About Tribune & Georgian (Athens, Ga) 2002-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 4, 2018)
Serving Camden County, Georgia Since 1894 Camden grinds to halt due to winter storm Johna Strickland Rush johna@tribune-georgian.com With a winter storm warning in effect, ice coated much of the southeast Wednesday morning with snow falling in Florida and temperatures on par with An chorage, Alaska. Because of safety concerns with bus transportation, the Cam den County School System an nounced Wednesday afternoon that it would be cancelling all school activities for Thursday, Jan. 4, which would have been students’ first day back from hol iday break. As the storm approached Tues day, several government agencies decided to close their offices and Gov. Nathan Deal declared a state of emergency for 28 coun ties along the coast and inland. The National Weather Service in Jacksonville, Fla., warned that there could be downed trees and power lines, electrical outages, black ice and roads could be im passable. About 6,345 households in Camden were without power by mid afternoon on Wednesday. Camden County Sheriff’s Of fice and St. Marys Police De partment reported icy conditions Wednesday morning, especially on overpasses and bridges. “At this time, no roads or bridges are officially closed,” Camden County EMA shared on its Facebook page. “However, most roads in Camden County are becoming increasingly icy and slick and should be consid ered unsafe.” SMPD posted hourly updates on Wednesday, urging drivers to be safe and stay home if possible. “We’re seeing lots of traffic on the roads. It’s kind of surprising given the conditions. Freezing weather and pouring rain do not make for fun travel,” according to the 10 a.m. update. “... Water is pooling on the roadway in many areas. With the freezing tem peratures, not surprisingly, it turns into ice. We can’t stress it enough. Stay home. Not even the Canadian geese are out today.” Camden County citizens are encouraged to monitor weather forecasts and protect people, pets and pipes from the effects of the cold temperature. Temperatures are forecast to improve later this week. Johna Strickland Rush I Tribune & Georgian Freezing temps and torrential rain left an icy coating on areas west of Interstate 95 Wednesday morning. What will the new year bring for Camden County? Top projects S economic development to watch in 2018 Jill Helton publisher@tribure-georgian.com What are the biggest economic development projects on Camden County’s horizon? With local leaders focused on improving the local economy, several pending projects — from public to private — have the potential to attract industry and create jobs in 2018 and beyond. Construction will begin on a few of them early this year, while the future of others re mains uncertain. Coastal Pines Technical College Exit 3, Kingsland acres (with 61,3 95-square-foot Size: 27 building) Funding: Land was privately donated; cam pus building is state funded; road to the site jointly funded by county and local cities. Status: Waiting for construction funding by Georgia General Assembly; $1.1 million in de sign funds were previously allocated. Expected completion: Unknown; depends . on actions of state legislature/governor. Although Coastal Pines currently shares space in the Camden Center with the College of Coastal Georgia, having its own campus in Kingsland would allow for expansion of available programs as well as free resources and space for prospective industry to train its personnel. With the advent of Move on When Ready, which allows high school students to earn post-secondary credit, CPTC enrollment in Camden has grown significantly over the last few years. This will be a top priority for Cam den County government, business and education leaders when they visit Atlanta as part of the annual fly-in organized by the Camden County Chamber. Camden is currently one of the only military communities in Georgia that does not have a technical college campus, so military ad vocates argue that the campus promote military base retention as well. St. Marys Marine Center Downtown St. Marys on the North River Funding: JDA has agreed to purchase por tion of former mill site with county funds; de veloper will lease or sell to private companies. Site boundaries encompass TAD; Community Improvement District (CID) will be sought. Status: JDA has signed purchase agreement on the land; developer has been selected and development agreement is pending; JDA and developer negotiating with private companies. Camden awarded EPD grant to improve water quality The Camden County Board of Commissioners announces the award of a $204,375 grantfromtheU.S. Environmental Protection Agency that is administered by the Georgia Depart ment of Natural Resources Environmental Protection Division (EPD). The grant funding will be used for sep tic system remediation and water quality improvements for Horsepen Creek in an effort to reduce pollutants in the St. Marys River. “We are excited for the opportunity to work with the Georgia EPD on this project,” said county admin istrator Steve Howard. “We value working with our part ners, both locally and in the den County.” erkeeper, the Georgia De- Management Committee The total project cost, in state of Georgia, to make a Camden County will also partment of Environmental and the University of Geor- eluding in-kind services, is positive difference for Cam- join with the St. Marys Riv- Health, St. Marys River gia to complete the project, more than $375,000. Submitted photo The Camden County Board of Commissioners recently received a $204,375 grant for septic system remediation and water quality improvements. Pictured are (from left) commissioners Lannie Brant, grants manager Julie Haigler, Jimmy Starline, St. Marys Riverkeeper Rick Frey, Ben Casey and Chuck Clark. T raffic stop nets arrests for card fraud Johna Strickland Rush iohna@tribune-georgian.com Four Tampa, Fla., resi dents have been arrested in Camden on felony charges after deputies found 41 debit cards in their possession and a machine used to make cards. Dajor Marquis Atkins, 25, Larry Eliscart, 23, Ka- reem Collin Grant, 25, and Regianna Lashonta Jones, 27, were all arrested Dec. 27 and charged with criminal possession of financial trans action card forgery devices. Atkins was also cited for speeding and driving with out a license, according to the Camden County Sher iff s Office. At nearly 2 a.m. Dec. 27, Deputy Ryan Sullivan was patrolling on Interstate 95 and pursued a vehicle speed ing at 83 mph. He pulled the car over and approached on the passenger side, see ing Atkins and Grant in the front seat and Eliscart and Jones in the back. “While approaching the passenger side front window of the vehicle, I could see that Mr. Grant began mov ing around and it appeared that he had either placed something into his back pocket or that he placed something under his rear end,” Sullivan wrote in the incident report. Sullivan asked for identifi cation from everyone. Grant said he didn’t have any and offered a silver gift card. Grant was sitting toward the side of his seat, so Sul livan asked if he was sitting on something and Grant said no. As Sullivan talked with the group, he smelled mari juana and noticed marijuana See ARRESTS, page 8A 84264 00003 Poll What public projects do you think will be most beneficial to Camden? Vote online at www.tribune-georgian.com and see last week’s results on page 5A. Index Obituaries 2A Sports 1B Opinion 4A Church Directory 3B Upcoming events 6A Classifieds 4B Crime report 6A Legals 6B Tribune & Georgian Volume 115, No. 1 © 2018, Tribune & Georgian, Community Newspapers Inc.
