County Confirms 'Test Improprieties'

An investigation by the Glynn County school district has confirmed "test improprieties" at an elementary school that is part of a statewide probe into allegations of cheating on standardized tests. District spokesman Jim Weidhaas said Wednesday the district has identified the employees who had direct access to the tests administered at Burroughs-Molette Elementary last summer. He says the employees' names will be submitted to the state for further investigation. Weidhaas declined to identify the employees because it is a personnel matter. A state audit released earlier this month showed a high number of answers had been changed on the fifth-grade math tests at four elementary schools after students turned them in last summer.

(Associated Press)

16-year-old Murder May Be Solved

Glynn County authorities believe they have solved a sixteen-year-old murder case with the arrest of a man in Florida. James Edward Calhoun is accused of killing Janey Day in Oct. 1993. Glynn County police say the woman's remains were found in a makeshift grave. Doering said Calhoun was arrested in Jacksonville, Fla. and could be extradited to Georgia this week.

(Associated Press)

80-Year Old Arrest Warrant Still Valid

An arrest warrant from 1928 has turned up at a coastal police storage room, and now authorities are trying to execute it. The Carter County Sheriff's Department of Tennessee is trying to serve an 80-year-old warrant for the arrest of a man who wrote a $30 bad check, although unsure if he is alive. The warrant, issued in August 1928, calls for the arrest of J.A. Rowland. It says he owes $30 for the bad check, $2 for the arrest fee and 50 cents each for the affidavit and warrant. Clerks at the Glynn County Sheriff's Office in Brunswick, Ga., recently found the warrant buried in a records storage room while cleaning and mailed it to Tennessee.

(Associated Press)

New challenge to sex offender law

Critics of Georgia's sweeping crackdown on sex offenders asked a federal judge today to allow sex offenders to volunteer at churches. The Atlanta-based Southern Center for Human Rights claims the current ban contradicts the right to participate in prayer worship. The center said one offender in Glynn County faced prosecution for playing the piano during a regular Sunday service. The law also bans sex offenders from living, working or loitering within 1,000 feet of schools, parks, gyms, swimming pools and the state's 150,000 school bus stops.

(Associated Press)

State Supreme Court overturns two malpractice suits

In a pair of decisions, Georgia’s Supreme Court overturned two medical malpractice lawsuits.

The Court ruled a Glynn County man cannot sue doctors who mistakenly infected him with HIV.

The patient was two moths old when doctors when doctors at the Medical College of Georgia Hospital performed open-heart surgery, using contaminated blood.

The patient suffered a decade of health problems attributed to his heart condition. He then sued in 2001 after discovering he was HIV-positive.

Attorneys for the defense argued the time to file a lawsuit had passed.

In its ruling, the Court said the open-heart surgery did not cause the patient to develop AIDS, but that a lack of treatment led to the illness.

In another ruling today, the Court says a judge cannot award money in a wrongful death case if the jury chooses to award nothing.

The family of a baby, who died at 15 months, says doctors at Columbus Healthcare System failed to diagnose a rare blood condition.

However, at trail, expert testimony showed the baby died due to massive head injuries.

A jury awarded $100,000 for the child’s pain and suffering, but no damages for the infant’s wrongful death.

Later, the judge added $1 million, saying it was not right to acknowledge malpractice, but award nothing for a wrongful death.

The Supreme Court overturned the judge’s $1 million award and has sent the case back for re-trial.

Humphreys sentenced to death

A Glynn County jury sentenced Stacey Humphreys to death Sunday morning for the murders of two Cobb County real estate agents in 2003. The jury of two men and ten women deliberated 22 hours over three days in reaching their decision on the sentence. In comparison, it took jurors only five hours to find Humphreys guilty of the killings on Tuesday. Reportedly, deliberations in the sentencing phase grew contentious on Saturday.

Earlier in the day Saturday, Cobb County Superior Court judge Dorothy Robinson denied a defense motion for mistrial in the sentencing.

An appeal is automatic when a sentence of death is reached.

Humphreys was convicted in the November 2003 killings of Lori Brown and Cynthia Williams. The trial was moved to Brunswick because of pre-trial publicity.

Sentencing testimony in Humphreys trial

A Glynn County jury is hearing testimony in the sentencing phase of the trial of Stacey Humphreys, who was convicted Tuesday of double murder in the killings of two Cobb County real estate agents. Jurors Wednesday heard testimony from family and friends of the victims, including the husband of Cyndi Williams, and the man who was to marry Lori Brown. The defense will bring forth testimony today, hoping to spare Humphreys the death penalty. Humphreys' lawyer told the jury yesterday that his client has a mild form of autism, but that it's not an excuse for what Humphreys did.

State announces land conservation grants

State grants are helping two Georgia counties conserve land. Thanks to the Georgia Land Conservation Program, coastal Georgia’s Glynn County can now acquire 21-acres next to the 250-acre Fort Frederica National Monument. The program will also help Walton County protect 160 acres on a working cattle ranch near Lake Varner. The state is also giving Walton County a low interest land conservation loan.

Good news for historic fort

A 300-year-old fort on St. Simons Island will be protected from nearby development. The Augusta Chronicle reports that the Glynn County Commission and the St. Simons Island Land Trust have bought 20 acres around Fort Frederica. The goal is to create a buffer between encroaching homes and the historic fort. The National Park Service has agreed to buy the land from the Trust once federal money is available.

Three officers punished for 10-hour detention

A southeast Georgia police officer has been fired and two supervisors are suspended over the detention of a Canadian graduate student for minor traffic violations. 23-year-old Cheryl Kuehn had to strip, take a delousing shower and spend a night at the Glynn County Jail after being arrested for speeding and running a stop sign near Interstate 95 in Brunswick. Kuehn didn’t get out of jail for 10 hours, because the now-fired communications officer missed the response to a routine immigration check run on Kuehn. The Glynn County sheriff says the suspended supervisors were on duty at the time and should have resolved the problem quickly.