Threats of recall issued at Athens officials at meeting that followed downtown rally

Simmering political fallout from the death last month of 22-year-old Athens nursing student Laken Riley, allegedly at the hands of a 26-year-old undocumented Venezuelan immigrant Jose Ibarra, boiled over at Tuesday’s Athens-Clarke County Commission meeting.

At the meeting, previous pleas for Mayor Kelly Girtz to resign were expanded to threatening recall proceedings against the mayor, the 10 district commissioners and Sheriff John Q. Williams.

At the center of concerns expressed by opponents of the mayor, commissioners and sheriff is a 2019 commission-approved resolution, signed by Girtz, stating that the county government is “welcoming to people from all lands and backgrounds and strives to foster a community where individuals and families of all statuses feel safe, are able to prosper, and can breathe free … .”

The resolution also decries “white nationalists” and “xenophobes” and “white supremacy in our community going unchallenged … .”

Ibarra is facing charges of murder, aggravated assault, aggravated battery, kidnapping and other offenses in connection with the Feb. 22 slaying of Riley. The young woman, a student at the Augusta University College of Nursing campus in Athens, died of blunt force trauma in an alleged assault while she was running on a wooded trail near Lake Herrick on the University of Georgia campus. Riley had been a University of Georgia student in 2023 before heading to nursing school.

Ibarra was charged on the day after Riley’s body was discovered. Ibarra opted not to seek bond and remained in the Athens-Clarke County Jail on Tuesday.

Tension over Riley’s death surfaced at a Feb. 29 news conference called by Girtz to announce a set of public safety enhancements that had been planned before Riley’s death, and to address public concerns over whether Athens-Clarke County is a “sanctuary city.”

A small group of sign-waving protesters loudly interrupted the news conference to call on the mayor to resign, suggesting that he was lying in contending that Athens-Clarke County is not a “sanctuary city,” a name given to jurisdictions that don’t fully cooperate with federal immigration authorities.

There is, however, no specific legal definition of what constitutes a sanctuary city, a point made by Girtz at the news conference, and acknowledged widely elsewhere.

Among the loudest voices at the news conference was James DePaola, an Athens man known to law enforcement in connection with a 2016 incident in which he was charged with obstruction of a 911 call, criminal trespass and damage to property. According to police reports from the time, DePaola apparently became irate when his wife put too much cheese on his grilled cheese sandwich.

At Tuesday’s meeting, DePaola upped the ante on his earlier call for Girtz to resign, using a public comment period to demand that Girtz and the commissioners resign, or face a recall election.

DePaola’s comments came after he and others participated in a rally in front of City Hall, attended by an estimated 200 people, expressing outrage over Riley’s death and the circumstances surrounding it. DePaola was preceded by another rally participant who rushed into the commission chambers prior to the public comment period, yelling, “Kelly Girtz, you are going to resign! I’m done with the corruption!”

During his turn at the microphone, DePaola waved sheets of paper in the air while saying, “We candidly declare to you, Mr. Mayor, city councilmen (sic) and Sheriff (John Q. Williams) of Athens-Clarke County, that we will no longer tolerate your despotic governmental abuse over us any longer.”

DePaola was followed to the microphone a short time later by Rich Suplita, a former UGA science professor, who continued to read the papers introduced by DePaola.

“By implementing sanctuary-type rules, behind our backs, without our consent, we the people of Athens-Clarke County demand that you, Mayor Kelly Girtz, Sheriff John Q. Williams and all city councilmen and women who voted for or supported sanctuary-like procedures, rules, edicts, secret orders in any unlawful way, shape or form to willingly and immediately resign from your posts” for violating their oaths of office, placing the well-being of illegal alien “invaders” over the needs of “we the people” and for “facilitating an obvious invasion” of undocumented immigrants,” read Suplita.

Offering a parting shot to the mayor and other local officials as he left the commission chambers,  DePaola said, “If you guys don’t willingly resign soon, we’re going to legally recall you. We’re going to get petitions and have them signed. You are soon out of office – all of you.”

All elected officials in Georgia are subject to recall, but there are specific requirements for doing so, including specific delineations of alleged misconduct and collection of a required number of signatures from voters to schedule a recall election.

DePaola and Suplita were followed to the microphone by a number of people making similar points, perhaps none more forcefully than Laurie Camp, who has been outspoken since Riley’s murder.

At Tuesday’s meeting, Camp challenged Girtz and the commissioners on the use of the words “white nationalists” and “xenophobes” in the 2019 resolution. Camp, who is white, told commissioners, “I’m not hateful just because I want everybody in this town to follow the same laws that I’m required to follow.”

Camp went on to tell commissioners, “If you use hateful words to describe your citizens, just because we want our citizens to be safe, that’s not the good thing to do.”

“Why did you not ask your citizens for their opinion before you wrote that resolution?” Camp asked. “Why did you put the feelings of illegal immigrants over the safety of your citizens?”

There were a few voices on the other side of the issue at the meeting, including former commissioner Tim Denson. He said there was some common ground among the people at the meeting, from mourning Riley’s passing to wanting a safe community.

But, Denson argued, “blaming migrants and forcing them to live in the shadows will not make Athens safer. Why are innocent undocumented Athenians being targeted for Laken’s death?”

Focusing on the issue of violence against women, Denson argued, would be a more logical approach.

“Xenophobia does not make us more safe,” he said. “Hate does not make us more safe. … But unity – us working together across our differences, coming together – will make us more safe.”

With one exception, reaction by the commissioners to Tuesday’s public comments was subdued, including one suggestion that the 2019 resolution might perhaps have been more thoughtfully worded.

Girtz briefly addressed the issue following public comment.

“I think it’s evident,” Girtz said, “that everybody in this government is mourning with those who’ve mourned so many losses in this community, including in recent weeks, and we want you to know our hearts are with you.”

The lone exception to the general restraint among commission members was Commissioner Melissa Link. After saying she was sending “all her peace and strength to all who knew and loved Laken Riley,” Link noted that she is “as disgusted by the crime as I am with the hysterical glee which so many have seized upon this tragedy to promote division, bigotry and hate.”

Link went on to decry the frequent involvement of white men in mass shootings. “With terrifying regularity, they come … with weapons of war, fueled by mental illness, bigotry and right-wing conspiracy theories … (and) slaughter classrooms full of schoolchildren, congregants in churches, temples and mosques, hapless shoppers and revelers at concerts, nightclubs, festivals and parade routes. Mass murders … have become so routine they are met with only thoughts and prayers from the cowardly Republican legislators, governors and judges who enable unfettered access to such weapons of war.”

“I call upon those who are so overcome with outrage over Laken Riley’s death to channel that outrage toward protecting the living,” Link continued. “… We must demand that our state legislators ban assault rifles, outlaw guns in public places, including on campus, (and) mandate weapons registration and training … .”

Commissioners did act Tuesday to increase public safety.

At his news conference, Girtz outlined the request he formally made Tuesday for more than $500,000 in public safety enhancements. Those enhancements, approved unanimously Tuesday by the commission, include $300,000 to expedite development of the county’s Real-Time Crime Center, nearly $200,000 for additional improvements to camera surveillance, and more than $30,000 for all-terrain vehicles to patrol the county’s recreational trails.

This article originally appeared on Augusta Chronicle: Resignation, recall threatened at Athens commission meeting after rally