A HUGE thanks to Richard Segal for emailing these to me. It’s too long to put in a blog post, so I’ve created a page–you can find it in the bar above where it says “Douglas County News”.
Some analysis:
Ten out of 25 precincts voted in favor of the SPLOST. Just ten. The list: Ephesus, Bill Arp, Winston (with a 12 vote difference), Boundary Waters (a ten vote difference), First Baptist, St. Julian’s, Chestnut Log, Dorsett Shoals, Bright Star, and Arbor Station. But those ten made up the yes votes, certainly. In the heart of the city, at the Old Courthouse, 106 more people voted for the SPLOST than against it. And at First Baptist, also in the city, I think, 61 more voted for it than against it. At Bill Arp, 58 more voted for it.
I’ve also asked Mr. Segal for the TAD results by precinct–I am curious to see where those 230 missing votes for the TAD came from.
I usually don’t do food reviews but this is a great place to go if you’re looking for good food. I took a meal home today. I got baked chicken, fries, and carrots for $5.99–a great deal. The carrots were okay, a little undercooked. Your basic cooked baby carrots. The fries–I can compare them to the fries at Hudson’s except they are SO much better than Hudson’s. Hudson’s fries are extremely greasy–these are not as greasy. And the baked chicken–my word. I was given a breast and a drumstick. I removed the drumstick and half of the fries and will have a fantastic lunch tomorrow. The chicken wasn’t dry at all and was very moist. I was shocked when I entered the door and saw the exposed beams in the ceiling. They did a great job renovating the building.
Landmark Cafe also serves breakfast from 6:30am-10:30am…and they have chicken biscuits. They have breakfast items (eggs, grits, pancakes) a la carte but they also have plates. They also serve hamburgers that are (I overheard the woman who apparently cooks every meal there) cooked over an open flame grill.
The place is already very popular. Every time I drive by there at lunch time the parking lot is full and part of the parking lot at Pray’s Mill Baptist Church is full as well. The cashier said people that live nearby drive their bikes to the cafe simply because it’s easier to drive there. Landmark Cafe is located in the building to the left of Pray’s Mill Baptist Church. They don’t have chicken every day–I believe the meat rotates from day to day as do the vegetables. Today they had broccoli and cheese, carrots, and pinto beans, but you can also substitute a side like fries if you would rather. They also had peach cobbler today.
I’ll try and type up the menu tomorrow into a PDF file and upload it to the blog. Their current health inspection score is a 100.
Anyone else eat here recently? What did you have, and what did you think about it?
In every single vote before this, the county has released the results as a total and then broken it down to how many voted per precinct. However, THIS time, the precinct totals are MISSING from the PDF file. Last night, the file was three pages–now it is one. Does anyone have a copy of the three page file from last night they could send me? My email is douglasnews07@yahoo.com Why would the county not want the citizens to see this? Maybe because 230 more people voted for the SPLOST than the TAD–and perhaps they are confined to a single precinct?
10:22pm Something going on…not sure what. A vehicle is involved. Sounds like they’re searching for someone.
10:24pm Can barely hear dispatcher, there is a loud noise almost covering her voice.
10:24pm Suspect is running west from something, couldn’t make out what the officer said.
10:26pm Suspect is running west from a business on Industrial Access Road.
10:28pm Officer saw suspect running on or near McIntosh.
10:28pm Huey Road is closed. There is a bridge washed out.
10:29pm Suspect possibly near houses.
10:31pm Suspect is on the other side of a fence from officers.
10:33pm Either a burglary or a domestic dispute reported (not related to above).
10:36pm Canines searching for suspect near Huey Road.
10:36pm Dogs barking like crazy at a house on Industrial Access.
10:40pm Welfare check at a hotel. Possible domestic problem.
10:42pm Haven’t heard anything about search since 10:37pm.
10:42pm Officers think they know where suspect is.
10:44pm Officers checking a collapsed house for suspect.
10:44pm Drugs allegedly involved. Reported smelling it in house.
10:47pm Officers believe they know where he is–suspect jumped over a 12 foot fence.
10:50pm Officers believe suspect is near a house on Huey Road. Sending more officers to surround area.
10:51pm Possibly a person in a tree. Related to the above but not suspect they are searching for.
10:54pm Officers trying to surround suspect.
10:58pm Suspect’s shirt found.
11:01pm Canines still searching for suspect.
11:02pm Searching near Huey & Maroney Mill.
11:11pm Sounds like they may have lost track of suspect.
11:21pm Fox5 spotted. Apparently they drove past officers.
11:36pm They’ve called a 10-39 (resume normal operations) but I never did hear if they apprehended the suspect.
KERSHAW COUNTY — Multiple law enforcement agencies are investigating a high-speed police chase Monday evening that led to a crash killing the suspect and seriously injuring two passengers.
According to Kershaw County Deputy Coroner Joe Wilson, 25-year-old Phillip Miller of Douglasville, Georgia, died at the scene from massive head and neck trauma. Marsha Ward Knox and a 14-month-old child were transported to Palmetto Richland Hospital in Columbia.
The chase began on Interstate-20 in Lee County when a deputy spotted the vehicle driving nearly 100 miles-per-hour, said Major Daniel Simon with the Lee County Sheriff’s Department. Officers pursued the suspect and the accident took place just after 8 p.m. in Kershaw County, near mile marker 102.
According to the highway patrol, Lee County and Kershaw County deputies, were pursuing the 2003 Volkswagon Passat when the car went off the off the road and hit some trees.
Got back from grocery shopping and had a recorded message from Sheriff Phil Miller. He said, “I’ll be blunt. You need to vote yes for the SPLOST.” Then talked about how dangerous the current jail was.
Also got a flyer in the mail from the Keep Douglas Safe committee…which included a LONG editorial of persuasion to vote yes on the SPLOST. It reads:
New Jail is matter of Good Government, Common Sense, & Public Safety
Jails might not be the most popular improvement in a county, but they’re essential to keeping a community safe. We have to have them, and we have to keep up, unfortunately, with the usage demands on them. Here in Douglas County, there is a serious need to bring our jail facility up to date.
Overcrowding in any jail prevents law enforcement community from meeting its obligations efficiently. Being at or over capacity in Douglas County means we have to house inmates in other counties. This costs Douglas taxpayers extra money for housing and transporting those inmates. Our tax dollars are heading straight over to Irwin County every time we run the bus. We have to spend this money to keep these inmates incarcerated, so we might as well do everything we can to keep more of our own money in Douglas County.
The deputies, guards and jailers who work for me put their lives on the line every day, and the more crowded a jail is, the more dangerous it is for the guards and jailers. Guards in proximity to inmates are more vulnerable to being attacked, and less able to defend themselves in smaller, crowded spaces. Transporting inmates increases the contact with prisoners, and increases the risk to my deputies. Each one of these trips is another opportunity where a guard may become injured–or worse.
Douglas County faces the very real prospect of eventual federal intervention at the jail (Editor’s note: Judge Schoob has said she is not planning to force DC to build a jail–this has been confirmed). It was a federal court order that forced Douglas County to build our current jail, in 1980, at increased tax expense to every homeowner in Douglas. If that happens, County officials have no say in the design, capacity or expense of a new jail–they could order us to build a Taj Mahal (Editor’s Note: The proposed jail will cost $151 million. You tell me that isn’t a Taj Mahal.), and we would be forced to comply. Federal mandates on jail procedures, and added expenses would come with these mandates.
Fortunately for Douglas County taxpayers, there is time to act and spare our county from enduring costly, time-consuming “fixes” for our jail situation.
On November 3, we can adopt a simple one-cent sales tax to build a better, safer jail. The tax is set for 6-year maximum, capped at $151 million (Editor’s Note: The economy is bad right now. What happens if they don’t raise this in six years? Do they raise property taxes?), and the funds raised will go only to a new detention facility–and nothing else. Once the money has been raised, the tax ends, period. This is a temporary tax, and it’s dedicated to funding construction of the new facility only.
I don’t like paying taxes any more than any Douglas County homeowner. But this one-cent sales tax will fund a basic government function that we need to keep our county safe from people who have been charged with crimes. This is not an optional government luxury–it’s basic public safety, which is what you hired me to do when you elected me.
I hope we do what is right for our community and our public safety employees by giving Douglas County the jail it is so desperately needs (Editor’s Note: yes, that’s how it’s written.)
Phil Miller, Sheriff, Douglas County
And by the way…the keepdouglassafe.com website is still not up. And why have we not seen the plans for the jail? It will house 1,500 inmates…and the jail has 845 inmates now…and there are a LOT awaiting trial who are in there on a temporary basis. Why have we not seen maps of where things will be located on the jail complex? How many floors will it be? Plans were provided during a previous SPLOST…why not this time? Why didn’t the sheriff’s department put this information on their website? Also, a study has not been done on how large the jail should be. BOC Chairman Tom Worthan didn’t want to spend $40-60,000 to do a study. That’s a lot less than $151 million–and maybe if it was done, the jail wouldn’t cost $151 million. And does the cost of this also include the office/administrative building they were proposing to build next to the new jail? So many questions, so few answers…
In July of 2008, the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office reported (page 9) that the jail capacity was 810. Then, suddenly, in August, they reported (page 9) the capacity was 485. Why would the sheriff’s office do this? In July, the jail was at 80% capacity. According to this report, it was NOT over capacity. As in, it was not overcrowded. And then, in August, the number suddenly shot down to 485, and the Sheriff’s Office was able to suddenly claim that the jail was 131% over capacity. 131%! But get this–the police department now claims that, with a capacity of 732 in September, that it is 151% over capacity.
In July 2008, there were 651 inmates in the jail. In August, there were 636–15 fewer than July. Yet, according to this new report, it was over capacity. They also claimed in January 2004 that the capacity was 618 and that it was at 100% capacity, even though there were 616 inmates. June 2004 was when the capacity was changed to 810 and was at 77% capacity.
Today, the jail’s number of inmates is at 814, which, at the old 810 capacity number, would make the jail only slightly over capacity.
Reports dating back to January 2004 can be found here.
A HUGE thanks to James Bell for posting the link to this Monthly Jail Reports page on Topix.
