2025 in review City changes, snow’s return, saving Okefenokee from mining, solving case of ‘Baby Jane Doe’ highlight news of past year
An unsettled Waycross City Commission, the first snow in seven years, reprieve in a potential mining operation near the Okefenokee Swamp and the conclusion of the bizarre 1988 death of “Baby Jane Doe” highlighted local news in 2025.
Following are some of the central items that shaped news in Waycross in 2025.
JANUARY Bailey Street housing
The affordable housing project slated for the old Bailey Street School property was terminated by a unanimous decision by Waycross Ware County Land Bank Authority.
The Bailey Street Redevelopment Project proposed by Legacy Ventures, USA (aka Legacy Ventures, DC Corp and Legacy Ventures, LLC) Founder/Chief Executive Officer Lenwood Coleman was to have brought 16 new affordable single family owner occupied homes to the area.
Felder ethics case
City Commissioner Katrena Felder was to appear in Waycross Municipal Court for prosecution on alleged ethics violations after action by her commission colleagues.
In a 3-1 vote, commissioners accepted the recommendation of the Citizen Board of Ethics impaneled to judge the complaint of citizen Clayton Nelson against the District 3 representative. The vote came only after an attempt to cause Felder’s resignation.
Nelson’s complaint, filed September 2, 2024, charged Felder with misusing her city-issued credit card and attending a partisan event while on a city business trip.
Housing project
A workforce housing apartment complex has been proposed near downtown Waycross.
Aurora Taylor, a representative for developer Ethan Jackson Investments of Cairo, Ga., detailed the project for the city commission at a public hearing last month.
The firm owns property bordered by Brunel, Howe and Haines Streets.
Let it snow
Winter storm Enzo arrived in the area January 21 with freezing rain and frigid temperatures before departing less than 24 hours later. Left behind was snow on the ground which would hang around for a couple of days thanks to night temperatures as low as the upper teens and daytime highs struggling to reach 40 degrees.
According to the National Weather Service, Waycross received 4.5 inches of snow while Nahunta had 3.8 and Blackshear 3.2.
It was the first measurable snow in the area since two inches fell in early January, 2018.
Nelson keeps seat
Alvin Nelson remained in his seat on the Waycross City Commission following a ruling by the Georgia Supreme Court.
The court’s reversal of a decision rendered last May by Senior Judge Gary Mc-Corvey all owed Nelson to keep the District 5 seat he won by 18 votes during the November 2023 Municipal Election. The reversal was released by the high court Tuesday, January 28.
“I feel vindicated,” Nelson said of the ruling on his appeal of McCorvey’s decision in the lawsuit filed November 17, 2023 in Ware County Superior Court by incumbent Henry Strickland.
Strickland filed his action after the vote was certified the Ware County Board of Elections and Registration citing the use of an incorrect map to determine district voters.
Hopkins death
Hopkins died Wednesday, January 29 after an extended illness. She had been in and out of the hospital for the past several months and most recently been attending meetings in a wheelchair.
Hopkins had served District 4 since first taking office January 1, 2004. She was the longest serving member of the current commission.
FEBRUARY Homestead decision
The Ware County Commission voted to opt out of the statewide floating homestead exemption introduced by House Bill 581 (HB581).
The decision was made after multiple public hearings and careful consideration of the potential impact on local funding.
The commission cited Ware County’s existing homestead exemption system, which has been in place since 2002, as a more beneficial option for local homeowners.
Waycross joined Ware County and the Ware County Board of Educatio n in opting out.
Murder charge
The city’s first murder of 2025 resulted in the February 15 arrest of Zachary Seth Roberson, 36, of Waycross, on charges of murder and aggravated assault in connection to a January 18 shooting death of Broderick Wright, 37, and wounding of Mikeem Lee, 31, both of Waycross.
WPD officers responded around 3:43 a.m. to a call reporting men in the 1500 block of Azalea Avenue had been shot. When officers arrived, they found Lee and Wright injured with apparent gunshot wounds.
District 4 election
The Waycross City Commission will operate as a four-person body for the majority of 2025 after deciding to hold a special election in November to fill the vacant seat.
Commissioners voted 3-1 in favor of November 4 to elect a successor to Hopkins. The winner of the special election will hold the seat until December 31, 2027.
The action came after it chose not to act on a resolution on the meeting’s agenda to stage the special election June 17.
Boggs resigns
Georgia Chief Justice Michael Boggs, a Waycross native, announced he will resign from the state Supreme Court at the end of March, the last day of the Court’s term.
Boggs said he planned to return to private practice in South Georgia. He and his family live in Pierce County.
In a resignation letter hand-delivered February 25 to Gov. Brian Kemp, Boggs noted his 25 years in elective office, including more than two decades of service as a judge at various state levels. He was chosen chief justice by fellow court members in July 2022.
MARCH Court recusals
Waycross Municipal Court Judge Douglas Gibson Judge Pro Tempore Adrienne Gibson and Solicitor Joseph Johnson recused themselves from involvement in the ethics case against Felder. Each cited their appointments and subsequent contracts with the city to conduct Municipal Court business as the reason.
The appointments and contracts are voted on by the city commission. Each informed Interim City Attorney Huey Spearman in late February of their decisions.
City raises fees
Waycross set a new fee structure for privilege licenses and business and occupation taxes. The fees will be due and payable on or before April 1 of each year.
The fees started with the Fiscal 2025-26 budget year.
APRIL Water-sewer rates
Water and sewer rates for Waycross residents and businesses will rise three percent beginning October 1.
The average monthly water bill for a residential customer was $23.13 with the sewer bill at $38.25. Those bills would be $23.82 and $39.40, respectively, for a total monthly increase of $1.84 after October 1.
Commercial bills are determined by the size of meter used. They range from two to eight inches with the average bill at $36.80 on the low end and $1,714.53 on the high. The monthly increase there would be $1.11 up to $51.44, respectively.
Felder judge
Brian Joseph “Joe” Huffman, Jr., Chief Judge of the Chatham County Recorder’s Court, will hear the proceeding involving the ethics complaint against Felder in Waycross Municipal Court.
Huffman informed the city in an order dated April 18 he had appointed himself to hear the action.
Neely leaves MSH
Memorial Satilla Health Chief Executive Officer Dale Neely left his post in Waycross for one in Florida.
Neely, CEO at MSH since March 6, 2023, left to become CEO at HCA Florida Capital Hospital in Tallahassee, Fla., familiar territory for the administrator.
He served as Chief Operating Officer at Florida Capital as well as CEO at Encompass Health Rehabilitation Hospital in Tallahassee. He departed the latter post to assume the top administrative post at MSH.
MAY 2011 map approved
A 2011 map determining the five commission districts for voting in the City of Waycross will be used in the November 2025 Municipal Election.
The Office of the Secretary of State acknowledged last week receipt of the city’s submission of the 2011 map and related documents detailing the city commission’s decision to use the map for determining a voter’s district in all future elections.
Commissioners approved a resolution in February making official the 2011 map of voting districts resulting from the 2010 U.S. Census for all future elections.
First Wawa opens
The first of two Wawa convenience stores in Waycross opened for business at 1810 S. Georgia Parkway W.
The Pennsylvaniabased company’s other city location is in the final stages of construction at the intersection of Memorial Boulevard and Brunswick Highway.
City man charged
Riheam Daykwon Anderson, 29, of Waycross was arrested May 13 in Waycross in connection to the December 2024 murder in Jacksonville, Fla., of Dave Joseph.
Anderson was brought returned to Jacksonville where he joined 29-yearold Daveron Cani Reed and 29-year-old Leon Jamon Williams in custody for the shooting in a Wendy’s parking lot.
JUNE Felder prosecutor
A prosecutor in the ethics case involving Felder has been named and a hearing requested by Presiding Judge Brian Joseph “Joe” Huffman, Jr.
Huffman, Chief Judge of the Chatham County Recorder’s Court selected Savannah attorney Caroline Bradley as prosecutor.
Man charged in death
A former Ware County man was arrested and charged with murder in connection to a shooting death June 8 in rural Ware County.
Clinton Matt “Hank’ Landrum, 40, formerly of the 37oo block of Lovett Road, was arrested by Wayne County Sheriff’s Office personnel and returned to Ware County.
Landrum was charged in the death of Henry Joseph McClellan, 52, of the 1300 block of Manor Millwood Road North.
No mine at swamp
After six years, a controversial bid to mine next door to Georgia’s famed Okefenokee Swamp is no more.
The Conservation Fund, a nonprofit specializing in acquiring at-risk lands, announced June 20, it purchased property near the Okefenokee where an Alabama-based company had planned to mine. The move puts an immediate halt to a project that scientists and environmentalists had feared could irreparably damage North America’s largest blackwater swamp.
JULY Lightning kills teens
Two former members of the Ware County High School football team died July 10 when lightning struck near them in the area of Lejuene Road and Alton Circle.
Joey Brandon Nelson, 18, of the 300 block of Avenue, and Randall Darnell Martin III, 19, of the 2200 block of Tebeau Street, were pronounced dead at the scene after life-saving measures by family members, Ware County Sheriff’s Deputies and Ware EMS personnel were unsuccessful.
Nelson was an offensive lineman for the Gators while Martin was a defensive back, team rosters showed. Both were 2025 WCHS graduates.
Second Wawa opens
With much the same fanfare of its festivities two months ago, Wawa opened its second store in the city July 16 at 1725 Memorial Drive.
The facility at the bustling intersection of Memorial Drive and Brunswick Highway, follows the outlet at 1810 South Georgia Parkway that opened May 15.
DUI-related death
An Atkinson County man was charged with felony homicide by a vehicle and DUI-alcohol in connection to a two-vehicle wreck July 25 that killed a Brunswick woman.
Collin Neal Rodriguez, 39, of a Lawrence Road address in Axon, Ga., was arrested on charges brought by the Georgia State Patrol.
Killed in the collision about 10 p.m., on Ga. 520 was Kavana T’Keyah Russell, 26, of a Miller Cove address in Brunswick. Pierce County Coroner William Wilson pronounced Russell dead at the scene at 11:31 p.m.
AUGUST Drug bust
Two Waycross men were arrested on drug-related charges, and about 30 pounds of marijuana seized as the result of a Ware County Sheriff’s Office- led investigation into a suspected drug distribution operation.
Henry Lee Gibson, 40, of the 2900 block of Quail Run, was charged with felony counts of trafficking marijuana and possession of marijuana with intent to distribute. Also arrested was Maurice Gibson, 42, of the 700 block of Beville Street. He was charged with trafficking marijuana.
In addition to the marijuana, three firearms also were confiscated in the action August 6.
Election appeal
City of Waycross District 2 Commissioner Sheinita Bennett filed an appeal regarding her disqualifica-tion for re-election to the seat.
Bennett’s term, her first, expires Dec ember 31, 2025. She would have faced challengers Ayana Moore, William Simmons and Barry Worley in the November 4 Municipal General/ Special Election.
The Ware County Board of Elections and Registration set a Special Called Meeting for Thursday, September 4, to hear the appeal.
“Baby Jane Doe” verdict
ALBANY — The mother of a toddler known as “Baby Jane Doe” during a decades-long investigation of the child’s death has been found guilty on four of five charges related to the crime.
Verdicts on the charges were reached in the trial of Evelyn Odom August 27. The woman faced a minimum sentence of life in prison with the possibility of parole.
Odom was found guilty of felony murder, first-degree cruelty to children, conspiracy to commit a crime and concealing the death of another. She was found not guilty of aggravated battery.
The jury deliberated only hours after officially starting the process around 9:45 a.m. August 27. Closing arguments concluded the previous afternoon and the jury was charged at that time with deliberations scheduled for the following morning.
Odom was accused of killing her 5-year-old daughter in Dougherty County in 1988 and dumping her body in a rural section of Ware County more than 100 miles away.
SEPTEMBER
Bennett appeal
Bennett had an appeal of her disqualification to seek a second term on the City Commission denied in a hearing by the Ware County Board of Elections and Registration.
In a 4-0 vote September 4, the board granted a motion by Spearman for a directed verdict on Bennett’s appeal of the city’s ruling to disqualify the candidacy on the basis of her employment by the Ware County Sheriff’s Office.
Bennett appealed the board’s decision to the Ware County Superior Court. The suit was filed by attorney Matthew M. Weiss of the Atlanta firm of Parker Hudson Rainer & Dobbs LLP, September 12 to be included on the Municipal Election ballot November 4 in an effort to retain her District 2 seat.
The Ware County Board of Elections and Registration and Jacqualine Powell, in her official capacity as City Clerk for the City of Waycross were listed as Respondents/Defendants.
Farr’s closes
After more than 50 years in business, Farr’s Fine Furniture announced it was closing.
The Farr’s started in business with a discount store on Albany Avenue more than 66 years ago.
In 1974, the two expanded when they bought land on the Waycross-Blackshear Highway and built the 24,000-square foot building that became Farr’s Fine Furniture at 1561 Highway 84.
OCTOBER Suit dismissed
Superior Court Judge J. Kelly Brooks dismissed Bennett’s appeal to overturn her disqualification by the Ware County Board of Elections and Registration as a candidate for Waycross City Commission District 2.
Brooks, in his ruling filed Monday evening, October 6, said his dismissal was centered on one undisputed fact in the case.
“ ... there is at least one fact not in dispute which is determinative of this appeal,” Brooks wrote in his ruling. “Sheinita Bennett, (sometimes referred to as ‘Petitioner’) did not file her notice of candidacy.”
Brooks heard more than four hours of arguments and testimony during a hearing October 1 before making a decision.
Upgraded parks open
Elizabeth Street, Garlington and Bailey Street parks celebrated upgrades with separate ribbon-cutting ceremonies October 17 with city officials and community members neighborhood residents and a host of children on hand to get their first look at a new ball field, playground equipment and splash pads among the improvements.
NOVEMBER Tri-County bypass
Brantley County representatives agreed to pass a resolution joining Ware County and Pierce County in resurrecting the old east bypass project, which was officially declared dead 10 years ago.
A feasibility study expanded the project to a perimeter road which would encircle Waycross running through all three counties. It would be built in phases.
First discussed in 2002, the project entered the planning and design stage in 2005. It was presented to the public during a hearing in Ware County in 2012.
City elections
The Municipal Election determined only two of the four seats available on the Waycross City Commission. The others will be decided in runoffs Tuesday, December 2.
Shawn Sanders and Felder vied for the District 3 seat Felder now holds while William Tompkins and Tim Peacock faced off for the District 4 post. The runoffs were needed after none of the candidates received more than 50 percent of the vote in the respective races.
Incumbent Shawn Roberts defeated challenger Willie Oliver for the District 1 post while former commissioner William Simmons returns to the panel from District 2 after topping Ayana Moore and Barry Worley.
Teens charged
Four Waycross teens were arrested Wednesday night and charged in connection to an armed robbery in Nahunta.
Davin Isiah Miller (19 years old), Ayanda Peterson Nkese (18), Eli Eugene Walker (17) and Keitron Jamar Byrd (17), all of Waycross, were taken into custody November 12 after an unrelated traffic stop.
At approximately 9:51 p.m., officers with the Nahunta Police Department were dispatched to Florida Avenue in reference to an armed robbery.
The complainant reported he’d been robbed at gunpoint during a planned firearm transaction.
DECEMBER Bypass meeting
The December 1 forum involving tri-county officials was to discuss ideas for a proposed bypass around Waycross. It drew a crowd set not on observing, but demanding answers — sometimes in very loud voices.
Little progress was made and those whose homes and property might be impacted by the bypass left with few if any reassurances.
Area lawmakers in Atlanta expressed approval for putting a referendum on the bypass to be voted on by the public.
Commission runoffs
Sanders and Tompkins won Waycross City Commission seats December 2 after collecting the most votes in their runoff elections.
Sanders defeated Felder for the District 3 post, 107-62. Tompkins topped Tim Peacock for the District 4 seat, 100-61.
A total of 331 of 3,493 eligible voters (9.48 percent) in the two districts cast ballots.
Murder charges
Two of the three men charged in connection to the November murder of a Waycross man had homicide charges in their pasts.
Willie Daquan Edwards, 27, and Keitric Trevon McCaskey, 31, are facing or have faced other murder charges.
Those two, along with Alex Jamal Taylor, 28, were charged with the November 29 death of Lawrence Eugene Woods, 35.
Edwards was wanted for murder, home invasion and two counts of party to a crime last year in Brooks County.
McCaskey was charged with murder in the death of an Alma man in June 2016. The case against Mc-Caskey was dismissed in 2018 for insufficient evidence.
City man gets life
A Waycross man was sentenced December 18 to life in prison without parole plus 10 years in Ware County Superior Court for the murder three years ago of his teenaged daughter in Waycross.
Jacmine Maurice Hicks, 37, was sentenced by Judge Brooks in the gunshot death of Jakayla Hicks in the early morning hours of August 18, 2022. Hicks was found guilty of felony murder by a jury following a two-day trial that ended December 12 in the Ware County Courthouse.
