Author: Robert Preston

At Monday morning’s regular county commission meeting, commissioners presented a proclamation honoring the late Oscar Paulk, commissioner for District 1 who suddenly passed away on June 22, 2025. Several members of Commissioner Paulk’s family were at the meeting.   County attorney Tony Rowell read the proclamation, which can be seen in its entirety below. After he spoke, commissioners and members of Mr. Paulk’s family gathered for a photo.   “Mr. Paulk was a great man. Nobody will ever fill this seat by me again. We’ve been here the whole time together. He didn’t say a lot but he meant what…

A fire that broke out at the Diamond Builders modular plant on Thompson Drive Tuesday night has been extinguished and the facility is open for business on Wednesday. Tuesday around 9 p.m., firefighters from the Douglas Fire Department as well as officers from the Douglas Police Department and EMTs from Coffee Regional Medical Center responded to the fire. The blaze ignited in the foam room at the back of the plant. Sprinklers came on once smoke detectors went off, saving the building from significant damage. The sprinklers kept everything under control and contained until fire units arrived. Fire crews arrived…

Nearly 12 years after a juvenile albino eastern diamondback rattlesnake was found in western Coffee County near Lax, the snake is thriving in captivity, has produced one litter of babies, and is expecting another. The snake was found on October 28, 2013, off Highway 90 a couple miles south of Lax. While it’s not unheard of to find albino rattlesnakes (or albinos of other species) in the wild, it’s certainly not common. However, several albino rattlesnakes have been found in the Lax area over the years. The individuals who found the snake didn’t harm it. After making a few phone…

The CCA Lady Patriots scored early but they didn’t score often in their 8-0 win over Terrell Academy in their home opener Tuesday afternoon. Like Saturday’s season opener, this game only went five innings. The Lady Patriots only needed one inning to jump out front and stay there. They scored all eight of their runs in the bottom of the first and held Terrell scoreless for the remainder of the game to invoke the eight-run mercy rule after five. With nobody out and the bases loaded in the first, Mattie Lewis walked to score Brilynn Waldron. Klair Mercer singled to…

The defending state champion CCA Lady Patriots scored nine runs in two innings to defeat the Southland Academy Lady Raiders 9-1 in five innings in their season opener in Baconton on Saturday afternoon.  The Lady Patriots had three games scheduled this weekend – a Friday game against Cairo, then Saturday contests against Southland and Baconton Charter. Both the Cairo and Baconton Charter games ended up being rained out. Brilynn Waldron led off the game with a triple. She scored the first run of the season on a fly ball by Emma Gourley. The defense misplayed the ball and Gourley wound…

Early Wednesday morning, a train collided with a tractor-trailer on the railroad crossing at South Fales Avenue and East Railroad Street, closing down crossings on the east side of town for several hours while work and rescue crews cleaned up the wreckage. There were no injuries reported. The accident happened around 2 a.m. when a tractor-trailer headed to Walmart Distribution Center attempted to cross the tracks on Fales and Railroad Street. The crossing is elevated and has a warning sign discouraging trucks from attempting to cross there. The truck had come into Douglas on Highway 221 and, presumably, the truck’s…

“Several months before coming to Georgia, Lee knew God was doing something really, really big. He said, ‘It’s so big, it’s almost scary and I’ve got to be a part of it.’ . . . Missions were his heart and disaster relief is where he thrived. It was his gift. The first time that Lee and Pastor Mike [Acosta] came to Douglas for an assessment, he was so saddened by the devastation that was everywhere. His heart was incredibly touched by the people he met,” said Sherry Sims, wife of the late Lee Sims, at Tuesday’s dedication of Sims Park…

At last week’s county commission meeting, the commission addressed the 60-house commercial poultry farm slated for south Coffee County, awarded the bid for the Bud Hutcheson/Chaney Road project, and approved an upcoming referendum for voters to decide whether or not Sunday alcohol sales will be allowed in the county, among other items of business. For the second meeting in a row, citizens who oppose the large commercial poultry farm attended the county commission meeting to voice their concerns. At last month’s meeting, just a few people attended. This month, there was a room of people who are not happy with…

In a move that has been anticipated since February 27, 2025, Brian Steel, the attorney for Jason Anderson, who was convicted of felony murder, aggravated assault, and making false statements in connection with the January 1, 2020, death of Vann Brown, has filed an amended motion for a new trial for Anderson. Steel filed a motion, which was just three pages long, on February 27 of this year, requesting a new trial for Anderson. That motion was actually the second motion Steel had filed. On February 26, Steel filed the first motion, a 22-page document that contains an affidavit from…

Baxley native and Minnesota Twins centerfielder Byron Buxton had the rare opportunity to play in his home state of Georgia – in the MLB Home Run Derby and All Star Game at the Atlanta Braves’ Truist Park no less – and he did not disappoint. Buxton, 31, made his second All Star game this year (the first was in 2022) and, thanks to a 21-home run first half of 2025, participated in the Home Run Derby for the first time in his career. Buxton came into the All Star festivities on a high note. As if this season wasn’t already…