The Pirates still are trying to stake their claim on Hinesville soil, but the $4.75 million funding request from the Board of Regents of the University System of Georgia still hangs in the balance.
Municipal and university leaders insist they are optimistic despite Gov. Nathan Deal stripping from the state budget a request for construction of a satellite Armstrong Atlantic State University campus.
“We went on Monday to talk to legislator (Rep.) Al Williams (D-Midway) and (Rep.) Ron Stephens (R-Garden City) and a gentleman from Brunswick regarding the school and getting that school back into the budget,” Hinesville Mayor Jim Thomas said Thursday. “We were told that it was a good possibility, and I think they’ve already put it back in on the legislative side. But the real fight is once that bill crosses over to the Senate side, we’ve got to have somebody fight for it there.”
Armstrong Liberty Center Director Col. Peter Hoffman on Wednesday did not have any updates on the project, but said that he and other Savannah-Chatham stakeholders were going to the capitol Thursday for Savannah Day.
“There’s still a lot of optimism from everybody we talk to,” Hoffman said, adding that the school does not consider the project to be dead.
The key, he said, is keeping the message alive about the positive impact the project would provide to Hinesville, Liberty County and surrounding areas as well as to the troops who serve on Fort Stewart.
“It’s hard for me to imagine any politician that would be opposed to it …,” Hoffman said. “We’re still confident that it can be put back into the budget.”

Read more in the Feb. 6 edition of the News.