About The Islander. (St. Simons Island, Ga.) 1972-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 3, 2008)
500 JSLflND€R_ • Dave Barry - 8 • Editorial Back Talk - 24 • Health -10 • Movie Review Pride and Glory -1 • Pew News - 22 • Sports -11 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
