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The ADVANCE, August 30, 2023/Page 10A
Stye Aiiuancg
Port of Savannah gets
new ship-to-shore cranes
By Dave Williams
Bureau Chief
Capitol Beat News Service
Four new ship-to-
shore cranes capable of
servicing the largest con
tainerized-cargo ships
have arrived at the Port
of Savannah, the Geor
gia Ports Authority an
nounced Friday.
The new cranes, which
arrived on Thursday, will
increase the crane fleet
at the port’s Garden City
Terminal to 34 after four
older cranes were retired
and recycled.
“Along with the com
pletion of our project to
improve Berth 1, these
cranes will help deliver
faster turn times to our
ocean carrier customers,
including the largest ves
sels calling on the U.S.
East Coast,” said Griff
Lynch, the ports author
ity’s president and CEO.
“No other terminal in
the nation can bring more
cranes to bear or match
the efficiency, productivi
ty, and global connectivity
of the Port of Savannah.”
Two of the cranes
will be 295 feet tall when
fully assembled, while the
other two will be 306 feet
tall. The taller cranes will
be offloaded at Berth 1 of
the Garden City Terminal,
while the other two are
headed up the Savannah
River to Berth 9.
The new cranes cou
pled with improvements
to Berth 1 will increase
the Garden City Termi
nal’s annual capacity by
1.5 million twenty-foot
equivalent units (TEUs)
of containerized cargo.
The new equipment is
part of the ports authori
ty’s $1.9 billion infrastruc
ture improvement plan
aimed at keeping up with
future supply chain needs.
Georgia Supreme Court
removes suspended judge
from Court of Appeals
By Dave Williams
Bureau Chief
Capitol Beat News Service
The Georgia Supreme
Court Wednesday re
moved suspended Judge
Christian Coomer from
the state Court of Appeals.
In a unanimous deci
sion, the justices upheld
the recommendation of
a state Judicial Qualifica
tions Commission (JQC)
hearing panel, which found
Coomer’s misuse of cam
paign funds and dealings
with a client before he be
came a judge undermined
public confidence.
“The judiciary’s judg
ment will be obeyed only
so long as the public re
spects it, and that respect
will not long survive
judges who act in a man
ner that undermines public
confidence in their judg
ment and integrity,” the
court wrote in a 49-page
ruling.
Coomer, a Republican
and former state legisla
tor, was appointed to the
Court of Appeals in 2018
and elected to a full six-year
term in 2020. Later that
year, the JQC charged him
with violating the Georgia
Code of Judicial Conduct,
and he was suspended
from the bench with pay in
January 2021 pending the
outcome of the case.
The JQC recom
mended removing Coomer
from the bench following a
three-month hearing early
this year.
The charges against
Coomer stemmed from
his relationship with James
Filhart, an elderly client
he began representing in
2015. Filhart hired Coom
er to pursue an action for
guardianship of Filhart’s
girlfriend, according to the
court ruling.
After the matter was
resolved successfully,
Coomer continued to rep
resent Filhart in other legal
matters, including drafting
a will that named Coomer
and his heirs among the
beneficiaries and Coomer
as executor and trustee.
Coomer also accepted
several loans from Fil
hart, including a loan of
$130,000 in 2018 to abusi-
ness Coomer controlled
that lacked assets, the rul
ing stated. The loan was
not secured, and Coomer
provided no personal guar
antee.
By 2019, the relation
ship between the two men
had soured, and Filhart e-
mailed Coomer demand
ing that the judge return
the money he had bor
rowed. Coomer repaid the
loan in 2020 after Filhart
filed a lawsuit against him.
Coomer also was ac
cused of transferring cam
paign funds to his law firm’s
operating account and, in
two instances, failing to
report the transfers on his
campaign contributions
disclosure report. A third
instance involved a trip to
Hawaii before Coomer left
the General Assembly that
he said was for legislative
business but ultimately was
found to have been for lei
sure, according to the rul
ing.
Coomer reimbursed
his campaign account for
expenses from the trip af
ter the state Campaign Fi
nance Commission began
investigating him.
Wednesday’s ruling
prohibits Coomer from be
ing elected or appointed to
any judicial office for seven
years.
Both sides score partial wins
in Georgia elections lawsuit
By Dave Williams
Bureau Chief
Capitol Beat News Service
A federal court judge
has handed both sides in
a lawsuit over a controver
sial election reform bill the
General Assembly passed
two years ago a partial vic
tory and a partial defeat.
Judge J.P. Boulee grant
ed a preliminary injunction
Friday to civil rights and
voting rights groups tem
porarily blocking portions
of Senate Bill 202 that re
stricted volunteers from
providing food and water
to voters waiting in long
lines at the polls. In a par
tial win for the plaintiffs,
the judge declared the ban
would apply only within
150 feet of a polling place.
Boulee also threw out a
provision requiring voters
to include their birthdate
on absentee ballot enve
lopes.
“Today’s decisions
remove some of SB202’s
barriers to absentee and in-
person voting in the 2024
election cycle,” said Rahul
Garabadu, senior voting
rights staff attorney at the
American Civil Liberties
Union’s Georgia chapter.
“The court recognized that
voters should not be dis
enfranchised for forgetting
to write their birthdate on
their absentee ballot enve
lope, or arrested for offer
ing food or drink to voters
in line outside the 150-foot
zone around polling loca
tions.”
But the judge also gave
Georgia Secretary of State
Brad Raffensperger reason
to celebrate. Boulee upheld
portions of the legislation
banning ballot harvesting
- the gathering and sub
mitting of absentee ballots
by third parties - and limit
ing the number of absentee
ballot drop boxes.
“Georgia has one of
the best absentee ballot
systems in the country,”
Raffensperger said. “We
have no-excuse absentee
ballots, with voters verified
with photo ID and who are
given an opportunity to
cure any discrepancy prior
to their ballot being reject
ed. It’s a system that works
well.”
The plaintiffs had
brought the lawsuit before
last year’s elections. But the
judge declined to issue a
ruling last August, arguing
that changing election laws
close to an election would
confuse voters.
The General Assem
bly’s Republican majori
ties passed SB202 in 2021
after Democrats had scored
major gains in Georgia in
the 2020 election cycle,
including Joe Biden’s vic
tory over incumbent GOP
President Donald Trump
and the capture of both of
the Peach State’s U.S. Sen
ate seats.
With the COVTD-19
pandemic going strong,
absentee voting played a
major role in the 2020 elec
tions, with drop boxes be
ing used for the first time.
Georgia State Retirees Association
to Hold Meeting in Lyons
The public is invited
to attend a community
outreach meeting hosted
by the Savannah Coastal
Chapter of the Georgia
State Retirees Association
in Lyons on Thursday, Sep
tember 7. The meeting will
be held at Chatters Coun
try Buffet Restaurant, 674
NW Broad St., Lyons. A
buffet lunch will be pro
vided.
Attendees will learn
about the Georgia State
Retirees’ Association
(GRSA) and how it is
working for them. Chapter
President, Allan Hill, and
retirees Laura Ryan and
Lorr Elias will follow with
a question and answer ses
sion. Members of the pub
lic may ask questions at the
event, or send questions in
advance to savannahgsra(a)
gmail.com.
Why is the GSRA con
ducting this meeting?
The urgent need to in
crease GSRA membership
in every county. GSRA
is the only organization
working on behalf of state
employees and retirees to
advocate for pensions and
healthcare benefits.
• To provide an over
view and update of threats
to state pensions and CO
LAS (cost-of-living adjust
ments).
• To stress the impor
tance of all retirees and
current state employees in
being involved.
• To demonstrate how
every state employee and
retiree can help to preserve
retirement pension and
health care benefits.
• To outline steps that
the organization is taking
to encourage state legis
lators to reinstate once-
routine, semi-annual 1.5%
COLAS and preserve af
fordable health care ben
efits.
Annual membership
in the GRSA is $20. Mem
bers receive a monthly
newsletter and action
alerts. Annual membership
mail-in forms will be pro
vided at the meeting. State
retirees are asked to bring
their pension ID number
if they wish to set up auto
matic $1.67 monthly pen
sion withdrawals for mem
berships.
For more information
about GSRA or to join on
line: www.mygsra.com or
call 770-312-2799.
State senators to take on
commercial trucker shortage
By Dave Williams
Bureau Chief
Capitol Beat News Service
The Georgia Senate is
about to tackle a persistent
shortage of workers in one
of the state’s key industries:
commercial trucking.
A Senate study com
mittee formed to find so
lutions to an inadequate
supply of truck drivers will
hold its first meeting this
coming Wednesday.
“It’s been an issue for
awhile,” said Seth Millican,
executive director of the
Georgia Transportation
Alliance, an affiliate of the
Georgia Chamber of Com
merce. “The pandemic and
supply chain crunch we
saw directed a lot of atten
tion to it.”
The shortage is being
felt particularly in long-
haul trucking. Millican
said many drivers have
been lured away from the
long-haul segment of the
industry by the growth in
e-commerce that accompa
nied the pandemic and has
continued as Georgians
become accustomed to the
convenience.
“People who had never
been online shopping be
came one during the pan
demic,” Millican said.
“A lot of drivers are
working for Amazon,” add
ed state Sen. Jason Anavi-
tarte, R-Dallas, who will
chair the study committee.
“They still drive a truck,
but they can go home at
night.”
Like many other indus
tries, commercial trucking
is suffering from an aging
workforce.
Ray Perren, the Tech
nical College System of
Georgia’s (TCSG) deputy
commissioner for techni
cal education, said more
than half of the commercial
trucking workforce is with
in five years of retirement.
The technical college
system has been working
for the past decade to train
young Georgians to replace
those retiring truckers. An
initiative then-Gov. Nathan
Deal launched in 2013 to
offer full tuition coverage
through the HOPE Grant
program for technical col
lege students pursuing cer
tain high-demand careers
includes commercial truck
driving.
Enrollment in the TC-
SG’s commercial trucking
program increased by 24%
during the last school year
to more than 2,600 stu
dents, Perren said.
“We took a dip during
the pandemic, but it’s com
ing back strong,” he said.
The technical col
lege system recently was
awarded an $8.3 million
state grant to expand the
program, which already
is offered at 19 of the sys
tem’s 22 technical colleges.
West Georgia Technical
College in LaGrange has
just opened a new trucking
range, and ranges are being
built at technical colleges
in Columbus and Augusta,
Perren said.
Still, Perren said there
are challenges to training
enough students to meet
the growing need for truck
drivers. He said one obsta
cle is Georgians’ attitudes
toward a technical college
education.
“There’s so much em
phasis on getting a four-
year degree,” he said.
Perren said parents
and students don’t realize
there’s good money to be
made in commercial truck
driving. Graduates of the
technical college system’s
five-week commercial
trucking program earn
starting salaries of at least
$42,000 a year, he said.
“That’s not a bad sal
ary for a five-week training
program,” he said. “There’s
a lot of earning potential in
this career.”
Perren said another
obstacle to churning out
more commercial truck
drivers is that - unlike
other TCSG high-demand
career programs - high
school students can’t earn
dual enrollment credits be
cause Georgians must be
18 to get a learner’s permit
to drive commercial trucks.
Millican said the Gen
eral Assembly could help
address the shortage of
truckers through tort re
form, a cause the Georgia
Chamber has embraced for
years.
“In Georgia, it’s often
exorbitantly expensive or
impossible to insure a driv
er with less than two years
of experience,” he said.
Millican said other
steps lawmakers could take
to make trucking a more
attractive career choice
would be to support ini
tiatives aimed at reducing
chronic traffic congestion
- particularly in the Atlan
ta region - and identifying
and securing more parking
options for big rigs.
Anavitarte said the
committee likely will hold
two or three meetings
around the state before a
final meeting in Atlanta in
November to finalize rec
ommendations for the full
Senate to consider during
the 2024 legislative ses
sion.
State Department of Natural Resources
veteran promoted to commissioner
By Dave Williams
Bureau Chief
Capitol Beat News Service
A veteran adminis
trator with the Georgia
Department of Natural
Resources (DNR) is the
agency’s new commis
sioner.
The state Board of
Natural Resources voted
Tuesday to promote Wal
ter Rabon to the top post.
Rabon has been serving
as interim commissioner
since the beginning of
July, when Mark Williams
left the DNR to become
executive director of the
Jekyll Island Authority.
Rabon began his ca
reer with the DNR in 1993
as a conservation ranger
and worked his way up
through the agency’s Law
Enforcement Division. He
served there as a major
before being promoted to
deputy commissioner.
“Throughout his
many years of service ...
Walter Rabon has dedicat
ed himself to the mission
of protecting hardworking
Georgians and their ability
to enjoy our outdoor spac
es,” Gov. Brian Kemp said
Tuesday. “I look forward
to DNR’s continued suc
cess ensuring our state is a
good steward of its natural
resources as he continues
to lead the department.”
Rabon earned a bach
elor’s degree in public ad
ministration from Brenau
University and a master’s
degree from Columbus
State University.