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Published by Permar Publications • P.O. Box 20539 • St. Simons Island, Ga. 31522 • 912-265-9654 • www.theislanderonline.com • ssislander@bellsouth.net
February 22, 2010 Established 1972 Vol 38 Issue 8
A living memorial
In honor of his late wife Kathleen, Frank Vande Linde donated two live oak trees to
replace the McCullough Oak on Union Street. On Friday, February 19, the Brunswick
Park and Tree Board honored Vande Linde's donation with a short dedication. Vande
Linde, fourth from left, is joined by his children, son Scott Vande Linde (left to right) and
his wife Dee; daughter Mary Ann Vande Linde; son Gary Vande Linde and grandson
Eric; and daughter Sara Vande Linde Giannakakis under one of the live oaks.
The camellia wreaths, hanging from both trees, were made by Sara and were Kath
leen Vande Linde's favorite flower. Islander Staff Photo - Long
McCullough Oak replaced on Union Street
Public-private
partnership
proposed for jail
By Matthew J. Permar
Along with being active in
community organizations such
as the St. Simons Island Land
Trust, Ben Slade and Fred
Freyer readily admit they are
businessmen and developers.
They also readily admit
they stand to make money if
the Glynn County Commission
accepts their proposal to build
a new jail facility under a pub
lic-private partnership.
On Tuesday, Feb. 16, Slade
and Freyer called a press con
ference to announce the pro
posal to local media.
Slade told the press he
and Freyer have been talking
about the public-private part
nership proposal for several
months and since the county
commission would be discuss
ing the jail during their meet
ing on Thursday, Feb. 18 they
decided to go public with the
proposal and ask the county to
hear them out at a future work
session.
According to Slade, he and
Freyer have put together
Glynn Judicial Development,
LLC (GJD), a private devel
opment group that proposes
to partner with Glynn County
and a public authority for the
design and construction of a
detention center and adminis
trative offices for the sheriffs
department within the county.
While Slade did not name
a specific authority to partici
pate in the partnership, Bruns
wick’s Downtown Development
Authority and the Brunswick
Glynn Economic Development
Authority are two examples of
the type of entity to which he
was referring.
Slade said GJD has a large
tract of land outside the city
“under contract” where the jail
could be built, but that their
proposal was not tied to any
specific piece of property. He
declined to identify the prop
erty they have under contract.
Slade said, “Public private
partnerships for building pub
lic facilities, known as P3s, are
common in Europe and Aus
tralia, and they have recently
Turn to Page 6
Partnership
About a year ago the 400
year McCullough Oak in the
800 block of Union Street fell.
It fell on a car. The young
woman who had been in the
car moments before the tree
fell, realized she had left her
purse in the house and went
back inside to retrieve it.
When she came out, the oak
was on her car.
Local lore surrounding the
McCullough Oak relates that
during the early 1900s citi
zens held an armed protest to
save the tree from being cut
down to make way for a trol
ley track. The tree was saved
and the track was never built
and Union Street was actu
ally built around the tree.
Long time Brunswick resi
dent Frank Vande Linde loves
trees, loves the area and loves
to give back to the commu-
By Pamela Permar Shierling
nity.
Mr. Vande Linde, in mem
ory of his wife Kathleen who
also loved Brunswick's trees,
donated two live oaks which
have been planted in the same
area of the McCullough Oak.
Neighbors, friends, mem
bers of the Brunswick Park
and Tree Board and represen
tatives of the City celebrat
ed Vande Linde's generous
donation last Friday with a
city proclamation, dedication
and blessing of these beauti
ful trees.
Vande Linde was the chair
man of the Brunswick Park
and Tree Board from 1991 to
1997. Nick Chilton, current
chairman of the City's Park
and Tree Board, said Febru
ary 19 was chosen as the dedi
cation date to coincide with
Arbor Day in Georgia.
Brunswick has had the
"Tree City" designation for
14 years and the two oaks
donated by Vande Linde will
be used as part of the city's
tree planting program, Chil
ton said.
The live oaks are 30 ft.
tall and eight inches in diam
eter and were purchased
from Future Trees in States
boro. The City Public Works
Department assisted in dig
ging the hole for one of the
trees.
"It is a blessing to me and
my family to plant these trees
in memory of my wife," Mr.
Vande Linde said. "She loved
trees and the outdoors."
Trees may be planted in
someone's memory or dona
tions may be given to the
City Park and Tree Board for
future tree plantings. □
Movement
on county jail
project small
• SPLOST 6 for jail?
By Matthew J. Permar
Discussion about the Glynn
County Detention Center
(CDC) expansion project dur
ing last week's county com
mission meeting was not with
out its contentious moments,
but in the end the commission
voted unanimously to take a
small step forward on the proj
ect.
As long as it didn't cost any
money.
The Thursday, Feb. 18 meet
ing agenda included an item
(#14) to "consider authorizing
staff to have the architectural
plans for the CDC expansion
revised and updated to reflect
possible design options at and
around the existing CDC loca
tion."
The reason for the design
revision was noted in a press
release issued by the county on
Friday, Feb. 19 stating, "The
County acquired the property
in the block directly north of
the existing detention center
with the frill awareness that
the City of Brunswick had for
mally agreed to close I Street
in September 2007."
"Since that time," the docu
ment continues, "the City has
rescinded its agreement, leav
ing the County without use
of streets key to the project’s
initial architectural design. In
addition, Mr. Bob Torras pur
chased his interest in prop
erty on this block well after the
County’s intent was known.
He paid the owner of record for
that property nearly twice the
appraised value."
"These two factors have
been responsible for over a
year of delays in constructing
the detention center expansion
as planned," according to the
press release.
Without I St. and Torras's
property the county has to re
design the jail around these
properties. This was at the
core of the action taken during
last week's meeting.
But as was noted at the
beginning of this article, the
Turn to Page 5
Jail expansion
