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Arson, armed robbery keep deputies busy

(The following information is taken from Bryan County Sheriff’s Office reports.)

Deputies were called to the South Bryan County Recreation building on Timber Trail Monday morning for a report of arson.

A burned and melted plastic container, lighter and balled up paper towels soaked in some type of fuel were found in the boys’ restroom. There were also burn marks found on the counter, floor, trash can and wall in the restroom. Surveillance video was turned over to investigators.

Do not pass go — Conflicting stories came out of an incident on Wade Carter Road near Ruby Drive last week after a man told deputies two black males stopped his vehicle, pointed a gun at him and took $200 from him. Deputies eventually found one of the men in question, but he did not have a weapon on him and said the driver had approached him earlier asking about drugs.

Missing vehicle — A man who had not been to his Demeries Lake Lane home in more than a year told deputies last week that he returned to find his 2008 Mercedes Benz missing. The man reported that he owns several properties and does not visit Bryan County very often. The vehicle in question had been left unlocked in the garage with the keys and title in it. Deputies found that the vehicle is currently registered in McIntosh County, but because the man could not prove ownership, the vehicle could not be listed as stolen.

Animal cruelty — Deputies are searching for a man who allegedly was seen pulling an injured dog behind a white pickup truck Monday afternoon on Highway 119 near Petland Road. A woman told deputies that her husband tried to render aid to the dog, but the driver put the animal in the back of his truck and drove away. Deputies reported that they observed bloody paw prints on Highway 119 at the scene and are aware of who the suspect is.

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Later yall, its been fun
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This is among the last pieces I’ll ever write for the Bryan County News.

Friday is my last day with the paper, and come June 1 I’m headed back to my native Michigan.

I moved here in 2015 from the Great Lake State due to my wife’s job. It’s amicable, but she has since moved on to a different life in a different state, and it’s time for me to do the same.

My son Thomas, an RHHS grad as of Saturday, also is headed back to Michigan to play basketball for a small school near Ann Arbor called Concordia University. My daughter, Erin, is in law school at University of Toledo. She had already begun her college volleyball career at Lourdes University in Ohio when we moved down here and had no desire to leave the Midwest.

With both of them and the rest of my family up north, there’s no reason for me to stay here. I haven’t missed winter one bit, but I’m sure I won’t miss the sand gnats, either.

Shortly after we arrived here in 2015, I got a job in communications with a certain art school in Savannah for a few short months. It was both personally and professionally toxic and I’ll leave it at that.

In March 2016 I signed on with the Bryan County News as assistant editor and I’ve loved every minute of it. My “first” newspaper career, in the late 80s and early 90s, was great. But when I left it to work in politics and later with a free-market think tank, I never pictured myself as an ink-stained wretch again.

Like they say, never say never.

During my time here at the News, I’ve covered everything that came along. That’s one big difference between working for a weekly as opposed to a daily paper. Reporters at a daily paper have a “beat” to cover. At a weekly paper like this, you cover … life. Sports, features, government meetings, crime, fundraisers, parades, festivals, successes, failures and everything in between. Oh, and hurricanes. Two of them. I’ll take a winter blizzard over that any day.

Along the way I’ve met a lot of great people. Volunteers, business owners, pastors, students, athletes, teachers, coaches, co-workers, first responders, veterans, soldiers and yes, even some politicians.

And I learned that the same adrenalin rush from covering “breaking news” that I experienced right out of college is still just as exciting nearly 30 years later.

With as much as I’ve written about the population increase and traffic problems, at least for a few short minutes my departure means there will be one less vehicle clogging up local roads. At least until I pass three or four moving vans headed this way as I get on northbound I-95.

The hub-bub over growth here can be humorous, unintentional and ironic all at once. We often get comments on our Facebook page that go something like this: “I’ve lived here for (usually less than five years) and the growth is out of control! We need a moratorium on new construction.”

It’s like people who move into phase I of “Walden Woods” subdivision after all the trees are cleared out and then complain about trees being cut down for phase II.

Bryan County will always hold a special place in my heart and I definitely plan on visiting again someday. My hope is that my boss, Jeff Whitten (one of the best I’ve ever had), will let me continue to be part of the Pembroke Mafia Football League from afar. If the Corleone family could expand to Vegas, there’s no reason the PMFL can’t expand to Michigan.

But the main reason I want to return someday is about that traffic issue. After all, I’ll need to see it with my own eyes before I’ll believe that Highway 144 actually got widened.

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