$12 MILLION HOUSING PROJECT COMING TO

The revitalization of South Tifton is making a major leap forward as a $12 million project will soon get underway to build affordable multifamily housing for low- to moderate-income residents in South Tifton.

The development will be on 6.2 acres on the site of the former Captain's Point mobile home park – property the city purchased last year near Matt Wilson Elementary School. At Monday’s Tifton City Council meeting, City Manager Pete Pyrzenski announced that the city's application has been approved for the federal tax grant for the project.

“This really is a game-changer,” Pyrzenski said. ”It’s something that complements what we’re trying to do, our long-term vision” for South Tifton.

Tifton worked with IDP Properties of Valdosta to acquire the grant. IDP will build the housing, which could be completed by this time next year, said Bruce Green, Tifton Urban Redevelopment Agency director.

Green told the Tifton Grapevine that the project will involve 56 housing units, with 28 of them being offered to individuals who earn 60 percent of Tifton's median income. The housing will be offered "below market rates," Green said.

“This will be transformative for South Tifton,” Green added. “We’re super, super excited."

The housing will be constructed just east of the Youth Activities Center that the city is planning. In September, Tifton was awarded a $750,000 grant toward the center, which will be a focal point of the South Tifton community and will involve partnerships with the Tiftarea YMCA, with the Literacy Volunteers organization and with the Tifton-Tift County Public Library, among others.

Georgia's hand recount of 5 million ballots affirms that Joe Biden received more votes in the Peach State than Donald Trump, the Ga. Secretary of State's Office reported Thursday.

Biden won Georgia by 12,284 votes over Trump, the recount found.

Tift County Election Supervisor Leila E. Dollison said that Tift's recount "went well; no changes, and no issues." All 159 counties in Georgia had to complete a manual recount of the general election by end of the day Wednesday.

“Georgia’s historic first statewide audit reaffirmed that the state’s new secure paper ballot voting system accurately counted and reported results,” said Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, a Republican who called for the recount after fellow Republicans criticized him and Georgia's handling of the election.

Raffensperger plans to certify the election today (Friday), as required under state law. A federal judge, a Trump appointee, dismissed a lawsuit Thursday by a Trump supporter to stop the certification. U.S. District Judge Steven Grimberg said there was no basis in “fact or law” to grant an emergency injunction to delay the election certification.

During a nationally televised press conference earlier Thursday, Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani said, “Whatever the count in Georgia today is, it’s totally ridiculous.”

Trump sent several emails to supporters Thursday about what he called election "fraud," and said "the Georgia recount is a joke and is being done under protest."

Trump could call for another recount in Georgia as state law allows a candidate to do so if the margin between candidates is less than 0.5 percentage points.

Tift County reported 79 new confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the past week, according to data released Thursday by the Ga. Department of Public Health (DPH).

Tift has a total of 2,129 cases with 67 coronavirus-related deaths, the DPH reported. During the past two weeks, Tift saw 122 additional cases and also had a 10.8 percent positivity rate – 2 percent higher than the previous two weeks – for tests conducted, the state said.

Statewide, Georgia reported 2,735 new cases on Thursday and 40 additional deaths. Since the pandemic began, Georgia has reported 396,641 total cases and 8,569 deaths, the DPH said.

Tifton native Larry Dean Jr., former NFL linebacker and current Canadian football star,

is teaming up with the United Way of South Central Georgia again to offer free turkeys and groceries to Tifton residents.

Through his Larry Dean Foundation, Dean, with help from the local United Way, is giving away 100 turkeys and 100 bags of food beginning at 10 a.m. Saturday, Nov. 21, on Sunset Drive in Tifton. Interested residents should enter off Southern Avenue toward Golden Road and then turn right on Sunset Drive.

Only one turkey will be given per household, with no more than two families per vehicle. The giveaway will be contactless; items will be placed in each vehicle's trunk.

This is the seventh year that Dean’s foundation is helping local families. He previously explained that “this is where I grew up, born and raised. The community supports me so much; this is a small token of appreciation that I have for the community.”

Dean, 32, was a football star at Valdosta State University and played in 61 National Football League games with the Minnesota Vikings and Buffalo Bills. He currently plays with the Hamilton Tiger-Cats of the Canadian Football League (CFL).

He is a three-time CFL divisional all-star and was the East Division’s nominee for Most Outstanding Defensive Player in 2018.

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Downtown Tifton is planning a “Sip & Stroll” event on Saturday, Dec. 5, in conjunction with the downtown merchants' open house.

The event will include food trucks, live music at Tifton Gardens stage, a showing of "The Grinch" film at the Tift Theatre, the Tifton Christmas tree lighting and the open house at downtown shops.

But one city councilman doesn’t think the event is a good idea. At Monday’s Tifton City Council meeting, Councilman Jack Folk noted the seriousness of the coronavirus pandemic. The city had previously cancelled the annual Hometown Holiday Christmas Celebration, scheduled for Dec. 5, because of COVID-19.

“This is serious,” Folk said. "I struggle with these kind of activities where we are promoting people to congregate. ... I’m just opposed to anything the city is going to promote that causes a group of people to get together."

After Folk's comments, City Council voted to designate the Sip & Stroll event as a festival under city ordinance. Folk cast the lone vote in opposition.

Marlee Taylor, a senior at Tiftarea Academy, is Tiftarea Academy's Heisman High School Scholarship school winner.

She has been at Tiftarea Academy since she was a Pre-K student. Taylor is co-captain of the cheerleading squad and has earned a spot on the All-American team. She is a member of the Beta Club, the 1100 cub, Key Club, Excel Club and Student Council and has maintained Headmasters List status as a student. Her goal is to attend the University of Georgia.

Taylor competed on the state level for the Heisman High School Scholarship. State winners from Georgia are Anna James of Thomas County Central High School in Thomasville and Collin Jones of Carollton High.

The Heisman High School Scholarship program said it extends the Heisman prestige to the nation’s most esteemed high school seniors by celebrating and rewarding outstanding scholar-athletes who understand that the most important victories happen not only on the field but also in their schools and communities. 

Lawrence Williams with the Society of St. Andrew has announced a “Crop Drop” for Tuesday, Nov. 24, in which the Society will share 3,000 pounds of sweet potatoes, squash and other produce with the community.

The produce will be distributed outside Tifton’s First United Methodist Church beginning at 10 a.m. The church is located at 107 12th St. 

Williams, who is the organization's South Georgia area gleaning coordinator, told the Tifton Rotary Club on Wednesday how his organization gathers leftover vegetables in local fields and distributes it to people in the community. Lewis Taylor Farms of Tifton is a participant. 

“We have a lot of food here,” he said. “Last week we gathered 5,500 pounds of tomatoes and 500 pounds of broccoli.”

He invited local residents to help “glean” the fields, and Rotary Club member Dr. Bret Wagenhorst spoke about how he and his niece experienced gleaning 2,000 pounds of cabbage recently, along with broccoli and corn. 

Sign up online to volunteer at endhunger.org/Georgia 

The Circle K Club at Abraham Baldwin Agriculture College has led other Circle K clubs throughout Georgia in raising money for UNICEF’s “WASH" (water, sanitation and hygiene) initiative.

The ABAC club's gift of $1,084 supported WASH initiatives in Haiti, where one in four Haitians lack access to safe drinking water sources.

In the photo, ABAC Circle K Treasurer Hannah Lindmeier displays the letter the club received from the Kiwanis Children’s Fund offering thanks for “helping kids get a clean start in life."

The ABAC club is sponsored by the Kiwanis Club of Tifton.

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Dr. Glen Harris' soils and hydrology class at the University of Georgia Tifton campus

recently took its annual field trip to Providence Canyon – known as Georgia's "Little Grand Canyon" – in Lumpkin.

The canyon is known for its deep gullies, some as deep as 150 feet, and the students practiced social distancing, though not as much as 150 feet.

According to the Ga. Department of Natural Resources, the canyon is "a testament to the power of man’s influence on the land." The gullies "were caused simply by poor farming practices during the 1800s, yet today they make some of the prettiest photographs within the state. ... The canyon soil’s pink, orange, red and purple hues make a beautiful natural painting at this quiet park."

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This dog is currently on stray hold at the Tift County Animal Shelter. If not reclaimed, will be available for adoption or rescue at the Animal Shelter, located at 278 Georgia Highway 125 S. It is open to the public for adoptions from 1-6 p.m. Mondays through Fridays.

For more information, call 229-382-PETS (7387).

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