Author: Robert Preston

The City of Douglas has announced that over 7,000 gallons of wastewater has spilled into an unnamed tributary of the Seventeen Mile River. The city’s statement says that the spill occurred between 6:40 a.m. and 7:15 a.m. on Tuesday, Feb. 25, 2020. Heavy rains caused the spill, according to the city. The spill occurred at the Lift Station located inside the wastewater treatment plant at 622 Iron Road. Approximately 7,875 gallons were reported. As a precaution, it is recommended that there be no contact with the affected stream water until after March 10, 2020. Samplings of the waterway both upstream…

Ward 3 commissioner Olivia Pearson served Mayor Tony Paulk, the five other city commissioners, and City Manager Charlie Davis with an ante litem notice advising them that she intends to sue the City of Douglas for $1.5 million. According to the notice, Commissioner Pearson intends to sue for “multiple violations of free speech/multiple violations of the Open Meetings Act/multiple violations of the city charter.” She further maintains that she is doing so because of “the unlawful acts of Mayor Tony Paulk, creating a dictatorship, by willful interruption of a city council member, by not allowing her to continue to address…

Sheila Hughes, 61, has passed away as a result of injuries she sustained when a vehicle struck her and her husband, Dave Hughes, as they crossed Bryan Street on Friday, Feb. 7, 2020. Hughes had been transferred to a Jacksonville, Fla., trauma center following the accident. She passed at Community Hospice in Jacksonville on Saturday, Feb. 22, 2020. According to an accident report obtained from the Georgia State Patrol, a blue 2019 Jeep Compass driven by Kim Dupree of Denton struck the Hughes. Dave Hughes was unhurt in the accident while Sheila Hughes suffered serious head injuries. The…

Thomas George “T.G.” Noel of Nicholls has been arrested and charged in connection with the hit-and-run death of Amanda Kay Floyd Wynn, which happened on Feb. 23, 2019, on Highway 158 East. Noel was arrested by a Coffee County deputy during a traffic stop. While conducting the stop, the deputy discovered that Noel had warrants for his arrest as a result of the accident that claimed Wynn’s life. According to the report from the accident, Noel was driving a blue 2008 Cadillac Escalade when the vehicle struck Wynn. The report’s narrative states that two deputies were monitoring traffic on Highway…

Wednesday, the case against former city employee Britt Leverette, who had been arrested in June of last year and subsequently dismissed after a fellow employee filed a complaint against him, was dismissed at the request of the victim. Leverette had been charged with one count of exploitation of a disabled adult, a felony. The victim appeared in court and stated he would like the case dismissed. He also stated that he had not been harassed or otherwise coerced to seek dismissal. The court complied and dismissed the charges. Greg Nugent, also a city employee, was arrested at the same time…

Tuesday afternoon, two parents got into a fight at the end of a nine-year-old youth basketball game at Central Square Complex after their children tied up following a hard foul during the game. As the game neared the end, one player fouled another player hard. The player who was fouled fell to the ground. According to witnesses, the player who committed the foul then began hitting the other player who was on the ground. The mother of the player who had been fouled, Brittany Berry, ran on the court to get her child. The mother of the other player,…

According to an accident report obtained from the Georgia State Patrol, a blue 2019 Jeep Compass driven by Kim Dupree of Denton struck downtown business owners Dave and Sheila Hughes Friday night as they crossed Bryan Street. Dave Hughes was unhurt in the accident while Sheila Hughes was transported to Jacksonville with serious head injuries. The report states that Dupree was traveling south on Peterson Avenue and made a left turn on to Bryan Street. The Hughes were crossing Bryan Street in the pedestrian crossing heading north. As Dupree was turning, her vehicle hit Dave and Sheila Hughes, knocking both…

Douglas MainStreet Director Dave Hughes and his wife, Sheila, who owns Kribs & Kradles downtown, were hit by a car on Friday, Feb. 7, as they walked across the street from Kribs & Kradles to eat dinner at the Fern Bank. According to a post made on the Douglas-Coffee County Chamber of Commerce’s Facebook page, Dave was relatively unharmed. Sheila, however, sustained serious injuries and was transported to Jacksonville, Fla., for further treatment. The Chamber’s Facebook post stated that Sheila suffered severe head trauma with sub-dermal hematoma. The Georgia State Patrol investigated the accident but DouglasNow.com has not yet obtained…

Bret Davis, 39, and Amanda Seagraves, 39, both of Vidalia, have been arrested and charged in connection with breaking into cars and stealing credit cards. The Douglas Police Department had photos of the couple allegedly using the stolen credit cards and had asked for the public’s assistance in identifying them. Citizens came through and provided information that led to the identification and eventual arrests of Davis and Seagraves. They have been charged with entering an auto, financial transaction card theft, and financial transaction card fraud. They are being held in the Coffee County Jail.

Wednesday morning, crews from the Coffee County Fire Department and Midway Truck Parts fished a GMC Yukon from a creek in eastern Coffee County. The vehicle ended up in the creek late Tuesday afternoon when its owner, Mark Adams of Douglas, swerved to miss a deer that was crossing Highway 158 East near the Highway 64/Wilsonville crossroads. Adams, who was traveling east, made an evasive maneuver to his right. He missed the deer but drove off a concrete culvert into the creek – a drop of about six feet from the road to the water. Adams escaped the accident unharmed.…