About The Islander. (St. Simons Island, Ga.) 1972-current | View Entire Issue (May 10, 2010)
500 THE ^SLANDER Published by Permar Publications www.theislanderonline.com ssislander@bellsouth.net May 10, 2010 Established 1972 Vol 38 Issue 19 Finding Coastal Georgia's talent Getting ready for their upcoming 'Coastal Georgia's Got Talent' fund raiser last week were (left to right) talent show co-chairs Kate Hamer and Shantee Weseman, who is also the Safe Harbor Advisory Board Treasurer; Pat Weaver, President of the Auxiliary Advisory Board and Rana Smith, Executive Director of the Safe Harbor Children's Center, Islander Staff Photo - Permar "Talent" fundraiser to benefit Safe Harbor Suicide on the rise in Glynn By Matthew J, Permar It’s a subject people just don’t like to talk about and right now it’s got Glynn Coun ty Police Chief Matt Doering and County Commissioner Tony Thaw concerned. According to Chief Doering suicide is on the rise in Glynn County and is up about 25% for the first quarter of 2010 over the last several years. According to Doering’s sta tistics, there were four sui cides during the first quarter of 2010, which is January 1 to March 31. A fifth suicide occurred on April 26, the first month of the second quarter. This is a dramatic increase compared to the first quarter of 2009 when there were no suicides. In fact, there were a total of six suicides in 2009, five in 2008, five in 2007 and seven in 2006. In the first four months of 2010 Glynn has already hit it’s annual average for suicides. Doering said that Glynn police typically responded to about five suicides a year. Looking at overall death investigations Doering said his department investigated 71 deaths in 2009. Six of those were suicides, which is about 8%. With 20 death investiga tions in the first quarter of 2010 already, the four suicides make up 20% of them. Along with suicides, death investigations are conducted when the death results from murder, accidental death, which includes drug overdoses, deaths of a suspicious nature or a child’s death when there is no apparent medical reason. Deaths in traffic accidents are not included in the death investigation numbers. Doering also said that sui cide calls are also progressive ly increasing, but not quite as dramatically as actual sui- Turn to Page 6 Suicide The first annual Coastal Georgia's Got Talent fund raiser benefitting Safe Harbor Children's Center will be held Saturday, May 15, 7 p.m. at the Strickland Auditorium at Epworth-by-the-Sea. The event promises to be fun for the whole family and will feature 14 talent-filled acts including a pianist, rock band, several singers, gymnasts and a praise dance group. Mary Miller and Joan Harris audi tioned all the participants for the talent show. "This is the first fundrais ing event we have tailored especially to children and the whole family," said Rana Smith, executive director for Safe Harbor. It makes sense, since, according to Smith, it was the Safe Harbor kids who came up By Pamela Permar Shierling with the idea. Safe Harbor came into being as a shelter in 1991 when for mer Glynn County resident Susan Hamer discovered there was no place for a Glynn County child to go when he/she couldn't go home. Since that time Safe Har bor has become more than a shelter. It is now a children's center which takes in children from all over the state of Geor gia. "We are a long term facility now," said Smith. "When we first opened we were only a short term place for children to stay." "Now," she continued, "we work with the more difficult children because we get results. We take the younger kids who are too much for a foster home to handle." "We work with the Depart ment of Family and Children's Services and the Department of Juvenile Justice," Smith said. At the Center children learn independent living skills nec essary for a successful life. "We are in the process of teaching the G.E.D. here at the Center on Wednesday's," said Smith, "so our teens can earn a high school diploma." Hamer House, which is located right behind the main Center, opened earlier this year. "Hamer house, named after the founder, holds eight boys," Smith said. "The main building holds up to 12 girls." Kate Hamer, Susan's sis- ter-in-law and co-chair of the talent show, has been involved Turn to Page 6 Safe Harbor Skateboard park gets go ahead By Matthew J. Permar Local mainland skateboard ers will soon have a skateboard park they can get to without having to drive to St. Simons Island. The Glynn County Commis sion approved the construction contract for the skateboard facility, which will be built at the North Glynn Recreation Complex, during their meeting on Thursday, May 6. The skateboard park was not without it’s detractors on the commission. The contract with American Ramp Co. was approved on a 5-2 vote, with Commissioners Bob Coleman (At Large #2) and Tom Sublett (Dist. 2) vot ing against the motion. While Coleman was not opposed to the skateboard park itself, he did think the comity should spend a little more time Turn to Page 5 Skateboard park City to apply for $2 million in TANs • Traffic light timing to be fixed By Matthew J. Permar As sometimes happens with local governments when they near the end of their fiscal year, the City of Brunswick has run low on cash and reserve funds and is now going to the finan cial market to borrow money in the form of Tax Anticipation Note (TANs). The TANs will enable the city to make payroll, pay for other projects and conduct business while they wait to receive funds collected from property taxes. City Finance Director Mar tha Hendley told the City Com mission during their meeting last Wednesday, May 5, "I'm requesting you allow me to send out an RFP (request for Turn to Page 7 City seeks TANs Surfin’ the News Candidate announcements Community News - Pg 2 County-Wide News - Read County-Wide Nightmare on Elm Street Movie Review Pg 12 From the Ground Up Feature Gardening Column - Pg 8 Back Talk Editorial Column -Pg 20 9*92? 29970
