Tuesday, Jan. 22, 2019
Tifton, Georgia
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CANCER FOUND ON TONSILS OF SINGER JOHN BERRY
GRAMMY AWARD-WINNING FORMER TIFT COUNTY RESIDENT
UPBEAT ABOUT POSITIVE PROGNOSIS
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VIDEO:
John and Robin Berry post a message Tuesday about John's "little hiccup" regarding his health.
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G
rammy Award-winning
singer/songwriter
John Berry
on
Tuesday
shared an upbeat, positive
message
about his
health
after
a
malignant tumor
was found on both of his
tonsils
.
Berry
, who has many
friends
in
Tifton
, spent about a
year
living in
Tift County
in
2012
before relocating back to the
Nashville, Tenn.
, area.
The
singer
and his wife
Robin
posted a
video message
to
fans
and the
music industry Tuesday
and, in an accompanying
press release
, calls his
medical condition
a
"
bump in the road"
at the start of the new year.
Treated with
antibiotics
for a
tonsil infection
that started in
November
,
Berry
made it all the way through his
21-city
annual
Christmas tour
without incident, but his condition
never cleared up
, even after a second round of antibiotics and steroids.
He then saw a
specialist
in
Nashville
on
Jan. 4
who ordered a
CAT scan
, which revealed what appeared to be a
tumor
in one of his
tonsils
. Berry went into
surgery
to have
both tonsils removed Jan. 10
, and while in surgery it was found that the
tumor
was
larger
than his
tonsil
on one side. A
small portion
of his
soft palate
was also
removed
.
Upon receipt of the
biopsy
report, it was confirmed to be a
malignant tumor
on
both tonsils
. The expected
treatment
is just
five weeks
and has over a
90 percent
cure rate.
Berry
and his
wife
are asking folks to lift them up in
daily prayers
, asking
God
for
healing, strength, wisdom and patience
as they go through these next few months.
According to the press release, "
2018
was a
great year
, and
2019
promises to be
even bigger
, with several
projects
in discussion, a
growing tour schedule
and
more music
to come later in the year.
God is good
, and they are
thankful
for His grace and mercy. He knows the plan and has made their path in His perfect timing."
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Alice Archie, left, and Melissa Hughes were both recipients of the "Spirit of Service Award" from PLIGHT during the MLK Day Breakfast on Monday at the Tift County Recreation Center.
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TIFTONITES TOLD TO BE 'MOLD-BREAKERS' DURING MLK DAY BREAKFAST
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"Be a
mold-breaker
" the
audience
was
urged Monday
during the annual
Martin Luther King Jr. Day Breakfast
in
Tifton
, sponsored by the
PLIGHT
organization –
"
P
roud
L
oving
I
ndividuals
G
iving a
H
and to
T
eens."
The Rev.
Daniel Simmons
of
Mt. Zion Baptist Church
in
Albany
was
guest speaker
and said Dr.
King
was a
"mold-breaker"
who "went against the
customs
of his day." He said the Rev.
Billy Graham
also was a
mold-breaker
who
opened
his
sermons
to
all races
side-by-side.
Simmons
said all of us are
molded
by the
society
in which we
grow up
and it takes
conscious thought
and
effort
to
break out
of the mold to
see
and
live
a
higher truth
.
Paraphrasing King,
Simmons
also noted, "
Injustice anywhere
creates
injustice everywhere
."
During the breakfast,
PLIGHT
gave its
"Spirit of Service Award"
to two recipients
this year –
Alice Archie
and Tift County Commissioner
Melissa Hughes.
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TIFT CHAMBER'S MARLOWE INTRODUCES GOV. KEMP AT HIS FIRST SPEECH
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Brian Marlowe
, president of the
Tifton-Tift County Chamber of Commerce
and the
Tift County Development Authority
, officially introduced Gov.
Brian Kemp
at the
Georgia Chamber of Commerce's Eggs & Issues breakfast
last
Wednesday
at the
Georgia World Congress Center
in
Atlanta
.
More than
2,000
business leaders and elected officials from across the state gathered for the event to hear
Kemp's first speech
after his
inauguration
.
Marlowe
was also selected as part of Kemp's
transition team
in
November
.
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VIDEO:
Congressman Austin Scott, R-Ga. (Tifton) speaks on the U.S. House Floor urging colleagues to support an amendment that he and Congressman Sanford Bishop, D-Ga. (Albany) co-sponsored to increase emergency assistance to agricultural producers who suffered hurricane losses.
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U.S. REPS. SCOTT, BISHOP OFFER AMENDMENT TO INCREASE EMERGENCY FUNDING TO AG PRODUCERS
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Congressmen
Austin Scott
, R-Ga. (Tifton), and
Sanford Bishop
, D-Ga. (Albany), have joined forces for an
amendment
to increase
emergency assistance
to
agricultural producers
who suffered
losses
from hurricanes, wildfires and other
natural disasters
in
2018
.
The amendment is to the
Supplemental Appropriations Act
.
“
Farmers
and
rural communities
across our country have been reeling from the impacts of
devastating losses
from
natural disasters
. In my home state of
Georgia
alone,
damages
have been estimated at
over $2.5 billion
with many producers losing not only this year’s crop but impacting them for years to come,”
Scott
said.
“For months now,
Sanford Bishop
and I have worked to
deliver relief
to farmers and rural communities in
Georgia
. I thank him for his support on this amendment. ...
Hurricane Michael
devastated
Southwest Georgia
and left a path of destruction into Virginia. Across the State of
Georgia
, many producers suffered
near 100 percent crop
losses
."
In response to natural disasters in
2017
,
Congress
created the
Wildfires and Hurricanes Indemnity Program (WHIP)
through the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2018. The program provides
disaster payments
to
agricultural producers
to offset losses from
natural disasters
.
The
Scott-Bishop amendment
ensures
$3 billion
will be appropriated into
WHIP
to provide
relief
for
producers
impacted by
Hurricane Michael
and other
natural disasters
in
2018
.
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TIFT COUNTY SHERIFF'S OFFICE ARRESTS 96 IN DECEMBER
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During
December
, the
Tift County Sheriff's Office
arrested
96
people, some on multiple charges, reports Sheriff
Gene Scarbrough.
He said that
39
charges of parole/probation violation were filed,
11
crimes against persons charges,
six
property crimes charges,
nine
weapons charges,
three
child-support cases,
11
obstruction cases and
29
non-traffic cases.
Traffic stops
conducted by deputies led to
11
charges of driving under the influence,
nine
drug charges,
18
individuals having a suspended or revoked driver’s license as well as
two
weapons charges and the arrest of
a wanted person
.
Scarbrough
said deputies served
159
warrants,
84
civil papers and
104
subpoenas.
Deputies responded to
2,785
calls for service, conducted
553
business and property checks,
239
mobile home park and subdivision checks with
six
school checks in an
11-day period
as the numbers for the complete month are
unavailable
because of
E-911’s conversion
to a
new
computer-aided
dispatch system
.
The sheriff said deputies completed
461
reports, worked
39
accidents, issued
448
traffic citations,
120
traffic warnings and patrolled
55,374
miles.
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FRUIT & VEGETABLE GROWERS HONOR UGA FACULTY, EXTENSION
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University of Georgia
vegetable horticulturist
Tim Coolong
, formerly of
Tifton
, received the
Donnie H. Morris Award of Excellence in Extension
during the
Southeast Regional Fruit and Vegetable Conference
recently in
Savannah
.
The annual award is presented by the
Georgia Fruit and Vegetable Growers Association
to a UGA Cooperative Extension employee for
contributions
made to the state fruit and vegetable industries.
“It was a great thrill. It was a great honor not only to be nominated by them but to actually receive the award,”
Coolong
said,
at left in photo
with
Dick Minor
of
Minor Brothers Farms.
Coolong
has worked with more than
25
vegetables, ranging from popular crops like
watermelons
and
peppers
to obscure commodities such as
kalettes
, a cross between
kale
and
brussels sprouts
.
Before
Coolong
joined the
UGA Tifton
campus in
2013
, Georgia’s
farm gate
value for
vegetables
was
$935.5 million
for
2012
, according to the UGA Center for Agribusiness and Economic Development. In
2016
, the farm gate value for vegetables was
$1.1 billion.
“There were a couple of things when I came in that I wanted to focus on. We had not had a
vegetable specialist
in that position for about four years, so I wanted to make sure I was able to get back out there in front of the growers and provide a service for them,”
Coolong
said.
“The other thing that I spent a lot of time on was establishing a
variety screening
program. We really didn’t have many strong relationships with the
vegetable seed companies
and their
breeders
. That was my top priority when I started — to build those relationships and start a program. I think we were successful with that.”
In
2018
,
Coolong
moved to the
UGA Athens campus
, where he now focuses on
organic vegetable
production.
UGA
Extension
vegetable plant pathologist
Bhabesh Dutta
of
Tifton
and
Appling County
Extension Agent
Shane Curry
were also honored, being named to the first class of
Fruit and Vegetable 40 under 40
award winners.
Since joining the vegetable pathology program at
UGA Tifton
in
2012
,
Dutta
has been part of multiple research projects that have impacted Georgia vegetable producers. He provides growers with
management options
for multiple
fungal, bacterial and viral diseases
in
vegetables
, as well as
leading
a
national effort
on
center rot
, an important
bacterial disease
of
onions
.
Dutta
also led a project to improvement the management of
botrytis leaf blight
in
onions
through early- and late-season
fungicide spraying
.
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TIFT 4-H'er NAMED TO
ALL-STATE BB GUN TEAM
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In a
fir
st
for the
Tift County 4-H Shooting Sports Teams
,
Haley Brannen
has been named to the
All-State BB Gun Team
.
Only
five
of more than
600
competitors were named to the
team
, says Coach
David Haire
, seen in the photo with
Haley
.
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TIFT COUNTY HIGH FBLA MEMBERS WIN AWARDS
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The
Tift County High School
chapter of
Future Business Leaders of America
recently
won
several awards
at the
Region Leadership Conference
in
Moultrie
.
“We had an awesome day in
Moultrie
with our
Tift County FBLA students
today (Friday,
Jan. 18
). We had many, many
winners
as well as
state qualifiers
. We even received a
membership award
for having the
second-largest local chapter
in Region 1. We had
39
individual winners in
24
total events,” said lead advisor
Marla Thompson
.
The chapter has
121
student members who attend
Tift County High School
and
10
professional members which include members of the community and four advisors. The chapter is under the leadership of advisors
Marla Thompson, Christi Fletcher, Xavier Holmes, Luarell Mullen and Melissa Busbin
.
Among
award winners
are:
1st Place Introduction to Information Technology:
Lleyton Callison
, state qualifier
1st Place Spreadsheet Applications:
Reed McPherson
, state qualifier
1st Place Business Ethics:
Lizzie Connell
and
Julia Ryland
, state qualifiers
1st Place Client Service:
Sydney Pridgon
, state qualifier
1st Place Introduction to Business Presentation:
Sharia Williams
and
Akosua Owusu
1st Place Banking and Financial Systems:
Alexandria Whitacre
1st Place Entrepreneurship:
Sharia Williams
, state qualifier
1st Place Marketing:
Henry Huang
1st Network Design: J
ames Kemerait
1st Place Parliamentary Procedure:
Liam Young, Lizzie Connell, William Goodman, Chrishawn Chappell, Aubrey Gay
2nd Place Political Science:
James Applewhite
, state qualifier
2nd Place Web Design:
Liam Young
and
Aubrey Gay
2nd Place Introduction to Public Speaking:
Chrishawn Chappelle
, state qualifier
3rd Place Graphic Design:
Yaretzi Cordova
3rd Place Banking and Financial Systems:
Evalynn Rosales
4th Place Emerging Business Issues: J
ulio Del Toro, Giselle Chavez
and
Rebecca Tello
4th Place Management Decision Making:
Brianna Biggers
and
Rylea Madison Taylor
5th Place Accounting I:
Chayla Lopez
, state qualifier
5th Place Business Communications:
Hayley Burns
, state qualifier
5th Place Impromptu Speaking:
Sergio Perez
, state qualifier
5th Place Public Speaking:
Chelsea Ryan
6th Place Introduction to Information Technology:
Dillon Turner
, state qualifier
6th Place Personal Finance:
Katie Lovering
, state qualifier
8th Place Economics:
Jalessa Williams
, state qualifier
8th Place Introduction to Financial Math:
Phillip Spader
, state qualifier
9th Place Introduction to Business:
Taylor Slater
, state qualifier
9th Place Introduction to Information Technology:
Phillip Spader
, state qualifier
10th Place Economics:
Pashen Barthell
, state qualifier
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GOT A WEEKEND YARD SALE? LET US KNOW!
The
Tifton Grapevine
is now publishing
yard sales
in
Friday editions
. The
yard sales
are
text
only,
no photos
, and is part of a
list
linked from the
Grapevine
edition to our
web page
.
The
cost
is
$1 per word
, and
yard sales
must be
paid in advance
via
credit card
or
PayPal
.
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Tifton Grapevine
e-published every Tuesday and Friday
Frank Sayles Jr.
Editor & Publisher
Bonnie Sayles
Managing Editor
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A Service of
Sayles Unlimited Marketing LLC
, Tifton, Georgia
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