City, County Come Together

JUNE 12, 2018

Tifton, Georgia

478-227-7126

tiftongrapevine.com

CITY, COUNTY

MOVE AHEAD

ON SERVICES

AGREEMENT CLEARS WAY FOR RUTH'S COTTAGE GRANT

The cities of Tifton, Ty Ty and Omega, along with Tift County, on Monday approved a joint

resolution adopting a Service Delivery Strategy for one year, allowing a grant request to go forward for construction of a new facility for Ruth's Cottage and the Patticake House in Tifton.

Between now and June 30, 2019, Tifton and Tift County will continue ironing out differences regarding the provision of several services, including water, wastewater-sewer, solid waste disposal and Emergency 911.

Every 10 years, the state requires local governments to adopt a Service Delivery

Strategy to detail what services -- such as fire, water, animal control, etc., -- are provided and who provides them. The new strategy is due by June 30, and Tifton and Tift County have been working on the items but did not believe they all could be completed by month's end.

Without an approved strategy at the beginning of the fiscal year, the state said it could not consider the Community Development Block Grant request for building an 11,000-square-foot facility for Ruth's Cottage and the Patticake House -- the domestic violence prevention, emergency shelter and child advocacy organization.

City and county officials got together with the Ga. Department of Community Affairs, and after several conversations and revisions, the one-year compromise was worked out.

PUBLIC LIBRARY CUTTING HOURS

BECAUSE OF FINANCES

Because of what it calls "longstanding financial difficulties," the Tifton-Tift County Public Library has announced it will reduce its operational hours, effective July 1.

The new hours will be:

Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, 9 a.m.-6 p.m.
Tuesdays and Thursdays, 9 a.m.-7 p.m.
Saturdays, 10 a.m.-3 p.m.
Closed on Sundays

A total of eight hours have been cut each week, said Victoria Horst, library manager. She said the amount of money spent on materials will also be reduced.

"We are funded by the city and the county. Funding for the library, like funding for most else, has been flat for more than 10 years. We have been able to balance the budget with funds left over from the renovation that was finished in 2007, but that fu nd is almost gone," Horst said.

"Acquisitions and personnel are the two biggest line items for us, and to reduce personnel costs means to reduce hours. We will also be more selective in our materials purchasing."

Horst said the library's health insurance costs are rising, as are other costs. Even with the reduction in hours, the library will have to use $50,000 left over in the renovation fund to balance the budget, which is just under $600,000.

WE'RE CELEBRATING!

Miss Rita's School Mobile

is Celebrating our

FIRST DECADE Serving Tifton!

All of Miss Rita's Past Students

are Invited to our Annual Pool Party!

But you must RSVP

by Wednesday, June 13

Call or Text 941-313-0614

Pool Party is on Saturday, June 23

Photo at 9:45 a.m.; Party at 10 a.m.-Noon

DESTINATION AG

GROWS BY 60 PERCENT

The second year of the Destination Ag program at the Georgia Museum of Agriculture has reached 60 percent more students during its second year, ABAC says.

From pre-kindergarten through second grade, a total of 6,359 students from four local counties received a first-hand look at where their food, fiber and shelter originate. The 2017-18 total headcount represents an increase of 2,390 students from the initial year of the program, operated under the auspices of Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College.

" It is vitally important to engage students with the importance of agriculture and natural resources at an early age," Museum Director Garrett Boone said.

"We, along with our partners, are working hard to provide opportunities to increase the awareness on the critical role that agriculture and natural resources play in our everyday lives -- from the food we eat, to the clothes we wear, to the house we live in."

Destination Ag added programming for students in pre-k through second grade from Berrien County this year to accompany students in the same grade levels from Tift, Cook and Colquitt


	BOONE

counties. Each student received a hands-on experience with agriculture, Georgia's top industry.

With an initial $250,000 gift from the Harley Langdale Jr. Foundation to the ABAC Foundation, Destination Ag opened its doors to pre-k through first grade students in September 2016. Last June, the Langdale Foundation committed another $1 million over the next four years tocontinue the program.

"This support by the Harley Langdale Jr. Foundation has made it possible for us to invest in the lives of these students who will one day be the agriculture leaders of this state," ABAC President David Bridges said. "This program connects agriculture and natural resources to a child's everyday life."

Boone said that by 2020, "we hope the program will reach over 17,000 students annually in pre-k through fifth grade in Tift and seven surrounding counties. There is a realized disconnect between today's younger generation and the origins of their food, fiber and shelter."

TIFTON'S BASSETT NAMED TO

ALL-AMERICAN

FRESHMAN BASEBALL TEAM

Tifton native Le Bassett, a Mercer University baseball infielder, has been named to the 2018 Collegiate Baseball Freshmen All-American team, the publication announced last week.


BASSETT

Bassett, 19, emerged as the Southern Conference's top power threat in his first year of college action, says the Collegiate Baseball Newspaper publication, considered the bible of amateur baseball in the country.

Bassett, a left-hander, was a star designated hitter for Mercer and led the league with 17 home runs while adding 60 RBI's. His 17 home runs were a program freshman program record. He batted .282 overall and slugged a team-best .678.

The former Tift County High standout is also a 2018 National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association Freshman All-American and has been named to the 2018 Southern Conference All-Freshman Team.

Bassett is the son of Alisha and Lawton Bassett III.

SRTC AWARDS SCHOLARSHIPS

For the summer semester that began May 27, the Southern Regional Technical College (SRTC) Foundation awarded 69 scholarships totaling more than $28,000. These funds assist students with education-related costs such as tuition, fees, clinical scrubs, dissection kits and books.

The students who received scholarships include: Worth County Students Scholarship: Colby Bearden and Chandler Bearden; Worth County High School: Southern Williams; Tift County Students Scholarship: Felicia Richardson; Tift County High School: Elizabeth James; Turner County High School: Mia Carithers.

The SRTC Foundation is a non-profit corporation that promotes higher education and expanded educational opportunities to SRTC students. It strives to create scholarships and endowments, and assist in financing of capital improvements and other college-related expenses.

TIFTON-TIFT COUNTY CHAMBER OF COMMERCE

RIBBON CUTTING

Wholistic Therapeutic Services LLC

911 Main St. South, Tifton

June 8

ABAC FINANCIAL AID DEADLINE LOOMS

New students interested in receiving financial aid at Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College during the 2018-19 academic year should complete the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) application and verification process by the priority deadline of July 1.

The priority deadline is to complete financial-aid processing that determines financial-aid eligibility before the ABAC fee payment deadline at 4:30 p.m. Aug. 8. Students submitting FAFSA applications after the priority deadline are subject to paying their fees out of pocket or their schedules being dropped.

Students missing the deadline and paying fees out of pocket will be reimbursed all eligible funds once the FAFSA application has been received, processed and eligibility determined.

For information, contact ABAC's Office of Financial Aid, 229-391-4910, by email at finaid@abac.edu, or by visiting the office on the second floor of the J. Lamar Branch Student Center on campus.

Fall semester classes begin Aug. 15.

Tift Regional Health System has started clearing for the $40 million , 120,000-square-foot Cook
Medical Center

replacement facility.

The new, state-of-the-art facility will be located in Adel off Interstate Highway 75 at Exit 37.

Construction is expected to be completed by September 2019.