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Bryan County Schools canceled Wednesday
Ice storm warning begins at 5 p.m. Tuesday
StormTotalSnow
Snow fall predictions for coastal Georgia. - photo by National Weather Service

In anticipation of poor winter weather conditions, Bryan County Schools officials have decided to cancel school Wednesday.

"At this point we are planning to be in school on Thursday, Jan. 30. However, this may change depending on the progress of weather conditions," Trey Roberts, assistant superintendent of operations and student services, said Monday afternoon.

All schools will be open Tuesday, though all extra-curricular activities will be canceled. Additionally, all after school programs will close at 4:30 p.m. Tuesday.

Bryan County and the surrounding areas will be under an ice storm warning from 5 p.m. Tuesday to 5 p.m. Wednesday, according to the National Weather Service.

Here is the latest advisory from the NWS:

... Ice Storm Warning in effect from 5 PM Tuesday to 5 PM EST
Wednesday... 

The National Weather Service in Charleston has issued an Ice
Storm Warning... which is in effect from 5 PM Tuesday to 5 PM EST
Wednesday. The Winter Storm Watch is no longer in effect.

* Locations... inland southeast Georgia... including the Savannah 
Metro area.

* Temperatures... falling through Tuesday morning into the lower
30s with lows Tuesday night in the mid to upper 20s. 

* Impacts... significant ice accumulation will create dangerous
driving conditions for motorists... including first responders.
Damage to trees... power lines and even structures is possible.
Widespread power outages could produce life threatening
situations.

* Ice accumulations... one quarter to one half of an inch.

* Timing... Tuesday into Tuesday evening precipitation is expected
to transition to freezing rain and sleet as much colder air
spreads from north to south across the region. Precipitation
could then mix with or change to snow overnight Tuesday into
early Wednesday... especially inland. Precipitation should taper
off Wednesday.


Precautionary/preparedness actions... 

Significant ice accumulation will produce dangerous travel
conditions. Do not attempt to drive or walk. Ice accumulation
will damage trees and power lines. If you encounter downed power
lines... do not touch the lines because you could be electrocuted.
Report downed power lines to law enforcement or the power
company.

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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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