Tuesday, Oct. 25, 2022

Tifton, Georgia

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GrapeNew
478-227-7126 ~ www.tiftongrapevine.com

TIFTON ARTS COUNCIL RECEIVES $41,871 GRANT TO UPGRADE ’THE SYD'

CULTURAL FACILITIES GRANT COMES FROM STATE

By FRANK SAYLES JR.

Tifton Grapevine

A nearly $42,000 state grant will help the Tifton Council for the Arts to upgrade the building facilities at the Syd Blackmarr Arts Center, formerly the Tifton Museum of Arts & Heritage, on Love Avenue.


Tifton’s Arts Council is one of 31 entities in the state being awarded a cultural facilities grant from the Georgia Council for the Arts, an arm of the Georgia Department of Economic Development.


"The Tifton Council for the Arts is thrilled to receive $41,871 from the Georgia Council for the Arts to care for our beautiful historic building,” said Joy Yost, executive director in Tifton.


"The funds will be used to update the HVAC system, install a new loading dock and ramp behind the building, and to install a new ADA-compliant ramp leading to the handicap-accessible parking spots behind the building,” Yost said.

"All of these improvements will make it easier to provide arts programing for Tifton and provide easier access to the building as we strive to make the arts available, affordable, and accessible to all,” Yost said.


State cultural facilities grants support the restoration or renovation of a building used for arts programming


“Rarely has arts funding been more needed than it is today, and Georgia Council for the Arts is grateful for the support that the Georgia General Assembly is providing to help our arts communities improve their facilities and carry out their mission to the fullest,” said Tina Lilly, Georgia Arts Council director.


“We hear first-hand about what this assistance can mean to an organization and a community, and we’re pleased to know that it will touch the lives of so many Georgians,” she said. 


This is second grant that the Georgia Council for the Arts has awarded to the Tifton Arts Council this year. In August, the Tifton organization received a $12,000 bridge grant to assist with arts programming and events.

GPB photo

Tifton police Chief Steve Hyman says every threat to a school has to be treated as credible.

SCHOOL VIOLENCE:

GPB LOOKS AT BIG & SMALL CITIES, INCLUDING TIFTON

A recent report by Georgia Public Broadcasting focused on how the state’s schools in large and small cities, including Tifton, actively prepare in hopes of keeping violence away from their doors.


In recent years, shootings have increased on school property across the nation.

  

In the report by GPB reporter Riley Bunch, Tifton Police Chief Steve Hyman said, “Just because it's happening in Texas or Alabama, or New York, doesn't mean it can't happen here in Tifton tomorrow.”


Hyman said that he "can't close my eyes and say, ‘This is little Tifton, Ga. – in South Georgia; we don't have that kind of stuff,’ because we could have it."


Tifton Mayor Julie B. Smith told GPB that “there's no community that is immune to this: There's no town; there's no schools; it doesn't matter if you're a small town, a large town.


"We all face these issues. We face issues with keeping our children safe.


To read the full GPB report, Click Here.

SPARKS MAYOR, PUBLIC WORKS CHIEF FACE THEFT CHARGES

Staff Reports

The governor’s office is determining whether to remove Sparks’s mayor from office while he faces three counts of theft, officials say.


Earl Jackson, 76, mayor of the Cook County city, and Sparks Public Works Superintendent Antoyo “Buck” Tucker, 42, have each been charged with one count of theft by taking, one count of theft by appropriation, and one count of theft by conversion, according to the Georgia Bureau of Investigation (GBI).


The GBI's Douglas regional office began an investigation Sept. 22 into theft allegations involving city funds, the GBI said.

At an emergency meeting of Sparks City Council on Oct. 12, council appointed Councilman Chris Cheatum to serve as mayor pro tem until Mayor Jackson’s charges are resolved.


Council also decided to temporarily suspend Public Works Superintendent Tucker with pay, pending further investigation into the charges.


The GBI said the investigation remains active and ongoing.

MORE THAN 1 MILLION GEORGIANS CAST EARLY BALLOTS;

TIFT SEES 'EPIC WEEK’ OF VOTING

By FRANK SAYLES JR.

Tifton Grapevine

Georgians continue going to the polls in record numbers to vote early for the Nov. 8 general election, with more than 1 million ballots already cast statewide.


Voting also has been steady in Tift County, which had an “epic week” of early voting last week, says the county’s election supervisor.


"This has truly been an epic week of advanced voting. The turnout has been steady with voters coming in excited about voting,” said Leila E. Dollison, election supervisor with the Tift County Board of Elections and Registration.


The first week of early voting in Tift County saw 2,679 in-person voters. The county elections office also has mailed out 514 absentee ballots and received back 255 as of end of the day Saturday.


Advance voting continues at the Tift County Board of Elections office from 8 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday-Friday until Nov. 4. Polls will be open one more Saturday this week from 9 a.m.-5 p.m. 


Last Saturday, 206 Tift countians cast ballots at the Tift election office at the corner of Fourth Street and Chesnutt Avenue.


Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger said Tuesday that the 1 million early votes cast is nearly a 70% increase above this point in the 2018 midterm election.


In a press conference Tuesday at the state Capitol, Raffensperger said his office is working to get ahead of any accusations of fraud or voter suppression after facing challenges in the past two elections.


“Knowing the environment we are in post-2018 and post-2020, we do expect continued misinformation and disinformation,” he said.

SOMETHIN’ STRANGE IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD

By BONNIE SAYLES

Tifton Grapevine

It’s the Adamson Family ... Justin and Kayla Adamson are at it again!


“There’s somethin' strange in the neighborhood,” and it’s their house at 806 Texas Drive, off Magnolia Drive near the Eighth Street Middle School walking track.


It’s a synchronized Halloween light display with music broadcast on their own radio transmitter at 97.1 on the FM dial. Be sure to turn on the radio on in your car when watching the display. A sign reminds listeners what station to tune to.


“We found a spot on the dial with static and went with it,” Adamson said when the Tifton Grapevine first interviewed him in 2020.


“We have two singing jack-o-lantern faces, light-up tombstones, pumpkins, colored flood lights and strobe lights,” he said.


Among the songs on rotation are “Thriller," "Devil Went Down to Georgia," "This is Halloween" (from “Nightmare Before Christmas”), and “Ghostbusters." The equipment that synchronizes the light display with music is called Light-o-rama. 

  

And yes, they decorate and synchronize for Christmas, too!  

National Technical Honor Society inductees are, from left, bottom row: De’Andreyah Canion, Misty Helms, Kaitlyn Brinson, Brandie Collier. From left, row 2: Laura Herrera, Loren Osgatharp, Malinda Slappey, Felisha Williams. From left, row 3: Raneshia Walden, Cynthia Askew, Crystal Gill, Kirstyn Harrell. From left, top row: Tinaisha Huntington, Taylor Evans, Meghan Livingston, Megan Wade, and Alyssa Warn.

NATIONAL TECH HONOR SOCIETY INDUCTS AREA SRTC STUDENTS

The Thomasville chapter of the National Technical Honor Society (NTHS) at Southern Regional Technical College (SRTC) inducted 21 new members into the organization, including several local students.


The fall semester inductees are: Taylor Evans of Adel; Brandie Collier and Kashai Gregory of Bainbridge; Kendar Hayes of Blakely; Mackenzie Gilbreath of Meigs; Malinda Slappey of Moultrie; Meghan Livingston of Nashville; Felisha Williams of Pelham; Megan Wade of Quitman; Cynthia Askew, Kaitlyn Brinson, De’Andreyah Canion, Misty Helms, Loren Osgatharp, Raneshia Walden, Alyssa Warn, and Serenity Williams of Thomasville; Laura Herrera of Tifton; Crystal Gill of Tallahassee; Tinaisha Huntington of Valdosta; and Kirstyn Harrell of Whigham.


These students represent many SRTC programs including accounting, business technology, early childhood care and education, interdisciplinary studies, associate of science in nursing, paralegal studies, paramedicine, respiratory care, and veterinary technology.


To qualify for NTHS membership, students must have completed at least one full semester at SRTC and must have completed a minimum of six credit hours of course work with a cumulative GPA of at least 3.0. An SRTC instructor must nominate students for NTHS membership consideration.

WHO WILL HAVE THIS YEAR’S LUCKY DUCK IN BLUE DEVILS’ DUCKTONA 300'

It’s time to get your ducks in a row.


The Tift County Blue Devils Swim Teams' "Ducktona 300” duck race is coming at 7 p.m. Nov. 3 at the Tift County Recreation Department's pool on Baldwin Drive.


Tickets are $100 for five ducks; the grand prize winner of the Ducktona – the “Lucky Duck” – will receive $10,000. Only 300 tickets are being sold, and all proceeds benefit the Tift Schools’ swim teams.


Tickets may be purchased from any Tift swimmer or swim coach.


A silent auction will be held at 6 p.m. before the race.


The Tift County swim teams begin their season this weekend with a middle school swim meet Friday and a high school meet Saturday at the Tifton pool.


To view a Facebook video promoting the Ducktona 300, Click Here!

In a scene from “Gem of the Ocean, are Baldwin Players cast members, from left, Ezzard Stewart, Yolanda Powell, Roderick Baisden, Terrie Powell, and Timon Fields.

ABAC PLAY ‘GEM OF OCEAN’ A ‘MYSTICAL JOURNEY OF AWAKENING, REDEMPTION'

The Baldwin Players theatre troupe at Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College will stage a three-night run of August Wilson’s “Gem of the Ocean” on Thursday through Saturday nights.


The production begins at 7 p.m. nightly in ABAC’s Howard Auditorium. Tickets will be available at the door – $10 for adults and $5 for youth.


Cast members include Timon Fields from Cordele as Eli, ABAC graduate Roderick Baisden from Tifton as Citizen Barlow, business major Yolanda Powell from Orlando, Fla., as Aunt Ester, writing and communication major Terrie Powell from Tifton as Black Mary, Jhalin Pittmon from Tifton as Solly Two-Kings, Ezzard Stewart from Fitzgerald as Caesar Wilks, and music major Easton Mayo from Tallahassee as Rutherford Selig.


Baldwin Players’ Director Brian Ray said the play centers on a time of racial tension in Pittsburgh when Aunt Ester, a 285-year-old healer, leads Citizen Barlow on a powerful, mystical journey of awakening and redemption across history and time to the City of Bones in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. 


Barlow, a young man from Alabama, is in the midst of great spiritual turmoil at the time.

TIFTON GRAPEVINE'S CAT OF THE WEEK

“Vivienne,” a female kitty, is available for adoption today at the Tift County Animal Shelter. To adopt Vivienne or to see other pets available, visit the shelter between 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

FIRE DESTROYS PHILLIPS MILLING CO. IN TIFTON

~ OCT. 26, 1944

Fire destroyed the Phillips Milling Co. plant on the evening of Oct. 26, 1944. The blaze was discovered at about 11 p.m. at the facility on West Second Street. Lost were the plant building, all equipment, and materials. Damages were estimated to be more than $35,000 – or more than $560,000 in today’s dollars.

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Frank Sayles Jr.
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