– Thursday, June 13, 2024 –
INVESTIGATIVE: PUBLIC SAFETY
Weeks after new center ceremony, still no contractor picked
As The Current reported in last week’s newsletter, Chatham County officials went ahead with a groundbreaking ceremony for its $89 million public safety center without securing a contractor to build the site.
We’ve reported more details on what happened and the second bidding process underway.
The unusual political event — full of celebratory speeches and photo opportunities — signaled how the upcoming election looms large for the local politicians on the ballot alongside the presidential ticket.
Commission Chairman Chester Ellis, who is facing Republican challenger Joel Boblasky in November, made ample use of uncritical television cameras at the ceremony two weeks ago.
He called the facility’s groundbreaking a “day that we have looked forward to since its inception” a decade earlier. The long-delayed, multimillion-dollar facility won’t be built until two to three years after a contractor is eventually hired.
NEWS: PUBLIC SAFETY
Online threat leads to arrest
Brunswick Police Department officers charged a man last week with making alleged online threats, threatening violence at the increasingly popular First Friday event in downtown Brunswick.
The offending account, which has since been deleted or removed from Instagram, had the handle “@brunswick_brutalizer” and warned “DO NOT come to first friday you will be brutalized,” according to police reports obtained by The Current. The downtown development authority reported the post to the police.
The Instagram profile “contained a picture of a known serial killer” and had statements saying that the poster is “like Batman but I kill people,” reports said. Officers traced the account to Lucas Hurley, 21, of Brunswick and charged him with terroristic threats.
Law enforcement agencies across the country are taking online threats more seriously. The U.S. Secret Service National Threat Assessment Center report from last January analyzed 173 mass attacks in public places between 2016 and 2020, finding that perpetrators often made vague threats prior to attacks. The center urges early intervention to stop mass casualties, even when the threats are not hyper-specific.
“Such specificity, something that is often thought as as required to justify a response, should not be viewed as a threshold for taking preventative action when other warning signs of violence are present,” the report states.
NEWS: COURTS
Consequential ruling in catalytic converter case
In a case involving a Bainbridge-based recycling company and catalytic converters, Georgia Supreme Court justices issued an impactful decision on asset forfeiture.
Asset forfeiture is the process to which police can seize property they believe was obtained in or as a result of a crime, even if nobody was charged with a crime.
In the recent decision, justices unanimously ruled that Georgia police have to provide specific evidence for the elements of a crime when taking a citizen’s property.
Read more about the ruling and the case involving the alleged criminal enterprise of a recycling company accused of taking in stolen converters.
Chatham broke ground for its public safety facility — but still lacks a contractor
Chatham County officials hold celebratory public safety center groundbreaking event without securing a contractor to build the $89 million facility. This raises questions as county leaders are up for reelection.
Former foster youth are eligible for federal housing aid. Georgia isn’t helping them get it.
While the state’s Division of Family and Children Services provides little housing assistance, “inadequate housing” keeps parents from their kids.
Georgia Supreme Court rules against county’s property seizure from catalytic converter recyclers
Civil asset forfeiture opponents see win in recent Georgia Supreme Court ruling involving Bainbridge-area recycling company and catalytic converters.
Researchers step up warnings about risks extreme heat poses to children
Extreme heat exposure in childhood can have lasting effects on learning and sleep quality; high temperature can make children more sedentary, which can impact health in later life; and that heat is linked to an increase in mood and anxiety disorders in children.
Cryptocurrency mining stirs concerns across rural Georgia
Opponents complain that server farms generating cryptocurrency are extremely noisy, impose a huge drain on electricity and water resources, and don’t generate enough jobs to justify those negative consequences.
Georgia to rehab Ossabaw mansion
The Georgia Department of Natural Resources 2024-2025 budget includes $7 million for the rehabilitation of Ossabaw’s historic Torrey West House, “the heart of the island.”
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