Author: Staff Reports

Detectives with the Coffee County Sheriff’s Office are reporting the arrest of a local man after receiving reports from several victims that they had bought a car shelter. However, when they went to get the shelter, they discovered it did not belong to the seller. The victims reported they heard an advertisement on a local radio venue where the car shelter was reported to be for sale. When they made contact with the seller, they were given a price for the shelter. The victims stated they met the seller at different local parking lots and paid him for the shelter.…

An accident in the Bethel Community just south of Douglas has claimed the life of one person. The wreck occurred just before 7 p.m. on Highway 135 a few miles south of town. According to reports, a Terri Evans of Tifton was driving an SUV in the southbound lane and was killed when, after swerving to miss a pick up stopped in the road in front of her, she hit another vehicle head-on in the northbound lane. The two individuals in the other vehicle were transported from the scene with serious injuries. The driver of the other vehicle was identified…

Make it two in a row, ladies. For the second straight year, the women’s swim team at South Georgia State College won the Georgia Collegiate Athletic Association Region XVII championship. The men’s team took second and brought home a plaque of their own in the process. The region meet took place on Saturday, Feb. 14, at the Darton State College aquatic center. Sophomore Megan Harding (Thomasville) and freshmen Carolyn Ives (Carrollton) were named tournament co-MVPs. Harding and Ives both won all three of their events to put the women in the lead. Also winning multiple region titles in their events…

Law enforcement in Coffee County experienced a busy Valentine’s Day, netting five drug arrests on charges ranging from trafficking to possession. Around 3 p.m., deputies with the Coffee County Sheriff’s office stopped a vehicle occupied by three individuals, later identified as Quillie Anthony, Michael Metts, and Karla Morris, in the Green Acres Community on Waldron Rd. Officers located over four ounces of methamphetamine and a 9mm handgun during the stop and contacted the Douglas-Coffee Drug Unit. Following their investigation, Anthony and Morris were arrested for trafficking methamphetamine. Metts was charged with possession of methamphetamine and possession of a…

Just a few hundred feet east of one of the bold, new gateway signs welcoming people to the City of Douglas sits this horrific eyesore. Located at the corner of E. Ward St. and N. McDonald Ave., a vacant lot sits piled with a mountain of various random household items. Adjacent to the lot, a home which suffered extensive fire damage some weeks ago remains untouched with higly visible trash, clothing, and other unsightly features decorating the exterior. City officials have received numerous complaints about the property and say they are working to resolve the matter.

A Douglas man was jailed in Berrien County Wednesday night after authorities say he and another individual led authorities on a high speed chase. A Georgia State Trooper attempted to stop a white Chevy Camaro around 9:30 p.m. Wednesday for driving recklessly. The vehicle eventually stopped on Hwy. 135, and the driver fled on foot. An occupant of the vehicle, Michael Dixon of Douglas, was arrested at the scene for driving under the influence and driving with a suspended license. Authorities stated Dixon incurred the charges because he attempted to control the vehicle after the driver fled. As of Thursday…

Law enforcement officials are currently searching a a pond in Ben Hill County for the remains of Tara Grinstead, a former Irwin County High School teacher who mysteriously vanished nearly a decade ago. Little information has been provided at this time, but officials have confirmed they were dispatched to a pond in the area of Satilla Drive near Fitzgerald. They have been in the process of draining the pond since Monday. Grinstead has been missing since Oct. 22, 2005, when she was last seen at a beauty pageant at the Grand Theatre in Fitzgerald. A former Miss Tifton. she reportedly…

According to a report from WALB, the Douglas Police Department has released the name of the individual who was fatally shot by police yesterday along with the officer who pulled the trigger. On Tuesday, Feb. 3, police officer Joseph Brackett fatally wounded 45-year-old Tony Purvis after Brackett responded to a call of a shooting at the Purvis residence on North June Avenue. Purvis allegedly shot his wife in the hand, prompting the 911 call to the home. When police arrived, Purvis was still at the home and had two guns in his hands. Purvis allegedly pointed one of the weapons…

By Duke Stewart I appreciate your recent article on the execution of Mr. Warren Hill and your forthrightness to describe it online. With the upcoming Supreme Court debate as to whether the three cocktail cocktail lethal injection constitutes “cruel and unusual” punishment, your eyewitness account provides a portrayal of a systematic single drug execution that appeared to occur without much undue suffering to Mr. Hill. And yet I found your description clinical, the matter of fact New York Times journalistic style digressing beyond the bounds of reportage when you opine, who am I to to refute their judgments? Such a…

James Coy Jacobs, the son of Diana and James Jacobs, was arrested this week on charges on financial transaction card fraud and concealing a death in relation to the ongoing investigation surrounding the discovery of a body at an assisted living home in Nicholls last year. Diana, the former operator of the facility, was arrested in August after the remains of a former resident of Rosewood Manor, Alexander Hunter, were discovered buried in a shed outside the business. James Jacobs was arrested a short time later. Diana and her husband remain incarcerated at the Coffee County Jail, each charged with…