Author: Robert Preston

It is five hours until show time for ABC’s “Rising Star.” Joshua Peavy has already been through hair and makeup twice and is about to go to wardrobe for the second time. Soon, he will be in his second dress rehearsal of the day. The calm before the storm really isn’t that calm at all. But he has a few minutes and he agrees to do one more interview. I catch him during a 20 minute window he has before he’s back in front of mirrors and lights. “Right now, I’ve already practiced all I need to practice. I don’t…

The Coffee Trojans managed just one score – and it came on special teams at that – against the Colquitt County Packers Thursday night in a pre-season scrimmage in Douglas. The Packers, who are one of the favorites to contend for a 6A state championship this year, outlasted the Trojans 24-7 on a humid, muggy South Georgia night between the hedges at Jardine Stadium. Colquitt took the opening kick-off and drove 71 yards before stalling just shy of the end zone. Sophomore kicker Baudilio Martinez converted a short field goal to give the Pack a 3-0 lead. On Coffee’s ensuing…

It was a rather mundane gathering tonight of the Douglas City Commission, with the commission running through a brief agenda in a relatively short period of time. In maybe the most important piece of business the commission covered, the city fathers heard the first reading of new millage ordinance. According to Assistant City Manager Charlie Davis, the millage rate will remain at 8.51 mills – the same as last year. The commission will vote on the millage rage at the Aug. 25 meeting. In other business, the commission approved extending a natural gas line to Shann Peanut, the probation services…

At last Thursday’s meeting of the Douglas Rotary Club, the club presented Carol Morgan and the Brown Bag Project a check for $2,500 to help fund the program for the upcoming school year. Started by the Coffee County Retired Teachers Association, the Brown Bag Project provides meals for needy children throughout the school year. Last year, the project served 299 children in 273 Coffee County homes.

Jim Wooten, a retired columnist with the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, visited the Douglas Rotary Club Thursday and shared his story of renovating Sugar Creek Plantation, the historic Talmadge family home located just outside McRae on Highway 341. The home holds the distinction of being the only house in Georgia, with the exception of the governor’s mansion, where more than one governor has lived. Home to Eugene Talmadge and his son, Herman Talmadge, the home was a centerpiece of Georgia politics for more than five decades. When Wooten purchased the home, it was in a state of disrepair. He renovated the home…

Coach C.M. Jenkins and the South Georgia State College Hawks have a new swimmer. Rachel Fussell, who has been swimming with both Coffee High School and the Douglas Stingrays, will continue her swimming career with the Hawks. Fussell will swim distance freestyle and backstroke for SGSC this year. She helped lead the Trojans to a region championship and the Stingrays to a state title. The Hawks have one of the best junior college swimming programs in the country and are pleased to have a swimmer of Fussell’s caliber for the next two years.

The Douglas Police Department is about to get six new police cars – five patrol vehicles and one car for the Narcotics Drug Task Force. The Douglas City Commission voted to purchase the cars at Monday night’s regular commission meeting. All 2014 Dodge Chargers, the patrol vehicles will cost a total of $117,501.85 while the task force car will cost $23,611.25. The commission also approved the purchase of additional equipment for the patrol cars that comes in at just over $57,000. The cars will all come from Akins Ford. Commissioners also approved a $56,105 change order for the North Pearl…

The Douglas City Commission meeting kicked off Monday night with three special recognitions. The spring and summer of 2014 has been a banner year of sorts for the Douglas Parks and Recreation Department athletic program. The recreation league teams from Douglas and Coffee County have always done well out-of-county competition but this year several teams performed exceptionally well. Many citizens may not know it but the recreation department has a summer tennis program. Twenty-six kids participated in the program this summer. A number of players went to district and on to the state tournament in Moultrie. At state, local players…

Friday afternoon, a couple of Coffee County residents – all of whom happen to be directly related to the author of this story – saw a dramatic and nearly deadly accident involving a car and a pedestrian at the entrance to the Okefenokee Swamp Park just south of Waycross on U.S. 1. The witnesses – Heather Preston and Sherry Thomas, the wife and mother-in-law of this writer – were traveling south on U.S. 1 when they saw a SmartCar run into a person on foot and seriously injure him. Thomas, Vice President of Patient Services at Coffee Regional Medical Center…

At Thursday night’s regular meeting of the Coffee County Board of Education, Dr. Morris Leis, School Superintendent, announced to the board that the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS) had issued its accreditation report for the Coffee County School System. “We received what can best be described as a glowing report in many areas,” said Dr. Leis. SACS granted the system full accreditation for the next five years. In particular, Dr. Leis mentioned the area of governance, a particular part of the SACS review that had gotten the school board in trouble several years ago. “The most glowing report…