Augusta leaders congratulate basketball champs from Westside
AUGUSTA, Ga. (WRDW/WAGT) - The Augusta Commission on Tuesday congratulated the three-peat boys basketball state champions from Westside High School.
March 19, 2024, was proclaimed Westside Men’s Varsity Basketball Day.
City leaders took a group photo with the team, and former Commissioner Moses Todd presented the program with a $500 check.
Head Coach Jerry Hunter says he believes that sports are a great opportunity to help get the most out of kids in our community in more ways than one.
”Emotional intelligence is important and a lot of our kids man, they’re misunderstood because they have environmental issues. So I think that if we get together behind some sports, and it doesn’t just have to be basketball. We can reach out and create the umbrella, and build people, stronger people, but moreso important, emotional intelligent people, so they’ll understand who they are as life progresses them,” said Hunter.
Also at the meeting
City leaders had discussed putting a nightclub and two convenience stores on probation for their liquor licenses as a warning over the high number of crimes there. However, the matter was put on hold for a few weeks because city leaders said the businesses had not been given enough warning.
Smart Grocery at 3221 Wrightsboro Road has been a particular focus of the discussion.
It’s been the site of at least nine shootings in recent years, two of them fatal.
The property owner says he’s been working with law enforcement to try to cut down on the crime, which many say simply spills over from some high-crime apartment complexes nearby.
There were also plans to look at new garbage rates in Richmond County, but that item was tossed from consideration Tuesday.
City leaders also heard from maintenance crews about lack of resources when it comes to keeping grass mowed in rights-of-way.
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