Senate resolution asks for Brunswick dredging
ATLANTA — Congress is being encouraged to create an annual cycle of dredging at the port of Brunswick in a state Senate resolution introduced before the snow storm.
Senate Resolution 806 is authored by state Sen. William Ligon, whose district includes the port. It’s co-sponsored by four other Republicans, including Majority Leader Ronnie Chance of Tyrone.
It notes that Colonel’s Island handles the nation’s third-most automobile and heavy-duty machinery shipping volume, which increased 47 percent last year. But enlarging of the shoals on St. Simons Outer Bar Channel during the past seven years is affecting operating efficiency and safety parameters and forcing ships to wait for high tide before entering the channel.
Available federal funds are only enough to remove less than 10 percent of the shoaling material despite the $12 million in harbor-maintenance fees Brunswick vessel operators paid in 2013 and $350 million in annual customs duties generated at the port.
The resolution warns that the nearly 15,000 jobs tied to the port could be in jeopardy without prompt dredging.
Proposed resolution supports port truckers
ATLANTA — A resolution pending in the Georgia state senate would, if passed, support truckers at the port of Savannah in their effort to form a union.
Introduced before the snow storm by Sen. Lester Jackson, D-Savannah, Senate Resolution 807 also accuses the trucking companies of ducking their responsibility for taxes and benefits for the drivers.
“...Workers who are wrongly classified as independent contractors are denied fundamental employee rights, such as minimum wage, worker’s compensation insurance, disability insurance, unemployment insurance, safety and health protections and the right to bargain collectively,” the resolution states.
It urges trucking companies operating at the port to allow their drivers to form a union.
Wild Wing Cafe to open in Pooler
Savannah residents Mark Stegall and Tommy Campbell have signed an agreement to open a Wild Wing Cafe in Pooler at 417 Pooler Parkway.
Stegall and Campbell say they plan to open Wild Wing Cafe at Pooler Marketplace in early summer. It will be Wild Wing’s second Chatham County restaurant.
“Mark and Tommy have shown that they are passionate about Wild Wing Cafe, and that’s exactly how we want our franchisees to feel,” said Edna Morris, CEO of Wild Wing Cafe.
The announcement said Wild Wing plans to add nearly 70 new restaurants during the next five years and projects reaching 100 units by 2018.
