COVINGTON, Ga. — A county commissioner has threatened to lead a recall effort against Chairman Marcello Banes if Banes orders the removal of a sign that names the former Cousins Middle School bandroom for local arts leader T.K. Adams.
But Banes said he was “disgusted” District 4 Commissioner J.C.Henderson was using Adams’ legacy for political purposes as Henderson seeks re-election to a seventh term this year.
Banes asked Henderson to remove the sign Feb. 15 because he believed the Board of Commissioners legally must approve the naming of any county-owned building.
Henderson warned Banes in a video the commissioner posted to his Facebook page that Banes’ job could be in jeopardy if the chairman orders its removal.
“If you take that name off of that building, I will personally do a recall on you,” Henderson said in a video message directed at Banes.
“I’ve already got some support from some of the other commissioners to do a recall on you,” he said. “We don’t need somebody who’s working against us.”
Henderson said former county attorney Megan Martin told him he could use county SPLOST funds designated for his district for projects in his district and he decided to erect a sign naming the building for Adams, the longtime community band and school band director who died Jan. 25.
Henderson said Banes told him after the Feb. 15 Board of Commissioners meeting he had done “something wrong” with designating the band room with Adams’ name without receiving approval from the Board.
However, Henderson said he did not recall the Board’s approval being required before Wolverine Field or Wolverine Gym were named at the former school complex the county purchased in 2017 on Geiger Street just north of I-20.
“Let’s get off of the plantation mentality,” Henderson said in his message to Banes, who is Black.
“I know you run the plantation but we’re not in a plantation — that’s in the past,” Henderson said. “Let’s move forward into the future.”
He said he told Banes that the designation was part of honoring those who taught and worked at the former R.L. Cousins High School and Cousins Middle School. R.L. Cousins was the public high school to which Black Newton County students were assigned before integration of all county schools in 1970.
Newton County Historical Committee has filled the building with displays featuring prominent Black Newton Countians, both past and present, and plans to operate it as an arts center.
“I said, ‘It’s not about Mr. Adams, it was about the people who came before him,’” Henderson said. “This is the only place where all of our history can be presented 365 days of the year.”
Banes said in a Facebook post he thanked those who called and sent text messages to him in support of his stand on the issue.
“I have talked with Mrs. Louise Adams (Monday) and out of respect for her wishes and the legacy of T.K. Adams, I will not provide a video response to this foolishness,” Banes wrote.
“Mr. T.K. Adams has left his fingerprints throughout this community. He has blessed so many children and adults with the gift of music. He is a legend that was honored with the Chairman Award and so many other recognitions.”
Banes also referred to the video in which Henderson criticizes “Republicans running on a Democratic ticket” — a regular political charge Henderson makes at Democrats on the Board who do not agree with him on a number of issues.
“I am disappointed and disgusted that there is now an attempt to use (Adams’) legacy as a footnote in a campaign speech,” Banes said.
“We must do better. I pray we do better. Please continue to pray for the Adams family.”
State law requires at least 100 Newton County registered voters to sponsor an application for a recall petition and 30% of the county’s registered voters — about 24,000 — to sign the petition.
The sponsors must list any of the following grounds for calling a recall election: An act of malfeasance or misconduct while in office; violation of the oath of office; failure to perform duties prescribed by law; or willfully misusing, converting, or misappropriating, without authority, public property or public funds entrusted to or associated with the elective office to which the official has been elected or appointed, according to state law.
However, the county charter allows individual board members to file written accusations that the chairman did not “exercise any of duties provided for by law.” A Board majority then can vote to perform the duties or ask a Superior Court judge to order the chairman to do so.
