This is the fourth installment in a multi-part series. It includes stories from the Bryan County News from July-August 2007.
July 4 – Ellabell man Quinton Fennel is killed June 28 in an ATV wreck.
- Oneida Ltd. announces its Black Creek facility is fully operational.
- Downtown Pembroke is decorated in Red, White and Blue by boy scouts from Troop 357 along with members of the American Legion Post 164 Ladies Auxiliary.
- Pembroke earns "National Main Street" accreditation from the Georgia Department of Community Affairs.
July 7 – Richmond Hill’s city council unanimously approves rezoning for developer Lamar Smith’s 1,100-acre Richmond Reserve project off Daniel Siding Road.
- The Good Ol’ Boys begin publicizing their annual John Stevens Memorial Golf Tournament, which is also known as the Santa Scramble. The tournament raises funds each year for the Bryan County Children’s Fund.
- Richmond Hill police say they have caught a teen who had been prowling Buckhead in the nude for years. Brandin Scott, 17, is charged with prowling.
- Samuel Brabham and his son Samuel Brabham Jr. of Pembroke are charged with theft after they allegedly pulled up to a Bluffton construction site on July 4 and made off with $1,000 worth of heating and cooling air ducts and plywood.
July 11 – Pembroke begins to gear up for more growth as city officials hear from Tricia Reynolds of the Coastal Georgia Regional Development Center. She tells them Pembroke is on the verge of a "great deal of growth."
- Richmond Hill’s 33rd annual Old Time Family Festival and Barbecue is adjudged bigger and better.
- Bryan County is designated an Entrepreneur Friendly county by the Georgia Department of Economic Development.
- Police say they suspect no foul play in the death of 34-year-old Elizabeth Rupperburger, who was hit by a train July 6 near the Hwy. 144 railroad crossing in Richmond Hill. Rupperburger had been a resident of Richmond Hill since January.
- Ellabell writer Grace Reddick publishes her first children’s book, "Ashley’s Unforgettable Summer."
July 14 – The Bryan County commission approves a water and sewer ordinance and Phase I of a wastewater treatment facility for the Genesis Point subdivision near Fort McAllister.
- Richmond Hill Police Officer Tim Saia gives up a successful chiropracter’s practice in order to be a police officer.
- Republic Waste announces they will add trucks to help provide better service in the county.
- Lightning sparks a wildfire that burns about 50 acres in North Bryan County. Officials say conditions still ripe for wildfires despite recent rains.
July 18 – Bryan County ranks 11th out of the to 25 counties in the country for fastest job growth, according to Money magazine. The county’s job growth rate over the six-year span looked at by the magazine was 46.4 percent.
- Recycling is becoming a hot topic for some local residents.
- Helping Hands, a group started by New Beginnings Community Church Pastor Steve Lane, continues to help local residents with various projects.
- Richmond Hill police continue to investigate a July 6 dog fighting incident at a Dixie Road address which allegedly led to the death of a dog.
- Richmond Hill Mayor Richard Davis instructs city manager Mike Melton to begin to design a tree ordinance after a recommendation by Jerry Holcomb, a consulting arborist. "We’re losing a large number of trees to development," Holcomb said.
- Bryan County Middle School is placed on the Needs Improvement list, under the federal No Child Left Behind Act, after not meeting AYP standards for student attendance. BCHS also did not meet AYP.
- Audit says Bryan County is in strong financial shape.
July 25 – The investigation into an alleged dogfighting death in Richmond Hill continues, but police are having a hard time locating the supposed participants.
- Richmond Hill residents David and Barbara Freeman, owners of Kitchenware Outfitters in Savannah, are named to the Retailer Advisory Board by Gourmet Retailer magazine.
- Richmond Hill’s planning and zoning board approves a plan by Charlie Stafford to build a vehicle maintenance and restoration facility on 1.8 acres near Mulberry.
- Pembroke private investigator Glenn Christian is named president of the Georgia Association of Private Investigators.
- During its monthly meeting the school board studies the issue of out-of-state travel. The BoE currently doesn’t sanction trips out of state. That led to controversy in 2006 when the Richmond Hill band was invited to play in Washington D.C. and the school board said no.
- Is your mail box too low? Does it wobble to and fro? The Richmond Hill Post Office wants residents to start policing up their mailboxes.
July 28 – County commissioners look for ways to plug up a projected shortfall in the 2008 budget caused by property owners taking advantage of the county’s new homestead exemptions.
- Michael Waugh, 4, catches a five-foot-long alligator at J.F. Gregory Park on his rod and reel. Waugh was fishing with his 7-year-old sister Samantha and grandmother, Beverly Kullman.
- The school board talks about upcoming capital improvement projects and SPLOST.
- A substance which caused the cancellation of classes on Fort Stewart and led to the decontamination of five people turned out to be baby powder, the Army said.
Aug. 1 – A budget crunch forces Gateway in Pembroke to cut services back to one day a week. The cutback is blamed on low enrollment for services at the mental health care provider.
- Bryan Bank & Trust announces plans to expand. The bank will build a branch bank and an operations center for Bancorp on Hwy. 17 at Harris Trail.
- The Ogeechee-Canoochee Riverkeepers hold their first ever Paddle the Ogeechee, a seven mile float that attracted nearly 60 participants.
Aug. 4 – Supporters of a new Special Local Option Sales Tax for education purposes begin a push to educate voters on the necessity for the penny sales tax.
- Fires ravage two homes in two weeks. Richmond Hill woman Charlene Mills lost her home at 154 Clark Street on July 31 while John Hunter and fiancé Geneva Moore lost their Dixie Road home on July 22. Both fires were ruled accidental.
- The Georgia DOT says Bryan County’s bridges are safe. Some 72 bridges in Georgia have been tagged "not in good condition," the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported in the wake of the bridge collapse in Minnesota.
- 0fficials say schools will be ready for the Aug. 10 start of classes.
- Plans are set for Pembroke’s first ever Night Out Against Crime on Aug. 7.
Aug. 8 – Richmond Hill men Greg Hammond and Troy Padgett create Rip Tide Barbecue Sauce by updating a family recipe.
- Students of Bryan County Middle School will get supplemental education services and must receive student choice to attend Richmond Hill because the school didn’t meet AYP goals.
- The Richmond Hill Dollar Store is targeted by burglars, who get away with an undisclosed amount of money but are unable to get the safe open.
Aug. 11 – Bryan County High School teacher Michael Owens is named the county’s Teacher of the Year.
- Pembroke gets a $500,000 federal grant for water and sewer improvements.
- County announces a series of public hearings in advance of a plan to bump up the millage rate.
- Richmond Hill officials vote to move planned site of conference center from Richmond Plantation to J.F. Gregory Park.
- The Great Ogeechee Seafood Festival Committee announces the band Survivor will be the headlining act for the 2007 festival. Artist Rachel Cotton-Smith’s painting of Richmond Hill Mayor Richard Davis holding a platter of seafood is chosen as the official painting.
- Hundreds attend Pembroke’s first National Night Out Against Crime.
- Two UPS truck drivers are allegedly held up at gunpoint in the back parking lot of the Richmond Hill McDonald’s on Hwy. 17.
Aug. 15 – The Bryan County commission OKs changes to Cuyler Road in Blitchton in order to make the intersection of Hwy. 280 and 80 safer.
- Bryan County Schools Superintendent Dr. Sallie Brewer wonders if parents understand how the Parent Advisory Committee is chosen and what it is for.
- Pembroke adopts new fees for water and garbage.
- Richmond Hill police officer Doug Sahlberg and his canine partner Echo form a strong partnership.
- Cops arrest Keon Blige, 23, and Justin Oliver, 20 and charge them with the holdup of a pair of UPS truck drivers.
Aug. 18 – Officials say school gets off to one of best starts in memory. There are complaints about heat and traffic.
- Local realtors say problems with the national real estate market haven’t surfaced locally.
- New Development Authority Chairman Sean Register looks to stay on the course charted by his predecessor, Frank DuBose.
- County commissioners learn another major development could be headed to South Bryan. It is called Terra Pointe and will include a first phase of 3,300 acres if all goes according to plan.
- Basil Harper of Midway is the third man to be arrested for the Aug. 10 hold up of two men behind McDonald’s on Hwy. 17 in Richmond Hill.
- Fort Stewart and Hunter Army Airfield may receive more than $27 for base improvements if an appropriations bill is approved.
Aug. 22 - Few attend the first hearings on the Bryan County commission’s plan to increase the millage rate.
- Mitch and Chanel Huggins’ dream home in Richmond Hill has become a nightmare, thanks to problems with plumbing.
Aug. 25 – The school board trims its millage rate and discusses the wait parents face to pick up children at school in Richmond Hill. Despite complaints, officials say the wait time is actually down this year.
- Pembroke decides to cancel this year’s Balloon Fest.
- An Ellabell woman dies as a result of injuries she sustains in an Aug. 21 car wreck on I-16.
- Richmond Hill annexes 266 acres near Harris Trail and Port Royal Road. The tract is owned by developer Ellis Skinner, who wants to build townhomes and single family dwellings there.
- Bryan County Deputy Cpl. Trip Meacham and his canine partner Mirza have racked up millions of dollars in drug seizures as part of their work with the Bryan County Sheriff’s Department Traffic Unit.
- The Georgia State Golf Association’s Senior Champion is held at Ford Plantation. It is won by Spencer Sappington of Milton.
Aug. 29 – No one shows up for the final hearing on a proposed millage rate increase by the Bryan County commission. The increase is approved.
- Bryan County’s Comprehensive Plan Committee meets for the first time and begins work on a plan for future growth.
- Armstrong Atlantic State University’s Economic Monitor says regional economy is doing well.
- The Bryan County Bassmasters Fishing Club holds its sixth annual fishing tourney at J.F. Gregory Park. More than 180 kids took place in the event.
- Richmond Hill police officer Cpl. Ray Fowler gives up his fulltime job as a cop in order to become the children’s minister at First Baptist Church in Richmond Hill.
More in Saturday’s issue of the Bryan County News