The Oglethorpe County Historic Jail recently opened its doors for its first-ever art exhibit. Local artist and retired actor Tom Thon launched this potentially ongoing series of art shows, turning the 1879 jailhouse into a pop-up gallery space.

 

Last year, Sapelo Island residents sued county officials for blocking them from holding a crucial vote that could determine whether they would be displaced from the last Gullah Gechee community on the Georgia coast. 

Barbara Bailey, Christopher Bailey, and Stanley Walker, on behalf of 2,300 voters, claimed McIntosh County commissioners stopped residents from casting their ballots in a referendum. 

The issue stems from a lower court ruling that ordered an October 2024 election be halted during early voting, a decision aligned with commissioners who filed the lawsuit. The residents triggered the election, after collecting more than 2,000 signatures on a petition to vote on the commissioners’ decision.

The Baileys and Walker appealed the decision. Now, the Georgia Supreme Court’s nine justices will hear oral arguments in the case Wednesday, April 16, in Atlanta at 10 a.m.

Despite the ongoing lawsuit, just last month the county commissioners attempted to “reaffirm” the very zoning law they’re currently defending in court. The zoning ordinance, passed two years ago, would allow construction of homes to double in size. This would be much larger than traditional homes in the 427-acre historic Hogg Hammock, or Hogg Hummock, neighborhood on Sapelo Island, which is about 60 miles south of Savannah.

Residents fear the changes will result in higher taxes, attract developers, and lead to displacement. 

This is yet another effort by government entities, wealthy investors, or corporations to take land from historically Black under-resourced communities, said Larry Riley, state coordinator for the Georgia chapter of the ADOS Advocacy Foundation. He referenced Sparta, Georgia, where Black landowners are fighting to stop a railroad company from seizing their land, and Hilton Head Island, South Carolina, another Gullah Geechee community where the late Josephine Wright battled developers until her death to protect her family’s home.

But, the most alarming aspect, particularly in Sapelo Island, is the attack on voting rights and Black political power — and the precedent this Supreme Court case could set, he added.

“We’re seeing an increase in voter suppression. That’s another issue that makes Sapelo really unique, because they wanted a vote, but were blocked from it. The scary thing is if the court sides with McIntosh County, that sets precedent that this could happen more often in other places because they’ve seen it work here,” Riley said. “We need more organizations and the general public to know about these things and make noise about it.” 

As Sustainable Georgia Futures put it: “This case is about protecting legacy, land, and self-determination.”

This fight is the most recent of many between the residents here and its local government. Already, they’ve endured government neglect, property tax hikes, and white developers eyeing the land, known for its beaches and climate, as a place to build luxury resorts and golf courses. After celebrating their annual Cultural Day last fall, seven elders lost their lives due to a gangway collapse, which residents previously sounded the alarm about its poor conditions.

They’ve used litigation to settle disputes. In recent court battles, the county settled, promising to provide better fire equipment and emergency medical services, in addition to improved maintenance of roads and a 30% reduction in garbage fees to residents. 

They’re back in court, seeking an opinion on whether the referendum can move forward. In addition to the residents’ case, the Supreme Court will hear two other related cases between McIntosh County and county Probate Court Judge Harold Webster, who approved the petition and scheduled the October election.

Although the oral arguments on Wednesday will last 40 minutes, a decision may not be reached for months. Attorneys for all parties did not respond to Capital B’s request for comment.

30-year protections broken

As early as the summer of 2023, Sapelo Island descendants and activists actively worked to prevent the county from repealing protections established in the 1990s. McIntosh County created the Hog Hammock Historic District in 1994 to protect the community’s historic resources and ward off threats from land speculators and development. The area is also listed on the National Register of Historic Places. 

“It is the intent of this district to reserve this area for low intensity residential and cottage industry uses which are environmentally sound and will not contribute to land value increases which could force removal of the indigenous population,” according to Appendix C, Article 2, Section 219 of the McIntosh County Code of Ordinances. 

County commissioners reversed course in 2023 when they planned to raise the maximum square footage of a heated-and-cooled house from 1,400 to 3,000, which residents warned would lead to higher property taxes. They packed out zoning and planning commission meetings as well as county board meetings to share their concerns. Despite their pleas, commissioners voted 3 to 2 in favor of the proposal.

“What they voted on today was unjust and unfair to the descendants of the island,” Commissioner Roger Lotson, the sole Black board member, said at the time. Lotson, who voted against the motion along with commissioner William Harrell, tried to strike a compromise by postponing the vote for 45 days and allowing the proposal to be viewed by the community. He also tried to reduce the square footage.

Both of the motions failed, The Current reported.

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Read more: The Battle for Land, Identity, and Survival of Gullah Geechee Communities

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County manager Patrick Zoucks told the Darien News that the “proposed amendments to the Hogg Hammock zoning regulations are in the best interest of the residents of Hogg Hammock and all of the citizens of McIntosh County. These regulations provide the best protection that any county in Georgia can provide to similarly situated communities.”

Sapelo Island descendants and local groups immediately jumped into action and organized a petition to give voters a say on the matter. Residents petitioned the issue for a vote, following the Home Rule provision in the state’s constitution. It resulted in a special election. Home Rule allows that amendments to or repeals of local ordinances, resolutions, or regulations may be initiated by a petition filed to the probate court judge, who will then decide the validity of the petition within 60 days and issue a special election, if warranted.

Separately, a group of nine residents — who are mostly retirees or on a fixed income — from the Hog Hammock community filed a complaint in October 2023 against the commissioners to challenge what they call an “unlawful zoning amendment” in the Superior Court of McIntosh County. They argued that if the property taxes increase as a result of the amendment change, they will not be able to afford to live on the island anymore. The county asked the judge to throw out the suit in November. In March 2024, Superior Court Judge Jay Stewart dismissed the case without prejudice. 

The outcome of the case didn’t break the community’s spirit. 

By July 2024, they collected more than 2,300 signatures on their petition, and three residents filed it in McIntosh County probate court to put the referendum on the ballot. Weeks later, Probate County Judge Harold Webster validated the votes and approved an election for Oct. 1, 2024. 

Rather than allow the election to proceed, county commissioners filed a complaint in Superior Court to stop the election, stating that Webster lacked authority and jurisdiction to take actions on the referendum petition. In September, a month before the election, Superior Court Judge Gary McCorvey ordered a halt to the election, as voters were casting early ballots. More than 800 people had voted.

Capital B Atlanta’s Community Engagement Editor Ann Hill Bond and Community Listening Ambassador Dante Miller contributed to this report.

The post This Georgia Case Could Decide the Future of Gullah Geechee Land on Sapelo Island appeared first on Capital B News – Atlanta.

Local shrimpers in Coastal Georgia are pinning their hopes on President Trump’s proposed tariffs to help the industry, which has been undercut by cheaper imported shrimp, but relief is uncertain.

The Current is an inclusive nonprofit, non-partisan news organization providing in-depth watchdog journalism for Savannah and Coastal Georgia’s communities.

Opioid abuse and rural homelessness create a spiral for some rural residents, a new study has found.

For the study, researchers with the Rural Opioid Initiative at Georgia State University interviewed more than 3,000 people in rural communities across 10 states who had used drugs. Of those, more than half (54%) said they had experienced homelessness in the last six months. 

April Ballard, assistant professor at the Georgia State University School of Public Health, said the research suggests that the number of rural homeless is significantly larger than federal data suggests.

“Houselessness is an issue in rural areas, but it’s not talked about,” Ballard said in an interview with the Daily Yonder. “That’s largely because it looks very different than in urban areas. It can look like couch surfing, or moving from place to place. It’s hard to count in the same way that we do in urban areas.”

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development requires a nationwide “Point in Time Count” of people experiencing homelessness on a single night in January. On that day, groups of volunteers spread out to count and talk to homeless people in a community. However, Ballard said, because of the nature of rural homelessness, getting an accurate count is difficult.

“In an urban area, there are groups of people that get together and they walk around the city and they talk to people (to get the homeless count),” she said. “That can be challenging, obviously, for urban areas that are really spread out or not walkable. But in rural areas, obviously, you’re not going to go climb mountains and go in the backwoods to count people. That’s just not feasible.”

Rural people without housing may live in different situations — with relatives, or in tents, or in cars, Ballard said — instead of living in shelters or on the street. That makes finding and identifying them difficult at best. And there is a greater prevalence of homelessness because of the nature of rural community economics, she said.

“In some rural areas there are fewer economic opportunities and more economic disparities,” she said. “There’s insufficient public housing infrastructure and a limited acknowledgement of rural houselessness, which means that less money and resources go toward it.”

In one case, the researchers counted up to five times as many people experiencing homelessness in Kentucky than the “point in time” counts had identified. In three counties, the research found, the “point in time” counts estimated there were no people who were homeless, while Ballard and her group found more than 100 people in those same counties who said they had used drugs and experienced homelessness in the previous  six months.

Mary Frances Kenion, vice president of training and technical assistance with the National Alliance to End Homelessness, agrees that homelessness in rural communities is undercounted.

“Every year, communities conduct an annual ‘point in time count, which is comparable to what we see in the Census —where folks go out knocking door to door to count people,” she said in an interview with the Daily Yonder. “But how do you count people that don’t have a door to answer?”

Rural homelessness, she said, stems not only from lower economic opportunities and a lack of affordable housing, but a lack of support services as well.

“We see a lack of service providers that are really responsible for a whole range of services to the community,” she said. “We do not seem to see the same concentration of service providers that you would see in, say, metropolitan Atlanta or Washington, D.C., or New York City.”

Ballard said her team’s research also indicated that there is a link between opioid use and rural homelessness, each one feeding off of the other.

“Obviously, it’s very clear that the opioid epidemic, as well as other sorts of drugs, has just been wreaking havoc on rural America for a while now. And I would say that houselessness has been an issue in rural areas, but it’s not talked about,” she said. “These two things, I think have been happening in parallel, and as the opioid epidemic has dramatically increased, it [has led] to that kind of cycle.”

The social losses that accompany opioid use disorder, Ballard said — such as unemployment, financial ruin, and the loss of family and social networks — can lead to housing instability and homelessness. In turn, the harsh living conditions presented by homelessness can perpetuate drug use as a coping mechanism. Together the two can create a self-reinforcing cycle that contributes to poorer health and shorter lifespans.

Homelessness can also inhibit treatment and medical care, Ballard said. People  without stable housing were 1.3 times more likely to report being hospitalized for serious bacterial infection and 1.5 times more likely to overdose, the study found. Ballard said the lack of access to clean water contributed to a higher infection rate, while the prevalence of homeless people to use drugs alone increased the risk of accidental overdoses.

Although the two often overlap, Kenion cautioned against equating homelessness with drug addiction.

“I would be really careful about drawing parallels to the narrative that sometimes takes over that the majority of people experiencing homelessness are addicted to opioids or other substances, because that’s not supported by the data,” she said.

Rather, many homeless people across the country have experienced financial hardships — even one unexpected expense —that spiraled out of control and forced them from their homes, she said.

“Not a lot of people realize how folks are just often one crisis away from experiencing housing instability and homelessness, but that is felt more acutely in rural communities,” she said. “If you look at the overall snapshot, rural homelessness has actually increased by 17% between the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic and 2023. And 42% of people experiencing homelessness in rural areas are in unsheltered situations, with women and families with children being far more likely to be unsheltered outdoors.”

Both Ballard and Kenion agree that accurately counting the homeless in rural communities in necessary in order to ensure they have the services they need to get back on their feet.

Additionally, Ballard said, having an accurate count can help ensure the rural homeless who have drug abuse issues can get the help that they need.

“I feel like without that awareness, we are not allocating resources to this,” Ballard said. “From a policy standpoint, it’s incredibly important for us to be capturing accurate information and accurate estimates, so that we’re actually dedicating the right amount of resources to communities. If we are trying to stop deaths related to drug use as well as other epidemics related to HIV and hepatitis C, and we’re not considering housing status, efforts to mitigate that are not going to be as effective or as efficient.”

The post Study: Rural Homelessness Is Underestimated and Exacerbated by Opioid Epidemic appeared first on The Daily Yonder.

Blaine and Diane Smith were hurt but unsurprised when a Georgia superior court judge ruled last week that a railroad company could seize their land, despite their refusal to sell. 

For nearly two years, they have been fighting to stop Sandersville Railroad Co., a 130-year-old, white-owned business, from building a 4.5-mile rail spur through a historically Black neighborhood in rural Sparta. The company initiated eminent domain, which is a process that allows the government to seize private property for public use.

The proposed spur would cut through parts of the property Blaine and his siblings inherited, which includes 600 acres acquired by his grandfather in the 1920s. Growing up, he farmed, fished, and hunted on the land. His family cultivated cotton, fruits, vegetables, and timber, and raised pigs, chickens, and cows. Not only has it been used to feed generations, but to pay for some family members’ education as well. 

Currently, his brother Mark Smith and his wife, Janet Paige Smith, live on the land. With a railroad just feet away from their home, it would disrupt their peace and run through the middle of the land where Blaine plants trees. He’s also worried about the potential damage to the property from hazardous products being transported on the tracks and people trespassing.

“We’ve had to fight to keep this land. It’s always somebody coming in trying to bamboozle you out of it,” Blaine told Capital B. “There’s people trying to come hunt on it and trespass on it. It’s gonna be easier for them to do that if we put a railroad through the middle of it. … You asked me, “What things bother me about it?” I mean, everything bothers me about it.” 

Despite those concerns, Fulton County Superior Court Judge Craig L. Schwall Sr., in a ruling on Feb. 4, upheld a previous decision by the Georgia Public Service Commission that the rail spur is necessary for Sandersville Railroad to connect industries, and that it serves a public purpose because it opens a channel of trade through east middle Georgia.

However, the landowners say they won’t be discouraged from the ruling. The Institute for Justice, which represents them, is appealing the decision to the Georgia Supreme Court.

“We’re going to fight ‘til we can’t fight anymore,” Diane said. “I don’t want to leave any stone unturned. My grandmother used to say, ‘no stone unturned’, so you keep unturning and unturning.”

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Read More: Why This Rural Community Is at War With a 130-Year Railroad Company

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In 2023, Benjamin Tarbutton II, president of Sandersville Railroad, made plans to construct the rail spur that would connect the Hanson Quarry, a rock mine owned by Heidelberg Materials, to a main train line along the nearby highway. But, the company needed portions of property from 18 owners along Shoals Road to make it happen. 

He touted the project would create 20 temporary construction jobs, a dozen permanent jobs averaging $90,000 a year in salary and benefits, and bring in over $1.5 million annually to Hancock County, where the median household income is nearly $34,000, Tarbutton said in an email. And if the proposal moves forward, local officials hope this could attract future businesses and improve economic growth. 

However, Black landowners have consistently expressed concerns that the railroad could damage their homes, cause noise pollution, and result in the loss of land that has been passed down through generations. Tarbutton moved forward and petitioned the state’s public service commission to condemn the land from the property owners using eminent domain.

Last fall, the public service commission unanimously approved the proposed rail spur during an 11-minute meeting, falling in line with a hearing officer decision in April. The Institute for Justice appealed the decision, arguing the rail line does not constitute a “legitimate public use.” 

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​​Read More: Rural Georgia Community Keeps Fighting Despite Railroad’s Win to Take Their Land

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Schwall, the superior court judge, concurred with the commission’s order last week, but halted construction while appeals proceeded. 

Bill Maurer, senior attorney for the Institute for Justice, said he’s committed to proving the railroad’s desire to build a new line “entirely for the benefit of a handful of private companies is not a public use under the U.S. and Georgia constitutions and Georgia’s eminent domain laws.”

“We look forward to the Georgia Supreme Court’s review, and we are thankful that our clients will not have to deal with Sandersville building tracks on our clients’ property until the higher court weighs in,” he said. 

Diane Smith said she’s hopeful the law will prevail.

“Is it against the law to protect what you have?” she questioned. “We want to build generational wealth for our children, but not off the backs of someone else.”

For Blaine, the court’s decision “galvanized us to fight harder,” despite people demonizing them for protecting their property.

“Every time you hear an eminent domain case … it’s them against us, and we’re the bad guys, because we try to hold on to what we have. … Leave us alone,” he said. “Let’s make this clear: They are looking to get our land to make money for them. If we win and they don’t … there’s no compensation for us. There’s nothing in it for us, other than our peace of mind, and that’s what we want.”

The post This Black Family Won’t Back Down After Court Allows Railroad to Take Their Land appeared first on Capital B News.

The Trump administration’s hiring freeze and buyout offer for federal workers in Coastal Georgia have left nearly 16,700 employees uncertain about their future, as they consider whether to resign or risk losing their job.

The Current is an inclusive nonprofit, non-partisan news organization providing in-depth watchdog journalism for Savannah and Coastal Georgia’s communities.

Majority-Black, rural school districts in Mississippi like the one where Jacqueline Brown has taught for 17 years cannot afford budget cuts. 

It’s already difficult to recruit a certified math teacher or offer additional incentives to retain experienced educators who are nearing retirement in a rural area, she said.

One federal program that helps rural counties navigate such challenges is the Secure Rural Schools (SRS) program. Brown’s state received $2.2 million from the program, which supports schools, roads, emergency services and other municipal services. These funds have kept rural counties afloat, especially facing declining populations, sinking tax bases and limited state funding. 

But, last month, as Congress scrambled to prevent a government shutdown, lawmakers failed to renew funding for the program. 

As a result, rural communities in over 700 counties will lose millions of dollars, forcing counties to delay road improvements and school districts to consider staff layoffs and cuts to extracurricular activities or after-school programs. Education advocates worry the lack of resources could further deepen existing disparities, especially for Black rural communities that often are invisible to policymakers. 

“Every student should have access and opportunities and resources, and it shouldn’t be determined by the ZIP code,” said Becky Pringle, president of the National Education Association. “Kids need access to a science lab, but they also need access to arts and music. They also need access to after-school programs and sports. They also need a rich, diverse, inclusive curriculum. … They can’t have it all because they don’t have the resources.”

In 2016, the only other year the program’s funding expired, one school district in California couldn’t afford to make repairs to school buildings, which caused toxic mold outbreaks at several campuses. If Congress does not address the funding shortfall, the superintendent fears the district will have to downsize, which will lead to bigger class sizes and fewer enrichment programs. In southeast Alaska, school leaders say the funding loss will be “dramatic” as school districts there are already facing budget deficits. 

Less than a week after the Senate passed its bill to renew funding, a bipartisan coalition of 22 members in the House — including Democratic U.S. Reps. Joe Neguse, Bennie Thompson, Nikema Williams, Don Davis, and Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick — urged Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson to bring the legislation before Congress before the end of the year. 

Despite the plea, Johnson did not bring the bill to a vote on the House floor before the end of the congressional session, leading to its failure. It wasn’t due to opposition or lack of support that it didn’t get passed; it was a matter of timing, Thompson told Capital B.

“I just think we just didn’t have enough time to get it across the finish line. I would say that we had a little small thing — like a presidential election — that took a lot of time away from it,” he said. “A lot of us are still here, and we see the benefit of that program. Don’t be disheartened. I’m convinced that before the funding runs out, we’ll have to reauthorize it.”

There will be one opportunity to pass a bill before the final budget deadline on March 14. 

How does the Secure Rural Schools program work? 

For decades, the bipartisan Secure Rural Schools and Community Self-Determination Act has compensated county governments surrounded by a large share of non-taxable national forest land. The system was originally designed so that certain communities received a share of timber sales generated from national forest lands managed by the U.S. Forest Service. However, in the 1990s, timber sales significantly declined, and these communities, which had relied heavily on this revenue, began to face financial strain. 

In response, Congress created the Secure Rural Schools program in 2000. This initiative replaced the previous revenue-sharing model, ensuring these communities and school districts continued to receive a stable funding source, even though they could no longer generate revenue from the timber sales on nearby federal lands. 

Over the past 10 years, the Forest Service has distributed $2.4 billion through the program. The funding continues to plateau and fluctuate by county. In fiscal year 2010, lawmakers allocated more than $415 million, whereas the most recent amount is $232 million.

Advocates are calling for a more permanent funding solution for these rural areas, rather than relying on a two-year authorization, said Tara Thomas, government affairs manager of the American Association of School Administrators.

“It is unfair to put superintendents and schools and communities in this position of where they’re constantly fighting for what, frankly, they deserve,” Thomas said. “This isn’t a handout. This isn’t someone … being reliant on the federal government. This is something that they are owed because they are unable to generate revenue any other way because of the federal government.”

Ann Levett, assistant executive director of the Leadership Network for the American Association of School Administrators, expressed that the funding mechanisms are antique and inadequate. 

“Even though people think we have too much, we simply do not collect enough tax money to meet all of the needs that are laid at the foot of the schoolhouse door,” she said. “If we say that we value schools, which play a critical role in caretaking and in educating, then we ought to find ways to finance them at suitable and appropriate levels, and I have not — in my long career as an educator — seen any successful effort to do that.”

Will Congress reauthorize the program under this administration?

It’s likely the program could be reauthorized this year.

Looking back to 2016, funding for the program lapsed before resuming in 2017. Oregon Public Broadcasting reported that GOP opposition in the House — similar to this past session — stalled progress on the bill. County payments returned to a revenue-based system, meaning they received payments based on revenue generated from fluctuating timber sales. In turn, they received significantly lower payments, according to a report by the Congressional Research Service. 

Some lawmakers are making plans to get a bill passed.

Last week, U.S. Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez of Washington state wrote House leadership to prioritize extending the SRS program. Congressional leaders such as Thompson of Mississippi and U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden of Oregon, a sponsor of the bill, told Capital B they are committed to getting funds to rural counties. 

“This sad state of affairs due to congressional Republican failings is pointless and regrettable. But I am committed to working with anybody, anywhere, at the start of the new year who’s serious about reauthorizing these vital investments ASAP for rural communities in Oregon and nationwide,” Wyden wrote in a statement. 

Despite this push, Brown, the educator in Mississippi, urged legislators to “look at funding through the eyes of what type of society am I trying to build” when making crucial decisions that impact students and their communities.

“If you’re in the rural area and you’re just trying to have broadband so that the kids can have access to the internet, you need as many funds as you can get to give the students the type of society that you want to create, or the type of legacy that you want to leave,” Brown said.

The post Congress Failed to Renew Critical Funding Program for Rural Schools appeared first on Capital B News.

You are having a health emergency. You call 911. The nearest hospital is an hour away. 

 

You are diagnosed with cancer, but it took you months to find out because you don’t have transportation to see the one primary care physician in your county. 

 

You finally get an appointment with a specialty doctor you need to see, but the closest office is two counties over, and you cannot afford it. 

 

Carter joined other Republicans and Democrats in voting in favor of a slimmed-down spending bill.

The Current is an inclusive nonprofit, non-partisan news organization providing in-depth watchdog journalism for Savannah and Coastal Georgia’s communities.