Resident tells Glynn County commissioners methadone clinic across from Tractor Supply is linked to crimes, urges hospital oversight

At the Glynn County Board of Commissioners meeting on May 1, resident Patricia Varnadore used the public-comment period to raise concerns about a methadone clinic located on Highway 341 across from Tractor Supply, alleging that nonlocal patients are being dropped in the county, that thefts and discarded needles have increased, and urging the county to move oversight to the hospital or direct out-of-area clients elsewhere.

Varnadore introduced herself with a local address and said she has lived in the community for decades and previously worked in health care. She told commissioners a Duval County minibus is dropping “15 to 20 homeless” people at I‑95 at about 3 a.m., and that many of those individuals do not live in Glynn County. “They’re dumping them at Sonny’s, they’re dumping them across to the motels,” she said.

Varnadore alleged a pattern of theft and property crime she tied to the clinic’s clientele and the broader local street situation. She cited repeated thefts at local retailers and said people were stealing generators and grocery items; describing the effect on neighborhoods, she said there were needles along Old Jessup Road and reported two men attempted to steal a whole-house generator from her home earlier in the year. She also said local law enforcement is stretched thin and that service levels differ between St. Simons and mainland Brunswick.

She urged the county to consider alternatives to the current clinic arrangement, saying the hospital could manage the service where outcomes could be monitored or the county could require nonlocal clients be served in their originating jurisdictions. “If you really want to provide that service in this community, we should allot it to the hospital where it could be controlled,” Varnadore said.

Commissioners did not take action on the claim during the meeting. The remarks were offered during public comment; no motion or directive related to the clinic was recorded on the meeting record. The county did not present program data, law-enforcement statistics or staff response during the hearing; Varnadore said specific numbers and photos were on her phone and asked the board to look into the issue.

Because this was a public-comment statement, the board’s record does not verify the claims made about bus drop-offs, theft counts or individuals’ origins; those assertions remain the speaker’s account unless corroborated by law enforcement, the clinic operator or county staff.