One year without them

A year has passed since Augusta lost two of its biggest supporters. While some look for ways to fill the leadership gap left with the deaths of Charles DeVaney a year ago today and congressman Charlie Norwood on Feb. 13, others seek to recognize their service.

Mr. Norwood has been honored by Congress as the namesake of the Uptown Veterans Affairs Medical Center -- now called the Charlie Norwood VA Medical Center.

Mr. DeVaney, who served 12 years as mayor, is remembered by supporters who continue forward with his projects involving the Augusta Canal and the Boyhood Home of Woodrow Wilson.

"It's still hard to believe he's not here," said Dayton Sherrouse, the executive director of the Augusta Canal Authority, for whom Mr. DeVaney led a Third Level Task Force redevelopment committee.

As volunteer chairman of the task force, the former mayor was working on redevelopment options for the canal's inner-city third level two days before his death at age 54.

Since then, efforts have continued with plans to use federal grants and local funds to establish a network of trails along the downtown section of the canal -- roughly from Seventh to 12th streets.

"We're moving forward on it," Mr. Sherrouse said. "It would be a bike and pedestrian trail on the north side along with lighting, picnic benches and tables wherever we have the property to do it."

At the time of his death, Mr. DeVaney had also been working with Historic Augusta Inc. to get the Wilson home designated a National Historic Landmark.

"He was the one who really instigated that," said Erick Montgomery, the organization's executive director. "Right now we are in the process of doing that, and it has passed some major hurdles."

The landmark status would bring more national recognition to Augusta and make the site eligible for a broader array of grants.

"We had tried it in the past but couldn't get too far," Mr. Montgomery said. "It's a tough threshold to meet. He used his contacts there and kept pushing. He wanted this very badly."

Mr. Norwood, a dentist who served seven terms in Congress before succumbing to cancer, is also remembered in Columbia County, where -- the day before his death -- county commissioners named the plaza in front of the Justice Center the Charlie Norwood Freedom Plaza and renamed the entrance to the center Norwood Drive.

The bill to rename the veterans facility in Mr. Norwood's honor was sponsored by Georgia's congressional delegation and signed by President Bush.

"Nobody was more committed to making sure that health care in this country improved every single day he was in office," U.S. Sen. Saxby Chambliss said during a Jan. 15 dedication ceremony to rename the medical center.

Mr. Norwood's widow, Gloria, also donated $25,000 from his unused campaign funds to help fund an indigent care clinic that will be housed in the Richmond County Health Department's south Augusta building off Windsor Spring Road.

Reach Rob Pavey at 868-1222, ext. 119, or rob.pavey@augustachronicle.com.