Soldiers Killed in Attack Served in Tifton

Tuesday, Jan. 30, 2024

Tifton, Georgia

478-227-7126 ~ www.tiftongrapevine.com

U.S. Army Reserve photos

Killed Sunday at a U.S. base in Jordan were, from left, Sgt. William Jerome Rivers, Specialist Breonna Alexsondria Moffett, and Specialist Kennedy Ladon Sanders. Moffett and Sanders had served in Tifton with the 381st Engineer Company.

2 SOLDIERS KILLED IN JORDAN ATTACK SERVED IN TIFTON

By FRANK SAYLES JR.

Tifton Grapevine

Two of the three soldiers killed Sunday during a drone attack on a U.S. base in Jordan near the Syrian border had previously served at the U.S. Army Reserve Center in Tifton.

Breonna Alexsondria Moffett, 23, of Savannah, and Kennedy Ladon Sanders, 24, of Waycross, both enlisted in the Army Reserve in 2019 and were first assigned to the 381st Engineer Company in Tifton.

Moffett and Sanders, along with Sgt. William J. Rivers of Carrollton, were all members of the 718th Engineer Company based at Fort Moore – previously Fort Benning in Columbus – when they died, said the U.S. Army Reserve Command.

More than 40 other U.S. service members were injured in the attack Sunday, the Pentagon reported. The U.S. said Iran-backed militias are responsible.

On Tuesday, Moffett and Sanders were posthumously promoted to sergeant. They held the rank of specialist when they died.

“This promotion is a small token of our immense gratitude for Sgt. Sanders’ and Sgt. Moffett’s service and sacrifice,” said Col. Robert Coker, chief of staff for the 412th Theater Engineer Command.

The names of Moffett, Sanders, and Rivers will be engraved on a plaque at the Global War on Terrorism Memorial at the National Infantry Museum in Columbus, which includes the names of more than 7,000 U.S. service members who have died since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

“These citizen-soldiers died in service to their country," said Lt. Gen. Jody Daniels, Chief of Army Reserve and Commanding General U.S. Army Reserve Command.

“On behalf of the Army Reserve, I share in the sorrow felt by their friends, family, and loved ones. Their service and sacrifice will not be forgotten, and we are committed to supporting those left behind in the wake of this tragedy," Daniels said.

Moffett, a Savannah resident, enlisted in the Army Reserve in 2019 as a horizontal construction engineer first assigned to the 381st Engineer Company in Tifton after completing advanced individual training. In 2023, she was assigned to the 718th Engineer Company at Fort Moore.

Moffett’s awards include the National Defense Service Medal and the Army Service Ribbon.

Sanders of Waycross, attended Valdosta State University before leaving school and going off to Army boot camp. She also enlisted in the Army Reserve in 2019 as horizontal construction engineer and was first assigned to the 381st Engineer Company in Tifton. In 2021, Sanders completed an eight-month rotation to Djibouti in support of Operation Enduring Freedom. In 2023, Sanders was assigned to the 718th Engineer Company at Fort Moore.

Sander’s awards and decorations include the National Defense Service Medal, Global War on Terrorism Expeditionary Medal, Global War on Terrorism Service Medal, Army Service Ribbon, Overseas Service Ribbon, and the Armed Forces Reserve Medal with “M” Device.

Rivers, a resident of Carrollton, enlisted in the Army Reserve in 2011 as an interior electrician and was first assigned to the 990th Engineer Company at Fort McGuire-Dix in New Jersey. In 2018, he completed a nine-month rotation to Iraq in support of Operation Inherent Resolve. Last year, Rivers was assigned to the 718th Engineer Company at Fort Moore.

Rivers' awards and decorations include the Army Achievement Medal, National Defense Service Medal, Global War on Terrorism Service Medal, Army Service Ribbon, Overseas Service Ribbon, two Army Reserve Component Overseas Training Ribbon, Armed Forces Reserve Medal with “M” Device, and the Inherent Resolve Campaign Medal with Campaign Star.

MAN FACES MURDER CHARGE IN SHOOTING AT TIFTON CAR WASH

By FRANK SAYLES JR.

Tifton Grapevine

A Tifton man has been arrested and charged with murder in the shooting death of a Tifton man Monday night at a car wash on the corner of 17th Street and Central Avenue, according to the Georgia Bureau of Investigation (GBI).

Xavier Sean Ross, 34, is charged with felony murder, aggravated assault, possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, and possession of a firearm during the commission of a crime, the GBI said Tuesday.

Brendan Rashad "Big Baby" Burns, 33, was found dead at the scene with a gunshot wound, authorities said.

Tifton Police were dispatched to "At the Car Wash" (formerly the Clean Spot) at 101 W. 17th St. at approximately 5:30 p.m. Monday in reference to a person being shot. When officers arrived, they found Burns. A car stopped at the intersection of West 17th Street and South Central Avenue was also hit by gunfire during the shooting. The car's occupants were not injured, the GBI said.

Ross was located at Tift Regional Medical Center with a gunshot wound related to this incident. He was transferred to another hospital to be treated for his injuries and will be taken into custody and to the Tift County Jail upon his release from the hospital, the GBI said.

Burns’ body is being taken to the GBI Crime Lab in Pooler for an autopsy.

Tifton Police and the GBI are jointly investigating the incident. Anyone with information is asked to contact the GBI Regional Investigative Office in Sylvester at 229-777-2080, or the Tifton Police Department at 229-382-3132.

Anonymous tips may be submitted by calling 1-800-597-TIPS (8477), online here, or by downloading the "See Something, Send Something" mobile app.

NE ASST. PRINCIPAL GETS EMERGING LEADER AWARD

Tifton Grapevine Staff Reports

Caleb Rice, assistant principal at Northeast Middle School in Tifton, has received the Emerging Leader Award from the Georgia Association of Middle School Principals (GAMSP).

The award is given in recognition of emerging leaders and their service to middle-grades education through their leadership.

Rice was unable to attend the GAMSP fall conference so received this award during the GAMSP's business meeting during the recent Georgia Association of Educational Leaders winter meeting.

VOTER REGISTRATION DEADLINE FEB. 12 FOR PRESIDENTIAL PRIMARIES

By FRANK SAYLES JR.

Tifton Grapevine

The voter registration deadline is Feb. 12 for the Georgia presidential preference primaries, says Tift County Election Supervisor Leila E. Dollison.

The primary election day is March 12, and advanced voting begins Feb. 19, Dollison said.

Absentee ballots by mail may be requested now, and the first day to mail them is Feb. 12.

Voters may cast a ballot for president in either the Democrat or Republican primary. Georgia’s open primary system means that voters may participate in the primary election even if they are not a registered member of a political party.

On the Democratic ballot are President Joe Biden; U.S. Rep. Dean Phillips, D-Minn.; and Self-help author Marianne Williamson.

On the GOP ballot are former President Donald Trump; former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley; David Stuckenberg, an Air Force Reserve major and Florida businessman; and a long list of other candidates who have since dropped out of the race: Ron DeSantis, Vivek Ramaswamy, Chris Christie, Tim Scott, Asa Hutchinson, Doug Burgum, Perry Johnson, and Ryan L. Binkley.

VAN MORRISON TRIBUTE CONCERT THURSDAY

Tifton Grapevine Staff Reports

"Street Choir: A Van Morrison Experience” is coming to Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College on Thursday, Feb. 1, as part of the ABAC Arts and Culture Tribute Series.

The show is 7 p.m. at ABAC’s Howard Auditorium.

Atlanta singer Greg Hester recreates the aura of Morrison onstage. Hester will perform selections such as “Domino,” “Brown-Eyed Girl,” “Moondance,” “Tupelo Honey,” “Into the Mystic,” “Wild Night,” “Have I Told You Lately,” and other Morrison classics.

Tickets are available at www.artsatabac.com

TWO PROMOTED IN TIFT SHERIFF'S OFFICE

Tifton Grapevine Staff Reports

Tift County Sheriff Gene Scarbrough made two promotions in the Sheriff's Office on Friday.

Pictured at left is Danny Torres, promoted from the rank of major to lieutenant colonel. In the photo at right is Chad Davis, promoted from captain to major.

Sheriff Scarbrough is seen congratulating each officer in the photos.

FIRST TUESDAY CONCERT SET FEB. 6

Tifton Grapevine Staff Reports

Andrew Atkinson, a multi-talented artist and performer from the Gulf Coast, will be featured Feb. 6 in an organ recital as part of Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College’s First Tuesday concert series.

“We’re very excited to host this wonderful performer here in Tifton,” said Fine Arts Department Head Dr. Jennifer Huang. “The recital will begin with the magnificent sounds of the Elgar Variations, followed by Andrew's own arrangements of famous songs and compositions from across the world. The concert will end with the majestic sounds of Beethoven.”

Atkinson specializes in improvisation, romantic music, and sacred arrangements. He completed his studies at the University of South Alabama and is an accomplished actor and member of the Screen Actors Guild and the American Guild of Organists.

The concert starts at 7 p.m. at First Baptist Church in Tifton. All First Tuesday concerts are free and open to the public.

Tifton Grapevine Staff Reports

PEANUT COMMISSION CONTINUES NASCAR PARTNERSHIP: The Georgia Peanut Commission will continue its partnership with Front Row Motorsports and driver Todd Gilliland for the NASCAR Cup Series event Feb. 25 at the Atlanta Motor Speedway. The 2024 season is the Peanut Commission’s third consecutive season partnering with the NASCAR team's No. 38 Georgia Peanuts Ford Mustang.

UGA PROF RECEIVES MERIT AWARD: Dr. Lisa Baxter, assistant professor and state forage specialist on the University of Georgia Tifton Campus has been honored with the Merit Award at the 2024 American Forage and Grassland Conference. She was recognized for her impact in forage and grassland agriculture, research, teaching, Extension work, production, and industrial development.

Proud New Member of the Tifton-Tift County Chamber of Commerce

WHY GEORGIA LAWMAKERS SEE ARKANSAS

AS POSSIBLE MODEL FOR MEDICAID EXPANSION

By DR. JOE THOMPSON

President & CEO

Arkansas Center for Health Improvement

You may have heard Arkansas mentioned in recent conversations coming out of the Georgia General Assembly. That’s because some Georgia legislators are looking to my home state as a possible model for expanding Medicaid — something that at this point only 10 states, most of them in the South, have refused to do.

The Arkansas model is appealing to some in Georgia who hope it could finally overcome more than a decade of political opposition to Medicaid expansion. Polls routinely indicate that most Georgians support expanding Medicaid, and more than 400,000 Georgians would be eligible for expanded coverage, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation, yet the policy option has been a nonstarter in the General Assembly.

But the ice may be thawing. In November, state House members in Georgia brought in Republican state Sen. Missy Irvin to discuss Arkansas’ novel approach to Medicaid expansion and why the Republican-controlled Arkansas General Assembly has stuck with the program, reauthorizing it with a supermajority vote every year.

I was Arkansas’ surgeon general in 2013 when the state proposed and received federal approval for an innovative program that uses federal Medicaid expansion funds to purchase private health plans for people earning up to 138% of the federal poverty level. Known in its early years as the “Private Option” and now as Arkansas Health and Opportunity for Me, or ARHOME, the program currently provides coverage to more than 200,000 Arkansans.

Since coverage began in January 2014, more than 718,000 Arkansans — nearly a fourth of the state’s population — have been enrolled in Arkansas’ Medicaid expansion program at some point.

The program’s use of private insurance helped it win support from many conservative lawmakers who opposed adding more people to the state-run Medicaid program. But it wasn’t just a political compromise; the program has reaped numerous benefits for the state, including:

Our uninsured rate, which had been one of the highest in the nation, decreased by more than half.

Uncompensated care costs at Arkansas hospitals also decreased by more than half, which has helped struggling rural hospitals keep their doors open. Since 2012, no rural hospital in Arkansas has closed without being reopened or replaced with another hospital; in the same period, 58 rural hospitals in the six states surrounding Arkansas have permanently closed. Eight in Georgia have closed, according to the Cecil G. Sheps Center for Health Services Research at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Arkansas has enjoyed a stable insurance market and lower premium increases than most states have experienced. The state chose to enroll people who are medically frail in traditional Medicaid, resulting in an expansion population that is relatively young and healthy — and low-risk for insurers to cover. Since 2017, Arkansas has had lower average marketplace premiums than any of the surrounding states.

The federal government pays 90% of expansion costs, which means that Arkansas has received billions of dollars in federal funding to provide needed health care coverage to its low-income residents. In fiscal year 2022 alone, Medicaid expansion brought $2.5 billion in federal funding into Arkansas, according to an analysis by the Kaiser Family Foundation.

Arkansas’ 10% share of expansion costs is more than offset by the program’s economic benefits. A consultant hired by the state to estimate the economic impacts of expansion concluded in 2016 that the program would have a positive impact of $757 million on state coffers between 2017 and 2021 through a combination of reduced state expenditures and increased tax revenues.

It's no wonder that Medicaid expansion is getting new traction in Georgia. The state now has the third-highest uninsured rate in the nation, according to U.S. Census Bureau data.

Perhaps the polls show popular support for expansion in Georgia because voters would rather see their federal tax dollars providing health care coverage to the uninsured, shoring up struggling hospitals, and boosting the economy right there in Georgia instead of going to other states.

Dr. Thompson, president and CEO of the Arkansas Center for Health Improvement, was Arkansas’ surgeon general under Govs. Mike Huckabee (R) and Mike Beebe (D).

TIFTON GRAPEVINE'S CAT OF THE WEEK

"Lotus" exhibits that face you make when you accidentally swallow a feather! A precious female kitty, Lotus is ready to find her new home. Come visit her and see other pets available for adoption between 1-6 p.m. Mondays through Fridays at the Tift County Animal Shelter on Highway 125 South, or call 229-382-PETS (7387).

H.H. TIFT JR. FINED FOR EXCEEDING

10 MPH SPEED LIMIT

~ JAN. 31, 1910

In Tifton City Police Court on Jan. 31, 1910, Henry H. Tift Jr., son of Tifton's founder, was found guilty of exceeding the city's speed limit of 10 miles per hour. Tift was fined $10, which converts to about $323 today.