Newspaper Page Text
Page 12, September 30, 2024, The Islander
What the... Helene!?!
Apologies for the headline... it’s
been a tough couple days... for most of
us across the southeast.
In the wee hours Friday morning
I was awakened abruptly when my
cpap machine turned off.
Abruptly is the only way you can
wake up when the machine that im
proves your breathing suddenly be
comes an impediment to the very
thing it’s supposed to improve.
I was quickly aware that the power
had finally gone all the way out, even
though I don’t know what the actual
time was.
The power flickered briefly a couple
times sometime around 11:30 or 12:00
and knocked the TV out, so I went
on to bed knowing sooner or later it
would likely go out for good, which we
all know it did.
I went back to sleep for a while kind
of tossing and turning before getting
up between 6:30 and 7:00 as the sky
was just getting light.
Where I live is very well protected
from wind and rain - last year during
Hurricane Idalia a tree fell on my car
right in the driveway in front of the
house about 4:00 in the afternoon
while I was watching TV and I didn’t
Publisher The Islander EDITORIAL
know it until the landlord knocked on
my door and told me.
So I slept though most of Helene.
I walked outside very early Friday
morning and didn’t see much out of
the ordinary, so I’m thinking other
than the power being out, this isn’t too
bad.
Early on my sister Pam, who lives
off Demere on the south end of the is
land, and I were able to text and talk,
but by about 10:00 that was no longer
an option, so I headed over to check on
her and see what the day held as far
as work.
Here’s the thing about being in the
weekly newspaper business - you only
get paid for one day a week and since
we take off a week at Christmas, we
only get paid for 51 days a year, so if
we miss an edition, that’s a big chunk
of change.
Including going back to when The
Islander founder was alive, our moth
er Elise, who started the paper in
1972, we have been through four fam
ily funerals, four office relocations,
an office fire from which a firefighter
salvaged about a buck 57 in change,
and all the other storms for the last
52 years without once missing an is
sue and we weren’t about to start now.
I know it’s best to not drive around
after a storm, but when you don’t have
many living blood relatives and only
one living relative living nearby, you
go check on them after a storm, if you
can’t reach them on the phone.
As I left the neighborhood, a near
by neighbor was chain-sawing a tree
in the road. That was my first idea of
how bad the storm was.
A short distance down the road,
another big pine had fallen and was
blocking the road, so I had to cut
through a neighbor’s semi-circular
driveway to get out of the ‘hood.
As I pulled out onto the main road,
driving under a downed line of some
sort, I saw another large pine that
came across the road that had already
been cut back to allow traffic to pass.
Heading south on Frederica was
not a problem, no major trees were
down in the road and while the stop
lights were out drivers were being
sensible and courteous allowing each
other to take their turn crossing the
intersections.
As I turned west bound on Demere
heading to Pam’s I saw a traffic tie
up a bit farther west close to where
the car wash is. It later learned that
a large tree on the north side of De
mere near St. Paul Baptist Church
had come down on the power lines and
limited traffic to one lane while the
crew was working to remove it.
Instead of twiddling our thumbs,
we decided we at least had to go see
how things were at the office.
Glory be... not only was the office
on Newcastle St. unscathed, we had
power.
So it was back to the island to grab
our computers and then back to work.
We stopped at several places look
ing for lunch. Before going back to the
island we checked Indigo, a favorite,
but they were not open.
On the way back to Brunswick, I
detoured to Larry’s Giant Subs on
Hwy. 17 and it was open, but not able
to take a card - cash only.
I got back to the office and Pam had
cash, but by the time we got back to
Larry’s the drive-through was closed
and you had to go inside. Likely be
cause traffic started backing up onto
Hwy. 17.
The inside was slammed so we
headed downtown to Arte’s Pizza, an
other favorite.
They too were slammed, but it’s
very close to the office so we stayed. It
took a while due to the huge business,
but the staff was working hard and
keeping smiles on their faces.
Helene brought much more dam
age to Georgia, Florida and the south
east and Gulf coasts than I think was
expected.
I think it was a more powerful storm
and moved faster than expected.
Maybe it caught the National Oce
anic and Atmospheric Administration
off guard.
But I appreciate that Glynn County
started their preparations early.
You never know with Mother
Nature.
(INU1H
Gourmet
Rebecca
A self-conscious woman juggles adjusting
to her new role as an aristocrat's wife
and avoiding being intimidated by his
first wife's spectral presence. Directed by
Alfred Hitchcock and starring Joan Fontaine and Laurence Olivier. Not Rated.
Thursday
October 20, 2024
6:30 pm
Historic Ritz Theatre
Downtown Brunswick
Tickets $20/person
912-262-6934 or online at
www.goldenislesarts.org
Enjoy this classic film,
a talk about what makes it
a “must see” and delicious
food from
Indigo Coastal Shanty.
Tickets for food & film
must be purchased by
midnight 10/7/2024
Tickets for talk & film $7/
person
at the door
,*■*••• *■
golden isles arts
& humanities
EST. 1916
Cunninghams
^^ DDiikicu/in/ r* a
BRUNSWICK, GA
Fine Jewelry«China*Gifts
It’s lime for the Great Pumpkin!
We can help you set your holiday table
for Halloween right through the New Year
FIRST FRIDAY -OCTOBER h -
1510 Newcastle St. Brunswick ~ (912) 265-8652
