Author: Robert Preston

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…

The Bellamy Brothers’ song “Old Hippie” describes a man in transition, a veteran who is facing an uncertain future as the times around him change. He knows he needs to adjust to a new way of life but he’s having a hard time figuring out exactly how to make that happen. In many ways, I feel like the protagonist of that song. I see things changing, almost daily, around me and I’m not sure what to do. I grew up in a world that I thought valued honesty and integrity, where the rule of law won the day. As I…

On Sunday, July 10, 2016, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation’s Douglas Regional Office was requested by the Coffee County Sheriff’s Office to assist in a death investigation in Coffee County. On Sunday, July 10, 2016, at approximately 5:30 a.m., deputies with the Coffee County Sheriff’s Office responded to 6629 Hwy 32 West Lot 4 in reference to a Hispanic male found unresponsive outside the residence. Upon arrival, deputies found Domingo Ortiz, 51, dead from an apparent stab wound. After a search of the area, Miguel Hernandez Santos, 68, was arrested in connection with the death of Ortiz. Santos was transported…

Tuesday afternoon, Douglas police officer Tony Ward, who stands accused of illegally dumping trash at the Salvation Army, appeared in city court and pled not guilty. Ward requested a bench trial, which will be held in August. In May, surveillance cameras at the Salvation Army captured Ward in the act of what appeared to be dumping trash illegally in the charity’s dumpster. The City of Douglas was slow to act in the case, only releasing a statement when The Douglas Enterprise published a story outlining the allegations against Ward. The city’s statement noted that “an internal investigation was conducted, the…