It’s Election Day!

Tuesday, November 3, 2020

Tifton, Georgia

478-227-7126 ~ www.tiftongrapevine.com

FINALLY, IT'S HERE!

ELECTION DAY ARRIVES IN GEORGIA & U.S.

By FRANK SAYLES JR.

Tifton Grapevine

Following months of politicking and a bombardment of political advertising from all directions, Election Day quietly dawned this morning bright and chilly across the Tiftarea.

Early reports around the area were that there were few lines and voting was steady and going smoothly. Polls are open today until 7 p.m. Anyone still in line to vote at that time will be allowed to cast their ballot.

Absentee ballots must be received before polls close today. Anyone who still has an absentee ballot and hasn’t voted yet may drop off their ballot at the drop-off box in front of the Charles Kent County Administration Building at 225 Tift Ave. N., or at the ballot box in the lobby of the Tift County Elections Board office at 222 Chesnutt Ave., Building B.

"This has been an epic voting season," said Leila E. Dollison, election supervisor at the Tift County Board of Elections. As of 2:30 p.m. today, Dollison said 2,358 Tift countians had voted since 7 a.m., for a grand total of 12,586 votes cast in this election thus far, adding in the number of early ballots.

During the three weeks of early voting, a total of 10,228 Tift countians cast ballots. That is more than 39 percent of of the 26,036 total registered voters in Tift County.

In the 2016 general election, there were 19,040 registered voters in Tift County, and 14,334 had cast ballots, according to the Ga. Secretary of State's Office.

In that election, Donald Trump carried Tift County with 68 percent of the vote; he carried Georgia with 51 percent.

As Election Day began this morning, 3,902,961 Georgians had already cast ballots during early voting. That's a 63 percent increase above the 2016 general election, the Secretary of State's Office reported.

The voting line stretched around the Tift County Elections Board headquarters at 4:30 p.m. Friday shortly before early voting ended at 5 p.m.

WORTH NAMES 2nd SCHOOLS SUPERINTENDENT THIS YEAR

The Worth County Board of Education has named a new schools superintendent.

Nehemiah R. Cummings, currently Brantley County Schools assistant superintendent of finance and federal programs, will assume his Worth County duties Nov. 30.

Cummings has 21 years of experience in public education, along with three years of experience as an assistant superintendent, WALB-TV reported.

The Worth County superintendent position became open when Dr. Shannon Norfleet recently resigned after barely four months in the job. No public reason was given for his abrupt resignation. Some Worth countians said the BOE should wait to fill the position after two new board members take office in January.

TIFT SEES 79 NEW COVID-19 CASES DURING PAST TWO WEEKS, DPH SAYS

The Ga. Department of Public Health (DPH) reported today (Tuesday) that Tift County in the past two weeks has had a total of 79 new COVID-19 cases confirmed, translating to 193 per 100,000 population.

Testing for the virus in the past two weeks in Tift County is at a 9.3 percent positivity rate, the DPH said.

According to Emory University, Tift County on Monday had a daily average of 14.4 cases per 100,000 population. Tift’s highest daily average cases per 100,000 during the pandemic was recorded at 67.3 on Oct. 5. At that time, the White House Coronavirus Task Force had placed Tifton and Tift County in the Red Zone and listed it as a hot spot in Georgia.

Tift has had a total of 1,990 positive cases and 65 coronavirus-related deaths, two more than a week ago, the DPH reported today. Georgia had a total of 364,589 cases and 8,029 deaths. The state reported a one-day increase of 1,738 cases Tuesday and 30 additional deaths.

GBI PROMOTES TIFTON RESIDENT

The Georgia Bureau of Investigation has promoted a Tifton resident as assistant special agent in charge of the GBI’s Southwestern Regional Drug Enforcement Office.

Stripling Luke, originally from Camilla, has been with the GBI for more than 14 years. He began his career as a special agent assigned to the Altamaha Drug Task Force in Baxley. He also has served in the Sylvester office, investigating mid- to high-level drug-trafficking organizations.

Luke has received awards from the GBI and from the Georgia Narcotics Officer Association in recognition of his work. He has been a certified public safety bomb technician since 2018.

Meri Alyce Statham of Tiftarea Academy is crowned Miss Georgia Junior High.

Natalie Yaeger, a Tiftarea Academy alumna, is crowned Mercer University Homecoming Queen.

TIFTAREA ACADEMY:

A HOME FOR ROYALTY

CHULA SCHOOL PRODUCES 2 QUEENS OVER WEEKEND

A Tiftarea Academy eighth-grader and a Tiftarea alumna were both crowned queens in different ceremonies this past weekend.

Tifton native Meri Alyce Statham was crowned Miss Georgia Junior High, representing Tiftarea Academy in the competition. Contestants spent three days competing in interview, runway and evening gown competitions.

Statham will travel to Little Rock, Ark., in June to compete for the national title of Miss Junior High School America.

Also on Saturday, Natalie Yaeger of Tifton was named 2020 Mercer University Homecoming Queen. Yaeger is a 2018 graduate of Tiftarea Academy, where she was the valedictorian and STAR student.

While at Mercer, Yaeger has served in a number of roles on campus, including positions on the student-run service leadership board MerServe, peer advising, student government and University Honors Program, and has been a Cluster newspaper lead writer, Tarver Library worker, biology research lab worker and has served in numerous clubs and organizations.

Yaeger is pursuing a double major in neuroscience and English.

A SPOOKY DAY IN DOWNTOWN TIFTON

Ghosts, goblins princesses and clowns were among those who filled Tifton’s Main Street on Friday afternoon as downtown merchants and the Tifton Main Street office once again gave out candy during the annual "Trick or Treat in Downtown Tifton” event for Halloween.

Cooking cane juice to make syrup will occur on Nov. 14 at ABAC’s Georgia Museum of Agriculture in Tifton.

AG MUSEUM TO GRIND SUGAR CANE NOV. 14

Nothing beats the smell of sweet cane syrup cooking on an autumn afternoon, and that aroma will fill Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College's Ga. Museum of Agriculture on Nov. 14.

June, the ever-faithful museum mule, will be grinding the cane for the syrup kettle as the experienced cooking crew turn out the sweet treat, said Museum Director Garrett Boone. Syrup cooking will take place from 10 a.m.-1 p.m.

Boone said the museum is operating at a reduced capacity because of COVID-19 guidelines, and special demonstrations, such as cane grinding, are operating on a smaller scale.

Cane syrup will be available for sale at the museum’s Country Store along with grits, corn meal, and turpentine, all made on the museum site at 1392 Whiddon Mill Road.

Boone said the steam-powered cotton gin will also be running Nov. 14, and the museum’s own blacksmith will be forging iron at the Blacksmith Shop in the Historic Village. The 1917 Vulcan steam locomotive runs every Saturday around Agrirama Lake and straight through the center of the Historic Village.

TIFTON GRAPEVINE'S CAT OF THE WEEK

This kitten is among several pets available for rescue or 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

TIFT COUNTY HOSPITAL ADDITION

AT HALFWAY POINT

– NOV. 5, 1952

The Tift County Hospital expansion is about 50 percent complete, according to news dispatches on Nov. 5, 1952. B.L. Southwell, chairman of the Tift County Hospital Authority, said the hospital addition has a cost of $371,120.