Author: Robert Preston

Angela Spell-Hutto, Coffee County Clerk of Court, has submitted her resignation effective April 30, 2019. She is citing health and stress of office as reasons for her resignation. Wednesday morning, Spell-Hutto released the following statement: “It is with great sadness and relief that I hereby announce my pending resignation as the Clerk of Superior Court of Coffee, Georgia. My resignation has been forwarded to the Governor and shall be effective April 30, 2019. Without going into great detail, my health and the stress of office will not permit me to continue in my current position. Moreover, the health conditions…

Officers from the Coffee County Drug Unit and Pearson Police Department arrested three people on drug charges this week, one of whom who was a nurse who worked at the Coffee County Jail for the jail’s healthcare provider. The nurse, Cindy Womack, was stationed at the jail but was not an employee of the Coffee County Sheriff’s Office. A press release issued by the Coffee County Sheriff’s Department on Friday described the collaborative effort between the Pearson PD and the sheriff’s office. The release, however, did not mention that Womack was working in the jail at the time of…

The Douglas-Coffee County community was abuzz last week after news broke that Marshall’s, Hobby Lobby, Chik fil A, Starbucks, and other nationally-recognized retail businesses could possibly come to town. At least one other business has announced that it too will move to Douglas if the Douglas Square shopping center becomes a reality. Afday’s Crab Shack, a regional seafood restaurant chain based out of Savannah, will open a restaurant in town once its investors receive word that Douglas Square is happening. The Douglas location would be the seventh Afday’s to open and the only one outside of the Coastal Empire…

Roscoe Allen, who raised security concerns at City Hall when he referenced a 9mm handgun during a heated discussion with city commissioner Mike Gowen in a city commission meeting on Oct. 22, 2018, was arrested and charged with aggravated assault early Sunday morning for allegedly pulling a gun on another person during an argument at a local nightclub. While there has been no official statement released regarding Allen’s arrest, DouglasNow.com has learned that the argument took place at the Time Out Sports Bar in the early morning hours of Sunday, March 24, 2019. After getting into a verbal disagreement…

If you want to talk to Woody, you won’t have to leave Coffee County. After years of looking at Douglas and Coffee County, the Woody Folsom corporation has arrived in Douglas. Woody Folsom has bought Coffee Chrysler. The dealership is now known as Woody Folsom Chrysler Dodge Jeep Ram of Douglas. According to a Facebook post, the Folsom company had this to say: “That’s right, we are bringing our Woody Folsom values and our customer satisfactions right on over to Douglas, Ga!!! We absolutely cannot wait to serve you and the surrounding communities! We are so blessed and grateful…

Kansas City Chiefs wide receiver Tyreek Hill is the subject of a battery investigation in Overland Park, Kansas, according to multiple media reports. Apparently, Hill’s fiancée, Crystal Espinal, filed a report against Hill alleging child abuse/neglect. Hill has not been charged with a crime. Espinal has filed two reports, according to Deadspin.com – one on March 5 and another on March 15. The Kansas City Star has a copy of the police report; it states that the March 15 incident involved their three-year-old son, who suffered a broken arm. However, sources close to Hill state that the star wide…

Katherine LeRoy-Lawson, theatre instructor at SGSC, brought with her two SGSC theatre students, Victoria Highsmith and Ivee Cole, who performed a scene from “Doubt: A Parable” for club members. “Doubt” is a Tony-winning play that deals with accusations of sexual abuse of a student in a Catholic school by a parish priest. The play was also made into an Oscar-nominated movie starring Phillip Seymour Hoffman and Meryl Streep. LeRoy-Lawson directed SGSC’s adaptation of the production while Highsmith played the role of Sister Aloycious and Cole played Sister James. The SGSC drama club will hold an encore performance of the…

DouglasNow.com obtained copies of two accident reports from the Georgia State Patrol Friday, both of which describe two vehicle v. pedestrian accidents that took place on Saturday, Feb. 23, 2019. The accident that has grabbed the most attention was actually the second one that happened that Saturday night. It was the one that resulted in the death of Amanda Kay Floyd Wynn, who was struck and killed on Highway 158 East just outside the city limits of Douglas. According to the report, the accident happened at 10:49 p.m. A blue 2008 Cadillac Escalade driven by Thomas George “T.G.”…

Last week, Melinda McSwain, formerly of Broxton, who was arrested in October in connection with the 1991 abduction and murder of Sabrina Long, 19, of Macon, was denied bond in a Macon courtroom. There were also several shocking revelations during the hearing. Long’s boyfriend dropped her off at her step-father’s home on the night of Aug. 14, 1991. Around midnight, she called her mother and said she was going to the home of Keith Loyd, a neighbor. That was the last time anyone heard from her. According to a story posted online by The Macon Telegraph about Thursday’s…

Another pedestrian was struck and killed by a vehicle Saturday night, the second such incident this month. Saturday night just after 11 p.m., Amanda Floyd of Douglas was struck and killed by a vehicle on Highway 158 East just outside the city limits of Douglas. According to reports, the driver of the vehicle that struck Floyd stopped on the side of the road. Deputies from the Coffee County Sheriff’s Office stopped with the vehicle. The driver told the deputies that he/she had hit something back toward Douglas but wasn’t sure exactly what it was. One of the deputies headed…