It's Election Day

Tuesday, Feb. 4, 2020

Tifton, Georgia

478-227-7126 ~ www.tiftongrapevine.com

SUMMERS

EGLER

QUINN

IT'S ELECTION DAY

DISTRICT 13 VOTERS IN TIFT AND OTHER COUNTIES

WILL TEMPORARILY FILL VACANT STATE SENATE SEAT

Today (Tuesday) is election day in Tift and several other counties; voters will decide the special election to fill the District 13 state Senate seat left vacant by the death in December of Sen. Greg Kirk , R-Americus.

All voting precincts are open 7 a.m.-7 p.m. today.

Three candidates are on today's non-partisan ballot: Jim Quinn , the Republican former Leesburg mayor and editor of the Lee County Ledger ; Carden Summers , a Republican former Crisp County commissioner and owner of a real estate firm and a billboard company in Cordele ; and Mary Egler , a Democrat retired great-grandmother in Leesburg attending Albany State University.

The winner of today's special election will represent District 13 in the Senate during this year's General Assembly . A primary election for the seat will be held in May . The general election will be on Nov. 3 for the full Senate term.

District 13 covers Tift, Turner, Worth, Crisp, Dodge, Dooly, Lee, Sumter and Wilcox counties.

All three candidates on today's ballot have previously run unsuccessfully for a seat in the General Assembly . Summers sought the same Senate seat in 2002 , and Quinn and Egler both recently ran unsuccessfully in a special election for a state House seat. Egler had also run unsuccessfully for that House seat in 2018, 2016 and 2014 .

CHOC-IT-UP FOR LITERACY

TONIGHT IN NEW LOCATION

Get a chance to sample Tifton's best chocolates while bidding on such items as decadent chocolate cakes , designer handbags and local artwork at the 8th Annual Choc-It-Up for Literacy at 6:30 p.m. today (Tuesday) at a new location this year – the Georgia Museum of Agriculture's atrium .

Participants include last year’s winners, K&K Custom Creations and Fresco Italiano , also, The Howard Center, Cole’s Cakery, Ruby Tuesday , and, for the first time, Taco Loco.

Paulk Winery will provide samples of Muscadine wines , and Jimmy Johns will have sandwich samples .

Attendees vote for the Best Taste , the Most Original , the Greatest Variety and Presentation . Milk, coffee and wine ar e provided.

Tickets are $12 in advance and may be purchased at Espresso 41 on U.S. 41 at 20th Street, K&K Custom Creations on Central Avenue, Destiny Fitness on Love Avenue or Fresco Italiano on Tift Avenue; tickets are $15 at the door .

The event is a fundraiser for Literacy Volunteers , which recruits and trains tutors to work one-on-one with clients in Tift County , teaching adults to read or preparing them to take the GED exam . Also, the nonprofit agency has funded test fees for 25 GED exam components, aiding Adult Education students at Southern Regional Technical College, Tifton campus .

“When you learn to read , the world opens up to you,” said Bonnie Sayles , executive director of Literacy Volunteers . “Horizons expand and potentials are limitless. When people get the help to pass the GED exam, they can further their education or get out of a dead-end job . And Tifton benefits from a more educated workforce .”

There is no cost for the organization's services , which fundraisers , such as this event, help finance . Literacy Volunteers receives no local, state or federal tax funds . The United Way of South Central Georgia provides office supplies, books and materials . Office space is provided by SRTC's Tifton Campus .

NFL photo

In this scene from Sunday's Super Bowl, the Kansas City Chiefs and San Francisco Forty-Niners play on turf developed and grown in the Tiftarea.

SUPER BOWL'S TURF ONCE AGAIN CAME FROM TIFTAREA

By FRANK SAYLES JR.

Tifton Grapevine

When the Kansas City Chiefs played the San Francisco Forty-Niners this past Sunday in the Super Bowl , they played on grass grown here in South Georgia , in Enigma , and on a variety developed in Tifton – Bermuda Tifway 419 .

The grass came from Pro Turf of Enigma , which also has provided the turf for six of the past seven Super Bowls. In its recent weekend edition, The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) detailed the behind-the-scenes process of what it took to get Miami Garden's Hard Rock Stadium's field ready for Super Bowl LIV .

The grass was an extra-thick layer of sod that weighed about 660 tons and covered 92,000 square feet , the WSJ reported. The sod was rolled up in strips that were 3.5 feet wide and 44 feet long , and then loaded onto flatbed trucks for shipment from Enigma to Miami .

This year it took 660 rolls on 30 trucks to transport the sod, the WSJ reported.

The grass itself – Tifway 419 Bermuda grass – was developed by the late Dr. Glenn W. Burton at Tifton's Coastal Plains Experiment Station .

Tifway 419 , released in 1960 , has been the standard for golf course tees, fairways and roughs throughout the southern United States for decades before being used on football fields . In fact, the name Tifway comes from a combination of Tifton and fairway .

Because it has a fast recovery rate from wear and traffic, Tifway 419 Bermuda grass also is being used on football fields in many warm-weather locales . It is currently used in several National Football League stadiums in the South and the West .

UGA RECOGNIZES RETIRING JOE WEST

Sam Pardue , at left, dean of the University of Georgia's College of Agricultural & Environmental Sciences , recognizes Dr. Joe West , who is retiring after more than 30 years of service to the UGA Tifton Campus .

West , CAES assistant dean , has been heading the Tifton campus . Pardue has also announced his own retirement effective later this year .

ABAC UNVEILS 'S.GA. ROOTS' MURAL

Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College recently unveiled the School of Agriculture and Natural Resources (SANR) mural , “South Georgia Roots.”

For the past seven months, artist Jill Whitley has been painting the mural and working with Dr. Mark Kistler , SANR dean, to make painting come to life.

“My vision for the mural was to have something to unify all the people, programs, and activities of the school,” Kistler said. “I think our artist, Jill Whitley , truly captured the spirit of the school. Everyone can identify with something on this mural .”

Along with the mural, Whitley also painted 50 limited edition canvases of the mural to be auctioned and sold . Canvas One was auctioned for a final bid of $1,200 by Lasseter Equipment Group . Thirteen other prints were sold, which raised more than $7,300 for SANR student scholarships and professional development opportunities for ABAC students.