specialreport: coalash

Transcription

Remember to spring forward an hour Saturday night!
▼▼▼
OBITUARIES/2A
...................................................
INDEX
Classifieds 6B
Dr. Daly 1-2B
Opinions 4-5A
Sports 8-10A
❑ James Strickland
❑ Ruby Manning
❑ Hazel Armstrong
Special Report:
WEATHER / 2A
Coal-ash
controversy at
Broadhurst
..........................................................................................................
TODAY: Partly Cloudy
HI: 87
LOW: 63
March 12-13,
2016
Volume 152
Number 21
Drop us a message online at: [email protected] or visit our Web site at: www.thepress-sentinel.com
Saturday-Sunday, March 12-13, 2016
Jesup, Georgia 31545
$100
.........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................
Who will
be Smith
principal?
Three now
in running
for sheriff
By Drew Davis
STAFF WRITER
The position of Martha
Rawls Smith Elementary School principal remains in limbo after the
Wayne County Board of
Education meeting Tuesday night.
The Board approved
the renewal of contracts
for all of the school system’s other principals,
but Smith principal
Princess Ndow was not
on the list.
When asked about the
omission
Wednesday,
School Superintendent
Jay Brinson pointed out
that the school system
has until May 15 to
renew contracts.
He noted that several
certified employees were
not put up for renewal
Tuesday night, and he
explained that the system is waiting for the
state to provide information, such as CCRPI
(College and Career
Ready
Performance
Index) results, relevant
to certain employees.
Ndow, though, is the
only administrator who
❑ See MRSE, Page 11A
By Drew Davis
STAFF WRITER
CANDICE McKINLEY/ Staff
Wesley Peebles was selected as the 2016 STAR student at Wayne County
High School, and he chose Melinda Chancey as his STAR Teacher.
Peebles and Chancey
are biology STARs
By Candice McKinley
STAFF WRITER
Wesley Jarrett Peebles, 17, is Wayne
County High School’s
2016 STAR (Student
Teacher Achievement
Recognition program)
student.
Peebles, the son of
Harry and Susan Peebles, has selected
Melinda Chancey, a biology and physical sci-
ence teacher at the
high school, as his
STAR teacher.
To be a STAR student for a high school,
a senior must have the
❑ See STAR, Page 11A
Wayne County Sheriff
John Carter now has
two hurdles to re-election.
Kevin Johnson has
qualified as a Democratic candidate and will
face the Republican
nominee for sheriff in
November.
Earlier in the week,
Toby Cameron qualified
as a Republican and will
face Carter in the GOP
primary May 24.
Jennifer Ray Deal is
the other local candidate
to qualify after press
time for Wednesday’s
edition; she is challenging incumbent Jay Fulton for coroner in the
Republican Primary.
In the third contested
local race, Pat Dieveney
and Frances Yeargan
are running against incumbent Elouise Ogden
in the Republican Primary.
Five incumbents are
running without opposition—Tax
Commissioner Denise Griffis,
Probate Judge Tammy
Thornton, Magistrate
Judge Gary Browning,
State Court Judge Vi
Bennett and State Court
Solicitor Kenny Carswell.
Qualifying for the
Georgia General Primary and Nonpartisan
Election concluded at
noon Friday in both
Wayne County and Atlanta.
In nonlocal races to be
on the Wayne ballots in
May, a third candidate
has signed up to succeed
retiring state senator
Tommie Williams. Kevin
“Bald Eagle” Parker, a
Uvalda small-business
advocate and insurance
agent, will face both
Delvis Dutton and Blake
Tillery in the Republican Primary.
State
Reps.
Bill
❑ See SHERIFF, Page 10A
Plans announced
for coal-ash meeting
By Derby Waters
STAFF REPORT
Plans for a March 16
public meeting to discuss
coal ash and the Broadhurst
Environmental
Landfill rail-spur proposal are nearing com-
pletion.
To be hosted by the
Wayne County Board of
Commissioners,
the
meeting is planned for 7
p.m. to 9 p.m. in the auditorium of Coastal
Pines Technical College.
❑ See PLANS, Page 10A
County to allow beer,
wine sales at events
By Drew Davis
STAFF WRITER
A new amendment to
Wayne County’s alcohol
ordinance will allow beer
and wine sales at special
events.
The first such event is
expected to be a major
concert at the Jesup
Jaycee Fairgrounds in
June.
The Wayne County
Board of Commissioners
approved the amendment at a called meeting
❑ See COUNTY, Page 11A
From peaches
to beaches
CANDICE McKINLEY / Staff
Brenda Westberry offers a variety
of wares at her Peaches to the
Beaches booth at Victory Tabernacle Church of God at Gardi. This
year marks Victory Tabernacle’s
first time as an official Peaches to
the Beaches site; Coastal Pines
Technical College and Odum
Recreation Center are the other
two in Wayne County. The
Peaches to the Beaches yard sale
has sites along Ga. 341 from I-75
to I-95. The local sites were open
Friday and will also be open today
(Saturday) from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m.
COAL-ASH/RAIL-SPUR PUBLIC MEETING
March 16 • 7 p.m. at Coastal Pines Technical College Auditorium
This is an opportunity for the community to ask questions regarding the coal-ash issue and the plans for building a rail-spur at the Broadhurst landfill.
Representatives from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the Georgia Environmental Protection Division, and Republic Services will be available.
Hosted by Wayne County Commissioners
Wayne County Press Established 1960 • Jesup Sentinel Established 1865 • Combined February 1977 © 2016 Press-Sentinel Newspapers, Inc.
2A Saturday, March 12, 2016 The Press-Sentinel
OBITUARIES
▼▼▼
❑ Rinehart & Sons
James Riley
“Jimmy” Strickland
Jesup—James Riley
“Jimmy” Strickland, 67,
of Jesup
died
March
10, 2016,
of an apparent
heart attack.
James
The
Strickland
Wayne
County
native was a member of
Crossroads Church of
God and retired City of
Jesup employee. He was
also a part-time barber
for many years. He enjoyed fishing, watching
wrestling and the Atlanta Braves.
He was predeceased by
his parents, Archie and
Ester Abbott Strickland,
and sisters, Gleniese
Wiggins and Berniece
Landon.
Survivors include his
wife of 44 years, Margaret Simmons Strickland of Jesup; a sister,
Joyce Strickland of
Jesup;
and
several
nieces and nephews.
Funeral service will be
held today (Saturday) at
11 a.m. at Crossroads
Church of God with Pastor Hulet Smith officiating. Interment will be in
Jesup City Cemetery. Active pallbearers will be
family. Honorary pallbearers will be members
of the Prime Timers’
Sunday School Class of
Crossroads Church of
God.
Visitation will be held
from 10 a.m. to 11 a.m.
prior to services at the
church.
Family and friends
may sign the online
guestbook at www.rinehartandsons.com.
Rinehart and Sons Funeral Home is in charge
of arrangements.
cock, Brittany Small,
Cliff Bennett, Whitley
Goss, Case Goss, Dustin
Mathis and Carl Mathis;
four step-great-grandchildren, Casey Lee
Brant, Jamie Lane,
Jodie Lane and T.J.
Cady; five great-greatgrandchildren,
Kyser
Mathis, Jakob Mathis,
Jayme McCartney, Aniston Swain and Ayden
Small; and numerous
nieces, nephews, cousins
and other extended-family members.
Funeral services will
be at 3 p.m. today
(March 12) at Manningtown
Presbyterian
Church with the Rev. Ida
Welch, the Rev. Hilton
Morgan, the Rev. Timothy Fulmer and the Rev
Bill Harper officiating.
The body will lie in state
one hour prior to the services at the church.
Interment will follow
in the church cemetery.
Active pallbearers will
include Dustin Mathis,
Carl Mathis, Josh Goss,
Joe Mathis, Zachary
Peacock and Walter Lee
Manning.
Honorary pallbearers
will include Stanley
Mathis, Jeremy Goss,
Vernon Spradley, Jim
Shipes, Alvin Manning,
Justin Brissel, J.J. Brissel, Dexter Manning, the
❑ Howard-Jones
Ruby Ione Manning
Jesup—Ruby
Ione
Manning, 89,
died
March 9,
2016, at
Jesup
Health
and Rehabilita- Ruby
Manning
tion.
A native and lifelong resident
of Wayne County, she
was born on June 21,
1926, to John Dizer and
Lannie Keen Manning.
She was a homemaker
and master seamstress
and was a member of
Manningtown Presbyterian Church, where
she
taught
Sunday
school. She enjoyed reading and gardening in her
spare time and was
highly skilled at the art
of embroidery.
She is preceded in
death by both parents;
her husband, Lester
Manning;
one
son,
Woodrow L. Manning; a
grandson,
Clifton
Mathis; two sons-in-law,
Roland Mathis and
Leroy Goss; and her
brothers.
Survivors include two
daughters,
Lannie
Mathis and Joyce Goss;
one
daughter-in-law,
Shirley Manning; six
grandchildren, Amy Peacock, Joe Mathis, Elizabeth Bennett, Stanley
Mathis, Josh Goss and
Jeremy Goss; nine greatgrandchildren, Tabitha
Peacock, Katlynn McCartney, Zachary Pea-
3-17
10.5
Predicted river levels at Doctortown are provided by the National Weather Service office in Savannah.
Twin Oaks Park • Hoboken, Ga • Twin Oaks Park • Hoboken, Ga
3-16
10.5
............
3-14
10.5
............
3-13
10.5
............
............
3-12
10.5
Predicted River Levels
• GARAGE SALE FREAKS
• ARTS & CRAFTS BUGS
• ANTIQUE
COLLECTORS
• JUNK COLLECTORS
SATURDAY, APRIL 9TH, 2016
www.bigzgaragesale.com
RESERVE 1 OF OUR
BOOTHS TODAY!
CALL 449-5299
449-5352
550-1079
OPEN:
9 A.M.-4 P.M.
Screven—Hazel
Purvis Armstrong, 85,
died March 7, 2016.
She believed in
God and
loved
her family, according
to memHazel
bers.
Armstrong
Survivors
include two daughters,
numerous
grandchildren, a great-grandchild
and several nieces and
nephews.
Her memorial will be
held at a later date.
In lieu of flowers and
food, donations should
be given in her name,
“Ms. Hazel,” to O’Quinn
Baptist Church.
Has a position open for the Vice President of Operations. A successful candidate who performs at a high
level will find themselves in a strong position to be
considered for the CEO position in about a year or two.
For the latest weather information tune to NOAA Weather
Station WXJ28 Jesup, GA on frequency 162.450. For more
information call Wayne Emergency Management 427-5979.
Hazel Purvis
Armstrong
Jesup, Georgia
NEW AND IMPROVED TRAFFIC FLOW
$2 ADMISSION FEE
6 & UNDER FREE
Adult Sunday School
Class of Manningtown
Church of God and members of Parkway Church
of God.
Remembrances may be
made to the Alzheimer’s
Association, 201 Television Circle, Savannah,
GA 31406.
Howard and Jones Funeral Home is in charge
of arrangements.
A successful candidate should have bank/credit union
back office experience, loan operations experience and
the ability to supervise other employees of the credit
union.
Altamaha Federal Credit Union has $60,000,000 in
assets and has been a successful part of this
community for 60 years.
If intrigued, inquiries can be made to John Swingle,
Chairman (427-2321) or Bob Fox, Secretary (588-9972)
of the AFCU Board of Directors. Inquiries will remain
confidential until a successful candidate is found.
Salary and benefits will be competitive compared to
similar positions in this community.
AFCU is a drug-free workplace and an equal
opportunity employer.
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Applicable sales tax has
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Saturday, March 12, 2016 The Press-Sentinel
3A
Dollar Tree under way
CANDICE McKINLEY / Staff Writer
a stand-alone Dollar tree store is under construction on North First Street,
next to Zaxby’s, and is scheduled to be completed by May. The local Dollar Tree
is currently located in the shopping center adjacent to Walmart on the other side
of North First Street. The new, larger location is estimated to be 9,977 square
feet and will have the capacity for groceries, as coolers are to be installed. Here,
workers lay the foundation for the new store.
Landfill-leak bill strengthened
STAFF REPORT
State
Rep.
Bill
Werkheiser’s legislation
to require public notification of landfill leaks has
been strengthened in the
Senate.
Werkheiser’s original
bill would have required
notification of a county’s
legal organ as well as
county and city governing authorities.
A House committee removed the legal-organ
provision, though, before
the House passed the bill
last week.
House Bill 1028 is now
working its way through
the Senate, where that
provision has been restored.
The first section of the
bill now reads, “The
owner or operator of a
municipal solid waste
landfill shall notify the
local governing authorities of any city and
county in which such
landfill is located of any
release from the site of
such landfill of a contaminant which is likely to
pose a danger to human
health.
“In addition, such
owner or operator shall
The Vanishing Point
136 SW Broad St., Jesup, GA
(Next to Garden of Eat’n)
427-3300
Every Tuesday 6 p.m - 8 p.m.
Walk in Only • No Appointments
Opportunity ends March 19, 2016
547 S.W. Broad Street, Jesup
427-4856 • 1-800-437-4358
Monday -Friday 7:30 am-6 pm
Saturday 7:30 am-4 pm
FREE • FREE • FREE • FREE • FREE • FREE • FREE • FREE
FREE • FREE • FREE • FREE • FREE • FREE • FREE • FREE
FREE • FREE • FREE • FREE • FREE
1 bag per customer per type
STAFF REPORT
The Wayne County
High School mock trial
team competed at district competition in Valdosta recently.
This was the first time
that the mock trial team
had advanced this far in
the competition in more
than 15 years.
The team won the first
round of the district competition. Individuals also
won awards during the
first round: Davis Ogden
received the Best Attorney award, and Taylor
Maudlin won the Best
Witness award.
The team resumed
practice after returning
from region in January.
Wayne County attorneys
Samantha
Jacobs,
Juanita
Holsey,
Jonathan Lockwood and
Joelyn Pirkle continued
to mentor the students
as they advanced to the
next level of competition.
Windy Dolan and Cindy
Reddish also mentored
the students and were
the teacher-coaches for
the team.
The team advanced to
the second round of the
district competition. Although both defense and
prosecution scores were
fairly close to their opponents’ scores, Wayne
County did not advance
to the third and final
round of the day.
Teacher-coach Windy
Dolan said, “This is a
phenomenal group of
young people. They have
exceeded our expectations and made all of us
coaches
extremely
proud.”
LOOKING FOR LOVE?
TRY TRINITY
2061 Spring Grove Rd.
BAPTIST CHURCH
Dr. Ron Wilcox
TRY TRINITY
Sandra Bohnstengel, MD.
Bring in your EMPTY
horse feed bag from any
competitors brand and
receive a FREE Bag of
Southern States
or Triple Crown.
Mock trial team competes at district
LOOKING FOR LOVE?
A Weight Loss Clinic
THIS WEEK’S
SPECIAL
cause notice of such release to be published in
the legal organ of the
county in which such
landfill is located.
“Compliance with the
requirements of this
Code section shall occur
within 14 days of confirmation of such release by
the [Georgia Environmental Protection Division].”
The bill was prompted
by the revelation that
Broadhurst
Environmental Landfill leakage
in Wayne County had
not been publicly reported.
Wayne County High school’s mock trial team and escorts include, front row, from
left, Jaxon Dolan (coach Windy Dolan’s son), Franchette O’Neal, Davis Ogden and
Joelyn Pirkle; second row, from left, Chance Warren, Taylor Maudlin, Hailey
Williamson, Maggie Dukes, Madeline Dukes, Hannah Paul and Juanita Holsey; third
row, from left, Tanner Pillow, Seth Clary, Madison Aspinwall, Ashley Steverson,
Jameson Gordon, Samantha Jacobs and Taylor Ogden; and fourth row, from left,
Windy Dolan, Nicholas Priester, Franchesca O’Neal, Cindy Reddish and bus driver
Kathy Hardenbrook.
FREE • FREE • FREE • FREE • FREE
OPINION
.........................................................
QUOTE
“When you’re through
changing you’re through.”
-- Bruce Barton
252 West Walnut Street, P.O. Box 607, Jesup, Georgia 31598
Telephone: (912) 427-3757 or 427-4246
Published every Sunday and Wednesday
Press-Sentinel Newspapers, Inc. at Jesup, Georgia
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THE P-S OPINION
▼▼▼
The coal-ash
controversy
Inside this edition of The Press-Sentinel is a 20-page special report on
the coal-ash controversy at Broadhurst Landfill.
Ever since the The Press-Sentinel
discovered several months ago a plan
by Republic Services to dramatically
enlarge its footprint and build a rail
yard to accept tons of coal ash and
household garbage, we have been
working hard to gather as much information as possible to keep our
readers and the community better informed.
Unfortunately, the system that Republic, the Georgia EPD and the U.S.
Army Corps of Engineers operated in
doesn’t make this an easy task. However, our reporters and editors have
done the yeoman’s work for you.
Our intentions are that this
overview will help Wayne Countians
and other South Georgians better understand this pressing issue so that
we all will be in a better position to
make informed judgments about this
situation. Make time to read all or
parts of it.
Also, the county and Jesup have organized public meetings on Wednesday at Coastal Pines Technical College at 7 p.m. to help gather more
information from the Corps of Engineers and Republic Services and
allow Wayne Countians to ask questions and pose concerns about the
possible destruction of wetlands to
allow this project to move forward.
We strongly encourage the community to turn out in full force to seek
more information and to let your
voices be heard.
Just how many tons is .01 percent?
Republic has never had a
landfill to take the quantity of
coal ash which, according to its
permit application to the U.S.
Army Corps of Engineers, it anticipates bringing into Wayne
County.
The truth is that no landfill
anywhere has handled the toxic
material on the scale that Republic proposes. The company’s
proposed rail spur is to be constructed to handle 10,000 tons
per day.
Think of that. In just one year,
that would add up to a pile of
coal ash composed of 3,650,000
tons of toxic material. That’s 7.3
billion pounds of coal ash. Can
you imagine anything on that
humongous scale?
Let’s do some simple math—
10,000 tons equals 20 million
pounds each day. Now, let’s suppose that Republic and CSX do
a really great job of loading,
transporting and unloading this
20 million pounds. Let’s assume
they spill small quantities here
and there, and maybe all those
rail cars have just small leaks
that trickle coal ash along the
way to Broadhurst. So, in all
this they lose a mere one
10,000th of what they are handling—that’s just .01 percent.
That would amount to a daily
loss of 2,000 pounds of toxic coal
ash. Coal ash will begin to line
the railways and be spilled from
front-end loaders or simply be
picked up by gusts of wind and
blown here and there. (Fly ash
is easily dispersed by the wind.)
At week’s end, that small loss
My Opinion
▼▼▼
DerBy
Waters
Columnist
would
amount to
14,000
pounds of coal
ash. In a
year’s time,
that becomes
730,000
pounds, or
more than
350 tons of
coal ash released into
somebody’s
back yard.
Realistically, I don’t look for
10,000 tons each day. So if we
halve that, we are looking at
5,000 tons per day on average,
and using the same formulas as
above, we still end the year
with 365,000 pounds of toxic
coal ash lost in this process.
And that is IF there were a very
small one 10,000th loss of material. I lose more than 1/10,000th
of my sugar from the sugar
bowl to my coffee cup.
Five years of operation would
leave an astounding loss of
1,825,000 to 3,650,000 pounds
of toxic coal ash. Is there anyone that would not believe that
this much coal ash released into
the environment is not going to
cause problems?
I asked a spokesman for Republic whether the Waycross
Municipal Wastewater Treatment Plant could handle an increase in the amount of
leachate that would result from
piling up tons of coal ash. The
present rate of leachate production is 27,000 gallons each day.
Double that with the anticipated coal-ash operation, and
we get 54,000 gallons of toxic
liquid to go somewhere each
day. This massive amount could
easily overwhelm many treatment facilities.
Republic’s answer? They have
not mentioned it to the operators of the treatment facility.
So—nobody knows what would
become of thousands of gallons
of slush filled with such things
as beryllium, cobalt, nickel,
zinc, barium, cadmium, arsenic
and the-gods-only-know-whatelse.
Republic and CSX and Duke
Power and Georgia Power and
other huge corporations involved need to think this thing
through. The EPA is now cracking down on companies that create environmental damage.
They are making those who create a problem responsible for
the expense of cleaning it up.
Utility companies create coal
ash in their production of electricity. Now they are looking to
move this toxic material away
from their facilities. Rail lines
apparently are ready to transport it, and landfill companies
such as Republic Services are
eager to receive it.
Should the plans for the
Broadhurst Environmental
Landfill come to fruition, it will
be the first landfill in the nation
to handle this much of this ma❑ See WATERS, Page 5A
Happy birthday, tough cookies!
Did you see it? With a
captive audience at the recent Academy Awards,
Chris Rock brought his
daughters out to sell Girl
Scout cookies. Because no
one expected any change
from the large bills held up,
the girls raised $65,243,
probably ensuring that they
will be the top fund-raisers
in their troop.
Today, March 12, is the
104 anniversary of Girl
Scouts of America. Have
they been selling cookies
that long? Almost.
In recent years, under
the leadership of CEO
Kathy Cloninger--who wrote
the book Tough Cookies four
years ago to celebrate the
organization’s centennial
celebration--Girl Scouts of
America has transformed
My Opinion
▼▼▼
its direction. However, even
with the
paradigm
shift, it
has remained
true to
the princiJAMIE
ples of SaDENTY
vannah
Columnist
founder
Juliet
Gordon Low, who wanted
girls to have opportunities
long denied them. In the beginning, Scouting offered
the original 18 members
and those who followed a
chance to enjoy the great
outdoors uninhibited by
mores and clothing restrictive to play. In 1912, Low’s
unconventional attitude
was scandalous.
Today, drawing on Low’s
desire to offer girls a chance
to develop self-sufficiency,
the organization has shifted
to the development of those
leadership skills so important in today’s global world.
The book Tough Cookies
shows how all women can
take the GSA lessons and
apply them to their own situations. As one of the more
than 50 million GSA alumnae alive today, I find this
book both informative and
inspirational reading.
As the organization
began its shift, it placed emphasis on the present-day
Scouts making the major
decisions confronting the or-
ganizations. Because the 1.9
million girls presently participating in Girl Scouts had
strong opinions about uniforms, the entire concept
was put to a vote. While the
younger girls liked being
identified by a uniform,
older girls did not. The majority thus voted to keep
uniforms for those who
want them: Daisies (kindergarten/first grade) and
Brownies (second/third
grades). Juniors, Cadettes,
Seniors and Ambassadors,
all of whom were less enamored with uniforms, now
wear khaki slacks, shorts or
skirts of their own choosing
with white shirts or blouses
of their own choosing. For
meetings, they then don
their badge sashes or vests.
The 800,000 volunteer lead-
ers also opted to wear uniforms.
Since 1917, when the
first troop conducted a
cookie sale to raise funds,
Girl Scouts and Cookie
Sales have been synonymous. The recipe for butter
trefoils emerged in 1922,
when commercial bakeries
began to make and box
cookies for the girls to sell.
Although I recall my
years of Scouting fondly, I
do not remember ever selling cookies. I remember
very well that our daughter,
as an active Girl Scout, sold
cookies; the whole family
was involved. With further
investigation, I learned that
cookie sales had been suspended during the World
❑ See DENTY, Page 5A
5A
OPINION
The Caddyshack collapse of the establishment
Yes, I’m into my 15th
month of writing that, like
it or not, Donald Trump has
the best chance to be the
GOP nominee for president.
That has left me and my
analysis on the island of
misfit toys! And during all
of this, I’ve watched and
chronicled about candidates
who I know are well-qualified, such as Jeb Bush and
Marco Rubio, but who have
fallen by the wayside.
This past week, Mitt Romney and his many friends
embarked on a plan that
not only failed to stop
Trump in Tuesday’s primaries in Michigan and
Mississippi but actually appear to have boosted his
cause. Here in Florida,
Romney’s recorded phone
messages on behalf of
Marco Rubio are going over
like a lead balloon. The
polling numbers in the Sunshine State prior to the
Thursday debate show
Trump’s lead accelerating.
I completely understand
that to Romney and a vast
majority of longtime GOP
pundits, consultants and
elected officials, Trump
seems like the Rodney Dangerfield of politics. They
likely picture Trump as the
late comedian’s iconic char-
My Opinion
▼▼▼
acter Al
Czervik
in the
1980 comedy Caddyshack.
In the
movie,
Dangerfield plays
a successMatt
toWery
ful newColumnist
to-wealth
real estate developer who slings
insults at snooty members
of an exclusive country club
and ends up in a highstakes grudge golf match
with the club’s president.
Of course, Rodney’s character prevails only after the
groundskeeper, played by
Bill Murray, blows up much
of the entire golf course,
thereby pushing the ball of
Dangerfield’s golf partner
into the cup for a lastminute victory. In the instance of Romney—
spokesman for the army of
GOP powerbrokers who
want to stop Trump—it is
hard to choose which of the
movie’s characters he would
play in a remake. He certainly would be well-suited
to portray the image-obsessed club president, who
drives his Rolls-Royce onto
the club grounds and then
admonishes the staff. But
after Tuesday it might be
better to cast Romney in
Murray’s spot as “exploderin-chief.”
I have to believe the usually levelheaded and nonconfrontational Romney
was lured into this role. But
the plan displayed a total
lack of understanding of
Trump, his campaign and
the voters.
First and foremost, Trump
has created an entirely new
style of politics that connects a reality-TV world of
voters with a reality-TV superstar—the critical word
being “reality.” Trump’s
style, as sometimes crude or
blunt as it might be, defies
the image of politicians
such as Romney, who parse
their every word as they enlighten voters with their
brilliant thoughts and woo
them with their lofty
promises.
To Romney and his establishment allies, most voters
are part of the great unwashed masses. Obviously
they can’t decide matters for
themselves. It takes Mitt
Romney to tell them that ei-
ther they were naive and ignorant in having voted for
Trump in contests ranging
from Romney’s home state
of Massachusetts to Southern states such as South
Carolina or they will be
duped in states such as
Florida. In Florida, his comments and involvement are
viewed by many as condescending. That comes not
just from the polls but anecdotally from my neighbors
here, who weren’t for Trump
but are livid over Romney’s
action.
Romney and the Stop
Trump army should have
also recognized that Trump
is not the unsophisticated
person they perceive him to
be. He is a master at marketing, and when hit, he
punches back immediately
and usually harder. No, he
does not speak like a policy
wonk. In fact, he hardly
speaks of policy specifics at
all. But when he describes
“the lines” that prevent true
competition among heathcare insurers across state
boundaries, the average
voter understands what he
is saying. His simple answers might not meet the
expectations of the pundits
and policymakers, but they
resonate with a significant
number of voters.
As I write this column, a
debate awaits Trump in
Florida. It might be the last
one in which the establishment and media can try to
unload on Trump and derail
a likely win here. And postFlorida, the race may come
down to a Trump-versusTed Cruz two-man battle or
still include John Kasich as
well.
Unlike Romney et al, Cruz
and Kasich are in touch
with reality and could give
Trump a true battle. But for
the moment, odds favor a
“Caddyshack” finish for
Donald Trump.
(Matt Towery is a nationally syndicated columnist,
pollster, author and attorney. He is the author of the
new book “Newsvesting: Use
News and Opinion to Grow
Your Personal Wealth.” To
find out more about Matt
Towery and read features by
other Creators Syndicate
writers and cartoonists, visit
the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com.)
COPYRIGHT 2016 CREATORS.COM
PRESSTALK
▼▼▼
Coal-ash
hypocrisy
Coal has been used for fuel for several centuries
now, and the solid-waste products of coal combustion
are well known in the engineering community. To my
knowledge, coal ash has never been classified as a
“hazardous material” in and of itself. When used for
electrical-power generation, about 50 percent of it is
recycled into other products.
When dumped without any further processing, it
does, however, have some very undesirable components in it from a health and environmental viewpoint.
I doubt that anyone in Wayne County had the
slightest concern about fly-ash disposal until they
learned that an agreement to dump out-of-state coal
fly ash in Wayne County made quietly, 15 or so years
ago, was about to be activated. The hypocrisy on public display, especially that of our elected officials, is
about what I expected. It is everybody’s fault but
ours.
For every kilowatt-hour of electrical energy produced from coal that goes into the grid, approximately 1.05 pounds of coal have to be burned. For
every pound of coal burned, the combustion process
generates about 0.122 pounds of fly ash. Since about
half of the fly ash generated in the United States is
recycled and sold in other products, and only about
half of the electricity produced is from coal combustion, some simple math (not Common Core math) indicates that for every kilowatt-hour of electricity produced in a coal-fired electric-power generating
station, approximately 0.03202 pounds of fly ash,
bottom ash and furnace slag has to be disposed of
somewhere, somehow. These numbers vary based on
the kind of coal burned, the fly-ash recovery process
in use, boiler efficiency, etc., not to mention available
generation means.
Imagine for a moment, that when you receive your
monthly electric bill for, say, 1,000 kWh of electrical
energy (currently about $115 in energy charges), you
also received in the mail along with the bill a box
containing 32.025 pounds of fly ash: That would be
your share of the fly ash generated for your benefit,
based on your electrical demand and purchase of
electrical energy for the month.
Suppose it was left up to you to dispose of this fly
ash. I bet that 90 percent of the consumers in Wayne
County would just throw it in their trash bin without so much as a whimper. When a Republic (wastemanagement) garbage truck picks up the trash, the
fly ash would wind up in the Broadhurst landfill.
The other 10 percent would most likely just dump
it on the roadside somewhere or on someone else’s
property or just dump it into the back of their truck
and let the wind blow it out. Either way, the undesirable components in the fly ash will eventually get
into the groundwater anyway.
Our politicians are now running/hiding from their
poor decisions and pointing their fingers at everyone
else. Our resident Marxist journalists write only for
self-display to exacerbate the frenzy. Most of the
geese now cackling had no interest when the original contract was cut.
I don’t want coal ash dumped here, either. I am,
however, willing to pay more to private industry to
have fly ash properly disposed of in a more suitable
location and support further recycling and metalsextraction research. However, I do not want to spend
more in the form of bribes, more taxes and increased
government.
The one thing we must avoid at all cost is to rely
on our elected officials for a solution, notwithstanding they created the problem by producing it in the
first place. Rest assured, all we will wind up with is
several problems in the place of one and, of course,
more taxes and more government.
Tim Otto
Screven
DENTY
Continued from page 4A
War II years, when I was a Scout, because many ingredients were rationed items. We sold calendars instead. I don’t remember those either.
In 1948, cookie sales returned and
have been the major fund-raiser for
the organization ever since. What better title for Cloninger’s book than
Tough Cookies since the colloquialism
surfacing in the 1920s refers to “a
strong-willed person?”
Cloninger explains, “People overlook the cookie sales and underestimate the business side of the cookie
sale. Throughout the cookie sale you
would find a Girl Scout is running a
business and learning about her product, developing a sales plan, approaching customers, closing the deal,
investing real money.”
The Girl Scouts of Michigan even
offer “Tough Cookie” Awards to
women whose professional careers
have demonstrated a commitment to
encourage other women to take leadership roles. The award notes that 80
percent of American female senior
business executives and/or business
owners are former Girl Scouts.
To all former Girl Scouts and to
parents of present and future Girl
Scouts, I recommend reading Tough
Cookies. It describe the transformative journey from an unwieldy structure of disjointed organizations to an
integrated, unified movement for
girls. In this transformation, GSA rebranded itself from a “gaggle of cute
girls selling cookies and camping to
the world’s best personal leadership
development model for girls.”
Cloninger says, “I am most proud
of this transformation. We have an incredible portfolio now—it’s sophisticated, interesting and fun, and now
we are ready to go out now and bring
more girls into Girl Scouting. Membership increase will be a big part of
the future.”
Now, that goal is worth celebrating.
Send a letter to
Presstalk P.O. Box 607
Jesup, GA 31598
WATERS
terial. Coal ash has already poisoned
the air and water near these utility
companies’ power plants, which handle tons less than what we are looking at. People have been poisoned.
Now these companies want to dig
up holding ponds filled with coal ash,
load this on rail cars, transport it
hundreds of miles, unload it, haul it
to a dump, unload it—and do all this
without releasing any coal ash or
damaging the environment.
I don’t think so.
And so these corporations, in concert with complicit federal and state
governments and a bamboozled local
government, have once again,
through the wisdom of modern stupidity, come up with the dumbest possible way to solve a problem—put it
over there. Which, in this case, means
put it here—and up and down the
railroads.
Ed Exley
Your Friendly
Family Drugstore
President
First at Walnut
Jesup, GA
1-800-437-4358
Post Office Box 351
Jesup, GA 31598
(912) 427-4856
547 S.W. Broad Street
Jesup, GA 31545
Grace Abounds
427-4288
Major household appliance
repair and parts sales for all
makes and models
Christian Book Store and Gifts
Now Open
(912) 427-7313
www.pyesappliance.us
256 W. Walnut St. • Jesup
(Next to The Press-Sentinel) • 427-3006
STORE HOURS: Tues.-Thurs. 10 a.m.-6 p.m. • Wed. 10 a.m. -1 p.m.
• Fri. 10 a.m.-5p.m. • Sat. 10 a.m.-2 p.m.
We appreciate your business!
Southside
Automotive
Service
ANDY R. BEAVER
Attorney at Law
Joey
Miller
641 S. 301, Jesup, GA 31545
(912) 427-9653
P: (912) 427-8392
F: (912) 427-6798
161 E. Cherry St.
Jesup, GA 31546
[email protected]
Elizabeth Crandall, MD
Ophthalmologist
Phone: (912) 559-2467
Fax: (912) 559-2473
Tim’s Home Medical
New Address: 136 W. Cherry St.
Downtown Jesup, 31545
Timothy L. Sloan, RRT
Ph: (912) 385-2490
Fax: (912) 385-2591
Cell: (912) 294-1284
918 South First Street
Jesup, GA 31545
Old Address: 111 Colonial Way, Suite 2
Jesup, GA 31545
www.crandalleye.com
CERTIFIED PUBLIC
ACCOUNTANTS
CHRIS HARRIS
CALE M. HARRIS
TELEPHONE: 912-427-3791
FAX: 912-427-8760
[email protected]
POST OFFICE BOX 448 • 274 S.W. BROAD STREET • JESUP, GA 31598
Open Monday - Saturday
11:00 a.m. - 2:00 p.m.
Jones Kitchen
526 West Cherry Street
Phone: (912) 427-4100
Menu Line: (912) 427-4129
UNITY CHURCH OF GOD
1580 Sunset Blvd., Jesup, GA 31545
The Church for Whosoever - Romans 10:13
“For whosoever shall call upon the name of
the Lord shall be saved.”
www.unitycog.com
[email protected]
Church: 912-530-6625
Eagle Pawn & Guns
JEWELRY • GUNS • GOLD
1900 Savannah Hwy., Jesup, GA 31545
912-530-7666 • Fax: 912-427-7330
[email protected]
James Vann - Owner
EPWORTH
UNITED METHODIST CHURCH
Rev. Kathy Israel-McLeod
Senior Pastor
[email protected]
Church: (912) 427-4853
Cell: (912) 424-5783
Parsonage: (912) 427-2645
675 South Third St. - P.O. Box 1134
www.epworthmethodistchurch.org
Jesup
Ludowici
Screven
www.altamaha.org
427-8924
545-3257
579-2767
MANNING HEATING &
AIR CONDITIONING
168 Tower Road
CALL NOW!
FIXED RIGHT OR IT’S FREE!
427-2580
Bailey
Office: 912-427-3326
Cell: 912-256-3079
Fax: 912-427-9625
MonuMent
CoMpany
24195 US Hwy 341
Proudly serving families since 1908
Celebrating over 100 Years of Service
I can do all things through Christ
who strengthens me...
Philippians 4:13
Mobile Concrete, Inc.
1705 U.S. 341 • Jesup • 912-427-2330
James L.
Boykin
Celia F.
Boykin
president
912.221.0845
vice president
912.221.1463
2021 Savannah Hwy., Jesup, GA 31598
O: 912.427.7751 / F: 912.427.7810
APOSTOLIC
GREATER ST. JAMES TEMPLE
OF THE APOSTOLIC FAITH INC.
535 White Star Road, Screven
912-579-6724
SPRING GROVE
FREEWILL BAPTIST
960 Spring Grove Rd., 559-2046
JESUP FIRST UNITED
METHODIST
205 e. Cherry St., 427-2738
TRINITY BAPTIST
2061 Spring Grove Rd., 427-3966
MOUNT MARIAH AME
532 omas Johnson Dr., 588-0780
CATHOLIC
ODUM UNITED METHODIST
501 n. Church St., odum, 912-278-0909
ASSEMBLY OF GOD
GRACE ASSEMBLY OF GOD
2324 Rayonier Rd., 427-9223
ST. JOSEPHS CATHOLIC
1046 e. Cherry St., 427-9239
BAPTIST
ALTAMAHA BAPTIST
6622 oglethorpe Rd., 586-6780
ANDERSON DRIVE BAPTIST
260 anderson Rd., 427-6225
CHRISTIAN
JESUP CHRISTIAN
FELLOWSHIP
1252 Sunset Blvd., 427-9098
ANTIOCH MISSIONARY
BAPTIST
730 South Macon St., 294-3496
BENNETT UNION BAPTIST
401 W. pine St., 427-4020
BETHLEHEM BAPTIST
5303 Bethlehem Rd., 588-9455
CALVARY BAPTIST
411 e. Cherry St., 427-2366
CHRIST BAPTIST
890 West Cherry St., 530-7198
EMMANUEL BAPTIST
1618 Waycross Hwy., 427-4322
CHURCH OF CHRIST
JESUP CHURCH OF CHRIST
1641 Waycross Hwy.
CHURCH OF CHRIST
567 e. Walnut St., 269-7637
CHURCH OF GOD
BLANTON GROVE
CHURCH OF GOD
4497 oglethorpe Rd., 586-6470
FELLOWSHIP BAPTIST
Waycross Hwy., 427-9349
CROSSROADS
CHURCH OF GOD
2949 lanes Bridge Rd., 427-2280
FIRST BAPTIST
185 S. Brunswick St., 427-4239
FIRST BAPTIST OF SCREVEN
302 School St., Screven, 579-6732
JESUP CHURCH OF GOD
444 Sunset Blvd., 427-3576
FIRST FREE WILL BAPTIST
795 S. 1st St., 427-4401
FLINT BRANCH BAPTIST
Flint Branch Church Rd.
FRIENDSHIP BAPTIST
209 Friendship Church Rd., odum
367-3433
GARDI BAPTIST
981 Morning Glory Circle, 530-8464
GREATER MORRIS CHAPEL
MISSIONARY BAPTIST
362 n. 3rd St., 427-9388
ODUM CHURCH OF GOD
Highway 341 n., odum, 586-6812
PARKWAY CHURCH OF GOD
2303 S. Hwy. 341, 427-9591
PINEY GROVE
CHURCH OF GOD
6851 Beards Bluff Rd., odum, 586-6130
SCREVEN CHURCH OF GOD
333 Church of God Rd., Screven, 579-6701
SHEPHARDS FLOCK
CHURCH OF GOD
449 n. 3rd lane, 588-1888
JESUP PRIMITIVE BAPTIST
595 S. 1st St., 427-4809
CHURCH OF GOD OF
PROPHECY
937 S. u.S. Hwy. 301, 427-4830
MIDWAY BAPTIST
Gardi, 427-3471
MORNING GLORY
MISSIONARY BAPTIST
277 Boston St., 427-4720
NEW BETHEL BAPTIST
325 new Bethel Rd., 427-2161
NEW HOPE FREE WILL BAPTIST
1240 new Hope Rd., 586-6320
Wayne County Sheriff’s Office
Sheriff John G. Carter
“Proudly Serving Our Community”
266 East Walnut St., Jesup, Georgia 31546
Sheriff’s Office (912) 427-5970
Jail: (912) 427-5975 • Fax: (912) 427-5972
[email protected]
DAVID E. CARTER
PO BOX 586
JESUP, GA 31545
[email protected]
WWW.CARTERDREDGINGINC.COM
Wayne Family Practice
Associates, P.C.
Tandy M. Smith, FNP-BC
330 Peachtree Street • P.O. Box 937 • Jesup, GA 31598
Telephone: (912) 427-6964 • Fax: (912) 427-0591
FIRST UNITED
METHODIST CHURCH
Tucker A. Lewis, Pastor
8:55 a.m. Sunday
9:45 a.m. Sunday School
11:00 a.m. Traditional
6:00 p.m. Wednesday
[email protected]
Buyers of Ferrous and non-Ferrous Metals
Hours:
Mon-Thurs - 8 am - 5:00 pm
Friday - 8 am - 4:30 pm
Saturday - 8 am - 12 noon
Mickey Harter
1200 Doctortown Rd.
Jesup, GA 31545
(912) 530-7900
Cell (912) 294-1980
Fax (912) 530-6998
Home (9122) 427-2124
Linc 17*7457
SUNDAY
Sunday School
Morning Worship
Evening Worship
9:15 am
10:30 am
6:00 pm
WEDNESDAY
415 E. Cherry Street, Jesup, GA 31546
Phone: 912-427-2366
www.cbcjesup.com
OLD BETHEL BAPTIST
161 old Bethel Church Rd., 586-6892
METHODIST
AKIN MEMORIAL UNITED
METHODIST
160 Sansavilla Road, Mt. pleasant
912-399-2444
EMORY CHAPEL
UNITED METHODIST
311 n. Hickory St., 427-0676
Choir Practice
Youth
AWANA
Adult
EPWORTH UNITED
METHODIST
675 S. 3rd St., 427-4853
RITCH BAPTIST
737 Ritch Church Rd., Screven, 579-6536
6:00 pm
6:30 pm
6:15 pm
7:00 pm
SALEM PRIMITIVE BAPTIST
301 CW Collins St., Screven, 579-6722
SMITH GROVE BAPTIST
450 Martin luther King Dr., 588-0245
1320 W. Pine St., Jesup, Ga 31545
RAY MORTON
Owner
Phone: 912-427-3769
Mobile: 912-294-6140
MARY’S BOW-K
(f ) 912-427-0887
www.qualitypreownedjesup.com
BROOKS AUTO PARTS, INC.
Tony Landon, Manager
455 S. First St. Jesup, GA 31545
912-427-2095 • [email protected]
Ray Moore
(912) 427-8880
Greg Tyre
R
&R
3305 Savannah Highway
Auto Sales
“Where Memory Pictures of Your Loved Ones Are Memorable”
www.jesupcarsforsale.com
Royal Funeral Home
P.O. Box 163 • 247 W. Pine Street • Jesup, Georgia 31698
Telephone: 912.427.4254 • Fax: 912.427.4255 • Mobile: 912.322.4313
Email: [email protected]
Notary Public
Patricia Redmon Lester, L.F.D., Manager
Gloria J. Woodard, Owner
Custom Built Cabinets
Goose Creek
Cabinets
(912) 256-8326
4111 Savannah Hwy
Jesup, GA
Owner
Kevin Brake
[email protected]
TRACY ALAN BROWN, P.C.
Attorney at Law
[email protected]
WESLEYAN
PHILADELPHIA WESLEYAN
1139 Sawgrass Rd., Hortense, 473-2426
Alene’s Fabric & Design Shop
OTHER
BETHLEHEM TEMPLE
200 Walker St., 530-7134
148 north Wayne Street, Jesup, Ga 31546
(912) 427-2504
(912) 427-8895 facsimile
WWW.tRaCyalanBRoWn .CoM
DECORATOR FABRICS & ACCESSORIES:
Drapery & Upholstery
Special Occasion Fabrics & Embellishments
TUXEDO RENTALS • WEDDING PAPER PRODUCTS
355 N. First St., Jesup • 912-427-6178
Make the step up
to a credit union.
705 West Cherry St.
Jesup
912-427-3904
HIS PLACE WORSHIP
MINISTRY, INC.
141 Railroad ave., 912-424-9306
261 N. Macon St.
Jesup, GA 31545
427-2398
Mon.-Fri. 7 AM - 6 PM
Sat. 8 AM - 1 PM
LOVE & FAITH CHAPEL
597 e. Walnut St., 588-0999
MT. ZION OUTREACH
DELIVERANCE
778 Williams St., 427-0180
901 S. First St. • Jesup, Ga 31545
912-427-3999
NEW COVENANT &
OUTREACH MINISTRIES
944 Sunset Blvd., 427-8228
NEW CREATION MINISTRIES
NEW LIFE MINISTRIES
512 Walker St., 588-0408
PROVIDENCE WORSHIP CENTER
246 W. Walnut St., 530-7771
RESTORATION &
DELIVERANCE MINISTRIES
624 Railroad ave, Jesup (912) 977-8993
TURNING POINT
WORSHIP CENTER
1810 S. palm St., 530-7228
Prescription Shop
Myron Anderson, RPh
Phone: 912-427-8825 • Fax: 912-530-6169
101 Peachtree Street, Jesup, GA 31545
COURSON’S CARPET
& FLOORS
2550 Savannah Hwy., Jesup, Ga 31545
(912) 427-4037 • (912) 427-9095
[email protected]
GLYNN COURSON • JOEY COURSON
“For all your flooring needs”
Freddy Swenson
Broker
FAITH CHAPEL SOUTHERN
CONGREGATIONAL METHODIST
Waycross Hwy.
427-9912
MORTON COLLISION
(w) 912-427-0883
PRESBYTERIAN
JESUP PRESBYTERIAN
297 S. Brunswick St., 427-9664
JESUP CHRISTIAN FELLOWSHIP
1252 Sunset Blvd.
MENNONITE
LAKE GRACE MENNONITE
5393 odum-Screven Rd., 427-2278
RESURRECTION CHRISTIAN
BAPTIST
721 n. Fourth St., 530-6699
NEW LIFE PENTECOSTAL
CHURCH
890 W. Cherry St., 912-427-0415
GOSPEL
GILEAD GOSPEL
256 n. Macon St., 588-0042
ODUM GROVE BAPTIST
604 Hires ave., odum, 586-2812
RED HILL BAPTIST
2574 Red Hill Rd., 427-7907
3845 SAVANNAH HWY.
205 East Cherry Street
Church: (912) 427-2738
Parsonage: (912) 427-2200
ODUM BAPTIST
400 n. Church St., odum, 586-6428
IGLESIA PENTECOSTAL
ALFA Y OMEGA
321 nicholls Rd., 912-432-3717
HOUSE OF WORSHIP
& MINISTRIES
JEHOVAH’S WITNESS
JEHOVAH’S WITNESSES
OF JESUP
2841 S. uS Hwy. 301, 427-0353
NORTHSIDE BAPTIST
155 Sycamore St., 427-2981
GRACE & MERCY MINISTRIES
286 Walker St. lane, 912-427-9452
EPISCOPAL
ST. PAUL’S EPISCOPAL
745 South palm St., 427-3900
HOLINESS
ST. JOHN HOLINESS
386 West poplar St., Jesup, 427-8595
OQUINN BAPTIST
175 o’Quinn Church Rd.
Screven, 579-6344
CARTER
DREDGING II, INC.
Robert L. Phillips, M.D.
Kevin O. Keown, M.D.
225 north First St., Jesup, Ga 31545
FAITH FELLOWSHIP
223 W. plum St., 570-0015
FIRST BORN
679 W. pine St., 427-6704
CHURCH OF GOD
OF PROPHECY
MEMORIAL BAPTIST
589 S. uS Hwy. 301, 427-3471
CORNERSTONE UNITED
PENTECOSTAL
1620 u.S. Hwy. 301S, 427-6792
FAITH CHAPEL SCMC
2605 Waycross Hwy., 427-9912
VICTORY TABERNACLE
CHURCH OF GOD
6050 S. Hwy. 341, 427-8700
LITTLE MEMORIAL BAPTIST
106 little Memorial Dr.
Hortense, 473-2565
PENTECOSTAL
ABUNDANT LIFE CATHEDRAL
143 W. Walnut St., (912) 202-2767
EAGLE VISION FORGIVING
GRACE INTERNATIONAL
MINISTRIES
1069 e. plum St.
UNITY CHURCH OF GOD
1580 Sunset Blvd., 530-6625
LITTLE CREEK BAPTIST
5027 little Creek Rd., 427-6869
SCREVEN UNITED METHODIST
School Street, Screven
912-278-0909
MORMON
CHURCH OF JESUS CHRIST OF
LATTER-DAY SAINTS
Sunset Blvd., 427-4469
NEW LIFE CHRISTIAN
CENTER
792 e. Cherry St., 427-7167
NEW HOPE FREE WILL BAPTIST
398 W. Walnut St., 427-8300
427-0800
PATTERSON UNITED
METHODIST
392 e. Magnolia St., 283-0263
FIRST STREET CHRISTIAN
982 S. First St., 427-9921
NEW GENERATION BAPTIST
177 n. Brunswick St., 588-0678
PHONE (912) 427-9071
CELL
(912) 294-1661
Vehicles of Jesup
Made possible by these businesses which encourage everyone to attend worship services.
James & Carol Brown
owners
Quality Pre-Owned
Area Church Directory
Office: (912) 427-6028
Res.: (912) 427-7517
FAX: (912) 427-6656
Cell: (912) 294-2378
Harris Real Estate, Inc.
P.O. BOX 923 • 141 E. CHERRY ST., JESUP, GEORGIA 31598
Web: www.harris-realty.net • E-mail: [email protected]
WAYNE OBSTETRICS
& GYNECOLOGY
Kimberly L. Copeland
Attorney and Counselor at Law
Jeffrey L. Harris, MD PC
Tax Expert: James L. Hardin
Peachtree Medical Plaza • Post Office Box 604
(912) 530-7301 • Fax (912) 530-7302
256 N. Brunswick Street • Jesup, Georgia 31546
Office (912) 530-7317 • Fax (912) 530-7318
E-mail: [email protected]
Wayne County’s Favorite Florist
147 W. Cherry Street • Jesup, GA 31545
912-427-6828 • 800-972-1863
Mary B. Brannen - owner
[email protected] • marysbowk.com
100 N. FIRST ST
•
530-6335
TO ADVERTISE CALL MELISA OR DELORIS
AT THE PRESS-SENTINEL
912-427-3757
JESUP • EULONIA • HINESVILLE
7A
WAYNE COUNTY
BOARD OF EDUCATION WRAP-UP
WAYNE COUNTY
BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS WRAP-UP
▼▼▼
▼▼▼
(The Wayne County
Board of Education
voted on and/or discussed the following
items at its March 8
work session.)
•Smith principal—
Following a closed session to discuss personnel, the Board approved
the renewal of contracts
for administrators and
certified Central Office
staff and for teachers
and other certified employees. Martha Rawls
Smith
Elementary
School
principal
Princess Ndow was not
on the list of recommended principals. (See
story on page 1A.)
•Strategic Waivers
System—Board members agreed to consider
final approval of its
Strategic Waivers School
System application at its
March 22 meeting, following a “Coffee & Conversation” public hearing March 15 from 9 a.m.
to 10 a.m. and a “Coke &
Conversation” hearing
March 22 from 3 p.m. to
4 p.m. Both hearings will
be at the Board offices.
Every school system in
Georgia is required to
operate as one of three
kinds of school system
(Strategic
Waivers,
Charter or No Waivers),
beginning this year.
Under the Strategic
Waivers model, Wayne
County is applying for a
wide variety of rule
waivers (which it may or
may not use) in return
for meeting agreed-upon
standards of accountability.
More
information
about the application
can be found on the
school
website
at
www.k12.ga.us.
•Facilities
plan—
The Board approved a
resolution for its fiveyear facilities plan,
which was recently approved by a visiting facilities team.
The centerpiece of the
plan, according to School
Superintendent
Jay
Brinson, is the planned
James E. Bacon Elementary School modernization, scheduled to begin
in three years.
•School budget—In
items for the upcoming
budget, Brinson noted
that Wayne County High
principal Bo Adams is interested in a volleyball
program. Brinson also
noted that the middle
school majorette program has grown to the
point that the school system may need to take it
over.
In a non-sports item,
Brinson asked that the
Board consider raising
the supplement for certified personnel who agree
to drive buses from
$6,000 to $7,500. Having
certified personnel drive
buses for the supplement
would not only save
money on salaries, Brinson said, but would also
save substantially on
benefits.
•E-rate contracts—
The Board approved new
E-rate contracts that
will provide networking
equipment and services
worth
more
than
$340,000 to the school
system for only $25,000.
“E-rate is the commonly used name for the
Schools and Libraries
Program of the Universal Service Fund, which
is administered by the
Universal Service Administrative Company
under the direction of
the Federal Communications Commission,” explained Sandra Jones,
the school system’s director of accountability,
professional
learning
and technology. “The
program provides discounts to assist schools
and libraries in the
United States to obtain
affordable telecommunications and Internet access.”
The school system will
be reimbursed by grants
from E-rate and the Governor’s Office of Student
Achievement.
•Bids—The
Board
opened bids for its foodservice and construction
debt-service
accounts
from BB&T, PrimeSouth
and SunTrust.
The Board also opened
a bid of $1,500 from Mar-
ketplace International
Church on a used bus.
Board members agreed
to consider approval of
winning bids at the next
meeting.
•Georgia
Southern—The Board approved an agreement
with Georgia Southern
University regarding the
use of interns (student
teachers)
pursuing
Georgia Southern’s proposed new master of education degree in education leadership.
•Library
Board—
Board of Education
members reappointed
District 3 representative
Ernest Larson and atlarge
representative
William Cooksey to the
Wayne County Library
Board.
•Personnel—In addition to approving the renewal of contracts for
certified personnel, the
Board took several other
certified-personnel actions—approving
the
hiring of Danielle C.
Herrin at Jesup Elementary School, accepting
the resignation of Kimberly Daniels at Bacon
Elementary, and approving the transfer of Becky
Scott from Smith Elementary to Odum Elementary School and
Chrisine Paul at Jesup
Elementary from the
regular classroom to the
early intervention program.
In regard to classified
personnel, the Board accepted the retirements of
Teresa Stokes from the
Central Office and Susie
M. Fabian from Wayne
County High, approved
the hiring of Kimberly
Daniels as a paraprofessional at Bacon Elementary, and accepted the
resignations of Caroline
Reid from Smith Elementary, James K. Bennett Jr. from the maintenance department and
Tatiana Bellinger from
the transportation department.
In other business, the
Board reapproved a
school solicitation policy
it had inadvertently rescinded.
SCREVEN CITY COUNCIL WRAP-UP
▼▼▼
In its Monday-night
meeting the Screven City
Council considered the
following topics:
•Revoked tax—On a
unanimous vote, the
commissioners agreed to
revoke the city energy
excise tax. Mayor Melvin
Boyette said that the tax
amounted to approximately $2,000 per year
for the city.
He said the county government is requesting
Odum, Screven and
Jesup to scrap the tax in
an effort to provide incentive for industrial
clients to locate in
Wayne County.
•Water
tower—
Boyette said that the city
contract with Utilities
Services
to
provide
maintenance and repairs
to the city’s water tower
needed to be reconsidered. The cost to con-
tinue the agreement
would increase $3,000,
Boyette said he had been
informed by the company.
After several minutes
of discussion, the Council voted 4-0 to accept an
agreement with American Tower Maintenance
at a low bid of $8,500 to
provide the same services as those provided
by Utilities Services.
(Commissioner Tiffany
Frazier was absent, so
only four commissioners
cast a vote.)
•Surplus—The city
will advertise a chipper
and two mowers as surplus property for sale to
the public. Two old trailers will be used to attempt to make one usable trailer.
•Trailers—The commissioners voted unanimously to accept a low
SHOPPING
FOR A
NEW
CAR?
bid of $11,862 from
Kaufman for two new
low-profile dump trailers. The trailers are used
by city residents to carry
trash and bulk items to
the Broadhurst Landfill.
•Cities Week—In cooperation with activities
planned at Screven Elementary School, the
Council agreed to proclaim April 17-23 Georgia Cities Week.
•Closed door—The
Council voted to enter
into executive session to
discuss hiring a new city
employee. After 30 minutes behind closed doors,
the Council reconvened.
Boyette said that no decision had been reached,
and it had been agreed
to take up the matter
when a full Council can
be present.
Check out
The Press-Sentinel
every week for the latest
and best deals.
www.thepress-sentinel.com
Subscribe @ 252 W. Walnut St.,
Jesup or call 912-427-3757
(The Wayne County
voted on and/or discussed the following
items at its March 7
meeting.)
•Contract
attorney—The Board voted
4-1 to hire a legal firm to
review 2005 landfill
agreements and 4-1 for
EPRA of Savannah to be
that firm.
James “Boot” Thomas
opposed both motions.
County Attorney Andy
Beaver has told the commissioners that the
agreements seem to restrict the commissioners
from opposing a railyard proposal by landfill
owner Republic Services.
Under Republic’s permit
application, the rail yard
could accept trainloads
of coal ash for the landfill.
•Alcohol
ordinance—The
Board
voted 4-1 to authorize
Beaver to draw up a
draft amendment to
allow beer and wine to
be sold at special events
approved by the commissioners. The commissioners were asked for
the amendment by Will
Murphy of the Wayne
County Tourism Board,
which has a promoter
ready to schedule a
major concert at Jaycee
Fairgrounds for June.
Murphy noted the need
for prompt action to keep
the concert acts from
booking another engagement. Ralph Hickox
voted against the motion, though, on the
grounds that he wanted
more time to study the
request.
The county later scheduled a workshop on
Beaver’s draft amendment for Thursday afternoon. (See story on page
1A.)
•Land
management—The Board voted
3-2 to establish a landmanagement committee
of two appointees from
each district and two
commissioners to study
the possibility of some
kind of zoning ordinance.
Kevin Copeland and
Jerry “Shag” Wright opposed the proposal,
which was made by
Ralph Hickox and seconded by Thomas.
Hickox
and
Mike
Roberts will be the two
commissioners on the
committee.
•Criminal-justice
board—The
commissioners approved the establishing of a criminaljustice board that could
consider such issues as
more efficient software
that could be used
throughout local criminal-justice offices.
The Board will consist
of District Attorney
Jackie Johnson, Board of
Commissioners Chair
Kevin Copeland, Sheriff
John Carter, State Court
Judge
Vi
Bennett,
Screven Police Chief
Mike Hargrove and
Jesup City Manager
Mike Deal.
•Timber
harvesting—The Board approved amendments to
its timber and pulpwood
harvesting and transport ordinance.
The amendments extend protections of paved
roads in the county to
dirt roads.
They also allow Emergency Management Di-
rector Donnie Ray to
close roads to timber
harvesting during particularly bad weather,
when continued work
could render the roads
impassable.
•T-SPLOST
projects—The Board approved resolutions for
Whaley Road resurfacing and for CSX railroadcrossing improvements
at Lee Road, Ed Harrell
Road and Slover Road.
The projects will be
funded by the regional TSPLOST (special purpose local option sales
tax for transportation).
•Bill Morris Park—
County Administrator
Luther
Smart
announced plans to reprioritize needs at Bill Morris
Park. The park has run
out of fields, he said, as a
result of increased participation in recreationdepartment programs.
•Eugene
Mallard
Road—The commissioners agreed to advertise
the closing of Eugene
Mallard Road. The closing was requested by a
farmer who owns land on
both sides of the road.
County road engineer
Elton Aspinwall confirmed that the road is a
high-maintenance road,
even though it is also a
low-traffic road.
•Boys
&
Girls
Club—The Board voted
to release $5,000 that
the county had previously committed as
matching funds for a
community development
block grant. The grant
had funded the renovation of the former Jesup
Elementary School for
use by the local Boys &
Girls Club.
FOR YOUR INFORMATION
▼▼▼
Scottish festival
to arrive in Darien
Scottish Heritage Days will take
place at Fort King George in Darien
March 18-20 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
There will be demonstrations of colonial life and and skills with Scottish
Highlanders of Colonial Darien and
Native American Indians. Demonstrations will include blacksmithing, colonial food ways, fur trading, and musket and cannon firing. A tactical battle
demonstration will take place March
19 at 2 p.m.
Also included in the events will be a
men’s and women’s fashion show.
Fort King George is located at 302
Southeast Macintosh Road in Darien.
Admission ranges from $4.50 to $7.50.
For more information, contact 4374770 or visit www.gastateparks.org
/fortkinggeorge.
ARF to meet
Monday night
The Animal Refuge Foundation of
Wayne County will meet Monday at 7
p.m. at Jesup Presbyterian Church.
Complimentary cookies will be
served.
“We just want the community to
come see what we do, what we can do,
and to get ideas and hear concerns
from others!” said Moe Myers of ARF.
For more information call 586-6198
or 256-3042.
CHURCH ANNOUNCEMENTS
▼▼▼
… Resurrection Sunday
… anniversary
Emanuel Baptist
Odum Grove
Emmanuel Baptist Church invites
the public to a special two-night meeting on March 24-25 at 6:30 p.m., in
preparation for Resurrection Sunday.
Pastor John Holbrook of Rye Patch
Church, near Ludowici, will preach
March 24 on the topic of the Lord’s
Supper. On March 25 Pastor Emerson
Proctor of Bethesda Church in Wadley
will preach on the topic of the crucifixion of the Jesus Christ. On Resurrection Sunday at 7:30 a.m., a Sunrise
Worship Service will be followed by
breakfast. Morning worship will begin
at 10:40 a.m.
Emmanuel Baptist Church is located
at located at 1618 Waycross Highway.
For more information call 427-4322.
Odum Grove Missionary Baptist
Church will host the Rev. Alonzo
Wright’s second anniversary March
16-19.
The Rev. Dale Moore of Resurrection
Baptist Church will speak March 16 at
7:30 p.m. The Rev. Michael Swint of
Saint John First Born Holiness will
speak March 17 at 7:30 p.m. The Rev.
Daniel Smith of Morning Glory Baptist
Church will speak March 18 at 7:30
p.m.
The Rev. Melvin Moring of Mount
Zion Christian Methodist Episcopal
(C.M.E.) will speak at 11:30 a.m.
March 19, followed by the Rev. Carl
Warlaw of First African Baptist
Church in Vidalia, who will speak at 3
p.m. Dinner will follow the afternoon
service.
LOOKING FOR LOVE?
TRY TRINITY
2061 Spring Grove Rd.
BAPTIST CHURCH
Dr. Ron Wilcox
LOOKING FOR LOVE?
TRY TRINITY
SPORTS
Mainor gets it done on the mound and at the plate
Photo by Davontay Wilson
Jacket Zach Mainor picked up the win on the mound against the Ware
County Gators. He struck out nine
d
or
na
lw
25
3
tio
st
ds
4.
Support Wayne
County Sports
F ir
or
0W
victory.”
Offensively, the junior
Jackets tallied 10 hits.
Brad Thomas, Gant
Starling and Maudlin
led the team with multiple hits. Thomas had
two singles. Starling hit
a single and a double
and drove in four runs
while scoring once, and
Maudlin drove in three
runs off two singles and
a double.
“We came out flat,”
said Barfield. “We had
no energy while warming up, and I challenged
the team to pick the attitude up for the game.
They certainly did. The
dugout was loud, everybody was mentally in
the game, and they had
fun doing things the
Wayne County way. We
still have things to
work on, but this group
has loads of potential.
They just have to realize that hard work is
the only thing that will
bring it out, not a whole
bunch of talk.”
ad
di
Lady Jackets
Henderson scored four goals
in the first half, with assists
from
sophomore
Andrea
Mendez on goals one and three
and an assist from Callie
Franklin on goal four.
In the second half, Mendez
assisted Henderson on goal
five, and then scored one of her
own.
Sylvia Mendez scored goal
seven, and Henderson made it
eight with another unassisted
net-rocker to close out the
match. Keeper Kaylee Jones
had two saves in goal.
The Wayne teams will meet
SE Bulloch on Tuesday in a
home match set for 5 p.m. They
were set to travel to Windsor
Forest on Friday, but the game
has been rescheduled for April
22.
The second round of the region schedule begins March 18
with a home match against
New Hampstead.
Wayne County High’s
junior varsity baseball
team bested Richmond
Hill on the road this
past week 10-5.
Five pitchers threw
during the game and
combined for 13 strikeouts. They also gave up
only three hits but did
walk seven. Jasper
Dubberly,
Nolan
Grooms,
James
Maudlin, Cade Lambert and Trent Jackson
all pitched. Maudlin
pitched the fourth and
fifth innings to take the
win on the mound.
“Every run Richmond
Hill scored was a runner who reached on a
walk,” said coach Jesse
Barfield. “We have been
pretty bad with the
freebies this year, but
we are getting better. If
you strike out 13 and
keep them to three hits,
you have a good chance
of coming out with a
$1
Chandler Henderson seems
to be having no problem transitioning from the hardwoods to
the soccer pitch.
In her first match since coming out after basketball postseason play, the junior Lady
Jacket
dual-sport
starter
scored six of the Wayne soccer
girls’ goals in their 8-2 victory
over region opponent Liberty
County last Tuesday.
The win puts the Wayne girls
at 3-1 in region play.
The Yellow Jacket boys also
had a good outing, taking their
second win Tuesday, as they
blasted the Liberty boys 5-0.
The boys are 2-2 in region play.
Gage Browning scored three
goals for the boys, and Boss
Mosley and Paiton Moore accounted for the other two.
Boys head coach Darrell
Mosley praised the defense and
the work in goal from Billy
Parker in keeping the shutout
intact.
“We are starting to come
around,” Mosley said. “We
started slowly but we’ve won
two out of the last three
matches.”
The boys jumped on the Panthers early as Moore scored in
STAFF REPORT
re
ac
h
STAFF WRITER
the fifth minute and held on to
the lead through the half.
Browning scored his first goal
early in the second half, and
then Boss Mosley made it 3-0
with a shot from his center
midfield position.
Browning then added four
and five as the match wound
down.
Junior Jackets down
Richmond Hill 10-5
fo
Wayne soccer teams take
big region wins over Liberty
By John eden
Photo by Davontay Wilson
Jacket Jathan Moody takes a lead at first base against the Ware County
Gators.
¢
Unseasonably warm weather this
past week could do nothing but turn
on the fishing, although I can’t give
you a firsthand report, at least not
just yet. I haven’t had a chance to get
out. It isn’t often you
see the thermometer
climb to the 80, and
even the high 80, this
early in the year.
It isn’t unusual,
though, for warm spells
to come along here in
By Dean
the Deep South in the
Wohlgemuth
middle of what other
Columnist
parts of the nation call
winter. When that happens, it gets the fish moving. Bass
start fanning beds and feed as if this
is the last meal they will get for a
while. It is, in fact. When they get on
the bed, they don’t eat.
Pond fishing should be excellent
right now for everything. White perch
will also want to start spawning in
the warming water, and bream will
also become much more active. Of
course, all that could change if it gets
colder again.
The river is still very high and probably not much good for anything but
catfish. However, if it stays warm
long enough, shellcrackers love for the
water to be out of the riverbed and
back into the swamp. That’s where
they like to spawn. I know some
white-perch fishermen who love to
fish when the river is pretty high.
And it won’t be long at all until the
whiting start moving in close to shore
and then on to inshore waters. I
haven’t had any reports yet on them.
Any way you slice it, now is the
wonderful time of year for fishermen.
It’s time to get out every chance you
can. The weather most probably will
go back and forth this early, but if you
pick your days, it can be really good.
It’s best, of course, when several very
warm days string together. However,
a cool stretch of a week or thereabouts
might also produce some good results.
Sooner or later, they have to eat! Once
they adapt to the chilly conditions,
they go back to feeding.
On those days when it is too nasty
to do anything outdoors, check out
your gear to make sure everything is
in working order. Check the line on
your reels to make sure it is still
strong, and if not, be sure to replace
it.
Actually, sometimes you can remove
only the first 6-10 feet of line, and you
may find the rest of the line is still
good. Line that has been exposed to
air and light gets weak. I normally tie
a loop in the end of my line and put
the loop over the reel handle so I don’t
have to rethread the rod every time.
That’s fine, but over a period of time,
the first several feet of line will get
weak.
Don’t neglect to check the tires on
your boat trailer. It’s so easy to overlook that. Chances are great that the
tire will need more air, and in fact,
you may need a new tire or two. Believe me, it is no fun to have tire trouble when you are on a trip. My son,
Warren, got a lesson on that recently
when he moved his pontoon boat from
Augusta to the coast. The tires
weren’t new to begin with, and the
trailer had been sitting at a marina
on Clark Hill Lake. It hadn’t had to go
far. One tire was flat to begin with
and had to be replaced. The second
didn’t make the whole trip before it
blew.
I’ve had more than my share of tire
troubles on my boat trailer. I am convinced that the trailer in the boatmotor-trailer package I bought several years ago wasn’t quite sturdy
enough for my boat. Also, the fenders
had hex heads on the bolts, and they
were too close to the tire and wore
grooves in them. I had to take the
fenders off. That didn’t solve all my
problems. Switching from radial to
bias tires has helped, at least some.
In the meantime, I discovered my axle
is slightly bent, and that isn’t good for
tires. Anyone know where I can get an
axle straightened?
Also, be sure to check the wheel
grease on your boat trailer. Failure to
do so will result in a burned-out bearing.
Jacket senior Zach
Mainor pitched six
strong innings and
booked three hits on
Tuesday to help lead
the Jackets to a 7-5
win over the Ware
County Gators at
Howard “Bo” Warren
Field.
Although
Mainor
has pitched well this
season, this is the first
time that his pitching
has matched timely
hitting to help produce a victory. The
Jackets are now 5-3
for the season.
In the game, Mainor
gave up five runs off
six hits. He struck out
nine and walked one.
Walker
Reddish
pitched the seventh
inning for the save,
and he struck out two
more and gave up a
walk.
“Had a great outing
on the mound by Zach
Mainor.
He
has
pitched well all year,
and it was good to see
him get the win. It
was well deserved,”
said coach Justin McDonald. “It took us a
little while to get
woke up, but we came
around and found a
way to get the win.
I’m proud of all the
players and coaches.”
The top of the first
inning did not bode
well for the Jackets as
the Gators plated
three runs off two hits
and a walk. However,
the Jackets answered
in the bottom of the
first with three runs
to tie the game up 3-3.
The Gators helped
the Jackets out in this
game with five errors.
In the first, the Gators
started with two errors and a single by
Ford Townsend loaded
the bases. Jathan
Moody then walked in
the Jackets’ first run
of the game. He was
followed by a two-run
double by Kaden
Keith.
After
the
first,
Mainor settled down
and sprinkled only
four hits and two runs
over five more innings
of work.
The Jackets took a
4-3 lead in the second
after Reddish singled
and advanced to third
off a single by Mainor.
Reddish then scored
off a passed ball.
The Gators did take
a 5-4 lead in the top of
the fifth, but it was
short lived.
In the bottom of the
fifth, Keith led off
with a walk and
moved to second on a
sacrifice bunt by
Grayson Kicklighter.
J.T. Crosby reached
on a strike-three
passed ball. Reddish
then laid down another bunt that scored
Keith before Mason
Robertson and Mainor
drove in the final two
runs.
At the plate, Mainor
picked up three hits
and an RBI. Kicklighter,
Townsend,
Keith and Reddish
added the other four
hits.
The Jackets are
back in action today
(Saturday)
against
Appling County High
at 2 p.m. at Howard
“Bo” Warren Field.
25
Fish should
be biting
STAFF REPORT
Yes, here.
Classifieds
Call 912-427-3757 • 252 W. Walnut Street, Jesup
What else could attract thousands of people to your garage door?
9A
SPORTS
AWMS and MPMS battle at the ‘Bo’
STAFF REPORT
Arthur Williams and
Martha Puckett middle
schools split baseball games
on Thursday at Howard
“Bo” Warren Field.
MPMS won the first game
4-2, and AWMS took the
second game 6-5.
In game one, MPMS had
to rally in the fifth inning
for the win. MPMS’s Jasper
Stanfield pitched a complete game to take the win
on the mound.
“I’ve been talking to him
all season about getting
ahead of batters, and he
had 18 first-pitch strikes,”
said MPMS coach James
Hobbs. “He really kept his
pitch count down.”
At the plate, Blake Brockington, Ray Townsend,
Stanfield and Trey Pierce
led the way.
“Codey Eicher had an
eight-pitch walk in the fifth
inning that really got us
going,” said Hobbs. “It was
the best at-bat I’ve seen all
year. AWMS put pressure
on us and made us make
plays. I am proud of the
team.”
AWMS’s coach, Jason
O’Steen, also said he was
proud of his team’s efforts.
“After holding a 1-0 lead
into the fifth inning, we let
it slip away,” he said. “A
couple unfortunate plays
hurt us, and a couple of kids
that we had two strikes on
Photo by Taylor Ogden
aWMs’s John austin shaver gets ready to pitch.
ended up getting on base.
That can’t happen. But
John Austin Shaver threw a
great game. I am really
proud of him. He keeps getting better and better. He
will be an excellent pitcher
for us next year. Westin
Franklin also did very well.
The bottom line is we need
to score more than two runs
to help these pitchers out.
Thorne Bryant led AWMS
at the plate going 2-for-3
with a double.
Game two didn’t count in
conference play and AWMS
also used a late rally to
score five runs and take a 6-
5 win.
“I was very proud of our
boys for not giving up and
fighting,” said O’Steen. “We
got some walks, and they
made a couple errors.”
Bryant pitched the first
inning before Myles Starling and Blake Woods finished it up.
“It was a good opportunity to get the younger guys
some playing time and
pitchers some work,” said
MPMS’s Hobbs.
Townsend, Pierce, Hunter
Yeomans, Zack Thomas,
Eicher, Bryce Ray and
Stanfield each had a hit.
MPMs’s Blake Brockington backs away from a pitch as AWMS’s Walker Jones
catches the ball.
MPMS
In an earlier game this
past week, MPMS edged
Waycross Middle on Monday 4-3.
Thomas led the team at
the plate going 2-for-3 with
a single and a double.
Brockington,
Townsend,
Jacob Brewer and Yeomans
each had a hit.
On the mound, Townsend,
Brockington and Ray combined for seven innings.
“I thought the pitchers
threw well for the most
part,” said Hobbs. “We are
still making too many er-
rors and mental mistakes.
If we can cut out the little
mistakes, we can play with
anyone. We also have had
some injuries that have set
us back, but the younger
guys have stepped up and
are getting the job done for
us.”
AWMS
AWMS lost to Bacon Middle 10-0 earlier in the week.
“We had another game
where we struggled finding
the strike zone which led to
a lot of their runs,” said
O’Steen. “Plus we didn’t hit
all that great. We don’t
have a lot of power or team
speed, so it is hard for us to
manufacture runs. We either have to string together
three or four hits in a row to
score or hope our opponent
makes some mistakes that
make it easier for us to
score. But our kids are
working hard. A lot of our
issues have to do with age
of our kids. We have several
kids playing that will be a
lot more effective when
they get bigger and older.”
Jackets, Lady Jackets take to
the courts today in region play
STAFF REPORT
tennis teams have faced
stiff competition recently to
get ready for today’s (Saturday) start to the region
schedule. The teams are
playing Burke and Thomson high schools in a doubleheader in Waynesboro.
Leading up to the
matches, the Jackets and
Lady
Jackets
beat
Brunswick High 5-0, 5-0
and Jeff Davis High 3-2, 32. The boys also lost to
Pierce High 3-2, and the
girls fell 5-0.
•Winning
against
Brunswick for the Jackets
were Michael Holland, 6-0,
6-0; Josh Prince, 6-0, 6-0;
and Bowen Riddle, 6-2, 6-1.
In doubles, Shaun Fu and
T.J. Mockler won 6-1, 6-0,
and Dawson Daniels and
Aiden Howard won 6-1, 6-0.
For the Lady Jackets,
Ashley Steverson, 6-0, 6-1;
Kelli Poppell, 6-0, 6-0; and
Madison Moxley, 6-0, 6-0,
won in singles play. In dou-
bles, the teams of Morgan
Courson and Alexis Scarborough, 6-1, 6-0, and Mia
Popkin and TyMya Jones,
6-0, 6-0, each scored victories.
•It was tougher against
Pierce County as Riddle
won in singles play 6-2, 4-6,
10-6 and Daniels and
Howard won 5-7, 6-4, 11-9
in doubles action.
Michael Holland, Josh
Prince and Fu and Mockler
each fell.
For the girls, Steverson,
Poppell, Moxley, Courson
and Scarborough and Popkin and Alexis Derr each
lost.
“The
scores
against
Pierce do not reflect the
long rallies and intense
points played, but it was a
strong match for both the
boys and girls,” said coach
Olivia Jern. “Dawson and
Aiden did a great job of
fighting back to win in n 119 tiebreaker score. Bowen
Riddle was due for a
tiebreaker win as well.”
•Winning for the Lady
Jackets against Jeff Davis
in singles play were Poppell
6-2, 6-0; Steverson, 6-2, 6-2;
and Moxley, 1-6, 6-3, 10-8.
“Madison did a great job
during the tiebreaker for
the win by settling in and
keeping to her strengths,”
said Jern. “I was proud of
how she handled herself
throughout
because
tiebreakers are more mental than skill sometimes in
tennis.”
In doubles play, Daniela
Trejos and TyMya Jones
won 7-6, 7-5.
“These girls won in a battle,” said Jern. “I was proud
of their desire to win in a
match that seemed endless.”
Winning for the Jackets
in singles play were Holland, 6-4, 6-4, and Riddle,
6-4, 6-4. In doubles action,
Dawson Daniels and Aiden
Howard won 2-6, 6-3, 10-5.
“It was like they couldn’t
find their rhythm in the
first set, but with a strong
second set and tiebreaker,
they sealed the win,” said
Jern.
Ware Gators edge Jackets by one stroke on the links
STAFF REPORT
In their weekly golf
matches,
the
Jackets
carded the second lowest
score out of five teams, and
the Lady Jackets were
fourth
at
Okefenokee
County Club in Waycross.
“The putting was our
area that was costing
strokes,” said coach Jamie
Ellis. “Many players had
makeable puts but left
them too short each time.
Those extra strokes can
make the difference.”
In boys’ play, Ware High
led the way with a 167.
They were followed by
WCHS, 168; Brantley High,
193; Glynn Academy, 200;
and Brunswick High (no
score).
Scoring for the Jackets
were, Mycah Feltman, 41;
Zach Sapp, 42; Zach Robinson, 42; and Austin Crews,
43. Jacob Sapp and Seth
Clary finished with 44 and
49, respectively, but their
scores were not needed for
the team total.
In girls’ play, Glynn Academy was first with a 129.
They were followed by
Ware High, 143; Brantley
High, 150; WCHS, 175; and
Brunswick High (no score).
Scoring for the Lady
Jackets were, Deanna
Long, 57; Taylor Groft, 58;
and Taria Primus, 60. Reagan Reddish shot a 61, but
her score was not needed
for the team total.
Track and field teams bring home golds
STAFF REPORT
track and field teams
brought home a half-dozen
first-place finishes from
their meets this past week
against
Ware
County,
Glynn Academy and Appling County.
For the Lady Jackets,
Alex Thomas took first in
the high jump, and Alexis
Bunch won the 3200-meter
race.
Winning firsts for the
Jackets were Cameron
Padgett, shot put; Kadarris
Dixon, high jump; Keandre
Bonham, 100-meter race;
and Elijah Johnson, 200meter run.
Earning second-place finishes were Johnson, 100meter race and long jump;
George Tlacutatl, 3200meter run and 800-meter
run; and Keshawn Carter,
400-meter race.
Also, the 4x400 relay
team of Thomar Smith, Jermain Jackson, Tlacutatl,
Corenlius Pittman took silver.
The 4x100 relay team of
M.J. Fuller, Johnson, Isaiah
Kincade
and
Bonham finished third.
Also taking bronze were
Bonham, 200-meter run;
Kolby Wallace, long jump;
and Tafarri Thomas, triple
jump.
MPMs’s Itzaleth Loa attempts to take the ball from a Bacon Middle player.
Middle school pitch needed
brooms this past week
STAFF REPORT
Wayne County’s middle
school soccer teams cleaned
up this past week with
sweeps of Pierce and Bacon
middle schools.
AWMS
The Arthur Williams
Middle school soccer teams
double-dipped the Pierce
Middle Bears as the girls
won 3-1 and the boys 1-0.
For the girls, Arabia
Easley had two scores off
assists by Kaylee Czech.
Maddy Withrow scored the
third goal off an assist by
Easley.
“The girls came out
strong and controlled the
ball,” said coach Jean
Adams. “They played hard
and kept the pressure on all
through the game. Goalies
Stephanie Tirado and Camryn Brooks had a total of
five saves on the night. I am
proud of the way my girls
are playing and carrying
themselves on the field.”
For the boys, it was more
of a defensive struggle.
“The boys played a very
strong defensive game and
were able to hold off the
Bears until the final second,” said coach Candice
Boyette. “Center defenders
Beau Chancey and Preston
Bennett had a truly spectacular game, shutting the
Bear’s attacking game
down. I was also highly impressed with the teams’
passing and communication.”
AWMS struggled on offensive the first half and
seemed to be a little sluggish. After the start of the
second, AWMS came out
more aggressive and attacked the ball. After multiple shots on goal, AWMS
was successful in putting
the ball in the net with a
beautiful free kick by Finn
Ogden and a finish by
Pharaoh Spellman.
MPMS
The MPMS girls dominated Bacon Middle 10-0,
and the boys won 2-0.
The junior Lady Jackets
jumped out to a 5-0 lead in
the first half and then
added five more scores in
the second half.
In the first, Presley
Moore scored two goals, and
Priscilla Thomas, Itzaleth
Loa and Jazmin Mendez
each added a goal. In the
second half, Terran Ward
scored three goals and
Madyson Dombrowski netted two.
“Very pleased with the
play of the girls,” said coach
Dee Dolan. “The defense did
not allow a shot on goal,
which was led by Tamekah
Roberts, Whaley Moody
and Olivia Mullis.”
According to boys coach
Jessica Oliver, “Bacon
County just added soccer to
their middle school program, so this game gave me
the opportunity to see how
our new and younger players could perform on the
field. I was so excited at the
level of play out of all of our
players. We have 21 boys on
the team, and many of
them have not had a lot of
game time, but they have
gone through full practices
every day. The boys’ passing
and communication, along
with their pressure on the
goal, was awesome to see.”
In the first half, Teddy
Mockler took some very
nice shots on the goal. Luis
Flores did well controlling
the ball in the center and
Ashton Howard played a
great midfielder position.
New to defense, Carson Anderson came through in
helping keep the ball out of
the back field. In the second
half, Abraham Vasquez
scored both goals off assists
from Alex Browning and
Juan Flores.
SPORTS
Middle school tennis conference tourney begins Tuesday
STAFF REPORT
Wayne County’s middle
school tennis teams will
start the Southeast
Georgia Middle School
Conference tournament
on Tuesday. Opponents,
places and times were
not set by press time.
MPMS
The Martha Puckett
Middle School girls tennis team defeated Bacon
County 4-1 but the boys
lost a close one 3-2.
Winning in singles
again were Kadie Moxley (8-2) and Gracie
Carter (8-1) with Kaitlyn Autry’s winning via
forfeit. In doubles, the
No. 1 team of Abigail
Gay and Jenna Carter
won a very close match
in a tiebreaker 7-3 after
finishing the match tied
8-8. Also competing for
MPMS at No. 2 doubles
was
the
team
of
Makayla Crews and
Zyun Wingard, while
Alexia
Slone,
Lily
Adams and Ahlana Failey represented the
school well in close al-
ternate matches.
For the boys, the two
victories came in doubles
play.
Payton Lantrip
and Gregory Frazier won
a very competitive, backand-forth match 8-6
while Sawyer Priester
and Isaac Czajkowski
took care of business
with an 8-3 win.
In singles play, Kush
Patel, Hunter Pickel and
Austin Dick each won
multiple games and competed well but came up
short. Representing the
school in a competitive
alternate match was
SPORTS BRIEFS
▼▼▼
Tryouts for travel
Basketball team
A U-12 boys AAU travel basketball
team will hold tryouts March 18 at the
Brantley County Middle School gym.
Boys trying out should be no older
than 12 years of age on Aug. 31.
For more information contact 6145325 or 337-2866.
Jackets & Aces Spring
Tourney is March 19
The Wayne County High tennis program will hold its sixth annual Jackets
& Aces Spring Tournament March 19
at the school’s tennis courts.
This year the tournament will honor
Breast Cancer Awareness, and partici-
pants are encouraged to wear pink.
Registration will begin at 8:30 a.m.,
and singles play will start at 9 a.m.
Doubles are set for 10:30 a.m.
For adults, the entry fee is $30 plus
one new can of tennis balls for one division and $35 per adult plus two new
cans of tennis balls for two divisions.
For students, the fee is $20 plus one
new can of tennis balls for one division
and $25 plus two new cans of tennis
balls for two divisions.
The entry deadline is March 19, but
all entrants before March 16 will receive a T-shirt. Entry forms are available in the WCHS front office and athletic department.
For more information contact Olivia
Jern at 706-781-8200.
GAMES OF THE WEEK
▼▼▼
•The WCHS varsity baseball team
will host Appling County today (Saturday) at 2 p.m. It will then play
Richmond Hill on the road on Tuesday at 6 p.m. and host Windsor Forest in a doubleheader on Friday. The
first game is at 4:30 p.m. The junior
varsity will play Appling County
today (Saturday) at 11 a.m. The
team will host Camden County on
Monday and Jeff Davis on Thursday.
Both games will be at 5:30 p.m.
•The AWMS baseball team will
host Brantley County on Monday
and Pierce County on Thursday. The
games will be at 4 p.m. MPMS baseball team will play Pierce Middle on
the road on Monday at 4 p.m. The
team will then play Bacon Middle on
the road on Thursday at 4:30 p.m.
•The WCHS varsity soccer teams
will host Southeast Bulloch on Tuesday and New Hampshire on Friday.
The girls will play at 5 p.m., followed
by the boys. The junior varsity will
play Brunswick on the road on Monday. The girls will play at 5 p.m., followed by the boys. The boys will host
Glynn Academy on Thursday at 5:30
p.m.
•The AWMS and MPMS soccer
teams will play Wednesday. AWMS
will then face Jeff Davis on the road
on Friday. Games will be at 4 p.m.
•Today (Saturday), the WCHS tennis teams will play Burke High at 10
a.m. and Thomson High at 1 p.m. in
Waynesboro. The teams will host
South Effingham on Tuesday at 4
p.m. The junior varsity teams will
play Bradwell on the road on Monday and Glynn Academy on Wednesday. Matches will begin at 4 p.m.
•The middle school tennis teams
will start their year-end tournament
play on Tuesday. Opponents, locations and times have yet to be set.
The championship matches will take
place on March 19.
•The WCHS varsity golf teams
will compete in Waverly on Tuesday
at 3:30 p.m. They will then compete
in the Raider Classic in Alma on
March 19 at 8 a.m.
•The middle school golf team will
compete in the conference tournament on Monday in Blackshear at 9
a.m.
•The WCHS track teams will compete in Charlton County on Thursday at 4 p.m.
•The AWMS and MPMS track
teams will compete in Waycross on
Thursday at 3:30 p.m.
PLANS
The Jesup City Council has scheduled a public hearing in the auditorium on these issues to immediately
follow the county session.
County Board of Commissioners
Chairman Kevin Copeland will give a
welcome at the county hosted meeting, and then Langford Holbrook of
the Carl Vinson Institute of Government from the University of Georgia
will be the moderator for the meeting.
Spokespersons for the U.S. Army
Corps of Engineers and from Republic Services will be asked to give short
presentations. Following that, the
public will be given an opportunity to
make statements or to ask questions.
Those planning to make comments
or ask questions can sign up at the entrance to the auditorium prior to the
meeting. They will be called to go to
the podium in the order of the sign-up
list.
The time for individual questions
and comments will be determined by
the number signing up and announced prior to the start of the question period. Written comments or
questions may also be submitted.
The Georgia Environmental Protection Division is also expected to have
representatives on hand.
Nicolas Manning.
AWMS
For Arthur Williams,
both teams lost to the
Ware Middle Gators 3-2.
“We went neck and
neck but fell just shy,”
said coach Rob Young.
“We looked a little sluggish in singles play but
warmed up after the first
game or two.”
Captain Austin Brown
and the doubles team of
Robert Headley and
Gunnar Henderson won
their sets and set their
team up to finish off the
Ware Gators.
“Unfortunately,
we
weren’t able to solidify
the third win to put them
away,”
said
Young.
“Austin showed some
true poise on the court
yesterday, while Robert
and Gunnar held nothing back.”
For the junior Lady
Jackets, the doubles
teams of Maura Popkin
and Caroline Overholt
and Madie Hamilton and
Christen Campbell went
beast-mode on an unsuspecting pair of doubles
players. Both sets ended
8-2.
“These wins remind
our girls how powerful
they can be,” said Young.
“We are battling a couple
of minor injuries in our
singles ranks, but I feel
confident that the players will be back in time
for playoffs.”
In addition to some
great doubles action in
official
play,
Jenny
Miron and Jessie Reddish won their alternates
match (4-3), and Kaley
Lewis got a chance to
show off her singles’
skills, winning 4-1.
SHERIFF
Werkheiser and Chad Nimmer are
both running without opposition.
In the Brunswick Judicial Circuit,
Richard H. Taylor has qualified to face
Bert Guy for E.M. Wilkes’ superior court
judgeship. The other three judges—Anthony Harrison, Stephen Kelley and
Stephen Scarlett—are running for reelection without opposition, as is District
Attorney Jackie Johnson.
In statewide races, Mary Kay Bacallo,
a Fayetteville college professor, has qualified to run against both incumbent
Johnny Isakson and Derrick Grayson for
the Republican nomination for the U.S.
Senate. On the Democratic side, Atlanta
businessman Jim Barksdale and Management Enterprises CEO John F. Coyne
III have qualified to join Cheryl
Copeland and James Knox in the race.
Also, Kellie Pollard Austin has qualified as a Republican for the District 2
seat on the Georgia Public Service Commission, joining two other GOP candidates—incumbent Tim Echols and
Michelle Miller.
The final three candidates that will be
on the ballot here in May are incumbents
running unopposed—Supreme Court
Justice David Nahmias and Court of Appeals Judges Anne Elizabeth Barnes and
Chris McFadden.
Back in Wayne County, the Democratic
Party has announced that Democratic
Committee posts will not be on the primary ballot, and Vern Quathamer and
Sarah Edmondson have withdrawn their
candidacies.
STAR
MRSE
highest score on a single
test date on the threepart SAT and be in the
top 10 percent or top 10
students of his or her
class based on grade
point average.
Peebles scored 2040 on
the SAT, though he did
not know he had the
highest score until late
January of this year.
“I thought, ‘What have
I done?’ while sitting in
[school counselor Beth
Roach’s] office,” he said
about receiving the
news. “It’s really nice to
be recognized.”
And he recognized
Chancey as the teacher
who helped him most.
Chancey taught Peebles two years in a row.
In his freshman year, he
took physical science
under her.
“I struggled with science in eighth grade,” he
recalled. “My first semester as a freshman, I
did OK, but I knew I
could do better. The second semester of my
freshman year is when I
had Mrs. Chancey. She
really helped me to understand [the material]
and reflect on myself [as
a learner].”
Peebles
described
Chancey’s
teaching
methods as “personalized” and “tailored” to
students that learn the
way he does.
Chancey
remarked
that she was surprised
Peebles had remembered her.
“I didn’t expect [to be
chosen] and experienced
a ‘wow’ feeling,” she recalled. “Usually students go on into their junior and senior years
and forget the lessons
learned
from
their
freshman year.”
Chancey also taught
Peebles biology during
his sophomore year.
“Having [Peebles] two
years in a row, he got to
learn what my expectations were,” she said,
“and he is one of those
students that does it
right because he strives
to learn and internalize
the lesson.”
For Peebles, Chancey’s
personalized methods
were not only informative but also engaging
and fun.
“I remember we were
always chanting and
singing and using hand
motions. There was one
time, when we were
learning about nucleic
acids, that [Chancey]
had us sing a song, and
I’ll never forget it,” he
said as he demonstrated
the movements and
made percussion and
bass sounds.
“She said she was
teaching us the way that
she learned when she
was in school. There was
always a new way for us
to learn from her, and I
remember that even
now. I’ll never forget
about nucleic acids,” he
said, laughing.
Peebles described himself as an intrinsically
motivated student, and
he said that he remembered Chancey’s teach-
ing methods so well, in
part, because she is one
of the few people that
motivated him more
than he already did
himself. In his experience, he didn’t always
receive the personalized
instruction
that
Chancey was able to
provide him, precisely
because he was self-motivated. She seemed to
recognize his need for
more.
Chancey
is
no
stranger to recognition
herself. In her 15-year
career in education, she
has received the Teacher
of The Year honor three
times—once in Wayne
County and twice in
Long County. She plans
to continue to teach in
her own personalized
way.
Peebles hopes to attend college at either
the
University
of
Florida or the University of Georgia.
Perhaps not so surprisingly, he wants to
major in biology.
The STAR program,
now in its 58th year, is
sponsored by the Professional Association of
Georgia
Educators
(PAGE) Foundation.
Since its inception, the
STAR program has honored nearly 25,500 students and the teachers
they have selected as
having the most influence on their academic
achievement.
WITH A
1.00%
was recommended for
approval two weeks ago
but not recommended
for approval this week.
Two weeks ago Brinson recommended a list
of principals, assistant
principals and certified
Central Office staffers
for contract renewal, as
well as a list of teachers
and other personnel.
The Board declined to
approve either list. Nick
Ellis made a motion to
approve the list of administrators, but the
motion failed for lack of
a second.
This week Brinson
recommended renewal
lists again, but this
time—in contrast with
the previous meeting—
the lists were not displayed at the meeting.
Both lists passed
unanimously.
When The Press-Sentinel obtained copies of
the lists the next day,
Ndow’s name was not on
the list of principals.
the amendment had to
be drawn up to apply to
any group that might
apply for a license.
“You can’t gear this toward
the
Tourism
Board, even though I’d
like to,” he said.
The amendment allows charitable, civic or
nonprofit groups, such
as the Tourism Board,
to obtain a special-event
license for beer and
wine sales. A group
could apply for up to six
special-event licenses a
year.
The application fee
would be $25, and the
Wayne County Sheriff ’s
Office would be notified
so that it could conduct
a background check and
determine
security
needs, which would be
provided by the event
organizers.
The
application
process would be 30
days, and the license fee
would be $500. These
provisions could be
waived by the commissioners, though, according to Beaver.
The ordinance explicitly removes liability
from the county and requires bonding by the
organizers. With input
from
Commissioner
Mike Roberts (who has
a background in insurance), the commissioners decided to let
Luther Smart determine the level of bonding needed for each particular event.
The amendment requires that alcohol sales
take place in a secure
area. It also requires
that the organizers
clean up the venue afterward.
The
Board
voted
unanimously to approve
the amendment with
the agreed-upon provisions. The Board then
voted unanimously to
let Smart approve the
Tourism Board’s application pending the completion of the background check.
In other business, the
Board
acknowledged
the
resignation
of
Jonathan Christopher
Ashley from the Wayne
County Board of Tax Assessors.
The Board also closed
the meeting to the public to discuss litigation.
No action was taken.
COUNTY
Thursday
afternoon.
(The meeting had been
postponed
from
Wednesday afternoon.)
Will Murphy of the
Wayne County Tourism
Board—which is working with a promoter on
the June concert—had
appeared at the regular
county meeting Monday
night to request a provision for beer and wine
sales at special events.
Murphy
explained
that
the
promoter
needed beer and wine
sales to make the concert economically practical. Murphy also explained that delaying a
decision on the alcohol
ordinance might mean
that the concert performers would sign up
for a definite event elsewhere.
According to Murphy,
the proposed event is
expected to draw thousands of people.
At the called meeting,
County Attorney Andy
Beaver presented a
draft amendment that
the commissioners revised for approval.
In discussing the
amendment, Commissioner James “Boot”
Thomas stressed that
r
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W
SHARE CERTIFICATE
Simple Terms ...
Great Returns
BBQ for a Cure
March 24, 2016
APY*
Help Support the American Cancer Society’s
Relay for Life Fundraiser!
18 months
$1000.00 Minimum Balance
3 month penalty**
Tickets must be purchased in advance: Cash or Check
New money or currently maturing CD
Tickets available until March 17 at 912-530-3118
*APY - Annual Percentage Yield
** We may impose a penalty of 3 months of dividends if the money is
withdrawn before the maturity date.
Boston Butts $25
Slab of Ribs $20
Available for pickup 3pm-6pm on March 24;
Bring cooler for easy pickup
Jesup
427-8924
Ludowici
545-3257
www.altamaha.org
Screven
579-2767
IT’S YOUR FINANCIAL FUTURE, Call Today
Federally Insured by NCUA
11A
Curbside pickup behind the Hospital at the Annex
(formerly Armory).
Follow the signs on Memorial Drive on March 24.
WAYNE COUNTY CRIME BEAT
▼▼▼
❑ Wayne County
Sheriff’s Office
Mar. 7
•Battery was reported
on Odum Road South,
Odum.
•Burglary was reported on Rayonier
Road.
•Theft by taking was
reported on Tank Road,
Odum.
•Terroristic threats
and acts were reported
by a call-in.
•Battery/family violence was reported on
Trail Road.
Mar. 8
•Entering auto was reported on Shenandoah
Road.
•Criminal
trespass
was reported on U.S.
Highway 301 South.
•Riot in a penal institution was reported on
South Macon Street.
•Financial transaction
card—unauthorized use
of—was reported on Ga.
Highway 169.
•Denise Marie Rollins,
37, of 655 Meadowwood
The police beat is compiled by staff from incident reports from the
Jesup Police Department and the Wayne
County Sheriff ’s Office,
which are public records.
•••
The Georgia Bureau
of Investigation’s Sex
Offender Registry can
be viewed on-line at
www.ganet.org/gbi.
•••
Report Crime: If you
see something going on
that involves law enforcement, give us a tip
so we can report the
news. Call 427-3757 or
e-mail to news2derby@
gmail.com.
Drive, was arrested and
charged with defective
equipment, limited driving permit—violation of
the conditions, failure to
maintain lane and operation of an unregistered
vehicle.
Mar. 9
•A runaway juvenile
was reported on Doe
Street.
•Terroristic threats
and acts were reported
on Carter Street.
•Harassing
phone
calls were reported on
Partridge Place.
•Burglary was reported on Oak Ridge
Road.
•Theft by taking was
reported on Dakota
Court North.
•Simple assault was
reported on Beaver
Creek Road.
•Simple assault was
also reported on Chickadee Circle.
•Devonnie
Leanne
Tyre, 25, of 247 Stivers
Drive, was arrested and
charged with riot in a
penal institution and
simple battery.
•Ronald Keith Baldwin, 55, of 86 N. Osceola
Trail, was arrested and
charged with marijuana—possession
of
less than one ounce.
Mar. 10
•Abdul Aziz Bah, 28,
of 4191 U.S. Hwy 301
North Lot 22, was arrested and charged with
disorderly conduct.
County retreat seen as positive
By Drew Davis
STAFF WRITER
A Wayne County Board
of Commissioners retreat late last month
yielded good results, according to Chair Kevin
Copeland.
Copeland reviewed the
retreat in an interview
after a called county
meeting Thursday afternoon.
“I think it went ... very
well,” Copeland said of
the retreat, which took
place at the Boar’s Head
in Savannah.
“We represent five different districts. ... We
have differences,” he acknowledged,
adding,
“But overall we had a
good retreat.”
In particular, the commissioners committed
themselves to unity in
giving
direction
to
Luther Smart, Copeland
said.
In regard to specific
items, Copeland said
that he is especially
happy about decisions
made about the road department.
As he had explained at
the regular county meeting Monday night, the
county is going to subcontract all new construction so that regular
maintenance duties will
not cause construction
projects to fall behind.
Subcontractors will be
held to deadlines, as well
as quality specifications,
Copeland said.
Where road maintenance is concerned, the
road department will be
turning in regular work
sheets to help the commissioners keep constituents informed about
progress and to help the
county track expenses,
Copeland explained.
The other item about
which Copeland expressed particular excitement was a new system
of
performance-based review, which is being formulated to quantify
work performance for
pay incentives. The new
system should be more
effective than simply letting supervisors recommend merit raises, according to Copeland.
The county has already
JESUP AGENDA
▼▼▼
Jesup plans to finalize
solid-waste amendment
The Jesup City Council
will have the second
reading of an amendment to the city’s solidwaste ordinance at its
regular meeting Tuesday
at 7 p.m. at Jesup City
Hall.
The Council also plans
to award a contract for
road work from its new
state Local Maintenance
and Improvement Grant.
HERE’S A GIFT FOR ALL YEAR
I want to help feed the hungry in Wayne County.
• I will give $
each month for one full year.
• I am giving $
now to help all year long.
(Just $20/month makes it possible to feed hundreds every
week. We need you to join us in this effort which helps
volunteers provide this critical service.)
Signature
SEND YOUR CONTRIBUTION TO
TABITHA’S PLACE
247 S. Second Street
Jesup, GA 31545
FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT
JANICE PHILLIPS AT 912-256-2113
taken action on three
other retreat items: hiring an attorney to review
landfill agreements, creating a land-management committee, and updating
the
county’s
timber-hauling
ordinance. (See the countymeeting wrap-up on page
7A.)
Also discussed at the
retreat were formalizing
a road-paving priority
list, updating buildinginspection fees and fines,
getting help from the Association County Commissioners of Georgia
with a request for
health-insurance proposals, linking the county
website
with
other
county offices, and looking for new ways to reduce county borrowing.
In addition, the county
is considering hiring a
staff person to find
grants and write applications, Copeland said.
COOK
&
L
IFESTYLE
....................................................
INSIDE:
Socials • TV Listings • Classifieds
SECTION
B
Saturday, March 12, 2016
Osteoporosis
Bones are like a bank account where you deposit calcium and other minerals to
build strong bones. You also
withdraw calcium from bones
when your body needs it elsewhere. You withdraw more
calcium from bones than you
deposit when you are older.
This condition, called osteoporosis, can
leave you
with weaker
bones that
can fracture
easily.
Such as
you build a
strong bank
account
By Becky
with good
Collins
investments
Extension Agent
over time,
you have to deposit enough
calcium during childhood and
adolescence so withdrawals
do not leave you with weak
bones when you are older.
Osteoporosis is a silent disease that creeps up throughout your lifetime. Most people do not know they have it
until they fracture a bone.
You should care for your
bones no matter what your
age. It’s never too late to
start. There are a few tips
you can follow that will help
you maintain strong bones.
Eat a healthy diet that includes milk and other dairy
foods for calcium and vitamin
D and fruits and vegetables
for other nutrients important
for strong bones. Calcium
gives your bones structure;
vitamin D helps you absorb
and get calcium to your
bones. Milk is a rich source
of both calcium and vitamin
D.
Get daily sun exposure so
your skin can make vitamin
D. Expose your arms or legs
to sun for 15 minutes daily,
without sunscreen. Apply
sunscreen after 15 minutes.
Your skin makes less vitamin
D after 5, and your vitamin
D needs increase. So, you
have to get enough vitamin D
from milk and/or a supplement.
Maintain an active
lifestyle that includes regular
weight-bearing exercises,
strength-training exercises
and stretching. Weight-bearing exercises include walking, running, aerobics
classes, stair climbing, tennis, basketball, soccer, and
❑ See COLLINS, Page 2B
True intimacy in marriage is worth the sacrifices
QUESTION: I’m getting,
married in June. My fiancee
and I want to have a great
lifelong relationship, so we’re
asking various people for advice and input. What’s your
perspective?
Jim: Every couple wants a
loving marriage that’ll endure
for the long haul. So it’s worth
asking, “Why do so few relationships seem to actually experience that kind of genuine
intimacy?”
I think part of the answer
lies in what we expect from
relationships. The primary
reason we’re attracted to people is the way they make us
feel. Now, I want as much as
anyone to experience good
feelings in my marriage. But
superficial emotions like that
FOCUS ON FAMILY
▼▼▼
aren’t enough
of a foundation to sustain a relationship or to
create deep,
fulfilling intimacy. That’s
because as
DR. JIM
soon as the
DALY
good feelings
Columnist
disappear, so
does the person’s commitment
to the relationship. It’s why
people abandon friendships.
And it’s why people give up on
marriages.
True love is something quite
different. Love is patient and
understanding. And, yes, love
can be hard. It sacrifices for
someone else and chooses to
stay with them in spite of
their faults. Instead of running away, love faces challenges head on, so it can
break through to something
richer and more meaningful.
As one person put it, love is
“seeing the darkness in another person, yet resisting the
impulse to jump ship.”
Very few things in life are as
enriching as true intimacy in
marriage. The path to authentic, soul-fulfilling intimacy in
a relationship isn’t always
strewn with rose petals; sometimes there are a few thorns
along the way. But it’s definitely worth the work.
******
QUESTION: My husband
and I both seem to be angry
all the time. We end up taking
it out on each other, even
though neither of us wants to
live this way. How do we
break this cycle?
Greg Smalley, vice president, Family Ministries: It
helps to acknowledge that
anger is a secondary emotion,
not a primary feeling. It generally disguises other emotions and often occurs after
we’ve felt fear, frustration,
hurt or some combination of
these three emotions. And
sometimes anger is triggered
by an unfulfilled expectation
that causes us to feel disappointed.
So when you experience
anger, or you encounter someone who is angry, try to re-
member that there is likely
more to the picture. Sometimes it’s easier to feel compassion for ourselves or others
when we realize that fear,
frustration or hurt is hidden
underneath smoldering anger.
This certainly doesn’t give
us--or anyone else--the right
to explode in rage at someone.
But recognizing that anger is
often a secondary reaction to
inner fear or hurt can help us
respond to angry people, including our spouses, with understanding and compassion.
In every scenario, we have a
choice: We can recognize that
our emotions are normal responses to everyday occurrences, or we can ignore our
❑ See DALY, Page 2B
2B Saturday, March 12, 2016 The Press-Sentinel
MOVIE REVIEW
DALY
▼▼▼
Gerard Butler goes from protecting
the White House to protecting Big Ben
London Has Fallen is
the sequel to 2013’s
Olympus
Has
Fallen.
Just like
the original, this
one contains a
lot of acJustin
tion and
Hall
then
more action, and then
there are some chases
and shootouts, and ...
and .... Oh, who am I
kidding? This movie is
nothing more than a
bombastic, overblown rehash of the original.
If you were a fan of the
original, then this sequel will be right up
your alley once again. If
not, then there’s no use
trying to persuade you
to go see this one. If you
were forced into seeing
it, well, chances are you
probably had nothing
better to do.
Gerard Butler returns
as Secret Service agent
Mike Banning, who’s
once again assigned to
protect the president
(Aaron Eckhart), this
time as he’s been called
to attend the funeral of
the British prime minister in London. Lo and
behold, a terrorist organization strikes at the
funeral, leaving Butler
and Eckhart to fend for
themselves as they try
to dodge the faction.
That’s pretty much the
setup and payoff for the
rest of the film.
Meanwhile, back in
Washington, the vice
president (Morgan Freeman) and his staff do
everything they can to
deal with the situation
and bring down the terrorists. All that’s missing is having Harrison
Ford and Glenn Close
get in on the action.
The movie relies on a
lot of durable actionmovie clichés and plot
devices that attempt to
give the movie momentum, including a mo-
COLLINS
Continued from page 1B
volleyball. Do any of
these at least 30 minutes a day three times a
week. Strength-training exercises are weight
lifting with dumbbells
or weight machines.
Push-ups, stomach
curls and leg lifts are
some strengthening exercises done without
machines. Do these two
times per week.
Stretching improves
balance and flexibility
and helps reduce risk of
falling. Do stretching
exercises at least three
times per week.
Have a bone mineral
density test at the right
time in life, and take
appropriate medications
to slow bone loss or
build bones when necessary. Pre-menopausal
women and men with
risk factors and women
in menopause or past
menopause should talk
to their doctor about
bone mineral density
testing. These tests can
help a doctor decide
whether medications
are needed to prevent
bone loss, slow bone loss
or help rebuild bone.
Avoid habits that can
cause bone loss to start
too early. These habits
include smoking, drinking excess alcohol and
strict dieting that leads
to an eating disorder.
Consuming too little
calcium and getting
very little activity or exercise can also prevent
you from building
strong bones.
For further information on how you can
build strong bones and
prevent or slow the risk
for osteoporosis, call
your local County Extension Office at 4275965.
ment when the president is inevitably captured and held hostage
awaiting his execution.
London Has Fallen basically amounts to having your typical share of
action sequences that
are loud and look like
well-choreographed
stunts from a ‘90s action
movie. But it also contains cardboard characters who exchange witless one-liners before
moving on into the next
action sequence.
The movie is about 100
minutes long. I would
venture to say that 102
minutes after it starts,
you are already thinking
about something else.
Grade: C+
(Rated R for strong violence and language
throughout.)
Until next time, this is
Justin Hall, saying, “I’ll
see you at the movies!”
Continued from page 1B
emotions and stuff them.
When we mismanage our
anger, we risk destroying
relationships — especially
with those we love the
most.
Again, that’s the key
thing about anger: how
we handle it. When we
handle it poorly, we push
away those we love the
most, leaving a trail of
damaged relationships in
our wake. Ultimately, unhealthy ways of dealing
with anger can be passed
from one generation to the
next, causing even more
destruction. But when we
deal with anger in healthy
ways, it can lead to
greater understanding
and intimacy in our marriages.
To get started, you may
well need some qualified
professional help. Our
staff of licensed counselors is available to
speak with you and provide you with a local referral. You can reach them
for a free consultation
Monday through Friday
between 6 a.m. and 8 p.m.
MST at 855-771-HELP
(4357).
******
Jim Daly is a husband
and father, an author,
and president of Focus on
the Family and host of the
Focus on the Family radio
program. Catch up with
him at
www.jimdalyblog.com or
at www.facebook.com/
DalyFocus.
COPYRIGHT 2016
FOCUS ON THE FAMILY, COLORADO
SPRINGS, CO 80995
3B
5B
CLASS IFIEDS
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By Phone: Call
(912) 427-3757
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address is:
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Jesup, GA 31545
Office Hours:
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C LASSIFIEDS :
PUBLISHER’S
NOTICE
This newspaper is pledged
to the letter and spirit of the
U.S. policy for the achievement of equal housing opportunity throughout the
nation. We encourage and
support an affirmative advertising and marketing
program in which there are
no barriers to obtaining
housing.
All real estate advertised in
this newspaper is subject
to the Federal Fair Housing
Act, which makes it illegal
to advertise any preference, limitation or discrimination based on race, color,
religion, sex, handicap, familial status or national origin, or intention to make
any such preferences, limitations or discrimination.
We will not knowingly accept any advertising for
real estate that is in violation of the law.
W HEN YOUR AD IS DUE :
W EDNESDAY ’ S E DITION ,
12 N OON M ONDAY
S ATURDAY ’ S E DITION ,
12 N OON T HURSDAY
mance bonus with well established, 75 year old dynamic company. Must be
able to work flexible hours
and enjoy working in a team
environment. Please e-mail
resume
to:
[email protected]. Applicants for employment will be
required to undergo a drug
screening test prior to being
considered for employment.
Equal Opportunity employer.
Heavy diesel mechanic
needed or mechanic helper.
Call 912-294-4050
Maintenance person: fulltime background check required, own tools and transportation. Pay depends on
experience, Contact 912427-4515
CDL Truck Drivers. Current
MVR, 3-years experience.
Apply at Hendrix Hauling
3600 Rayonier Road.
Services
300 Business and
Services
Need Seed. I am looking for
heirloom or old variety, local
grown and saved seeds for
vegetables or flowers. Call
Derby at (912) 424-6494 or
contact
at
[email protected].
We are looking to purchase
copies (book) of Wayne
County Georgia – Its History
and Its People, published in
1990. If you have a copy you
would like to sell or donate,
please call The Press-Sentinel at 912-427-3757
130 Personals
Don’t miss it! Now is the
time to send that special
“Personal” message. Call
912-427-3757.
140 Miscellaneous
Personals/
Greetings
Backswamp Hunting Club
needs members ASAP,
March 15th deadline. First
come basis. 912-294-3778
Employment
200 Help Wanted
Provider needed for son,
honest, reliable, must have
own transportation. 912-2020627
Position available. Must
have CDL’s & Driving Experience. Job not limited to just
driving. Apply in person. Mallard Septic Tank Service.
1024 Odum Hwy., Jesup.
Customer Service Representative 1st Franklin Financial is currently seeking Customer
Service
Representatives for our
JESUP OFFICE. Experience
preferred but not required.
Position entails issuing and
collecting consumer loans
and requires good interpersonal skills. Excellent benefits package including health
insurance, 401K and perfor-
• I N P RINT
• O N L INE • A NYTIME
S EE O NLINE C LASSIFIEDS AT:
w w w. t h e p r e s s - s e n t i n e l . c o m
www.eichersprovinyl.com
Well’s Roofing and Vinyl
Siding, Inc. All work guaranteed, 45 years experience,
residential and commercial.
Call 912-269-8594 or 912586-6711.
Don Phillip’s Home Improvements, Remodeling,
roofing & re-roofing, new
construction, additions, and
wood decks. Call Don at
912-294-5292.
340 Yard Work
Tatum Stump Grinding,
reasonable rates, work guaranteed. 912-530-7578 or
912-424-9146
350 Miscellaneous
Services
WANTED: WILL REMOVE
CEDAR TREES, FOR THE
WOOD. 912-294-5813
For Sale
400 Yard Sales
Yard Sale 3145 Savannah
Hwy. Corner of 3145 & Douglas Way, next to Jim Mitchell
Service Center. Friday and
Saturday March 11th & 12th,
480 Miscellaneous
Sale Items
120 Want To Buy
House Cleaning Services
free estimates. Call 912-4027358
Jim’s Computer Services
home/office networking, PC
repairs/upgrades, virus, malware, adware removal. Security camera installation/repair. Quality service, great
prices. Jim NeSmith 912294-5731
AJ’s Tree Service licensed
and insured. Call today for
your free estimate. 912-5796368
Mallard Septic Tank: Septic
Tank systems installed and
repaired, dirt, land clearing,
roads and ponds. Dwaine
Mallard. 912-427-8660.
Pye’s Tree Service, debris
removal. Licensed & Insured.
Free estimates 912-4248753 912-424-5515
310 Home
Improvement
John Crosier Home Improvement: Ceramic tile, drywall new and repair, new
roofs and roof repair, vinyl
siding, decks, additions, interior and exterior painting,
window replacement, cabinets & counters, gutters,
pressure washing. 912-4246073
Eicher’s Pro Vinyl $0 down
100% financing available,
WAC 1-year same-as-cash,
payments as low as $54/mo.
Sunrooms, metal roofing,
vinyl siding, seamless gutters, vinyl replacement windows, patio covers & decks,
visit our showroom at 341
Cameron Rd. Jesup, GA.
912-588-0061 912-294-6607
MARCH 12, 2016
HOMELand
8:00 am – until, lots of everything. Selling hot dogs &
hamburgers.
Our Classified Ads Work!
Let us sell your items for you.
Call The Press-Sentinel,
912-427-3757.
Announcements
SATURDAY
Husquavarna 48” riding mower
like new. Used one season.
$1,600.00. 912-586-8850
SHAZAM! Almost Everything
Fri. Sat. 9-5 Sunday 12-4 furniture, antiques, stuff new arrivals
every week largest estate buyer
in area, 167 S E Board @ RR
Tupperware to tiffany. Thank you
Jesup! Tom & Mona 636-4028194 anytime
Used appliances & furniture,
we buy and sell. 912-4278835
Mancave/Shop for sale!
The fully insulated shop is
16X32, fully equipped. Tin
ceiling with wood laminate
floors and plenty of electrical
outlets and lights inside.
Front door with a window on
each side. Built with a
garage door but is enclosed
now, which can easily be
changed back. Includes an
AC and heat wall unit, 4X8
1in thick slate pool table that
comes with 2 sets of balls,
plenty of pool sticks with a
pool stick holder and ping
pong table top, sectional
couch with matching ottoman, and matching chair,
projector, receiver, and surround sound speakers, fully
lit mini fridge, several neon
signs, and dart board. Buyer
has to move. Steps, blinds,
and outside lights included;
$15,000. 912-256-3243.
Real Estate
640 Mobile Homes
For Sale
You can also find
Classifieds in each
Wednesday and Saturday
edition of
The Press-Sentinel.
The best source for online
Classifieds
6178
Attractive 2 BR 1 BA C/H/A,
nice shady lot, near hospital.
912-427-6178
Brick 3 BR 1.5 BA, in city
limits, stove, refrigerator,
total electric, no pets, references required, $600/mo.
$500/dep.
912-202-6188
after 6 pm.
710 Apartments
For Rent
2004 4 BR 2 BR on 2+Acres
new medal roof, front & back
porch, deep well, C/H/A,
Wayne Co. asking $90,000
912-256-4492
670 Acreage
For Sale
Two (2) to four (4) acre lots,
located in the Odum area,
owner financing available for
qualified applicants, Call
912-427-8660 for more information and directions.
For Rent
700 Homes
For Rent
2 BR 1 BA water furnished,
washer/dryer, screened front
porch. 301 Holly Lane Paradise Park Fish Camp,
Wayne
Co.
$350/mo.
$150/dep. 912-282-7694
Ideal for Executive’s shortterm needs, just remodeled,
3 BR 2 BA, completely furnished, upscale neighborhood, near hospital 912-427-
The Press-Sentinel
2 BR 2 BA C/H/A, water included, in Odum $425/mo.
$425/dep. 912-294-4207
Mobile Homes for Rent: 2
Bedroom/ 2 Bath -$425, 2
Bedroom/ 1 Bath - $400. Security Deposit and 1st
month’s rent due up front.
912-402-7219 for more info.
770
Space
Business
Store Front Property First
St. by Goodys’ Harris Real
Estate. 912-427-6028
Autos For Sale
800 Autos For Sale
Have an auto for sale? Let
us help you sell it. Call the
classified department at the
Press-Sentinel,
912-4273757.
660 Lots For Sale
Adjoining coastal lots for
sale Beautiful moss-draped
oak trees are featured on two
golf course home sites at
Sutherland Bluff Plantation in
McIntosh County. Located
across the street from the
marsh, these adjoining lots
overlook the second fairway
of the Sapelo Hammock Golf
Club and are just down from
the pro shop, community
pool and tennis facilities.
This gated community additionally offers use of the clubhouse and deep water dock
overlooking the Broro River
leading into the Sapelo
Sound. Local marinas and
restaurants are close by in
the Village of Shellman Bluff.
The lots are priced at
$25,000 each. For more information contact Ellen Harris at 832-6335 or 269-5627.
FREE
real estate
guide published
monthly by
STATEWIDES
1 & 2 BR available with
background check. Call 912427-4515
Apply Today!! 1, 2, 3, and 4
bedroom apartments and
townhouses will be coming
available. Nice apartments in
good neighborhood with benefits you won’t find anywhere
else!! Federal rental assistance is also available for
qualified applicants. Fill out
an application today for details, Jesup Housing Authority at 327 Bay Acres Road.
Call 912-427-2535.
720 Mobile Homes
For Rent
3 BR 1.5 BA no pets, first
months rent & dep. 912-2022672 912-588- 1962
AUCTIONS
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DRIVERS
DRIVER – ATTENTION. * HOME
WEEKLY* SE regional runs! $3000
Sign On Bonus for experienced drivers. Paid out within 30 days of first
dispatch! Limited Positions Available!
6 day refresher course available.
855-378-9335. EOE www.KLLM.com
ATTN: Drivers - $2K Sign-On Bonus.
Love your $60K + Job! We put drivers first! Pet & Rider Avg $1200
Weekly. CDL-A Req. (877) 258-8782.
Drive4melton.com
SCHOOLS/ INSTRUCTIONAL
AVIATION GRADS work with JetBlue, Boeing, NASA and others start
here with hands on training for FAA
certification. Financial aid if qualified.
Call Aviation Institute of Maintenance
(888) 873-4120. www.FixJets.com
FOR SALE
2009 Honda Rancher 4x2 .........................$4,100
8x10 Dutch Style Utility building ...............$1,100
1988 318 John Deere lawn Tractor...........$1,200
Sunal tanning bed .....................................$1,000
Hard Top for a
2007 Jeep Wrangler Unlimited ....................$500
For more information or to see
any of these call 912-256-4608
Saturday, March 12, 2016 The Press-Sentinel 7B
LEGALS:
Gpn07
NOTICE TO DEBTORS AND
CREDITORS
GEORGIA,
WAYNE
COUNTY
All persons holding claims
against the estate of Marcus A.
Driggers, deceased, of Wayne
County, Georgia are hereby notified to render in their demands
of the undersigned according to
law, and all persons indebted to
said estate are required to make
immediate payment to me.
This 16th day of February,
2016.
Rose M. Daniels
1434 Collins Loop
Odum,GA 31555
Run dates: February 20,27,
and March 5,12, 2016.
No. 680
Gpn18
IN THE PROBATE COURT
COUNTY OF WAYNE
STATE OF GEORGIA
IN RE: ESTATE OF JAMES
ROY BAGLEY, DECEASED
PETITION FOR LETTERS
OF ADMINISTRATION
NOTICE
TO: WHOM IT MAY CONCERN: SUSIE L. BAGLEY has
petitioned to be appointed Administrator(s) of the estate of
James Roy Bagley deceased, of
said County. (The Petitioner has
also applied for waiver of bond
and/or grant of certain powers
contained in O.C.G.A §53-12261.) All interested parties are
hereby notified to show cause
why said petition should not be
granted. All objections to the petition must be in writing, setting
forth the grounds of any such
objections, and must be filed
with the court on or before
March
21,
2016.
All
pleadings/objections must be
signed under oath before a notary pubic or before a probate
court clerk, and filing fees must
be tendered with your pleadings/objections, unless you
qualify to file as an indigent
party. Contact probate court personnel
at
the
following
address/telephone number for
the required amount of filing
fees. If any objections are filed,
a hearing will be scheduled at a
later date. If no objections are
filed, the petition may be granted
without a hearing.
Tammy K. Thornton
Judge of the Probate Court
By: Hope S. Cunningham
Clerk/Deputy Clerk of the
Probate Court
359 East Walnut Street
Jesup, GA 31546
912-427-5940
Run dates: February 27, and
March 5, 12, 19, 2016
No. 690
GPN15
IN THE SUPERIOR COURT
OF WAYNE COUNTY, STATE
OF GEORGIA
In re the name change of
Michael Herb, Petitioner
CIVIL ACTION FILE # 16CV-0071
NOTICE OF PUBLICATION
You are hereby notified that
on the 23rd day of February,
2016, Michael Herb filed a Petition to Change Name in the Superior Court of Wayne County.
Michael Herb desires to change
his/her from Michael Lee Storm
Herb to Michael Lee Deloach.
Any interested party has the
right to appear in this case and
file objections within 30 days
after the Petition to Change
Name was filed. Signed this
23rd day of February, 2016
Clerk of Superior Court,
Wayne County
March 5, 12, 19, 2016.
No. 692
Gpn15
Notice of Publication
In the Superior Court of
Wayne County
State of Georgia
In the Matter of Brandon
Tyler Newkirk,
Civil Action File Number 16CV-0076
NOTICE OF PETITION TO
CHANGE NAME
To Whom It May Concern:
on February 23, 2016, a Petition
to Change name was filed in the
Superior Court of Wayne
County, Georgia, by Brandon
Tyler Newkirk. The foregoing
Petition to Change Name will be
set down and made returnable
before the Superior Court of
Wayne County, Brunswick Judicial Circuit in Chambers within
thirty (30) days of the filing of
said Petition. Objections must
be filed with said Court within
thirty (30) days of the filing of
said Petition.
Samantha F. Jacobs, Esq.
712 E. Cherry Street
(912) 427-8786
March 5, 12, 19, 2016.
No. 693
Gpn18
COUNTY OF WAYNE
STATE OF GEORGIA
IN RE: ESTATE OF JAMES
EDWARD TODD, DECEASED
OF ADMINISTRATION
NOTICE
To who it may concern:
Tonya Todd & Tiffany Todd has
petitioned to be appointed Administrator(s) of the estate of
James Edward Todd deceased,
of said County. (The Petitioner
has also applied for waiver of
bond and/or grant of certain
powers contained in O.C.G.A.
§53-12-261.) All interested parties are hereby notified to show
cause why said petition should
not be granted. All objections to
the petition must be writing, setting forth the grounds of any
such objections, and must be
filed with the court on or before
March
21,2016.
All
signed under oath before a notary public or before a probate
be tendered with your pleadings/objections, unless you
party. Contact probate court personnel
at
the
following
without a hearing.
Tammy K. Thornton
Probate Court
359 E. Walnut St.
Jesup, GA 31546
912-427-5940
March 5, 12, 19, 2016
No. 694
Gpn10
COUNTY OF WAYNE
STATE OF GEORGIA
IN
RE:
ESTATE
OF
SHAYLEIGH BURGE, MINOR
NOTICE
Date of second publication, if
any March 12, 2016
TO: SHANNON BURGE &
WHOM IT MAY CONCERN:
Joseph & Diane Bunch has filed
a Petition seeking to be appointed temporary guardian(s)
of the above-named Minor. All
objections to the Petition to the
appointment of temporary
guardian or the appointment of
the Petitioner(s) as temporary
guardian(s), must be in writing,
setting forth the grounds of any
such objections, and be filed
with this Court no later than fourteen (14) days after this notice is
mailed, or ten (10) days after
this notice is personally served
upon you, or ten (10) days after
the second publication of this
notice if you are served by publication. All objections should be
sworn to before a notary public
or Georgia probate court clerk
and filing fees must be tendered
with your objections, unless you
party. Contact Probate Court
personnel for the required
amount of filing fees.
NOTE: If a natural guardian
files a timely objection to the creation of the temporary guardianship, the Petition will be dismissed. If a natural guardian
files an objection to the appointment of the Petitioner(s) as
guardian(s), or if a parent who is
not a natural guardian files an
objection the Petition, a hearing
on the matter shall be scheduled
at a later date. If on objection is
filed, the Petition may be
granted without a hearing.
Tammy K. Thornton
Probate Court
359 E. Walnut St.
Jesup, GA 31545
912-427-5940
Run dates: March 5, 12,
2016.
No. 698
Gpn11
Notice of Sale Under Power
Georgia, Wayne County
Under and by virtue of the
Power of Sale contained in a
Deed to Secure Debt given by
Lilly Dean and Roscoe Dean to
Taylor, Bean & Whitaker Mortgage Corp., dated July 14, 2000,
and recorded in Deed Book 21X, Page 334, Wayne County,
Georgia records, as last transferred to Federal National Mortgage Association (“FNMA”) by
Lost Assignment of Security
Deed Affidavit recorded in Deed
Book 674, Page 569, Wayne
County, Georgia records, conveying the after-described property to secure a Note of even
date in the original principal
amount of $32,800.00, with interest at the rate specified
therein, there will be sold by the
undersigned at public outcry to
the highest bidder for cash before the Courthouse door of
Wayne County, Georgia, within
the legal hours of sale on the
first Tuesday in April, 2016, to
wit: April 5, 2016, the following
described property:
All that tract or parcel of land
situate, lying and being in City
Lot No. 206 according to the Official Map of Jesup, Wayne
County, Georgia, and containing
0.197 acres, and particularly described as Tract C on a plat of
same prepared by Quillie E. Kinard, Jr., G.R.L.S. #1572, dated
June 22, 2000, and recorded in
the Office of the Clerk of Superior Court of Wayne County,
Georgia in Plat Book 38, Page
185. Said property being known
as 629 E. Plum Street, Jesup,
GA.
The debt secured by said
Deed to Secure Debt has been
and is hereby declared due because of, among other possible
events of default, failure to pay
the indebtedness as and when
due and in the manner provided
in the Note and Deed to Secure
Debt. The debt remaining in default, this sale will be made for
the purpose of paying the same
and all expenses of this sale, as
provided in the Deed to Secure
Debt and by law, including attorney’s fees (notice of intent to
collect attorney’s fees having
been given).Said property is
commonly known as 629 East
Plum Street, Jesup, GA 31546,
together with all fixtures and personal property attached to and
constituting a part of said property. To the best knowledge and
belief of the undersigned, the
party (or parties) in possession
of the subject property is (are):
Lilly Dean and Roscoe Dean or
tenant or tenants.
Said property will be sold
subject to (a) any outstanding ad
valorem taxes (including taxes
which are a lien, but not yet due
and payable), (b) any matters
which might be disclosed by an
accurate survey and inspection
of the property, and (c) all matters of record superior to the
Deed to Secure Debt first set out
above, including, but not limited
to, assessments, liens, encumbrances, zoning ordinances,
easements,
restrictions,
covenants, etc.The sale will be
conducted subject to (1) confirmation that the sale is not prohibited under the U.S. Bankruptcy Code; (2) O.C.G.A.
Section 9-13-172.1; and (3) final
confirmation and audit of the
status of the loan with the holder
of the security deed. Pursuant to
O.C.G.A. Section 9-13-172.1,
which allows for certain procedures regarding the rescission
of judicial and nonjudicial sales
in the State of Georgia, the
Deed Under Power and other
foreclosure documents may not
be provided until final confirmation and audit of the status of the
loan as provided in the preceding paragraph. Pursuant to
O.C.G.A. Section 44-14-162.2,
the entity that has full authority
to negotiate, amend and modify
all terms of the mortgage with
the debtor is:
Seterus, Inc.
Attention: Loss Mitigation
Department
14523 SW Miliken Way,
Suite 200
Beaverton, OR 97005-2348
1-866-570-5277
The foregoing notwithstanding, nothing in O.C.G.A. Section
44-14-162.2 shall be construed
to require the secured creditor to
negotiate, amend or modify the
terms of the Deed to Secure
Debt described herein. This sale
is conducted on behalf of the secured creditor under the power
of sale granted in the aforementioned security instrument,
specifically being
Federal National Mortgage
Association (“FNMA”)
as attorney in fact for
Lilly Dean and Roscoe Dean
Martin & Brunavs
5775 Glenridge Drive
Building D, Suite 100
Atlanta, GA 30328
404.982.0088
THIS LAW FIRM IS ACTING
AS A DEBT COLLECTOR ATTEMPTING TO COLLECT A
DEBT. ANY INFORMATION
OBTAINED WILL BE USED
FOR THAT PURPOSE.
MBFC16-050
Run dates: March 5, 12, 19,
26, 2016
No. 699
Gpn14
Gregs Towing
317 Maple Dr.
Jesup, GA 31545
Date: March 1, 2016.
OWNER(S)
KENNETH
DUANE HAMBY
To Whom It May Concern:
This letter is to inform the
owner(s) and lienholder(s) of the
charges on the 2007 White HHR
VIN
3GNDA23D275594772
TAG# 1A PPG6800 Vehicle was
towed by the request of Wayne
County Sheriff’s Office on No-
vember 27, 2015 at 3rd and
Walnut Street, Jesup GA. The
vehicle is impounded. The tow
fee is $100.00 and the storage
fee is $15.00 per day. If you
have sold this vehicle and the
new owner has failed to register
the title, you are responsible for
the vehicle and to notify us of the
new owner. Arrangements need
to be made in ten (10) days or
abandonment will be filed.
Sincerely
/s/ Greg Houston
Run dates: March 5, 12,
2016
No. 700
LEGALS:
Gpn11
NOTICE OF SALE UNDER
POWER, WAYNE COUNTY
Pursuant to the Power of
Sale contained in a Security
Deed given by Herbert L Courson to Bank of America, N.A.
dated 11/7/2001 and recorded in
Deed Book 23-U Page 175 and
modified at Deed Book 27A
Page 340
Wayne County,
Georgia records; as last transferred to or acquired by Bank of
America, National Association,
conveying the after-described
property to secure a Note in the
original principal amount of $
39,702.50, with interest at the
rate specified therein, there will
be sold by the undersigned at
public outcry to the highest bidder for cash before the Courthouse door of Wayne County,
Georgia (or such other area as
designated by Order of the Superior Court of said county),
within the legal hours of sale on
April 05, 2016 (being the first
Tuesday of said month unless
said date falls on a Federal Holiday, in which case being the first
Wednesday of said month), the
following described property: All
that certain lot or parcel of land,
situated, lying and being in Land
Lot No. 31 in the Third Land District of Wayne County, Georgia,
and being known and designated as Lot No. 13, Section 3,
in HOLLYOAKS SUBDIVISION,
as shown on subdivision plat
prepared b R. T. Littlefield, Georgia Registered Surveyor No.
357, and recorded in the Clerk of
Superior Courts Office, Wayne
County, Georgia, in Plat Book 4,
Page 20, and being more particularly described as follows:
Commence at a point where the
southern boundary of Linden
Bluff Road intersects the eastern
boundary of Killingsworth Road;
running thence South 13 degrees 55 minutes West along
the eastern boundary of
Killingsworth Road a distance of
220.026 feet to a point; running
thence South 77 degrees East a
distance of 203.18 feet to a
point; running thence North 13
degrees East a distance of 200
feet to a point on the southern
boundary of Linden Bluff Road;
running thence North 77 degrees West along the southern
boundary of Linden Bluff Road a
distance of 200 feet to the point
of beginning. Reference is
hereby made to said plat and the
record thereof for all purposes.
LESS AND EXCEPT: All that
tract or parcel of land conveyed
to Linda Sue Rozier by Warranty
Deed, dated May 6, 2003 and
recorded in Deed Book 441,
Page 107, Wayne County, Georgia Records. CONVEYED IS
SHOWN AS “HERBERT L.
COURSON, LOT 13-A. Pursuant to Consent Orders and
Final Judgments in Civil Action
File No. 15CV0342 filed in the
Superior Court of Wayne
County, Georgia, recorded in
Deed Book 671, Page 357,
Deed Book 671, Page 347 and
Deed Book 671, Page 361, the
lender shall conduct a foreclosure sale of the Property in accordance with O.C.G.A. §44-14162 and said foreclosure sale
shall be advertised and conducted at the time, place and
usual manner of sheriff sales in
the county in which the Property
lies.The debt secured by said
Security Deed has been and is
hereby declared due because
of, among other possible events
of default, failure to pay the indebtedness as and when due
and in the manner provided in
the Note and Security Deed. The
debt remaining in default, this
sale will be made for the purpose of paying the same and all
expenses of this sale, as provided in the Security Deed and
by law, including attorney’s fees
(notice of intent to collect attorney’s
fees
having
been
given).Said property is commonly
known
as
490
Killingsworth Rd, Jesup, GA
31545 together with all fixtures
and personal property attached
to and constituting a part of said
property, if any. To the best
knowledge and belief of the undersigned, the party (or parties)
in possession of the subject
property is (are): Estelle Courson, Robert Leon Courson as
Executor of Estate for Herbert L.
Courson, Jeanette Colson, Herbert Lee Courson, Jr., Robert
Lee Courson, John Emory Courson and Donna Gayle Martinez
or tenant or tenants.Shellpoint
Mortgage Servicing is the entity
or individual designated who
shall have full authority to nego-
tiate, amend and modify all
terms of the mortgage.
Shellpoint Mortgage Servicing
Shellpoint Mortgage Servicing
PO Box 10826
Greenville, SC 29603-0826
1-800-365-7107
Note, however, that such entity or individual is not required
by law to negotiate, amend or
modify the terms of the loan.
Said property will be sold
subject to: (a) any outstanding
ad valorem taxes (including
taxes which are a lien, but not
yet due and payable), (b) unpaid
water or sewage bills that constitute a lien against the property
whether due and payable or not
yet due and payable and which
may not be of record, (c) the
right of redemption of any taxing
authority, (d) any matters which
might be disclosed by an accurate survey and inspection of the
property, and (e) any assessments, liens, encumbrances,
zoning ordinances, restrictions,
covenants, and matters of
record superior to the Security
Deed first set out above.
The sale will be conducted
subject to (1) confirmation that
the sale is not prohibited under
the U.S. Bankruptcy Code; and
(2) final confirmation and audit of
the status of the loan with the
holder of the Security Deed. Pursuant to O.C.G.A. Section 9-13172.1, which allows for certain
procedures regarding the rescission of judicial and non-judicial
sales in the State of Georgia, the
Deed Under Power and other
foreclosure documents may not
be provided until final confirmation and audit of the status of the
loan as provided immediately
above.
Bank of America, National
Association as agent and Attorney in Fact for Herbert L Courson
Aldridge Pite, LLP (formerly
known as Aldridge Connors,
LLP), 15 Piedmont Center, 3575
Piedmont Road, N.E., Suite 500,
Atlanta, Georgia 30305, (404)
994-7400.
1263-137A
THIS LAW FIRM MAY BE
ACTING AS A DEBT COLLECTOR ATTEMPTING TO COLLECT A DEBT. ANY INFORMATION OBTAINED WILL BE
USED FOR THAT PURPOSE.
1263-137A
Run dates: March 12, 19, 26
and April 2, 2016.
No. 703
Gpn18
COUNTY OF WAYNE
STATE OF GEORGIA
IN RE: ESTATE OF WILLIE
REDDISH, JR., DECEASED
OF ADMINISTRATION
NOTICE
TO: All heirs of Willie Reddish, Jr. & to whom it may concern: RICKY A. REDDISH, SR.
has petitioned to be appointed
Administrator(s) of the estate of
WILLIE REDDISH, JR. deceased, of said County. (The Petitioner has also applied for
waiver of bond and/or grant of
certain powers contained in GA
CODE ANN. §53-12-261.) All interested parties are hereby notified to show cause why said petition should not be granted. All
objections to the petition must
be in writing, setting forth the
grounds of any such objections,
and must be filed with the court
on or before April 4, 2016. All
signed under oath before a notary public or before a probate
be tendered with your pleadings/objections, unless you qualify to file as in indigent party.
Contact probate court personnel
at the following address/telephone number for the required
amount of filing fees. If any objections are filed, a hearing will
scheduled at a later date. If no
objections are filed, the petition
may be granted without a hearing.
Tammy K. Thornton
Probate Court
359 E. Walnut St.
Jesup, GA 31546
912-427-5940
and April 2, 2016.
No. 706
Gpn15
IN THE SUPERIOR COURT
FOR THE COUNTY OF WAYNE
STATE OF GEORGIA
In Re: MARIANNA ESTELA
ELMORE,
a minor child,
Civil Action File No. 16-CV0080
NOTICE OF PETITION TO
CHANGE NAME
Notice is hereby given that
REGINA LEA ELMORE DE LA
CRUZ the undersigned, filed her
Petition to the Superior Court of
Wayne County, Georgia, on the
24th day of February, 2016,
praying for a change in the
name of her minor child from
MARIANNA ESTELA ELMORE
to MARIANNA ESTELA DE LA
CRUZ. Notice is hereby given
pursuant to law to any interested
or affected party to appear in
said Court and to file objections
to such name change. Objections must be filed with said
Court within 30 days of the filing
of said petition.
This the 24th day of February, 2016.
S/ Regina Lea Elmore De La
Cruz
REGINA LEA ELMORE DE
LA CRUZ
Petitioner
Alvin Leaphart
Attorney at Law
155 North Brunswick Street
Telephone: (912) 427-2024
Facsimile: (912) 427-9395
Email:
[email protected]
and April 2, 2016.
No. 707
Gpn18
NOTICE
(For Discharge from Office
and all Liability)
PROBATE COURT OF
WAYNE COUNTY
RE: PETITION OF JUDY
ANN KENNEDY FOR DISCHARGE AS EXECUTOR OF
THE ESTATE OF MERLEY
CRUMMEY, DECEASED.
TO: Whom it may concern:
and (all and singular the heirs of
said decedent,)( the beneficiaries under the will,)
This is to notify you to file objections, if there is any, to the
above referenced petition, in this
Court on or before March 21,
2016.
BE NOTIFIED FURTHER: All
objections to the petition must
be in writing, setting forth the
grounds of any such objections.
All pleadings/objections must be
signed before a notary public or
before a probate court clerk, and
filing fees must be tendered with
your pleadings/objections, unless you qualify to file as an indigent party. Contact probate
court personnel at the following
without a hearing.
Tammy K. Thornton
Probate Judge
Probate Clerk/Deputy Clerk
359 E. Walnut St.
Jesup, GA 31546
912-427-5940
Run dates: March 12, 2016.
No. 708
Gpn09
STATE OF GEORGIA
COUNTY OF WAYNE
NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN
THAT ALL TOUCH SCREEN
UNITS TO BE USED FOR VOTING IN THE MARCH 29, 2016,
SPECIAL ELECTION RUNOFF
FOR THE SCHOOL BOARDDISTRICT 4 ONLY, WILL BE
TESTED BEGINNING MARCH
16, 2016, BEGINNING AT 8:00
AM AND ENDING AT WHEN
ALL UNITS HAVE BEEN
TESTED. THE TESTING OF
THE TOUCH SCREEN UNITS
BE USED FOR ADVANCED
VOTING IN THE WAYNE
COUNTY REGISTRAR’S OFFICE FOR ADVANCE VOTING
AND ALL TOUCH SCREEN
UNITS THAT WILL BE USED
FOR SPECIAL ELECTION
RUNOFF FOR THE SCHOOL
BOARD-DISTRICT 4 ONLY
WILL BE TESTED AT THE
REGISTRARS OFFICE LOCATED AT 174 NORTH
BRUNSWICK STREET, JESUP,
GA 31546
IF YOU HAVE ANY QUESTIONS, PLEASE CALL THE
WAYNE COUNTY PROBATE
COURT AT 912-427-5940.
TAMMY K. THORNTON
SUPERINTENDENT
OF
ELECTIONS
Run date: March 12, 2016.
No. 709
Saturday, March 12, 2016
SPECIAL REPORT: COAL ASH
Controversy at Broadhurst Landfill
JENNIFER LINDELL / Special
An aerial view shows the active cell(s) where trash is now being dumped at Republic Service’s Broadhurst Environmental Landfill. The mound stands
some 150-plus feet tall. Refuse dumped there is covered in earth that is removed from nearby areas, resulting in the pond areas visible near the mound.
This view shows the landfill from the west.
Coal-ash dispute follows long and winding road
Republic Services’ proposal to build a rail yard
at Broadhurst has engendered more controversy
than any other local development in the past two
decades.
The company, which operates the Broadhurst Environmental Landfill,
has—through a subsidiary—applied for a permit to build a rail yard
that could accept whole
trainloads not only of
household garbage but
also of coal ash.
Ever since a reporter for
The Press-Sentinel discovered the permit application two months ago,
Wayne County citizens
and officials alike have
been discussing the proposal, what it would mean
and what to do about it.
People in Pierce County,
which borders Wayne
County near the landfill,
have also been expressing
concerns. News outlets
from nearby Brunswick to
the state capital of Atlanta have been addressing the issue. And legislation to require more
reporting of environmental problems at landfills
has been making its way
through the Georgia General Assembly.
The concerns have been
so great that the U.S.
Army Corps of Engineers
has twice extended the
public-comment period,
which will run through
April 5.
Next week the Wayne
County Board of Commis-
sioners will be hosting a
public meeting that will
feature presentations by
both the Corps of Engineers and Republic. Representatives of the Georgia Department of
Natural Resources’ Environmental Protection Division will also be present.
The meeting will take
place at the Coastal Pines
Technical College auditorium Wednesday from 7
p.m. to 9 p.m. and will afford local residents a
chance to ask questions
and make comments.
The City of Jesup will
hold another open meeting immediately after the
county one.
In light of the public attention that this issue has
already received, and in
preparation for the public
meeting, The Press-Sentinel is publishing this
special section, which
traces the evolution of
this controversy through
the main stories that the
newspaper has run so far
on the proposal.
The stories are accompanied by an array of photos
and diagrams, as well as
a map, that have been
used to illustrate the information provided.
The section also includes
a wide variety of editorials, columns, letters and
cartoons that have complemented the actual
news coverage.
Nor is the section completely a rehash of previously presented material.
It includes a brand-new
story explaining what
constitutes a Subtitle D
landfill, a previously unpublished aerial photo of
the landfill area, and a
cartoon prepared especially for this section.
Even the stories being
rerun have in some cases
been revised to clarify certain points.
The Press-Sentinel hopes
that this overview will
help the people of Wayne
County understand this
pressing issue so that
they will be in a better position to make informed
judgments about the situation in which this community currently finds itself.
Eric Denty
Publisher
The Press-Sentinel
2 Saturday, March 12, 2016 The Press-Sentinel
Landfill’s roots in Wayne go back to ’80s
By Drew Davis
STAFF WRITER
A great irony about concerns over the disposal of
coal ash at the Broadhurst Environmental
Landfill is that the landfill indirectly resulted
from environmental concerns in the first place.
Back in the 1980s, several trends—such as a
growing population, a
greater reliance on disposable products, a
greater use of non-natural chemicals in manufacturing processes, and a
growing sensitivity to environmental threats—
congealed to spawn new
federal and state laws regarding sanitary landfills.
Simply digging a big
hole away from homes
and businesses and
telling people to drop
their trash into it would
no longer be allowed. Instead, updated federal
regulations, passed in
1984, required that Subtitle D landfills be built
with thick liners and
other protective layers,
stringent operational regulations, extensive monitoring, and sophisticated
systems for the collection
of leachate (the “garbage
juice” that results from
rain running through different kinds of collected
garbage).
Some observers noted
even then that the new
procedures amounted to
little more than semipermanent entombment of
trash to be left for later
generations. No one
could argue, though, that
the new technology was
clearly superior to what
had come before.
The problem for local
governments was that
the cost of building and
maintaining a Subtitle D
landfill was prohibitive.
The only way to make
such a landfill economically feasible was to operate it as a large, high-volume enterprise that, in
rural areas, would have
to serve multiple counties.
As previously permitted
space began to diminish
in Wayne County, officials
looked at the high cost of
transporting waste elsewhere and decided that
the best solution might be
to locate a regional landfill here. Some local citizens objected to having
large amounts of trash
from other places brought
here. The rebuttal was
that having more trash in
a state-of-the-art landfill
was better than having
less trash deposited directly into the ground.
The Addington years
Established waste companies began making
pitches to build a regional
landfill in Wayne County.
In particular, Waste Management, the leading
provider of waste services
in North America, tried to
sell the Wayne County
Board of Commissioners—consisting, at the
dawn of the ’90s, of John
A. Flowers, Franklin
Denison, Eddy Lane, Bill
Morgan and L.G. Aspinwall—on its ability to operate a huge landfill
safely and responsibly.
The officials and, even
more so, local environmental leaders remained
skeptical, though—until
marketing representative
Ben Haley came to town
DERBY WATERS / Staff
This is the view looking south from near the top of “Mount Trashmore.” Each day more than 100 trucks travel up the landfill garbage mound
to add to the growing size of the garbage heap.
and made the case for
Addington Environmental. Addington Resources
was a successful Kentucky-based mining company that had been trying to diversify, in part
through its Addington
Environmental unit.
Early in the planning,
Addington proposed a relatively small regional
landfill to serve Wayne,
Glynn, Brantley and possibly Long counties in the
Mount Pleasant area.
Officials began negotiating specific terms with
Addington in 1991, and
in August of 1992 the
Wayne County Solid
Waste Authority—formed
in 1989 as the Wayne
County Resource Recovery Development Authority, with members appointed by the county
commissioners—approved an operating
agreement with Addington. That same night, the
county commissioners
voted 4-1 (with Lane in
dissent) to approve a host
agreement with the Solid
Waste Authority.
Under the agreement,
the county would retain
ownership of the property
and would receive a host
fee for every ton of
garbage brought to the
landfill. (Since 2005, that
fee has been $1.80 per
ton.) The county would
have to pay full price for
disposal at low levels of
landfill operation, but the
contract included a graduated scale whereby, once
enough volume of trash
was coming into the
county, local governments
would be able to dispose
of their trash free of
charge.
In December of 1994,
the new landfill opened
off Broadhurst Road
West, between U.S. 301
and Screven. By then, the
company and the county
had already started to approve changes to the original contract. For example, the original plans
had called for an automated recycling center at
the landfill, but prospective landfill customers
were unwilling to pay
more to operate such a
center. (Originally, 75
percent of the waste
stream was projected to
be diverted into recycling
and composting.)
As might be expected,
Solid waste is now being taken to the main landfill area at the right of this photo. Republic Services’ plan for coal
ash, though, is to develop new cells to the lower left.
the landfill got off to a
slow start, but as the
years passed, more area
governments began taking advantage of the service at Broadhurst. Eventually, the county was not
only disposing of its own
garbage at no cost, but
the host fees were helping pad tight county budgets.
Republic takes over
In December of 1996,
Republic Services bought
Addington Resources. In
2002 Republic bought the
902-acre landfill property
itself from the Solid
Waste Authority—for
$10. And then Republic
quietly began buying up
additional property in the
area, adding 517 acres in
2004 and 834 acres in
2008.
Meanwhile, some of the
original restrictions had
become looser. Back when
the landfill was struggling to turn a profit, for
example, limiting
garbage to the immediate
area was threatening the
needed growth of the
fledgling enterprise. In
fact, with Florida and
South Carolina so close,
even limiting garbage to
the state of Georgia
might have hindered the
landfill’s long-term viability.
If anyone questioned
whether trash might
eventually come in from
farther away, the answer
was that household
garbage from one state
doesn’t differ markedly
from household garbage
from another state.
When Republic took
over the landfill here, the
transfer was relatively
low-key. The idea was
that Republic would keep
operating the landfill essentially the same way as
Addington had done up to
that point. And according
to a Republic Public Relations representative, even
today—with annual tonnage into the landfill between 420,000 and
660,000 tons for the past
five years “substantially
all” of the waste stream
into Broadhurst originates in Georgia.
Yet when serious environmental accidents occurred with coal ash in
other states, Republic
was poised to take advantage of the business opportunities that new coalash rules presented.
Thus, a shell company
for Republic now has a
permit application pending for a rail yard that
could take in huge
amounts of waste—with
coal ash specifically mentioned—from other
states. That waste would
then be transported from
the rail yard to the landfill for disposal.
The coal-ash
conundrum
Just as the landfill itself was presented as a
solution to an environmental problem, new requirements regarding the
disposal of coal ash were
presented the same way.
And in fact, disposing of
coal ash in a lined landfill
is, on its face, an environmentally superior way to
handle coal ash than the
open containment ponds
that had caused problems
in other states, thereby
triggering some of the
new regulations.
When people in Wayne
County learned of the application, though, the
question became
whether—increased host
fees and rail-yard jobs
aside—Wayne County
should be accepting
tremendous quantities of
coal ash from the generation of power in other
states. In light of water
contamination that has
occurred elsewhere, local
residents wondered about
the potential long-term
impact on local wetlands,
the Floridan Aquifer and
even the Altamaha River
(via water from Penholloway Creek).
And while a lined landfill might be preferable to
an open containment
pond, some observers
wondered whether pro-
fessional lobbyists might
have had too strong a
hand in the U.S. Environmental Protection
Agency’s decision to deem
coal ash a nonhazardous
material—meaning that
it could be buried in a
solid-waste landfill—
when it is known to contain significant amounts
of toxic chemicals, such
as heavy metals.
For its part, Republic
denies having any customers lined up for the
proposed rail yard. Those
of a suspicious turn of
mind, though, have noted
that the “just-in-case”
proposal has seemed
quite specific—and
costly—for there to have
been no conversations
with prospective coal-ash
customers.
Not surprisingly, then,
attention has been turning not only to local, state
and federal rules that
would come into play
here but also to the twisting history that led to
this point in the first
place.
One thing seems clear:
Back in the early 1990s,
no one could have dreamt
that the solution to
Wayne County’s Subtitle
D problem might one day
be envisioned as a grand
destination for a toxic
substance from throughout the Southeast and
possibly beyond.
3
When representatives of Republic Services met with county officials recently, they left behind diagrams representing the components of a typical Subtitle D landfill
and the proposed rail yard. Above, a diagram of a Subtitle D landfill is on display at the county office. The diagrams were shown to the large crowd of residents who attended an open meeting to discuss the possibility of Wayne County becoming a mega-site for disposing of coal ash.
Subtitle D landfill:
What does this mean, and how does it operate?
By Derby Waters
STAFF WRITER
The Broadhurst Environmental Landfill is
known as a Subtitle D
landfill. But what does
that mean?
The name is from the
Resource Conservation
and Recovery Act of
1976, which contains a
Subtitle D. That portion
regulates the management of nonhazardous
solid waste. It establishes minimum federal
technical standards and
guidelines for state
solid-waste plans in
order to promote environmentally sound management of solid waste.
Prior to the passage of
the act, garbage collected from a community
was typically taken
some place close by and
dumped into an open
pit. No precautions were
taken to protect the environment.
A Subtitle D landfill is
engineered to provide
maximum protection for
the environment while
providing a location for
the disposal of nonhazardous waste. The “nonhazardous” wastes include residential and
commercial garbage.
This type of landfill involves engineering and
planning before construction, as well as
monitoring and maintenance after it is in place.
Another term sometimes
used to describe the
process is “dry entombment.”
The idea is to confine
the garbage so as to
keep it dry and as removed from the surrounding environment
as possible.
Construction
The construction begins with digging out an
area typically from 5 to
Robert Williams / Special
Jeremy Poetzscher, environmental manager for Republic Services, gestures toward a mound of garbage that
covers some 88 acres. Where Poetzscher is standing is the site of a cleanup mandated by the Georgia Environmental Protection Division after heavy metals were detected in the water supply. The cleanup has been completed, but results from monitoring wells around the site are still being reviewed by EPD.
10 acres. The bottom of
the area is sloped from
the sides toward the
center. After the earth is
removed and the “cell” is
shaped, a layer of clay or
semi-impervious earth is
laid down on the bottom
of the pit. That layer is
compressed, and then a
liner made of high-density polyethylene is laid
over the earthen layer.
The polyethylene must
be overlapped, and the
seams are usually
heated to seal the seams
and to avoid leakage.
The bottom of each cell
is typically designed so
that the bottom surface
of the landfill is sloped
to a low point, called a
sump. This design provides for liquids to seep
to the bottom and then
to be collected and removed.
Garbage that is
dumped contains liquids
of all kinds that will
seep downward through
the soil and other
garbage piled below it.
In addition, rainfall will
percolate through the
garbage.
All these liquids are
drained toward the
sump, where they are
pumped out or gravityflowed to a holding tank.
Called leachate or sometimes “garbage juice,”
these liquids collected
on the bottom are a
witch’s brew of hundreds
and sometimes thousands of various chemicals washed from the
tons of garbage in the
landfill.
The leachate is
pumped to a leachate
tank, where it is either
treated on-site or taken
to a wastewater-treatment facility for treatment to remove the toxins and chemicals.
Operation
Most landfills are designed with a mound of
garbage over the lined
cells as described above.
As garbage arrives each
day, regulations call for
each “layer” of garbage
to be covered with earth
or some other suitable
cover material.
The mound is added to
as each previous cell becomes filled with
garbage and another cell
is added.
In addition to the
leachate, the gases that
are created as the
garbage breaks down
must also be removed.
Usually methane and
carbon dioxide are the
most abundant gases.
Gases are removed
through collection vents
and are piped away from
the mound to be sold as
an energy supply or are
vented and burned.
As each cell is filled to
capacity, a top liner is
placed over the mound
of garbage and earth,
similar to the liner
placed at the bottom of
the cell. Then a few feet
of earth are added over
the top line, and typically grass is planted on
that.
The idea is that the
process “seals the
garbage inside the liners
and thus provides a “dry
emtombment” for the
refuse.
State regulations call
for the groundwater
around the garbage
heap to be monitored.
This is provided through
a series of monitoring
wells that are placed at
regular intervals around
the landfill.
The Georgia Environmental Protection Division requires that each
well must be monitored
each six months. When
pollutants are discovered in the monitoring
wells, the EPD prescribes what methods
must be used to arrest
the spread of the contamination.
Regulations call for
the operators of the
landfill to remain liable
for monitoring and
maintaining the Subtitle
D landfill for 30 years
after the landfill reaches
capacity and is closed.
Critics
Critics of Subtitle D
landfills point out that
the liners utilized may
not prove impervious
over time. They point
out that using heat to
seal seams may weaken
the polyethylene. And
they say that no one
knows how long the bottom liners, exposed to so
many corrosive chemicals, will stand up over
the years they are supposed to endure.
Others point out that
vertical leaks may not
be indicated in monitoring wells, which are
placed at horizontal distances around the landfill.
Still others are skeptical that 30 years following closing of these landfills is sufficient time to
hold landfill owners responsible for any future
problems.
EXISTING CSXT
MAIN TRACK
JURISDICTIONAL
WETLANDS PERMITTED
TO BE DISTURBED (TYP)
EXIST
ING S
30’ WIDE ACCESS ROAD
FROM BROADHURST ROAD
SERVICE TRACK. NO. 1
SERVICE TRACK NO. 2
.C.L.
RAILR
OAD
150’ R
/W
SERVICE TRACK NO. 3
SERVICE TRACK NO. 4
PROPOSED
SEDIMENT POND
PROPOSED CONCRETE
UNLOADING PAD
ISO W
LOAD ASTE CO
N
ING/U
NLOA TAINER
BETW DING ARE
SERV
EEN
A
ICE T
RACK
S NO.
2&N
O. 3
SCALE HOUSE
AND SCALES
JURISDICTIONAL
WETLANDS (TYP)
PROPOSED RE-USE TANK
WITH SECONDARY
CONTAINMENT
40’ WIDE GRAVEL
ACCESS ROAD (TYP)
(TWO-WAY TRAFFIC)
50’ WETLAND
BUFFER (TYP)
PROPOSED OFFICE
AND PARKING AREA
TO LAN
DFILL
POST-DEVELOPMENT
TREE LINE
BROA
CENT
DHUR
RAL V
ST EN
IRGIN
VIRO
PROPOSED WASH
DOWN FACILITY
IA PR
2O’ WIDE GRAVEL
ACCES ROAD (TYP)
(ONE-WAY TRAFFIC)
NMEN
OPER
TIES
TAL L
A
2O’ WIDE GRAVEL
ACCESS ROAD (TYP)
(ONE-WAY TRAFFIC)
EXISTING
TREE LINE
PROPOSED CONTACT
WATER SETTLING TANKS
EXISTING UNPAVED
ACCESS ROAD
JURISDICTIONAL
WETLANDS (TYP)
NDFIL
L
50’ WETLAND
BUFFER (TYP)
CONCEPTUAL CENTRAL VIRGINIA PROPERTIES RAIL YARD MASTER PLAN
Republic Services is in the planning stages of building a large rail yard adjacent to the Broadhurst landfill to accept trainloads of coal ash and other wastes. Above is a
diagram of the proposed rail yard.
Company plans to bring coal ash, other waste here
First published Jan. 13, 2016
By Derby Waters
STAFF WRITER
A South Carolina company has applied to the
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers for a permit that
would allow tons of coal
ash to be dumped in
Wayne County.
With just three weeks
left to comment on the
plan, apparently nobody
in Wayne County has
been told of it.
Dell Keith, president of
the Wayne County Industrial Development
Authority, said he has
not received any word
about the plan and that
the Authority is in no
way involved in the project.
According to Wayne
Luther Smart, Republic—which operates the
Broadhurst Landfill—
said it had been contacted by someone interested
in
possibly
shipping in coal ash, but
no specifics were provided.
The Press-Sentinel has
obtained a copy of the request to the Savannah
District office of the
Corps of Engineers,
dated Jan. 4. According
to the application, the
proposed project site
would be 249.8 acres located west of U.S. 301
and south of Broadhurst
Road West and 5.6 miles
east of Screven.
The applicant, Central
Virginia Properties of
Spartanburg, S.C., has
proposed a discharge of
dredged material into almost 25 acres of jurisdictional wetlands. It proposes to construct a
rail-yard operation including unloading structures, rail-car wash
down stations, parking
and an office.
The rail yard would include four-track yard
services with the CSX
mainline and an unloading infrastructure capa-
ble of servicing train-car
gondolas and shipping
containers. The property
would adjoin the Broadhurst
Environmental
landfill and be joined by
a service road.
“Work is planned to
commence immediately
upon successful issuance
of all required permits,”
the application stated.
The company said that
it already has a valid
Department of Army
permit to discharge material into 5.666 acres of
wetland on the northern
half of the existing property and to construct a
smaller rail yard that
would have received a
smaller volume of traffic.
The company now anticipates a “greatly increased” volume of 100plus rail cars and an
increase in tonnage.
“Coal
Combustion
Residuals (CCR) material would be removed
from the rail cars,” according to the permit application, and loaded
onto dump trucks, presumably to be moved to
The application proposes that the rail yard
would accommodate the
CCR and “other nonhazardous
waste
streams, including municipal solid waste,” that
can be transported via
rail to an approved lined
landfill for proper disposal.
In order to offset the
impact to the jurisdictional wetlands, the applicant proposes to purchase
wetland
mitigation credits from
the Wilkinson-Oconee
Wetland
Mitigation
Bank.
According to the application, any interested
person may request in
writing that a public
hearing be held to consider the application.
Also, any comments
about the application
must be submitted in
writing to the Commander, U.S. Army Corps of
The Broadhurst Environmental Landfill can be seen in the distance to the north. U.S. Hwy. 301 can be seen
just to the right (east) of the CSX railway. Just to the left of the railway, a proposed rail spur would be built by Republic Services. It would stretch from Broadhurst Road south along the track all the way to McKinnon.
Engineers, Savannah
District, Att; John W.
Derinzy,
100
W.
Oglethorpe Ave., Savannah, GA 31401-3604 no
later than 30 days from
the date of the notice
(Jan. 4).
The application states
that the Georgia Department of Natural Resources’ Environmental
Protection Division “intends to certify this project at the end of 30 days
….”
All coastal projects are
filed at the Brunswick
DNR office and can be
requested from Bradley
Smith
at
[email protected]
ov. Any person who desires to comment, object,
or request a public hearing is required to do so
in writing and to state
the reasons or basis of
objections—also within
only 30 days after the
state’s receipt of the application.
The application can be
reviewed in the Savannah District, U.S. Army
Corps of Engineers, Regulatory Division, at 100
W. Oglethorpe Ave. in
Savannah.
Coal ash causing
growing concern
STAFF REPORT
The plan to bring tons of coal ash
into Wayne County reflects a concern
also being voiced in other areas of the
state.
“Due to recent concerns over coal
ash, power companies are being forced
to move the material, usually kept in
unlined ponds next to coal plants and
rivers, to permitted lined landfills
(i.e., Broadhurst),” Satilla Riverkeeper Asby Nix told The Press-Sentinel this week.
Duke Energy, which was fined $100
million for allowing coal ash to contaminate the Dan River in North Carolina, is looking to transfer coal ash
from South Carolina into Banks
County in Georgia. (A South Carolina
company, Central Virginia Properties,
is named as the applicant in a plan to
haul tons of the ash into Wayne
County.)
According to investigations by the
Atlanta Journal-Constitution and
television station CBS 46 in Atlanta,
communities in Georgia are being
used as dumping grounds for coal ash
being produced in other states.
Duke Energy is presently sending
its coal ash to a Waste Management
lined landfill near Homer and apparently wants to do the same in Banks
County.
Is that a possible origin for what is
being proposed for the Broadhurst
Landfill? The application does not indicate the origin of coal ash that would
wind up here.
Already, Broadhurst Landfill accepts some coal ash from Jacksonville
Energy Authority.
Georgia Power maintains coal-ash
ponds at several sites around the
state, and all of the ash that was being
sent to ponds must now go to a lined
landfill.
With the recent flooding in middle
Georgia, Altamaha Riverkeeper reported possible coal-ash dumping at
Lake Sinclair with overflow into the
Altamaha River. The Georgia Department of Natural Resources has since
indicated that all discharge into the
river is within state guidelines.
Duke Energy has more than 30 coalash ponds that must be cleared for the
ash to be moved to lined landfills. Nationwide, more than 1,100 such contaminated sites must be transferred.
5
County will ask Corps for public meeting on plan
❏ What will
coal-ash facility
mean to Wayne?
By Derby Waters
STAFF WRITER
The Wayne County
will request a public
hearing about a proposed project to bring
tons of coal dust and
municipal waste into
Wayne County.
An application being
reviewed by the U.S.
Army Corps of Engineers seeks approval for
a 250-acre rail yard adjacent to Broadhust Environmental Landfield.
The plan calls for offloading coal ash to be
placed in the landfill.
The
application
caught local officials unaware, and they are now
scrambling to find out
what the proposal
means.
Luther Smart said Friday morning that he
had talked with County
Attorney Andy Beaver
and had instructed him
to send a letter to the
Savannah office of the
Army Corps, formally
asking for a public meeting to learn more about
the proposal.
Board Chair Kevin
Copeland said he was in
Atlanta for the opening
of this year’s legislative
session and the Okefenokee Occasion when
he first heard about he
proposal.
He said that after The
Press-Sentinel broke the
news in the midweek
edition, he learned about
it. Copeland said he
spoke briefly with representatives from Republic, which owns and operates the landfill here.
“I hope that we can
meet with them in the
next few days and learn
more about what this is
all about,” Copeland
said.
The application was
filed Jan. 4 by Central
Virginia Properties of
Spartanburg, S.C. Attempts to learn more
about that company
have not been successful
thus far. However, the
application filed with
the Corps of Engineers
provides basic information as to what the phys-
ical operation would entail. Where the coal ash
and any other materials
would come from is not
revealed in the application.
Environmental and
safety issues are also
not included in the application.
Maps included in the
application show four alternative sites for the location of the operation.
The first choice would
reach from the Broadhurst Highway south on
the western side of the
CSX railroad right-ofway. This would encompass part of what was
once the town of Broadhurst.
This alternative would
require 11,736 linear
feet of “lead track” to be
built. This track would
be long enough to accommodate a “full inbound 100-unit train.”
In addition, three service tracks would be required to provide room
for moving rail cars,
maintenance and solidwaste unloading. Track
2 would extend 9,000
feet for storage of
cleaned
outbound
trains. Track 3 would be
6,456 feet long for rail
car maintenance and
unloading of municipal
solid waste. Track 4
would be 8,708 linear
feet to provide for unloading onto dump
trucks, as well as a
wash-down operation
for empty cars.
The plan calls for the
coal combustion residuals (coal ash) to be removed from the cars by
excavators and placed
into dump trucks. The
municipal waste would
be in containers, which
would be removed from
the rail cars with a forklift and placed onto specialized container-carrier trucks.
The cleaning station is
proposed to consist of
wastewater collection
trays under and next to
the rail cars. From
there, the waste water
would be collected in
three settling tanks, and
water from those would
be recycled for cleaning
additional cars.
Water that could no
longer be used would be
transported to a publicowned treatment works
facility (presumably the
Jesup wastewater-treatment plant).
County meets with Republic Services reps
❏ What are
company plans
for coal ash coming
to Broadhurst?
By Derby Waters
STAFF WRITER
Representatives of
Republic Services were
in Jesup Wednesday to
explain at least some
of the company’s plans
for a proposed rail
yard at the Broadhurst
Environmental Landfill to be used to bring
tons of coal ash into
Wayne County.
Wayne County Board
of
Commissioners
Chair Kevin Copeland
said that he had set up
a meeting to gather information about the
proposal. He said the
meeting was to have
been a study session
with only Copeland
and Ralph Hickox, vice
chair; County Administrator Luther Smart;
and three representatives from Republic,
which owns and operates the landfill.
Jeremy Poetzscher,
environmental man-
ager; Timothy Laux,
district manager; and
a third representative
from Republic were at
the meeting. The name
of the third individual
was not available in
notes from the meeting, which were provided by Smart.
Copeland said that,
according to the company men, Republic is
opposed to a public
hearing on its proposal
to build the rail yard.
He said the company
position seems to be
that it is properly licensed to take in coal
ash, which is approved
by the U.S. Environmental
Protection
Agency (EPA) as a
legal waste stream for
lined landfills-such as
the one in place at
Broadhurst.
According
to
Copeland, he was told
that if the Corps
agrees to a public
hearing, the only matter under its purview
would be construction
of the rail yard and the
impact on wetlands at
the site.
Copeland said Thursday that he had talked
with representatives
from U.S. Rep. Buddy
Carter’s office about
the
congressman’s
commitment to have
the Corps schedule a
public hearing on the
proposal.
Copeland
said that while that effort is under way, he is
also seeking a meeting
with the Georgia Environmental Protection
Division so that local
elected officials and
the public can learn
about the laws and
regulations involved in
handling wastes such
as coal ash.
Copeland said the
men stressed that Republic does not have a
customer to provide
coal ash at this time.
The company representatives said that
the proposal for the
rail yard is merely
preparation to allow it
to take in coal ash
under new regulations
from the EPA, according to Copeland.
“No final decisions
have been made, but
the landfill is responsibly taking steps to prepare for the possibility
of accepting coal combustion
residuals
(CCRs) and municipal
solid waste (MSW) by
rail,” Smart quoted the
company representatives as saying.
Copeland said the
men told him and
Hickox that the company would soon put up
a website and would
provide more information about the plans
and also answer questions from the public.
The company said
that if the plans are
fully implemented, as
much as 10,000 tons of
coal ash could be
brought into the landfill each day, Copeland
reported.
He said the company
pointed out that at
that rate, there would
be a substantial increase in host fees paid
to the county and numerous additional jobs
to be filled at the
Broadhurst site.
The local officials
also learned that the
company listed on the
application
seeking
the permit from the
Corps, Central Virginia Properties, is a
subsidiary of Republic.
That company lists
Spartanburg, S.C., as
its place of business.
The website for Republic Services does not
list a city or state for
its home office.
It does provide the
following description of
its growth and operations:
“Republic Services,
Inc. was incorporated
in 1996 with a ‘can do’
spirit, driving its dramatic growth and acquisitions through the
years, welcoming other
organizations
that
share its values and
fiduciary discipline.
Today, Republic Services, Inc. is the second
largest provider of services in the domestic
non-hazardous solid
waste industry, as
measured by revenue,
as well as a Fortune
500 company, publicly
traded on the New
York Stock Exchange
(NYSE: RSG).
“Through our subsidiaries, we provide
non-hazardous solid
waste and recycling
services for commercial, industrial, municipal and residential
customers. Our customers come first as
we strive to safely and
sustainably provide re-
liable service through
338 collection operations, 200 transfer stations, 193 active solid
waste landfills and 66
recycling centers and
69 landfill gas and renewable energy projects across 39 states
and Puerto Rico. Republic Services, Inc. is
a holding company and
all operations are conducted by its subsidiaries.”
Copeland called The
Press-Sentinel after
the Wednesday meeting and said he has
asked the representatives from Republic to
meet with local media
to tell the company’s
plans. As of press time,
no one from Republic
has set up such a
meeting.
He also said that
after the meeting had
begun, the group was
joined by Commissioner Boot Thomas.
The presence of the
third
commissioner
constituted a quorum
and changed the study
session into an illegal
meeting.
Copeland
apologized, saying that
Thomas had not been
expected.
County seeks more info on coal ash
By Derby Waters
STAFF WRITER
The Wayne County
Board of Commissioners was faced with
more questions than
answers about the
coal-ash
issue
as
members prepared to
meet Tuesday night in
a called work session
and public hearing.
The commissioners
were hoping to learn
more about a proposal
to construct a large
rail yard at the Broadhurst landfill. If approved and built, the
facility could mean
that coal ash would be
brought into the landfill—by
train-car
loads.
According to an application before the
U.S. Army Corps of
Engineers, the proposed project site
would be 249.8 acres
located west of U.S.
301 and south of
Broadhurst
Road
West and 5.6 miles
east of Screven.
The applicant, Central Virginia Properties of Spartanburg,
S.C., has proposed a
discharge of dredged
material into almost
25 acres of jurisdictional wetlands. Interference with the wetlands
mandates
approval by the Corps
of Engineers. The
company proposes to
construct a rail-yard
operation including
unloading structures,
rail-car wash-down
stations, parking and
an office.
The application to
the Corps notes that,
if approved, work on
the rail yard would
begin at once.
In a meeting with
representatives of Republic, owner and operator of the landfill
at Broadhurst, county
commissioners
learned last week that
Central Virginia Properties is a subsidiary
of Republic.
Billy Birdwell, public relations specialist
for the U.S. Army
Corps of Engineers office in Savannah, said
that office would take
public comment on the
proposal through Feb.
3. Birdwell said that
the Corps is concerned
only with the proposal
to build a rail yard at
Broadhurst.
The operation of
Broadhurst Landfill
and what Republic
plans to receive as
solid waste is not a
matter for the Corps
to rule on, Birdwell
said.
“We have nothing to
do with a permitted
landfill,” Birdwell said.
Meanwhile, County
Board of Commissioners Chairman Kevin
Copeland said that he
has spoken with Mark
Williams,
Georgia
commissioner of the
Department of Natural Resources, and
was assured that the
state Environmental
Protection Division
(EPD) would hold a
public hearing on the
concerns of local residents.
A date for a meeting
with the EPD had not
been determined as of
press time, and a decision on requests for a
public hearing with
the Corps of Engineers will not be made
until after the Feb. 3
public-comment period.
Birdwell said that
typically the Corps
does not have public
hearings on applications. He said the only
reason the Corps
would have such a
meeting would be in a
case where the Corps
needs more information to make a deci-
sion on a permit application.
Birdwell said that
comments submitted
to the Corps are generally not taken via email but only by letters sent by standard
mail.
The address to send
comments and requests is Commander,
U.S. Army Corps of
Engineers, Savannah
District, Att: John W.
Derinzy,
100
W.
Oglethorpe Ave., Savannah, GA 314013604.
The Press-Sentinel
has contacted Republic in an attempt to
meet with company
representatives. The
company has not responded to those requests.
Wayne County Board of Commissioners Chairman Kevin
Copeland led the meeting that was designed to give the community more information of the proposed landfill project and to gather
comments from the community.
Screven's Newton Sikes spoke during the meeting of his
concerns for the project, offered his help and suggested several governmental sites for the county to review.
Photos by Eric Denty
Darrell Beasley has worked for years in the power-generating industry and told those gathered of the dangers he experienced every day working in and around coal.
Deadline for comment extended
Corps will meet here on rail spur
By Derby Waters
STAFF WRITER
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers,
Savannah District, has agreed to attend
a public meeting on a proposed construction of a rail yard adjacent to Broadhurst Environmental Landfill.
The action was requested by U.S. Sen.
David Perdue, U.S. Rep. Buddy Carter,
the Wayne County Board of Commissioners and others.
Kevin Copeland, chair of the Wayne
County Board of Commissioners, said
that he was contacted Wednesday by
David Lekson and Sherelle Reinhard,
permitting chief of the District office,
and told that the Corps will attend a
public meeting to be scheduled for sometime in mid-March. The date and meeting site will be announced in coming
days.
Although the Corps will have representatives here to listen to concerns, no
actual public hearing will be conducted—only a public meeting. Notice of
that meeting was followed Thursday
with an e-mail to The Press-Sentinel
from the Corps that the public comment
period regarding the application for the
rail yard has been extended to March 4.
What was made clear at a Tuesday-night
called meeting of the commissioners was
that the public wants that meeting with
the Corps and that the commissioners’
meeting room will not be large enough to
hold the interested public.
An overflow crowd was on hand Tuesday to learn more about the proposal to
build a large rail yard at the landfill to
allow Republic Services, Broadhurst Environmental’s owner, to ship tons of coal
ash to the lined landfill. Commissioners
Copeland, Mike Roberts and James
“Boot” Thomas were present for that
meeting, and Commissioner Ralph
Hickox attended via Skype. Commissioner Jerry “Shag” Wright was ill and
unable to attend.
Copeland explained that the commissioners are attempting to learn all that
they can, having been alerted to the proposal two weeks ago by an article in The
Press-Sentinel.
“We stand to become the dump site for
the whole East Coast,” Hickox said.
He said he would introduce a resolution at Monday night’s regular Board of
Commissioner’s meeting opposing the
plan.
Several members of the large audience
A large crowd packed the Wayne County commissioners’ meeting room to express concerns and gather more information on a proposal by Republic Services to build a rail yard adjacent to the Broadhurst Landfill and bring in tons of coal ash and other wastes.
spoke in opposition to the idea, and no
one voice approval.
Dink NeSmith, chairman of the board
of The Press-Sentinel, said that Republic had done a textbook case of “tiptoeing” by the public and elected officials
with this plan. He said he loved Wayne
County for its people and its natural resources.
“I hope we won’t do this,” he said.
Darrell Beasley, who worked on power
plants that burn coal (which results in
coal ash), said that those plants posted
warnings about the danger of the toxic
ingredients in the ash.
“Cancer-causing arsenic present,” he
said one of the postings warned.
“All we had to go by was the law. I feel
like EPA and EPD have let us down on
this,” John A. Flowers, former chairman
of the Wayne County Solid Waste Authority, said.
Dell Keith, president of the Wayne
County Industrial Development Authority, said that he and board members
were doing their homework just like
everybody else.
“We want to bring in jobs, but we want
the right kind of industry,” Keith said.
When asked whether the various local
officials and agencies were united, Keith
said that the IDA would stand with the
county commissioners.
Copeland asked the commissioners to
speak for themselves, and Hickox said
he was definitely opposed. Mike Roberts
said that he was trying to learn.
“I can’t see where we can do anything
but fight it,” Roberts said.
Thomas seemed the least inclined to
oppose the plan outright.
“My theory is to get all the facts before
I make a decision. My position is that I
will represent my constituents. If they
don’t want it, I will be against it,” he
said.
“I would love to have the money to
come into the county—but at what
cost?” Copeland said.
“As of right now we are working with
little information. I stand with you
against it,” he said.
Copeland said later this week that he
had had been assured by Reinhardt that
no permit would be granted for the proposed rail yard until after the public
meeting in March. She said there were
questions about the wetlands and “a lot
to look into,” according to Copeland.
In response to questions from The
Press-Sentinel, Billy Birdwell, public-relations specialist for the Corps, wrote
that public hearings are not normally
conducted.
“We hold public meetings only in those
circumstances where we believe we will
receive information not available
through other means. The purpose of a
public meeting would be for us to gain
more information, not simply to hear
pros and cons of a particular application.
Therefore, we rarely hold public meetings. The Corps is only evaluating the
construction of a rail yard, not the purpose of the rail yard or the use of a preexisting landfill permitted by the state.
The landfill is regulated by the state and
the EPA, not the Corps,” Birdwell wrote.
He also shed some light on the reason
that local officials were caught off guard
by the application from Republic. No
public notices were received at any of
the local governmental offices nor by the
legal organ of the county--The Press-
Sentinel.
“We no longer publish in the county
publication of record. We only publish
to contacts who have signed up on our
public-notice notification list and to
those adjacent landowners identified by
the applicant,” Birdwell explained.
Readers who would like to sign up for
notification of permit applications can
do
so
by
going
online
to
http://www.sas.usace.army.mil/Missions/Regulatory/PublicNotices.aspx.
Though Republic has yet to provide
any information to The Press-Sentinel,
the company is making an effort to
make its case to some of the concerned
groups in the area. The Satilla and Altamaha riverkeepers both submitted
questions to Republic concerning the
rail yard plans and the landfill. In a
reply to those questions, Republic denies
that the wetlands will be affected by its
plans.
“Coal Combustion Residuals (CCR)
would absolutely not be deposited directly in any wetlands on the Central
Virginia Property as part of the rail development. Fill material placed as part
of the rail siding would be composed of
native on-site soils.
As referenced in the pending wetlands
application, any CCR received at the rail
siding yard would be offloaded into haul
trucks and taken to Broadhurst Environmental Landfill for ultimate disposal,” Jeremey C. Poetzscher, environmental manager for Republic, wrote.
As a result of all the concern over the
coal-ash issue, the Wayne County Solid
Waste Authority has set a meeting for
Monday at 4 p.m. at the county commissioners’ meeting room.
County permit is required to disturb wetlands
First published Feb. 3, 2016
By Derby Waters
STAFF WRITER
Before Republic Services can build a
rail yard at Broadhurst, a permit from
the Wayne County Board of Commissioners is required.
That was the word from County Attorney Andy Beaver at a meeting of the
Wayne County Solid Waste Authority
Monday afternoon.
A county ordinance adopted in 2000
requires that a permit has to be
granted by the county commissioners
before any wetlands can be disturbed.
That ordinance was made public after
investigation by The Press-Sentinel,
and Beaver said Monday that the ordinance is in effect.
Board of Commissioner Chair Kevin
Copeland said that he had been told by
Beaver that if Republic is granted a
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers permit
to proceed with its plans for a rail spur,
the company must then apply to the
county for a permit before it can proceed. The spur would allow trains of
garbage and tons of coal ash to be
brought into Wayne County from anywhere in the nation.
Copeland was one of two county commissioners present for the meeting of
the Waste Authority.
Representatives from Republic Services of Georgia were also on hand for
❑ See PERMIT, Page 7
Jeremy Poetzscher, environmental manager for Republic, answers a question during the Monday meeting of the Solid Waste Authority of Wayne County.
7
Republic amasses 2,000-acre dump site
❑ Expansion of landfill
has been years in making
By Derby Waters
STAFF WRITER
Wayne County Solid Waste Authority member Rob Patton said in a Monday meeting that in his opinion the operation
of
the
Broadhurst
Environmental landfill now and the
plans for its future are “so far from
where we started.”
In fact, the size and scope of the
landfill today and the latest plans to
drastically increase the volume of materials received there are acres and
tons apart from the early days of the
business. As Patton put it, there are
now circumstances that were never
planned for (by the Authority).
The Authority may not have planned
for it, but it would appear that plans
were developed years ago by Republic
and that those plans are continuing to
be perfected. The history of change at
what was once a relatively small area
landfill includes growth never envisioned by the local board.
Before Republic, there was Addington. In those early days Wayne County
took on what surrounding counties did
not—the construction and operation of
a regional landfill on a 901.9-acre tract
near what once had been the small
hamlet of Broadhurst.
In 1996 Republic Services Inc. was
founded and by 2008 had grown into
the second largest waste-management
company in the nation. According to its
website, the company has more than
30,000 employees and operates in 39
states.
Meanwhile in Wayne County, the
business model for Addington was
proving difficult, and the former mining company agreed to sell its assets to
Republican. Waste from surrounding
counties was being brought into
Wayne County in increasing quantities.
By 2006, the landfill was a viable
working landfill that seemed successful for Republic and for Wayne County.
Local leaders such as then county administrator Nancy Jones were sounding the praises for the operation.
“It has been one of the best moves
this county has ever made,” Jones told
a Florida newspaper reporter.
The landfill was taking in refuse
from 20 area counties, and a newspaper article included an ominous notice
of things to come.
“Still others come with loads of fly
ash from JEA,” the article noted.
Jones touted the foresight of the
board of commissioners in landing the
business, which was generating $1
million a year in host fees.
It seems everyone was euphoric over
the success of the landfill. The county
was making money and residents of
the county’s municipalities were not
being charged for disposal of their
household garbage.
But county records show that Republic was not satisfied with the original
landfill it had acquired. And quietly
the company began to add acreage to
its holdings. In 2004 two purchases
were made from private individuals
who owned property near the landfill.
Apparently the company saw value in
the acquisitions and shelled out more
than $1.5 million for 517 acres.
Then in 2008, Republic paid more
than $4 million and added 834 more
acres. In fact, the land purchased in
2004 was done in the name of Central
Virginia Properties (CVP). More than
a decade later it was that name, not
Republic, that was used to request a
permit to build a large rail spur that,
if built, will make it possible to ship
whole trainloads of garbage and coal
ash into the local landfill.
The property of the company has
been expanded to more than 2,200
acres today, though not all of that is
permitted as a landfill. Any designation for a landfill will require additional permits, though an article in the
Atlanta Journal-Constitution stated
the company plans to expand its
“waste footprint” from 260 acres to
1,100 acres.
While the company was adding to its
land holdings, it was subtracting language not to its liking in agreements
with the county waste authority.
Republic renegotiated its agreements with the Solid Waste Authority
in April, 2005. And in those agreements, the Authority granted changes
in the language that now become evident to the company’s permit application and its plans for growth.
For instance, a former volume limitation on the total tonnage that could
be taken in at the landfill was completely eliminated in a newly accepted
Host Agreement.
In the Operations Agreement between Republic and the Waste Authority, the Authority agreed to cooperate
with Republic in obtaining permits
and approvals for “the expansion of
the Landfill and ancillary facilities
proposed by Republic.” And the Authority agreed not to adopt any regulations or requirements “more stringent that those required by federal or
state law,” language that is directly re-
flective of the eventual Environmental
Protection Agency’s (EPA) ruling on
coal ash.
Perhaps more telling, the meaning of
the term “facilities” was altered to
mean the “property and all facilities
ancillary thereto, including any rail
siding or other rail facility utilized for
the shipment and handling of waste
transported by rail from within the approved area.”
Before that change, the agreements
read “the property, and all facilities
ancillary thereto.”
The meaning of “approved area” was
changed to mean “the geographic area
consisting of all of the incorporated and
unincorporated areas of the State of
Georgia and any other state.” That was
a significant change from the former
agreement, which listed the approved
area as “the incorporated and unincorporated areas of the state of Georgia
and states contiguous to Georgia.”
With these changes in place and with
the additional property, the company
was prepared to take advantage of the
EPA ruling that coal ash is a nonhazardous material and thus can be
dumped into lined landfills such as the
one at Broadhurst.
That ruling was made in October,
2015. Just two months later, on Jan. 4,
2016, Republic filed for a permit to build
a facility at Broadhurst that can handle
up to 10,000 tons of coal ash per day and
entire trainloads of other waste.
When the request for the permit was
revealed, the plans for a huge expansion and the possibility of becoming
the “dump for the entire East Coast”
caught the community and local officials off guard and unprepared to challenge the application.
“That plan is gone,” member Dan
O’Neal commented, saying the landfill
would fill much sooner if the company
brings in tons of coal ash.
“It ain’t right for Wayne County to
take other people’s coal ash,” Wright
added.
“Water quality is the real issue.
We’ve got to protect our aquifer,”
Bobby Townsend said.
Townsend chaired the meeting, saying it was called so the members could
discuss the coal-ash issue and determine what stance it might want to
take. He said that the Republic representatives were there to answer any
questions or concerns the Authority
might have.
“I don’t think these people [Republic] care what we think about it,”
member Frank Ross said.
Poetzscher said the company is listening to residents’ concerns.
“We understand that we didn’t get
information out front,” he said. He
added that the company is working on
a website to get information before the
public.
Asked what will happen to the landfill once it is filled, Poetzscher said
that Republic would continue to manage and monitor the site for 30 years
and would own it in perpetuity.
One member of the public asked how
a leak in the landfill would be detected, and, if it leaked, what would be
done to contain the spill. Poetzscher
said that the company is required to
monitor the water table each six
months. He said that if a leak were detected, the company would follow
EPD/EPA guidelines to address any
specific problems.
The man then asked Poetzscher
whether it would kill him if he drank
a glass full of coal ash.
“I wouldn’t recommend it,” Poetzscher replied.
Townsend asked what is being done
with the leachate collected from the
landfill at present. Poetzscher said the
leachate is collected and taken to the
Waycross city wastewater treatment
plant.
Asked by member Rob Patton
whether coal ash contained radioactive material, Poetzscher deferred,
saying he “could not speculate on
that.”
Patton said that in his opinion the
operation of the landfill now and the
plans for the future are “so far from
where we started.” He said there are
now circumstances that were never
planned for (by the Authority).
Townsend asked that Republic provide quarterly written reports of how
many tons are taken in and from
where. He was assured that the information would be provided and that
the company had been making reports.
Townsend said that, if so, he had
never seen any reports. He said that
all he was familiar with were verbal
reports.
The Authority voted to write a letter
in support of the county commissioners’ efforts to hold a public meeting
with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
PERMIT
Continued from page 6
that meeting and fielded questions
from the public and members of the
Authority.
Jeremy Poetzscher, environmental
manager for Republic, told those present that the landfill at Broadhurst
had received some 800,000 tons of coal
ash from Jacksonville Electric Authority between 2006 and 2014. Asked
why the company stopped receiving
the material, Poetzscher replied that
the company knew that environmental regulations were about to be
changed and the company was preparing to be ready for whatever changes
were mandated.
Authority member and County Commissioner Jerry “Shag” Wright said
the landfill had originally been built
so that the residents of Wayne County
would have a place for household
garbage for years into the future.
“We will run out of air space if you
bring in all this coal ash,” he said.
Poetzscher said that “at current levels,” the landfill is projected to last another 90 to 100 years.
If you have concerns about coal ash being shipped
to Wayne County, send your comments and concerns to:
•Sen. Tommie Williams ([email protected])—
148 Williams Ave., Lyons, GA 30436 or 110-B State Capitol, Atlanta, GA 30334. His telephone numbers are 912-526-7444 and
404-656-0089.
•Rep. Chad Nimmer ([email protected])—P.O. Box
1174, Blackshear, GA 31516 or 113 State Capitol, Atlanta, GA
30334. His telephone numbers are 912-807-6190 and 404-6517737.
•Rep. Bill Werkheiser ([email protected])—P.O.
Box 27, Glennville, GA 30427 or 411-E Coverdell Legislative Office Building, Atlanta, GA 30334. His telephone numbers are
912-654-3610 and 404-656-0126.
•Gov. Nathan Deal (e-mail address unavailable)—206 Washington St., Suite 203, State Capitol, Atlanta, GA 30334. His telephone number is 404-656-1776.
•Rep. Lynn Smith ([email protected])—228 State
Capitol, Atlanta, GA 30334. Her telephone number is 404-6567149. (Smith is chairman of the Natural Resources and the Environment Committee for the House. Also, she is also a graduate of Wayne County High.)
•Sen. Frank Ginn ([email protected])—121-I State
Capitol, Atlanta, GA 30334. His telephone number is 404-6564700. (He is chairman of the Natural Resources and the Environment Committee for the Senate.)
•DNR
Commissioner
Mark
Williams
([email protected])— 2 Martin Luther King Jr.
Drive S.E., Suite 1252—East Tower, Atlanta, GA 30334. His
telephone number is 404-656-3500.
•Georgia EPD Commissioner Judson H. Turner (Office refused
to give out his e-mail address.)—Environmental Protection Division, 2 Martin Luther King Jr. Drive S.E., Suite 1456—East
Tower, Atlanta, GA 30334. His telephone number is 404-6575947.
•U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Savannah Division Attn.:
John W. Derinzy 100 W. Oglethorpe Ave. Savannah, GA 314013604.
•Michael Jon Ward, Chairman of CSX, 500 Water St. 15th
floor Jacksonville, FL 32202, 904-359-3200.
•Don Slager, President of Republic Services Inc. 18500 Allied
Way Phoenix, AZ 85054, 480-627-2700.
Toxic metals escape into groundwater at Broadhurst
❏ No county
officials informed
of leakage
By Derby Waters
STAFF WRITER
Toxic heavy metals found in coal ash have
been detected at levels above drinkingwater standards in local groundwater
around Republic Services’ Broadhurst Environmental Landfill.
Increased levels of beryllium and zinc
were detected in monitoring wells in December, 2011, according to records of the
Georgia Environmental Protection Division
(EPD). Other toxic heavy metals have also
been detected in excessive amounts.
The EPD has determined that the increased levels of heavy metals could not
have come from the soil, according to a
statement made to Republic in 2013 and
cited by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution
(AJC) Friday.
Chip Lake, a public-relations consultant
for Republic, denied that a spill occurred.
“There has not been a spill at Broadhurst
Landfill,” he told The Press-Sentinel Friday
afternoon. “Broadhurst is currently working with EPD to respond to limited impacts
that were detected in shallow groundwater
and were confirmed to be limited to a small
area of the site.
“All of the work has been performed in coordination with EPD, under state requirements and guidelines. We will continue to
cooperate with EPD until it confirms that
any impact has been addressed.”
Although the EPD was aware of the apparent leakage, no local officials or agencies
were aware of the problem, nor did any
local agencies receive notification of it.
“It makes me mad, frankly, that they had
something spill into our environment and
we didn’t know about it,” Kevin Copeland,
chairman of the Wayne County Board of
Commissioners, said.
Copeland first learned of the incident
from Dan Chapman, a reporter with the
AJC. Both shared information with The
Press-Sentinel.
Republic had reported earlier that it took
in as much as 800,000 tons of coal ash from
Jacksonville Electric Authority (JEA). Jeremy Poetzscher, environmental manager
for Republic, said that the company took
the material in from 2006 until 2014.
Charles Heath, who was Broadhurst operations manager at the time, said in a 2006
news article that the company used the material for “stability” of its growing mound of
garbage.
It was also in 2006 that the company was
issued a permit for horizontal expansion for
additional cells and “solidification.”
Solidification and stabilization are methods to slow the release of harmful chemicals
such as are found in coal ash and involve
creating a “sludge” of such materials. In
this case, coal ash was apparently mixed
with dirt, sawdust and other materials, and
then the mixture was placed in the mound
of other refuse at Broadhurst.
It is uncertain whether the contamination occurred during the solidification
process itself or when moving the material
to the lined portion of the landfill.
The AJC account stated that Penholloway Creek was less than two football
fields away and that wetlands were half
that distance from the solidification pit.
The company reported to the EPD on
April 2, 2012, that wells WC-40S and SWC41S detected levels “of beryllium and zinc
above regulatory standards.”
Those two particular monitoring wells
were put down in June and July, 2009, but
the beryllium was not detected until two
years later. Poetzscher told a meeting of the
Wayne County Solid Waste Authority that
wells are monitored every six months in
order to meet the EPD requirement.
So does this mean the leakage could not
have occurred before the time the wells
were put in place? No. In fact, it could well
have happened earlier.
“It takes a period of time for the contamination to migrate to and through the subsurface to these monitoring wells,” according to a statement from the EPD.
“There isn’t any way of determining when
the beryllium reached the soil or groundwater until it is detected by the groundwater
monitoring system wells,” stated an EPD
reply to questions about the leakage.
Poetzscher did not mention the leakage
in connection with the company’s decision
to stop taking coal ash from the JEA. He
said that decision was made because the
company was positioning itself for anticipated changes in its business.
Noticeably, however, the company
stopped receiving coal ash in 2014 and also
discontinued its solidification process in
March, 2014.
Poetzscher said in a meeting with the
Wayne County Solid Waste Authority just
this past week that the company had taken
in coal ash from the JEA and had experienced no problems. Now that seems not to
have been the case.
According to the EPD records, the
cleanup at the Broadhurst Landfill is continuing. The AJC story noted that remediation has included “destroying the solidification structures, scooping out three or more
feet of soil surrounding the buildings and
sinking a number of new monitoring
wells—last fall.”
A consulting firm working on the cleanup
noted in a report in 2015 that “beryllium
and cadmium exceeded Georgia drinking
water standards.”
The report continued, “Arsenic levels in
the soil ‘slightly exceed’ the standards.
More recent reports indicate that the heavy
metals are now ‘below detection levels.’”
Sarah Barr, a geologist with the EPD, indicated to the AJC that she is “generally
satisfied’’ with the progress of the cleanup.
“We’ll just have to see if it’s going to correct the problem,” she said.
Decade-old agreements hinder fight over coal ash
By Derby Waters
STAFF WRITER
The Wayne County Board of Commissioners
cannot oppose or impede in any way the plans
of Republic Services to bring trains filled with
coal ash to its Broadhurst Landfill facility.
According to County Attorney Andy Beaver,
two intergovernmental agreements from 2005
not only tie the hands of the Board but could
also provide a method that Republic might be
able to invoke to stop paying host fees to the
county. Host fees paid to Wayne County at
today’s tonnage amount to some $750,000
each year.
In a work session Tuesday, representatives
of the County Board of Commissioners and
the Jesup City Council met to discuss Republic’s plan to build a rail spur to receive coal ash
and garbage at Broadhurst.
Board of Commissioners Chair Kevin
Copeland said that he has been inundated
with calls and has gone as far as he knows
how to go at this point.
“I am to the point that I don’t know what
else to do and what we should do next,”
Copeland explained.
His dilemma seemed to be shared by other
elected officials who oppose the plan but now
feel they can’t put up a strong fight against
Republic. Several said they have heard more
opposition to Republic’s plan than any controversy they can remember.
Ralph Hickox said it was “unbelievable”
that the county is bound by the agreements
signed by officials a decade ago. He expressed
dismay that the documents block today’s
elected officials from being able to take steps
to protect the community. He said he could not
believe that officials back then had signed off
on agreements that gave such concessions to
Republic.
Beaver said that though the commissioners’
hands are tied as a body, there is nothing to
prevent other elected or appointed bodies from
doing whatever they wish to object to Republic’s plans. He said the commissioners as individuals also are not bound by the agreement
to assist Republic in its expansion plans.
He said the agreements only affect the
Wayne County Board of Commissioners and
▼▼▼
A public meeting with the
Army Corps of Engineers
has been set for March 16 at 7 p.m.
at Coastal Pines Technical College auditorium
the Wayne County Solid Waste Management
Authority as signing parties to the 2005 agreements.
Copeland told the group that a date has
been set for a public meeting, which representatives of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
will attend. Later in the week, Copeland said
that he had been contacted by Jeff Cown of the
Georgia Environmental Protection Division
(EPD). He said EPD refuses to send anyone to
Wayne County for the public meeting.
Copeland said the meeting will take place
March 16 at 7 p.m. The location of the meeting has yet to be set but is expected to be announced next week.
Copeland suggested that the county contribute its attorney’s time and that the city donate its attorney’s time so that the lawyers
could explore the legal options available.
Jesup Mayor David Earl Keith and Jesup City
Manager Mike Deal agreed to that arrangement.
Others attending the meeting were Jesup
Commissioners Bobby Townsend and Ray
House. Rob Patton from the Solid Waste Authority was also on hand.
Agreements
At the heart of Beaver’s opinion are two documents signed in 2005. The agreements with
Republic basically “gave away the farm,” according to County Administrator Luther
Smart.
A Second Amended and Restated Host
Agreement between Wayne County and the
Wayne County Solid Waste Management Authority, dated April 19, 2005, provides Republic carte blanche control of the operation of the
landfill and bars local governments from any
actions to prevent its growth or any limitations on what it brings into the county or
where it comes from.
“The County agrees to cooperate with the
Authority and the Operator in connection
with development and operation of the facilities, including … the development and operation of the expansion of the Landfill proposed
by Republic,” reads a paragraph entitled “Cooperation with Authority and Operator.”
The agreement also acknowledges that “the
county’s obligations under this agreement
shall be binding upon all future County
boards or other governing bodies during the
term of this agreement.”
Another paragraph states that “the County
has determined that it is in the public interest
of the citizens of the county to enter into this
agreement.” How that “public interest” is
served was not stated, nor does the agreement
indicate whether any public meetings to measure the public’s input were conducted.
Under a paragraph entitled “Zoning,” the
County agreed that “no zoning law or any
other land use law or restriction exists under
the laws and ordinances of the county …
which would restrict or prohibit establishment and operation of the facilities and properties.”
That agreement, however, appears to be in
conflict with a 1995 Wayne County Soil Erosion and Sedimentation Control Ordinance. In
that ordinance’s Section 16-56 are the wetlands protection regulations.
Paragraph (e) states, “Prohibited uses. In
compliance with the Georgia Rules for Environmental Planning Criteria, the following
uses are prohibited entirely and no permit
shall be issued for them: Receiving areas for
toxic or hazardous waste or other contaminants.”
Some have read this to mean that the wetlands ordinance would prohibit the county
commissioners from issuing a county permit
because a rail spur built to receive coal ash
and other household and commercial garbage
could be deemed to be a “receiving areas for
toxic waste.”
The agreement provides that if one section
is found to be in violation of law, that portion
of the document can be considered without
changing any other portion of the provisions.
This agreement sets the fee of $8.80 per ton
for commercial wastes from the county and
city (which since has been increased) and host
fees of $1.80 per ton to be paid to the county
(which cannot be increased without agreement by Republic) except for “general solid
waste” (Wayne County’s trash), which is not
included in payments to the county.
Terms of this agreement extend to at least
Oct. 22, 2031, or to whenever the landfill no
longer has any disposal capacity. The agreement also states that, “if the proposed expansion of the landfill contemplated here … is
permitted and developed by Republic, then
the term of this agreement, without further
action of the parties or further amendment to
this agreement, shall be extended to Oct. 22,
2054 ….”
It is in the terms of the Operations Agreement between the Solid Waste Authority and
Republic that the restrictions placed on the
local government are further spelled out.
“The Authority agrees to cooperate with Republic in obtaining all permits, licenses or approvals necessary for the development, construction, expansion and operation of the
facilities,” the document reads.
Also included are even further restrictions
on local officials. “The Authority agrees not to
take any action or sponsor any law, ordinance,
regulation or restriction mandating any requirement for the development, maintenance,
expansion, operation of closure of the facilities
that conflicts with or is more stringent than
those required by federal or state law or by the
terms of this agreement.”
Beaver explained that, in his opinion, were
the County Board of Commissioners or the
Solid Waste Authority to take steps to block
the rail spur proposed by Republic, that could
be construed as a breach of the agreements.
In that event, Beaver said, the county could
stand to lose the host fees Republic now pays
the county.
City funds research for rail-spur site
By Derby Waters
STAFF WRITER
The Jesup City Council has voted unanimously to help fund research into the possible effects of dumping tons of coal ash into
In a called “emergency meeting” Friday
morning, the Council considered a report
from City Attorney Mike Conner on possible
next steps for the city to undertake if the
members are so inclined.
Mayor David Earl Keith explained that he
had instructed Conner to prepare information for the commissioners following an
agreement Tuesday night between city and
county representatives. (See story on page
1A.)
Keith said that time is of the essence before the March 4 deadline to make comments
to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. That is
the last day to enter comments into the
record in regard to an application by Repub-
lic Service to build a rail spur at the landfill.
That was the reason for calling the emergency session.
Conner sent a comprehensive letter to the
commissioners with information about the
controversy. He outlined possible steps the
city might take were it to engage in the
issue.
He told the Council that the letter had
been vetted by environmental attorneys engaged by a third party, and they had approved of Conner’s findings.
“To involve in the process now, you use science to present findings of fact to the Corps,”
Conner said.
He said he estimated the cost to the city to
hire scientific consultants to gather the facts
to be approximately $5,000 to $7,000.
Commissioner Ray House said that in his
20 years in government he has never seen an
issue “that the whole community is opposed
to.”
“People are as upset about it as I have
seen,”
added
Commissioner
Bobby
Townsend.
“It is my honor to make a motion that we
spend what it takes to have qualified people
to get us the science to stop this from happening,” Commissioner Bill Harvey said.
That was quickly followed by a second
from Commissioner Don Darden. All six
commissioners voted to approve the expenditure.
Wayne County Board of Commissioners
Chair Kevin Copeland spoke to the Council
about the county’s involvement.
“I just want to clarify that right now we
don’t know what the county will do. We have
been told by the county attorney that if we
take any action, it could render the contract
with Republic as void,” Copeland said.
“I don’t think they knew what they were
doing,” Copeland said of the members of the
County Board of Commission and the Solid
Waste Authority who signed on to the 2005
agreement that now limits opposition to Republic’s ambitions.
“Pardon my language,” Copeland said,
“but it’s as piss-poor a contract as I have ever
seen.”
House supported Copeland’s contention in
an earlier statement about the 2005 agree-
ments.
“Those contracts are as bad as anything I
have ever seen,” he said.
Conner said that the agreements not only
limit what the county officials can do but actually asserts that a third party’s objection
to Republic’s permit application could be sufficient for Republic to revoke the agreements.
In those worst case conditions, Republic
would still own and operate the Broadhurst
Landfill but could pay no host fees to Wayne
County and could even charge Jesup and
Wayne County for residents’ garbage.
“All citizens could have to pay higher fees
to Republic. Taxes will go up. If people want
to do this [fight the permit], we will do what
we need to do,” Copeland told the group.
House suggested that a possible sit-down
meeting with representatives of Republic
might be helpful.
“At this point nobody is suing anybody. I
would like to sit down with Republic and see
if they can tell us anything,” he said.
9
The lines that bind
Minutes show no officials challenged ’05 documents
By Derby Waters
STAFF WRITER
County records show that two agreements at the center of the controversy
over coal ash were presented to those
who signed off on them as little more
than updated payment agreements.
Referred to with derogatory terms
such as “junk,” “the worst ever seen”
and even “piss-poor,” the documents
provide the legal agreements under
which Republic Services operates its
Broadhurst Landfill. Now that Republic is planning to bring trainloads of
garbage and coal ash to the landfill,
the two agreements have become central to an effort to thwart the company’s plans.
In April of 2005, two agreements
from 1994 were updated and signed by
members of the Wayne County Board
of Commissioners and members of the
Wayne County Solid Waste Authority.
In a Host Agreement, the county commissioners agreed that the contract
would stay in force as long as Republic
operates the landfill. In the Operations
Agreement, the Solid Waste Authority
agreed to assist Republic in enlarging
the landfill by accepting refuse by rail
from anywhere in the continental
United States.
Now those agreements are seen as
“tying the hands” of the present Board
of Commissioners and members of the
Solid Waste Authority. In fact, County
Attorney Andy Beaver has asserted
that if either board works to prevent
Republic from enlarging the landfill
and accepting coal ash, the company
could possibly cease host fees paid to the
county and require payment at Broadhurst for accepting county garbage.
Though county officials have avoided
calling names of those who approved the
two agreements more than a decade ago,
they have expressed exasperation that
anyone could have signed documents
that, as County Administrator Luther
Smart said, “gave the farm away.”
One of those who signed both agreements was James “Boot” Thomas, who
served as a county commissioner and as
a member of the Sold Waste Authority.
He said the documents were not seen as
controversial at the time.
“It was just SOP [standard operations
procedure] as I recall,” said Thomas.
“If the county attorney approved it,
then I am sure we would accept it,”
Thomas said.
That seemed to be the opinion of those
who could remember anything about approving the documents.
“I remember, but I don’t remember. It’s
been a long time,” said James Boykin,
chair of the county commissioners then.
The Press-Sentinel researched old
records and found minutes from the joint
session of the County Board of Commissioners and the Solid Waste Authority
when both documents were signed. Minutes of the meeting support Thomas’
memory and show that the documents
were presented to the boards as merely
an update on payment procedures.
“John Simmons [manager of the Broadhurst Landfill at the time] explained that
it has been 10 years since the agreement
between Solid Waste Authority, Republic
and Wayne County Commissioners.
“Mr. Simmons says just some cleaning
up, deleting clutter and streamlining has
been done to the agreement and that basically nothing has changed. The important change is going from a three-tier fee
system to a one tier fee system,” reads
the minutes from the Solid Waste Authority.
The minutes from the county commissioners reads much the same.
“Mrs. Jones [then County Administrator Nancy Jones] asked Mr. John Simmons … to come forward and explain the
new agreements. Mr. Simmons stated it
was mostly to clean up the agreement
and change the fees from a three-tier
plan to a one-tier plan, which would
make the accounting of the fees much
easier for everyone,” those records stated.
The county attorney at the time, Bob
Smith, was noted in the Solid Waste Authority minutes as saying that the host
fees in the new agreements were higher,
which would “mean more money for
Wayne County.”
Simmons’ statements in the minutes do
not reflect seemingly substantive
changes contained within the two agreements. Those alterations would seem to
refute the assertion that “basically nothing has changed.” In fact, those changes
are at the heart of the issue today.
The revised documents changed the
area where refuse can come from to include all of the continental United States.
Provisions for a rail spur were inserted
into the contracts, and the agreements
bound future commissioners by the new
terms. It further removed daily limitations on the volume of refuse to be taken
to the landfill and provided that the land-
fill could be expanded without further approval by local boards.
The host fees were changed from three
categories to a single tier, which set the
rate at $1.80—which can only be increased by approval from Republic.
In the end, both boards approved both
agreements without a dissenting vote.
The minutes do not reflect any discussion
or any questioning of the documents.
For the County Board of Commissioners, the minutes show the voting as “motion by Mr. Wright, second by Mr.
Thomas to adopt and authorize the
Chairman to sign the agreement … Mr.
Boykin, Mr. [Gleason] Copeland, Mr.
Thomas and Mr. Wright voted yes.”
For the Solid Waste Authority there
were two votes. The minutes show, “motion made by John Flowers, second by
Gene Lyons to accept new host agreement … John Flowers, Gerald DeWitt,
Aubrey Mansfield, Delores Roberson,
Jerry Wright, Freeman Bacon, Gene
Lyons, James Boykin, Gleason Copeland,
James Thomas and Jerry Wright voted
yes.”
And, “motion made by Aubrey Mansfield, second by John Flowers to accept
new operations agreement …. John
Flowers, Gerald DeWitt, Aubrey Mansfield, Delores Roberson, Jerry Wright,
Freeman Bacon and Gene Lyons voted
yes.”
The Press-Sentinel attempted to reach
several of those officials who signed these
agreements as well as the county attorney. Most were not reached; some did not
return calls; and most of those who were
contacted were not able to recall the
votes.
Broadhurst residents fear what is to come
By Candice McKinley
STAFF WRITER
“We didn’t bargain for a mountain of
coal ash. We settled in a place with few
people and few distractions because
that’s the lifestyle we wanted to live. We
are scared now that we will no longer
have that,” Judy Butts said, deep worry
lines creasing her forehead.
She and her husband, Danny, are residents of the once-thriving little community of Broadhurst. The home to some
300 families during the highpoint of the
“turpentine days,” of the 1950s, Broadhurst today is considered home to a handful of families.
The Buttses invited several neighbors
into their home earlier this month to
voice concerns about Republic Services’
plan to receive up to 10,000 tons of coalash every day. If that plan goes through,
it will bring big changes just across the
road from the residents’ homes.
Judy and DannyButts have lived in the
area since 2001. They are surrounded by
other Broadhurst residents, such as KC
Gest (a resident since 1972), Jeremiah
and Sharon Spradley (residents since
1990), Justin Yarbrough (a native of the
area), and Kenneth Tipton (a resident
since 2012) who were all present for the
gathering.
“I found this letter in my mailbox,
dated Jan. 26, 2016,” Tipton said.
“It was addressed to Matt Kallio, but
Kallio has been dead for years.”
He opened the letter, as he is now the
owner of property using the same mail
address, to find information for the proposed expansion of the Broadhurst Landfill, to be built within 500 yards of his
property.
Tipton said he would never have known
a thing had he not opened the letter. In
fact, none of the neighbors knew anything about the plans by the giant landfill company just to the east of their
homes.
Republic is required by the permit
process of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to provide the names of those who
own property adjacent to the site to be developed. Then the Corps is required to inform the landowners of the permit application and thus the ramifications the
permit may hold for them.
No one at the meeting has received any
notification from the Corps or from Republic.
The Press-Sentinel has requested a list
of any landowners who were notified during the application process. As of press
CANDICE MCKINLEY / Staff
Several residents of Broadhurst met to discuss their concerns over the potential hazards of coal ash being brought to nearly
their front porches. Danny Butts, and his wife, Judy, point from their front yard to the proposed site of Republic Services’ coalash rail yard. The site would be located just across U.S. Highway 301, directly behind the tree line.
time, the request is being reviewed by the
legal department of the U.S. Army Corps.
of Engineers
“I got on the phone first thing and
called everyone here to let them know
what was happening,” Tipton said of the
letter to the deceased Kallio.
It was the first time that any of the residents had received mail about expansion
of any kind, including the growth of the
Broadhurst Landfill property—the same
property which had expanded right
under their noses in 2004 and again in
2008, from 901 acres to more than 2,200
acres.
“Our community smells like a landfill
now,” Judy Butts explained. “It has only
been within the last couple of years that
we could smell anything. Now it is getting worse all the time.”
The Spradleys remembered when the
landfill was originally proposed by
Addington, before Republic Services took
over. Sharon Spradley said they had been
“promised the world,” including a “beautiful” recycling plant, warehouses and the
lure of more than 150 jobs that were to be
created by the construction of the landfill.
“They didn’t follow through on any of
it,” she commented flatly.
She said that the original site for the
landfill was to have been in Mount Pleasant, though residents there fought to
keep it out of their community. Broadhurst became the successor, and the
Spradleys fought a losing battle to keep
the landfill out.
“We were the only people opposed.
Addington brought contracts to the
[county] commissioners, and they were
given what seemed like 20 minutes to
sign them or they [Addington] would pull
out,” the Spradleys contended.
“[The commissioners] said they were
trapped because we needed the landfill.
There was no representation for District
3, our district, when the contract was put
through,” according to the couple.
The Spradleys said they voiced their
opposition at County Board of Commissioners meetings and through letters to
representatives of the Solid Waste Authority and The Press-Sentinel.
Jeremiah Spradley foretold of the current situation they are faced with now,
back then, he recalled. His concerns
seemed to fall on deaf ears. His wife said
that she also voiced her concerns about
what would happen several years down
the road if the landfill were allowed.
“I had a three-hour conversation with
representatives from the Solid Waste Authority, where they tried to convince me
that this [contract] would be a good thing,
even while I strongly disagreed with
them,” she said.
Everybody at the meeting had something to say about negative experiences
of trash from dump trucks flying out of
the trucks and blowing up and down the
roadsides from the landfill to U.S. Highway 301. These experiences have
prompted serious concerns for them
about the proposed coal-ash repository.
The residents liken the rogue trash to the
airborne coal ash they expect from the
proposed dump site. If the original
promises of a small, community-friendly,
job-promoting and beautiful waste-facilitation company were never fulfilled,
these residents say, they now fear the
current boasting of environmental stewardship and health-risk management to
be a farce.
One resident said he saw dump trucks
bringing “fly ash” (coal ash) from Jack-
sonville and depositing it, dry, on top of
the landfill.
“What happens when the wind blows
and they are taking tens of thousands of
tons of ash out [of train cars] with an excavator? Where does it go?” Danny Butts
asked.
Airborne fly ash has been linked to
heart and lung disease, reportedly because particles can be inhaled into the
deepest parts of the lungs, triggering inflammation and immunological reactions.
“My father has COPD [chronic obstructive pulmonary disease],” resident Justin
Yarbrough explained.
“What happens to him when coal ash is
consistently airborne? You can’t tell me it
won’t happen with that much [coal ash]
coming in.”
Other concerns for the neighbors include worries about possible contamination of groundwater. Walker Creek runs
through the proposed site, and residents
are concerned about their well water.
One man said he has small children, one
of whom has to drink bottled formula
every day, and that formula has to be
mixed with water from somewhere. And
if the wetlands were disrupted with a
four-lane railway line, the residents
asked, where would all that water go?
They wonder whether it could flood their
properties with hazardous waste.
The value of their property is a source
of regret for all those in attendance. The
smells and the proximity of the current
landfill have made their property values
plummet, they said.
“What inheritance am I leaving for my
children?” Judy Butts asked. The furrowed lines above her eyes remained
dark with worry.
County approves funding for landfill study
By Derby Waters
STAFF WRITER
It took two weeks to get together
enough county commissioners to vote
on funding for a scientific study of the
environment around the Broadhurst
Landfill. Once on the table, though, approval of the idea was handled in less
than a minute.
Attempted last week, a vote was prevented with only two commissioners
present. This week the vote to approve
a study was quickly approved.
Commissioner James “Boot” Thomas
made a motion to fund up to $5,000 for
the study, which is also being partially
funded by the city of Jesup and a private citizens group led by Dink NeSmith (chairman of the board of Press
Sentinel Newspapers Inc.)
Work on the study is to be completed
in time for reports and findings to be
entered into the public record of the
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers before
the March 4 deadline.
At stake is the permit application by
Republic Services to build a rail spur
at the landfill in order to begin dumping tons of coal ash and out-of-state
garbage at the local landfill.
Wayne County Board of Commissioners Chairman Kevin Copeland said
after the vote that many rumors and
talk of blame are circulating around
the county about those who signed two
2005 agreements, which have come to
the center of contention of the coal-ash
issue. Copeland read parts of the minutes of the meeting in which the commissioners at the time signed off on
agreements that are said to block the
county from opposing the plan by Republic.
“It was not properly explained to
them by the county attorney at the
time,” Copeland said.
“There is a reason the county commissioners hire an attorney. They
weren’t aware of what they were signing,” he said.
Copeland said that the commissioners and the Wayne County Solid Waste
Authority were both misled that the
agreements were nothing more than
changing the pay system and that “basically nothing has changed,” as the
minutes state.
Thomas, one of two commissioners in
2005 still on the Board, said that “it
was no one’s fault” that the contracts
were signed. He defended the action by
saying that no one knew anything
about coal ash at the time.
Commissioner Ralph Hickox again
voiced his displeasure with the 2005
contracts using a colorful descriptive
noun. He apologized for his language
but said he strongly believes the contracts are invalid. County Attorney
Andy Beaver once again advised caution in challenging the agreements.
Copeland told the audience that the
commissioners would have a retreat
today (Wednesday) at the Boar’s Head
Restaurant in Savannah beginning at
3:30 p.m.
Meetings planned
Corps of Engineers extends deadline
❏ County to
hire legal help
STAFF REPORT
After further prompting from U.S.
Rep. Buddy Carter, the U.S. Army
Corps of Engineers has agreed to extend the date to allow the public to
enter comments on a proposal from Republic Services to build a rail spur at
the Broadhurst Landfill to April 5.
That spur, according to a permit application, would allow Republic to
bring in many tons of garbage and coal
ash from anywhere in the country.
In an e-mail response to attorney
Ken Crowder, who is working with a
group of Wayne Countians to defend
against the prospect of coal ash being
dumped here, the Savannah District of
the Corps said no decision has been
reached on a request for a public hearing in Wayne County. However, according to John Derinzy, regulatory specialist for the Corps, the public-comment
period deadline has been extended to
April 5.
Following a retreat this week, the
Wayne County Board of Commissioners has apparently determined to seek
further legal advice. Chair Kevin
Copeland said the commissioners have
agreed to hire an attorney versed in
contract law to advise the Board on two
agreements signed in 2005.
County Attorney Andy Beaver has
advised the Board that engaging in a
challenge to the plans of Republic to
build the rail spur could be construed
as a breach of those agreements.
Beaver has said that a breach could be
costly to the county and may even
allow Republic to stop paying host fees
to the county government.
Republic Services, owner of the landfill, has announced it will have a series
of open houses during March and plans
to send out a mailer to residents in
Wayne and Pierce counties to tell
about the plans for the landfill. The
Press-Sentinel contacted Republic for
times and places of any meetings, but
so far that information has not been
provided. Two open-house sessions are
planned for the week of March 7, and a
third is planned for later in the month.
Republic also plans to have representatives at a March 16 meeting to be
conducted by the Wayne County Board
of Commissioners. The Corps of Engineers will have representatives there
as will the Georgia Environmental
Protection Divison (EPD). The EPD
had initially said it would not attend
the public meeting, but following a conversation with State Rep. Chad Nimmer, the EPD agreed to attend.
Republic now saving thousands using easements at Broadhurst
First published March 5, 2016
By Derby Waters
STAFF WRITER
If plans to dump millions of tons of
coal into the Broadhurst landfill proceed, the property owner could be faced
with thousands of dollars in penalties
for breaching the terms of timberlandconservation easements it now claims
when paying county property taxes.
And for the past seven years, the
company has saved in property taxes
by making use of conservation easements.
Rumors have circulated for weeks
that Republic Services is paying reduced property taxes on its holdings in
Wayne County by claiming all of its
land is timberland.
In fact, County Commissioner Ralph
Hickox has said that tax records show
the company is not paying its fair
share of taxes and that the land is all
shown as timberland.
A look at some reports, which can be
found on-line, would seem to vindicate
Hickox’s claim. But a closer examination shows it is easy to misinterpret
the tax records. While the records on
each parcel of property owned by Republic Services does list it as timberland, timberland-conservation easements are not claimed on all the
acreage.
Wayne County Chief Tax Appraiser
Ralph O’Quinn’s office says the records
may be confusing to the average reader
until they are further examined.
Further, he said, should Republic put
in place its plans to construct a rail
spur at the Broadhurst Environmental
landfill, not only may it face a re-evaluation of its properties, but it will also
be penalized for conservation easements it now claims, O’Quinn explained.
According to the records in the
Wayne County Tax Assessors’ Office,
Republic Services and its subsidiary,
Central Virginia Properties (CVP),
own a total of 2,163.45 acres. Of that,
the properties are divided into 448
acres with no easements and another
1,715.45 acres with timberland easements. Some of the easements are
listed under CVP and others under Republic, but all the easements go back to
2009.
The tax savings Republic takes advantage of are on the total of 1,715.45
acres under those easements. For that
acreage, Republic is taxed an average
land value of approximately $500 per
acre. On the 448 acres listed with no
easements, the average fair market
value of the land is computed at
around $1,782 per acre.
Records in the tax commissioner’s office reveal the actual numbers and the
savings. Republic pays property taxes
on five parcels of property, of which
four are eligible for the timber exemption.
Parcel 90-9-1 is composed of 453.8
acres, and over the last seven years
has had a savings of $37,507 for Republic.
Parcel 105-1-3 is 834.32 acres and
has a savings over the past seven years
of $83,184.
For parcel 90-1-1, the company has
saved $24,309 for those 244.74 acres in
the past seven years.
Parcel 90-1-4 is another 182.59 acres
for which the company has saved
$18,203 over the past seven years.
Parcel 90-9 is 448 acres large and has
no timber easement and no conservation easement. It is taxed on 40 percent
of its fair market value of $798,154,
which amounted to an assessed value
of $319,261 for 2015. The assessed
value multiplied by the millage rate of
29.95 means that Republic paid net
property taxes of $9,561. This 448-acre
tract is where the main area of the
landfill is located, the spot where the
mound of garbage presently being accumulated is located.
In all, by making use of the conservation easements that are available to all
qualified landowners, Republic has
saved a total of $163,203 in property
taxes over the past seven years.
If Republic were to use the property
for anything other than timberland,
that could revoke the right to claim the
easements. And in that case, O’Quinn
said, the penalty would be twice the
amount of savings per year multiplied
by the number of years the easements
have been in place. In this case, the
easements have been in force from
2009 to 2015, or seven years.
The penalty the company could have
to pay were all the easements removed
at one time could be $326,406.
Were Republic successful in constructing a rail spur along the CSX
railroad line, then all the remaining
1,715.45 acres (with a few acres possibly excepted) would no longer be eligible for the easements.
Republic plans to meet with elected officials
❏ County looks
for adviser
By Derby Waters
STAFF WRITER
Elected officials from across Wayne
County have been invited to attend an
open house at the Broadhurst Environmental landfill scheduled for next
Wednesday.
Chip Lake, a spokesperson for Republic Services, said this week that
members of the Wayne County Board
of Commissioners, the Wayne County
Solid Waste Authority, and the Jesup,
Odum and Screven city councils all
have been invited to the session.
He said that State Reps. Bill
Werkheiser and Chad Nimmer and
State Sen. Tommie Williams have also
been issued invitations.
The press and members of the public
are not being invited to participate.
Lake said that the officials will be
given a tour of the landfill and explanations of its operations. He said any
questions or concerns the officials may
have will be addressed.
Lake said the open house is part of
an effort by Republic to inform the
community about the landfill at Broad-
hurst and the plans to expand the operations there.
Other open houses will be scheduled
for later in March so that others in the
community may have an opportunity
to tour the facility. Those tours will be
after the March 16 county meeting,
which is to be held at 7 p.m. at the auditorium at Coastal Pines Technical
College.
Republic Services will have representatives at that meeting to answer questions from the audience. The U.S.
Army Corps of Engineers and the
Georgia Environmental Protection Division will also have representatives in
attendance.
County Board of Commissioners
Chairman Kevin Copeland said that
the Carl Vinson Institute of the University of Georgia will provide a moderator for the meeting.
Copeland also said this week that no
decision has been made as to an attorney to examine two 2009 agreements
with Republic Services. The disputed
documents are to be examined by a
legal adviser with expertise in the
area, Copeland said.
The chairman said the decision on an
attorney is scheduled for the commissioners’ next regular meeting, which is
set to begin Monday at 7 p.m. in the
county meeting room.
11
Jeremy Poetzscher, left, makes a point at the site where the proposed rail spur
would begin. From left, Robert Williams, Carol McNeary and Russ Knocke look on.
From left, Jeremy Poetzscher, Robert Williams, Republic vice president Russ
Knocke and Satilla Riverkeeper board member Carol McNeary stand on the site
where heavy metals were found in the water supply.
Garbage disposal is growing business at Broadhurst landfill
by a negative pressure system through
a series of hoses into a flare, which
burns the gas to keep it from escaping
into the atmosphere.
The amount of methane produced at
Broadhurst at present does not make a
sufficient supply for commercial use.
However, Poetzscher pointed out that
as the tonnage of waste increases, the
company expects that a steady supply
of methane will make it possible to sell
methane as an energy source.
❏ A tour of
‘Mount Trashmore’
and environs reveals
complex industry
By Derby Waters
STAFF WRITER
You would never know it to pass by
the entrance to the Broadhurst Environmental Landfill, but just mere yards
from the highway is a sprawling industrial site.
At the entry gates, more than 100
trucks each day weigh in at the scales
and proceed down a road a short drive
to where a mound of garbage covers almost 90 acres and towers more than
150 feet high. Nearing the mound, a
visitor is faced with a tall hill of grass,
where 21 monitoring wells, various
vents and pipes pop from the ground
and long hoses snake along the hillside.
This is South Georgia’s face of an industry that is growing each year in this
country, even as what residents nearby
call “Mount Trashmore” continues to
grow each day in width and height.
Municipal waste tonnage across the
nation has increased each year since a
mere 2.68 million tons were collected
following the Solid Waste Disposal Act
of 1965. By 2013, that number had
grown to 254.1 million tons dumped in
hundreds of landfills across the country. In addition to municipal wastes,
nonhazardous landfills such as the one
at Broadhurst also accept millions of
tons of industrial waste.
The landfill just east of Screven is one
of more than 160 landfills the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
lists in Georgia. It takes in more than
600,000 tons of wastes each year, primarily from within Georgia, although
some out-of-state refuse is accepted.
Site layout
Broadhurst now counts more than
2,200 acres in its complex. Of that,
some 240 acres is presently permitted
to be used for garbage disposal, and of
that, a mere 88 acres is actively being
used for disposal of wastes.
“People hear we have a 2,200-acre
dump, and that’s misleading,” Jeremy
Poetzscher, the environmental manager for Republic Services, said last
Above is a new 695,000-gallon leachate tank for storing the 27,000 gallons of
liquid collected from the Broadhurst garbage heap each day.
week.
He said that of those 2,200 acres,
1,100 acres are actually property permitted by the Georgia Environmental
Protection Division (EPD), while the
other half is additional property surrounding the landfill.
Poetzscher said that some 750 acres
have been set aside as wetlands and
257 acres have been set aside and/or developed as part of the company’s wetlands mitigation program.
Trucks filled with garbage make their
way up the dump site amid piles of
trash already dumped and flights of
buzzards drawn to the easy pickings.
After loads of garbage have been leveled by bulldozers, a layer of dirt is
added to cover the refuse, and all of
that is then compacted.
Over the course of 15 years, the company has used almost 90 acres to build
the mound of waste, and each acre has
been covered with 60-mil high-density
polyethylene—the liner is required
under Subtitle D of the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA).
The fact is that since 1976, the federal
Methane and other gases are removed from the trash heap and burned by the
open-flare system used at Broadhurst.
government has required all states to
adopt and implement permit programs
to ensure that landfills comply with relevant federal standards. Part of those
requirements is construction of lined
landfills such as the one at Broadhurst.
The Broadhurst landfill is permitted
for 24 lined waste cells. To date, nine
cells have been used and a 10th is currently under construction. The cells
vary from 6 to 9 acres large.
With 14 remaining permitted cells,
and as the tonnage taken into the landfill increases, the pile of garbage could
eventually more than double its size of
today.
Just to look at it, that massive mound
might appear to be a mere static pile of
garbage and dirt, neatly topped with a
covering of grass. But inside the mound
of tons of garbage, two things are constantly being created—gas and
“garbage juice.”
The gas is mostly a mixture of carbon
dioxide and methane, produced as the
garbage is broken down by microorganisms. The gas is extracted through
vents and collection points and is pulled
Leachate
Sometimes referred to as garbage
juice, leachate is created by the liquids
within the waste and the rainfall on the
cells. Both percolate down to the bottom of the cell and collect on the liner.
Each cell is engineered to drain all the
fluid toward the center at the bottom of
the cell. There it is collected and
pumped to one of two massive leachate
tanks.
Broadhurst landfill produces some
27,000 gallons of leachate each day. The
newest leachate tank will hold 695,000
gallons of liquid waste.
Every day or two, a tanker truck is
filled with leachate and transports it to
the Waycross Municipal Wastewater
Treatment Plant. The liquid is treated
at that plant and the pollutants removed before the eventual effluent
empties into the Satilla River.
Company pride
Poetzscher is proud of the landfill at
Broadhurst and said it is his personal
favorite of all the landfills operated by
Republic in this part of the country. He
said that a lot of engineering and sophisticated monitoring goes into the operation and maintenance of the facility.
If plans of the company become a reality, Poetzscher will become busier in
coming months. Those plans call for a
massive four-track rail spur to be constructed for the delivery of millions of
tons of municipal and industrial waste,
including trainloads of coal ash.
He said a site for new lined cells
would be constructed on the northeast
side of the property to receive the coal
ash. Poetzscher sees the expansion as
market-driven and something the company can safely manage.
If all that becomes a reality, “Mount
Trashmore” will be just one of two huge
lumps on the otherwise flat terrain at
Broadhurst.
Republic has set aside some 257 acres of wetlands as part of its wetlands mitigation program. This site is to be left in its natural state and will not be disturbed by a
proposed rail spur.
Proposed law would make EPD more transparent
❏ Inspired by Wayne’s
coal-ash controversy
STAFF REPORT
The fight over coal ash
in Wayne County may
make the Georgia Environmental Protection Division more transparent.
State
Rep.
Bill
Werkheiser (R-Glennville)
announced
Wednesday that
he will
file legislation
to
require
greater
Bill
transWerkheiser
parency
between the EPD and
the citizens of southeast
Georgia, where hazardous waste is being
disposed.
Republic
Services,
which
operates
the
Broadhurst
Environmental Landfill, is seeking a permit for a large
rail yard that would explicitly be able to accept
large volumes of coal ash
from outside the area.
Werkheiser noted that
the proposal has been
pursued legally but secretly.
“Just last week, we
learned of a spill of hazardous material that
happened nearly five
years ago,” he said.
“Again, no laws were
broken and no rules were
violated, but residents
were not made aware of
this accident until it was
reported by a newspaper
that discovered the accident buried in reams of
documents.”
Werkheiser’s bill would
require the EPD to report certain actions to
the official legal organ
and the affected local
governments, as well as
the
surrounding
landowners. These actions would include—but
are not limited to—any
new permit application,
a change in an application and evidentiary indication of a violation of
a permit.
Coal ash is the waste
left behind when coal is
burned to produce energy. Republic has estimated that the incoming
waste stream could
amount 10,000 tons of
coal ash a day.
“The process that has
taken place in Wayne
County
has
caught
everyone off guard and
jeopardized the period of
time where public comment would have been
allowed,”
Werkheiser
added. “We will not get a
second chance to get this
right, and we need to do
what we can to rectify
this situation going forward.”
Werkheiser represent
District 157, which includes
portions
of
Wayne, Tattnall and
Evans counties.
Landfill-leak bill passes Ga. House
By Drew Davis
STAFF WRITER
A bill requiring communities to be informed of landfill leaks passed the
Georgia House Monday 163-0.
The version that passed the House,
though, is different from the version
that State Rep. Bill Werkheiser first
introduced.
The legislation was prompted by the
fact that an apparent leak at the
Broadhurst Environmental Landfill
was never reported to Wayne County
officials or citizens by either the
Georgia Environmental Protection
Division or Republic Services, which
operates the landfill.
The version of House Bill 1028
headed to the Georgia Senate reads
that “The owner or operator of a municipal solid waste landfill shall notify the local governing authorities of
any city and county in which such
landfill is located of any significant
release therefrom within 14 days of
confirmation of such release by the
division.”
Originally, though, the bill would
have required that the EPD—not the
landfill owner—report any “eviden-
tiary indication” of a permit violation.
Also, the report would have been
made to the official legal organ as
well as the affected local agovernments.
And the bill would also have required the EPD to report any new
permit applications and any application changes.
The original bill summary read
that the bill was meant “to require
the Environmental Protection Division of the Department of Natural
Resources to provide notice to affected localities upon the occurrence
of certain events relating to permit-
ted solid or hazardous waste facilities.”
The new summary, though—as
adopted by a House committee before being sent to the House floor—
reads that the bill is meant “to require the owner or operator of a
municipal solid waste landfill to provide notice to the relevant local governing authority upon the occurrence of a solid waste release.”
Werkheiser sponsored the original
legislation, and the first co-sponsor
was Wayne County’s other state representative, Chad Nimmer.
OPINION
Public should be notified
of health hazards
It’s frightening the amount of secrecy all levels of today’s government works in.
We know that at times it can be pesky to do the people’s business in complete and total
openness, but that is absolutely how it should work.
Just a few weeks ago this newspaper uncovered a plan by Republic Services to haul in
tons of coal ash and other municipal wastes by train into Wayne County without ever
alerting the county, the city of Jesup or even its neighbors. Republic wants to destroy
some wetlands to build a rail yard in Wayne County, and so it did have to contact the
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. The Corps does have a 30-day comment period for the
community. However, the kicker is that virtually no one has to be alerted of this comment period. The Corps is not bound to notify the general public. It only has to post it
on its website, send letters to those named by Republic and send an email to those who
had signed up for one. Only after we shed light on the plan and a public outcry went up,
did the Corps postpone its decision on the destruction of the wetlands in Wayne County.
Then, this past week we learned that toxic heavy metals found in coal ash have already been detected at levels above drinking-water standards in local groundwater
around Republic Services’ Broadhurst Environmental Landfill.
Republic Services has been working with the Georgia Environmental Protection Division (EPD) for several years to clean up this mess.
Surprise, surprise—no one in the county was notified of this pending environmental
disaster.
“It makes me mad, frankly, that they had something spill into our environment and
we didn’t know about it,” Kevin Copeland, chairman of the Wayne County Board of Commissioners, was quoted in an article in The Press-Sentinel last week.
We’ve yet to find a single Wayne Countian who isn’t outraged over this assault our environment. So many have asked what they can do to help. There are many things that
can be done, but one is to continue to cry out for openness and sunshine in government.
One area to start—which seems to be a no-brainer—is that when a toxic spill (or, as
Republic euphemistically refers to it as a leakage) happens in a community, the offending company and the Georgia EPD should be compelled by law to notify the surrounding community of the issue.
Unfortunately, we are sure Wayne County isn’t alone in facing this type of health crisis.
This is a law that needs to be implemented from the Georgia legislature now—today—
this session. It’s obvious we can’t expect these private and government organizations to
do the right thing on their own. They must be compelled by law to notify the public.
Please take time to write or call your local representatives and ask them to introduce
this type of legislation—today. Not only does Wayne County need this protection; the
rest of the state does as well.
In Wayne, we have several to contact:
•Sen. Tommie Williams ([email protected])—148 Williams Ave., Lyons,
GA 30436 or 110-B State Capitol, Atlanta, GA 30334. His telephone numbers are 912526-7444 and 404-656-0089.
•Rep. Chad Nimmer ([email protected])—P.O. Box 1174, Blackshear, GA
31516 or 113 State Capitol, Atlanta, GA 30334. His telephone numbers are 912-8076190 and 404-651-7737.
•Rep. Bill Werkheiser ([email protected])—P.O. Box 27, Glennville, GA
30427 or 411-E Coverdell Legislative Office Building, Atlanta, GA 30334. His telephone
numbers are 912-654-3610 and 404-656-0126.
•Gov. Nathan Deal (email address unavailable)—206 Washington St., Suite 203, State
Capitol, Atlanta, GA 30334. His telephone number is 404-656-1776.
•Rep. Lynn Smith ([email protected])—228 State Capitol, Atlanta, GA 30334.
Her telephone number is 404-656-7149. (Smith is chairman of the Natural Resources
and the Environment Committee for the House. Also, she is also a graduate of Wayne
County High.)
•Sen. Frank Ginn ([email protected])—121-I State Capitol, Atlanta, GA
30334. His telephone number is 404-656-4700. (He is chairman of the Natural Resources
and the Environment Committee for the Senate.)
•DNR Commissioner Mark Williams ([email protected])— 2 Martin
Luther King Jr. Drive S.E., Suite 1252—East Tower, Atlanta, GA 30334. His telephone
number is 404-656-3500.
•Georgia EPD Commissioner Judson H. Turner (Office refused to give out his email
address.)—Environmental Protection Division, 2 Martin Luther King Jr. Drive S.E.,
Suite 1456—East Tower, Atlanta, GA 30334. His telephone number is 404-657-5947.
Kudos to Werkheiser
for upcoming EPD bill
State Rep. Bill Werkheiser is doing right by Wayne County in filing a bill to make the
Environmental Protection Division more transparent.
He’s also doing right by the citizens of Georgia.
Wayne County citizens are now under the gun to express their concerns about a proposed rail yard that would set the stage for Republic Services to bring in thousands of
tons of coal ash a day for disposal at the Broadhurst Environmental Landfill.
As a state legislator, Werkheiser can’t directly address U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
procedures that do not require local communities to be notified when the Corps is asked
to allow the disruption of wetlands for such projects.
The Georgia General Assembly can, however, require the EPD to announce new permit applications, changes in applications and evidence that a permit has been violated.
Under the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s definition of coal ash as a nonhazardous material, the landfill here is already permitted to receive coal ash. But under
existing laws, the EPD was not required to notify the community when Republic’s own
monitoring wells found higher-than-allowed levels of contaminants in water around
the landfill.
And those contaminants are consistent with substances found at significant levels in
coal ash, which the landfill was already accepting—in relatively limited amounts—at
the time this leakage was discovered.
The EPD is supposed to be protecting the people of Georgia from environmental
threats. And the first line of protection is letting the people know what those threats
might be. So kudos to Werkheiser for trying to make sure that, at a minimum, the EPD
will have to tell us what’s going on.
NIMBYWMA!
NIMBY is a well-known acronym for “not in my back yard.” We would add WMA to
those letters to mean “without my approval.”
We learned this week of a plan that would bring tons of coal ash and other waste products into our community. The proposal must be permitted by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the Georgia Department of Natural Resources—and neither agency is required to tell anybody in the county anything about the plan.
This is the second time that some outside interest has asked for a government permit
to do something in Wayne County without telling us about it. First was the plan to dig
up minerals here and take them out of the county. This new proposal would take wastes
from somewhere else and bring them here.
And this is not just any waste. Coal ash contains heavy minerals and radioactive material that have been proven harmful to humans and wildlife. Shouldn’t we have a say if
something like that is to be brought into our community?
To add to this insult is the fact that anybody here who wants to ask about the proposal
or complain or have a public meeting about it has only 30 days to do so in writing. But
the catch is that no public notice has been provided, so how are we to react without being
informed of the idea? If we are to respond in writing, should not those agencies be accountable to tell us in writing about what they are up to?
What is needed is a law that requires any federal or state agency that is authorized to
permit any business or change in a community be required to inform the public in a
timely fashion.
We don’t pay state and federal taxes so that those agencies that we fund can secretly
plan what is to happen where we live.
So here it is in writing. This community deserves and demands a public hearing so
that we can learn more about this plan. Where is this toxic ash coming from? What is in
it? What safeguards are planned? Are our children safe?
Without being informed, our first response to this or any proposal so surreptitiously
thrust on us is no, hell no. Not here. Not unless we say so. NIMBYWMA.
13
OPINION
Will coal ash spoil our air and water?
Lack of public notice could help bring danger to our area
Public notice. When is the
last time you read one?
Public notice is more than
our county commissioners’
moving their monthly meeting
from one day to another. Public
notice is more than a bank’s
foreclosing on your neighbor
down the street for nonpayment.
Public notice is more than
those lengthy columns of type
or small, plain block ads you
see in the pages of this newspaper, reporting that someone is
adopting a baby or telling you
how much it costs to qualify for
office.
Public notice can be much
more. Public notice can be the
first warning the home you and
your family have enjoyed much
of your life may be threatened.
Public notice may be the first
warning that leisurely summer
cookouts on your back patio
could be a thing of the past because a foul-smelling industry
will soon be locating just down
the road, polluting the air
around your home with a putrid stench.
Public notice could be your
first hint that drinking water
from the tap in your kitchen
may no longer be safe.
Public notice, a staple of
American government since
our forefathers first tacked up
quill-and-ink scribbled notices
in the town square, is gradually being taken away. Government leaders at every level,
acting from a mistaken sense
of “saving money” and fueled
by a public that largely pays no
My Opinion
▼▼▼
attention,
are offering
fewer and
fewer public
notices of actions that
can affect
everything
from the
value of your
home to how
you get to
work—and
more.
The latest example of how
”
ROBERT
WILLIAMS
The Blackshear
Times
Coal ash contains
contaminants like
mercury, cadmium
and arsenic ... Who
wants to live near
tons of that?
inadequate public notice can
affect our lives is on our
doorstep today.
The quality of life in Wayne
and Pierce counties is being
threatened by the very real
possibility of mountains of
toxic coal-ash residue being
hauled to our area from elsewhere and dumped in the
nearby landfill operated at
Broadhurst in Wayne County.
We are talking millions of
TONS of coal ash, the residue
GERRY BROOME / AP
A resident of Eden, N.C., scoops coal ash from the banks of a river fouled by a spill from a coal-ash disposal area. Tons of coal ash brought to our area could spoil our air and water, as well.
of coal-fueled power plants.
What exactly is in coal ash?
EPA describes it this way:
“Coal ash contains contaminants like mercury, cadmium
and arsenic. Without proper
management, these contaminants can pollute waterways,
ground water, drinking water,
and the air.”
Coal ash also contains lead.
Ask folks in Flint, Mich., how
harmful that is.
Who wants to live near tons
of that? Not the people where
this poison is produced. They
want to ship it far, far away. To
us.
The Army Corps of Engineers is part of the process because a proposed rail yard to
handle the trainloads of coal
ash may be built in a wetlands
area. The Corps issued no public notice of the plan, however,
because someone, somewhere,
at some time, decided the
Corps no longer needed to give
public notice in the local newspaper of the community where
such actions might be taken.
Instead, if you sign up—in advance—you will be sent a notice.
Will Wayne be ‘sacrifice zone’?
Is Wayne County in danger of becoming a “sacrifice
zone”?
Some local residents are starting to ask that question.
The concern has been prompted by a proposal by Republic Services to build a rail yard that could accept
trainloads of coal ash and other waste for disposal at
Not only has coal ash caused serious environmental
problems in other parts of the country, but Republic is
still cleaning up an apparent leak associated with
much more limited disposal of coal ash here a few
years ago.
So what is a sacrifice zone?
According to a broad description by bestselling author
Chris Hedges to longtime PBS commentator Bill Moyers
a few years ago, sacrifice zones are U.S. areas where
“Americans are trapped in endless cycles of poverty, powerlessness and despair as a direct result of capitalistic
greed.”
Speaking on Moyers & Company in 2012, Hedges
discussed areas “where communities suffered while
the corporations plundering them were thriving,” according to a Feb. 14 Savannah Morning News story by
Ron P. Whittington.
Whittington was writing about the concern—raised
by Palmetto Pipeline opponents—that some of the
areas along the pipeline route could become sacrifice
zones.
If built, the pipeline would run from Benton, S.C., to
Jacksonville, Fla., transporting fossil fuel for Texasbased Kinder Morgan.
Whittington’s story notes that, according to Hedges
and other environmental proponents, pipeline operators often skimp in sacrifice zones because those
areas—typically characterized by depressed neighborhoods, government-owned property, heritage lands
and wetland areas—pose a lower risk of lawsuits.
Republic is not trying to build a pipeline, but it is a
big corporation trying to reap big profits from waste
containing toxic chemicals. And the proposed rail yard
would be built in a rural wetland area.
Also, like opponents of the Palmetto Pipeline, opponents of the rail yard are now concerned about the potential impact on waterways and the Floridan Aquifer.
And like Palmetto Pipeline opponents, opponents of
the rail yard are seeing a big company flex its corporate muscles to get what it wants—just as big companies have done in sacrifice zones across the country.
It’s no surprise, then, that Wayne County citizens
don’t want their community to be sacrificed for bigger
corporate profits. Let’s not let this county become the
latest sacrifice zone.
The right way to do it is at home in the open
Republic Services is a hard case.
The company representatives have yet to learn that
more openness is a requirement for cooperation. Almost nobody in this county is in favor of the company’s plan to bring tons of coal ash to our community. And almost everybody here has questions about
what is going on.
And yet, the company persists in its apparent belief that the way to carry out its ambition is to do so
in secret.
Company officials never told us they planned to
dump coal ash on us. They never told us they had already brought 800,000 tons of coal ash to the landfill.
They never told us that they have already had serious failures at the landfill, which resulted in poisoning our groundwater.
Now they want to meet with local “leaders” and
elected officials. Only they want to have “open”-house
sessions that are closed. In fact, when we asked about
these meetings, we were told that the press could not
attend them.
Now compare that sort of heavy-handed attitude by
a huge absentee corporation with the way things are
being done when we are dealing with folks here at
home.
The Jesup City Council met with unhappy neighbors who wanted their community safe from commercial enterprises being located where they make their
homes. There had never been a business in that residential neighborhood, and residents there wanted to
keep it that way. (Maybe they don’t like the idea of
increased traffic where their children play.)
Fortunately, unlike property in unincorporated
Wayne County, property within the city of Jesup has
zoning ordinances in place. Were the county zoned,
probably we would not be fearing what a huge corporation has the power to do over our wishes.
But zoning aside, the thing is that the Jesup commissioners met with the public in the open to discuss
the issue, along with the property owner who had requested the rezoning. There was no attempt by the
landowner or those opposing his plan to make some
secretive end-around play.
When home folks have the say, our neighborhoods
can be what we want them to be. When the federal
and state governments bow to the dollars of large, secretive businesses, the only interest served is that of
those big business owners. They could care less that
we live here. They just want some place to dump
their trash and count their dollars.
Only because Derby Waters,
a vigilant reporter with The
Press-Sentinel in Jesup, got
wind of this plan did any information see the light of day, and
now the fight is on to protect
our area from this threat.
Public notice. When’s the
last time you asked why one
wasn’t published?
•••
(Robert M. Williams Jr. is
the editor and publisher of The
Blackshear Times. E-mail:
[email protected].
PRESSTALK
▼▼▼
Coastal group objects
to permit application
I am writing to state our unconditional objections to the permit
application for a waste-transport facility located west of U.S. 301
and south of Broadhurst Road West and 5.6 miles east of
Screven.
Clearly, there are much better-suited locations for this operation that would not impose unjustified harm to jurisdictional
freshwater wetlands. The toxicity of the material being transported further exacerbates the potential risk to public interest.
There is no compelling rationale that substantiates the stated
need to fill nearly 25 acres of jurisdictional wetlands.
Accordingly, the Center for a Sustainable Coast strongly objects to this permit because an alternative to it is available at
other locations adjacent to disposal sites where destruction of
wetlands would not be a factor.
Moreover, the alleged mitigation method does not honor the
principle of “no net loss” of wetlands because it would result in
the destruction of 25 acres of functional jurisdictional wetlands.
Cumulatively, the continued practice of implementing such measures would result in the loss of thousands of acres of wetlands
that serve important habitat, filtration and flood-control benefits
of great, well-documented benefit to the public.
Finally, whatever the proposed precautions, unloading operations will undoubtedly result in the contamination of surrounding areas with the toxic materials being transferred at the proposed facility. These materials (including known carcinogens),
when spilled, would risk contamination of surrounding surface
and groundwater resources, further jeopardizing public safety.
We urge the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to reject this proposal due to its unacceptable and unjustified disturbance and destruction of valued natural resources and associated risks to public health.
David Kyler
Executive director
Center for a Sustainable Coast
Lobbyists are wrong—
coal ash is hazardous
As a citizen, as a property owner and, most important, as a father, I feel I must address this issue of the coal ash.
In my research, I have found that the U.S. EPA, this past October, published its Final Rule on coal-ash disposal after five
years of debate, public comment and, of course, political lobbying. Why a rule now? After all, haven’t power plants been generating this ash for decades?
If you have any interest in this debate, please educate yourself
on the Kingston, Tenn., coal-ash disaster of Dec. 22, 2008. That
cleanup is still ongoing; the bill is $1.2 billion and rising; and the
human cost is beyond calculation. The rule is in response to this
disaster and the later coal-ash disaster in Eden, N.C., in February of 2014.
Relevant to us in Wayne County, this waste material was classified under Subtitle D of the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act, or RICA. This means that the ash is now deemed “not
❑ See PRESSTALK, Page 14
OPINION
PRESSTALK
Continued from page 13
hazardous” and on the level with
normal household garbage. It was
not—and this is key—classified
under Subtitle C (in other words, a
“hazardous material”). Curiously,
the debate was won by the industry lobbyists over the research scientists and physicians.
For the highly profitable landfill
industry, the rule is a veritable bonanza—110 million tons of this ash
was generated in 2012 alone, and
now they want to haul it to us. And
old ash, or “legacy” ash, can now be
scooped up and hauled to a stateof-the art, lined facility such as Republic Services Inc.’s Broadhurst
Environmental Landfill.
It is no wonder that multibillionaires such as Bill Gates and Warren Buffet are heavily invested in
Republic. There are fortunes to be
made and stock prices to be raised
by dumping this material in out-ofthe-way places where pliant governments and lax regulation pass
the costs on to unsuspecting locals.
On the other hand, please look
up the reports published by Physicians for Social Responsibility concerning the health impacts of coal
ash. These sobering, even horrifying facts about the arsenic, lead
and cadmium, as well as radioactive elements, that Republic’s proposal would bring in by the trainload—up to 10,000 tons of ash per
day—will make you wonder why
we all, with a single voice, have yet
to echo Dink Nesmith’s “No! No!
No!”
We must choose to stand up for
ourselves in this matter. Really.
The EPA rule states that they will
not be enforcing their own rule. It
is up to citizens or their local governments to sue landfills that
break the rules.
But, as Flint, Mich., proves, what
good is suing when a generation
has already been poisoned? Fortunately, we are not without recourse.
The Joint Wayne County Solid
Waste Management Plan 20102021 is found online. Section 6 tells
me that our collective hands are
not tied when it comes to this fight.
There is no radioactive ash in this
“Community’s Vision”!
Dan Chappell
Jesup
Coal ash raises
Pierce concerns
I read Dink NeSmith’s column in
The Blackshear Times about the
proposed dumping of coal ash near
the Wayne/Pierce line. I’m certainly no expert on this subject;
however, I have seen its impact on
family members in North Carolina.
My sister and her family live in
Belmont, N.C., and are victims of
contaminated water from coal ash.
Last March they were issued a
warning to avoid drinking their
water and were informed that bottled water would start being delivered to their home. Some of the
neighbors bathe in the contaminated water, while others avoid
doing so. It seems as though you
would do so at your own risk, as
there are so many unanswered
questions regarding this issue.
Having visited my sister’s family
several times over the last year, I
can attest to the inconvenience but,
more important, the health concern involved. My brother-in-law
was
diagnosed
with
throat/tonsil/tongue cancer in
June. One can’t help but wonder
whether this was caused by the
contaminated water, as they have
been told that cancer cases have
risen in the area.
Some in the area would like to
move; however, no one wants to
buy a home with contaminated
water. Property values have diminished greatly.
Although those affected are glad
to have the bottled water delivered
to their homes, I’ve seen the inconvenience of having to use it to cook,
etc., and the difficulty in storing
cases of bottled water. My sister
does have a garage, but in the summer, the bottled water gets hot, and
that alone poses a safety issue as
well (plastic bottles).
This has been going on for almost
a year, and there is no solution in
sight for my sister and many others affected by the contaminated
The Georgia Supreme Court itself
ruled, on June 29, 2015, in Elbert
County vs. Sweet City Landfill,
that a county ordinance can place
burdens upon a private landfill as
long as it is evenhanded and “promotes the safety and welfare of
County residents … and protects
the natural resources of the
County.”
The current Joint Public Notice
from the Corps of Engineers states,
“The applicant’s proposed work
may also require local government
approval.” Not forthcoming!
The shock has worn off, the facts
are coming to light, we are fighting
this, and we are winning!
Elizabeth Anne Chappell
Jesup
Carolina coal ash
is coming to Georgia
water. How do we know this wouldn’t happen to us in this area? No
amount of job creation should ever
come before our health!
This is the extent of what I know
on this issue, but it’s enough to
make me cringe at the thought of
having toxic material dumped near
my home. Thank you so much for
bringing this to the attention of
those residing in Pierce and Wayne
counties.
Tammy Oakley
Pierce County
Public should voice
coal-ash concerns
According to the webpage of Republic Services, the company is
“Committed to your community”
and “Part of your neighborhood.”
The page says, “At Republic Services, our most important relationships are the ones we have with
our customers. We continually
strive to make your recycling and
waste effortless. Our exceptional
employees are here for you–to listen, to provide outstanding service,
and to help you help the environment.”
Sounds good, yet Republic Services has plans to bring tons and
tons of toxic-waste materials in the
form of coal ash to our community,
all from other states–all without an
opportunity for a public meeting to
address the fears and concerns of
the citizens of Wayne County. In
other words–sneak it in!
“Coal ash, the second largest industrial waste stream in the U.S.,
is less regulated than your household trash. Coal ash contains high
levels of heavy metals such as arsenic, lead, mercury, and other
toxic substances,” according to
Cleanwateraction.org.
Can we really be assured Broadhurst storage units of coal ash,
which contains such caustic chemicals, can be retained without the
threat of leakage? If so, why are
other states sending this material
to Georgia?
I commend Wayne County Commission Chair Kevin Copeland for
his quick action to address Republic Services’ attempt to bring hazardous waste into our county without the benefit of a public meeting.
I also highly commend The PressSentinel reporter Derby Waters for
his diligence in sounding the alarm
and his extensive research into the
dangers of coal ash and what it
means for our community.
Now is the time for the citizens of
Wayne County to step up and send
letters to both the Army Corps of
Engineers and to the Georgia Department of Natural Resources.
Without sufficient outcry by each of
us against this blatant form of
treachery instrumented by Republic Services, we will seal our own
fate! Is this the legacy we want to
leave our loved ones and future
generations?
Beth Roach
Concerned Neighbors
of Wayne County
Halt permit process
for coal-ash answers
All one has to do is see or hear
the news of the tainted water supply in Flint, Mich., and then think
of the possible dumping of coal ash
in our county.
There are two very informative
articles recently published in the
Atlanta Journal-Constitution that
should be of interest to everyone in
Wayne County and especially to us
who live near the proposed dump
site of the coal ash. The first article
is an investigative report published
Nov. 7, 2015, titled “Georgia coal
ponds a ‘lurking disaster.’” The second was published Jan. 22, 2015,
and titled “Pumping from coal ash
pond into Lake Sinclair stopped,
Georgia Power says.”
The second article says that in
general the safest way to store coal
ash is to move it away from rivers
and lakes. This proposed site is just
the opposite. Other statements
concern leakage into the groundwater system. The proposed dump
site is wet.
Among the main concerns I have
are: 1) this site is located on top of
the Floridan Aquifer; 2) it is located
in the surficial aquifer system or
local surficial aquifer (www.stateofwater.org ); 3) our home is located
five miles from the proposed site,
and we have an 846-foot-deep well
drawing water from the Floridan
Aquifer; and 4) we have a farm located four miles from the site on
Whitestar Road. There are many
creeks and streams located in the
proposed dump location that lead
directly into a creek that flows
through our farm property, where
we have two shallow wells.
Locating this dump site on and in
the aquifer system could result in
monumental damage not only to
our water but to the drinking water
of millions of people. What illnesses
could be caused if our water is
tainted? How long would it take to
really assess the damage done to
our drinking water? Could the
damages be permanent? What
about the wildlife, especially the
wildlife we hunt and fish for food?
Maybe the citizens of nearby counties and north Florida would be interested in what may occur here in
Wayne County and the lasting effects it could have on them.
Where does your bathing, cooking and drinking water come from?
Where does your garden water
come from? If you have a pool,
where does the water come from?
What damages could be done to us,
not to mention our generations to
follow?
My fifth concern—is this proposed dump already a done deal?
Anyone who rides down Broadhurst Road will see a fairly new
power line disappearing south into
the pines. Where does this go and
for what purpose? No one lives
down there. Is this another project
“slipped” in (like mining) on the citizens of Wayne County?
Before retiring from the Department of Homeland Security, I was
in contracting for a period of time.
Whenever I oversaw a contract
that had gone through layers of
lawyers, I always had a go-to person, a contact. Therefore, my sixth
concern (and a troubling one that
smells of back-room dealing)—who
in Wayne County is the go-to person? No major firm will go to the
trouble of even considering an endeavor of this magnitude without a
contact. I guarantee you this was
the case for the mining company.
Has this firm already received
some guarantees from this contact?
Have any laws been violated? It is
imperative these questions be answered for all of us.
I applaud The Press-Sentinel for
bringing this looming cloud to our
attention. The permit process
should be halted indefinitely to
allow for a more diligent and thorough investigation until all questions are answered.
Larry Welch
Screven
Coal-ash concerns
are having effect
First, my heartfelt thanks to the
Wayne County Solid Waste Management Authority for answering
the public call to confront this proposed rail yard and massive expansion of coal-ash dumping head on.
Board members addressed Republic Services representatives at
Monday’s meeting with the uncomfortable questions that have gone
unasked for too long, and the answers forthcoming elicited shock
from the assembled board and public.
Did you know 800,000 tons of
coal ash were hauled up from Jacksonville and dumped here between
2006 and 2014? This was news to
the Board but “common knowledge,” according to Republic.
Tellingly, the company man apologized for not notifying the community about this, but he did not apologize for the coal ash itself.
According to the Board, Wayne
County does have an ordinance on
the books that would prohibit the
dumping of radioactive waste here.
Republic’s answer: If the rail yard
is constructed, the company would
be testing the trainloads of incoming coal ash for radioactivity and
would send the radioactive loads
back!
The fact that this ash would require radiation testing to begin
with tells me all I need to know, but
for the still-skeptical, see the Duke
University study published in the
Sept. 2, 2015, edition of the journal
Environmental Science and Technology. Radioactive elements are
present, in concentrated levels, in
the coal ash left over from combustion in coal-fired generators. The
researchers tested coal mined in
different regions, and it is all
deadly.
By whatever means at hand, this
community must halt this project.
Republic itself stated that the daily
trainloads of ash would be equal to
400-450 daily truckloads. This in
addition to the 120 truckloads per
day of regular garbage.
This was never part of the plan.
And we do have a written Solid
Waste Plan. And we can stop this
dumping.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has taken the extraordinary
step of extending public comment
and postponing the wetlands-permit decision because we spoke up.
A Savannah TV station came down
and covered a meeting of the
Wayne County Solid Waste Authority because we spoke up. Our
elected officials at the city, county,
state and federal levels are going to
act in our interest because we are
speaking up! Through social
media, through the print media,
and face to face, we are uniting in
this cause and teaching ourselves
how to claim the results we demand.
Tell your commissioner that you
demand a well-crafted, enforceable
local ordinance that will deny Republic carte blanche to poison us.
Having grown up in Jesup and
known Dink NeSmith’s parents, I
have enjoyed reading his columns
in The Press-Sentinel. However,
his latest about disposal of coal fly
ash in Wayne County is disturbing
in light of the damage that has
been done by spills at TVA’s
Kingston Plant near Knoxville,
Tenn., and a Duke Power plant
near Charlotte, N.C..
TVA spent hundreds of millions
in cleanup. Dukes’ resolution is to
use Georgia as a dumping ground;
this is evidenced by the number of
side-dumping tractor-trailers traveling out of South Carolina down I85 to Homer. I have been seeing
these trucks for several months,
wondering what they were hauling. I just learned that it is fly ash.
The company has a fleet of over 100
trucks hauling from a plant near
Asheville, N.C. (no pun intended),
to Homer. From there they go back
up to Plezer, S.C.; pick up another
load; and return to Homer. This is
all in a day’s work.
I learned this during a conversation with a friend who has a relative driving one of the trucks.
Not only is fly ash hazardous to
the environment; it is hazardous to
one’s health. This is evidenced by
the the safety precautions taken by
people working on coal-fired boilers.
I wish for success in keeping
Wayne County clean.
Pete Dyal
Toccoa
New landfill plans
endanger homes
Our home and our health are at
risk!
The Press-Sentinel has reported
that toxic heavy metals have been
detected at Broadhurst Landfill at
levels above drinking-water standards. As the crow flies, we live
about a mile from the landfill, and
we are outraged that we were
never notified of this leak!
Moreover, if further expansion of
this landfill occurs, we will be approximately 400 yards from the
proposed rail yard that will be receiving tons of coal ash and waste
from other parts of the country, day
and night. You can imagine the
noise and the air pollution we will
be forced to endure.
Move, you say? I think you can
see that will be easier said than
done.
If legislation is not enacted to
force private companies and government organizations to do the
moral and decent thing, this will
not only continue but escalate to
levels that will render areas of our
state and country uninhabitable. It
is a wretched thought, indeed, that
in this day and age, when every
threatened species of plant and animal can draw outrage and support
from the four corners of the earth,
the safety and well-being of a small
community of people in south
Wayne County, whose very lives
are being threatened by toxic
waste, are afforded no protection
by taxpayer-funded agencies designated to do just that.
We feel we are without power, too
unimportant to be worth consideration and, most sadly ... invisible.
Danny Butts
Jesup
15
OPINION
An Alabama town’s toxic crisis—over coal ash
By Esther Calhoun
My family has lived in
Uniontown, Ala., for generations. My daddy and granddaddy were sharecroppers
who grew cotton, corn and
okra on the nearby Tate
plantation.
The people here—mostly
African-American, like
me—have strong ties to the
land. They are proud of this
piece of the country.
At least they used to be.
That was before Arrowhead
Landfill turned Uniontown
into a dumping ground for
the eastern half of the nation, before Arrowhead received permission to take in
tons of toxic coal ash from
the disastrous 2008 coal-ash
spill in Kingston, Tenn.
The toxic heavy metals
found in coal ash—arsenic,
boron, cadmium, chromium,
lead, mercury, selenium and
thallium—have been linked
to cancer and many other
illnesses. Children are experiencing nosebleeds,
headaches and breathing
problems.
A terrible smell emanates
from the landfill. It attracts
flies and buzzards and rats
and fleas. There is no air
monitoring of the hydrogen
sulfide gas let off by the coal
ash.
Uniontown residents
have seen property values
decline. Stores are boarded
up. Schools have closed. The
city can’t afford to operate
an ambulance service. We
are becoming a ghost town.
Our children don’t want
to come back here to live,
and when they come to
visit, we’re afraid to let our
grandchildren play outside.
The smell, the pollution and
the fear affect all aspects of
our lives. We don’t know
whether it’s safe to eat food
from our gardens or simply
spend time outdoors.
This isn’t right.
Uniontown is a poor,
black community—made
poorer by state agencies and
others who decided this
town would be a good place
for a prison, a toxic-waste
landfill, a catfish processing
plant and other polluters.
I head a local grassroots
group, Black Belt Citizens
for Health & Justice, made
up of community members
seeking environmental justice. We are actively pursuing remedies to the threats
posed by Arrowhead Landfill and the other sources of
Is Broadhurst Landfill the next Arrowhead?
(Editor’s note: What does a
Subtitle D landfill in Uniontown, Ala., have to do with
Broadhurst Landfill in
Wayne County? See how the
company that owns the Arrowhead Landfill describe it
on its own website. It strikes
a similar note to what is
being proposed here.)
“Arrowhead offers a
uniquely designed, high-capacity disposal facility for
customers, communities and
a wide range of industries
across 33 states. Located
contamination in the town.
The Alabama Department of Environmental
Management, the agency
charged with protecting the
community from health and
environmental hazards, has
failed to take responsibility.
The agency reissued the
permit for Arrowhead Landfill without proper and enforceable protections for
public health, despite the
dangers of coal ash and the
objections of Uniontown residents.
Why did Uniontown become a dumping ground for
the eastern half of the coun-
above the Selma Chalk Formation, Arrowhead is one of
the most environmentally
secure disposal facilities in
the nation. With large capacity, unmatched logistical
capabilities, railway access,
and regulatory permitting
for a wide range of waste
streams, Arrowhead is
uniquely positioned to meet
the expanding needs of a
wide range of customers.
“Arrowhead, located in
Perry County, Ala., is a
1,345-acre greenfield devel-
opment with a 425-acre
Subtitle D footprint. The facility has 75 million cubic
yards of permitted airspace
and can receive up to 15,000
tons of waste per day. Proximity to major rail lines allows Arrowhead to handle
waste disposal from communities and companies in all
states east of the Mississippi River, all states along
the western edge of the Mississippi River, Oklahoma
and Texas.”
try? No one thought that
the members of this poor
community would fight back
or that anyone would listen
to us.
Working with attorneys
for nonprofit environmental
law organization Earthjustice and others, we have
filed a civil-rights complaint
against ADEM and the U.S.
Environmental Protection
Agency for permitting this
facility despite its disproportionate impact on
African-Americans.
The owners of Arrowhead
apparently want to make it
the go-to dumping place for
coal ash—a potentially huge
and lucrative market as
coal plants close down and
storage regulations at existing plants tighten.
The people of Uniontown
don’t want more of this toxic
waste brought here. Our
lives have already been affected enough.
(Editor’s note: Esther Calhoun is president of Black
Belt Citizens for Health &
Justice, a grassroots environmental justice group.
This column ran in several
newspapers across the state
this past weekend.)
Save Screven memories from rail yard
By Lisa Sikes
I have spent the majority
of the past three weeks
writing my comments to
send to John Derinzy at the
Savannah District Corp of
Engineers. My reason for
doing so is that, although I
don’t live in Wayne County,
my family’s home in
Screven has determined a
large portion of the trajectory of my life—and before
this potential rail yard was
proposed, I had no idea just
how important it was to me.
My father was a National
Park Service ranger. He and
my mom are Newton and
Jean Sikes. Because of his
job, we lived all over the
United States when I was
growing up—states such as
Minnesota, Virginia, Pennsylvania and Nevada. But
no matter where we lived,
we traveled at Christmas
and in summertime to
Screven.
It is hard to describe what
that is like, and the effect
that that has had on my life
is something that I ponder
even at my age. It means I
am not from anywhere and
never really fit in Wayne
County. But it doesn’t mean
that I don’t have my own
version of love for it.
I went to the University of
Georgia and lived seven
years in Athens, 12 years in
Decatur and now six years
in Alexandria, Va. From the
time I was born to this day,
when I come “home,” it is to
Screven, a place where I’ve
only lived in the summers
and at Christmas. I remember getting ice cream at
Sarge’s. I remember driving
the country roads with my
grandfather in his old Buick
perched on top of a box of
McNess products so that I
could see out the window. I
know what the pattern of
raindrops looks like in the
white sand and how the
pine needles smell after it
rains.
When I am home, I sit on
the porch with my parents.
We sit on the north side
when it’s warm because
that’s where the good breeze
is, and when the moon rises,
it is from the east, over in
the direction of the Broadhurst Landfill.
We sit on the south side
when it is cooler because
the sun sets back there. It
looks out over my mom’s
organic garden, and we
watch for the cardinals
that perch in the Lady
Banks.
We’ll visit and read, and
my sister will stop by with
my great-niece, who loves
to catch tree frogs, lizards
and butterflies. She is a little naturalist. My father
and I may go for a walk,
and he’ll show me the lon-
gleaf pines that he’s
planted for posterity.
My parents chose this
place to build their home,
and the nature of this terrible coal-ash proposal is
such a slap in the face to
that idea that it is hard to
imagine its happening.
I have found that, no
matter my age,— college
student in my 20s or a
grown-up at age 50—as I
am driving home to Mama
and Daddy’s, the closer I
get, the faster I go. As I
make the turn onto the
Odum-Screven Road, I
press the accelerator; the
windows get rolled down as
I sail past the cotton fields
with the radio turned up.
I’m almost home as I pass
my cousin’s house, over
Dog Bridge, and then
slowly pass the cemetery
where my grandparents
are buried. If I look, I’ll see
the name Sikes on the back
of their headstone. But I
never look. I don’t know
why.
Finally, there are those
four turns, the feel of
which I have known since I
was a girl. Bounce over the
railroad tracks, turn right,
turn left, turn right ... onto
Sikes Road. There’s that
hint of anticipation and relief because now I am safe
from the world, and someone is expecting me. The
road is longer than it
seems, and it has a slow,
gradual slope which makes
for a specific Doppler effect—down, then up ... and
then I turn into the drive. I
have made my way there
for 50 years.
And so I found myself for
the past three weeks writing, researching and worrying with an emotion that
I have never experienced
before. What are those
feelings that a threat stirs
in us? I don’t know. I really
don’t.
A zero-discharge principle for coal ash
By Clay Montague
(Editor’s note: Clay Montague is a Camden County
residents and an associate
professor emeritus of environmental engineering sciences at the University of
Florida.)
Everybody wants coal ash
to be responsibly stored. Effective management minimizes risk to health, property value and ecosystem
services. So the question
arises: Where should responsible coal-ash disposal
take place?
Coal ash contaminates
water. No matter where
done, storage in a lined
landfill is better than leaving a pile connecting directly to ground and surface
waters. Coal-ash disasters
happen (Google it).
A zero-discharge principle
means that the pollution
from manufacturing is
stored and managed at the
site where produced. It’s a
good solution for many pollutants–part of a sustainable business plan for environmental management.
Zero discharge puts the environmental risk closer to
those who benefit from the
process that caused it. In
contrast, exporting coal ash
transfers the risk while retaining the benefit of plentiful and cheap electricity
close at hand. No wonder
the producing communities
would rather export the pollution. Zero discharge puts
a stop to that.
Cost savings accrue from
close proximity. Electricity
is conserved when used
close to its source–less is
lost when transmission
lines are shorter. Moreover,
both the energy production
and the pollution disposal
create local jobs. With a
zero-discharge policy, both
are held close to the source.
Storage of coal ash in a
lined landfill in which the
leachate is collected and
processed as industrial
wastewater is an appropriate method of management.
It can be done safely–environmental professionals
know how–but it is not
without risk.
Landfill leachate is the
tea made when rainwater
steeps amongst the contents. The leachate from
coal ash is toxic. The lining
holds the leachate, but linings sometimes leak.
Leachate can also spill during transfer to a treatment
plant. In severe cases, contaminated water can move
into shallow wells and
rivers.
With proper landfill construction and management,
the risk to people, fish and
wildlife is low compared to
storing coal ash in unlined
piles. Nevertheless, risk remains. Should that risk accrue to people far from the
source of production?
In Georgia, present federal and state regulations
do not require zero discharge of coal ash from
power plants. So how can
local citizens go a step further to insist on a more sustainable practice for everyone?
The citizens of just one
county could decide to prohibit the importation and
storage of coal ash that was
not produced within their
county. At the same time,
they could resolve to properly store coal ash that is
produced within their own
county. This two-pronged
approach is both precautionary and responsible.
When the citizens of one
county pass a law such as
this, people in adjacent
counties may be moved to
follow. They may see protective value in the law and
vulnerability without it.
Eventually the daisy chain
of county laws leaves only
one alternative for coal ash:
to be managed closer to
where it was generated.
In this manner, a de facto
regional practice may
emerge, county by county,
that effectively implements
something like a zero-discharge policy. But even if
that ideal never materializes, every county that
makes the law will better
protect itself. Will you start
the chain in your county?
OPINION
No, thanks, we don’t want your toxic trash
If a sledgehammer had been
slammed on my thumb, I couldn’t
have yelped any louder. And that
was just thinking of the possibility
that coal ash, a life-threatening pollutant, was going to be dumped into
Wayne County.
No.
No.
No.
And hell no!
Pardon my language. But if you
aren’t cussin’ mad about the idea of
our backyard being turned into a
dump so someone else can get rid of
what they don’t want in their backyard, well, what does it take to get
smoke coming out of your ears?
Before you go to sleep tonight, you
need to peruse an article in Environmental Health News by Brian Bienkowski. (http://www.environmentalhealthnews.org/ehs/news/2016/jan
/coal-ash-environmental-justice-epacivil-rights) If you don’t have Internet service, stop by The Press-Sentinel. We will give you a copy of the
story. Here’s a hint—from Environmental Health News—of what should
give you nightmares:
“There are about 200 sites nationwide where coal ash has tainted air
and water. The most recent disaster
was in 2014 at Duke Energy’s Dan
River Steam Station in North Carolina where 39,000 tons of coal ash
and 27 million gallons of wastewater
My Opinion
▼▼▼
gushed into
the Dan
River. …
Catchment
areas leave
those (people)
nearby subject to leaks,
discharges
and spills.”
So I ask,
“Why would
DINK
we want our
NeSMITH
quality of life
Chairman
and our natural resources put at that kind of
risk?”
The company proposing to contaminate our county with this nasty
stuff is Central Virginia Properties of
Spartanburg, S.C. The company’s
application to the U.S. Corps of Engineers seeks to haul in trainloads of
coal ash and pile it in an area between U.S. 301 South, Broadhurst,
and U.S. 84, Screven. Let’s hope our
federal government is looking out for
us. Let’s also hope the feds will listen: “We don’t want our lives and our
environment endangered by carpetbagger-like profiteers.”
Wayne County commissioners
were unaware and blindsided by this
proposal, until The Press-Sentinel
shined some light into this dark and
dangerous corner. Your newspaper’s
roots go back to its 1865 founding.
You have our promise that we will do
everything we can to follow this issue
and keep you informed, now and for
the next 151 years. We are pleased
our commissioners are rallying to see
what they can learn. I hope this
frightening plan gets road-blocked
before it’s too late.
Are you fired up yet?
If not, read John Grisham’s Gray
Mountain. It’s a novel, but the facts
are scary, very scary. The arrival of
coal ash in our community brings no
good news, even if it meant 500 jobs.
And it won’t. What they want is to
dump on us and cram their pockets
with cash. With potential new neighbors like that, who needs enemies?
If Republic Services, operator of
the Broadhurst Landfill, is behind
this ploy to bring these harmful materials here, we need to know. And if
that’s the truth, shame on Republic.
The possibility of dumping coal ash is
a bait-and-switch tactic that makes
no sense at all for the citizens of
Wayne County.
Evangelist Billy Sunday once
said, “Very few souls are won after 20
minutes.” I’m done preaching—for
now. And I hope you, too, are mad
enough to make even a preacher
want to cuss. But let’s don’t just fuss
and cuss. Let’s do whatever it takes
to stop these unwelcomed trainloads
of polluted filth.
[email protected]
(For more commentaries, go to
www.dinknesmith.com)
Can you smell money swirling about landfill plan?
If your nose is wrinkling over the landfill
controversy in the south end of our county,
keep sniffing. You’ll smell more than the
mounds of big-city garbage and coal ash
that could be headed our way, trainload
after trainload. What you are whiffing is
the influence of money at work.
Unless the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers halts Republic Services’ application
to transform one of our wetlands into a
massive railyard, our people and our environment are about to get railroaded into a
gamble that isn’t worth any amount of
money.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
I know. There are state and federal regulations that are designed to protect us.
Up in Michigan, ask the people of Flint
how much good those laws did in keeping
their drinking water safe.
“But that’s different,” you argue. Not
really. Contaminated water is contaminated water. The Broadhurst Environmental Landfill—operated by Republic
Services—sits atop two of the best underground water sources anywhere: the
Florida and Ocala aquifers. Those enormous underground streams are out of
sight, but they should never be out of
mind.
What’s very much in sight of the l
andfill are the headwaters of the Penholloway Creek. That black-water stream
crosses under U.S. 301 South and weaves
its way through the wilderness to the Altamaha River that drains into the Atlantic
Ocean. The Titanic was “unsinkable,” but
it sank. One puncture or breach in the
government-approved, not-supposed-to-
My Opinion
▼▼▼
leak pits in Broadhurst, and neither
apologies nor fines
will make the contamination go away.
So how did we
happen to get a private regional landfill
in Wayne County?
Your nose will lead
you to the answer.
It’s the smell of
DINK
money—lots of it—
NeSMITH
that seduced our
Chairman
commissioners in
1992 to strike a deal with Addington Environmental. Rather than having to hassle
with our garbage, an outside waste management company got a contract to handle
it for us. What seemed to be a windfall for
Wayne also opened the door for outside
garbage to be dumped here—for a fee.
Have you driven past our Mount Trashmore on the Broadhurst-to-Screven road?
If the Corps approves the railyard application, we could have a mountain range of
trash in the piney flat woods. We will
likely become the city dump for the likes of
New York, Boston and Philadelphia. And
that’s not to speak of the trainloads of coal
ash coming from such places as North Carolina that woke up and prohibited coal ash
from being deposited in their open containment ponds. Georgia needs to get busy on
similar legislation.
In the meantime, Republic—under the
name of Central Virginia Properties,
LLC—almost sneaked past the community
“The nation behaves
well if it treats its natural resources as assets
which it must turn over
to the next generation
increased, and not impaired, in value.”
Theodore Roosevelt
with its Corps of Engineers application.
Instead, a pesky reporter from The PressSentinel started asking questions. Last
week, Republic met—behind closed
doors—with three of our commissioners,
hoping to seduce them to get on board with
their landfill expansion plans.
I am pleased Chairman Kevin Copeland
and Vice Chairman Ralph Hickox have
been vehement in their opposition. I am
anxious to see how commissioners Boot
Thomas, Shag Wright and Mike Roberts
stand on this. Republic figures the
promise of trainloads of money into public
coffers will make Wayne County accept the
risks—now and forever.
Here’s what I said to one commissioner:
“If you and I wanted to just make money,
and we were willing to gamble with our
freedom and reputations, we could peddle
pornography or traffic dope. Until we got
caught, we’d be getting filthy rich. But no,
thanks! I feel the same way about taking
environmental risks that will affect generation after generation.”
No, sir!
You could stack money as tall as that
trash mountain at Broadhurst Environmental Landfill, and the deal would still
stink. And I hope that’s what your nose
tells you, too.
[email protected]
Will Wayne County become a trash can for East Coast?
Back in the pre-PVC days, when
plumbers toted monkey wrenches, Junior
Burns took me to school. Cranking a galvanized pipe, underneath our 100-year-old
house in Jesup, Junior lectured: “The first
two things you learn in plumbing are that
the hot water goes on the left, and the stuff
flows downhill.” Junior is gone, but those
rules still live.
If Republic Services gets its wish, mega
tons of stuff—municipal garbage and toxic
coal ash—will be flowing downhill from the
East Coast into our piney woods. We already have a mountain of garbage at the
private Broadhurst Environmental Landfill. If Republic’s application to destroy a
wetland tract and install a massive rail
spur is approved, we could have a mountain range on its 2,000-plus acres.
Let me repeat: 2,000-plus acres in
leaks-like-a-sieve sandy soil, near the
headwaters of the Penholloway Creek that
flows into the Altamaha River that empties
into the Atlantic Ocean. Republic tells us
its landfill liners won’t leak. Won’t leak,
ever?
In 1991 and 1992, when our commissioners were seduced by the promise of big,
My Opinion
▼▼▼
bonus money into the
county coffers, do you
think they ever imagined the possibility of
a 2,000-plus-acres national landfill? The
easy thing would be to
lambast their lack of
foresight. That won’t
help. The unintended
consequences are the
same.
DINK
In 2016, the hard
NeSMITH
thing is what we must
Chairman
do if we care about
our families and generations to come. We
must stand our ground and resist Republic’s urge to make us the East Coast’s trash
can. There’s money in garbage disposal,
and there’s even more money in getting rid
of coal ash. We cannot become environmental prostitutes, accepting Republic’s
payments for dumping toxic trash on us.
Shame on us if we sell out for any amount
of money. The future of our heirs should be
priceless.
And then there’s the railroad that
stands to reap rewards for our misfortune,
should the Corps of Engineers permit Republic’s rail-spur request. Jesup, originally
known as Station Number 7, was labeled
as a town built by trains. Wouldn’t it be a
travesty if a railroad profited by making
our community sick from hauling in unwanted pollution? We are proud of our rail
heritage, and we need rail service. We also
need the railroads to look out
for our best interest, too.
There’s a
long list of bothersome issues in
this scheme to
bring unhealthy
waste into
Wayne County.
Near the top is
how a taxpayerfunded watchdog, the Environment Protection Agency (EPA), could be
induced to reclassify coal ash as nonhazardous. Coal ash contains a string of toxic
components such as mercury, arsenic and
lead. Ask the poisoned people in Flint,
Mich., if lead in their water is nonhazardous.
After nearly 50 years of watching laws
ground into being in sausage-mill fashion, I
have a hunch as to why the EPA did what
they did last fall. Lobbyists for coal-ash
creators, with bottomless expense accounts, got their lawyers to “help” draft
more lenient rules for coal-ash disposal.
Money talks in Washington and Atlanta,
just as it did here in the 1990s. In the
meantime, perhaps the EPA
would demonstrate how safe
coal ash is by
sprinkling some
on their breakfast
cereal and stirring it into their
morning coffee.
Don’t expect
the EPA to do
that, but you can
expect Republic
to find a way to
spin its story of how buying 2,000-plus
acres wasn’t to create an East Coast trash
can in Wayne County. Heed Junior’s
words, if not mine. If we don’t throw a
monkey wrench into Republic’s plan, the
toxic stuff will be flowing downhill by the
trainloads.
[email protected]
“Coal ash contains a
string of toxic components
such as mercury, arsenic
and lead. Ask the poisoned
people in Flint, Mich., if
lead in their water is nonhazardous.”
17
OPINION
Semantics can’t twist Wayne’s danger of becoming a toxic-trash dump
My Opinion
▼▼▼
Semantics. That’s the weapon Republic
Services is wielding in the backlash over
toxic trash that has been dumped in the
Broadhurst Environmental Landfill. “There
has not been a spill,” Republic’s public-relations consultant contends. Spill or leak, dangerous stuff seeped into Wayne County’s soil
and put our good people and our environment at risk.
Semantics is a fancy way to spin words.
Big companies and politicians are masters at
semantic warfare. But here’s the way I see
this hair-splitting of words, as it regards to
the health of our community. You can put a
tutu on a pig, but you won’t make it a ballerina. After all the wordplay posturing, you
will still have pork chops with four hooves
and a curly tail.
Many people like pork chops, bacon,
sausage, barbecue, and, by all means, an
Easter ham. I know of no one who would
lick their lips to eat hog meat that, in its previous life, had wallowed in beryllium, mercury, lead or arsenic-tainted mud or slurped
Penholloway Creek water that was downstream of a coal-ash dump.
Wayne County, I love you. From the moment Dr. Alvin Leaphart Sr. grabbed me by
my heels and spanked my bottom in 1948, I
have been grateful my first breath was
taken on the corner of Macon and Cherry
streets in downtown Jesup. And there’s
nowhere in the world that I travel that I
don’t let people know where my roots are
planted. I could live in Hong Kong, and if
someone asked me where I’m from, I’d say—
proudly—“Jesup, Ga.”
I love my hometown, its people and its
environment. When
our business grew over
multiple states, our
family sat around the
supper table—night
after night—discussing
and praying about our
future. Alan, Emily
and Eric were still at
DINK
home, and I didn’t want
NeSMITH
to miss one moment of
Chairman
those years. Unanimously, we voted to relocate to Athens as our
geographic center.
After I left Ninth Street, my parents
joked, “We see more of you now than we did
when you lived across the street.” That was
true. And 26 years later, I spend as much
time as possible in Wayne County. I’d rather
be with family and friends in the Altamaha
River Swamp than anywhere on the globe. I
can walk you to my favorite spot, overlooking an elegant cypress tree that was growing
long before Christopher Columbus discovered America. And some of the cypress trees
could have been here when Jesus prayed in
the Garden of Gethsemane.
No one in our family is expecting a trust
fund to be left for them. However, my dream
has been to leave them a slice of Wayne
County’s heaven, along the Altamaha, that is
permanently protected through conservation
easements. This way, 100 years from now,
“You can put a tutu
on a pig, but you
won’t make it a
ballerina. After all
the wordplay
posturing, you will
still have pork chops
with four hooves
and a curly tail.”
heirs can’t be tempted or seduced by oil
wells, strip mines or landfills.
My people, like many of yours, came from
hardscrabble upbringings during the Great
Depression. My widow-farmer grandmother
was as earthy and country as a bowl of collard greens. I adored her. And when I was
about 7, we were standing at her Baker
County barnyard gate. After streaming
strawberry snuff over the fence, Nanny
pointed to a bantam rooster defending his
hens from a bigger rooster.
“That banty rooster reminds me of my
daddy, your great-granddaddy,” she said.
“He was little, but he was as tough as a pine
knot. Nobody bullied him. If somebody tried
to push him around, he’d pick up a lever
(stick) and knock the hell out of ’em. Honey,
don’t ever let anybody push you around.”
There’s no way semantics can twist these
words: Wayne County, I love you. And as
long as Republic, a multibillion-dollar conglomerate, threatens to make our community a toxic-trash dump, I am going to be
swinging my lever.
[email protected]
Let’s not get addicted to coal-ash money
My Opinion
▼▼▼
Shhhhhh.
Listen. Over the whispering wind
through the pines of Wayne County, I hear
something. The sound is soft—this far from
Arizona. But in my mind, the noise of clinking cocktail glasses is distinct. Bosses at Republic Services, the Phoenix-based national
waste giant, have to be toasting themselves
for being slick enough to slip into our community and snare a sweetheart deal—almost
unnoticed.
Private landfill companies are notorious
for targeting rural communities, hoping local
decision-makers will accept “easy money” for
dumping privileges. Waste-management
companies have a history of preying on cashstarved, minority-dominant communities
such as Uniontown, Ala. Unless we fight,
Wayne County’s contaminated fate could be
similar to Uniontown. Republic almost got
away with the same tactic here.
“Almost” is a key word. Except for a
handful of people, our community was almost
blindsided by quiet maneuvers that almost
railroaded our community and its environment into a dangerous spot, almost before we
had a chance to react. Finger-pointing is an
act of futility in this conspiracy-like predicament. Snookered or not, we must focus on
stopping toxic coal-ash trains headed our
way.
Now that public outcry has reached deafening decibels, the rumor
mill has cranked up.
Listen to what the fearmongers are hurling at
us:
•If Wayne County
rejects the coal ash, Republic will take the
waste and its millions
DINK
down the road to
NeSMITH
Brantley County. Our
Chairman
environment will still
be affected, but our next-door neighbor will
get the money. In Chicken Little fashion,
they are telling us that property taxes will
rise if we don’t have Republic’s money.
Wayne County lived without Republic money
before. We can live without it again. Boo,
that shouldn’t scare us.
•If the Wayne County commissioners oppose Republic’s railyard plan, the company
will contend the county breached its muchamended contract. If Republic wins that argument, Wayne County will be without a
place to dump its trash or the money Republic pays the county to dump whatever it
wants in the Broadhurst Environmental
Landfill. Boo, that shouldn’t scare us.
for a closer look. Then, Erk plopped a rat•Some officials and lawyers are contendtlesnake on the table. Horrified Eagles flew
ing, “There’s nothing we can do. We’re handbackwards. “That’s right, men,” he barked.
cuffed, and we can’t stop Republic’s rail-spur
“Cocaine will kill you, just like this ratapplication.” Boo, that shouldn’t scare us.
tlesnake. Stay away from both!”
Republic has not
Coal ash, like cobeen forthright
caine, in a little pile
with us, and there
doesn’t look threatare legal chinks in
ening. But if we
this Goliath’s
allow Republic to
armor.
dump mountains of
These rumorit into our commupropelled myths
nity—by the toxic
cause concern, but
trainloads, courtesy
I am not intimiof CSX—coal ash
dated. I think of a
will sink its poisostory about the late Except for a handful of people, our nous fangs into our
Erk Russell, leghealth forever.
community was almost
endary football
If we don’t stand
blindsided by quiet maneuvers
coach. When the
up to protect our
bald-headed defenpeople and our enthat almost railroaded our
sive genius, archivironment, Wayne
community and its environment
tect of the Bulldogs’
County’s budget is
Junkyard Dog
into a dangerous spot, almost be- destined to be adswagger, moved
dicted to coal-ash
fore we had a chance to react.
from Athens to
money. We’re in
Statesboro, he hudjeopardy of selling
dled his Georgia Southern Eagles in a circle.
our souls—like the now tormented people of
As the story goes, Erk piled a mound of
Uniontown—to an environmental devil—coal
white powder on a table in the middle. In his
ash. Heaven help us if we don’t say, “NO!”
signature gruff voice, he said, “This, men, is
But if we give up, boo!
cocaine. Drugs are dangerous. Stay away
Now, that does scare me.
from drugs.” Curious, his team crowded in
[email protected]
Why should we trust Republic now?
When’s the last time you took a rollercoaster ride?
Up, down, up, down and twist sideways.
Oops, I think I’m going to throw up.
Remember those feelings? That’s how I
feel right now about this threatening coalash dumping. Since I learned Republic
Services was plotting to sneak a rail-spur
application past the people of Wayne
County, it’s been an emotional rollercoaster ride.
I have never seen this many worry lines
on my hometown faces. Even school-age
children are asking how to help stop the
dreaded trainloads of toxic coal ash.
Folks, we have a crisis. It’s time to plumb
the depths of our minds, souls and resources to galvanize our resolve to stand
up against Republic’s poisonous scheme to
pollute our future. The risk is too great
for any amount of money.
Some days, I sense emotions are higher
than high. Pure fear and determination
underscore the battle cry. Other days,
spirits plummet, just like a roller-coaster
car rocketing out of the clouds and into an
amusement-park canyon. If we plan to
keep Republic from turning our community into an environmental prostitute, we
might throw up in the tussle. But we cannot give up.
Republic chose one of its unknown entities, Central Virginia Properties LLC, to
seek the Corps of Engineers permit to destroy wetlands for the sake of a mile-long
rail spur. The proposed infrastructure will
My Opinion
▼▼▼
accommodate a 100car train loaded with
municipal garbage
from the likes of New
York City or—worse—
100 cars brimming
with toxic coal ash.
Just as vivid as the
roller-coaster memories are Sunday
school lessons about
the importance of
DINK
trust. One of my faNeSMITH
vorite illustrations is
Chairman
from Luke 16:10
(NIV): “Whoever can be trusted with very
little can also be trusted with much, and
whoever is dishonest with very little will
also be dishonest with much.”
Eleven years ago, our leaders trusted
Republic with its proposed amendments to
the waste management agreement. The
April 19, 2005, authority minutes state:
“John Simmons explained that it has been
ten years since the agreement between
Solid Waste Authority, Republic and
Wayne County Commissioners. Mr. Simmons says just some cleaning up, deleting
clutter and streamlining has been done to
the agreement and that basically nothing
has changed.”
Now, you tell me. Where’s the truth in
“basically nothing has changed?” We may
have been snake-oil snookered in 2005,
but nothing today suggests we trust Republic until—get this—2054. That’s how
long the new “cleaning-up” contract binds
“Whoever can be
trusted with very little can
also be trusted with much, and
whoever is dishonest with very
little will also be dishonest
with much.”
--Luke 16:10 (NIV)
our county. “Deleting clutter,” baloney!
The “streamlining” is really “railroading,”
as in Republic’s we-hope-you-don’t-notice
plan to pollute our community with as
many as 100 railcars of coal ash per day.
And then there’s Republic’s infamous,
don’t-tell-anybody-but-the-EPD leakage of
poisonous metals into our soil and groundwater several years ago. We still wouldn’t
have known about it if a reporter hadn’t
dug through 1,000 pages of EPD reports.
Thanks to Rep. Bill Werkheiser, a law is in
the making to require public notice of future spill/leak mishaps. Next, wouldn’t it
be great if there could be a law to prohibit
out-of-state coal ash from being dumped in
Georgia?
While we were “trusting” Republic, it
was adding another 2,000 acres to its
landfill holdings. Add to that the scheme
to build a railyard and bring coal ash from
anywhere in the country. Until recently,
most people in Wayne County—including
our leadership—were clueless about the
dangers of coal ash. Now, we know. Now,
we have a chance to fight back.
Remember this old joke? “Do you know
the difference between love and herpes?
Herpes is forever.” Republic “loves” Wayne
County enough to inflict us with coal-ash
herpes—forever.
Excuse me.
I think I am going to throw up.
[email protected]
OPINION
Randall isn’t only one who is worried
Randall Aspinwall and I go back to
the glory days of The Pig. Randall and
his parents, Sine and Vada, were on one
side of the counter. I was on the other
side, spinning on one of those tall, rubyred, vinyl-topped stools, closest to the
open pit. It was there my life-long love
affair with hickory-smoked pork began.
I’ve sampled barbecue across America. I
always compare it to my first bite at the
Aspinwalls’ restaurant, a must-stop for
travelers in U.S. 301’s heyday.
And when my cell phone vibrates—
flashing Randall’s number—I’m eager to
hear what my friend has to say. Somewhere in the conversation, The Pig will
get a mention. Before long, we’ll review
what’s happening on the Altamaha. Not
too deep into the visit, we’ll reminisce
about our late football coach, Clint
Madray.
Big Clint put hair on our teenage
chests while teaching us the value of
“having guts.” We played better teams,
but no one outhustled the Yellow Jackets. One of his make-a-man-out-of-you
drills was Blood on the Moon. Players
got into a down stance on either end of
a 12-foot plank. When the whistle
My Opinion
▼▼▼
blew, the two
charged each other.
The object was to
see who could push
whom to the end of
the board. “I don’t
want to see nothing
but elbows and
bleep-holes!” our
coach would growl.
DINK
And if somebody
NeSMITH
didn’t show enough
Chairman
guts, he’d roar,
“Even a dead man
has one more step!”
Recently, Randall called. We warmed
up on barbecue, football and river talk.
Then, his voice shifted to a serious tone.
“What about this coal ash?” he asked.
I’m no scientist, but I told him what I
had read and heard. “I’m having trouble
sleeping, just thinking about how bad
this will be for Wayne County,” he said.
Just as his brothers, Al and Mike,
were, Randall is a gifted craftsman.
Sine and Vada’s boys grew up unafraid
to get their hands dirty. Today, Randall,
a Rayonier retiree, is one of the go-to
men if you want a shallow well. Over
the years, he’s put down hundreds of the
wells.
inexpensive water sources. “Not everyYou can be confident, with the bilbody can afford a $5,000 deep well,” he
lions in resources available to Repubsays. So, people opt for the economical
lic Services, the landfill owner has
solution—a shallow
found a busload of
well.
paid experts to tsk,
“Now, Randall frets
Now, Randall
tsk at Randall’s
frets about the conHe is not
about the contamination worries.
tamination that
alone in his worthat could come from the ries. If “money
could come from
the Broadhurst Enbig money
Broadhurst Environmen- talks,”
vironmental Landshouts! I am suspital Landfill. He fears the cious about the apfill. He fears the
coziness of
toxic heavy metals
toxic heavy metals in coal parent
companies such as
in coal ash will find
ash will find a way into
Republic with our
a way into shallowenviwell water, the
shallow-well water, the government’s
ronmental regulawater thousands of
water thousands of
tors. Here’s an exWayne Countians
If I am
drink.
Wayne Countians drink.” ample.
wrong, how did
To understand
toxic coal ash get
how close to the
downgraded to a nonhazardous matersurface the water table is, especially in
areas such as Broadhurst, all you need is ial?
Like Randall, I’m having trouble
a piece of pipe and water gushing from a
garden hose. In fewer minutes than feet sleeping these days. Coal ash is our
“Blood on the Moon,” 50 years later. But
to go down, you can wash down a shaleven when I die, I’ll have one more step
low-well casing in a jiffy. I’m no Aspinto fight for Wayne County.
wall, but even I have accomplished that
[email protected]
in our sandy dirt. That proves whatever
(Visit dinknesmith.com for more comspills into our leaks-like-a-sieve soil
mentaries.)
won’t take long to get into the shallow
A timeline of
Republic Services' rail-yard proposal
1984--The Resource Conservation and Recovery Act
of 1976 is updated to include new restrictions on
Subtitle D landfills for disposal of nonhazardous
waste.
1991--Local officials and representatives of Addington Environmental begin negotiating specific terms
for construction and operation of a privately owned
and operated Subtitle D landfill in Wayne County.
2014--The landfill stops accepting coal ash from
Jacksonville.
Jan. 4, 2016--Republic, through its subsidiary Central
Virginia Properties, applies to the U.S. Army Corps of
Engineers for a permit to build a rail yard that could
accept whole trainloads not only of household
garbage but also of coal ash. The Corps sets the
deadline to receive public comments as Feb. 3-though the permit application itself is never advertised.
1992--The Wayne County Board of Commissioners,
the Wayne County Solid Waste Authority and Addington Environmental sign a pair of agreements govern- Jan. 13, 2016--The Press-Sentinel breaks the story
ing the operation of a regional landfill near Broadof the permit application.
hurst.
Jan. 30, 2016--The Press-Sentinel reports that the
1994--The newly constructed landfill opens.
Army Corps of Engineers has extended the publiccomment deadline to March 4.
1996--Republic Services buys Addington Resources,
the parent company of Addington Environmental.
Feb. 5, 2016--The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
breaks the story of the leakage, which had never
2002--Republic buys the 902-acre landfill property
been publicly reported by either Republic or the EPD.
from the Solid Waste Authority for $10.
Feb. 10, 2016--In response to news of the leakage,
2004--Republic buys an additional 517 acres in the
State Rep. Bill Werkheiser announces that he will file
landfill area.
legislation to require that such leaks be reported locally.
2005--The County Board of Commissioners, the Solid
Waste Authority and Republic sign amended landfill
Feb. 27, 2016--The Press-Sentinel reports that the
agreements that supersede the 1992 agreements.
Army Corps of Engineers has again extended the
public-comment deadline, this time to April 5.
2006--The landfill begins accepting coal ash from the
Jacksonville Electric Authority.
Feb. 29, 2016--Rep. Werkheiser's bill passes the
House and heads to the Senate.
2008--Republic buys an additional 834 acres in the
landfill area.
March 16, 2016--The Wayne County Board of Commissioners hosts a public meeting on the rail-yard
2011--Leakage of toxic heavy metals is detected at
proposal with representatives of the Army Corps of
the landfill.
Engineers and Republic; EPD representatives are
also scheduled to be present.
2012--The Georgia Department of Natural Resources' Environmental Protection Division becomes April 5, 2016--The public-comment period on the railaware of the leakage and requires a cleanup.
yard permit ends.
OPINION
19
COAL-ASH/RAIL-SPUR
COAL-ASH/RAIL-SPUR
PUBLIC
PUBLIC MEETING
MEETING
March 16
7 p.m.
at
1777 W. Cherry St., Jesup
Coastal Pines Technical
College Auditorium
This is an opportunity for the community to
ask questions regarding the coal-ash issue
and the plans for building a rail-spur at the
Broadhurst landfill.
Representatives from the
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the
Georgia Environmental Protection Division,
and Republic Services will be available.

specialreport: coalash

Transcription

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