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I-16 and Highway 204 still closed
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This photo of a water moccasin in a puddle near Richmond Hill City Hall is a reminder to avoid standing water as it may be contaminated or contain dangerous wildlife. - photo by Photo courtesy of City of Richmond Hill

Eastbound I-16 at Highway 301 near Statesboro is still closed, as is Highway 204 at the Bryan County-Chatham County line (near the Ogeechee River). Bryan County Emergency Services Chief Freddy Howell said I-95, Highway 144 and U.S. 17 are open. The Georgia Department of Transportation has other travel information available at www.dot.ga.gov.

As Howell indicated Saturday night when the countywide curfew was lifted, there is no guarantee that residents returning will be able to access their subdivision or home, or that they will have power. More than 6,000 customers were still without power as of 11 a.m.

Officials are asking returnees to exercise extreme caution when they return. Crews are still clearing downed trees to give power companies access to damaged lines and some roadways may be partially blocked. If you need to clear trees, limbs or other debris from your property, do not touch downed wires. If your home does not have power, that does not mean lines in the area are not live.

Be sure to stay out of standing water as well as it could be contaminated or have dangerous wildlife in it. The accompanying picutre was taken at Richmond Hill City Hall of a water moccasin in a puddle.

Residents with questions about returning can call (912) 858-2799 or (912) 858-2490.

"Do not call with questions about trash pickup or debris pickup or burning permits," Howell said. "We are still in the process of making our community safe."

Officials are urging homeowners to be aware of contractors offering to do repairs or tree removal. Do not pay by cash or check up front before the work is completed and insist those offering services have a valid business license and proof of bonded insurance.

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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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