About The Coastal courier. (Hinesville, Ga.) 1980-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 31, 2018)
Those who served Page14 Jan. 31-Feb. 2, 2018 Newsstand Price - $1.50 Home Delivery - 47 cents or less Ulrick John gives back. Page 12 Coastal Courier For Home Delivery Call 912-876-0156 COASTALCOURIER.COM Hinesville | Walthourville | Allenhurst | Midway | Riceboro | Ludowici | Gumbranch | Flemington Author ities are investi gating a mur der at Freed man Grove Road. Lewis Levine Midway man slain in Fleming BY Lewis Levine Senior correspondent Local and state authorities are investigating the death of a Midway man whose body was found Mon day afternoon in Fleming beside a pickup outside a Freedman Grove Road residence. The victim was identified Tues day morning as James Caswell Jones, 62, of Midway. He had been shot, according to authorities. Both the Liberty County Sher iff’s Office and Georgia Bureau of Investigation are investigating Jones’ death. “We’re treating this as a murder at this point,” Liberty County Sher iff Steve Sikes said Monday night. “We’re doing a lot of inquiries right now, and anyone who saw anything at this scene here today that looked unusual to them, please give us a call.” Sikes said Tuesday that authori ties were still investigating leads, but a search in the area for a weapon had come up empty. Jones’ body was found shortly after 3:30 p.m. beside a blue GMC Serria pickup with Liberty County tags. Anyone with information can call 912-876-2131. Officer who sues W-ville fired by email? Raiders get new, but historic, mission BY Patty Leon pleon@coastalcourier.com 912-876-0156, ext. 1025 A Walthourville police officer who recently settled a lawsuit against the city was fired Jan. 19. Officer Latarchia Lee claims she was fired in an email from Mayor Daisy Pray and City Clerk Melissa Jones. Lee said she’s been on medi cal leave since Dec. 26 and was fired for failing to complete two hours of annual training in 2017, which she said resulted in her power to make arrests being suspended by the Georgia Peace Officer’s Standards and Training board. Lee said her leave was due to work-related stress, high blood pressure and a pending surgery, but claims she’s been a target of harassment and retaliation since October, around the time her suit was being settled. She said the city council and mayor violated federal and state labor laws. According to court docu ments from the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Georgia, Savannah Division, there is a pending settlement requiring Walthourville to pay $7,142 in legal fees and $12,154 in overtime and back pay to Lee. Lee said she was harassed by Jones, who questioned her med ical leave. But Jones said Lee went on medical leave Dec. 29, not Dec. 26, and as required by the city’s policy, “A physician excuse is required if the duration of sick leave is three or more days.” Jones added that, “At least one of Officer Lee’s doctor’s notes appeared to have been altered. We asked Officer Lee for an ex planation of the apparent dis crepancy or permission to verify with the facility. She did not re spond to the request.” Lee said the mayor accessed her POST records looking for anything that could be used against her as punishment back in October. She said Jones and Pray first tried to force her to take training that wasn’t necessary for her po sition. When she went on medi cal leave she missed training and was suspended by POST, and they pounced on the opportuni ty to fire her, Lee claims. Former WPD Chief Bernie Quarterman said it was com mon for an officer to be tempo rarily suspended due to training. The officer signs a waiver say ing he or she will complete the training by a certain time and the officer is reinstated, he said. Jones said Lee remains under POST suspension. Quarterman, who was fired Jan. 10 for violating overtime policy and failing to comply with city requests after a suspen sion in November, said that as a result of the suit, the city had to compensate other officers for past mistakes. City Attorney Jeff Arnold said the mistakes were made by police officers and they cost the city money. “The city is having to pay fees and penalties due to the over time not being reported correct ly from the police department,” he said. Quarterman said those “fees and penalties,” were actual over time hours Lee and other offi cers worked but were not com pensated for. He said the city is blaming him for the payroll errors but the responsibility of payroll pro cessing is handled through the mayor’s office. He said some officers were owed back pay for hours worked in 2012. “This was the responsibility of payroll processing, done at city hall, under the directives of the current administration,” Quarterman said. “The police department submits the hours worked, which it did, and pay- roll department processes pay- roll. Once again that department needs to be held accountable.” Jeff Whitten weh a J -1 s ( Above, Col. Mike Adams, back to camera, commander of the 1st Armored Brigade Combat Team, and soldiers with the brigade's color guard "case" the unit's colors during a ceremony Tuesday at Marne Garden on Fort Stewart. The deployment to South Korea drew the attention of media near and far. Below, Sgt. Kelvin Couver- cier talks to a reporter from Georgia Public Broadcasting. 3rd ID’s 1st Armored Brigade Combat Team going to Korea BYJEFF Whitten jwhitten@coastalcourier.com 912-876-0156, ext. 1023 The 3rd Infantry Division’s return to the Korean peninsula took a ceremonial step forward Tuesday afternoon at Marne Gardens on Fort Stewart. There, soldiers of the 1st Ar mored Brigade Combat Team furled the unit colors in prepa ration for the brigade’s nine- month “rotational deployment” to South Korea. Though some have linked the deployment to recent tensions between the U.S. and North Korea, the rotation was sched uled in 2015 and the brigade is the fifth such unit to deploy to South Korea in three years. But the presence of any ABCT remains a clear sign the U.S. means business, 1st Brigade Commander Col. Mike Adams said at Tuesday’s “colors casing” ceremony. “As one of 10 active duty ar mored brigade combat teams, we bring a level of firepower and lethality that is unmatched in the world today,” Adams said. “I just put it this way. When the United States of America sends a paratrooper unit somewhere globally, that demonstrates the resolve of American interests to all regional actors — friendly, neutral and potential adversary. When America sends one of its armored brigade combat teams, the message is unmistakable: ‘Don’t try me.’” Some 4,000 soldiers from the 1st ABCT, known as the Raider Brigade, will go to South Korea and will be stationed in various locations around the peninsula, according to Maj. Pete Bogart, the brigade’s public affairs offi cer. They’re heading to “one of the most heavily militarized borders in the world and the commercial HISTORIC continues on 5 Miss your Paper? Call (912) 876-2566 We deliver replacement papers within Liberty & Long County between the hours of 8:00am and 12:00pm on Monday and Wednesday. For all calls received after 12:00pm, we will credit your account or send the missed issue on the next publication day. For Saturday delivery call (912) 876-2566 and leave your name and address before 9:00am and a paper will be delivered to you that day. For all calls received after 9:00am, we will credit your account or send the missed issue on Monday. Subscribers can also read every page of the paper online at coastalcourier.com/pdfs Weekend fires plague Liberty and Long counties BY PATTY LEON pleon@coastalcourier.com 912-876-0156, ext. 1025 Firefighters from the Ludo- wici/Long County Fire Depart ment battled a blaze Saturday afternoon which destroyed one mobile home and spread to the mobile home next door. The fire broke out at the Spring Creek Mobile Home Park off Ti bet Road in Long County around 5 p.m. The Ludowici/Long County Fire Department requested assis tance from the Walthourville Fire Department and the Long Coun ty State Prison Fire Team. The Long county Sheriff’s Office and Excelsior EMS also responded to the scene. Crews arrived to find unit #25, a single wide aluminum framed mobile home, completely en gulfed in flames. The heat and fire melted the vinyl siding of the mobile home next door. Soon smoke and flames billowed from the second unit. Firefighters quickly extin- FIRES continues on 5 Firefight ers battle a blaze Saturday at Spring Hill Mobile Home Park. Patty Leon Volume 149 • Issue 9 6 91868 31310 TABLE OF CONTENTS Calendar Classifieds Obituaries Opinion 2 Entertainment 9-12 Honor rolls 5 Lennox Valley 4 Living with children 7 Sound off 6 Sports 7 Tides 7 Weather — ONLINE: CHECK OUT THE LATEST ON 2 THE WEATHER IN LIBERTY AND LONG 12 COUNTY'S NO. 1 LOCAL NEWS AND 2 SPORTS WEBSITE.
