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Fort Howard Road work moves along
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Patrick Donahue
Updated: Feb 6, 2012, 10:11 PM
Published: Feb 6, 2012, 10:56 PM

Work on the Fort Howard Road is progressing, Rincon city officials said, and is on target for its projected completion date.

The 2.2-mile stretch of road from Highway 21 to the city limits at Bunyan Kessler Road is being widened from two lanes to three lanes, adding a center turning lane. Fort Howard Road is one of the city’s busiest, with an average of 11,400 vehicles per day.

“Fort Howard Road is going fine,” said Tim Baumgartner of EMC Engineering. “Everything is moving very well on Fort Howard Road.”

Seaboard Construction won a bid for the work, getting a $2.66 million contract. Sidewalks will be put in for the length of the road along the south side. The deep, open ditches that run alongside Fort Howard Road also will be covered and piped.

Traffic flow and drainage along Fort Howard are expected to be improved as a result of the work. Work on the project started in December and is projected to be done in October.

As part of the work, utilities are being relocated in some areas and there will be modifications to entrances along Fort Howard Road.

Questions on utilities relocations have been settled in less than a day, Baumgartner said.

“There has been very good communication,” he said.

The project is being funded through city general fund reserves and special purpose local option sales tax proceeds.

“This is all local dollars,” said Mayor Ken Lee.

Speed limits through the construction zones have been reduced to 35 mph
Effingham Step-Grandmother Gets Life for Crocker Children Murders
Crocker Case
Elwyn Crocker Jr. and Mary Crocker were discovered buried behind their family’s home in Effingham County in 2018.
Updated: Sep 16, 2025, 6:41 PM
Published: Sep 16, 2025, 6:42 PM

GUYTON, Ga. — The step-grandmother of two Effingham County children whose bodies were found buried in the family’s backyard has pleaded guilty and was sentenced Tuesday to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

Kim Wright admitted to multiple charges, including two counts of malice murder, aggravated sexual battery, cruelty to children, concealing a death and false imprisonment.

The case drew national attention in December 2018, when investigators acting on a tip discovered the bodies of 14-year-old Mary Crocker and her brother, Elwyn Crocker Jr., who had disappeared two years earlier at age 14. Authorities later revealed the children suffered severe abuse, including beatings, confinement and neglect.

Wright is the fourth of five defendants in the case to plead guilty. Her son, Mark Anthony Wright; her daughter, Candice Crocker; and Candice’s boyfriend, Roy Prater, are all serving life without parole. The children’s father, Elwyn Crocker Sr., is the only suspect who has not entered a plea.