Author: Robert Preston

On Saturday, June 1, 2024, my older son, Montgomery Lane Preston II, will graduate from Coffee High School. He is 21 years old. Yes, you read that correctly – 21 years old and just now graduating from high school. Many of you know Montgomery. Others do not. Yes, there’s a story here. Montgomery has a disability. You don’t have to be around him very long to realize it. We’re not exactly sure what the disability is. Some say he’s autistic. And he has some autistic traits. But he has other traits that are very non-autistic. We’ve never sought a label;…

Former Coffee High Trojans head football coach Bonwell Royal, 83, passed away early Wednesday morning, May 29, 2024, after an extended illness. He drifted peacefully into eternal rest at home surrounded by family. Coach Royal is the winningest and longest tenured head football coach in Coffee High School history. His head coaching career spanned 29 seasons — 26 at Coffee and three at Manchester. He took over the Trojans in 1972 and retired following the 1993 season. He returned to Coffee in 2001 and retired again 2004. During his 26 years as a Trojan, he posted a 166-104-5 record. His…

The 2024 primary in Coffee County has been a memorable, although not necessarily a pleasant, election. The vote count was delayed several hours by a scanner issue. Then, when the votes were uploaded to the Secretary of State’s web site, three precincts — Ambrose, Bridgetown, and Nicholls — showed zero votes. The Coffee County Elections Office has maintained since Tuesday night that all votes were counted and tabulated correctly. However, many people have had their doubts. Friday morning, election officials will take an action that they believe will straighten everything out. Election supervisor Christy Nipper spoke to DouglasNow Thursday afternoon.…

Two local elections are headed for a June 18 run-off, the tSPLOST passed, and one incumbent was unseated in Tuesday’s Coffee County primary election. The final votes came in around 1:30 a.m. Wednesday due to an issue with one of the ballot cards. One of the machines that reads and records early voting ballots did not record the votes on the memory card. In order to count the votes on that machine, poll workers had to scan each printed ballot one by one — a process that took several hours. The first round of votes, about 3,883, came in shortly…

As the clock struck midnight last night, the community saw one of its most violent weeks come to an end. Beginning in the early morning hours of Thursday, May 16, bullets started flying and they didn’t stop until early Saturday morning. That’s three shootings on three consecutive days. Two people were injured — one of whom was a 14-year-old — but thankfully, none of the incidents were fatal. The Douglas Police Department released statements about two of the shootings. According to the DPD, at 2:54 a.m. on Thursday, May 16, 2024, the first shooting took place at 487 Sibbett Avenue.…

Coffee Trojans senior RHP/catcher Payton Bryant is the Region 1-5A Player of the Year while 10 other Trojans made the various All Region teams. The All Region selections were announced earlier this week. On the mound, Bryant threw 27 innings in 12 games, five of which he started. He posted a 6-3 record with a 2.85 ERA, one save, 31 strikeouts, and 12 walks. Offensively, Bryant hit .416 (.488 OBP) with eight home runs and 40 RBI. He scored 20 runs and walked 18 times to 11 strikeouts. Behind the plate, Bryant posted a .990 fielding percentage with just two…

This week, DouglasNow has been asked a number of times by citizens one question regarding a race on the 2024 primary election ballot. Next Tuesday, voters will go to the polls to decide who will sit on the State Court bench for the next four years. The question that has been asked relates to that election and is as follows: What happens if the State Court Judge is married to the sheriff? Though that may sound odd, that very scenario could happen in Coffee County. Current State Court Judge Katy Paulk is married to sheriff’s candidate Daniel Paulk — if…

Obedience. Despite its length at nine letters (the average word in English is five letters), it’s relatively easy to spell and even easier to understand. According to the Oxford Languages Dictionary, its definition is “compliance with an order, request, or law or submission to another’s authority.” Even if we couldn’t say it exactly like that, we all know what obedience means. And yet despite its simplicity, being obedient isn’t always easy. It’s even more difficult when displaying obedience becomes a nuisance. More times than not, obedience requires inconvenience and a whole lot more. I would wager that the “submission” aspect…

The Atkinson County Rebels didn’t know what to expect when the 2024 baseball season began. Sure, they had an energetic new coach who knows how to get the most out of his players and a core group of players who wanted to win. At the same time, they had over a decade of lackluster success, no recent playoff appearances, and little experience from which to draw upon. There was, however, a sense of urgency that permeated the program. It wasn’t going to be easy but the Rebels desperately wanted to change their fortunes. Honestly, it couldn’t get much worse. ATCO…

At Monday morning’s regular county commission meeting, Clerk of Court Lisa Gillis announced that London O’Steen, a senior at Citizens Christian Academy, was one of four recipients of the Constitutional Officers Association of Georgia Scholarship. The scholarship is a statewide award presented to four deserving high school seniors throughout the state. “Seniors from all 159 counties vie for this scholarship. It’s not something that we just pick out of a hat. They have to work for it. They have to come interview a constitutional officer and learn about what we do and how the counties are run. They have to…