The Islander. (St. Simons Island, Ga.) 1972-current, September 16, 2024, Image 1

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The Islander., September 16, 2024, Image 1

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Newspaper Page Texttheislanderonline.com Published by Permar Publications ssislander@bellsouth.net September 16, 2024 Established in 1972 Vol 52 Issue 38 Never forget In a brief but moving ceremony last week Glynn County Police Officer Capt. Shawn Strohl, left, and Glynn County Fire Chief Vinnie DeCristafalo placed the Memorial 9-11 wreath at the flag pole between Glynn County Fire Station #8 and Glynn County Police Headquarters on Carl Alexander Way. First responders, public safety personnel, community leaders and members of the public gathered to honor those who fell on Sept. 11,2001. Islander Staff Photo - Shierling Secretary of State asked to follow the law, keep Biden’s name on the ballot DA explains over-budget situation on radio talk show By Pamela Permar- Shierling Brunswick Judicial Circuit District Attorney Keith Hig gins aired his side of his of fice’s financial payback story on Scott Ryfun’s ‘Straight Talk’ radio show last Tuesday. Higgins blamed Glynn County for the situation he and his office are in which is not enough money to run the circuit the way he wants. For years Glynn County has processed and covered the District Attorney’s of fice payroll for five counties. Each month the DAs office is supposed to reimburse Glynn County for its payroll cover age. Remember Glynn County taxpayer dollars are covering the DAs office payroll. In a July 16 Glynn County Special Called meeting DA Higgins told commissioners that he had hired more people than he had money for in his budget. He said he always asked his office manager if there was enough money to hire a new person and was al ways told ‘yes’ or ‘I will work it out.’ He repeated this statement on Ryfun’s show. Since he did not have enough of his own budget to cover expenses, his office stopped reimbursing Glynn County for covering his pay roll in November 2023. Hig gins told the Glynn County Commission during that July 16 Special Called meeting that he was not aware of this until February 2024. During that meeting Hig gins suggested a pay back plan as follows: • Increase the FY 2025 fis cal year budget by $362,138. (He asked Glynn County for Turn to Page 9 District Attorney Last week a Georgia state wide conservative patriot ac tivist group called on Geor gia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger to follow Geor gia’s election law. Two members of the group include Glynn County resi dent James Abley, who is also an attorney, and Morgan County resident Lori Tullos. A letter has been sent to Raffensperger referencing O.C.G.A. § 21-2-134 which states that a candidate who wishes to withdraw must sub mit a signed affidavit of with drawal with the Georgia Sec retary of State. President Joe Biden, who won the presidential By Pamela Permar-Shierling preference primary in Georgia for the Democratic Party, did not, according to the letter, submit a signed affidavit of withdrawal to Raffensperger as required by Georgia law. The letter states “Legally, President Biden’s name must remain on the ballot for the November election.” Tullos said a law suit will be filed this week in fed eral court in Atlanta suing Raffensperger to make sure Biden’s name remains on the ballot this November. Tullos explained that by Georgia law delegates of ei ther political party are bound to vote for the candidate who wins the most votes in the primary. The only way delegates can be released is for the primary winner to formally withdraw which Biden has not done. The way the system works is that the candidate with draws formally and the dele gates can vote their conscience at the party’s convention. Tullos said Democrats have admitted that their conven tion was merely a ceremony. What happened, she ex plained, is that the Democrats took a virtual roll call August 1 - 4 until they had enough state delegates willing to vote Turn to Page 2 Biden County updates media on zoning re-write By Matthew J. Permar Last Monday (September 9) Glynn County held a special media roundtable to update local reporters on the status of the Zoning Ordinance that is currently being re-written. They started with an up dated time table for finishing the document, getting public comment and final approval by the County Board of Com missioners (BOC). Commissioner Walter Ra- folski (At Large #2), who has served on the ‘Re-Write Work ing Group’, said they would like to have it finished by the end of the year. The process started back in June and an updated draft was released on August 8, which is the current working draft. Turn to Page 8 Zoning re-write Torras marina property rezoning approved • Height variance denied By Pamela Permar- Shierling Last Monday, Sept. 9, the Brunswick City Commission held a short special called Commission meeting specifi cally to hear, again, the Tor ras marina property rezoning request from Basic Industrial to Mixed Use City Core His toric District (MUCCH). Mi chael Torras, Atlantic South east Enterprises owner made the rezoning request. John Hunter, Zoning, Building, and Codes Direc tor, presented virtually the same report to the commission that he presented during the Wednesday, Sept. 4 meeting when the commission tabled their decision. Turn to Page 10 Marina Surfin’ the News County-Wide News - Read County-Wide Page 3 -BOE security update Page 4 - D.A. King establishes 501 c3 Page 5 - PlayReaders Book Club ~ CCGA, school sys renew REACH Page 6 - Health Matters - Dr. Diane Bowen Page 12 - Back Talk