ST. SIMONS ISLAND, Ga. — The countdown clock for Florida-Georgia weekend is in motion – just 72 days remain until the football rivalry comes to Jacksonville.
But officials in South Georgia are already planning for the worst.
“The problem that we've got as a county is we are going to be stretched to the limit,” Glynn County Commissioner Bill Brunson said at a special meeting called on Tuesday. “We can’t get anybody come to work -- we got a problem staffing our restaurants as they are.”
A year ago, as COVID surged, Glynn County banned alcohol on “frat beach,” the annual college student party on St. Simons Island. It was an attempt to tamp down behavior that had "become reckless and intolerable,” according to Scott McQuaid, president of the Golden Isles Convention and Visitors Bureau.
Local businesses hoped for a rebound this year – but some are worried they can’t handle the rush.
“We’re short-staffed all the way around, not just me with my staff, but from the county and law enforcement,” Forrest Brown, owner of the two local Brogan’s restaurants, told commissioners. “I mean, being in business, I want to do as much business as I can, but not at the expense of some kind of catastrophe for the county.”
Glynn County Sheriff Neal Jump said the county will host more than football fans in October. “The Georgia Florida weekend, it's gonna be right at the height of the Arbery trial,” he said, referencing the trial of three men charged with murdering Ahmaud Arbery. The high-profile case, which has already generated large rallies and marches, is will put the small city of Brunswick in the national spotlight -- possibly for months.
“As you both said, everybody’s short, we're short,” Jump said. He said ordinarily his agency would ask for assistance from the Georgia State Patrol and the law enforcement arm of the Georgia Department of Natural Resources. But he noted those agencies have been pulled to Atlanta for frequent weekend protests over the fatal police shooting of Rayshard Brooks.
“So the things that we have used in the past, we probably can't use them this time.”
The Glynn County Commission meets again Thursday at 6 p.m. to discuss and vote on possible solutions, but at least some are thinking, this year less is more.
“It could turn into a really catastrophic event if this thing goes sideways,” said Brunson. “I think we need to make every effort we can to try to try to curtail this thing.”