Author: Robert Preston

July began a new year for the Douglas Rotary Club. And with the new year comes a new president. Tonia Guthrie, the chief financial officer at Douglas National Bank, will serve Rotary as president for the year. For Tonia, Rotary Club is a family affair; her husband, Chad, is also a member of Rotary. Together, the two are dedicated and important members of the local Rotary Club. The Douglas Rotary Club would like to welcome Tonia as its new president.

A local motorist on 441 South found herself in a tough situation tonight when, as she was driving along, she began smelling smoke. It didn’t take long for her to realize that the smoke was coming from her own car, a white Mitsubishi Eclipse Spyder. She did the only thing she knew to do, which was pull over at the car wash on the south end of town. Once stopped, the car burst into flames. She had called the fire department and several units responded quickly. The fire department was holding a meeting for volunteers so there were plenty of…

Today was not a good day for keeping the rubber side down on vehicles. Around lunch, officers responded to a two-vehicle accident at the intersection of Ward Street and Peterson Avenue that turned a vehicle on its side. Then, just after 5 p.m., authorities responded to a one-vehicle wreck on Curtis Vickers Road near Ambrose. The 911 call reported that a truck was turned over on its side in the middle of the roadway. The tires were still spinning but the driver and any passengers had fled the scene. When officers arrived, they found the vehicle just as the caller…

The voters of Coffee County elected a new chief magistrate Tuesday night. Challenger Julie Phillips defeated incumbent AnneMarie Fussell 2,629 votes to 1,348 in a run-off for the seat. Phillips won every precinct, including early voting and the absentee ballots. In their first meeting, Fussell bested Phillips 2,656 to 2,599. A third candidate, Tamma Mobley, brought in 284 votes. Prior to running for office, Phillips had been a long-time employee of the Coffee County Sheriff’s Office. This is her first bid for elected office. “I’d like to thank everybody for their time, their votes, and their support. Teamwork makes the…

A young man with a dream. A life-threatening illness. A community committed to making a positive difference. It has all the makings of a miracle – and that’s exactly what happened in a small neighborhood off Highway 158 East yesterday near Douglas. Ashton Morgan is five years old. The son of Terry and Tamara Morgan, Ashton has been battling medulloblastoma, a form of brain cancer, for the last three years. Despite the challenges he’s faced, Ashton has remained positive and active. The illness may have robbed him of his health but it hasn’t taken his dream – a dream the…

The $270,000 verdict a six-person jury returned in favor of LaRue Sheffield Friday afternoon in Waycross will have no effect on the criminal investigation into the murder of Edith Sheffield, LaRue Sheffield’s wife whose body was discovered in the ashes of their home on Jan. 19, 2013 following a fire. Investigators determined that Edith Sheffield died from a shotgun blast not from the house fire itself. Wednesday morning, Coffee County Sheriff Doyle Wooten, who attended much of the civil trial in Waycross last week, said that the verdict won’t change the scope of the investigation. “The civil and criminal sides…

Former Coffee Trojan and South Georgia College Tiger Jamaal Smith has been named new head assistant baseball coach at Tiftarea Academy. Smith will work alongside his former high school baseball coach Brad Porter. Coach Smith has served as an assistant at Atkinson County High School. His playing career includes baseball and football at Coffee High School, where he was a standout in both sports. Following his high school career, he played baseball for the then-South Georgia College Tigers. Primarily a pitcher at the collegiate level, Smith enjoyed a solid career with the Tigers. “I’m very thrilled and excited to have…

Late Friday afternoon, DouglasNow.com reported that a six-person jury in Waycross had ruled in favor of LaRue Sheffield in a civil trial that was decide whether or not State Farm would honor Sheffield’s claim following a house fire on Jan. 18, 2013. The fire completely destroyed Sheffield’s home; the next day, Jan. 19, the body of his wife, Edith Sheffield, was found in what was left of the home. Investigators determined that Edith Sheffield had been shot with a shotgun before the fire erupted. State Farm had disputed LaRue Sheffield’s claim, believing that he set the fire to cover up…

Ashton Morgan, the son of Terry and Tamara Morgan, is five years old. For these first five years, he should have been learning the basics – how to walk, talk, play, get used to going to school, making new friends, all of those things that “normal” kids do as a matter of daily routine. But Ashton isn’t normal. For the last three years, he has been battling medulloblastoma, an all-too-common type of brain cancer in children. Instead of learning the aforementioned skills, Ashton has simply been trying to survive. To say his life up to this point has been a…

Early Wednesday afternoon, a train cut a tractor-trailer hauling peanuts in half just off Highway 32 West in Douglas. The driver of the truck, a Kenworth T-800 owned by Southern Ag of Albany, was leaving Premium Peanut and attempted to cross the railroad tracks at a small crossing on the back of Evans Trailer Park. The trailer’s landing gear hung on the tracks, stalling the truck. The driver jumped out of the cab and called 911 hoping the agency could place a call to the railroad to stop any train that might be heading for that crossing. There was a…