President’s Letter July 2022

I hope you are having a good summer and getting a chance to catch up on your belated travels.

It has been quite a summer in our country. The Supreme Court has taken actions to strike down established law in such areas as reproductive freedom and separation of religion and state. They have also made it more difficult to implement gun safety restrictions and to protect the environment. And, it looks like they are just getting started.

All of this has increased the polarization of our country into opposing factions and it is more and more difficult to find common ground with many of our neighbors. It is more important than ever to have an organization like the Skidaway Hamiltons, where men who share common values can connect with other like-minded men.

Over the last two years we have mostly been restricted to Zoom meetings which limited our members interaction. Now that we will be meeting in-person again, it will give us the opportunity to allow time for social engagement.

As you will see in this newsletter, we had another year of outstanding programming. We are hard at work to bring you relevant programming in a venue that allows for interaction with the speakers and each other. Our new program season and membership year starts in September.

Our current board members have agreed to continue serving for the 2022-2023 year.

• Marty Grossman, President
• Bruce Wallace, Secretary
• Martin Halper, Treasurer
• Jim Waterman, Program Co-Chair
• Bruce Walker, Program Co-Chair
• Rick Cunningham, IT/Website Chair
• Ron Krannich, Communications Chair

Please get more involved with the Hamiltons this year – we need more members on the Program Committee, Membership Committee and to serve on the Board. Feel free to contact me with any questions.

Marty Grossman
[email protected]

This past year we had speakers on a variety of interesting topics that primarily focused on local issues. 

Shalena Cook Jones, Chatham County District Attorney
The backlog was 28,500 cases when she took office, and the backlog problem was compounded when the State Supreme Court suspended grand jury hearings and jury trials for two years because of COVID.

Brynn Grant, Pres. United Way of Coastal Empire and Chair of the Task Force
Martin Freddy, Director Savannah Housing and Neighborhood Services
Mayor’s Housing Task Force and Affordable Housing Initiatives in Savannah

Melanie Wilson, Executive Director Chatham-Savannah Metropolitan Planning Commission
The critical issue of rising sea levels and flooding in the low country are affecting land development

Ms. Lindsey Grovenstein, Community Engagement Specialist with Inspiritus Savannah 
What Inspiritus is doing to relocate Afghan refugees in the Savannah area

Margaret Coker, Editor-in-Chief of The Current 
Reviving American Democracy: How In-Depth Local Journalism Fosters Engaged Citizenry

Bill Broker and Shaina Thompson, Georgia Legal Services
Evictions: Landlord-Tenant Issues in Savannah

Coco Papy, Director of Public Policy and Communication, Deep Center of Savannah
Criminalization of Poverty in Savannah/Chatham County

Judge Benjamin Karpf, Chatham County Superior Court 
Challenges Presented by COVID for the Chatham County Superior Court

John Holmquist, President of the Landings Association
Housing and Infrastructure in the Landings

Dr. Lawton Davis, Director of the Coastal Health District of Georgia
Understanding the COVID-19 Delta Variant and Vaccines

Summaries of the above programs are available on our website, SkidawayHamiltons.org .

We have made arrangements to hold our meetings at the Messiah Lutheran Church on Skidaway Island starting in September on the third Tuesday of every month at 3:30PM.

September 20th, 2022
Chester Ellis, Chairman of the Chatham County Board of Commissioners, and Patrick Farrell, our District 4 Commissioner will be coming to speak.
More information will be coming when we get closer to the date.

We are looking forward to another productive year focused on issues relevant us. We are in the process of finalizing the next few months of guest speakers who will be coming to address our group.

We also welcome your feedback, recommendations, and involvement with the Hamiltons. Please contact us if you know someone who would be an excellent speaker for our group.

We welcome your ideas and feedback. Email us at [email protected] .

Our membership year will run from September 2022 through August 2023 and dues are $30.00.
Please renew now by clicking HERE .