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Georgia beach towns scrub down for July 4th weekend as COVID-19 spikes
BRUNSWICK — Vacationers heading to the Georgia coast this week, and the workers who want to serve them to earn a paycheck while the tourism economy regains its footing, are looking for a safe place to land this weekend. Ahead of a big July 4th holiday, St. Simons Island’s restaurants and other attractions along the […]
Travis McMichael blurted racial slur following Arbery slaying, GBI says
BRUNSWICK – Ahmaud Arbery’s killer used an obscenity and a racial slur after killing the 25-year-old Brunswick man with a shotgun last February, according to one of his co-defendants. That was the testimony of Georgia Bureau of Investigation Special Agent Richard Dial at a hearing Thursday before a magistrate judge sent the murder charges against […]
Beach conference season ebbs as pandemic keeps pols, lobbyists at bay
This is usually the beach convention season time of year for lobbyists, state lawmakers and members of affinity groups who gather on Georgia’s coast for a chance to network, share a beverage or two and angle for a little inside information. An industry lobbyist might hear of an opportunity in a hotel breakout room from […]
Overcrowding, virus worries cloud Memorial Day weekend beach scene
TYBEE ISLAND – Tybee Island Mayor Shirley Sessions published a video at the outset of what is typically a lucrative Memorial Day weekend for her city’s businesses with a simple message: Don’t come. That’s because so many people were already on the three-square miles of barrier island with more on their way, there just wasn’t […]
Atlantans ride to Brunswick to amplify demand DAs quit over Arbery killing
BRUNSWICK – A caravan from Atlanta to the Glynn County Courthouse steps amplified calls that two southeast Georgia district attorneys leave office or be pushed out. The “Justice for Ahmaud Caravan” brought more attention to local calls for district attorneys Jackie Johnson and George Barnhill to either resign or be removed from office. Why did […]
Arbery murder case adds sad chapter to SE Ga. law and order
BRUNSWICK – Caroline Small. Stephen Wayne DeLoach. Katie Kettles Sasser. These are familiar names to people who live in this coastal town of a little more than 16,000 because the local system of law and order failed them. Before the Ahmaud Arbery slaying in late February drew national notoriety, five people died in the past […]
Arbery protesters demand Brunswick, Waycross prosecutors resign
Updated May 10 8 p.m. that the McMichaels were denied bond. BRUNSWICK – Under a warm May sun, hundreds of people gathered at the Glynn County Courthouse to honor the memory of Ahmaud Arbery and call for the resignations of district attorneys who declined to bring charges against Arbery’s alleged killers, Greg and Travis McMichael. […]
Social distancing takes a coastal holiday after Kemp lifts restrictions
SAVANNAH – Tourists from the Northeast, Midwest and all over Georgia descended on Tybee Island over the weekend, creating scenes in the beach community typical of spring break or the height of summer vacation season, with little evidence of concern about catching or spreading the new coronavirus. People left wide swaths of sandy beach open […]
Coastal businesses hesitate to reopen despite lost spring break tourism
Seven weeks ago, people with a thumb on the pulse of Georgia’s coastal tourism industry got strong signals that the 2020 spring break season wasn’t going to come close to the usual rush of tourists renting hotel rooms, sipping umbrella drinks at the local tavern and feeding families at the island fish shack. Organizers of […]
Will wildlife reclaim Georgia’s shores as humanity keeps social distance?
With a significant reduction of human foot traffic on and near some of the state’s most popular beaches, what are the chances the migratory shorebirds, sea turtles and other animals will take over? “Certainly … some of the Wilson’s plovers got nests established in that window when people were not out on the beach,” said […]
Georgia coast braces for weekend after Kemp resets stay-home order
ST. SIMONS ISLAND – With the sun high in the sky this week, a group of teenagers played touch football on the hard-packed sand of St. Simons Island’s East Beach, while couples and the occasional attended dog walked the ample beachfront at low tide. Meanwhile, a multi-agency team of law enforcement officers kept watch by helicopter, […]
Georgia coastal officials discourage tourists ahead of state shutdown
Coastal Georgia’s city and county officials rushed to contain the COVID-19 outbreak as March ended with a mix of local ordinances that amounted to an unprecedented pitch during spring break season: “Don’t come, don’t see, don’t stay.” And now Gov. Brian Kemp has issued a statewide shelter-in-place order this week aimed at keeping most Georgians […]