Archive By Section - Local
In a crowd of nearly 1,000, sobs and painful laughs broke through the silence during a slideshow of photos depicting a beautiful blonde teenager as she went to prom, made silly faces and hugged her friends and family members.
July 01, 2010
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By Calli Arnold
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Local
Dr. Joey Christmas officially opened his practice, Effingham Surgical Services, with a cut of a ribbon Thursday morning.
Dr. Christmas' office will be in the professional building adjacent to Effingham Hospital. He said he already has three and a half weeks' worth of patients, and Dr. James Cornwell vowed to keep patients coming his way.
"We truly have Christmas in July," said Effingham Hospital CEO Norma Jean Morgan.
Dr. Christmas was previously at Phelps County Regional Medical Center in Rolla, Mo. Procedures he will perform include appendectomies, biopsies, colonoscopies and endoscopies, gallbladder surgeries, hemorrhoid removal, hernia repair and laproscopies.
Dr ...
July 01, 2010
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By Patrick Donahue
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Local
Effingham County Health Department officials have scheduled a public forum to gather input on health-related challenges facing Effingham County. The forum will take place at 6:30 p.m. on July 12, at Effingham Hospital on Highway 119 in Springfield.
The forum is part of a community health planning project known as Mobilizing for Action through Planning and Partnerships (MAPP). The MAPP project is being managed by the Effingham County Health Department and the Georgia Southern University College of Public Health in an effort to identify the major health issues facing the citizens of Effingham County.
"This is an opportunity ...
July 01, 2010
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Staff Report
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Local
Mark Winters was recently roasted as his year as the president of the Rotary Club of Effingham County came to an end. Leland Sanders presented Winters with a Past President's plaque and a Paul Harris fellowship. Paul Harris founded Rotary in 1905 with two other businessmen and today Rotary is the largest and most successful philanthropic organization in the world with over 33,000 clubs and more than 1.2 million members worldwide.
Stan Sparks also was awarded a Paul Harris Fellowship by Tracy Soles, Jeff Kublin, and Leland and Carolyn Sanders as a way to thank Sparks for ...
July 01, 2010
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Staff Report
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Local
An Effingham County teenager who was seriously hurt in a Sunday morning wreck that claimed the life of one of the vehicle's passengers died in a Savannah hospital Wednesday afternoon.
June 30, 2010
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Staff Report
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Local
A Guyton man was killed Tuesday evening when he lost control of his motorcycle on Interstate 95.
June 30, 2010
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Staff Report
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Local
June 28, 2010
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By Patrick Donahue
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Local
A study could help the Effingham County Industrial Development Authority pave the way into its sprawling Research Forest Tract.
The firm of Hussey, Gay, Bell and DeYoung was contracted to conduct traffic impact study and suggest potential entry points into the westernmost parcels of the Research Forest Tract. Those smaller tracts likely will be the first to be developed, and engineers looked at Phase 1, about 900 acres of the 2,800-acre RFT, for their study.
That phase is expected to have a mix of heavy and light industrial, general commercial, school, recreational and buffer spaces. The study projected traffic ...
June 28, 2010
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By Patrick Donahue
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Local
A Rincon toddler was rushed to a Savannah hospital Saturday afternoon after falling into a swimming pool.
A 3-year-old child fell into the deep end of the Lost Plantation swimming pool just before 4 p.m. Saturday and was pulled out of the water by a teenager. A nurse who was nearby performed CPR on the child, who was unresponsive.
"Thank goodness there was a nurse nearby," said Rincon Police Chief Mike Bohannon.
An Effingham County EMS ambulance, with two Rincon Police cars clearing the way, rushed the child to Memorial Health University Center in
Savannah. Units from Port Wentworth ...
June 28, 2010
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By Patrick Donahue
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Local
Springfield's fire department will have another weapon at its disposal after city council approved a bid for a thermal imaging system.
Council members approved a bid of $6,657 for the camera, which usually cost about $10,000.
"Sometimes you can piggyback on another bid," said Bubba Rahn of the Springfield Fire Department.
Some larger departments are buying hundreds of the cameras at once, Rahn said, allowing Springfield to take advantage of a lower price.
"You can spend up to $14,000 for these cameras for all the bells and whistles," Rahn said.
The cameras the Springfield Fire Department ...
June 28, 2010
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By Patrick Donahue
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Local
With the fiscal year 2011 budget already approved, Effingham County commissioners have given their OK to the millage rate needed to fund their operations.
Commissioners approved a total millage of 28.118 for the unincorporated portions of the county. The millage includes the county's rate of 8.558, 15.333 for the Effingham County Board of Education, 2 mills for the Effingham Industrial Development Authority and 1.977 for the Hospital Authority. Also included is the .25 mills dedicated to the state.
The portion that county receives from the millage has decreased over the last few years, County Administrator ...
June 28, 2010
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By Patrick Donahue
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Local
Several Effingham County office will begin closing on Fridays next month as the county embarks on its four-day, 10-hour-a-day, work week.
By a 4-1 vote, with Commissioner Reggie Loper casting the lone objection, commissioners approved going ahead with the initiative. The 4-10 week will go into effect July 12 and run through Nov. 12.
Hours of operation for the 4-10 work week are 7:30 a.m.-6 p.m., Monday-Thursday.
"There are other communities that are doing this," said County Administrator David Crawley.
County offices that will close on Fridays beginning in two weeks include the county administrative offices ...
June 28, 2010
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By Patrick Donahue
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Local
The city of Rincon has selected Daisy Mills, 95, as the honoree for its Fourth of July Parade this Saturday.
In an interview with the Rincon Building and Zoning Coordinator Kia Westmoreland, Mills said she and her husband, Henry, moved to Rincon in 1976.
He worked at Bloomingdale's until he retired, and she worked as a licensed practical nurse at Bellevue Hospital.
Married in their youth, the Mills lived through some of the greatest changes in our nation's and the world's history, such as the Great Depression and World War II.
"We had good times and we ...
June 28, 2010
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By Calli Arnold
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Local
The fate of Effingham Hospital's proposed financing for its modernization and expansion plans may be on the table this Friday.
Effingham County commissioners tabled approving a resolution to back the hospital's financing for a $29 million expansion and modernization of the 40-year-old facility.
By a 4-1 vote, commissioners tabled any action, with Chairman Dusty Zeigler casting the lone no vote.
"If there's other information that can make this a better and a more viable situation for the county and for the taxpayers to support it, we would not be fiscally responsible if we did not plan for ...
June 28, 2010
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By Patrick Donahue
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Local
A Midway man was killed Sunday night when his pickup struck a tree that had fallen across Highway 17.
Michael Gatch, 48, of Midway died when his 2001 Ford Ranger collided with a tree that had been knocked down as a result of the storms that swept through Effingham County on Sunday evening. The accident occurred around 8:52 p.m. near the intersection of Highway 17 and Blue Jay Road.
"He came upon the stump and struck the tree," said Georgia State Patrol Cpl. Tommy Barron.
With darkness having fallen and the weather conditions having deteriorated, visibility was very ...
June 28, 2010
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By Patrick Donahue
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Local
