AUGUSTA, Ga. (WRDW/WAGT) – Augusta Commission members on Tuesday signed a letter of support for keeping the James Brown name on the new arena when it’s built.

The old James Brown Arena was torn down, and a new arena is being built with sales tax revenues.

All along, people made the assumption that the new building would be a new James Brown Arena.

And no one stepped forward to say otherwise.

That is, until the Augusta-Richmond County Coliseum Authority recently dropped the bombshell that the plan is to sell off the naming rights.

That led to an uproar on the Augusta Commission and elsewhere.

We’ve also heard from the estate of James Brown, with family members saying the Godfather of Soul gifted the rights to his name to Augusta.

In a letter addressed to the head of the Coliseum Authority, commissioners express dismay at learning they and voters have been misled about the arena’s name.

The letter questions whether the naming rights for the arena need to be sold to cover costs – or for another, unknown reason.

PREVIOUS COVERAGE

The ‘new arena’: How we got here

1. When did James Brown’s name disappear from plans for new arena?
2. New name for the new ‘JBA’? Why that’s looking pretty likely
3. Bulldozed but not forgotten: What’s ahead for the new downtown Augusta arena
4. Latest update on James Brown Arena construction
5. Demolition makes James Brown Arena look like it’s melting
6. Construction plans unveiled for new James Brown Arena

At the end, commissioners request that representatives from the authority speak in front of commission explaining their reasoning and plans to honor James Brown.

The authority claimed it has always intended to sell off the naming rights – despite early drawings of the new building that featured the name of the Godfather of Soul as well as a URL on an authority’s website referring to it as the new James Brown Arena.

Authority officials said the rights to James Brown’s name had been sold by the family to an outside company, so the authority couldn’t use that name if it wanted to, officials said.

That company quickly came back and said Brown had gifted his name to the arena free of charge, and the company intended to honor that. The company went so far as to say it was “appalled” the authority would give up the honor just to make some money by selling off the naming rights.

The name on the renderings subtly changed to “Augusta Entertainment Complex” sometime between a failed 2021 vote on a tax plan to fund the arena and a second vote that passed in 2024.

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NORTH AUGUSTA, S.C. (WRDW/WAGT) – We’ve learned that authorities were briefly able to make phone contact with a missing woman before they ramped up a search for her last week.

Susan Rhodes, 65, has been missing since shortly after she was in a car accident last week on Gregory Lake Road. She wandered away into the woods after the crash, seeming disoriented, according to witnesses.

Authorities have been searching for her, with no success.

Up until today, we were under the impression that no one had had any contact with her since the crash around 2 p.m. Wednesday.

But an incident report from the North Augusta Department of Public Safety shows that with Edgefield County deputies present, her roommate called Rhodes after she’d wandered off.

Rhodes did sound disoriented and indicated she was suffering some kind of medical condition, as authorities have suspected. A deputy urged her to call 911 so her phone could be pinged, but she hung up.

Authorities contacted her phone company and were able to ping her phone, and that’s when they decided to launch a search for her in the heavily wooded area near Gregory Lake.

Her roommate said Rhodes had been complaining all day about blood pressure and stroke-like symptoms, backing up the belief that she was suffering a medical emergency.

In addition, she reportedly had one arm in a sling when she wandered away from the crash.

The incident report also gives more details on the car accident than we’d previously known.

A 30-year-old witness described it to deputies. He said he’d been traveling on Gregory Lake Road away from Martintown Road behind a Chevrolet Malibu that was all over the road. The Malibu was being driven by Rhodes.

The witness said that just past Gregory Landing Drive, the Malibu left the left side of the road before returning to the road, where it struck a Toyota sport utility vehicle on the passenger side with its passenger front.

PHOTO GALLERY:

The Malibu then left the right side of the roadway and entered a ditch.

The witness helped Rhodes get out of the car.

He said she appeared disoriented and out of it before she walked off and entered a driveway in the 2200 block of Gregory Lake Road.

Initially, a search was conducted by drone, but a large downpour made that difficult.

That’s when Rhodes’ roommate and deputies were able to contact her by phone.

After she hung up, North Augusta police decided to launch a grid search of the area.

No one has reported hearing from her since then, although deputies believe they saw her footprint near a creek.

The search continued through the weekend, but authorities received no new information from it.

They say they don’t think she’s still in the area.

They’ve printed fliers, and Rhodes’ picture is also being shown on digital billboards, with no success.

She was wearing a red shirt, black shoes and a hat. She is 5 feet 5 inches tall.

If you see her or have any clues, call 803-441-4200.

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AUGUSTA, Ga. (WRDW/WAGT) – A new inspection found a toxic workplace culture at the Department of Veterans Affairs health care system in Augusta and other problems that could hinder patient care.

A report said the inspection in September uncovered “concerning behavior and communication problems among facility leaders.”

The last time the Office of Inspector General was in 2910, and now it’s released another report that finds leadership remains a problem.

In the new report, inspectors said they found:

• Leaders had a threatening and abusive communication style.
• There was retaliation for employees sharing concerns with leaders.
• A toxic workplace that led to a culture of fear and employees feeling psychologically unsafe.
• There were trust issues between frontline staff and quality management staff, which hindered collaboration on patient safety efforts.
• Employees “felt supported by their immediate supervisors but lacked trust with facility leaders.”

Some of the concerns echoed what had been found in a 2019 inspection.

Six years later, retaliation is a recurring theme.

Employees said reporting concerns is met with retaliation in the form of removal from positions, reassignment to other facilities and punitive investigations.

Employees reported feeling fearful of losing their job if they speak out or ask for help.

The report notes that the director said survey scores for fear of reprisal and psychological safety had improved but acknowledged they remained low when compared with other facilities.

The report also outlines staffing problems.

A human resources specialist reported there were 36 vacant primary care positions. The chief and two medical director positions had been vacant longer than 12 months. Leaders described using salary adjustments as well as relocation and retention bonuses as strategies for recruitment.

However, the report found there is an ongoing problem with staff retention, not recruitment. The report states that until leaders address these systemic issues, the problem will persist.

The staffing issues led veterans to have concerns about changes in primary care providers.

The inspectors reviewed the facility’s veteran enrollment following PACT Act implementation and determined that it increased from October 2020 through March 2024.

However, 34 of the facility’s 39 primary care team panels were at or above capacity.

Appointment wait times ranged from five to eight days for established patients, and five to 14 days for new patients over the past two years.

Staff reported the workload may have caused providers to miss important notifications in the electronic health records or delay their responses to address them.

Also, there were supply chain management concerns, which were repeat findings from two prior reports.

The staff told inspectors the supply issues affected their ability to provide safe patient care.

They gave an example of a patient whose care was delayed because of the unavailability of a stent to keep an artery open for a crucial procedure. The patient later died.

The Office of Inspector General was unable to determine whether the unavailable supplies contributed to the death. But a nurse leader said the lack of supplies contributed to the delay in care.

The director responded to the allegations, saying the supplies were not located in the supply closets but were stored in various other areas within the units and that staff was hoarding supplies.

The director responded to the report, saying the Augusta leadership team will focus on improved communications, individual development and healthy relationships for the entire organization.

The report also had some positive things to say:

• The staff effectively identified and enrolled veterans into homeless programs and met housing, medical, and justice needs.
• Facilities were clean, with no privacy concerns. Each main entrance offered clear signage, navigation assistance, and other tools to help veterans with visual and hearing sensory impairments.

READ THE REPORT:

The report listed five recommendations:

• The undersecretary for health should evaluate facility leaders for appropriate supervisory behavior and professional communication and take actions as needed. The report notes that the Office of Inspector General “identified repeated concerns and findings from a previous report related to leaders’ communication issues and unprofessional behavior that affected staff’s ability to work in a psychologically safe environment.”
• The undersecretary for health should determine “whether the Veterans Integrated Service Network Director and other Veterans Integrated Service Network leaders were aware of, but did not address, facility leaders’ unprofessional behavior and communication, and takes actions as needed.”
• The undersecretary for health should ensure “the Veterans Integrated Service Network and facility directors oversee the inventory management system, resolve medical supply deficiencies, and monitor actions for sustained improvement.”
• Facility leaders should develop action plans to ensure providers communicate test results to patients in a timely manner.
• The undersecretary for health should direct the national VHA Quality and Patient Safety Program staff to review the facility’s quality management program and determine whether actions by facility and Veterans Integrated Service Network leaders effectively addressed system issues affecting patient safety, including nursing leaders’ lack of access to safety reports, and missed opportunities for institutional disclosures, and take action as needed.

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