A mandatory evacuation order has been issued by the office of Governor Nathan Deal as the threat of Hurricane Matthew moves closer. Military personnel from the 178th Police Battalion will be helping out in Glynn and Chatham Counties. Everyone east of Interstate 95 should flee Georgia’s six coastal counties – Chatham, Bryan, Liberty, McIntosh, Glynn and Camden. Those counties have a combined population of more than 522,000 people. All 100 miles of coastal Georgia have been placed under a hurricane warning. Camden County is also under a hurricane warning and mandatory evacuations have been ordered in McIntosh County. Coffee County schools will be closed tomorrow. Locally, Echols County Schools and Clinch County schools will be closed Friday. Several school systems are already closed Friday for Fall Break.
A daring pre-dawn armed robbery of an Albany BP station ended with the cash registers emptied and the clerk with a leg wound when he could not open the stores safe. The clerk was taken to the hospital for treatment and the search continues for the black men that fired multiple shots into the ceiling of the business during the robbery. Ben Johnson, Jr. a 78 year old Albany resident was struck and killed by a vehicle driven by 71 year old Dorothy Carver as he walked along an Albany roadway. An armed black man robbed the 5-Points Rite-Aid Pharmacy in Albany and police are searching for the suspect who got away with an undetermined amount of cash.
26 year old Jonathan Martin has turned himself in to law enforcement officials in Dougherty County in connection with an obstruction charge and for questioning in connection with the death of Leslie Peeler. Her body was found in a pickup truck and officials reported that she died of a drug overdose. Still on the run from the law in that case are 32 year old Jennifer Creech and 30 year old Andrea Taylor. They fled a hospital where they had gone for treatment of drug overdoses. Police believe that Peeler died at property described as drug houses owned by Larry Sparks and Jeffery Walker; both of them were arrested. There is a reward offered for information to the whereabouts of Jennifer Creech and Andrea Taylor.
Investigators probing the theft of funds from the Latin Academy Charter School between July 2014 and June 2015 discovered that over $800 thousand dollars went missing. A grand Jury in Fulton County has indicted 37 year old Christopher Clemons on 48 counts.
Lowndes Associated Ministries to People, Inc. (LAMP) will provide emergency shelter in preparation for severe weather today beginning at4 pm, October 6th. The shelter is located at 714 Charlton Street in Valdosta. Call 229-245-7157.
