Tifton City Council has called a special meeting for 5 p.m. Monday to consider placing a 90-day moratorium on any “construction, establishment, or permitting of cryptocurrency mining operations" within the city.

The action follows a controversial proposal outside the city in Tift County to rezone 94 acres to allow construction of a cryptocurrency facility. That proposal was initially slated to come before the Greater Tift County Planning and Zoning Commission on Thursday but was withdrawn late Tuesday after the plan generated controversy and a petition with hundreds of residents opposing it.

Cryptocurrency mining facilities handle digital currency, such as Bitcoin, using specialized, high-powered computers, servers, and software to verify and secure the currency. The operations use a high volume of electrical power. A cryptocurrency facility in Adel has prompted complaints by nearby residents of constant noise coming from the operation, akin to a constant whir of helicopters.

The company behind the initial Tift proposal is "supposedly looking at several sites in Tift County,” said Tift County Commission Chairman Tony McBrayer.

"To my knowledge, they have not purchased any locations in Tift County,” McBrayer told the Tifton Grapevine. “They have looked at some sites in the industrial park, but due to a confidentiality agreement, we cannot discuss which sites.

“Currently, bitcoin mining is not an allowable use in our zoning code,” McBrayer said. ”So, our citizens do not have to worry about such a company slipping into their neighborhood in the dead of night."

Tifton City Manager Pete Pyrzenski told the Tifton Grapevine on Thursday that no formal proposals have been made to place a cryptocurrency operation within the City of Tifton, but noted that the city has "received a couple of calls for sites for mining operations; we have received a few inquiries about tracts of land."

Pyrzenski said the inquiries have been “vague" and have come through real estate agents, not from any specific cryptocurrency company. The city has no codes in place that address such operations, he said, so the city is considering the moratorium to allow time to study and address the issue.

Monday's meeting will be in City Council chambers in City Hall.

The Irwin County High Indians made a valiant effort Thursday night but couldn’t stop the Brooks County High Trojans in the GHSA Class A Public state football championship in Atlanta.

Brooks County won, 56-28. Irwin was only down by a touchdown, 28-21 at halftime, but Brooks broke the game open in the second half.

The win was Brooks' first state championship since 1994. Irwin County had won the title during the past two years.

Southern Regional Technical College (SRTC) held a graduation ceremony Tuesday for more than 350 graduates who completed their programs during fall semester. 

The ceremony in Bainbridge included graduates from all SRTC sites and campuses, including Tift, Turner, and Worth counties.

SRTC’s graduation was a morning of conferring degrees, diplomas, and certificates to students who have completed their respective credit programs or high school equivalency credentials. Many graduates received multiple honors as some programs have embedded certificates that are obtained when completing specified programs in its entirety.

In total, 144 degrees, 109 diplomas, 100 technical certificates of credit, and 24 high school equivalency credentials were conferred.

Dr. Tammy A. Miller, a 1984 graduate of the respiratory therapy program at the former Thomas Area Technical School (now SRTC), was commencement speaker.

Miller, who has degrees from Berry College and Valdosta State University, has served as an SRTC faculty member and program chair since 1991. She told graduates that that her experience as a technical education student was foundational to her own career success.  

“I chose to teach in technical education so that I could help students in their career journey and perhaps make a difference in their lives in the same way that technical education changed my life,” she said.

Tift County reported eight confirmed COVID-19 cases and one related death during the past week, according to the Ga. Department of Public Health (DPH).

During the past two weeks, Tift County recorded 11 confirmed cases of COVID-19 and 38 total cases when rapid Antigen positive cases are added, the DPH said.

Tift County’s confirmed cases in the past two weeks represent 27 cases per 100,000 population, and 93 cases per 100,000 with Antigen positives. Tift's testing positivity rate for the virus was 1.6% during the two-week period, the DPH reported.

There have been a total of 4,900 confirmed cases and 140 deaths in Tift since the pandemic began, according to DPH data. Tift's vaccination rate against the disease is at 40%, the DPH reported. Georgia's vaccination rate statewide is at 52%.

One of the best-loved Christmas TV specials, "A Charlie Brown Christmas," was expected to be a major flop, at least among television executives.

But when the half-hour animated show first aired on Dec. 9, 1965, it was an immediate hit. I remember watching that first broadcast at the time, and the jazzy music was one of the elements that immediately struck me.

CBS-TV executives, however, didn’t understand why there was somewhat melancholy jazz music, why the voices of children were used instead of trained adult actors, why the pacing of the show seemed slow, why there was no laugh track, why the animation appeared flat – and then there was that Bible passage, unusual for a primetime TV show and especially for an animated one.

The show wasn’t completed until days before it aired. TV executives finally viewed it 10 days before the broadcast date. They sat dumbfounded after watching it; they expected a happy, little children’s Christmas cartoon. Instead, they got a thought-provoking paean against Christmas commercialism and how the disenchanted and overlooked among us, like Charlie Brown's tree, "just need a little love."

The show had already been advertised, so it was too late to change it or pull it from the schedule. It was decided that "A Charlie Brown Christmas" would air as scheduled, but that it would be a one-time showing only.

The viewing public had other ideas. Nearly half of all U.S. televisions were tuned into the show that first night. The response was immediate and overwhelmingly positive. The show would end up winning a Peabody Award and an Emmy Award for Outstanding Children’s Programming.

It helped cement Charlie Brown and the “Peanuts" gang's place in American culture. The creator, Charles Schulz, ultimately knew better than the programming executives. He wrote the show, just as he wrote the comic strip, and had insisted that the TV show include the religious meaning of Christmas.

Linus reciting the Nativity story from the Gospel of Luke is the show's linchpin:

"That’s what Christmas is all about, Charlie Brown.”

Ruth’s Cottage and the Patticake House (RCPH) is one of only four "triple-care" providers in the state and the only one in South Georgia, Nancy Bryan, RCPH executive director, told the Tifton Rotary Club on Wednesday. 

This designation means that the Tifton-based nonprofit provides services to victims of domestic violence, sexual assault, and child abuse. The organization is a private nonprofit serving the judicial circuit of Tift, Turner, Worth, and Irwin counties.

Currently, the Ruth’s Cottage shelter is at capacity with 13 adults, seven children, and a family of four on the way, she said. This year through November, the 24/7 hotline has received 861 calls, and the shelter has served 124 adults and 84 children thus far.

The facility has three fulltime legal advocates to help with the requests that come in via the helpline. They help provide safety plans for callers, such as legal protective orders.

A bilingual advocate who serves as an outreach Latino manager is allowing RCPH to provide more service to Latinos. The violent death of a Latina woman earlier this year “woke up that community in a big way, and they came to us seeing education,” Bryan said.

Outreach and education to the community has also increased. She said area residents are invited to volunteer on a variety of committees and get involved in projects such as Suitcases for Kids, which provides a travel bag for kids in foster care with pajamas and toiletries, among other items. 

Southern Regional Technical College (SRTC) on Thursday held a nursing pinning ceremony for 39 associate of science in nursing students.

The ceremony commemorates the students’ successful completion of their nursing coursework and clinical rotations. The nursing students will be registered nurses pending passage of their board exams.

Among the students receiving pins were Zackory Swilley and Victoria Woods, both of Tifton.

During the pinning ceremony, which symbolizes the rite of passage into the nursing profession, students received a pin and a small lamp. The pin reminds students of their purpose to serve the sick and infirmed. The lamp serves as a tribute to Florence Nightingale, the founder of modern-day nursing. In the 19th century, Nightingale was known as the "Lady with the Lamp," tending to the sick while carrying a lamp to light the way.

Ruth's Cottage & the Patticake House has announced three new board members effective in January.

Coming aboard the domestic and sexual violence prevention board are: Melody Cowart, president of the Tifton-Tift County Chamber of Commerce; Reginald Phillips, Tift County Schools parent liaison and retired principal; and Donna H. Webb, assistant vice president for student affairs at Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College.

Tifton's First Baptist Church on Sunday night presented its annual Christmas program

The program got the audience in the holiday mood and reminded everyone of the "reason for the season."

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This Sunday, Dec. 12, is celebrated as Our Lady of Guadalupe Day by Mexicans, honoring the day that the Virgin Mary, mother of Jesus, is said to have appeared in 1531 in what is now a suburb of Mexico City. 

“Sparky," a female pooch, is available for adoption at 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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