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Surfin’
the News
Published by Permar Publications • P.O. Box 20539 • St. Simons Island, Ga. 31522 • 912-265-9654 • ssislander@bellsouth.net
November 3, 2008 Established 1972 Vol 36 Issue 44
Thaw wants
Gateway project
done at night
By Matthew J. Permar
Along with the Airport Rd.
realignment and the Fred-
erica-Demere roundabout, the
St. Simons Island Gateway is
the last of three major road
improvement projects on St.
Simons that have been sup
ported by the current county
commission.
And Glynn County Engineer
Jim Bruner has been working
on it for about five years, since
it came out of the St. Simons
Transportation Study done by
Wilbur Smith Associates in
June of 2003.
Not only has the project
required extensive engineering
and right-of-way issues, it will
impact marsh areas in sev
eral places, so Dept, of Natural
Resources and Army Corps of
Engineers permits had to be
obtained.
Bruner can finally see the
light at the end of the tunnel
Turn to Page 6
Gateway project
Judge upholds
Special Master
in Glynn eminent
domain case
On Thursday, October 30,
Superior Court Judge Charles
Rose, Jr. of the Atlantic Judi
cial Circuit executed an Order
affirming and upholding the
ruling of Special Master Pat
rick O’Conner in the eminent
domain case between Glynn
County and Brunswick Land
ing, LLC.
The eminent domain con
demnation matter was tried
before O'Conner between Sept.
3 and 5, after which the Spe
cial Master entered a ruling in
favor of Glynn County, which
authorized the condemnation
of the last two remaining par
cels of property on the block
adjacent to the Glynn County
Detention Center between I
and J Streets.
The two parcels are owned
by Bob Torras, Sr. and his
company, Brunwick Landing,
Turn to Page 7
Rose rules for county
City delegation
leaves for China
By Pamela Permar Shierling
Last Friday Brunswick
Mayor Bryan Thompson, City
Commissioners James Brooks
and Cornell Harvey, and Assis
tant City Manager Bill Weeks
left town for a week long trip
to China to meet with officials
from Brunswick's sister city,
Guangzhou.
"The process began over a
year ago when we began talk
ing with Vernon Martin, who
was head of the Coastal Geor
gia Regional Development
Center at the time, about the
idea of a sister city in China,"
Mayor Thompson said.
"Vernon had hosted sev
eral groups from China, and
Brunswick city officials always
met with their delegations,"
he said.
"When we looked into the
opportunity of forming a sister
city partnership with a Chi
nese city we discovered that
their cities similar to Bruns-
Turn to Page 6
City delegates go to China
Dropping
property values
sparks local reval
By Matthew J. Permar
With the drop in the stock
market and the national home
loan crisis, the Glynn Comity
Commission recently decided
it might be wise to have the
local Board of Assessors (BOA)
perform a county-wide prop
erty revaluation.
During a commission meet
ing early last month, local
elected officials asked Chief
Appraiser Robert ‘Bobby’ Ger-
hardt to prepare a proposal for
a parcel by parcel inspection of
all 45,297 parcels in the county
for the 2009 Tax Digest.
On Tuesday, Oct. 28, Ger-
hardt and BOA chairman Ann
McCann reported to the Coun
ty Finance Committee that
they had come up with a plan
for the reval.
The plan calls for nine tem
porary workers to help with
the property inspections along
with additional equipment that
Turn to Page 7
County-wide reval
Junior League takes on CASA
Above: CASA Exec. Direc
tor lisa East (left to right)
takes a moment to thank
local Junior league mem
bers Beth Respess and Jen
nifer Wilcoxon for their help
with decorating CASA's
new Coastal Family Visita
tion Center.
Below: Junior leaguers
(front to back) Robyn Fen-
dig, Beth Respess, Kimberly
Pittman (left), and Jenni
fer Wilcoxon take a well
deserved break from deco
rating the children's play
room in new visitation cen
ter.
Junior League helps CASA with 'Coastal Family
Visitation Center' as volunteer project
As if they aren’t already
doing enough for local foster
children, CASA Glynn (Court
Appointed Special Advocates)
recently opened the Coastal
Family Visitation Center in
order to provide a safe place for
foster kids to visit with their
families.
The idea for the visitation
center came from CASA board
member Lillian Clarke whose
daughter was involved with a
similar visitation center that
has been very successful in
Boca Raton, Florida.
The local center is made up
By Matthew J. Permar
of three separate rooms inside
CASA’s Newcastle St. office.
CASA Executive Director
Lisa East said, ‘We wanted to
provide a safe, pleasant, fun
place for these kids to have a
quality visit with their fami
lies.”
The rooms are decorated
and furnished a little differ
ently for different age ranges
of the kids.
One room, the playroom, is
filled with toys and games for
younger children.
In Boca Raton, according
to Clarke, the visitation cen
ter was a project of the local
Junior League. The same was
the case with CASA Glynn.
“Fortunately for CASA, we
had some wonderful help from
the local Junior League who
furnished and decorated the
rooms for us as one of their
volunteer projects,” said East,
“Our staff and board of direc
tors are extremely thankful for
their assistance.”
East said that CASA board
of directors member Bess
Thompson, who is a Junior
Turn to Page 7
Visitation Center
