TWO CHILDREN SERIOUSLY HURT IN FARM ACCIDENT

ANOTHER SIBLING SUSTAINED MINOR INJURIES

By FRANK SAYLES JR.

Tifton Grapevine

Three children of an Alapaha farmer were injured, two of them severely, in a farming accident Wednesday afternoon on Flat Creek Church Road in Berrien County, authorities say.

The Berrien County Sheriff's Office said it received the call shortly before 3 p.m. about the siblings injured while playing inside a cotton module builder. The children somehow "got hung up in the hydraulic press on the inside of the machine,” Berrien Sheriff Ray Paulk was quoted as saying.

One child received minor injuries; the other two siblings — a nine-year-old boy, and his four-year-old sister — were transported to Tift Regional Medical Center and then airlifted to Wolfson Children's Hospital in Jacksonville, Fla.

They are the children of Brandan and Miranda Rudeseal. According to a social media post by the children’s mother, the son is recovering and is expected "to be fine with time."

The young daughter "needs every prayer she can get. She has swelling on her brain, so it’s just a waiting game,” her mother wrote. "My faith is so strong; I know God is in full control."

A cotton module builder is a machine used in the harvest and processing of cotton. The module builder allows cotton to be harvested quickly and compressed into large modules by a hydraulic compactor. 

GNAT DROP MOVED TO FAIRGROUNDS

By FRANK SAYLES JR.

Tifton Grapevine

Tifton’s New Year’s Eve Gnat Drop celebration has been relocated to the American Legion Fairgrounds on U.S. Highway 82 because of anticipated inclement weather, organizers say.

"Matt the Gnat” will now drop at the fairgrounds as the countdown to 2023 reaches toward midnight Saturday night. A full slate of entertainment is scheduled beginning at 7 p.m.

Begun by Tift County Commissioner Melissa Hughes, the Gnat Drop is fashioned after the crystal ball drop in New York City’s Times Square and the famous Peach Drop in Atlanta.

Initially set outside the Charles Kent County Administration Building on Tift Avenue, the celebration was moved this year as the National Weather Service says there is a 70% chance of showers during the day Saturday, and a 20% chance Saturday night.

Among the entertainers scheduled are J.J. Jackson and the Blue Dancing Beauties, Kasey King, Donnie Hester, Northside Baptist Church Praise Team Band, Music Solutions Band, and the Mood Doctors band.

Also scheduled is a street dance to celebrate Michael Jackson’s 40th anniversary of his “Thriller” dance.

OMEGA MAN DIES IN ATV WRECK

An Omega man died in an all-terrain vehicle (ATV) accident Tuesday in Colquitt County, authorities say.

Blake T. Owens, 21, died from injuries sustained when he was a passenger in an ATV that overturned at approximately 7 p.m. Tuesday on Vickers Bridge Road, according to the Georgia State Patrol.

Apparently, the ATV driver lost control of the vehicle and it overturned on the passenger side, the GSP said.

Owens was a welder-fabricator for the Georgia Department of Transportation, was a 2019 graduate of Tift County High School, and had attended Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College.

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– Frank and Bonnie Sayles

Tifton Grapevine

DPH RELEASES TIFT FOOD SCORES

The Ga. Department of Public Health (DPH) conducts inspections of food-service establishments and issues food-service scores based upon compliance with health regulations.

If a food-service establishment receives a grade of “C” and or “U” during a routine

inspection, then the health department must conduct a follow-up inspection to ensure the issues have been corrected.

During the past two months, the following food-service establishments were inspected in Tift County:

Weekly COVID-19 data released from the

Georgia Department of Public Health (DPH) as of Dec. 28:

TOTAL TIFT COUNTY CASES: 6,777 ...................................... TOTAL DEATHS: 173

CONFIRMED TIFT CASES - 2 weeks: 28 ................................... DEATHS - Past week: 0

TIFT POSITIVITY RATE - 2 weeks: 11.4% ........ CONFIRMED & SUSPECTED CASES: 113

TIFT CONFIRMED & SUSPECTED CASES - 2 weeks, per 100K population: 277

_______________________________________________________________

GEORGIA TOTAL CASES: 2,297,2341......................................TOTAL GA DEATHS: 34, 299

GA CONFIRMED & SUSPECTED CASES - 1 week: 11,255

GA DEATHS - 1 week: 30............................................GA HOSPITALIZATIONS - 1 week: 652

YOUR GUIDE TO ACTIVITIES THIS WEEKEND IN THE TIFTAREA

Sunday, Jan. 1, is New Year’s Day. Historians credit the Roman emperor Julius Caesar with developing the Julian calendar, designating January 1 as the start of a new year. The Gregorian calendar, which many nations use today, arrived in 1582 when Pope Gregory XIII aligned the calendar not with the moon, but with the earth’s rotation around the sun — marking 365 days.

SATURDAY, DEC. 31 ~ New Year's Eve

• Tifton Gnat Drop Celebration, 7 p.m., American Legion Fairgrounds, Tifton

SUNDAY, JAN. 1 ~ New Year’s Day

• First Day Hike, 10 a.m., Lake Blackshear Resort, Georgia Veterans State Park, Cordele
• Polar Bear Plunge, 2 p.m. Stafford Aquatic Center, Tiftarea YMCA, Westover Road, 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

This pup is on stray hold at the Tift County Animal Shelter and will be available for adoption if not claimed. Visit pets available for adoption at the Tift County Animal Shelter, on Highway 125 South between 1-6 p.m. Mondays through Fridays. For additional information, call 229-382-PETS (7387).