Author: Robert Preston

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…

According to a report published on the Coffee County Georgia Police Scanner Facebook page, officers rescued a woman from the Jet Foods on 441 South who said she had been kidnapped. The suspects in the alleged kidnapping fled the store’s property when law enforcement officers arrived. The Police Scanner reported that this afternoon, a woman came inside the Jet Foods and told a clerk at the counter that she had been kidnapped. Outside the store, the alleged kidnappers were putting gas in their vehicle. One male was outside pumping gas while another male and female were inside the vehicle. The…

At Monday afternoon’s monthly Chamber of Commerce power lunch, Chamber members heard from Mike Beatty, President and CEO of the Great Promise Partnership, Inc., a partnership between the Department of Community Affairs and businesses and industries throughout the state to assist at-risk high school students finish high school and either enter college or the workforce. Based on a program piloted at Carrollton’s Southwire plant, GPP has proven to be successful everywhere it has been implemented. Beatty is on a tour of the southern portion of the state to spread awareness about the program. “The greatest hurdle in Georgia is the…

Thursday afternoon, U.S. Rep. Rick Allen visited Douglas for an informal meet and greet with constituents. Rep. Allen and his staff set up shop at J&D Designs from 5 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. During that 90-minute span, citizens were able to stop by and spend a few minutes with the representative. Here, Rep. Allen (right) is pictured with Douglas mayor James Dennis (left).

The CCA Lady Patriots have fallen to Monsignor Donovan in the GISA Final Four at Mercer. CCA jumped out to an early lead and held a one-point advantage at the half. Over the last two periods, Monsignor Donovan pulled ahead and came away with a 39-30 win. Monsignor Donovan moves on to the state finals while CCA sees its season come to an end. It was a good run, Lady Pats. Congratulations on a fine season!

According to Kevin Davis of ESG Operations, the company that oversees the city’s wastewater treatment plant, and Mike Hudson, water and wastewater director for the city, the Feb. 8 contaminated water spill has not resulted in any noticeable environmental damage. The spill, which happened on Sunday, Feb. 8 when a four-inch check valve malfunctioned, released an estimated 4.4 million gallons of contaminated water into an unnamed tributary of the Seventeen Mile River. At the time of its discharge, the water had been partially treated, which is one of the primary reasons why the environmental impact of the spill has been…

I “borrowed” this photo from Suzanne Ray’s Facebook page. I’m assuming she won’t mind. It is a photo of CCA Lady Patriots’ fans at the GISA Final Four this afternoon in Macon. The Lady Patriots are taking on Monsignor Donovan right now at Mercer University. The winner, of course, advances to the state title game. The Patriots won the region then rolled through the state playoffs to earn a berth in the semi-finals. Go Lady Patriots! And Suzanne, don’t be mad at me for swiping the photo.

Did you know that the City of Douglas experienced a wastewater spill earlier this month? According to a press release posted on the city’s Web site (but apparently not released to the media), the spill took place on Feb. 8 at the Southeast Water Pollution Control Plant and dumped 4.4 million gallons of water into a tributary of the Seventeen Mile River. According to the press release, the receiving stream is an un-named tributary to the Seventeen Mile River which flows from the plant through a city-owned restricted-access impoundment and then crosses under Wendell Sears Road and then Clyde Kirkland…