May 14, 2019

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BCSO Chief Deputy Lewis Blanchard, at right, with Chief John E. Horseman of the FBI

Burke County Sheriff ’s Office Chief Deputy Lewis Blanchard was awarded the Federal Bureau of Investigation Law Enforcement Executive Development Association (FBI-LEEDA) Trilogy Award recently in Virginia, where he was recognized by Chief John E. Horseman for his continued service and skills in the field of public safety.

“We are extremely proud of Chief Deputy Blanchard for this major accomplishment in the field of law enforcement,” said Burke Sheriff Alfonzo Williams. “It’s something most will never accomplish during their tenure.”

The mission of the FBILEEDA program is to advance the science and art of law enforcement leadership and promote the exchange of information to improve law enforcement management practices through training, education and networking among police professionals across the United States and beyond. Blanchard completed the following three training institutes to earn the FBI-LEEDA Trilogy Award:

The FBI-LEEDA Supervisor Leadership Institute is a cutting edge program built especially for first-line supervisors and middle managers with the goal of enhancing leadership competencies.

The FBI-LEEDA Command Leadership Institute is a dynamic, intensive and challenging program specifically and uniquely designed to prepare law enforcement leaders for command level positions. Command Leadership Institute students learn and discuss such topics as credibility, command discipline and liability, dealing with problem employees, and leading change within an organization. The Command Leadership Institute is studentcentered with a high degree of student involvement.

The FBI-LEEDA Executive Leadership Institute is an innovative program designed for senior law enforcement executives focusing on the emerging challenges facing our profession. This is a highly interactive program for law enforcement leaders seeking professional development that covers many areas to include but not limited to trends in law enforcement, Implications of the 21st Century Policing Report, public trust and legitimacy, bias and diversity, employee wellness, transformational leadership, along with social and emotional intelligence.

FBI-LEEDA is comprised of more than 7,000 law enforcement leaders from agencies both small and large representing all 50 states and 14 countries. FBI-LEEDA is home to an exceptional cadre of instructors who are not only experienced law enforcement professionals but also are passionate about teaching and mentoring the next generation of law enforcement leaders.

Deputies from the Burke County Sheriff's Office will now receive emergency management response training as a way to fill the gap in an emergency response.

Last week the sheriff's office partnered with Burke County EMA to train and certify 19 of 102 deputies as Emergency Medical First Responders. Part of the training included an overview on how the emergency management group operates and how to effectively communicate with medical personnel.

Burke Couty Sheriff Alfonzo Williams said the certification is aimed at increasing numbers of qualified first responders in the county.

"Due to the size of our county and the potential for additional emergency medical personnel, we are going to train as many deputies as possible to become first responders" he said in a news release last week.

Chief Rusty Sanders, director of Burke County EMA who obtained the grant for the training from the Georgia Trauma Commission, said the 50-hour course works as a partnership with the sheriff's office to provide its deputies with "first on the scene care."

"Several months ago the opportunity came up for the EMS service to apply for a grant with the overall objective being to teach the medical responders course," he said. "We applied for the grant and were fortunate enough to get the grant so now we are able to instruct and teach as many deputies as we could to be able to provide first on the scene emergency medical care to any victims that might have sustained injuries, or having difficulty prior to the arrival of EMS Service."

Chief Deputy Lewis Blanchard said the training, which is expected to continue in the next year, is "very valuable" for deputies. He referenced a shooting earlier this month in which deputies' were able to provide care to an injured subject following a suicide attempt.

"While the deputies were there the person actually shot himself and deputies were able to treat the individual and render aide prior to the ambulance and EMS arriving," he said.

Another benefit of the training is that it increases the number of qualified people able to respond should a disaster strike, Blanchard said. This goes hand-in-hand with the growing employment at Plant Vogle nuclear power plant in Waynesboro.

We have an influx of several thousand people each and every day working out there so having these additional resources is positive for the county as a whole," Blanchard said. "So whether it be a natural disaster or an active shooter situation, or anything along those lines we certainly want as many people highly trained as possible."

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An Augusta man was arrested Thursday following a pursuit in Burke County. Christopher Weston, 29, was charged with felony entering an auto to commit a theft, felony fleeing and attempting to elude, obstruction of a law enforcement officer and nine traffic citations, including DUI (drugs) and hit and run. Burke County deputies responded to St. Mary’s Catholic Church on the 3000 block of Stoney Bluff Road around 9:26 a.m. in reference to a robbery in progress, according to the sheriff’s office.

A 68-year-old woman told deputies she was cleaning headstones around the church when she was approached by Weston, asking for directions. According to the sheriff’s office, the woman became suspicious and saw Weston running from her vehicle towards Stoney Bluff Road with her purse.

Weston got in a black Jeep Cherokee and fled. Georgia State Patrol initiated a chase on Millhaven Road. The chase ended in a wooded area off McCannan Church Road when Weston crashed his vehicle into a tree and ran away, according to the sheriff’s office

A K-9 unit was deployed to begin tracking Weston. After an hour, Weston was found hiding in a swampy area near a pond, trying to camouflage himself using mud and vegetation.

He is being held at the Burke County Detention Center.

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BURKE COUNTY, GA (WJBF) – Never give up. That’s the message one man shared from the start of his health journey when a rare case of bacterial meningitis turned him into a quadruple amputee.

With the Burke County Sheriff’s Office as the driving force, Christopher Grubisa moves closer to getting back to his normal life – with the construction of a new home, a community effort through volunteers and a Go Fund Me account. 

We first told you his story in March. Christopher Grubisa’s parents came forward then to share how their son came in contact with bacterial meningitis and lost all of his limbs.

“Don’t take everything for granted.  Hands. Feet. Don’t take them for granted,” Grubisa said in May.  And now, he’s still just as humble. “If I can make someone happy in the day, I’ve done my job.”

This part of his journey includes a cast of supporters.  Burke County Sheriff Alfonzo Williams is one of them.  He launched the project to build Grubisa a home.  

“We’re up to $76,000.  We need another $50,000 to complete this project,” the Sheriff said. 

John Highsmith, owner of Highsmith Building Services Inc., shared with us blueprints for the home.   “It’s a little closer to the ground to make it easier to access.  The doorways are wider.  We added a little extra room in front of the toilets and in front of the vanities just to make it easier to maneuver around,” he said. 

Sheriff Alfonzo Williams assembled a group of key people at the home, still under construction, on Poole Melton Road in Blythe.  

Grubisa was there with his wife, Amber, and his parents Nick and Sandra.  He recalled the day that his life changed forever back in October 2017.

“I went to sleep one night and wasn’t supposed to wake up the next day,” he said.  “You don’t never know.”

Highsmith Building Services broke ground on the ADA home January 18, Christopher’s 33rd Birthday.

• Build a Home For Christopher Go Fund Me page 

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Burke County Sheriff Alfonzo Williams has received the National Sheriff’s Association’s 2018 “Medal of Merit.”

The award acknowledges outstanding leadership and contributions to the community, according to a news release from the sheriff’s office. The release states that Burke County has seen more than a 50 percent reduction in crimes of violence and on property since Williams took office in 2017. The solvency rate of crimes has also more than tripled, according to the release.

Williams community related initiatives and programs that work with the youth in Burke County as also noted in the release.

“You have our respect and admiration for all of your accomplishments,” said Jonathan F. Thompson, the organization’s executive director in the release.

The Burke County Sheriff’s Office will soon be trained to administer a drug used to prevent death in an opioid overdose, joining other Augusta-area agencies trying to combat this national epidemic.

Twenty-eight members of the sheriff’s office, along with others working within public safety and interested community members, began training last month to administer the nasal spray Narcan.

In 2016, the five states with the highest rates of death from drug overdoses were West Virginia (52.0 per 100,000), Ohio (39.1 per 100,000), New Hampshire (39.0 per 100,000), Pennsylvania (37.9 per 100,000) and Kentucky (33.5 per 100,000), according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Deaths in Georgia reached 8.8 per 100,000 in 2016, and Chief Deputy Lewis Blanchard said the office’s main goal is to stay ahead of the national epidemic. The decision came after a recent incident in which Burke County deputies were the first to arrive at a call about a suspicious person, possibly suffering from an overdose.

“So far that has not been a major problem in our county, but we just want to be ahead of the curve as much as possible,” Blanchard said.

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