Author: Staff Reports

The construction of a 52-unit affordable housing development at 902 N. Wheeler Ave. was approved by city officials Monday, following action taken during a regular meeting of the city commissioners. Just over 39 acres was approved to be rezoned to accomodate the Heritage Pointe Planned Development project, which is being funded through the Georgia Department of Community Affairs and developed by Affordable Equity Partners, Inc. out of Atlanta. The rezoning request was made by landowner Jerry Harper, who has pledged to sell 5.9 acres of the 39-acre tract to Affordable Equity Partners, Inc. for the development of the Heritage Pointe…

Aerial surveillance of Coffee County led to the arrests of two local residents last week after officials allegedly discovered a small marijuana growing operation. While conducting aerial surveillance on May 31, agents discovered what appeared to be marijuana plants growing behind a residence. Contact was made with an individual identified as 48-year-old Steve Grimes, who admitted to growing marijuana and led agents to the grow site. Grimes was subsequently taken into custody for manufacturing marijuana. After further investigation, it was discovered that Tammy Leighann Grimes (52) rushed to another marijuana grow site and destroyed approximately five more marijuana plants. …

Officers from multiple law enforcement agencies arrested four Coffee County individuals Thursday morning as part of an investigation that began in the fall of 2015. The four subjects, all males, were arrested on charges related to the sale of crack cocaine, methamphetamine, and prescription medication. According to Agent Jamie Jones of the GBI Southeastern Regional Drug Enforcement Office, officers arrested Tadesses Butler on two counts of selling methamphetamine; Anthony Whitfield on three counts of selling cocaine; Shaquille Rashon Sharpe on one count of selling Oxycodone; and Tyrone Gifford on one count each of selling cocaine, selling a Schedule II controlled…

Douglas police stated Thursday there has been an increase in the amount of counterfeit money being reported by local retail establishments over the last several weeks. Law enforcement encourages retail managers to train employees in the detection of counterfeit money and to closely inspect each bill they receive. Customers should also be aware of this increase and inspect currency they receive from merchants. If a merchant unknowingly accepts counterfeit money as payment, it could be passed along to unknowing customers, officials say. Anyone who comes in contact with counterfeit money or persons passing counterfeit money is asked to contact Coffee…

A Baxley man was arrested and jailed over the weekend on suspicion of drug trafficking after officers discovered a significant amount of cocaine in his vehicle during a routine traffic stop. Officer Tommy Groll of the Douglas – Coffee Heat Unit initiated the stop on a white car for speeding Saturday, May 28, on Hwy. 221 N. at mile post 23. The driver of the vehicle was identified as Bruce McZorn. When Officer Groll approached McZorn to issue a citation, he observed a plastic bag on the floor and contacted the Douglas-Coffee Drug Unit for assistance. During a search of…

Dalton Patterson, formerly of Douglas, won big recently at Go Code Coloardo, a statewide app-building competition. According to gazette.com, the competition “challenges entrepreneurs and software developers to use data from state sources to help businesses and other others make better decisions.” Read more about it here. Douglas Now congratulates Dalton on this great accomplishment.[iframe src=”https://www.facebook.com/plugins/video.php?href=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2FdpattFUZE%2Fvideos%2F10210015142002241%2F&show_text=0&width=560″ width=”560″ height=”315″ style=”border:none;overflow:hidden” scrolling=”no” frameborder=”0″ allowTransparency=”true” allowFullScreen=”true” ]

The Coffee County Sheriff’s Office reported Wednesday several arrests made over the last two weeks by the office’s investigations division. Detectives arrested Jason Nathaniel Smith, Age 44 of Pearson, and charged him with two counts of misdemeanor theft by taking for his involvement in a reported burglary on Amber Hills Rd. in Coffee County. Franklin Larry Griffin, Age 40 of Ambrose, was arrested and charged with one count of felony second degree burglary for his involvement of a burglary reported on Cypress St. in Coffee County. Leonard Donald Voorhees, Age 55 of Nicholls, was arrested and charged with one count of…

An aggressive and sophisticated phone scam targeting taxpayers has been making the rounds throughout the country, sheriff’s officials reported Wednesday. Callers claim to be employees of the IRS, but are not. Authorities say the con artists can sound convincing when they call. They use fake names and bogus IRS identification badge numbers. They may know a lot about the individuals they are calling (there is a lot of information that can be obtained by anyone over the internet) , and they usually alter the caller ID to make it look like the IRS is calling. Victims are told they owe…