Coming tomorrow: 2023 Year in Review - May through August.
January
• Lehman Franklin III, a Statesboro auto dealership general manager and company vice president who resides in the Stilson community, was sworn in as the new state representative from House District 160 when the Georgia General Assembly session convened.
• In nine months since City Council approved the first “location reservations” and six months since the first licensee was ready to open, Statesboro went from having no liquor stores in its city limits to five now in business. A sixth received a building permit the previous fall for renovations but had yet to open.
• After Gov. Brian Kemp proposed another $2,000 raise for Georgia's public school teachers, Bulloch County Schools Superintendent Charles Wilson revealed plans for a $2,500 raise in local supplement for teachers and other certified educators and a $3-an-hour raise for non-certified school employees.
• The Statesboro-Bulloch Chamber of Commerce at its annual meeting honored Roy Thompson with the Bruce Yawn Lifetime Achievement Award, the first by that name.
February
• Justin Clenny was named the Ogeechee Technical College’s 2023 GOAL winner.
• The trial of Lee Allen Mayhew for the murder of Bonnie Lanier Rushing ended after four days when 12 Bulloch County jurors unanimously found him guilty. Mayhew was sentenced to life without parole.
• When Eric Lim was named Southeast Bulloch High School’s 2023 STAR student, he chose his second-grade through fifth-grade QUEST teacher from Brooklet Elementary School, Joey Harvey, as his STAR teacher. At a lunchtime ceremony, they were named Bulloch County’s district-wide STARs.
• The Federal Emergency Management Agency awarded the Statesboro Fire Department a $2.1 million SAFER grant to hire 12 new firefighters.
• Statesboro City Council by a 4-0 vote granted the Statesboro-Bulloch Remembrance Coalition permission to erect a historical marker next to City Hall memorializing the nine known victims of lynching in Bulloch County.
March
• The total number of violent crimes, including aggravated assaults, robberies, rapes and homicides, reported in Statesboro dropped 42% from 2021 to 2022, the Statesboro Police Department showed in its 2022 annual report.
• A lifelong resident was named the 2022 Conservationist of the Year for Bulloch County. Jason Mallard, who lives in Portal, was honored during the 72nd Annual Conservationist of the Year Banquet hosted by the Ogeechee River Soil and Water Conservation District.
• The Bulloch County Fire Department received a grant that would help recruit and retain volunteer firefighters. The Staffing for Adequate Fire and Emergency Response (SAFER) Grant of $385,716 came from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).
• David Cromley was recognized as the "Young Farmer of the Year" at the annual 'Blessing of the Crops,' that spiritually launches the planting and growing year for local farmers.
• The Bulloch County Board of Education voted to give Superintendent Charles Wilson a new contract that would extend his employment to March 31, 2026, and raise his salary by more than $42,000 per year.
• For the 11th consecutive year, Georgia Southern University was named as a Military Friendly School and received a 'Gold' ranking for 2023-2024.The university has been recognized by the VIQTORY group since 2013 for its commitment, effort and success in creating sustainable and meaningful opportunities for its military-connected students.
April
• In the latest figures from the US Census Bureau of population estimates for Bulloch County, as of July 1, 2022, Bulloch had grown by 2,422 residents since July 1, 2021 to 83,059 — an increase of 3%.
• Bulloch County commissioners unanimously approved a resolution objecting to the city of Statesboro’s pending annexation of a roughly 37-acre tract on Beasley Road.
• The Georgia Bureau of Investigation announced the promotion of Lindsay Smith to Special Agent in Charge of the GBI Region 5 Investigative Office in Statesboro.
• It was announced that Tom Marshall, who taught agriculture at Portal Middle High School for 30 years, would be inducted into the Georgia Educators Hall of Fame during the 95th Annual GA FFA State Leadership Conference in Macon. Marshall came to Portal in August 1990, and he retired in May 2020 as one of the school's most popular, influential and inspirational teachers ever.
• Bulloch County commissioners unanimously approved, with some added conditions, rezoning requests to allow 3 million square feet of industrial warehousing to be built on roughly 360 acres along the south side of Rocky Road.