Jesup, Georgia 31545 Wednesday, June 15, 2016

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Joe Naiaʼs fellow hiker from Washington peers into his binoculars while his brother makes tracks in thebackground on Hermits Rest Trail at the Grand Canyon.

Law searchingfor missing manlast seen Monday❏ Vehicle found in river notbelieved connected

By Derby WatersSTAFF WRITER

Jesup police are look-ing for a missing 58-year-oldJesupman, lastseenaround 5a.m. Mon-day.

Dhirum-hai R.Patel left his home at118 Ruggelstone Driveand was reported miss-ing by his family around10 a.m. when it waslearned he had notopened his conveniencestore (Jesup Discount) atthe corner of First Streetand Sunset Boulevard.

Patel’s daughter toldpolice that her father didnot have money from thestore with him, which

was unusual. She saidhe sometimes goes out oftown without tellingfamily members but notwithout opening thestore.

He was last seen dri-ving a black 2003 HondaCivic, license plate num-ber AMU4250. Patel is 5feet, 6 inches tall andweighs approximately200 pounds. He hasbrown eyes and grayhair.

Tuesday as law en-forcement continuedlooking for Patel,searchers located an au-tomobile on the LongCounty side of the Al-tamaha River. For sev-eral hours deputies fromWayne and Long coun-ties were fearful that asubmerged vehicle wasthat of Patel, but later inthe day it appeared thatwas not the case.

Wayne County ChiefDeputy Doug Lewis saidthat efforts to raise the

Naia tackles Grand Canyon on his latest hiking trip

By Emily DeatonSTAFF WRITER

Joe Naia took on theGrand Canyon, BryceCanyon, Capitol Reefand Zion in his latesthiking escapade.

“I have alwayswanted to go see theGrand Canyon, and Ihave always wanted togo and hike it,” saidNaia, a local hiking en-thusiast.

On April 15, Naiabegan his three-weekadventure. He spent atotal of six days at theGrand Canyon, fourdays at Bryce Canyon,two days at CapitolReef and one day atZion National Park.Naia was focused ontraveling through na-

tional parks on thisparticular trip.

At the GrandCanyon, he began withhiking the Rim Trail.This trail is 13 mileslong and at an eleva-tion of 6,820 feet.

He then proceeded tothe Hermits Rest trail.At an elevation of6,640 feet, it is an un-maintained and stren-uous trail that re-quires caution. Naiadescribed the HermitsRest Trail five-mileroundtrip as “steepand rocky.” There is notreated water alongthe trail, so hikersmust carry or treatwater from SantaMaria Spring or Drip-ping Springs.

ARF learns abouttherapy dogs

By Drew DavisSTAFF WRITER

A dog can be benefi-cial to your health.

Thatwas themes-sagethatTher-apyDogsInter-na-tionalspokeswoman CaroleGunther BrannenSmith brought to theARF annual meeting.

ARF (the Animal

Refuge Foundation ofWayne County) waswrapping up its yearwith a gathering atWestern Sizzlin Mon-day night.

According to Smith,therapy dogs can lowerblood pressure, pro-mote relaxation, relieveagitation, improve com-munications betweenhumans, reduce theneed for drug therapyand even reduce ag-gression in substance-abuse cases.

Not every dog wouldmake a good therapydog, though, Smith ex-

❑ Donna Baldwin❑ Rufus Blocker❑ Jeanette DeWitt❑ Betty Douglas❑ Elaine Beasley❑ John Houston

Obituaries/2A WEATHER / 2ATODAY: Sunny

HI: 93LOW: 72

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June 15, 2016

Volume 152Number 48

Citizens testify on mill’simpact on AltamahaBy RED DentySTAFF WRITER

Witnesses differedlast week as to howgreat an impact theRayonier Advanced Ma-terials mill at Jesuphas on the AltamahaRiver.

Several members ofthe Wayne County com-munity testified inBlackshear on Thurs-day and Friday in thesecond part of a four-part hearing on the Al-tamaha Riverkeeper’ssuit against the Geor-gia Environmental Pro-tection Division.

Altamaha River-keeper, with the help of

GreenLaw, Stack & As-sociates, and the South-ern EnvironmentalLaw Center, is takingthe EPD to court over apermit issued last yearto Rayonier AdvancedMaterials. The permitgoverns the 60 milliongallons of effluent perday discharged fromRayonier Advance Ma-terial’s Jesup mill intothe Altamaha River.

According to a pressrelease from GreenLaw,the permit issued bythe EPD “fails to meetClean Water Act re-quirements regardingwater quality stan-dards on odor, color and

Georgia Power to closecoal-ash holding

By Derby WatersSTAFF WRITER

“We are aggressivelyworking to close ourash ponds as quicklyand safely as possibleto meet EPA’s new stan-dards for handling coalash,” said Dr. MarkBerry, vice president ofenvironmental affairsfor Georgia Power Com-pany.

That comment waspart of the announce-ment this week thatGeorgia Power willclose all of the com-pany’s 29 coal-ashponds and “stop receiv-ing coal ash within thenext three years.”

The company said itplans to remove ashfrom 16 holding pondslocated adjacent tolakes or rivers.

“The ash from theseponds will either be re-located to a permittedlandfill, consolidatedwith other closing ashponds or recycled forbeneficial use,” a com-pany news releasestated.

Three of the sites thatare slated for cleanupare in coastal Georgia.Plant Kraft at PortWentworth, PlantMcIntosh in Rincon,and Plant McManus inBrunswick are the sites

DhirumhaiPatel

Joe Naia poses for a picture at Bryce Canyon onPeekaboo Trail at a point known as Double Canyon.

CaroleSmith

RED DENTY / StaffA scuba diver surfaces just above a submerged vehicle dis-covered in the Altamaha River Tuesday. Law enforcement of-ficers determined that the vehicle is not a Honda Civic be-longing to missing 58-year-old Dhirumhai Patel, not seensince early Monday morning.

❑ See RIVER, Page 5A

❑ See PATEL, Page 6A

❑ See PONDS, Page 6A❑ See ARF, Page 6A

❑ See NAIA, Page 7A

Many Biblical scholars be-lieve that the actual authorof the book of Ecclesiasteswas Solomon. What wis-dom—to see what modernscience tells us is a hydro-logic phenomenon, evapora-tion of salt water loadingthe clouds that pass outover the land and come backdown in the form of therainfall that brings us all ofthe water that we have.

From that book of the OldTestament, “All of the wa-ters run to the sea and yetthe sea is not full. From theplace from whence theycome, thither, they returnagain.”

We know the phenomenonwell here in the LowerCoastal Plains, where wewitness daily the migrationof the rainfall that fills thecreeks and wetlands andrivers heading alwayssouthward and downwardbut always moving towardthe Georgia coast, backfrom the place from which itcame. In times of above-av-

erageprecipita-tion, theentirearea is asolidsheen ofwaterclearlyvisiblefrom theair withall avail-able

channels above and withinthe ground itself headedsouth.

Republic Services hasbeen moving steadily to cre-ate a monstrous landfill tohandle coal ash and munici-pal waste from anywhere inthe United States via rail inorder to dump it in themidst of the coastal plains,just inland from the coast,on top of systems drainingdirectly into the Altamahaand in close proximity tothe Satilla watershed as

well. Republic has clearly

shown its lack of concern inputting our most valuablenatural resources, ourwater and environment, atserious risk. How in theworld does the companypropose to bring mile-longtrainloads of the stuffacross the basin of thelargest river east of he Mis-sissippi, the Altamaha;transfer it to a mountainouspile surrounded by wet-lands, exposed to wind andrain; and never have itenter the water circuits ofthe entire lower coast?What of 100-year floods,hurricanes, tornadoes thatwould rip the tops of themountains of garbage andscatter the content for milesand miles across the land?What of a train wreck?

If you really want to knowwhat kind of corporationRepublic is, in 2005 it en-tered a contract with WayneCounty officials that pre-vented the officials of

Wayne County and all sub-sequent officials, from inter-fering in any way with itsplans for Broadhurst andthreatened them with legalrecourse if they did so. Thatcontract eviscerated therights of the people of thisarea. What kind of corpora-tion does that?

If you really want to knowwhat kind of corporationRepublic is, look at itsridiculous brochure onBroadhurst that showsnothing but lily-pad-filledlakes and trees that thecompany has planted. Thereis nothing of the 150-foot-high mountain of garbagewith buzzards circling, anodor so putrid that it defiesdescription, and endlesslines of trucks, many withthe juices of what they arehauling draining from themup and down the entrance-ways. There have beensearches for missing bodiescarried on there. What alaughable and ridiculous in-sult to one’s intelligence

that brochure is. It is, how-ever, Republic’s response tothe concerns that aresweeping across the entirecoastal plain.

This is a matter for allwho care about our naturalenvironment and resourcesto join in the public outcrythat should bring all ofthose who regulate andmanage our natural re-sources into full force toprevent this threat to theentire coast and the EasternCoastal Plains.

(Lindsay Thomas repre-sented the Lower CoastalPlains counties in the U.S.House of Representatives for10 years, served on the Ap-propriations Committee’sEnergy and Water Subcom-mittee, and chaired the SunBelt Caucus and the taskforce on wetlands. He servedfour years as the federalcommissioner to the Tri-State Water Compacts andnow serves on the AltamahaWater Basin Planning Com-mittee.)

Wednesday, June 15, 2016 The Press-Sentinel 5A

OPINION

Is Sen. Perdue aiming for higher office?During his first 18 months

as a U.S. senator, DavidPerdue had not made muchof a splash on the nationalscene. He was just anotherbackbencher in a Senatedominated by bitter fightsbetween party leaders.

Perdue had his breakoutmoment last week when theRepublican freshman of-fered up a religious admoni-tion to conservative Christ-ian activists at a Faith &Freedom Coalition confer-ence in Washington, D.C.

He urged attendees topray for President Obamaand added this biblical ref-erence: “I think we shouldpray for Barack Obama, butwe need to be very spe-cific. We should pray likePsalm 109:8 says: Let hisdays be few, and let anothertake his office.”

The audience thought thatwas quite funny, and thisreference to Psalm 109:8 isa joke that has been usedoften during Obama’s presi-dency. It’s a handy way forsomeone to imply they wantthe president to be physi-cally harmed without actu-ally having to say thewords.

The key is in the remain-

ing linesof theverse:

“Let hischildrenbe father-less, andhis wife awidow.

“Let hischildrenbe contin-uallyvaga-

bonds, and beg: let themseek their bread also out oftheir desolate places.

“Let the extortioner catchall that he hath; and let thestrangers spoil his labor.

“Let there be none to ex-tend mercy unto him: nei-ther let there be any tofavor his fatherless chil-dren.”

Perdue’s biblical momentput him on the nationalradar and generated angrycriticism from the opposi-tion, as with this responsefrom the Georgia Democra-tic Party’s Michael Smith:

“Joking about the death ofthe President of the UnitedStates is contemptible and

beneath the office of aUnited States Senator. Sen-ator Perdue should apolo-gize immediately—not onlyto President Obama, but tothe people of Georgia.”

In today’s political atmos-phere, of course, no one everapologizes—they counter-at-tack.

Perdue spokesperson Car-oline Vanvick fired back:“He in no way wishes harmtowards our president, andeveryone in the room under-stood that. However, weshould add the media to ourprayer list because they arepushing a narrative to cre-ate controversy, and that isexactly what the Americanpeople are tired of.”

As an outsider business-man elected to political of-fice, Perdue has a similarbackground to DonaldTrump. He’s a major Trumpsupporter and predicts thatTrump will win in Novem-ber, telling a Republicangroup in Georgia recently:

“I know an outsider whenI see one—someone who islistening to us. He’s com-plaining about the very peo-ple we complain about—politicians, bureaucrats, themedia. He can win Michi-

gan and Mississippi on thesame day. When does thatever happen? … He canhelp us lead again. But hecan also help make Americagreat again.”

Perdue puts his moneywhere his mouth is. He andGov. Nathan Deal are host-ing a fund-raiser for Trumpin Atlanta this week.

Trump is embroiled in acontroversy over his attackson federal Judge GonzaloCuriel, who’s presiding overa lawsuit involving TrumpUniversity. Curiel was bornin Indiana to parents whoemigrated from Mexico andbecame American citizens.Trump complained thatCuriel could not be a fairjudge because he “happensto be, we believe, Mexican,”which was a false accusa-tion.

Perdue has his own his-tory with Hispanic judges.He helped block the federal-court nomination of DaxLopez, a highly respectedDeKalb County jurist whoseconfirmation was supportedby many prominent GeorgiaRepublicans. Perdue’s oppo-sition forced Lopez insteadto run for another term onthe State Court bench.

Perdue’s fervent supportof Trump, his businessbackground, and his disdainfor Latino citizens couldwell be hints that the sena-tor wants to get his nameinto consideration asTrump’s vice presidentialrunning mate.

It’s been speculated inconservative circles thatPerdue wants to run forpresident someday. Beingpicked as Trump’s vice pres-ident, even if that campaigndoesn’t succeed, would givePerdue the kind of nationalname identification hewould need in a future elec-tion.

Perdue may have to fightoff Newt Gingrich on thisone—the former speaker isalso angling to be picked asTrump’s running mate. Butdon’t be surprised if youhear Perdue’s name bubbleup soon in the pundits’ spec-ulation.

(Tom Crawford is editorof The Georgia Report, anInternet news service atgareport.com that reports onstate government and poli-tics. He can be reached attcrawford@gareport.com. )

Republic not concerned for Eastern Coastal Plains

My Opinion▼ ▼ ▼

TOMCRAWFORD

Columnist

My Opinion▼ ▼ ▼

LINDSAYTHOMASColumnist

RIVERContinued from page 1A

turbidity.” Yet according to Rus-

sell Schweiss, aspokesman for RayonierAdvanced Materials,since 2008 the companyhas reduced the color inthe water by 60 percentand invested $70 mil-lion in pollution con-trols.

Lawyers for both sidesof the case called on sev-eral citizens fromWayne and surroundingcounties to provide tes-timony before the court.

Donnie Jones was oneJesup resident called totestify by AltamahaRiverkeeper. He regu-larly fishes about 15minutes downstream ofthe mill’s outfall andclaims that many of thefish he catches aretainted by Rayonier’sdischarge.

“When you pull themout of the water, theyhave that odor. You cansmell them immedi-ately,” he testified.

Jones said that on

each outing he catchesnearly a dozen fish thathave to be thrown backbecause of their smell.

Onnie Yeomans ofGardi testified as well,saying that he made themistake of eating one ofthe “tainted” fish.

“When I put it mymouth, I almostgagged,” he said. “I willnot eat fish from belowthe mill.”

Yeomans added thathe was an employee ofRayonier for 37 years.

“We need Rayonier,”he said. “I would justlike to see the rivercleaned up.”

Phillip Jordan fromMonticello also testifiedon behalf of AltamahaRiverkeeper. He regu-larly spends days orweeks at a time pad-dling down the Al-tamaha River in hiskayak and camping onits banks and sandbars.He purifies river waterfor drinking and cookingbut said he refuses to

drink the water down-stream from Rayonier,purified or not.

While the witnessesthat Altamaha River-keeper called painted apicture of an AltamahaRiver that is cloggedwith pollution, the EPDand Rayonier called wit-nesses who expressed avastly different point ofview.

Randy Aspinwall, acorporal with the Geor-gia Department of Nat-ural Resources, was onewitness for the EPD. Heis responsible for 88miles of the AltamahaRiver and patrols thearea near the Jesup millon a weekly basis.

“The discharge comingfrom the pipe is nolonger the coffee color itused to be,” Aspinwallsaid, describing thecolor of the effluentfrom Rayonier’s outflowpipes. He also men-tioned that he has nevercaught a fish with odoror taste connected with

the Jesup mill. Bruce Foisy, a district

manager for CoastalEnvironmental Protec-tion for the DNR, wasanother of the EPD’switnesses. Foisy testi-fied that he is responsi-ble for compliance ofseveral thousand EPD-permitted facilities, in-cluding Rayonier’sJesup mill.

Foisy said that in 18years, his office has re-ceived only 11 com-plaints about the mill,five of which were filedby the same person.

Other DNR employeestestified as well, includ-ing fisheries regionalsupervisor Bert Deenerand fisheries biologistDon Harrison.

Deener testified thathe often fishes for mul-let on the sandbaracross from Rayonier’ssecond outfall pipe. Headded that “outfall oneis a prime catfish spot.”

Harrison also men-tioned that the areas be-

tween Rayonier’s twooutfall pipes are a verypopular area for fishingand that there is no dis-cernible difference infish populations aboveand below the mill’s dis-charge point.

Jesup City ManagerMike Deal was anotherof the EPD’s witnesses.Deal testified that he’scaught thousands of fish

in the Altamaha, and“99 percent” of the fishwere caught below thedischarge point.

“All fish smell bad,” hesaid. “But I haven’tcaught one that smellslike the mill.”

The third part of thehearing began Mondayin Atlanta and will wrapup Thursday.

Send a letter to Presstalk

P.O. Box 607Jesup, GA

31598