Editor, There has been a lot of discussion among the candidates that are running for Long County sheriff regarding my residency. I would like to take this opportunity to set the record straight.

During 2009, my son William Nobles and I decided that we were going to swap residences because I wanted to build a home at 556 Beards Bluff Road NW, Glennville. On Dec. 28, 2009, my wife and I moved from our residence in Tattnall County into the mobile home at 556 Breads Bluff Road NW, which is located on the property I own in Long County, and my son moved into my house in Tattnall County.

As a result of moving to Long County, in January 2010 I contacted the Tattnall County Tax Commissioner’s office by telephone and requested that the homestead exemption status be removed from my property in Tattnall County because I no longer qualified for the exemption. I was advised that my homestead-exemption status would be removed.

I have voted in the following elections in Long County since December 2009: general primary on Aug. 10, 2010; general election on Nov. 2, 2010, and special election on March 6, 2011. I have registered my vehicles and purchased my automobile tags from Long County for the years 2010, 2011 and 2012. The utility bills for my residence at 556 Beards Bluff Road NW have been in my name and have been paid by me since I moved to that address.

My father Cecil Nobles was sheriff of Long County when he passed away on Jan. 9, 2012. On Jan. 19, I was appointed as interim sheriff by Probate Judge Marie Middleton.

After I was appointed to serve as sheriff and upon my decision to qualify for the upcoming election, I was advised that opposing candidates had searched the tax records in Tattnall County and discovered that the homestead-exemption status had not been removed from my property in Tattnall County. I immediately contacted the Tattnall County Tax Commissioner’s office with regards to the clerical error in failing to remove the homestead exemption status in January 2010.

On May 10, 2012, I visited the Tattnall County Tax Commissioner’s office and confirmed with Tax Assessor Sandra Spikes our telephone conversation from January 2010 regarding my request for the removal of the homestead-exemption status from my property in Tattnall County. Ms. Spikes advised me that she did, in fact, remember our conversation. Thereafter, she corrected the mistake and removed my homestead exemption. She has signed an affidavit confirming that I had called her in January 2010. A copy of her affidavit is on file at this newspaper’s offices for review should anyone wish to see it. I am and have been since Dec. 28, 2009, a resident of Long County.

Craig W. Nobles,
Long County Sheriff