Mayor B.J. Meeks said he was worried about the number of people who gather at Pleasant Valley Park near the Sadie Lee Public Housing and thought the large crowd in the small area may have contributed to causing the Sunday shooting at the park.
Meeks said he received complaints from residents in the area about the bumper-to-bumper traffic on Front Street and loud music causing a disturbance the day before the shooting. He said the traffic in that area hampered police and an ambulance from responding in a timely fashion when the shooting occurred.
“We’re going to discontinue activities there until we can work out some kind of review about what’s going on in that area,” Meeks said. “If we’re going to have that kind of crowd there, we’re going to have to have some kind of law enforcement there with off-duty officers.”
Frank Wilson, with the Recreation Department, said the trouble did not start at the softball game but from two men who confronted each other in the public housing complex and then came toward the field.
“Half the people over in the projects are people who don’t stay in the projects,” Wilson said.
Wilson said independent leagues were using the park facility that day, which brings in people from different cities.
Meeks still expressed concern about the number of people in that area at one time. He said if independent leagues are going to come to Childersburg to play, someone will need to sign off for partial liability and provide some kind of security personnel in the future. There are no plans to permanently close the park.
Childersburg police are still investigating the alleged gunfire exchange on Sunday between two men – Robert Hall and Pat “Project Pat” Barkley – that wounded Hall. They are seeking Barkley in relation to the incident.
Resident Simon Roston complained to the council about a separate incident from a couple of weeks ago where he believed Childersburg police acted unprofessionally.
Roston said officer John Luke Benefield, who was recently not indicted by a grand jury for a shooting that left Tony Martin Jr. dead, set the neighborhood residents on edge when he brandished a shotgun while setting up a perimeter outside a wooded area near the public housing a man had run into while attempting to elude police.
Roston said Benefield made a young man walking down the street get down on his stomach and handcuffed him during this incident. “If (Benefield) had his mind on somebody in the woods, why didn’t he keep it out there instead of messing with the kid?” Roston said.
Police Chief Shane Burnette said police were pursuing a vehicle that evening when a man exited the vehicle carrying a gun and ran into the woods. Responding officers had their guns out because the suspect was carrying a gun.
Burnette said the suspect was eventually apprehended by another officer.
Roston said officers need to establish a better rapport with people in the public housing neighborhood and that Benefield needed to be removed from the police force.
Resident Josie McMillan echoed Roston’s sentiments and said Benefield needed to “be put in check.”
Meeks said the city had to follow the law and could not fire an officer that a grand jury found had not broken a law. On the subject of the young man Benefield detained at the scene, Meeks said police officers sometimes have to act in ways a regular civilian may not understand to keep order in a dangerous situation.
Meeks added that he was sure Burnette would review any situation involving officer behavior that was brought to his attention.
In other business, McMillan asked the council to consider bringing in a carnival for a few days like other local cities have done, asked the city to put up signs reminding citizens the primary election is Tuesday, June 1, and asked about the status of repairs on 16th Street.
The council also approved:
• Allowing firefighter Morgan Arnold to attend the annual Chemical Stockpile Emergency Preparedness Program drill in Kentucky from June 7-11. The city will not have to pay expenses for the trip, but will have to pay for an 8-hour workday.
• Giving final approval to changes to the nuisance ordinance. The council had discussed the ordinance in previous meetings.
• A sales tax holiday in the city on the days of August 6, 7 and 8.
The next council meeting was moved from the first Tuesday in June to the second Tuesday on June 8 to avoid coinciding with the primary elections.
The projects have become breeding grounds for trouble that unfortunately spills over outside their boundaries.