Augusta, GA

Augusta business owner aims to fill your bowl and soul

Published

3 weeks ago

April 30, 2024

Augusta business owner aims to fill your bowl and soul

AUGUSTA, Ga. (WRDW/WAGT) – A downtown business is following through with its pledge to feed those who need it most on the last business day of the month for the next two years.

Toaste of Augusta has partnered with the Project Refresh Shower Day at the Department of Public Health.

Adding Toaste to the community line-up offers a real ‘restaurant’ experience and helps connect with those who are often overlooked.

“I just wanted to make sure that I had food. Now I have Dom, so I don’t even have to think about it. I used to have to think, I need volunteers here, but that’s a lot to take on. This is what Dom does,” said Rev. Lisa Ann Wheeler with the Georgia Department of Public Health.

Wheeler is talking about Dominik Cartrel, who owns Toaste of Augusta. It’s his second time working with the other community partners for this particular event.

“We just want folks to come down and enjoy themselves, no judgment whatsoever. If you know somebody that’s in need of a good meal, sit down, and we’ll take care of them,” said Cartrel.

Cartrel also provides a service called “God’s Grits,” where every month he opens his restaurant up to whoever needs a plate of food at no cost and no questions asked.

“My events are normally averaged about, say, right at 100 was my most. The last event we had here was 250 people. So I saw the need. It was very eye-opening, simply because it was word of mouth. There are a lot more people that actually need our assistance. Not so much as homeless but so many that people are in different situations,” said Cartrel.

He’s giving his community an experience many take for granted.

“We wanted folks to have a nice dining experience,” he said.

He compared the experience to buying a car.

“They didn’t know if I had a million dollars in the bank or if I had $10 in the bank. They treated me like an individual. And that’s how I treat folks, when they come inside my restaurant, no matter what dollar amount, I still want to provide the same experience,” said Cartrel.

Cartrel said the experience is a gift.

“I didn’t know so many folks had kids weren’t eating a hot meal, or just a meal in general,” he said.

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Augusta, GA

Georgia election website goes down for a time during voting

Published

4 hours ago

May 21, 2024

Press Room

Georgia election website goes down for a time during voting

AUGUSTA, Ga. – There was a snag with an important election website right in the middle of voting Tuesday for the Georgia primary.

The Georgia Secretary of State’s MyVoterPage was down for about 45 minutes Tuesday afternoon.

That’s the website where the public can find information about their polling location and download a sample ballot.

Georgia Secretary of State’s Office Chief Operating Officer Gabriel Sterling said the error was due to overprocessing with Salesforce, the software the website runs on.

“It was kind of like when you talk to Comcast and AT&T when something’s going on with your phone,” he said. “They tell you it’ll be five minutes, and you call back in five minutes, and they tell you it’ll be five minutes. Same kind of thing.”

The state is on a path to surpass 1 million ballots cast in the primary, Sterling said.

Going into Tuesday, about 65,000 voters had already cast vote-by-mail absentee ballots, but because of delay issues at Georgia’s U.S. Postal Service locations, officials recommend checking on the Secretary of State’s ballot tracker page to make sure your absentee ballot got to where it needed to go.

That’s the same website that was down for a time on Tuesday.

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Augusta, GA

Augusta Man Pleads Guilty to Social Security Office Bomb Threat

Published

11 hours ago

May 21, 2024

Press Room

Augusta Man Pleads Guilty to Social Security Office Bomb Threat

AUGUSTA, GA – Keyon Tishaye Dickens, 38, of Augusta, admitted guilt to federal charges after threatening to use explosives against a Social Security Administration office. U.S. Attorney Jill E. Steinberg confirmed that Dickens pled guilty to Using a Telephone to Make a Threat to Injure a Person or Damage a Building by Explosives. He now faces up to 10 years in prison, with no option for parole.

The incident occurred after Dickens received a notice from the Social Security Administration in September 2023, informing him of an intent to recoup overpayments from his Supplemental Security Income. Reacting to the notice, Dickens made a threatening call to the office, declaring intentions to either shoot up or bomb the facility.

Later, he visited the targeted office, presenting a note to a security officer that read “I have a bomb,” while carrying a backpack. This action prompted a lockdown and evacuation of the building, though no bomb was ultimately discovered. Dickens was apprehended by deputies from the Richmond County Sheriff’s Office following the evacuation.

The investigation involved the FBI, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives, the Social Security Administration Office of the Inspector General, and the Richmond County Sheriff’s Office. Assistant U.S. Attorney George J.C. Jacobs III is handling the prosecution. Sentencing will be scheduled by U.S. District Court Judge J. Randal Hall after a pre-sentence investigation by U.S. Probation Services.

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