Former Augusta Commissioner Andy Cheek passed away on March 10, one day shy of his 67th birthday.
According to his family, Cheek had been battling cancer.
Cheek served as a commissioner from 2000 to 2007 and became well known for crossing the aisle on the racially divided commission, sometimes angering his White colleagues.
During his time on the commission, Cheek formed a bond with (then) Commissioner Marion Williams, earning the pair the nickname of “the twins.”
“Andy told me if I shaved my head like his, people couldn’t tell us apart. We didn’t always agree, but we would politely agree to disagree. He always wanted to do what was right, which is what a public servant is supposed to do,” Williams said, adding, “I thank God for my time being able to work with him.”
An avid outdoorsman, Cheek’s passion was conservation of the Augusta Canal and turning the waterway into a recreation area. Cheek once proposed that the canal be rerouted to Ellis Street to bring the canal through the heart of the business and entertainment district downtown.
Cheek even paid out of his own pocket for renderings of what the canal on Ellis Street would look like.
While the idea of flooding Ellis Street never happened, Cheek was undoubtedly the catalyst behind cleaning the canal area and was the main reason that the Augusta Canal is now Augusta’s premiere outdoor recreation spot, according to former Commissioner Joe Bowles.
In 2006, along with Bowles, former Commissioner Joe Jackson and others, Cheek created the First Saturday Initiative in which volunteers met on the first Saturday of each month to clean up the canal area and restore Aqueduct Park back to its original glory.
Over the span of three years, the group collected over 12 tons of trash from the area, according to the Augusta Landfill.
Bowles has fond memories of working on the project with Cheek, recalling a time when Cheek brought a can of diesel fuel to burn off non-native brush and trees that had been cut down and piled up.
“It was in the middle of a rain storm, but he was not giving up, somehow he got that fire started,” Bowles said.
With the project, Cheek faced opposition from some city leaders and even federal officials who considered the canal to be an industrial waterway and not safe for public recreation, according to Bowles.
“People tried to stop him from doing it, but he kept fighting for it. He was dedicated to that canal and wanted people to be able to enjoy it,” Bowles said.
Today, there are walking bridges, trails, comfort stations for public use and kayaks are a daily sight on the Augusta Canal.
After leaving office, Cheek moved across the river to North Augusta.
Augusta Columnist Sylvia Cooper covered Cheek for over a decade and recalled how in 2013, Cheek cheekily threatened to move back to Augusta and run for mayor if the city didn’t get its act together.
“He was alway honest and easy to talk to, and he was always available for a good quote,” Cooper said.
Visitation will be at Chance & Hydrick Funeral Directors on Richmond Hill Road on Thursday March 16 from 5:30 p.m. to 8 p.m. The funeral will be March 17 at the funeral home’s chapel, but the exact time has yet to be determined.
Scott Hudson is the senior reporter for The Augusta Press. Reach him at scott@theaugustapress.com
