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Fundraiser boosts safety project
0916ProjectLifesaver2
Liberty County Sheriff Steve Sikes and Julie Seckinger of Salt Cured watch as Earnestine Roberts is fitted with a Project Lifesaver tracking device. Salt Cured raised enough money to purchase six tracking devices for families in need of Project Lifesaver. - photo by Patty Leon

Beverly Bowers said she has more peace of mind knowing that her mother Earnestine Roberts could be found if she wanders away. Bowers said her mother was diagnosed with Alzheimer.

Bowers said didn’t know there was anything that could help her mother but then learned about Project Lifesaver and later got an unexpected surprise.

Bowers, who attends Savannah Technical College-Liberty campus, said a school colleague told her the Liberty County Sheriff’s Office has a program that could help her mother.

Project Lifesaver is a nationwide service that helps to locate people who suffer from autism, Downs syndrome, Alzheimer and other cognitive disorders, should they wander off and become lost or disoriented.

Clients wear a tracking device on their wrist or around their ankle that can be activated when 911 is alerted that the person is missing and wearing the device. Liberty County Sheriff Steve Sikes implemented the program in April 2011 after reading about it in a magazine. Since then several families have signed up, saying it brings them peace of mind.

The device costs $300 and Sikes quickly set up payment plans to help those in need.

On Aug. 18, the program got a boost when Salt Cured, the 2012 sponsor of the Coastal Empire Kingfish Tournament, set up a tent during a fishing tournament in Richmond Hill and started a collection for Project Lifesaver here.

“Some wonderful people have come forward and have given us some money,” LCSO Capt. David Edwards said.

Edwards said they raised nearly $2,000.

Much to Bowers’ surprise she qualified for the free device and on Thursday morning her mother was being fitted at the Sheriff’s Office in the Justice Center. The family learned how to check the device and what procedures to follow if Roberts goes missing.

“This is exactly what we wanted to do….be able to give to the families that might be financially strapped,” Edwards said.

Bowers also got to meet the person responsible for her mother’s free device as sheriff Sikes presented Julie Seckinger of Salt Cured a certificate of appreciation.

“Project Lifesaver is great and if in fact we can take the burden off the people who really need it, then that’s what it’s all about,” Sikes said. “Julie and her company stepped up to the plate and that helped make this happen for you guys. We are hoping that other organizations will get behind it and help us make this available for any citizen in this county. The peace of mind that you will receive from this program is worth it to us.”

Seckinger said she knew about Project Lifesaver and knew that Sikes was attached to the program. She said Salt Cured was already sponsoring the tournament and decided to set up a benefit raffle.

“He (Sikes) has such a true concern and compassion for the families, and I can’t even imagine what they (the families) go through each day and the peace of mind that this brings, not just in a life or death situation but every day… We found a way that we could help and I hope that it will bring awareness because there are many people that don’t know about it or don’t have the funds,” Seckinger said.

She said 100 boats and several fishing teams participated in the tournament and many didn’t know anything about Project Lifesaver.

“So it did help build awareness and people went crazy when we told them we could use the funds to purchase devices,” she said. “They were just coming up and giving $20 to help support it.”

Bowers said it does give her peace of mind.

“We want her to be safe and we don’t want her to wander off and then we can’t find her,” she said.

Edwards said they have a few more free devices available to families that need and qualify for one.

“We want to get the word out in case there are other families that have called before and, because of finances, haven’t been able to sign up for the program,” Edwards said. They can call us now, but it is on a first come first serve basis.”

For more information, call Edwards at 408-3106 or Project Lifesaver at 1-877-580-5433 or go to www.projectlifesaver.org.

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HPD Reports
crime scene

From Hinesville Police Department reports. Editor’s note: Due to computer issues at the city, reports have been unavailable in recent weeks. They are back. Our thanks to the HPD clerks who provide them. We’re catching up as quickly as possible.

Burglary, etc: A man called 911 on Feb. 27 because he was watching his White Circle home getting burglarized. The man said his alarm system had an app that showed live video on his phone, and he was “viewing three males inside his residence,” as he talked to 911.
Police responded, caught two of them inside the house and found the third guy “hiding behind a tree,” the report said.
Detectives are investigating.

Public indecency: An officer was sent to Lowes around 4:30 p.m. March 12 in reference to a disturbance involving a man and a woman.
The woman, a Lowe’s employee, said she had just got back from her lunch break when she saw the man “looking around at items on a shelf.”
The woman said she asked him if he needed help finding anything and he held up something, then said “I have found everything I need,” the report said. “(he) then placed his arms around (the employee) to hug her and then kissed (her) neck. (She) then moved away from (him) and told him to have a nice day and attempted to walk away from (the man). (He) then began to follow (her), stating ‘I would lick you up and down’ and ‘you better hide in an office.’ (She) then spoke with manager and called 911.’”
The man told police he thought he recognized the woman “and stated to me that he had previously had a relationship with her approximately two years ago. (He) was unable to recall (her) name while on scene.”
The woman told police “she has never seen, nor spoken to (the man) before today.”
The woman was given a case number and told what to do. The man was allowed to leave.

Indecent exposure: A Berkshire Terrace man reported he went outside his house around 6:40 a.m. and “observed a man who appeared to be intoxicated, peeing on his truck and trailer.”
The complainant said the man “fully exposed his penis while he was peeing. When (complainant) asked him to stop the man told him to ‘shut the (bleep) up.’ (Complainant) advised the man he would call police. (Complainant) advised his young son was standing outside during the incident. He said the man got into a 1996 black Buick and drove away, almost hitting cars that were parked in the driveway.”
The complainant said he did not want to press charges, “he said he wanted to report the incident because the man did not stop peeing when he asked him too.”
The complainant said he’d seen the man before “come and go” from a nearby apartment. The officer met with the resident of that apartment, who said the man was a cousin and did not pee on the complainant’s trailer.

Identity theft: A man went to HPD on March 21 to report that when he went to get a driver’s history for a commercial driver’s license, he found several citations on the history that weren’t his. “(He) stated he noticed someone was issued four citations in Arkansas and one citation in Jacksonville, Florida,” and during the time the Arkansas tickets were written he was in locked up in Georgia.
“(He) advised that he was not incarcerated when the citation in Jacksonville, Florida was issued but he was not in Florida at the time. (He) was unable to leave the state of Georgia due to being on felony probation.”
It gets worse.
“(He) told me that he attempted to file his income taxes for the first time ever and he was rejected due to owing the IRS money, $20,000. (He) stated he spoke to a representative for the IRS and he was informed that taxes were filed in his name in 2014 and the return was $1,3000. (He) advised he did not file taxes in 2013 and he was still incarcerated at the time.”
The man then told the officer he thinks his brother “got the citations and filed income taxes using his information. (He) believed his brother obtained his Social Security number and other demographics when he was incarcerated.”
The man said he talked to his brother, who said he paid all the tickets. “(His) brother also told him on a different occasion that he knew his date of birth and (SSN). (He) advised he told his brother that it was not OK to use his name due to him getting his life together and attempting to drive commercial vehicles.”
The guy said he didn’t have his brother’s address. He chose to fill out an identity theft packet.

Simple battery, theft by taking: An officer was sent around 2 a.m. March 20 to the Baymont Inn regarding a disturbance. There, a woman said she was being “grabbed and pulled” by a man when she told him to leave her motel room. She said they began arguing when he accused her of stealing $100.
The man claimed he met the woman on a dating website and when they “started having sex she informed him that it would cost $100.” He told her he wasn’t going to pay her, “got dressed and realized the five $20s in his pants pocket were missing. He accused (her) of stealing his money.”
The officer asked the woman if she stole the man’s money and she replied, “No, I work hard for my money.”
Both were given a case number and told how to get a warrant.

Robbery: A woman called HPD March 15 to report she was home when her estranged husband came to her apartment “and asked her to come outside to talk to him,” a report said.
“She stated that she stepped outside thinking that he was going to be civil, though she recently filed for divorce from him. As she stepped outside, he grabbed her necklace off her neck and then ran down the stairwell and out to the parking lot.”
The woman said he stood by his vehicle a minute, then drove off as police arrived. Officers checked the area but had no luck finding the man.

Burglary: Police were sent to a Malibu Drive address on March 13 regarding missing firearms and ransacked rooms. The homeowners were at work and got home to find handguns and rifles missing, as well as video games.
It appeared the home may have been broken into through the attic. Police found footprints and other evidence, and the case is under investigation.

Recovered stolen trailer: A U-Haul employee was inventorying equipment on March 14 when she discovered a trailer that had been reported stolen in Florida on Dec. 26. “She stated someone had backed the trailer into a parking stall along with the other trailers sometime during the night.”

Theft: In February, the maintenance man at Cypress Bend Mobile Home Park reported that “22 air conditioning unit disconnect boxes were stolen from various lots… He stated he began receiving calls from people that their air conditioning units were not working.”
The boxes contain small pieces of copper. He didn’t know who swiped them, but valued the total at about $341.

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