Tuesday, September 22, 2020
Tifton, Georgia
GrapeNew
CITY & COUNTY '90% THERE' IN RESOLVING SERVICE ISSUES
TIFTON OK's COUNTY PLAN WITH CLARIFICATIONS
By FRANK SAYLES JR.
Tifton Grapevine
Tifton City Council on Monday accepted Tift County’s plan for providing essential services "contingent upon further discussion of the dismissal of litigation,” thereby ending an impasse between the two governments.

“We’re finally putting a big issue – that we were battling for several months, actually years – behind us, and we’re able to move forward,” said Vice Mayor Wes Ehlers. “We’re about 90 percent of the way there. ... This is a new day; I’m really excited about what this means to the city and the county."

Mayor Julie B. Smith said she was “very thrilled to see” the county’s agreement, which is “something we feel very comfortable with."

The Tift County Commission proposed handling some services from the county's general fund, such as EMS, non-emergency E-911 dispatching, recreation and animal control. Road maintenance and construction would remain unchanged. The Tifton-Tift County Public Library would be funded jointly.

Also, the city could continue contracting with the sheriff for housing inmates, with the tax collector for city tax collection, and with the Tift County Board of Elections for municipal elections.

Several services were left in limbo after negotiations fell apart in June when a neutral mediator reported that both governments were at an impasse and could not agree on how to provide the services. Since then, city and county representatives have been working to reach agreement.

The county proposed that with the joint Service Delivery Strategy, the city and county dismiss any claims unrelated to the water and wastewater systems. City officials said discussions will continue on dismissing claims.

"We need further clarification on what is actually being dismissed by both parties," Smith said.

City attorney Rob Wilmot noted that water and services will remain an issue going forward.

“We know we’ve still got to fuss about water and sewer, but let’s resolve these other issues,” he said.

City Manager Pete Pyrzenski told the Tifton Grapevine that the action represents approval of the Service Delivery Strategy (SDS), which will be sent to the state Department of Community Affairs after some administrative language is cleaned up.

For a couple of years, the city and county have been attempting to reach agreement on a SDS. Every 10 years, the state requires local governments to adopt a joint plan to detail what services – such as fire, water, animal control, etc., – are provided and who provides them.
BLUE DEVIL FOOTBALL
MAY RETURN OCT. 2
By FRANK SAYLES JR.
Tifton Grapevine
The Tift County High Blue Devils varsity football team, whose quarantine ends after Wednesday, hopes to play its next game Oct. 2 at Irwin County High, a school system spokesman says.

After quarantine, the team is required to have a five-day re-acclimation period that ends Sept. 30, spokesman Jonathan Judy told the Tifton Grapevine on Tuesday.

Because of that, this Friday's scheduled game is canceled.

Tift County High has played one game so far this season, on Sept. 4 at Crisp County. On Sept. 11, the Blue Devils' home opener against Valdosta High was cancelled after four players and Head Coach Ashley Anders tested positive for COVID-19. The state Department of Public Health then decided to quarantine the varsity football team through Wednesday, Sept. 23.

Although the coronavirus has delayed Tift County’s football season, Judy said the total number of positive cases in the school system “show the staff is doing a pretty good job with social distancing; the staff has done an amazing job, along with the community. The numbers are continuing to trend in the right direction.

"So far, we’ve been very encouraged."

According to the school system’s weekly COVID-19 update, as of the end of the day Sept. 17, there were a total of six students with a current positive status out of 7,775 students. There were seven employees, out of 1,110, with a positive status.

Judy acknowledged that the situation is fluid and can change day to day. He said the staff and administrators are committed to keeping everyone safe in the schools and to help high school seniors enjoy a senior year with as few disruptions as possible.
TIFT A 'HIGH-TRANSMISSION' COUNTY BUT NEW VIRUS CASES DECLINING, DPH SAYS
By FRANK SAYLES JR.
Tifton Grapevine
While Tift County's number of new COVID-19 cases are declining, Tift is still ranked as a “high-transmission” county for its number of positive tests, according to data from the state Department of Public Health (DPH).

Tift County reported 16 new coronavirus cases Tuesday, showing a decline of 5 percent or less in 14 days, the DPH reported. However, during the two-week period, Tift showed a 12.1 percent rate for tests with a positive result.

A county with high-transmission indicators is defined as having a 14-day positive test rate of 10 percent or higher, and a two-week case rate of more than 100 cases per 100,000 county residents. Tift County shows 229 cases per 100,000 residents for the period, the DPH said.

Tift has had 1,713 COVID-19 cases since the pandemic began along with a total of 56 deaths, the state reports.
Statewide, an additional 1,017 COVID-19 cases and 73 more deaths were reported Tuesday. Georgia’s total number of confirmed cases is 308,221, and total coronavirus-related deaths are 6,677 in the state.
ENVIRONMENTAL GROUP,
ADEL RESIDENTS PROTEST
PROPOSED INDUSTRIAL PLANT
By FRANK SAYLES JR.
Tifton Grapevine
Some Adel residents and a North Carolina environmental group are opposing a proposed industrial wood-pellet plant in Adel.

Texas-based Renewable Biomass Group is hoping to build an industrial wood-pellet plant in Adel, producing 450,000 tons of pellets per year beginning in the first quarter of 2022, according to company information.

Adel City Council on Monday voted 3-2 to annex 171 acres in the industrial park area and rezone it from agricultural to heavy industrial, which would allow the plant on the site.

A group of residents, led by Dr. Treva Gear, picketed the meeting outside City Hall.

“We are about to bring in this pollution, and it’s going to be about one to two miles from our community, which you cannot contain air pollution, and particularly close to the African American community," Gear told WALB-TV.

She said that area is predominately African American and low income, "and that’s an environmental and justice issue.”

The Dogwood Alliance, a nonproft environmental conservation organization based in Asheville, N.C., has joined the fight. The organization says the wood-pellet plant would cut down nearly 12,000 acres each year “spewing tons of heat-trapping CO2 and other pollutants into our atmosphere. These lands will take decades to grow back, if they ever do. All that to fill some multinational corporate coffers by selling wood pellets to Europe to burn for dirty electricity."

Mayor Buddy Duke said the proposed plant would be a $70 million investment in Adel with between 70 and 90 new jobs. He told WALB-TV: “If we didn’t feel like this company wasn’t environmentally sound, then we wouldn’t have a dog in the hunt with them. But they are following all the federal guidelines on sound and noise, emissions and environmental hazards that come about. They are following the guidelines set up by the federal government.”
TIFTAREA ACADEMY HAS FUN DURING HOMECOMING WEEK
It’s Homecoming Week at Tiftarea Academy, and that means it is time to break out the costumes.

This past Monday was "Celebrity Day," and students, faculty and staff got into the spirit, as one can see from the photos.

Tuesday was "Country Day;" Wednesday is "Color Day;" Thursday, "Throwback Thursday;" and
Friday will be "Spirit Day."

Friday night's football game in the Panther Pit begins at 7 p.m. against Frederica Academy, and the Homecoming queen will be crowned at halftime.

Food trucks will be set up and ready to serve by 6 p.m. Folks are asked to wear a mask if they are unable to social distance.
Paid for by the Tifton Merchants Association. To join, email kmcalpin@tifton.net or call 229-391-3978.
RURAL PROSPERITY SUMMIT RETURNING TO TIFTON
The Georgia Chamber of Commerce is bringing the Fourth Annual Rural Prosperity Summit back to Tifton on Oct. 7.

This year, attendees may participate in person or virtually online. The summit will be from 9 a.m.-3 p.m. at the University of Georgia Tifton Campus Conference Center.

With a focus on recovery in a post-COVID economy, the summit will drill down into issues facing rural Georgia today and what can be done to move the state to a more resilient future. 

The Georgia Chamber's Rural Prosperity Summit is an annual event that brings together hundreds of business leaders and elected officials engaged in creating robust rural communities throughout the state.

For information and to register, visit gachamber.com
TIFTON-TIFT COUNTY CHAMBER OF COMMERCE RIBBON CUTTING
YOUR PIE
2201 U.S. Highway 41 North, Tifton
Sept. 18
TCHS GRADUATE NAMED GEORGIA ALTERNATIVE EDUCATION STUDENT OF YEAR
Ruben Carbajal Jr., a member of the Tift County High School Class of 2020, has been selected by the Georgia Association for Alternative Education as the 2020 Student of the Year.

Carbajal was a student at Tift County's Sixth Street Academy, where he graduated two years early.

He is now a student at Wiregrass Technical College, where he is studying to be an automotive technician.

When being recognized the other day at Sixth Street Academy, Carbajal offered this advice to current students there: "Don't
give up."
TIFTON GRAPEVINE'S CAT OF THE WEEK
This feline is among the pets available for adoption at the Tift County Animal Shelter. Visit the Animal Shelter from 1-6 p.m. Mondays through Fridays, or call 229-382-PETS (7387).
Pets of the Week are sponsored by:
Branch's Veterinary Clinic
205 Belmont Ave., Tifton, 229-382-6055
TIFTON TOUCHDOWN CLUB CREATED
– SEPT. 23, 1954
The Tifton Touchdown Club was organized on Sept. 23, 1954, with John H. Fletcher named president; J. Roger Morris, vice president; James H. Gatewood, program chairman; and directors Dillard Hand and C.D. Moore. The group's first order of business involved planning a free barbecue at the Country Club for prospective members.
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