What’s that aroma wafting through the pines at Fulwood Park? Yep, it’s barbecue, all right, and beginning tonight, live music will add to the ambience as Tifton’s Rhythm & Ribs BBQ Festival gets underway.

Delayed from March because of the pandemic, the festival returns to the park, and things will be cookin’ – both on the grill and on the stage.

Tonight's kickoff party from 6-10 p.m. will feature the sounds of the Sunny South Blues Band and Flintlock Annie. Then beginning at 10 a.m. Saturday, live music continues on the Syd Blackmarr Stage through 10 p.m., along with children's activities in the KidZone, multiple shows throughout the day on the park's north side, a variety of vendors and food – and, of course, barbecue.

The Georgia Barbecue Association is sanctioning the professional BBQ competition with teams from all over Georgia and surrounding states converging on Fulwood Park and cooking up their best recipes for up to $3,000 in prize money. A "Backyard Competition" of amateurs will also compete for up to $1,000 and bragging rights.

Live music acts include The Gibson Brothers, Roosevelt Collier, Andy Johnson, the Danny Dawson Band, Mermaid Motor Lounge, the Page Brothers Band, and Scout.

“We are so excited to finally be hosting the festival again,” said Angela Elder with the Tifton-Tift County Tourism Association. “We are ready, and we know that our festival-goers and vendors are ready too. We’ve received so much support from attendees, businesses and vendors alike who are excited to 'party under the pines.' We will be taking some extra safety precautions this year to help keep everyone safe and healthy.” 

Tifton's Rhythm & Ribs BBQ Festival began in 2009, created by the City of Tifton and held downtown that first year. It then relocated to the Ga. Museum of Agriculture the next year. Following a four-year hiatus, Rhythm & Ribs returned in 2014 and came back bigger and better at Fulwood Park.

Admission to the festival is free. For more information, visit www.tiftonribsfest.com

A decision to renew the Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax for Education (E-SPLOST) will be on the countywide ballot Nov. 2, Tift County Schools Superintendent Adam Hathaway told the Tifton Rotary Club on Wednesday.

“A SPLOST cycle only runs for five years, and at the end of that five years, we renew the penny,” Hathaway said. “It’s not about adding another penny; it’s about renewing the penny that’s already been there.”

He was referring to the one-cent sales tax on every dollar spent in Tift County that goes toward education. The current SPLOST V expires June 30, 2022. In Tift County, it is estimated that approximately 60% of SPLOST dollars come from outside sources, or non-residents.

What does SPLOST do for Tift County Schools? “Primarily, it pays for capital construction,” Hathaway said. “When the new high school was built, that was SPLOST I.”

Having SPLOST funds “absolutely frees us up to have smaller class sizes, so we can continue to provide a quality education,” Hathaway said.

The growth of SPLOST funds is a testament to the growth of Tift County, he said. 

SPLOST funds can pay for capital construction (renovation, modification and additions); instructional resources and materials; computers and software; security cameras and alarm systems; furniture; playground/P.E. equipment; buses, and other school vehicles.

That $70 million would be the maximum amount of bonds that the Tift County Board of Education is allowed to borrow. The school system does not have to access the full $70 million if the total amount is not needed.

Proposed major projects for the SPLOST continuation includes a new middle school facility, a new elementary school facility to combine Northside and G.O. Bailey elementary schools. Locations are not yet determined, and nothing has been decided yet, Hathaway said.

“We have a large amount of older schools in our system, built in the 1960s and 1970s,” Hathaway said “Three elementary schools are our biggest concern, and the two priorities are Northside and G.O. Bailey.”

“There’s only so much lipstick you can put on a pig before you start getting diminishing returns,” he said. “There’s only so much paint you can put on a wall, before you realize that the pipes that are under the slab cracked two years ago and that’s the reason the whole building smells like urine.

“The conversation we are having is about building another elementary school, an Annie Belle Clark-type of elementary school. We’re going to plan for a building that’s going to last 50 to 75 years." The estimated cost is $30 million.

"The second major project we are looking at is building a consolidated middle school," Hathaway said. The estimated cost would be $40 million in local funds. 

Early voting on continuing SPLOST starts Tuesday, Oct. 12.

Tift County has reported 24 new confirmed COVID-19 cases and six related deaths during the past week, according to data Thursday from the Ga. Department of Public Health (DPH).

During the past two weeks, Tift County recorded 59 confirmed cases of COVID-19 and 119 total cases when rapid Antigen positive cases are added, the DPH said.

Tift County’s confirmed cases in the past two weeks represent 145 cases per 100,000 population, and 291 cases with Antigen positives. Tift's testing positivity rate for the virus was 9.2% during the two-week period, the DPH reported.

There have been a total of 4,798 confirmed cases and 127 deaths in Tift since the pandemic began, according to DPH data.

On Thursday, the DPH reported 4,161 new confirmed cases within 24 hours in Georgia, along with 2,149 new Antigen cases, 164 additional related deaths, and 273 new hospitalizations. The state has recorded a total of 1,238,404 cases with 23,236 deaths, the DPH reported.

According to DPH data, as of Thursday afternoon 38% of eligible Tift countians were fully vaccinated against the virus, while statewide the number was 48%.

The Georgia Supreme Court has denied the appeal of a man convicted in the home-invasion murder of a lottery winner in Fitzgerald.

Dabrentise Coki Overstreet, convicted of malice murder, was one of seven people charged in connection with the murder in 2016 of Craigory Burch Jr., who had won $434,272 from the Georgia Lottery.

Overstreet, in his appeal, claimed that the state depended on evidence from two key witnesses who were unreliable, and the state’s evidence was not enough to convict him under Georgia’s Gang Act. He contended that being tried in Fitzgerald's home county was prejudicial.

“Because Overstreet has presented no evidence suggesting that the jurors decided the case based on something other than the evidence presented at trial, he cannot establish that he was actually prejudiced by being tried in Ben Hill County,” Justice Charlie Bethel wrote in the unanimous opinion issued Tuesday.

Ruth’s Cottage and The Patticake House (RCPCH) have activities and events planned throughout October for National Domestic Violence Awareness Month.

A Candlelight Vigil honoring victims killed as a result of domestic violence during the previous year was held Thursday evening at Southern Regional Technical College in Tifton.

“We always like to start off the month of October with this incredibly meaningful event,” said Nancy Bryan, RCPCH executive director. “This event really allows us to show the community how dangerous domestic violence can be while also honoring those victims who have passed on.” 

Scheduled next is "Walk a Mile in Her Shoes" on Oct. 14 on the front lawn of the ABAC campus. Registration for those walking opens at 5:30 p.m., with the walk starting at 6:30. Participants may also register here.

“This event is a little more fun and light-hearted,” said Bryan. “Men from throughout the community will don high heels and walk an actual mile to show their support for domestic violence victims and their commitment to ‘stopping the hurt.’ ”

On Oct. 21, Ruth’s Cottage and The Patticake House will participate in the national “Wear Purple Day” to raise awareness for domestic violence. Folks are asked to wear purple and text photos of themselves to 229-402-2146. 

RCPCH is also working to raise awareness about domestic violence through social media, a victim display, purple stickers, and a “Save a Seat” project that showcases victims’ stories on laminated paper placed on seats at locations in Tift, Turner, Worth, Irwin, and Ben Hill counties.

World War II posters and memorabilia come together for an exhibit beginning Oct. 21 at Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College's Georgia Museum of Agriculture Gallery.

Curator Polly Huff said that “Work, Fight, Give: American Relief Posters of WWII” offers visitors a wide-ranging collection of original relief posters and memorabilia to help provide understanding of a watershed event in U.S. history. 

“This is the first exhibition to challenge our traditional memory of World War II, putting relief efforts at the forefront through an array of visually exciting poster art, ‘Cinderella’ poster stamps, photographs, banners, and programs issued by the various relief agencies and by the National War Fund,” Huff said.

President Franklin Roosevelt in 1942 created the National War Fund to consolidate relief agencies that sprang up to aid those countries and people devastated by war. 

“This exhibition also focuses on artisans who shared their artistic talents to design posters that were aimed at the hearts of Americans, to persuade citizens to donate their time and resources,” Huff said. “Many of America’s top artists and illustrators designed the relief posters, and they often employed historical, mythological, and cultural symbols representing various countries and cultures.”  

Exhibit hours are 9 a.m.-3 p.m. Tuesdays-Fridays, and 9 a.m.-4 p.m. Saturdays until Jan. 19.

American Legion Post 21 in Tifton on Wednesday surprised carpentry instructor Ken Robison at Southern Regional Technical College (SRTC) with a certificate of appreciation for constructing and donating a drop box for worn American flags.

Robison and his students, including SRTC student and Navy veteran Ray Lawton, built the box as a course project. Robison said his students were happy to use their skills for the community.

According to the U.S. Flag Code, when an American flag is worn beyond repair and is no longer a fitting emblem for display, the flag should be destroyed in a dignified, respectful manner. Organizations such as the American Legion have traditionally played a leadership role in properly retiring flags. Drop boxes allow flag collections year-round.

Since the drop box was donated in April, local American Legion Post historian Greg Miller reported that more than 800 flags have been dropped off and retired at the box located at 1224 Moore Highway in Tifton.

The Tifton-Tift County Chamber of Commerce will hold another local job fair because of the interest and success of its previous one in August.

"Due to many requests, we have decided to host another Chamber job fair on Oct. 26," the Chamber of Commerce announced. "We’re again limiting it to 40 businesses, so get your registration form back to us as soon as possible. Participating businesses and organizations must be Chamber members."

The Tifton-Tift County Career Day/Job Fair is set for 3-6 p.m. Oct. 26, in the Tift County Recreation Department gym at 401 Victory Drive.

To register, email ebrechbiel@tiftonchamber.org or call 229-382-6200.

With ABAC souvenirs and a basket of prizes each day, visitors to the Sunbelt Agricultural Exposition at Spence Field near Moultrie on Oct. 19-21 have plenty of reasons to stop at the Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College building.

“I am looking forward to seeing many of our alumni that we have not been able to be with during the pandemic. The Expo is an event where we see hundreds of our fabulous alumni, so I hope many will come by the ABAC building and check in with us,” said Lynda Fisher, ABAC alumni director. 

Lindsey Carney, ABACs marketing and communications director, said the college is “always looking for new and different ways to greet prospective students and alumni who visit our Expo building. Everyone who comes into the building wearing something ABAC will get to pick a prize out of our ABAC box.”

The School of Agriculture and Natural Resources will feature games, a roping steer dummy, and information for prospective students.

The Sunbelt Ag Expo, North Americas premier farm show, began as a series of small farm equipment shows on the ABAC campus in 1964. It moved to its current location in 1978.

Approximately 30 students and faculty members from the University of Georgia Tifton Campus visited the Okefenokee Swamp on Saturday, one of the "Seven Wonders of Georgia" that straddles the Georgia-Florida line.

The group paddled nine miles through the swamp, observing the flora along the way.

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Saturday, Oct. 9, is National Fire Prevention Day, designed to raise awareness of fire prevention and to recognize the hard work of firefighters. The first Fire Prevention Day was declared in 1920 by President Wilson and later expanded into National Fire Prevention Week.

“Bowzer," a young male dog, is available for adoption at the Tift County Animal Shelter. If you're interested in adopting Bowzer and providing him a good home, see him at Saturday’s Rhythm & Ribs BBQ Festival at Fulwood Park and visit the Tift County Animal Shelter on Highway 125 South between 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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