BRUNSWICK • ST. SIMONS ISLAND • JEKYLL ISLAND • SEA ISLAND

42¢ OR LESS HOME DELIVERY * $1.00 NEWSSTAND Volume 118, Number 229

NEWSFLAG DAY

The � ags that have � own over Georgia tell the state’s history,

LIFESTYLES, 7A

POLICE DOGA bloodhound for the Camden County

Sheri� ’s O� ce o� cially retires, LOCAL, 2A

GRIZZLIESSports are back in the Golden Isles as

Grizzlies look to continue hot start, SPORTS, 5A

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INDEX:Local 2AState 3AEditorial 4AGraham 4ASports 5A

Obituaries 6ALife 7AAdvice 8ATV 8AComics 9AClassi� eds 10A

DAYBREAKWorth knowingThe News is proud to support the Children’s Reading Foundation of Georgia’s “Read together 20 minutes every day” initiative. Don’t forget to take time this week to read with a child in your life. Those 20 minutes could have a big impact on a child’s future.

THE BRUNSWICK

By LARRY HOBBSlhobbs@thebrunswicknews.com

How does an 1840 school-house hold up against an oncom-ing 2014 Dodge Charger?

Quite nicely, as it turned out during the wee hours Thursday in downtown Brunswick.

A man trying to shake a Bruns-wick police patrol offi cer lost control of his vehicle, plowing the black Charger through the stop sign at Norwich and Mon-ck streets and into the side of the 19th century schoolhouse on the Glynn Academy campus.

The driver took off running, leaving the car wedged against the side of the historic white-washed two-story clapboard building.

Police quickly discovered it was not the ticket for a faulty tail-light the driver was determined to avoid. It was a felony arrest for drug possession that he really wanted to dodge.

Police found 81/4 ounces of pot inside the wrecked car. That much marijuana carries rough-ly a $1,000 street value, said Brunswick Police Sgt. Mi-chael Davis of the city’s Drug

Enforcement Unit.“That’s felony level,” Davis

said. “That’s possession with in-tent to sell.”

As for the venerable old school house, it did not budge. A couple of slivers of wood fl ew off, but that was about it, said county schools police chief Rod Ellis.

“I will complete an incident report, although it does not ap-pear to be that damaged,” said Ellis, who was called to the scene because the incident ended on school property. “That old solid wood is sturdy, along with the brick and mortar pillars it stands

on. Hardly noticeable.”The stop sign in front of the

building, however, was a goner.The building has seen bigger

challenges in its 180 years than an out-of-control automobile.

Glynn Academy is the sec-ond oldest public high school in Georgia, established in 1788. Only Richmond Academy in Richmond Hill is older.

This particular GA building, with its tall Grecian columns, brick steps and welcoming front porch, was erected 52 years

Police pursuit ends with car crashing into old schoolhouse

Provided photoA police pursuit ended Wednesday night when the car police had tried to stop crashed into, a schoolhouse on the campus of Glynn Academy built in 1840.

COVID-19 STATS

GEORGIA

GLYNN COUNTY

CASES

CASES

DEATHS

DEATHS

54K

172

2,375

2

Latest numbers as of 3 p.m. Thursday from the Department of Public Health

By TAYLOR COOPERtcooper@thebrunswicknews.com

Despite dropping revenue and increasing expenses, Glynn County has managed to eliminate an an-ticipated $1.2 million-plus general fund shortfall in its newest budget proposal.

The budget for the new fi scal year, which begins July 1, does not include a tax increase.

The general fund includes most major expenses and personnel costs.

Cuts to the Brunswick-Glynn County Development Authority and Glynn County Sheriff’s Offi ce eliminated the need to draw from general reserves.

However, $312,000 will have to be taken out of the reserves to cov-er inmate prescriptions at the de-tention center.

To cut general reserve spending, the development authority’s bud-get was reduced by 25 percent, from $800,000 to $600,000. The amount budgeted for overtime in the sheriff’s offi ce was slashed by $250,000, from $1.1 million to a little more than $860,000.

Further cuts were made to the sheriff’s offi ce to the tune of $172,000 to discourage Sheriff Neal Jump from continuing to op-erate what county commissioners called a drug enforcement squad at a previous meeting.

Commissioners took the sher-iff — who was not present at the June 3 meeting — to task, saying the county police department al-ready operates a drug squad and that Jump was duplicating public services.

Jump declined to comment at the time.

County makes

more cuts to budget

By TAYLOR COOPERtcooper@thebrunswicknews.com

When asked how the combined presidential and party primaries Tuesday went compared to past elections, “overwhelming” was the fi rst word that came to Chris Channell’s mind.

“We just did a record election,” said Channell, Glynn County’s supervisor of elections and regis-tration.

In total, 18,714 voters cast a ballot during the primaries —

6,058 did in person Tuesday, 3,602 in person during the 16 days of early voting and 9,054 via mail-in ballot. One hundred or so votes await verifi cation or adjudication by the board of elections.

Turnout averaged around 29.5 percent, well above past primaries.

“Based on what we saw in ab-sentee and early voting, we had a very low bar to clear to break the record,” Channell said.

The big story for elections offi cials is the number of votes cast outside of Tuesday.

“The number of in-person early voters was through the roof. The number of absentee, I don’t think you’ll see that again,” Channell said.

The Georgia Secretary of State’s offi ce went to great pains to get voters to cast ballots by mail, mostly attributing the shift in atti-tude to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Poll workers made extra ef-forts to keep voters distanced and polling places clean, but Channell said the emphasis was on avoiding creating unnecessary crowds.

It may have had the unintended benefi t of relieving pressure on polling places, which suffer from myriad problems that came to light immediately before and during the election.

Those problems led to extreme-ly long lines and wait times in more densely populated parts of the state, but Channell said Glynn managed without much interrup-tion.

“I think it’s mainly getting used

Primary goes smoothly locally, despite obstacles

By LAUREN MCDONALDlmcdonald@thebrunswicknews.com

Some normalcy has fi nally returned to the Boys & Girls Club sites in Glynn County.

Members are back for daylong summer programming at the 10 sites, which were closed for nearly two months due to COVID-19. And the Teen Center is busier than usual, as 85 teenagers are signed up for this summer’s youth employment program.

“We get funding through the state Alliance of Boys & Girls Clubs, and we do this every summer,” said Dayton Austin, director of op-erations for the Boys & Girls Club of Southeast Georgia. “But this summer we were able to do a lot more than we have in past years.”

The work program, open to 14-18 year olds, aims to teach youth soft skills that will help them be successful in the workforce. It guides them into their fi rst local jobs after they com-plete a few months working with the Boys & Girls Club.

The club is able to bring more participants on board this year due to the high demand needed to run the food distribution program that’s been offered since March. The Boys & Girls Club is distributing around 1,400 snacks and dinners daily to children, including non-members.

Teen workers prepare, prep and distribute the food at the pick-up sites to participants.

“Every single day, they’re the ones bagging and boxing and making the meals that go out every evening to the community,” Austin said.

The food distribution is open from 4 to 5:30 p.m. at the Elizabeth F. Correll Teen Cen-ter, the Early Literacy Academy, GlynnVilla Club and club centers at Burroughs-Molette Elementary, Risley Middle, Jane Macon Mid-dle, Needwood Middle and Glynn Middle.

To participate in the youth employment pro-gram, students go through an application pro-cess and take part in a virtual interview.

This experience is part of the overall goal of giving the students real-world job readiness skills.

“This is only a program that’s going to last through the summer so our goal is that we fi nd employment for these teens that they transition into,” Austin said.

Boys & Girls Club staff will continue serv-ing the students as mentors after they leave the

summer program and begin working for local employers.

“In the larger scale, what we’re trying to do is really improve our employment pool in Glynn County,” Austin said.

The students work about 20 hours per week, coming to the Teen Center for half-day shifts. They’re paid $7.25 an hour for their work.

They also meet for discussions daily about a variety of topics regarding the professional work place. Topics include interview etiquette, communication skills, leadership, customer service and more.

“Our hope is that before school starts they have all been educated and prepared to venture into another job elsewhere in the community,” said Becky Etter, area director for the Boys & Girls Clubs of Southeast Georgia.

She said they’ve made sure to convey to the students how important the work is because they are providing food to those in need in the community.

“Since we’re still able to serve the whole community meals, we’re able to have so many more people in our program,” Etter said.

Boys & Girls Club serving nearly 100

teens through program

Bobby Haven/The Brunswick News photosBoys and Girls Club of Southeast Georgia assistant director Steve Trawick, above, leads students in a job readiness class at the Elizabeth F. Correll Teen Center Wednesday as part of the club’s youth employment program. Below, Webb Hill looks on as students pack lunches.

YOUTH EMPLOYMENT PROGRAM

Please see ELECTION, 3A

Please see BUDGET, 3A

Please see CRASH, 6A