Author: Robert Preston

What can you take away from a high school preseason scrimmage game? Very little, no matter the outcome. Still, it was encouraging to see the new look Coffee Trojans hold their own against the defending state and national champion Colquitt County Packers Thursday night at Jardine Stadium. Colquitt slipped away with a 21-20 win in game delayed by a serious thunderstorm that rolled through near the beginning of the second quarter. The Trojans, who are now running a high octane, no huddle air raid offense, looked solid on both sides of the ball. Quarterback Max Hughes and his stable of…

As I stood on the curb of Ward Street and the Coffee County Courthouse parking lot at Monday night’s We Stand United community prayer vigil, it finally hit me. People who know me (and many who don’t) understand that sometimes, I’m a little slow. It takes me a while to catch on to things. For a long time, I’ve wondered why matters of faith, particularly the Christian faith, are such enemies of government. We live in a time in which a growing segment of the government that is unsympathetic to Christianity has gained a tremendous foothold and is doing its…

Tony Ward, the Douglas police officer accused of illegal dumping stemming from an incident at the Salvation Army in May, pled nolo contendre and paid a $1,000 fine (plus court fees) Tuesday afternoon. Ward had originally pled not guilty and asked for a bench trial. In his court appearance in city court Tuesday, Ward waived the trial and decided to plea. 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. What made matters worse, the City of Douglas did not address Ward’s alleged misconduct…

Wednesday afternoon at Indian Creek Elementary School, the Childhood Cancer Awareness Group of Coffee County presented the family of Ashton Morgan with a check for $19,001.26 – all of the proceeds raised from Ashton’s Field of Dreams on July 23 – to assist with expenses associated with the treatment of Ashton’s cancer. On Saturday, July 23, hundreds of members of the Coffee County community gathered at the home of Terry and Tamara Morgan to celebrate the opening of Ashton’s Field of Dreams, a baseball field built by the Make-A-Wish Foundation and local citizens. The field was a gift to Ashton,…

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…