taking the oath.

“The general comes out and talks about the involvement with the military and the community,” Thompson said. “At the end of that, they get all the new enlistees and bring them in front with the general, and then he swears them all in. And then the soldiers do this chant, and it’s really emotional to hear them saying all of this in unison, and you can see the enlistees are just… it’s cool.”

There will be military displays including helicopters-one being the feared Blackhawk-as well as a Georgia State Patrol chopper, a paladin tank, humvees, and many more cool toys.

Thompson says the crowd swells to an estimated 25,000-30,000 people at the end of the day.

“People kind of park all over the area. “

A hot air balloon will be on site for a few hours, taking visitors up for a birds eye view of the Lady A.

It’s important to the people involved — and to the county, Thompson said — to keep bringing this day to the Augusta area.

“I think it means something to (the troops) to know that people come and they appreciate their service,” founder Donnie Thompson said. “And I think to see them and thank them and see the flags flying — it just gives you a feeling that we don’t have in this country too often.”

May 1, 2019