Author: Robert Preston

Ambrose has a new mayor. Nicholls has four new city council members. Because of a tie in the city council race, there will be a run-off in Ambrose. And Nicholls mayor Dewayne Streat won his millionth election and is the mayor for four more years. The most interesting race on the ballot Tuesday may have been the Nicholls City Council election. All five seats, as well as that of mayor, were up for grabs. And all five incumbents ran for re-election. Only one, however, reclaimed her seat. Newcomer Glynn Tanner (a former county commissioner) received the most…

Tuesday afternoon, Superior Court Judge Andy Spivey granted a change of venue request from attorneys representing embattled city commissioner Olivia Pearson in her second trial on felony voter fraud charges. Judge Spivey also denied a request for a gag order in the case as submitted by the district attorney’s office. Commissioner Pearson’s attorneys cited unfavorable media attention related to the case as their grounds for seeking a change of venue. Pearson and her attorneys contend that coverage in local media regarding her case could unfairly influence potential jurors. In August, Pearson stood trial on these same charges. The…

Tuesday afternoon, Superior Court Judge Andy Spivey determined that Caleb Barrett, who had been charged with malice murder and felony murder in the shooting death of his sister, Lea Jovan Merritt, acted in self defense. As such, Barrett will not face trial and his case has been dismissed with prejudice. Barrett requested an immunity hearing on the grounds of self defense. On Sept. 18, 2016, Barrett shot and killed Merritt at his family’s home on North College Avenue. Initially charged with manslaughter, he was arrested and released on bond in September 2016. However, the Grand Jury indicted Barrett on…

Just before 8 p.m. Sunday, firefighters, deputies, and EMS responded to a house fire at the corner of Brentwood Road and Silverado Road in Baymeadows. The fire started at the south end of the house and quickly escalated. In a short time, the south side of the home was fully engulfed in flames. Firefighters worked quickly to get the blaze under control but not before the fire – along with the accompanying smoke and water – all but destroyed the home. The residents were at home when the fire began but were unhurt. County fire chief Steve…

You know, it would have been a lot easier to just pay for the gas. Brad Lowery, however, apparently felt stealing gas was the better option. He learned the hard way that wasn’t. As a result, he’s in a Macon hospital recovering from a serious auto accident and faces numerous charges for his poor decision making. WALB is quoting sources from the Georgia State Patrol stating that Lowery allegedly stole some gas from a store in West Green. He fled the scene and headed toward Broxton. There, Isaac Garcia of the Broxton Police Department attempted to stop Lowery.…

The Trojans won Friday night and captured the Region 1-6A championship. It was just the wrong group of Trojans. Lee County defeated Coffee 23-7 in Leesburg, dropping Coffee to 3-1 in region play and 6-3 overall. The loss relegated Coffee to the #2 seed in the region while Lee County took the title. Coffee had its chances, particularly in the second half, but Lee proved too resilient, too stubborn, maybe even too good, to let Coffee capitalize. The game featured little in the way of scoring until the very end. Lee got on the board first just…

A Douglas man was killed Thursday, Nov. 2, when a train struck him near downtown. According to a press release posted on the Douglas Police Department’s Facebook page, a pedestrian, identified as Michael Wigfall, 26, of Douglas, lost his life when a CSX train struck him on the tracks at Pearl Avenue around 10:30 p.m. Few details have been released regarding the accident. However, the release stated that Wigfall did lose his life in the accident. Officers from the police department continue to investigate the incident.

A 19-year-old Douglas man is behind bars after allegedly beating and strangling his 17-year-girlfriend over a cell phone. According to a report obtained from the Coffee County Sheriff’s Office, Victor Hugo Oliva, 19, of a Whispering Pines address, attacked his girlfriend while she was driving her car on Baker Highway. The report states that the argument began over the girlfriend’s cell phone. She wouldn’t give Oliva the password to her phone and, as the report states, he became aggressive. Oliva then hit her in the face with his elbow, according to the report. She then stopped the car in Shear…

One minute into Friday night’s game between the Coffee Trojans and the Valdosta High Wildcats at Jardine Stadium, if you’d told me that the final score would be 37-14 Coffee, I’d never have believed it. Not the way the game started. Not the way Valdosta came out of the gate clicking on all cylinders. Not the way they went 69 yards on a handful of plays, including a double pass on the first play of the game that chewed up most of those 69 yards, and scored a touchdown 63 seconds into the game. To make matters worse, on Coffee’s…

Wednesday, Tywone “Squirm” Brewton, 18, was granted a bond and released from the Coffee County Jail. Brewton had been incarcerated since July 21 after being charged with aggravated assault in the July 14 drive-by shooting of Ricardio Mitchell, 28. Brewton had been in jail 90 days and had not been indicted by a Grand Jury. As such, he was entitled to a bond. On July 14, Mitchell was shot in the head on South McDonald Road. Brewton was almost immediately a suspect in the shooting. A week later, he turned himself into authorities. Mitchell remains hospitalized and no further arrests…