Author: Jerry A. Hudson

An oversight by the City of Douglas regarding the placement of its eastern gateway sign on Ward St. presents a serious danger to commuters with the potential to cause major traffic accidents. Douglas Now was contacted Friday afternoon by a local driver who wished to remain anonymous. The driver stated he was in the northbound lane at the stop sign at the intersection of N. Coweta and E. Ward when he realized the gateway sign severely obstructed his view of oncoming westbound traffic on E. Ward. “If you stop at the crossing where it is marked, you can’t see but…

Children’s playgrounds should provide an atmosphere of safety and comfort, but such is not the case with the current conditions at the City of Douglas’ Eastside Park. A visit to Eastside this week revealed a dilapidated, littered recreational area greatly suffering from neglect. Trash and other debris cover the landscape, combined with outdated and defective equipment that present not only a physical danger to children, but also pose a serious question of where our priorities are as a community. The pictures published with this article were all taken Monday afternoon, Feb. 23. This is the only swing at Eastside that…

The City of Douglas says property owners are not allowed to modify municipal right-of-ways adjacent to their properties. However, if they wish to have these areas aesthetically maintained, the city is under no obligation to do so. The issue was brought before the city commission Monday night during their regular work session after a local business requested to place a barrier on a right-of-way to deter vehicles from driving on the grass. Owners of Burger King on N. Madison Ave. asked the commission for permission to place several wooden posts on the right-of-way on E. Walker St., which is adjacent…

DouglasNow.com has obtained a portion of a 911 audio file recorded during a recent incident in which a violent suspect was fatally wounded by an officer with the Douglas Police Department. On Tuesday, Feb. 3, police officer Joseph Brackett shot 45-year-old Tony Purvis after Brackett responded to a call of a shooting at the Purvis residence on North June Avenue. Purvis allegedly shot his wife in the hand, prompting the 911 call to the home. When police arrived, Purvis was still at the home and had two guns in his hands. Purvis allegedly pointed one of his weapons at officers…

Officials confirmed late Tuesday afternoon that a suspect was fatally wounded at the hands of a Douglas police officer while patrolmen were responding to a report of a a female victim suffering a gunshot wound. Police responded to a residence off N. June Avenue around 2:45 p.m. Tuesday after receiving a call that a female had been shot in the hand. Officials say when officers arrived, the suspect was still on scene brandishing two firearms. Following a brief confrontation, the suspect was shot once by a Douglas police officer. The alleged offender was transported to Coffee Regional Medical Center for…

Following a recent article on DouglasNow.com focusing on sex offenders in Coffee County, a second fugitive accused of absconding has been captured. Last week, officers with the Douglas Police Department initiated a traffic stop on 26-year-old Michael Tyrone Jordan on North Madison Ave. at the intersection of East Ward St. Jordan intially gave officers a false name but, upon further investigation, his identity was discovered. He was arrested at the scene and taken to the Coffee County Jail. Jordan was convicted of statutory rape in 2007 and has since failed to comply with the requirements of his sex offender status,…

Coffee County sheriff’s deputies investigated a report of a domestic fight at the home of Marshall and Cindy Bounds just days prior to the untimely death of the 34-year-old female. An incident report obtained through the sheriff’s office states that authorities responded to an address on Sandy Springs Rd. around 7:30 p.m. on December 26 after receiving a third party report of a domestic dispute. According to the report, authorities noticed a visible injury to the mouth area of Cindy Bounds, who stated she had fallen and denied being struck by her husband. Marshall Bounds also denied hitting his wife,…

Just one day after being featured on DouglasNow.com, wanted sex offender Brandon Lee Holton was arrested and jailed Thursday afternoon. Holton, 22, was convicted of statutory rape in 2012 and placed on the Georgia Sex Offender Registry. Since then, he failed to comply with the requirements of his sex offender status by not registering with the local sheriff’s office. Officials believed he had absconded from the area. Detective Jason Whiddon with the Coffee County Sheriff’s Office contacted Douglas Now on Thursday, and stated Holton was arrested during a traffic stop that afternoon. He will be charged with one count of…

Johnnie Beamen Nettles, Jr., the 32-year-old half-brother of country music megastar and Douglas native Jennifer Nettles was arrested this week after allegedly stealing a $17 pair of tennis shoes from Wal-Mart. This most recent arrest comes just months after Nettles was charged by drug agents with possession of methamphetamine at a local motel. According to an incident report obtained through the Douglas Police Department, Nettles was arrested Tuesday after Wal-Mart personnel detained him and another individual, 32-year-old Stefanie Lynn Adams of Douglas. Both Nettles and Adams were charged with one count of misdemeanor theft by shoplifting and taken to the…

There are nearly 100 registered sex offenders actively carrying out their daily lives in Coffee County, and the local sheriff’s office is tasked with the tedious job of keeping track of every one of them. The majority of the responsibility falls on one man, however, Detective Jason Whiddon, who heads the sex offender registration division. “We have 92 active sex offenders in the county after adding two more yesterday,” Whiddon said Wednesday during an interview at the law enforcement center. Since 2003, Whiddon said, individuals convicted of sex crimes in Georgia are placed on a “leveled” system depending on their…