The City of Tifton's new Anthony Bateman Youth Development Center nearing completion across the street from Matt Wilson Elementary School is slated to open within the next month, the Tifton Rotary Club was told Wednesday. 

Finishing touches are being put on the building, located at the corner of 17th Street and Old Omega Road, named for Bateman, a late Tift County coach.

Dr. Tonja Tift, a retired Tift County educator, has been named the center’s executive director.

Tyler Riddle, a board member of the Tifton Urban Redevelopment Agency and chief volunteer officer of the Tiftarea YMCA, told the Rotary Club that the YMCA will provide free after-school activities at the center, which can accommodate 150 children. In the summer, it will house the YMCA’s neighborhood summer feeding program.

“This is not strictly a YMCA facility,” Riddle said. “It is a City of Tifton facility, and there will be programs run by other local organizations.”

A separate adult literacy classroom will allow Literacy Volunteers of Tifton-Tift County to provide remedial reading, GED, and financial literacy classes.

“Children in the area can come to this place, be supervised, get in a regimen, be in a positive environment, make sure they’re fed, taken care of and learning in a safe and healthy environment,” Riddle said. 

The planning committee didn’t want it to look like a typical government building. “It is really a beautiful facility,” he said.

Riddle said some of the property was purchased by the Tift County School System and deeded to the city. In 2020, the city was awarded a Community Development Block

Grant of $750,000. The entire project is $1.4 million with the city paying the remainder.

“We are always looking for sponsors, donations for naming opportunities,” Riddle said.

He added that “an investment in South Tifton is going to be an investment in our community as a whole. For every child we can keep in school, help them get their homework done in a safe environment, not walking the streets, we are going to be a better community for it.” 

Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College's annual economic impact is beginning to bounce back from pandemic levels, officials say.

The college said this week that it had an economic impact of $429,357,879 on South Georgia during the 2020-21 fiscal year. During the 2020 fiscal year, ABAC recorded a $390,015,778 economic impact.

In the 2019 fiscal year before the pandemic, ABAC had an economic impact of $584,544,166.

“ABAC’s numbers show that we are edging closer to pre-pandemic levels,” said Dr. Renata Elad, dean of ABAC's Stafford School of Business.

She analyzed data from a University System of Georgia (USG) report, showing that the USG contributed $19.3 billion to Georgia’s economy between July 1, 2020, and June 30, 2021.

“ABAC continues to be a steady engine for social and economic development in the region,” Elad said. “Driven by initial student spending of $42,062,490.80 as well as spending on personnel services and capital outlay, ABAC continues to thrive.”

The state report conducted by Dr. Jeffrey M. Humphreys, director of the Selig Center for Economic Growth in the University of Georgia’s Terry College of Business, also showed that USG generated 152,629 full- and part-time jobs across Georgia.

Included in the initial spending by USG institutions is funding from the Higher Education Emergency Relief Fund, which are federal funds allocated by the Coronavirus Response and Relief Supplemental Appropriations Act that provided emergency grants for postsecondary education.

Elad said that one-year, three-year, and five-year data show that "the average starting salary for ABAC graduates increases steadily within three and five years respectively.”

The study found that for each job created by a USG institution on its campus, two additional jobs are created in the local community.

Counties covered by ABAC’s economic impact are Tift, Worth, Cook, Colquitt, Irwin, Ben Hill, Turner, Decatur, Seminole, Miller, Grady, Early, Thomas, Mitchell, and Baker.

The City of Tifton is losing thousands of dollars when installing meters for water and gas, and sewer taps for customers connecting to the city utilities system, Tifton City Council was told Monday night.

City Manager Pete Pyrzenski said that last year, the city charged $630 per meter for 72 three-quarter-inch meters when the city's actual cost was $1,700.

"We lost $77,040 just on putting in meters," Pyrzenski told Council. "That’s really scary.” He said the city was also $19,000 low in the sewer fund at the end of last budget year.

Many items and materials are seeing price increases, and “we are not immune,” Pyrzenski said.

"This is shocking that this is going on; it's unacceptable," said Vice Mayor Jack Folk. He said that city staff needs to review such costs and fees on a regular basis to keep them from getting out of control.

"Anything we sell to the public, we need to make sure our costs are covered," Folk said.

In addition to the city looking at raising the price of installing utility meters,

Pyrzenski suggested a 50-cent flat increase in the sewer rate for all customers. Because the meeting was a workshop, no action was taken.

Tift County's total COVID-19 cases have risen by 286 in the past two weeks, according to the state Department of Public Health (DPH).

That number includes rapid tests and confirmed PCR tests. It represents only those results reported to the health department and do not include at-home testing.

Confirmed PCR tests during the past two-week period totaled 81. There were no additional related deaths reported in Tift County in the past week.

Tift County’s total positive cases represent 700 cases per 100,000 population, the measure used across the country to compare case rates among communities and states. Tift's testing positivity rate for the two-week period was 25.4%, the DPH said.

Tift has seen a total of 6,552 confirmed cases with 166 confirmed deaths, the DPH said.

The state has recorded a total of 2,146,655 confirmed cases and 32,488 related deaths, the DPH said. There were 26,990 more total cases reported in the past week and 92 additional deaths statewide. There also were 974 COVID-related hospitalizations in Georgia in the past week, the DPH reported.

The state reports COVID-19 data once a week.

Are you ready for some football?

The Tift County High Blue Devils take to Brodie Field at 7:30 p.m. today for a scrimmage against the Lowndes High Vikings.

Coach Noel Dean's Blue Devils finished last season with a 6-5 record. This season, the Ga. High School Association reclassified schools and moved Tift County down to Class 6-A, placing some different opponents on this year's schedule.

The Blue Devils officially begin the season with a non-region game Aug. 19 against

Coffee County High at the Brodie. Tift will then spend the following three games on the road at Dutchtown, Colquitt County, and Thomasville.

On Sept. 23, the Blue Devils return home for a game against Gadsden County, Fla.

Region games begin Sept. 30 at Northside High in Warner Robins, Sept. 7 at home vs. Thomas County Central, Oct. 21 at home vs. Veterans High, Oct. 28 at Houston County, and back home Nov. 4 vs. Lee County.

VIDEO: In this excerpt from the RFD-TV episodes showcasing the Georgia Museum of Agriculture, host Chip Carter, left, visits with Greg Tucker of Tifton in the museum's blacksmith shop.

Once again, Tifton is being featured on national television, this time on the RFD-TV network.

Last night (Thursday) and again at 9:30 p.m. next Thursday, Aug. 11, RFD-TV's show "Where the Food Comes From" visits the Georgia Museum of Agriculture, part of Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College in Tifton.

RFD-TV visited the Ag Museum and Historic Village, formerly the Georgia Agrirama, during the recent Folklife Festival in April. For the two episodes filmed in Tifton, the network altered the show's name to "Where the Food CAME From."

While in the museum's Historic Village, the film crew visited such locations as the blacksmith shop, the turpentine still, the grist mill, and the sawmill, talking with several local residents; Tifton's Keith Rucker was among those on screen Thursday night.

In a behind-the-scenes blog post, Donna Sanders, the show's associate field producer, gushed about the Historic Village and the Folklife Festival: "We’ve all visited events like this at our local fairgrounds and elsewhere, but this living history museum established in 1976 puts all of them to shame."

This is the latest nationally televised show to showcase Tifton. Just a couple of weeks ago, the Food Network televised an hour-long show about Tifton's Rhythm & Ribs BBQ Festival competition.

And a Hollywood film crew just wrapped up filming a Lifetime TV Christmas movie in Tifton whose story actually takes place Tifton. That movie is expected to be shown on TV during next year's holiday season.

The Ga. Department of Public Health (DPH) conducts inspections of food-service establishments and issues food-service scores based upon compliance with health regulations.

If a food-service establishment receives a grade of “C” and or “U” during a routine

inspection, then the health department must conduct a follow-up inspection to ensure the issues have been corrected.

During the past month, the following food-service establishments were inspected in Tift County:

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This Saturday, Aug. 6, is Farmworker Appreciation Day, established to raise awareness about the important work that people do on farms. Georgia has about 42,000 farms, and less than 10% of Georgia's citizens work in agriculture.

yardsales@tiftongrapevine.com or 478-227-7126

"Holyfield, a handsome boy, is among the pets available for adoption at the Tift County Animal Shelter on Highway 125 South between 1-6 p.m. Mondays through Fridays. For additional information, call 229-382-PETS (7387).

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

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