By Genevieve Rogers

 

There's a photo hanging on the main wall in the lobby of All-American Glass that reads, "The United States - Love It or Leave It". If you walk around a bit, you'll also find images of the Twin Towers and 9-11, the American flag, and other patriotic symbols. American eagles line the deep red counter tops in the center of the room. Outside, a huge American flag flies high and proud atop a flag pole. It's usually the first thing you see when you round the bend on eastbound Highway 80 in Pooler, right before you get to Rogers Street.

The company is very patriotic and it's not ashamed to show it, from it's pictures all the way down to the red, white, and blue interior and exterior. But it's not the pictures on the wall or the patriotic colors that make this company All-American, it's the man behind it... Aaron Walker.

Mr. Walker is the type of man who makes a good first impression. Upon meeting him, I was greeted with a bright friendly smile, a firm handshake, and a kind voice. You can hear the pride in that voice as he walks over to a wall and points to a photo taken of the business when it opened back in 1987. There in the photo is a younger version of Mr. Walker, standing next to one of his glass trucks.     Read More

The Sad State of The North Bryan County Animal Shelter

 

By Steve Hartley

 

At best, the situation would be described as deplorable, horrific, and detestable. At worst, it was a biohazard where animals’ remains were being dumped in a dumpster after being killed off. The conditions at the Bryan County Animal Shelter in Pembroke are just plain bad.

Probably none of you reading this article are as big a dog lovers as my wife Allison. We’ve got four of them at home, and if it were up to her, we’d have a dozen more in our back yard right now.

As many of you know, my wife’s mother suffered a stroke several weeks back. She’s home now, and mentioned to Allison that she’d like to have a small dog to keep her company. Since we’ve been running some classified ads for the Bryan County Animal Shelter in Pembroke, Allison decided she’d call them to see about adopting a little dog for her.

Joy Bohannon, the volunteer at the shelter, said she had the perfect small dog for Allison’s Mom, and asked if she could meet her at the McDonald’s on Hwy 280. Allison agreed and met her there. Of course she immediately fell in love with the dog, said it looked like a gremlin, and decided she’d be perfect for Mom. But Joy had forgotten to bring the paperwork with her, so Allison followed her back to the nearby shelter.

Here’s where the story takes a drastic turn for the worse. When Allison pulled up and opened her car door, she nearly gagged from the stench. Less than 100 feet from the shelter’s front door sits a dumpster that’s filled with the decaying carcasses of dead animals.

Joy apologized profusely for the situation, saying  that normally, euthanized dogs would be placed in a freezer, but theirs had been broken for months. “Last week, you could see the dog’s limbs sticking out the top,” she said, pointing to the dumpster. Allison broke down in tears as she told me the story later that night.     Read More