OXFORD, Ga. – Newton County Board of Commissioners Chairman Marcello Banes, along with District 3 Commissioner Nancy Schulz and District 5 Commissioner Ronnie Cowan met with County Manager Lloyd Kerr Wednesday afternoon under the Mt. Tabor Road bridge to discuss security enhancements to the area where the body of 27-year-old Kelly Marshall was found Saturday afternoon.

Schulz, who represents the area where the bridge is located, discussed the incident at Tuesday night’s BOC meeting.

“We had a tragedy in my district this weekend, and that tragedy occurred where we have a kayak launch that’s county property or that the county built. We know that for the last two months, at least, there’s been increased activity underneath that bridge and so I believe that it’s time that we as a county take some kind of action at that site, whether it’s to put up fencing or to put up a gate, but we don’t need to ignore that something tragic happened at that site.”

Schulz told The Covington News she has no plans to ask that the kayak launch be closed.

Kerr said that fencing can be erected to limit access to the area up the hill immediately under the bridge and large rocks can be put into place on the ground to prevent vehicles from driving directly under the bridge. He said access to the driveway and parking area, along with the kayak launch would not be impacted.