Posted on 06/06/2004 4:40:20 AM PDT by snopercod
Tight security an eerie break from the ordinary in quiet coastal community
With military helicopters patrolling the skies this week over Sea Island and St. Simons Island, the beaches deserted and protesters and visitors arriving from lands afar, residents of the Georgia coast could tell things were about to get a little strange.
"You don't see any of the tourist traffic that you usually do," Chris Cutright, a Macon resident who has a second home on St. Simons, said Friday. "There's nobody out here."
The Georgia coast this week will host the leaders from the world's eight largest industrial democracies, as the annual G-8 will be held at Glynn County's posh The Cloister resort on Sea Island.
Tiny Sea Island, an exclusive residential development, is accessible only by one bridge from St. Simons Island.
Sea Island's isolation is one reason it was selected by President George W. Bush to host the G-8 summit. With some of the world's most important dignitaries in attendance, including Russian President Vladimir Putin and British Prime Minister Tony Blair, the G-8 summit has been speculated by U.S. officials as potential terrorist target.
The swank accommodations also helped Sea Island beat out the Mount Washington Hotel in New Hampshire for the right to host the summit.
"Coastal Georgia's natural beauty and gracious hospitality represent some of the best that America has to offer," President Bush said this week during his weekly radio address.
No protests will be allowed on Sea Island, as the barrier island will be closed to the public during the summit. Protests have been organized to be held in Brunswick, the nearest inland city to St. Simons Island, and in Savannah, about 80 miles northeast of Sea Island.
These protests, staged by Greenpeace, the Southeast Anarchist Network and other groups, likely will be violence-free. However, during the 2001 G-8 summit in Genoa, Italy, and the 1999 World Trade Organization meeting in Seattle, violent protests erupted, with millions of dollars in damages inflicted on Seattle, and one fatal shooting in Italy.
Those experiences have led G-8 organizers to look for more remote locations for the yearly event. Last year, the summit was held at Evian-les-Bains, a resort in the French Alps, and in 2002 the G-8 was hosted by a ski resort in the Canadian Rockies.
While the protesters in Brunswick and Savannah likely pose little danger to Bush and the world's dignitaries, federal and state authorities are preparing for a potential massive terrorist attack during the G-8 summit.
U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft earlier this month said "credible intelligence from multiple sources" indicated the strong likelihood al Qaeda planned a terrorist attack in the U.S. in coming months. Potential targets could be the G-8 summit, the Republican National Convention in New York this summer, or the Democratic National Convention in Boston.
Accordingly, about 20,000 law-enforcement officers and military troops have been assigned to the Sea Island area for the three days of economic and military talks.
Sea Island will be guarded by troops from the National Guard, security agents with the Secret Service and the U.S. Coast Guard. The airspace along Georgia's Golden Isles will be off-limits to air traffic. Waterways will be off-limits to private boats for up to three nautical miles off Sea Island, according to the Associated Press.
Macon's Cutright said the beach at the King and Prince Resort on St. Simons was being patrolled Friday by "solid, dark-gray" boats.
"It's hard to read a book with all the constant helicopter traffic," she said. "The kids think it's great."
Tourists
While traffic is expected to be much heavier than normal in Brunswick, Glynn County Police Department Chief Matt Doering said there's no reason for tourists to avoid the area.
"Other than that you can expect delays, you should be able to get around," Doering said. Anyone heading to St. Simons Island can expect traffic delays of up to one hour, Doering said.
Current plans are to stop and check all commercial vehicles going onto St. Simons, while monitoring other traffic. Those plans could change depending on whether U.S. authorities raise the level of a possible terrorist threat.
Motorists on Interstate 16 or Interstate 95 shouldn't see traffic delays during the week of the G-8 summit, said Georgia Department of Transportation spokeswoman Sherry Beal.
"If there is, it would be very minor," she said.
Locals have been told that traffic is likely to be backed up for a minimum of three hours at a time.
Cutright said some of her neighbors were stocking up on groceries as if readying for a hurricane. She also said some business owners near the pier on St. Simons Island were boarding up their buildings, while others plan to carry on as usual.
"Several restaurants have closed because they're worried about getting their employees here," Cutright said.
Jekyll Island, a state-owned island just south of St. Simons Island, will be easier to access than St. Simons Island, which has the only link to Sea Island, Doering said.
Jekyll Island has a few hotels, a state park and a large expanse of undeveloped beachfront.
It's uncertain how many demonstrators will show up in Brunswick, Doering said. A group called United For Peace and Justice, which intends to protest the war in Iraq and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, plans to hold marches during the summit, with one demonstration slated for downtown Brunswick.
The city of Brunswick has approved permits for the group's marches on Tuesday and Wednesday, but not Thursday, said Lisa Fithian, a national co-chair for the United for Peace and Justice. Her group expects at least 200 people to participate each day.
About 5,000 protesters are expected at Forsyth Park in Savannah.
A coalition of advocacy groups will take part in an event called Fair World Fair, which has scheduled events for Savannah and the Coastal Georgia Community College campus in Brunswick. Located on Altama Avenue on the north side of Brunswick, the Fair World Fair is several miles from the F. J. Torras Causeway that connects Brunswick with St. Simons Island.
The Fair World Fair, billed as "an alternative to the Greedy Eight," opens Sunday and runs through Thursday, the last day of the summit.
Fithian believed many more protesters would have come to the Georgia coast had it not been what she called an "inhospitable" approach to demonstrators by city, state and federal officials.
"There's been a very cumbersome negotiation process for all of the permits," Fithian said. She called the G-8 a "non-accountable body."
Some protesters have criticized Gov. Sonny Perdue's decision to issue a state of emergency for the coast during the summit. But Perdue said the decision, which was also implemented during the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta, is designed only to help organize law-enforcement operations and streamline the decision-making process.
"This is simply a preliminary legal maneuver," Perdue said May 28.
Some groups have also complained that summit organizers and state and federal officials are trying to cut off access to the media.
"I think they are creating an environment where there are very few avenues to communicate with the media," said Tom Clements, a senior advisor to the group's anti-nuclear campaign. "They are helping create a climate that may cause people to seek other ways to get their message out."
There is little doubt that plenty of media representatives from around the world will be in place on the Georgia coast during the summit week. Sea Island Summit organizers estimate about 5,000 members of the press and consulate corps will be staying in Savannah and Brunswick during the G-8.
Middle Georgia protester
At least one Middle Georgian will be participating in the G-8 demonstrations.
Sam Marshall, a retired resident of Milledgeville, said he will man a booth to educate people about issues related to the summit.
Marshall, 71, said he is not opposed to the G-8 in principle, but believes that many aspects of globalization harm poorer countries, and more should be done to help American workers who lose their jobs due to free trade.
"I think in the long run, G-8 is one of the best things we have going for us worldwide" Marshall said. "But the main problem is the general public doesn't have enough knowledge. People have a much better interest in domestic policy than foreign policy."
Because the lack of general voter interest in the G-8, policy decisions are overly influenced by corporations and banks, Marshall said.
Numerous environmental-protection advocacy groups plan to make themselves seen and heard in Savannah during the week of the summit.
Greenpeace will sponsor an exhibit to educate people about the issue of using weapons-grade plutonium as fuel for nuclear power plants, Clements said. Greenpeace opposes using plutonium as fuel, because it would be safer to treat the material as nuclear waste.
"We think handling plutonium creates avenues of theft and diversion," he said.
Former U.S. Sen. Sam Nunn, D-Ga., may agree with Clements' assessment. Nunn, a Perry native, has issued several warnings in recent days to the G-8 leaders to press forward with their previous agreement to reduce the world's stockpile of biological, chemical and nuclear weapons. Nunn, who is associated with a consortium of think tanks called Strengthening the Global Partnership, has called the spread of weapons of mass destruction the world's most-pressing security threat.
Ha! I was just down there taking my son to visit my parents in Darien - when we pulled onto the island the deerflies were bouncing off the windshield of the truck in their dozens. We grabbed our essentials and scampered into the house.
Those fool protesters think they're going to lead a revolution when they can't even arrange for an advance man?
Next time you're down, we should all meet up at Archie's for coffee.
I hardly had time to get a cup of coffee out of my folks' kitchen!
Next time I'll try to give you warning!
I'm game... until Miss E's near-death experience we went to St. Andrew's in Darien where her old priest migrated.
*gasp* I didn't know Miss E had been ill. Is she better now?
The plate she had put in her neck in 2001 fixed the problem ( a vanished disc ) but it was a squeaker- she has probably recovered about 90% of what she was before the problem developed. Unfortunately, her singing voice has never recovered- here once remarkable SATB range ( soprano, alto, teno, bass ) is gone.
It must be very hard losing her singing ability, but wonderful she's made such a recovery.
I've been watching helicopters today...quite a few of them. Don't think I've seen any since the thunderstorm.
I think these cities need to require a protest damage bond of about $10,000 before these things. The protesters can get their money back if no damage has been done. These guys come into town, bust up windows, tear up pavement, turn over and burn cars. I'm sick of seeing the locals stuck with cleaning up the mess.
That was a quick trip! Do try to give warning - especially if it's before school starts back!
Yes, there is quite a lot of activity up in the sky- the Black Helicopter folks are probably going nuts.
On the other hand, I suspect crime is way down in Brunswick and across the county- not just from all the police and military I see patrolling; I have even seen motorcycle patrols, something we haven't had for years.
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