Photo by Bonnie Sayles

Utility trucks with the Desoto Group company stand ready in Tifton on Thursday to be dispatched where needed as Hurricane Ian continues its path northward.

UTILITIES, VEHICLES READY AS HURRICANE MOVES UP COAST

SAVANNAH AREA, SC LOWCOUNTRY FEELING IMPACT

By FRANK SAYLES JR. and BONNIE SAYLES

Tifton Grapevine

As Hurricane Ian moved up the Florida and Georgia coast Thursday, 10 utility trucks from the DeSoto Group, a utility support services company, stood ready in a shopping center parking lot on Virginia Avenue in Tifton.

A driver told the Tifton Grapevine that the vehicles were on standby for Savannah or wherever else needed.

Power outages were beginning to be reported Thursday night in both Coastal Georgia and the South Carolina Lowcountry. Initial outages were reported in Chatham County, Ga., and in Beaufort and Jasper counties in South Carolina.

Earlier Thursday, Georgia Power said it was monitoring and responding to outages from Hurricane Ian as it moved toward a second landfall. Resources from across the Southern Co. as well as neighboring utilities were being organized to assist in restoration efforts, Georgia Power said.

Toni Reid, Georgia Power’s Tifton area manager, said the company is not currently staging utility vehicles in Tifton to respond to the storm, but "of course, this can change. Also, I do not have any details on how many crews have been sent to Florida."

Reid did share some resources that the community can use when power outages occur. Georgia Power’s Outage & Storm Center is available online at www.georgiapower.com/storm where customers can sign up for outage alerts, report and check the status of outages, and access safety tips and information.

Customers may report and check the status of an outage 24 hours a day by contacting Georgia Power at 888-891-0938.

Reid said that an interactive Outage Map is housed within the Outage & Storm Center website providing near real-time information, allowing users to see where outages are occurring across the state and track estimated restoration times. 

Customers may also subscribe to the free Georgia Power Outage Alert service to receive personalized notifications and updates via text message. Text Reg to 427-97 to sign up.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MR. PRESIDENT

JIMMY CARTER TURNS 98; PUBLIC MAY LEAVE MESSAGE

Jimmy Carter’s 98th birthday is Saturday, and The Carter Center is asking the public to help celebrate the oldest living president’s milestone by posting personal birthday messages on a digital message board.

The Carter Center encourages well-wishers to include favorite photos and quotations to help celebrate “a life dedicated to service and making the world a better place.” 

To add your birthday message to President Carter, Click Here!

Georgians, as well as people around the world, have been leaving messages and photos on the online board.

Jimmy and Rosalyn Carter founded The Carter Center in Atlanta in 1982 to help advance peace and health worldwide. This year is the Center’s 40th anniversary, and the couple also marked their 76th wedding anniversary in July.

The Carters, who have had some health issues in recent years, made a surprise appearance last Saturday at the Plains Peanut Festival. The couple still live in the Southwest Georgia town of fewer than 1,000 people.

Carter was the 39th president of the United States and the 76th governor of Georgia. He has had a long connection to Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College in Tifton, attending several ABAC short courses on peanuts when he took over his family’s peanut business.

"ABAC is one of my favorite educational institutions in all the world,” Carter told ABAC students in 2014. “ABAC has been a blessing to me and my family.”

COVID-19 CASES CONTINUE DECLINE IN TIFT COUNTY

COVID-19 cases are steadily declining in Tift County, a trend that has continued during the past month, according to data from the Georgia Department of Public Health.

There were 32 total new cases reported in the past two weeks, compared to 57 in the previous two-week period and 74 reported a month ago. Tift's testing positivity rate for the two-week period was 5.4% compared to 9.4% previously, the DPH said. 

No additional deaths were recorded in the county, leaving the total at 171.

Tift County’s total positive cases in the past two weeks represent 78 cases per 100,000 population, the measure used across the country to compare case rates among communities and states. 

There have been a total of 6,705 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Tift.

Georgia has recorded a total of 2,237,892 confirmed cases and 33,439 related deaths, the DPH reported. There were 5,909 more total cases reported in the past week and 88 additional deaths statewide. There also were 549 COVID-related hospitalizations in Georgia in the past week, the DPH said.

PREP FOOTBALL ROUNDUP:

TIFT BLUE DEVILS FALL TO NORTHSIDE OF WARNER ROBINS

By FRANK SAYLES JR.

Tifton Grapevine

In its first Region 1-6A football game of the season Thursday night, the Tift County High Blue Devils fell 42-0 to the Northside High Eagles in Warner Robins.

On Friday next week, the Blue Devils will continue region play when Thomas County Central visits Brodie Field.

Most high school varsity football teams in the Tiftarea played this week's games Thursday because of the possibility of storms from Hurricane Ian.

Among other games Thursday were:

• Berrien High Rebels, 42, vs. Jeff Davis High Yellow Jackets, 24

• Cook County High Hornets, 13, vs. Sumter County High Panthers, 7

• Worth County High Rams, 47, vs. Dodge County High Indians, 38

The Irwin County High vs. Swainsboro High game was canceled.

The Tiftarea Academy Panthers game against Valwood School Valiants of Valdosta has been rescheduled for 7 p.m. Monday, Oct. 3.

CHRISTIAN SCHOOL IN TIFTON

POISED FOR GROWTH

By BONNIE SAYLES

Tifton Grapevine

Providence School of Tifton is poised to grow in enrollment to 175 students within three years, Head of School Victoria Harris told the Rotary Club of Tifton on Wednesday. 

The school, which is considered Classical Christian Education, was established in 2020 with junior kindergarten through sixth grade and has been adding a grade each year since, to ninth grade. 

“We will include 12th grade by 2025,” Harris said. “We started with 33 students and have 91 currently,” she said.

The projected growth would require a new facility, since the school has reached its limit at Union Church.

“We are working toward space for August of 2023,” she said.

The school has been growing in athletics, adding basketball, tennis, and golf, and has added after-school enrichment opportunities. Faculty and staff have grown from six to 22.

“This isn’t possible without community support,” Harris said. She explained how people are able to direct their tax dollars to the school. 

Scholarships awarded have grown each year from $82,489 in 2020-21 to $143,390 in 2022-23. Tuition varies from $6,000-$7,000, depending on the grade. 

The school emphasizes “like-mindedness in working alongside the parents,” Harris said. 

TIFTON-TIFT COUNTY CHAMBER OF COMMERCE

RIBBON CUTTING

Acceptance Insurance

605 Virginia Ave., Tifton

Sept. 29

ABAC 'RUN FOR NURSES’ OCT. 29

The annual Run for the Nurses 5K and Half Marathon will be held Oct. 29 at Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College.

Registration begins at 6:30 a.m. on race day at the ABAC Agricultural Sciences Building on Perimeter Road.

To participate in the 5K, the cost is $30 per person. That price increases to $35 on Oct. 1 and $40 on Oct. 28-29. The cost for the Half Marathon is $60 per person, which increases to $65 on Oct. 1 and to $70 on Oct. 28-29.

Participants may register Here. For information, call 229-391-4900.

All proceeds benefit the ABAC School of Nursing and Health Sciences Lisa Purvis Allison Scholarship Fund.

YOUR GUIDE TO ACTIVITIES THIS WEEKEND IN THE TIFTAREA

Saturday, Oct. 1, is International Music Day, highlighting the power of music in bringing people together. It was created in 1974 by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) International Music Council.

FRIDAY, SEPT. 30

• Guided Nature Trail Tour, 6 p.m., Reed Bingham State Park, Adel

SATURDAY, OCT. 1

• Tift County Democratic Candidate Forum, 1 p.m., 321 Tifton Eldorado Road, Tifton

SUNDAY, OCT. 2

• 'Touched by Music’ with Violeta & the Synergy Twins live in concert, 6 p.m., Tift County High Performing Arts Center, Tifton

ADVERTISE YOUR

YARD SALE HERE

TO ADVERTISE YOUR YARD SALE,

CONTACT US at 

yardsales@tiftongrapevine.com 

or 478-227-7126

Fees are $1 per word, paid in advance

“Stanley” is among the pets available for adoption at the Tift County Animal Shelter. See this friendly boy at the shelter on Highway 125 South between 1-6 p.m. Mondays through Fridays. For additional information, call 229-382-PETS (7387).