Len Lastinger Wins!

JUNE 27, 2017

Tifton, Georgia

478-227-7126

tiftongrapevine.com

LEN LASTINGER PRIMARY

WINS NATIONAL VOTE

SCHOOL'S VIDEO GETS $20,000 GRANT FOR PLAYGROUND EQUIPMENT

Tifton's Len Lastinger Primary School on Monday was one of five schools nationwide to win a $20,000 grant for new playground equipment.


	Len Lastinger Primary School's video is a big winner.

The school's "Are You Smarter Than a Len Lastinger Bee?" video was one of five highest vote-getters on Facebook.

Len Lastinger's video had been selected as a finalist from approximately 140 video entries in the nationwide "Let's Play" video contest. The final five winners were determined by online votes.

The grant is part of "Let's Play," an init iative by Dr Pepper Snapple and the national non-profit KaBOOM! The goal is provide kids and families with the tools, places and inspiration to make active play a daily priority.

"This (win) is incredible for not only Len Lastinger but also Tifton and Tift County," said Debby Monfort, a Lastinger PTO board member.

"Moving forward, we will begin creating a plan for the north-end playground from feedback we received during two focus group sessions held in November 2016 with students and parents, and January 2017 with teachers," Monfort said.

"This will be a playground created by the students, parents and faculty. Their ideas; their dreams. The focus groups challenged its participants to reconsider how they thought about play."

Richard Fisher, Len Lastinger Primary's principal, said everyone at the school is excited. "Our PTO worked very hard. Things will move fast on this the next two months."

Monfort added that "t o make our dream playground a reality, we will still need our community. This grant is a 'Build It Yourself' grant wherein community/school volunteers will physically build the playground directed by members of KaBOOM! and playground company installation professionals. More details about our Community Build Day will come over the next months.

" We are so excited and cannot say thank you enough to all who voted for LLP!"

ANTIQUE AUTOS GET BIG

RECEPTION ON MAIN STREET

Nearly 120 antique vehicles stopped in Tifton for the night Saturday during "The Great Race" -- a national antique, vintage and collector car competitive, controlled-speed endurance road rally on public highways.

The race began in Jacksonville, Fla., and came to Tifton's Main Street, stopping to meet residents and show them the restored vehicles. Race participants were feted with a dinner at Tifton City Hall and given Tifton gift bags.

Participants had only good things to say about their stop in the Friendly City; among them: "The town has really rolled out the red carpet for us, and the fun is just beginning;" "What a great venue and a great crowd here in Tifton, Ga.;" "Cool little town;" "Thanks, Tifton, Ga., for a lovely time."

The race resumed Sunday morning as the vehicles left Tifton. TheGreat Race ends in Traverse City, Mich., on July 2.

It is not a test of top speed, but a test of a driver/navigator team's ability to follow precise course instructions and the car's (and team's) ability to endure on a cross-country trip.

The course instructions require the competing teams to drive at or below the posted speed limits at all times.

From left are Ann Rosenthal, Georgia Alliance YMCA's lobbyist from Atlanta; state Sen. Greg Kirk, R-Americus; Darian Peavy, Tiftarea YMCA's CEO; Felecia Jackson, Tiftarea YMCA's Food for Thought coordinator; and state Rep. Clay Pirkle, R-Ashburn.

STATE OFFICIALS VISIT YMCA, FEEDING SITES

State and local officials came to Tifton on Monday and visited local summer feeding sites for children and toured the Tiftarea YMCA's main facility, its Hunt Park campus and its Summer Camp.

The Georgia Alliance YMCAs are focusing on an anti-hunger initiative and are spreading the word to legislators.

6005 Westlake Drive

Tifton, GA 31794

New Price: $339,000

Beautiful brick waterfront home at Forest Lakes Subdivision at the end of a quiet

street. 4 Bedrooms/3 Baths with over 3,200 square feet. Many windows for views

of the lake. Open floor plan, Media room, Vaulted ceilings, Granite countertops,

Plantation shutters, Hardwood, and Ceramic tile floors. An additional 1,100-square-

foot building with screened porch that could be used as a man cave/shop, guest

house, or for entertainment! Including an additional 2-car garage, full bath, and

built-in cabinets. Must see to appreciate!

Joe Pope

229-386-8737

ABAC's BRIDGES COMPLETES 11th YEAR;

GA's LONGEST-SERVING CURRENT PRESIDENT

Dr. David Bridges became the 10th president in the history of Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College on July 1, 2006; now he has completed 11 years as president and is the longest-serving president in the University System of Georgia.

"I can't honestly tell you that being the longest-serving president gets you anything," Bridges, 59, said with a chuckle. "I have seen a lot in these 11 years. It's a lot different that it was when I started. From a management standpoint, everybody and


BRIDGES

his brother regulates you and tells you how to do your job. That makes leading the college difficult. I spend more time on management because of the complexity of the job."

Bridges reflected that "t he day ( Jan. 7, 2008) we offered our first bachelor's degree classes was my best day ever at ABAC. We have done a lot, renovating the front of campus, opening the Freedom Gallery and a lot of other highlights. All those things were great but getting the bachelor's degrees was transformational."

Well over half of ABAC's 3,475 students are now seeking bachelor's degrees. That's at a college that offered only associate degrees for 75 years.

Because of consolidation, the University System has shrunk from 35 institutions in 2006 to 28 today. Not one of the presidents that Bridges sat across the table from in meetings in 2006 is still president at that college or university in the system in 2017.

"You have to be a lot more creative as the president today," Bridges said. "There's a lot more chaos in the higher education environment. In the early '90s, our college was more firmly established. We knew who we were and what we did. We were a two-year college that offered classes for the first two years of a four-year degree.

"Now ABAC is a four-year college, and we must figure out how to thrive. We must be unique, and ABAC is unique. We are not the same as everybody else. We don't want to be."

Bridges pointed toward a "mission of excellence" as the key to ABAC's success, being the only college or university south of Macon to register an enrollment increase in three of the past four years.

"That's the funny thing about it: We didn't focus on enrollment. We focused on excellence. The enrollment went up because of that. You must have programs of excellence that you can sell," Bridges said.

"We are a boutique, not a Walmart. Now, there's nothing wrong with Walmart. In fact, we have Walmart prices. But we have an L.L. Bean product."

TIFTON CITY

COUNCIL MEMBERS

ATTEND MUNICIPAL

TRAINING CLASSES

Tifton City Councilman Johnny Terrell brought the Tifton city flag to Savannah this past weekend for the Georgia Municipal Association 's annual convention at the Savannah International Trade & Convention Center.

Tifton City Council members met with municipal officials from across the state and attended classes on such topics as public safety , downtown development , open meetings , municipal tort reform , and

revenue and finance.

WHICH WAY TO ROSWELL?

We're not sure if this is a case of an "illegal alien," but an officer who stopped a speeding driver Sunday north of Atlanta snapped a photo of an unusual passenger.

The Al pharetta Department of Public Safety (DPS) posted photos of the incident Sunday night on social media: A full-sized alien figure was strapped in the speeding vehicle's passenger seat.

According to Alpharetta DPS, a motorcycle officer pulled over a man for speeding on Georgia route 400 about halfway between Alpharetta and Roswell.

"Umm, the things you see during everyday patrol," the DPS noted on Facebook, using hashtags #ET,

#doesthisqualifyforHOV and #IndependenceDay

The driver was issued a warning for speeding. There was no word about why the alien was in the car and if they were, in fact, heading to Roswell.

Photo by Alpharetta Department of Public Safety

TIFT COUNTY HIGH CLASS OF '77 PLANS REUNION

The Tift County High School Class of 1977 is attempting to make contact with classmates for a 40 th year class reunion.

The reunion is being planned for Oct. 13 and 14.

Organizers say that contact information is needed for many former classmates. They ask the community to send names, addresses and e-mails to tchs1977@hotmail.com or call 229-339-1959 if anyone knows of TCHS graduates from 1977.