The Stars and Stripes first flew in battle on September 3, 1776 at Cooch’s Bridge, Delaware.
A fleet of 22 French ships arrived off the coast of Savannah on September 3, 1779 to help wrest control of the city from the British.
Congress created the United States Treasury Department on September 2, 1789.
With the ratification of the Constitution in 1789, the American government established a permanent Treasury Department in hopes of controlling the nation’s debt. President George Washington named his former aide-de-camp, Alexander Hamilton, to head the new office. The former New York lawyer and staunch Federalist stepped in as Secretary of the Treasury on September 11. Hamilton soon outlined a practical plan for reviving the nation’s ailing economy: the government would pay back its $75 million war debt and thus repair its badly damaged public credit.
On September 3, 1862, the writ of habeas corpus was suspended in Atlanta and within five miles of its border by the Confederate government. Two years later, September 3, 1864, General William T. Sherman would occupy Atlanta.
Atlanta Mayor James Calhoun surrendered the city to federal forces on September 2, 1864.
Calhoun’s two-sentence letter, directed to Brig.-Gen. William Ward stated: “Sir: The fortune of war has placed Atlanta in your hands. As mayor of the city I ask protection of non-combatants and private property.”
The Georgia General Assembly expelled 25 of 29 African-American members from the State House on September 3, 1868, arguing that Georgia’s constitution did not allow them to hold office.
The cornerstone of the Georgia State Capitol was laid on September 2, 1885.
Anne Frank, age 15, and seven other Jews who were hiding together in Amsterdam were the last Dutch prisoners transported to Auschwitz on September 3, 1944.
Japan surrendered to the United States on the deck of USS Missouri on September 2, 1945.
On Sunday, September 2, more than 250 Allied warships lay at anchor in Tokyo Bay. The flags of the United States, Britain, the Soviet Union, and China fluttered above the deck of the Missouri. Just after 9 a.m. Tokyo time, Japanese Foreign Minister Mamoru Shigemitsu signed on behalf of the Japanese government. General Yoshijiro Umezu then signed for the Japanese armed forces, and his aides wept as he made his signature.
Supreme Commander MacArthur next signed, declaring, “It is my earnest hope and indeed the hope of all mankind that from this solemn occasion a better world shall emerge out of the blood and carnage of the past.” Nine more signatures were made, by the United States, China, Britain, the USSR, Australia, Canada, France, the Netherlands and New Zealand, respectively. Admiral Chester W. Nimitz signed for the United States. As the 20-minute ceremony ended, the sun burst through low-hanging clouds. The most devastating war in human history was over.
Author John Ronald Reuel Tolkien died on September 2, 1973.
Having received the Democratic nomination for President, Jimmy Carter began the General Election with an address from his front porch in Plains, Georgia on September 3, 1976.
Georgia Politics, Campaigns, and Elections
Governor Brian Kemp issued Executive Order #08.30.24.01, appointing Lanier Sims as acting Chair of the Newton County Commission, after earlier suspending Marcello Banes from office.
This decision from Kemp comes nearly one month after the announcement of Marcello Banes’ indefinite suspension.
Sims – a cousin of Banes – is no stranger to the Newton County BOC, having served as District 2 representative from 2011 to 2018 as a Democrat. He opted not to seek re-election in the 2018 race, citing the need to “move in a different direction,” in a letter sent to The Covington News in 2018. Demond Mason has since taken over that seat.
Sims currently serves as the chairman of the Newton County Industrial Authority and president of the Newton County Chamber of Commerce.
The former District 2 commissioner is expected to fill the chairman role until a decision is reached in the federal case against Banes. There is no timetable on when that may occur. Banes recently won the Democratic primary in May and faces no opposition in November on the Republican side.
The chairman role was previously filled by vice-chairman Stan Edwards, but he mentioned during the Aug. 20 meeting that he did not want to fill in as interim chair.
Sims will take over as chairman “during the week of Sept. 2,” according to a Newton County press release. He will take over all acting chairman duties. Edwards will serve as chair during the Sept. 3 meeting and continue to serve as vice-chair in future meetings.
In his first words following his appointment, Sims expressed his thanks to his supporters via an official press release from Newton County.
“I am deeply humbled to announce that Governor Brian Kemp has appointed me to serve as the interim chairman of the Newton County Board of Commissioners,” Sims said. “This is not a role I take lightly, and I am extremely grateful for the many calls, prayers, and words of encouragement I’ve received from our community. I am committed to serving with integrity and ensuring that our county remains strong, united, and prosperous during this transition.”
After his suspension from his chairman office, and his subsequent ineligibility from the Joint Development Authority (JDA), Marcello Banes has been officially suspended from the JDA.
The official suspension took place during the Aug. 20 Newton County Board of Commissioners (BOC) meeting, where commissioners voted unanimously to suspend Banes from his current board representations. This suspension includes his roles on the Newton County Industrial Development Authority, the Solid Waste Management Authority and the Board of Directors of View Point Health.
Former Hall County Solicitor General Stephanie Woodard pled guilty to state charges and previously resigned, according to the Albany Herald.
Attorney General Chris Carr has announced the guilty plea of Hall County Solicitor General Stephanie Woodard for unlawfully acquiring funds from Hall County and the Prosecuting Attorneys’ Council of Georgia to cover personal and unrelated expenses. This includes a number of travel expenditures for which Woodard was not entitled, and the misuse of Local Victim Assistance Programs funds.
“Mrs. Woodard took advantage of our state by violating the same laws that she was elected to uphold,” Carr said. “She has now been held accountable for her actions. Our office will always follow the law, the facts and the evidence to ensure justice for all Georgians.”
The case was investigated by the Georgia Bureau of Investigation. It was prosecuted by Senior Assistant Attorney General Laura D. Pfister, who leads the Attorney General’s White Collar and Cyber Crime Unit.
“Hall County citizens entrusted Solicitor General Stephanie Woodard to serve the community with honesty and integrity; however, Woodard betrayed that trust for her personal gain,” GBI Director Chris Hosey said. “The GBI is committed to thoroughly investigating cases like this and ensuring accountability.”
Woodard pleaded guilty to the following charge:
Unprofessional Conduct — Woodard was sentenced under the First Offender Act to 12 months of probation and ordered to pay $1,190.48 in restitution to PAC and $1,028.80 to Hall County. As part of her plea, she was also required to resign as Hall County Solicitor General, effective Aug. 9.
Prosecutors with the White Collar and Cyber Crime Unit have previously secured convictions against former Chattahoochee Judicial Circuit District Attorney Mark Preston Jones, former Paulding County District Attorney Donald Richard “Dick” Donovan, and former Pickens County Chief Magistrate Court Judge William “Allen” Wigington.
“Are you guilty of the crime or crimes to which you are pleading guilty?” Douglas County Judge David Emerson asked.
“Yes your honor I have maintained that I made mistakes in office from the beginning,” Woodard responded.
The plea agreement had the following conditions:
• Woodard resign effective immediately, which she did on Aug. 9
• Woodard will plea guilty to the single count of unprofessional conduct
• Woodard will waive indictment by a grand jury
• Woodard will waive arraignment
• and Woodard will waive her objection to the statute of limitationsWith this agreement, Woodard’s previous 13 charges of false statements and 11 charges of theft by taking have been dropped contingent upon meeting the conditions above.
The negotiated sentence is 12 months probation and restitution. The restitution total Woodard must pay is $2,219.28.
$1,190.48 is to go to the prosecuting attorneys counsel and $1,028.80 will be paid to Hall County.
The maximum sentence for the misdemeanor is 12 months confinement, but the state’s recommended 12 months probation will be “suspended upon payment of restitution.”
It’s hard to imagine a worse group to steal from than the Prosecuting Attorneys Council of Georgia, unless its a statewide groups of Sheriffs.
Guess who’s back: former Augusta Commissioner Sammie Sias has been released from prison and returned to Atlanta, according to WRDW.
Convicted and former Augusta Commissioner Sammie Sias has been returned to Atlanta after receiving a reduced prison sentence, we learned from the Federal Bureau of Prisons on Monday.
The Federal Bureau of Prisons website that Sias is back in Georgia at Residential Reentry Management Atlanta. That stands for Residential Reentry Management.
Here’s how the FBoP describes RRMs – RRMs administer contracts for community-based programs and serve as the Federal Bureau of Prisons local liaison with the federal courts, the U.S. Marshals Service, state and local corrections, and a variety of community groups within their specific judicial districts. RRM Staff also monitor local Residential Reentry Centers which are responsible for providing federal offenders with community-based services that will assist with their reentry needs.
Court documents state he must serve 30 months instead of his previous sentence of 36 months.
His release date is set for May 25, 2025, according to the Federal Bureau of Prisons as of Sept. 2, 2024.
Sias was sentenced to federal prison and had 62 days to turn himself in.
Sias was convicted of destruction, alteration, or falsification of records in federal investigations and false statement or representation made to a department or agency of the United States, said Jill E. Steinberg, U.S. attorney for the Southern District of Georgia.
Gwinnett County Superior Court Judge-Elect Tuwanda Williams was sworn in as a Magistrate Judge, according to Instagram.
On Thursday, August 22nd, I was honored to be sworn in as a Part-Time Gwinnett County Magistrate Judge. I took the Magistrate bench on August 29th. 🌹
Judge-Elect Williams will upgrade her seat to Superior Court when she is sworn in to that seat on December 19, 2024, having won the June runoff election.
Metro Atlanta voting rates are affected by race, education, and income, according to the AJC.
In areas south and west of downtown Atlanta, where residents are younger, less affluent and predominantly Black, only 35% of registered voters cast ballots in 2022. Demographics shift to the north and east, where 51% of voters turned out. The same disparities persisted in the 2020 presidential election, despite record turnout.
Some political scientists expect this trend to continue in this year’s election, but others think Vice President Kamala Harris could turn out more voters in areas where voters tend to be underrepresented at the polls.
“With (President Joe) Biden on the ticket, the key motivation for these groups of voters would have been opposing (former President Donald) Trump,” said Alan Abramowitz, a political scientist at Emory University. “But now you have someone at the top of the ticket who also can provide some additional motivation for younger and nonwhite voters.”
Income, age and education influence voter turnout throughout the U.S., and southwest Atlanta is a convergence of all three factors, disproportionately affecting participation by nonwhite voters. Abramowitz said that poorer, less-educated people are less likely to vote, and nonwhite voters are more likely to be poorer and less educated than white voters.
Although we can see differences based on race and geography, Abramowitz said the driving factors are age, income and, most of all, education.
In a Democratic stronghold such as Atlanta, voter turnout can have an outsized influence in the outcome of state and even national elections. In a close race such as the 2020 presidential election, when a margin of fewer than 12,000 votes decided the winner, turnout in places such as southwest Atlanta could be a deciding factor.
In 2020, 65% of the 255,000 voters in Atlanta’s high-turnout areas in the north and east cast ballots. But in southwestern areas of the city with lower turnout, just 46% of the roughly 76,000 voters cast ballots. If southwest Atlanta matched the northeast in voter turnout, an additional 31,000 people would have voted in that close election, with the vast majority of these votes going to Biden if voter preferences in the area remained the same.
The Georgia Recovers Bus tour makes stops in North Georgia this week, according to the Rome News Tribune.
“The opposite of addiction is connection,” said bus tour manager Jon Langston in a release. “This historic bus tour will break down the stigma surrounding addiction and show that Georgia supports the people impacted by the Addiction Epidemic.”
The free public events are funded through the Georgia Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities, in partnership with the Georgia Council for Recovery.
“The No. 1 cause of death in America, including Georgia, for people 18 to 45 is overdose. The good news is that ‘Recovery is Real’. There are over 900,000 people in communities across Georgia in recovery from addiction,” said Jeff Breedlove, strategic policy advisor for the council.
The stop in Rome is billed as a recovery rally. It’s set for 6 to 8 p.m. Thursday at Heritage Park, 255 Jewell Frost Drive.
The bus goes to Summerville, Ringgold, Calhoun and Cartersville, among other cities, over the following two days. Different types of activities are planned.
The bus will be stopping at 63 communities around Georgia in September to mark National Recovery Month.
September 28, 2024 is National Hunting and Fishing (NHF) Day in Georgia, after Governor Kemp signed a proclamation, according to WSAV.
“On the fourth Saturday of every September, NHF Day recognizes generations of sportsmen and women for their contributions to the conservation of our nation’s rich sporting heritage and natural resources,” the NHF Day website said.
Georgia will be offering a Free Fishing Day in honor of National Hunting and Fishing Day on Sept. 28 in 2024. On Sept. 28, residents do not need a fishing license or a trout license to fish on any public waters in the state including lakes, streams, ponds and public fishing areas, according to the DNR.
Also on Sept. 28, outdoor events will be held around Georgia to celebrate NHF Day. For those in Southeast and Coastal /Georgia, a Kids Fishing Event in Evans County and an Outdoor Adventure Day in Richmond Hill has been set up.
“This day provides an opportunity to highlight some great outdoor activities and to increase public awareness of the connection between hunting, angling, and conservation,” said Georgia DNR Wildlife Resources Division Director Ted Will.
The U.S. Congress and President Richard Nixon first established NHF Day in 1972 to recognize the efforts made by hunters and anglers. DNR said that through self-imposed fees and excise taxes, U.S. outdoorsmen and women have raised more than $57 billion which is more than $100,000 every 30 minutes being raised for conservation.
Last year in Georgia, hunters and anglers generated more than $78 million through this system to support conservation efforts.
“One of the best ways all of us can create a better public understanding of hunting and fishing is to create a better public awareness of the important role that hunters and anglers have played in conservation and improving our natural resources,” the Georgia Department of Natural Resources (DNR) said in a press release. “Together with hunting and fishing license fees, federal aid programs have funded game animals and sport fish conservation, habitat acquisition and outdoor recreation opportunities both in Georgia and throughout the country.”
The Harris-Walz campaign’s “Fighting for Reproductive Freedoms” Bus Tour visits Savannah this week, according to the Savannah Morning News.
The Harris-Walz campaign “Fighting for Reproductive Freedoms” Bus Tour will make a stop in the hostess city on Thursday afternoon. U.S. Rep. Nikema Williams will speak at the stop along with Savannah resident Callie Beale and other local leaders.
The tour, which will make at least 50 stops across the country, was set to start in Palm Beach, Florida Tuesday. Savannah’s stop Thursday will also feature a canvass launch led by the local leaders.
“This election is about freedom – and the American people want and deserve the freedom to make their own health care decisions,” said Harris-Walz Campaign Manager Julie Chavez Rodriguez in a statement. “Our campaign is hitting the road to meet voters in their communities, underscore the stakes of this election for reproductive freedom, and present them with the Harris-Walz ticket’s vision to move our country forward, which stands in stark contrast to Donald Trump’s plans to drag us back.”
During her Savannah rally last week, Harris pledged to sign legislation restoring reproductive freedom nationwide if congress were to pass it under her presidency. The U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in June 22, which removed a fundamental right to have an abortion.
Thursday’s event is yet another sign of Georgia’s cemented status as a battleground in November’s election, with most polls showing the race as a toss-up in the state. The Harris-Walz campaign has seven offices in South Georgia.
From the Savannah Morning News:
More than 35,000 Georgians have volunteered for the Democratic nominee Vice President Kamala Harris campaign since she launched her bid after President Joe Biden dropped out of the race on July 21. Outside the Atlanta metro, there are 50 full-time staffers across seven offices in South Georgia, according to campaign stats.
Harris has also shrunk the polling deficit Biden faced in Georgia, according to New York Times polling averages. Those averages showed Republican nominee Donald Trump with a 7-percentage-point lead, but Harris has shrunk that margin to 3 points, a gap that is within the margin of error for most polls.
“The new team being in for Democrats is making quite a difference in this state,” said University of Georgia professor Charles Bullock III, an expert in Southern politics, in an interview earlier this month.
Bullock, the UGA professor, said that Georgia was largely untouched by presidential nominees for years dating back to the early 1990s. It wasn’t until 2020, when Georgia firmly resurfaced as a battleground, that the state saw visits beyond just campaign surrogates.
“If anyone wonders ‘what is Georgia’s perceived role in presidential elections?‘ Yeah, we are a major player,” Bullock said.
Savannah’s top elected official credits the city’s recognition with three major factors: relationships, results and strategy. Savannah has received investments from Biden policies such as the Inflation Reduction Act and Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, making Savannah a showcase of “results.”
“Savannah has become a case study about how to effectively partner directly with the federal government to make things happen in the interest of our citizens,” Johnson said.
Georgia Democrat Ashwin Ramaswami is running against Republican State Senator Shawn Still (R-Norcross) in the November 5, 2024 General Election, according to the Associated Press via the Valdosta Daily Times.
Although incumbent Shawn Still was one of 18 people indicted alongside Donald Trump in Georgia’s Fulton County in 2023, Still says first-time candidate Ashwin Ramaswami is wrong to label him as a partisan plotter.
Still was one of three Trump electors indicted on felony charges in Fulton County, along with Trump, Rudy Giuliani and 14 other Trump associates. Prosecutors call the 16 Republicans who gathered in the Georgia Capitol in December 2020 “fake electors.”
The 25-year-old Ramaswami, who majored in computer science at Stanford University, was still in law school last year when he learned about Still’s role. The Democrat was working on a similar case case in Wisconsin, he said, and recognized the name of his hometown senator in testimony before the House Jan. 6 committee.
“There’s this pattern of Shawn Still really trying to undermine our votes, of Democrats and Republicans alike,” Ramaswami said.
Still says Ramaswami is falsely mischaracterizing him as an anti-democratic extremist.
“I think that’s all he has to run on. So he’s going to punch me in the face with that singular thing,” Still said. “There’s no merit to it.”
The district is drawn to be Republican, stretching across northern Atlanta suburbs in Fulton, Forsyth and Gwinnett counties. But two years ago, Democratic Sen. Raphael Warnock won the district over Trump-aligned Herschel Walker even as voters backed Republican Gov. Brian Kemp and Still beat his Democratic opponent by 14 points. Ramaswami hopes to mimic Warnock’s win by swaying voters unsettled by Trump and believes he can connect to the district’s Indian population. The district’s population is more than 30% Asian, the highest share in Georgia.
Ramaswami’s campaign has raised more than $460,000, high for a legislative race, and has tapped many out-of-state donors. Still has raised just over $145,000, but Republican groups could potentially pump in more cash if they believe Still is threatened.
Still was the secretary of the 2020 Trump elector meeting, signing and filing documents that prosecutors say were bogus. He says he acted on the advice of party officials and lawyers to preserve Trump’s legal options as a lawsuit challenged Georgia’s election result.
“I would characterize my involvement as being a good soldier who did what he was told to do and was following the advice of attorneys who do this for a living,” said Still.
“I build swimming pools for a living,” he said. “I don’t think anyone really thought for half a second that I was some political mastermind plotting anything that led to what happened.”
If elected, the Democrat said he would pursue “common sense” solutions to issues including gun violence, health care, and abortion rights. One of his top priorities would be investment in education.
Still, 51, has been a reliable Republican vote during his first two-year term, but says he has engaged with Democrats and shown a “desire and willingness to work with both sides of the aisle.” He’s been restrained as a lawmaker, seldom coming to the microphone to score partisan points.
Still said his top achievement is a law that allows students to transfer into another public school district without permission from the one they’re leaving. That measure was tucked inside a bill where the headline achievement was creating a $6,500 voucher for private school tuition and home schooling. The first-term senator said he wants more time in office, in part to work on human trafficking issues.
13WMAZ has published a voter guide for the November 5, 2024 General Elections.
The Glynn County Board of Education adopted a property tax rate that is a partial rollback and will net more revenues than last year due to rising property tax assessments, according to The Brunswick News.
The Glynn County School Board voted Thursday to lower its property tax rate, but due to rising property values, it anticipates collecting more revenue from landowners than the last fiscal year.
Currently, the school’s millage rate is 15.4 mills, Avery Coty, director of finance, said at a school board work session earlier this month. The board at the time had adopted a tentative 15.15 millage rate for the coming year but reduced that to 14.9 mills on Thursday, which equates to roughly $14.90 per $1,000 of assessed property value.
Lowering it to 14.9 mills, or a half-mill decrease, is expected to still bring in $252,700 in surplus revenue, Coty told the board earlier this month.
The Colquitt County Board of Education tentatively adopted a higher property tax millage rate, according to the Moultrie Observer.
The Colquitt County Board of Education tentatively set its millage rate, which will increase property taxes by 11.58%, and plans to adopt it at a Sept. 5 meeting, after a final hearing, at 5:30 p.m.
Colquitt County School District Chief Financial Officer Jeremy Jones presented two options to the board at its August meeting:
Option 1: A 17.21 mill increase if the district loses the GaDOE Equalization Grant value of approximately $24,356,344
Option 2: An 0.85 mill increase that will allow the school system to stay eligible for the GaDOE Equalization Grant resulting in an approximate tax increase of $1,202,996 shared among all taxpayers.
The GaDOE Equalization Grant, according to the Georgia Board of Education’s website, is a grant that is intended to narrow the gap between systems in terms of property tax wealth per pupil.
“We have received our 2024 tax digest from the tax commissioner,” Jones told the board and he reminded them that official Georgia code required a minimum millage rate to qualify for the equalization funds and the rate was 14 mills.
“The reason why I’m mentioning this is because this official Georgia code is the reason the school board, this year, cannot take a full roll-back rate,” he said.
He advised the board to take the option that would keep the school system eligible for the equalization grant instead of putting the 17.21 increase to the local taxpayers.
“So, what does that look like?” said Jones. “Fair market value of a homestead house of $100,000. The proposed tax increase would be $32. A $200,00 homestead would be $66 and $300,000, for a homestead, would be $100.”
State Rep. Rick Townsend (R-SSI) is considering legislation to follow-up on his 2024 bill regulating Kratom sales, according to The Brunswick News.
A new warning from the Food and Drug Administration advising consumers not to use OPMS Black Liquid Kratom has state Rep. Rick Townsend considering more restrictive legislation on kratom during the 2025 session of the Georgia General Assembly.
The FDA continues to warn consumers not to use kratom because of the risk of serious adverse events, including liver toxicity, seizures and substance use disorder.
“It’s highly addictive,” Townsend said.
Currently, Glynn is the only county in Georgia with any restrictions on kratom, which must be sold under the counter. Townsend convinced county commissioners to pass an ordinance to ensure kratom, marketed as a supplement, is hidden because he believes it is unsafe. Kratom is marketed for mood enhancement and fatigue, pain reliever, and as an antidote for opioid withdrawal.
Townsend sponsored a bill this past legislative session forcing retailers statewide to sell kratom under the counter, with a minimum age to purchase at 21 years old. The law goes into effect statewide Jan. 1.
“Technically, there’s a law right now, but no penalties,” he said. “It’s everywhere.”
The product will also be required to have dosage information because Townsend said some manufacturers have “adulterated it and put other chemicals in there.” And it can be used in different forms, some of which are dangerous, he said.
The bill passed by the legislature was a watered down version of his initial legislation, which would have banned the sale of kratom in the state’s 159 counties by classifying it as a Schedule 1 controlled substance. A strong lobbying effort derailed that attempt, Townsend said.
Bryan County resident Meredith Gibson is running for County Commission Chair as a write-in candidate, according to WSAV.
Chairman (I) Carter Infinger won the primary in May against Buck Holly. He has served 2 terms so far, totaling 8 years in this role.
“Anybody has a right to run as long as they fill out all the paperwork with the state,” Infinger said when asked about Gibson campaigning as a write-in candidate. “They can do whatever they want. I just think it’s hard to step in without any experience in government whatsoever.”
Gibson said that she makes up for her lack of experience with her huge passion for the community she loves. She said that it’s time for new leadership.
“It’s all about smart growth, you know, making sure that the important key players and divisions of that are set in place,” she said. “Sometimes when you have the same people in office for a long time, it’s just complacency and the term limits are going to stop that from happening.”
She said current administration has let down the community with what some call a lack of leadership within emergency services and the fire department and her understanding of the county’s response to Tropical Storm Debby in August. She is serving as the Director of Volunteers at the Distribution Center in Richmond Hill.
Both Infinger and Gibson acknowledged that Bryan is the fastest growing county in the state, and they both believe they are the best choice to lead the commission.
As election day approaches on Nov. 5, you can count on News 3 to bring you the latest.
Effingham County public schools adopted a new cell phone policy, according to the Savannah Morning News.
Effingham County Superintendent Yancy Ford said the school district has created a 5-step policy regarding the use of cell phones in school.
Before the 2024-2025 school year, a cell phone would be removed and kept at the school until the end of the year if the student was caught using their phone in class for the third time.
Ford said he decided to offer more leniency this year to meet parents halfway, as some felt the policy was too punitive.
“We don’t want to confiscate cell phones and keep them to the end of the year,” said Ford. “We realize that parents feel like that’s their property and they pay that bill. We’ve put additional steps in there that have punishment attached to it.”
Students are allowed to bring their digital devices to school but they must be put away. Ford said the use of cell phones is permitted only under the authorization of a teacher during a lesson.
Bret Bell starts work today as Tybee Island City Manager, according to WTOC.
Bell has been working for the City of Savannah of the Chief of Information and Public Affairs so he does come to the City of Tybee with some administration experience.
Bell was chosen for the position over two other finalists- one of which was Michelle Owens, who has been interim City Manager since Shawn Gillen resigned last September.
Bell will be paid $165,000 a year and his contract will have options to be renewed on a yearly basis.
His start in the position comes during a time of a lot of frustration for those on the island – mainly issues involving the Tybee Island Fire Department.
In the last six months, the chief was fired, the department lost their ability to provide EMS services, and the state has threatened to revoke the department’s certification all together.
Dougherty County Sheriff Kevin Sproul retires at the ends of this year having not run for reelection, according to the Albany Herald.
Dougherty County’s top lawman will hang onto his white hat when he leaves office, but the retiring sheriff has no plans to ride off into the sunset when he completes his fourth term at the end of the year.
Sproul, who dons the special hat for occasions such as the annual Shop With the Sheriff each December, has not decided what’s next, but he says he plans to stay in his hometown. Although he has had some job offers, he has not decided what the next chapter in his life will be.
The sheriff, who started work at the department in 1982, will turn over the reins at the beginning of 2025 to current Chief Deputy Terron Hayes, who won the May Democratic primary and faces no Republican opponent in November.
Sproul, who was elected to his first term as Dougherty County Sheriff in 2008, started work with the office in 1982 as a jailer, pushed then-Sheriff Lamar Stewart to allow him to work in schools. He also spent time at the McDonald’s near the Albany Mall discussing issues with teenagers as part of his work.
Former Albany City Commissioner Kenderson Hill was found dead, according to WALB.
Albany coroner, Michael Fowler has confirmed that the body recovered near the dam was former Albany commissioner, Kenderson Hill.
Hill had been missing since Saturday, Aug. 30.
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