AUGUST 2007
Sheriff Jimmy McDuffie asked the Effingham County commission to fund a new position to handle sex offender registration at the sheriff’s office.
He moved one of his four school resource officers into the newly created job. County commissioners eventually approved the sheriff’s office adding a sex offender registry position.
Five children from Effingham County were given preventative treatment after possibly coming into contact with bacterial meningitis from a day camp at the Pooler YMCA.
At first, school officials were told the number of kids who may have been exposed was 30 to 50. The parents of the five children who were at the Y camp in Pooler were contacted and given medication.
Business is already booming at the Savannah Technical College’s Effingham campus.
STC officials enrolled 38 students during its first Basic Learning About Savannah Tech session, called BLAST.
SEPTEMBER 2007
Reg Hendricks, executive vice president for Savannah Technical College, presented the charter for the Effingham Gateway to College Academy to the school board.
The program is funded in large part by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. It targets dropouts from 16 to 20 years old and those students in danger of dropping out, according to Hendricks.
The appeals process for Effingham County’s property reassessments could be lengthy and may not be cheap, either.
Already, hearings are being scheduled for nearly six months in advance and Chief Appraiser Janis Bevill asked county commissioners for help in hiring part-time workers to deal with the 2,745 appeals on file with the tax assessors office.
Don Lowery, a Guyton resident and former area journalist, was charged for an apparent holdup at a Bank South branch in Savannah, but a bank customer stepped in and foiled the attempt. Lowery was hurt in the incident.
According to the Savannah Chatham Metro Police Department, Lowery walked into the bank armed with a sawed-off shotgun strapped to his waistband with more than 20 rounds of ammunition. He told the tellers and one patron, doing business at the time, that it was a holdup. The patron told the robber to get out of the bank. Lowery tried to draw his weapon, but the weapon somehow became entangled in the process. The customer took Lowery to the ground and detained him until police arrived.
Effingham County’s board of education approved the application for a career academy charter, which will result in a partnership with Savannah Technical College in operating the school. The state is expected to grant five career academy charters.
OCTOBER 2007
The Springfield Revitalization Corporation completed its purchase of the old Mars Theater in Springfield and now is ready to proceed with the plans for the “Mars on Main” project.
SRC members bought the land and the building from the Ramsey estate, represented by Drs. Speir and Jack Ramsey, and the McGinniss trust, represented by Carolyn McGinniss. The Ramseys are donating their share back to the SRC for the Mars on Main.
Springfield chose Rincon finance director Brett Bennett to be city manager.
Lori Lancaster was named the Effingham County School System teacher of the year. She has spent more than seven years teaching fifth graders at South Effingham Elementary.
Effingham County Health Department director Jean Shuman was sentenced to seven years probation for stealing more than $50,000.
Shuman was charged with stealing $53,171 in petty cash, credit card charges and cell phone bills while she was director of the health department.
Chris Thomas was sentenced to two life terms plus 120 years for his role in the December 2006 attack on radio pastor Ralph Davis. Thomas’ accomplice, Eugene Howard III, was tried and convicted in August.
Davis, who was nearly beaten to death, said he bears no ill will to the two young men.
