Author: Robert Preston

Coroner Neil Sims postponed a scheduled coroner’s inquest today right at the time it was scheduled to start, leaving family members of the deceased outraged and asking more questions than Sims or deputy coroner Sue Williams could answer. Sims scheduled the inquest at the request of the family of Matthew Roberts, 71, who was found dead in his home on Sept. 26, 2014. Family members discovered Roberts on the floor of his home with a massive head injury. Located near the body was a bolt action rifle, covered by a pair of pants. Officers from the Coffee County Sheriff’s Office…

Former Florida State University head football coach and member of the College Football Hall of Fame Bobby Bowden returned to Douglas this weekend for the annual Bowden Reunion at South Georgia State College. Bowden began his head coaching career at then South Georgia College in 1955. He coached at SGC from 1955 to 1958; he left when the college ended its football program. From there Coach Bowden rose through the ranks to become one of the winningest coaches in college football history. He and his wife, Anne, return to Douglas each year during the first weekend of June to reunite…

Dr. Codrina Cozma, an Associate Professor of English at South Georgia State College, is in a life-threatening situation right now. She is in vital need of assistance, and you may have exactly what she needs. Dr. Cozma suffers from muscular dystrophy combined with scoliosis. In order for her to work, drive, and complete many of the other daily tasks that we all take for granted, her condition requires her to sit on a cushion. Having the proper cushion upon which to sit supports her body, enables her to breathe easily, and provides her the mobility she needs to go about…

At Monday morning’s regular county commission meeting, the commission approved several amendments to the SPLOST V paving list. According to county administrator Wesley Vickers, the county is receiving an estimated $800,000 extra for paving projects in the new DOT transportation bill. Because of the extra funds, the county can afford to pave/resurface several more roads than commissioners initially thought. The roads added to the list include Willie Anderson Road, the railroad crossings at Chaney Road and Mitchell Road, Barrington Road, a small portion of Mallard Point Drive that is in disrepair, and John Moore Road. Regarding the railroad crossings, the…

Tuesday, the Albany City Commission chose a new city manager. It was not Douglas city manager Terrell Jacobs. About a month ago, the Albany commission announced five finalists for its vacant city manager job. Jacobs was one of the five. Tuesday, May 26, the commission named Sharon Subadan, former deputy county administrator in Hillsborough County, Florida, as the new Albany city manager. According walb.com, Subadan has a “shaky” past that includes a demotion after an audit revealed problems with a homeless recovery program she oversaw. Walb.com reported that the program spent millions of dollars placing homeless people in what turned…

Chris Adams, who will graduate from Coffee High School on Saturday morning, will spend Sunday, May 24, retracing the journey his great-great-great-great grandfather, Aaron Ricketson, took from Coffee County to Thomasville in order to regain his citizenship following the end of the Civil War. Adams is a living historian with the 12th Georgia Company C out of Irwinville and as such is recognized as a Confederate soldier with the Army of Tennessee. As a member of this group, Adams is one of the last living Confederate soldiers. Aaron Ricketson, who lived in Coffee County when the Civil War broke out,…

Malik Sparkman, the brave young Coffee High student who was diagnosed with kidney cancer in August of last year, has passed away. Malik, a talented football player for the Trojans who was going to play an integral role in the Coffee High defense during the 2014 season, received the devastating news of his diagnosis just prior to week one of football season. Instead of spending the fall playing football, he was in a hospital bed, undergoing treatments for his illness that were at times worse than the disease itself. Malik’s illness touched the entire Coffee County community, and citizens throughout…

The South Georgia State College Hawks are headed to the East Central District Championship tournament in Morristown, Tennessee, this week after finishing second in the Georgia Collegiate Athletic Conference (GCAA) tournament Saturday afternoon. The Hawks entered the tournament as a #2 seed, behind the regular season champion Darton State College Cavaliers. The top six teams in the GCAA played the tournament in Albany on the campus of Darton State. SGSC received a first-round bye and didn’t play its first game until Thursday afternoon. The Hawks beat Georgia Highlands 4-1 the fell to Darton State 4-2. SGSC dropped into the loser’s…

About 3:30 this afternoon, the heavens opened up and dumped water across the city of Douglas. In several notoriously low sections, water covered entire blocks of roadway. One such area, around the Harvey’s on the south side and in and around South Georgia State College, the water caused tremendous problems, not the least of which was the predicament the driver of this vehicle found herself in. Water saturated the Harvey’s parking lot, to the point of covering the grassy area between the parking lot and the sidewalk on Peterson Avenue. This vehicle, which was moving through the parking lot just…

A 22-year-old male has been killed in a tragic accident on 221 Highway North just above West Green. Very little information is known about the accident thus far. However, it appears as though a tractor-trailer and a van collided head-on early this afternoon. According to information published by WALB.com, Marcoantonio Desoto, 22, was driving the van. Apparently, Desoto drifted across the centerline, striking the truck. Desoto was ejected from the vehicle and died as a result of his injuries. The crash blocked both lanes of Highway 221 for several hours. However, authorities cleared the scene relatively quickly and had the…