A beloved school building in Tifton is getting a new life for the remainder of the 21st century and beyond: The former Annie Belle Clark School in Tifton's Historic District will officially become the Tift County Schools Administrative Offices on Monday.

The structure at 506 West 12th St., built in 1927 as Tifton Junior High School, served as Annie Belle Clark Elementary for a half-century and later as the school system's Pre-K Center.

It had been largely vacant for the past two years. The school system spent approximately $2.8 million to restore, renovate and update the facilities to handle modern needs and technology.

"It's an old building, and we wanted to bring it back to life for 2021 into something that Tifton could be proud of," said Tift County Schools spokesman Jonathan Judy.

"The building holds a special place in a lot of people's hearts. We just couldn’t vacate it; we wanted to honor it and its history. We hope it will last for another hundred years."

Judy said the school system will have more room to hold meetings and training than it has had in its current offices on North Ridge Avenue. On Thursday, school staff was still moving into the renovated building in anticipation of being ready to operate there on Monday.

The school system said that in the coming days it will announce a date for an open house for folks to see the new offices.

Tifton has a history of successfully restoring and repurposing its old, historic buildings – the old Myon Hotel is now City Hall with adjacent shops and businesses; and the old Tifton High School is the County Administration Building.

Annie Belle Clark Elementary had moved into the 12th Street building in 1962 after Tifton Junior High relocated to the former high school facility on Tift Avenue. Annie Belle Clark Grammar School was originally in a building constructed in 1906 where the downtown Post Office now stands.

Annie Belle Clark was a primary school teacher who arrived in Tifton in 1910, becoming the school's principal in 1917. The school was named in her honor in April 1944.

As the top academic student at Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College, Tania Bautista is the 2021 recipient of the J.G. Woodroof Scholar award. Bautista is a senior agricultural education major from Tifton.

The Woodroof Scholar Award is named for Dr. J.G. Woodroof, the first president of ABAC in 1933. The award was presented at the recent ABAC honors ceremony in Tift Hall.

After compiling the highest-grade point average possible with a 4.0 during her four years at ABAC, Bautista will graduate May 14 with her bachelor’s degree in agricultural education. After graduation she plans to go into the classroom and become an agricultural educator.

“Throughout my educational journey, I have worked hard to get to where I am today,” Bautista said. “I take the privilege of getting an education with pride because having been born in Mexico and moving to the United States gave me the opportunity to get one of the best educations available.

“Receiving this award means all of my hard work did not go unnoticed. Not only is this award for me, but for my parents, Roberto and Esperanza Bautista, who have sacrificed so much for my siblings and me.”

At ABAC, Bautista is a member of the Horticulture Club, the Phi Theta Kappa Honor Society, Collegiate FFA, and the Cultura Latina Club. Her off-campus activities include volunteer work with Hands on Tifton through the Fulwood Garden Center, assembling food packages for the needy, and serving as a Parish Council member.

The City of Ocilla and the Ocilla Downtown Development Authority are finalizing plans for the Prater Music Fest and its first Soul Man BBQ Competition sponsored by the Georgia BBQ Association.

The event is scheduled May 6-8.

The Music Fest honors the late Dave Prater, Ocilla native and one-half of the Grammy-winning soul/R&B duo Sam & Dave, who had such hits as "Soul Man" and "Hold On, I'm Comin'."

“We put a new twist on it this year; we’re having live music on Friday night (May 7) featuring the Southern Soul Band and the Irwin County High School Jazz Band. We’re going for a family atmosphere and will have vendors selling BBQ, hot dogs, hamburgers, assorted beverages, and providing activities for the kids," said Roxie Seale, chair of the Ocilla Downtown Development Authority (DDA).  

"We have also added the BBQ competition and competitors will be preparing for Saturday’s big showdown. The winner of the Prater Music Scholarship will be announced during Friday night’s activities. He/she will perform with the band," Seale said.

Activities continue at 11 a.m. Saturday, May 8, with live music by Anna Beth Gay and the Page Brothers, among others. Winners of the BBQ competition will be announced at 4 p.m.; the event ends at 5 p.m.

Alcoholic beverages will be available for adults at least 21 years old, but a .  commemorative cup and wristband must first be purchased from DDA volunteers. Ice chests or other open containers will not be allowed onto the festival grounds.

Tift County has recorded nine new confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the past week, the Ga. Department of Public Health (DPH) reported Thursday.

During the past two weeks, Tift recorded 16 new cases. Tift's coronavirus-related deaths remained unchanged during the period, the DPH said.

Tift County's new confirmed cases translate to 39 per 100,000 population, the DPH reported. The county’s positive testing rate during the two-week period is 6.8%.

Since the pandemic began, Tift has reported 3,421 confirmed cases with 96 deaths.

On Thursday, Georgia reported 1,068 new cases with 51 additional deaths and 130 new hospitalizations. The state has had a total of 878.827 confirmed cases and 17,534 related deaths, the DPH said.

The iconic red-roofed University of Georgia Tifton Campus barn, built as a gateway to the campus and one of its first structures, has been reimagined as a cost-efficient, pre-engineered steel building.

Construction Magazine Network recently published a profile of the new barn and its construction. The traditional gambrel-style metal roof sits atop a 42-foot high, 5,100-square-foot building with wood-framed walls, fiber cement siding and wood flooring on the second floor.

It has motorized, coiling roll-up doors and additional sliding barn doors.

The building supplants the original barn that was a longtime landmark for the Coastal Plain Experiment Station. The barn housed equipment, mules and the office where Dr. Glenn Burton conducted his groundbreaking pearl millet feed grass research in the 1940s and ’50s.

“We thought it was a great way to honor our legacy by building a new gambrel that kept the historical roots of where we come from and maintained its original qualities,” Michael D. Toews, assistant dean of the Tifton campus, told Construction Magazine Network.

“This barn is part of the fiber of our campus, so we wanted to maintain the character of our first 100 years with a structure that’s built to get us through the next 100 years,” Toews said.

Kurt Seigler, UGA Tifton superintendent of plant operations and engineer, told the magazine network: “This is not your typical farm building with straight walls and a straight roof. ... This is an out-of-the-box structure."

Local libraries have adopted a “Fines Free” policy, in which books and other materials may be borrowed without overdue fines, according to Sandy Hester, director of the Coastal Plain Library System, which encompasses Ben Hill, Berrien, Cook, Irwin, Tift, and Turner counties

“That means if you accidentally forget to bring that book back on time, we’ve eliminated fines. We think that that’s going to be a fantastic way to get people back into libraries,” Hester told the Tifton Rotary Club on Wednesday.

In addition, local libraries in the system have launched the "Clean Slate" project: “We wipe out all old debt and start fresh and clean.” Overdue fines and old debt place an unfair burden on those who may have misplaced a book and are hesitant to come back to their local library, Hester said.

“That means if you lost a book three years ago, we wipe that out. If you have $30 in overdue fees, we wipe that out. We want everyone to start fresh and clean.” Fines Free applies only to libraries in the Coastal Plain system, she said.

The regional headquarters is located on the corner of Chesnutt Avenue and 22nd Street. Beginning May 3, the Coastal Plain library will be open 11 a.m.-5 p.m. Mondays through Fridays. She said administrative work for all the libraries are conducted at the headquarters in addition to its being a small branch library with books, materials, and computer access.

Hester said that libraries are funded by their local governments, supplemented by federal and state funds. The City of Tifton and Tift County support the Tifton-Tift County Public Library on Love Avenue. Also, the Tift County Board of Education provides a certain amount of funding, she said.

The Tifton-Tift County Public Library Foundation finances the summer reading program and most of the activities for children, as well as the Tift library’s membership and access in the GAD electronic system and Universal Class, a way in which classes are provided to the public online. 

Before becoming director of the entire library system. Hester spent 10 years with the Fitzgerald library and previously spent 11 years at the Tifton library.

A Tift County Badges for Life Blood Drive will be held Monday, May 3, in memory of Lt. John Edenfield, a Tift County firefighter who died while on duty last year.

The blood drive, hosted by the OneBlood organization, is set for 10 a.m.-3 p.m. at the Tift County Recreation Department, 401 Victory Drive.

Local residents are invited to join local first responders and donate blood to ensure a safe and ready blood supply in the community. Generally, healthy people age 16 or older who weigh at least 110 pounds can donate blood. Photo identification is required.

Potential donors may make an appointment at www.oneblood.org, sponsor code - 28535, or call 1-888-9-DONATE (1-888-936-6283).

The Tiftarea Academy Panthers took down Southland Academy in a baseball double header Wednesday to clinch the region championship.

Tiftarea defeated Southland 4-2 and again, 5-1, for the Georgia Independent School Association (GISA) Region 3-AAA title.

State playoff action will begin next week.

The state's peanut farmers have voted overwhelmingly to continue supporting the Georgia Peanut Commission (GPC) and its initiatives.

The reaffirmation vote of 94.43% is the highest the commission has received in its nearly 60-year existence. The 2021 referendum was held March 15 through April 16.

“I am thankful our board and staff have been able to work in the areas of research, promotion and education of peanuts, as well as support efforts in Washington to maintain legislation that is helpful for peanut farmers, which in turn, continues to allow us to provide a healthy, nutritious product for consumers,” said Armond Morris of Tifton, Peanut Commission chairman.

As required by Georgia state law, peanut farmers vote on the commission every three years. The certified public accounting firm of Allen, Pritchett and Bassett counted the ballots.

“Our staff is humbled by the support of peanut farmers in Georgia,” said Don Koehler of Tifton, GPC executive director. “We will continue to seek opportunities through programs in research, education and promotion to enhance profit opportunities on the farm.”

Georgia peanut farmers invest $2 per ton annually to the commission to be used for research, promotion, and education.

Southern Regional Technical College on Thursday pinned its graduating veterinary technology class of 2021 in recognition of their achievements – Elizabeth Delk, Yadira Flores, Savannah Maton, and Hannah Watts. All four graduates have already secured employment in their field: Delk in Tallahassee; Flores in Cairo; Maton at Quailwood Animal Hospital in Tifton; and Watts at a veterinary center in Moultrie.

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Today, Friday, April 30, is National Arbor Day, so plant a tree. Arbor Day is always on the fourth Friday in April.

These two dogs are on stray hold at the Tift County Animal Shelter, located on Highway 125 S. If they are unclaimed, they will be available for adoption. The shelter is open to the public for adoptions from 1-6 p.m. Mondays through Fridays. For more information, call 229-382-PETS (7387).

205 Belmont Ave., Tifton, 229-382-6055  

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