Thursday, April 24, 2025
Good morning. This week we’re reporting on policy and personnel changes at the Chatham County Sheriff’s Office, how the Trump administration cuts imperil programs to protect children and why Orange Crush 2025 was considered a success.
Questions, comments or story ideas? Reach out to staff@thecurrentga.org.
NEWS: PUBLIC SAFETY
Two Chatham stories: Jail policy shift, sheriff personnel
Chatham County Sheriff Richard Coleman announced in-person visitation with detainees would resume on Friday, April 25, 2025, a practice that has not occurred at the jail for over a decade.
The shift came after The Current found in 2023 that Coastal Georgia sheriffs barred in-person visits, citing Covid-19 risk, while increasing revenues on fees for phone calls, text messages and video meetings between detainees and family members.
The reporting prompted then-candidate Coleman to run for office, he said, and pledge to resume face-to-face visits should he be elected.
He is hosting a press conference about the change on Thursday.
At the opening of the new Chatham County Courthouse last Friday, I noticed a courthouse security officer standing from the new building’s entrance on West Oglethorpe Avenue.
County leaders and judges were heralding the new project in a lengthy ceremony. Meanwhile, I thought about how similar that officer looked to former Savannah Police Department Chief Roy Minter. I spoke to Sheriff Coleman, who confirmed it was him. He recently hired Minter to run courthouse security, colloquially known as the “blue coats,” due to his ample experience.
Some of Coleman’s leadership hires have rankled establishment law enforcement officers in Chatham County, including former SPD official Mark Gerbino to run criminal investigations. Read more about that hire.
Starting in 2018, Minter served as Savannah’s top cop for four years after being hired from Peoria, Ariz. He had a $170,000 annual salary.
Minter’s tenure was not without controversy: 77 officers signed onto a human resources complaint against Minter due to leadership concerns and severe understaffing. He resigned in June 2022, shortly after record-high shootings of civilians by SPD officers.
He left the department to pursue a U.S. Marshal appointment under the Biden administration. That appointment stalled, then fell through altogether after Donald Trump won the 2024 U.S. Presidential election.
NEWS SERVICE: FAMILY
Funding for child welfare programs in question
The Trump administration axed Congressionally-approved funding for myriad federal agencies. One less obvious and non-voting group impacted is American children.
Programs to support children who are sexually exploited or abused, as well as funds for the investigation of internet exploitation of children are in limbo. The Trump administration removed grant application availability for approximately $400 million usually allocated to those programs and others like it.
The federal office that oversees the enforcement of child support payments has been hollowed out. Head Start preschools, which teach toddlers their ABCs, will likely be forced to shut down en masse — some as soon as May 1.
The steep cuts have flown under the radar as the affected, little-known agencies include the Children’s Bureau, the Office of Family Assistance and the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention.
FEATURE: NEWS
Orange Crush 2025
By many accounts, Orange Crush 2025 was a success.
The annual spring break festival on Tybee Island, originally organized by Historically-Black Colleges and University (HBCU) students in the 1980s, garnered a reputation over the years for trash left on the beach, drinking and violence.
In the past, news headlines from national media and local TV stations focused on sensational fights and shootings during the event. Meanwhile, first responders reported real concerns about getting on and off the island in an emergency.
Much changed this year, as organizers stepped up to obtain a permit with the City of Tybee Island to hold the festival and officials like Mayor Brian West decided to work with them. The Current‘s Robin Kemp was on the ground and spoke to Orange Crush attendees about what went right.
The Trump administration’s war on children
Trump administration has laid off thousands of workers who had supervised education, child care, child support and child protective services systems, and it has blocked or delayed billions of dollars in funding for things like school meals and school safety.
Orange cones, Orange Crush
The city has had to walk the line between making sure partygoers and locals were safe and the policing of Black bodies that engage in the same youthful exuberance that white bodies do.
Riverfront industrial site cleaned up
The Georgia Environmental Protection Division has removed the SeaPoint Industrial Terminal Complex site from its Hazardous Site Inventory List, following a successful brownfield cleanup. It’s the 425th site cleaned up since 2003.
Jockeying for races for Georgia governor, US Senate races heats up
Democratic Atlanta Sen. Jason Esteves and Republican Attorney General Chris Carr have announced their candidacies for the 2026 Georgia Governor’s race, while Lt. Gov. Burt Jones, Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger and Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene are also considering running.
Empty-chair town hall turns into political Rorschach test
Rep. Buddy Carter’s refusal to hold an open, in-person town hall in Coastal Georgia’s largest city and county has fueled frustration and anger among residents, Democrats and some Republicans alike, and even a stage prop intended to illustrate Carter’s absence at a public forum has sparked controversy.
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