About The Islander. (St. Simons Island, Ga.) 1972-current | View Entire Issue (July 21, 2008)
JSlflND€R_ • Dave Barry - 8 • Editorial Back Talk - 20 • Health -14 • Movie Review Hellboy II: The Golden Army-12 • Pet Page -13 • Pew News -18 Surfin’ the News Published by Permar Publications • P.O. Box 20539 • St. Simons Island, Ga. 31522 • 912-265-9654 • ssislander@bellsouth.net July 21, 2008 Established 1972 Vol 36 Issue 29 Liberty Harbor honors unsung WWII heroes Top: The Surrency sisters from Ware County shared their memories at the Mariner's Memorial Park dedication last week. From left: Nanelle Sur rency Bacon, Carobeth Surrency Highsmith and Lauree Surrency Hires. Right: Congressman Jack Kingston, third from left, introduces Col. Tom Full er, left, Nannelle Surren cy Bacon, and Nicholas Brissey, 2008 Merchant Marine Academy gradu ate, to the crowd. Islander staff photos Mariners' Memorial Park dedicated July 7 By Pamela Permar Shierling School system institutes new registration process The Glynn Comity School System has instituted a new centralized registration pro cess for parents who are enrolling their child in school in Glynn County for the first time. Parents will now visit a central registration location, as opposed to visiting individ ual schools, to register their child or children "The new process will help us to improve the accuracy of our student data," said Dr. Mike Hall, Glynn County's chief technology officer. "This is particularly important with regard to data that is reported to the state for accountabil ity purposes. With centralized registration, there are only a Turn to Page 7 School registration Casino pool on SPC agenda The Glynn County Commis sion's application for a Dept, of Natural Resources' (DNR) permit to build a new swim ming pool facility in Neptune Park on St. Simons Island will be heard by the DNR's Shore Protection Committee (SPC) on Thursday, July 24. The committee meeting is open to the public and will be held at 9:00 a.m. at the Stellar Conference Center at 144 Ven tura Dr. in Brunswick, just off SPUR 25. According to Glynn County Commissioner Uli Keller (Dist. 2) the Shore Protection permit is the last step in getting ready for pool construction. "The pool design is complete and the bid documents are ready to go," said Keller, "We're just waiting for the DNR per mit." □ Correction In the July 14 edition of The Islander, in an article on page 2 titled "United Way of Coastal Georgia announces 2008 Live United campaign goal of $1.5 million" the Star Foundation was inadvertently left out. The Star Foundation is one of the 18 approved agencies who will receive United Way funding this year. □ Glynn County election results By Matthew J. Permar With a number of local races on the ballot, local voter turnout was about average for Glynn County last week for the General Primary at just under 27%. Key local races included two state senate seats, three state house seats, four county com mission seats and four board of education seats, along with a number of constitutional offic es including District Attorney, Probate Court Judge, Superior Court Clerk, Sheriff, Tax Com missioner, Surveyor, Coroner and Chief Magistrate. Note: The results in this article were rounded to the nearest whole percent. In the races for Glynn Coun ty Commission, Amy Calloway pulled 63% of the Republican vote to upset incumbent Carl Johnson for the Dist. 1 seat. With no Democratic opposi tion in the November General Turn to Page 5 Election results Annual Kingfish Classic to be held July 31-August 2 By Jake Harrison Between 600 and 750 ama teur and professional fisherman from all over the Southeast will participate in the 2008 Golden Isles Kingfish Classic (GIKFC) next week, all with the hope of landing the ‘big one” that will push them into the winner’s circle and earn them the grand prize. The annual fishing tourna ment will be held Thursday, July 31 through Saturday, August 2. Approximately 150 boats will compete in this year’s tour nament. The teams fish from 7:30 a.m. - 5:00 p.m. on Friday and Saturday. The Classic, held at Gas coigne Bluff Park on St. Simons Island, is a non-profit organiza tion which has raised $294,000 for local charities and children's organizations since its incep tion in 1995. Turn to Page 11 Kingfish Classic It was a moving event, but the best part of the Mariners' Memorial Park dedication last week were the stories the Sur rency sisters and Col. Tom Full er shared of their days working in the Brunswick ship yards in the 1940s during the height of the J.A. Jones Construction Company's liberty ship project. On Monday July 14 U.S. Congressman (Dist. 1) Jack Kingston introduced the speak ers by way of a short history of Brunswick's Liberty Ships. "These ships," Kingston said, "were welded, not riveted and they were run by boilers." "At one point as many as 15,000 workers participated in the building of these ships in the Brunswick shipyard," he said. "Liberty Ships carried 75% of the materials needed to fight World War II, and one in 26 Merchant Marines died during war, the highest fatality rate of any branch of the ser vice during WWII." Brunswick resident Col. Tom Fuller was 14 years old and drove a truck for a food vendor who serviced the ship yard workers. "I tried to join the Navy but was turned down because I was too young," he said. "But by driving that truck I could help the war effort." "My father was a WW I veteran and encouraged me. I wanted to be a soldier so I joined the Army and finished Turn to Page 5 Mariners' Memorial Park
