Author: Robert Preston

A tractor-trailer accident blocked Highway 268 between Ambrose and Broxton for several hours Tuesday afternoon. The truck, owned by Averitt Express of Cookeville, Tenn., was heading east on 268 and apparently left the right side of the roadway. As the driver attempted to correct the vehicle, it crossed the left-hand lane, the trailer rolled on its side, and the truck drove down into the ditch before coming to rest in a wooded area. The trailer blocked both lanes until wreckers from American Truck Parts of Douglas could get it moved. Officers from the Georgia Department of Transportation, Coffee County Sheriff’s…

Two reports of large predators, both posted on social media over the weekend, have people in South Georgia talking. One is a photo of a panther allegedly taken on a trail camera near Rebecca while the other is of a black bear seen in Coffee County. While reports of bear sightings in Coffee County are rare, it is entirely plausible that bears exist here. The panther photo, however, is more problematic. First, the bear. Demetrianaa Michelle posted the photo to her Facebook account. DouglasNow.com sent Demetrianaa a message seeking more information about the photo and where exactly it…

A Wednesday afternoon shooting in eastern Coffee County resulted in an armed standoff between the alleged shooter and officers from multiple law enforcement agencies, eventually ending peacefully. The shooting took place in a mobile home park off Clyde Kirkland Road east of Douglas. According to sources, the alleged shooter is Eric Chestnut, 21, of Douglas. He allegedly shot Shanna Shelton, his pregnant girlfriend, in the lower jaw. Shelton was able to flee the scene, where she was eventually picked up by an ambulance. An Air-Evac helicopter later transported Shelton to a trauma center in Savannah. Officers from the…

Greg Roberts, a Douglas native and graduate of Coffee High School and then-South Georgia College, has been hired as the head baseball coach at Brunswick High School, according to a story published in The Brunswick News earlier this week. Roberts has coached at Frederica Academy (2012-2014 and 2018-2020) and Glynn Academy (2015-2017). According to the story, Roberts is the only person to have served as head baseball coach at all three Glynn County schools. Roberts has coached at Coffee High School and later at Citizens Christian Academy, where he was head baseball and softball coach. Roberts won state titles in…

The Feb. 23, 2020, shooting death of Ahmaud Arbery, 25, in Brunswick keeps getting closer and closer to Coffee County. First, Waycross Judicial Circuit District Attorney George Barnhill was asked to take the case and ultimately recused himself – but not before offering an opinion on the case, stating that he felt as though Arbery’s shooting was legally justified. Late last week, media outlets released additional video footage showing what Arbery was doing moments before Greg and Travis McMichael chased him down in a pick-up truck and shot him dead in the street. The new footage shows Arbery in…

The driver of a blue 2019 Jeep Compass that struck Sheila Hughes, 61, as she crossed Bryan Street on Friday, Feb. 7, 2020 has been charged with second degree vehicular homicide. Hughes, who was knocked unconscious in the accident, initially survived. She never re-gained consciousness and succumbed to her injuries on Feb. 22, 2020. Second degree vehicular homicide is a misdemeanor punishable by up to a year in jail and a $1,000 fine. The driver, Kim Dupree of Denton, was arrested by Douglas police Saturday morning, May 9, 2020. She was booked into the Coffee County Jail. Sheila Hughes and…

Dr. Candi Nobles-James, a 1986 Coffee High School graduate, has been named one of Georgia’s top doctors for 2020 by Georgia Trend Magazine. Dr. Nobles-James is on staff at Mercer Medicine at Macon. She is one of a handful of adult endocrinologists in the area and is experienced in treating a variety of thyroid disorders, including thyroid cancer, in addition to other related ailments such as adrenal disease, polycystic kidney disease, diabetes, hyperparathyroidism, and pituitary deficiencies and tumors. Dr. Nobles-James earned her M.D. from Mercer University School of Medicine and Bachelor of Science in biology from Valdosta State…

Coffee High School’s graduation ceremony for the Class of 2020 will take place a little later than originally scheduled but it will take place nonetheless. According to a message sent to school system employees from Dr. Morris Leis, school superintendent, which has been posted and shared to social media platforms extensively since it went out, graduation will take place on Saturday, June 20, 2020, at 8 a.m. at Jardine Stadium. After announcing the date, time, and location of graduation, the message states the following: “By that point, all of the emergency shelter in place orders will have expired and we…

According to Unacast, a company that uses cell phone data to track people’s movements and behavior, Georgia in general and Coffee County in particular have received an F in social distancing. Unacast states on its Web site that “social distancing is currently the most effective way to slow the spread of COVID-19. We created this interactive Scoreboard, updated daily, to empower organizations to measure and understand the efficacy of social distancing initiatives at the local level.” At the time Unacast published this information, Coffee County had 121 confirmed COVID-19 cases. Now, according to the Georgia Department of Public…

Cameron Watson, son of Chris and Trish Watson, has been named the 912 Sports Male Cross Country Athlete of the Year. 912 Sports announced Watson’s award on April 30 during the organization’s online awards show, streamed on 912 Sports’s Facebook page. Watson, a junior cross country and track athlete at Coffee High School, won the Region 1-6A championship, held in October at Huntington Middle School in Warner Robins. Watson posted a 17:31 time at region, winning easily. He was also the region’s top finisher at the state meet, where he finished 13th overall with a time of 17:15. …