FBI photo

Federal agents lead the early-morning raid Thursday on several residences around Adel and Cook County.

FBI, GBI LEAD RAID ON MAJOR DRUG NETWORK IN ADEL

TIFTON MAN AMONG THOSE ARRESTED

By FRANK SAYLES JR.

Tifton Grapevine

A pre-dawn raid by the FBI, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, and local authorities surrounded homes in Adel and across Cook County on Thursday arresting 18 people – including one from Tifton – in a case targeting "a large drug-trafficking" ring, the FBI said.

A total of 21 defendants are named in a newly unsealed federal indictment; three of the defendants remained at large late Thursday.

All of the suspects are charged with conspiracy to distribute and to possess with intent to distribute controlled substances. The indictment includes additional charges for each defendant, including two charges for possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, authorities said.

The FBI said the major drug-trafficking network originated in Adel.

Among those arrested was Calvin Smith Jr., 34, of Tifton. Most of those arrested reside in Adel.

Besides Smith of Tifton, arrested were:

• Mitchell Brown, 37, Adel
• Rosa Lee Simmons, 43, Adel
• Christopher Martin, 53, Adel
• Larkem Hayes, 35, Adel
• Tyrone McCormick, 51, Adel
• Willie Keeley, 50, Adel
• Bobby Kaiser, 52, Adel
• Willie Brown, 41, Adel
• Carla McNorton, 54, Adel
• Justin Thompson, 36, Adel
• Calvin Smith, 55, Adel
• Yardley Payne, 55, Adel
• Lyric Linder, 27, Adel
• Harold Gray, 53, Adel
• Vernando Henley, 42, Valdosta
• Joe Smith, 54, Axson
• Amjed Hajjaj, 41, Dinuba, Calif.

The defendants still at large Thursday were:

• Maria Graham, 43, Adel
• Eddie Harley, 34, Riverview, Fla.
• Charles Dunwoody, 44, Hollywood, Calif.

The Southwest Georgia Gang Task Force is handling the case.

Agencies involved in the investigation include the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Georgia Bureau of Investigation, Georgia State Patrol, Lowndes County Sheriff’s Office, Hahira Police Department, Cook County Sheriff’s Office, Adel Police Department, U.S. Marshal Service, the United States Postal Inspection Service, and the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the Middle District of Georgia.

IT'S FOOTBALL NIGHT

IN SOUTH GEORGIA

By FRANK SAYLES JR.

Tifton Grapevine

The temperatures are in the mid to upper 90s and schools are back in session – that means it must be the beginning of high school football season in South Georgia.

Tonight, the 2023 season officially kicks off with the Tift County Blue Devils traveling to Douglas to face the Coffee County High Trojans. Kickoff is at 7:30 p.m.

The Blue Devils begin their home games on Aug. 25 when Dutchtown High visits. The game is also senior night for Tift County.

Across the way in Chula, the Tiftarea Academy Panthers formally begin their season tonight at home versus Bulloch Academy. That game is set to begin at 7 p.m. in the Panther Pit.

GEORGIA'S PORT

THIRD-LARGEST IN U.S., GPA REP TELLS ROTARY

By BONNIE SAYLES

Tifton Grapevine

What is Georgia’s biggest export to the world, according to Brandy Adams, the assistant manager of government and community outreach for the Georgia Ports Authority (GPA)? 

“Peaches? Peanuts?” members of the Tifton Rotary Club guessed Wednesday. "Maybe Cotton?

“No, no, and no; it’s chicken,” Adams said.

Another surprising fact is that the Georgia Ports Authority, located in the Savannah area, is the third-largest port in the nation behind L.A./Long Beach, Calif., and the port of New York City/New Jersey.

The GPA's Garden City Terminal is located on 1,500 acres belonging to the state of Georgia, which means, unlike Long Beach and New York, the port doesn’t have to pay rent as a tenant on the property. 

In 2006, the Georgia port ranked as the No. 46 largest in the world, and it moved to No. 27 by 2022. “We’re steadily increasing, compared to the other ports,” Adams said. 

One of the biggest changes coming is that the Ocean Terminal will be accommodating more 53-foot containers rather than standard 40-foot ones. The larger containers are able to hold more products, so, ultimately, it will mean fewer trucks on the interstate highways and less emissions into the environment, Adams said.

A TEU is a 20-foot equivalent unit. The port moved 5,892,131 TEUs in 2021, Adams noted. “Right now, our capacity is 6 million TEUs,” she said. “By 2026, the capacity is going to be 10 million TEUs.”

Garden City Terminal handles 100% containers and 90% of the ports authority business. Ocean Terminal is being revitalized to be able to transfer loads from smaller containers to the larger ones. The project is 2% complete and is expected to be completed by 2026.

The port's Brunswick facilities handle what is known as "roll-on/roll-off" cargo. A Bainbridge facility is not currently being used. A Northeast Georgia inland port is in process in Hall County. 

Another recent improvement at the Georgia port allows Norfolk Southern trains to do their “switching” or connecting at the port rather than within Georgia communities, where they were holding up traffic, Adams said.

'DESTINATION AG DAY' TEACHES, CELEBRATES AGRICULTURE'S IMPORTANCE

Tifton Grapevine Staff Reports

From a petting zoo to milking a fiberglass cow, Destination Ag Day on Saturday, Sept. 16, offers hands-on activities for visitors to ABAC’s Georgia Museum of Agriculture.

From 9 a.m.-noon, visitors may explore how agriculture affects them in their daily lives. They may milk "Buttercup," the fiberglass milking cow, to learn how milk is processed. They will also learn why prescribed fire is vital to forestry, explore some tools used by foresters, and learn how Georgia crops provide many products used daily.

Additional agricultural-themed activities include crafts, a petting zoo, face painting, a bouncy house, tractor displays, and other interactive experiences. 

“Destination Ag Day is not only just learning about agriculture, but also a celebration of how important agriculture is to each of us,” said Kelly Scott, museum agriculture and natural resources supervisor. 

Destination Ag at the Museum has provided field-trip experiences in agriculture and natural resources for more than 55,000 elementary-aged children since 2016. The program has also connected with additional students and adults through outreach at schools, regional festivals, the Family Farm Book series, and the Traveling Trunks program in partnership with the Georgia Farm Bureau. 

“We are always looking for exciting ways to increase engagement with agriculture and natural resources,” Scott said, “Destination Ag Day is a fun way for us to connect children and families with where their food, fiber, and shelter come from.”

There is an admission fee.

ALDI TO BUY HARVEYS, WINN-DIXIE STORES HARVEYS FIRST BEGAN OUT OF A TIFTON HOME

By FRANK SAYLES JR.

Tifton Grapevine

The Aldi supermarket chain plans to buy about 400 Winn-Dixie and Harveys Supermarket stores in a merger with their parent company, Southeastern Grocers, which made the announcement Wednesday.

The acquisition involves stores in Georgia, Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Florida. 

Harveys is based in Nashville, Ga., and the grocery chain had its beginnings in Tifton in 1903.

Following completion of the sale, expected in 2024, Aldi will continue the stores under their existing Winn-Dixie and Harveys names. Aldi said it would evaluate which locations will convert to an Aldi; some stores will continue to operate as Winn-Dixie and Harveys Supermarkets.

The closest Harveys store to Tifton is on Central Avenue in Fitzgerald. In 2020, Food Lion purchased 62 BI-LO and Harveys supermarkets in North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia – including the Tifton Harveys on U.S. Highway 41. When that sale was completed in 2021, the Tifton store was branded as Food Lion.

Harveys Supermarkets can trace its birth to Tifton in 1903 when Iris Johson Harvey, a mother of five and wife of J.M. Harvey, began selling canned goods as a railroad commissary from the parlor of her home in Tifton. Her front-room shop became so successful that her husband, a railroad foreman, left his job to tend to the growing business.

The Harveys decided to open an actual grocery store in Tifton. By 1910, they had four “cash stores” in various locations around Tift County, eventually consolidating them into one large “uptown” Tifton operation.

In 1924, the Harveys decided to branch out in the area, and their son Joe opened a store in Nashville and branded it as Harveys Market. That ultimately became the Harveys Supermarket chain.

Aldi is the company brand name of two German multinational family-owned discount supermarket chains operating more than 10,000 stores in 20 countries. The chain was founded by brothers Karl and Theo Albrecht in 1946, when they took over their mother's store in Essen, Germany, where the company is still headquartered.

INTERNATIONAL ROTARY STUDENTS ATTENDING ABAC

New international students participating in the Georgia Rotary Student Program visited the Tifton Rotary Club on Wednesday.

Renata Elad, GRSP trustee and dean of the ABAC Stafford School of Business (at left), stands with GRSP students who are attending ABAC: Ana Maria Pereira from Colombia, sponsored by the Bainbridge Rotary Club; and Antonia Platzberger of Germany, sponsored by the Tifton Rotary Club. At right is the club's former GRSP chair Jeff Gibbs.

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TIFTON RAILWAY MUSEUM GETTING NEW ROOF

By BONNIE SAYLES

Tifton Grapevine

The Tifton Downtown Development Authority has been replacing the roof of the Tifton Terminal Railway Museum.

"It was in really bad shape," said Downtown Director Abbey McLaren. "They will also make some replacements of the decking, stairs, and handicap ramp." 

Located on Tift Avenue and Third Street in the heart of Downtown Tifton, the museum houses railroad and veteran exhibits.

COVID-19 data released from the 

Georgia Department of Public Health (DPH) as of Aug. 16:

TOTAL TIFT COUNTY CASES: 7,044 ....................................... TOTAL TIFT DEATHS: 179

CONFIRMED TIFT CASES - 2 weeks: 56 ....................................... DEATHS - Past week: 1

CONFIRMED & SUSPECTED CASES: 188

TIFT CONFIRMED & SUSPECTED CASES - 2 weeks, per 100K population: 460 

_______________________________________________________________

GEORGIA TOTAL CASES: 2,378,241

GEORGIA CONFIRMED & SUSPECTED CASES - Past week: 6,680

TOTAL GA DEATHS: 35,543 ...................................................... GA DEATHS - Past week: 8 

YOUR GUIDE TO ACTIVITIES THIS WEEKEND IN

THE TIFTAREA

Saturday, Aug. 19, is National Potato Day. Whether you like them fried, mashed, or baked, this spud's for you! The Inca in Peru are considered the first in the world to cultivate the potato, around 8,000 B.C. The Spanish Conquistadors invaded Peru in 1536 and brought potatoes back to Europe. According to the Alliance for Potato Research & Education, the average American eats 120 pounds of potatoes a year.

FRIDAY, AUG. 18

• 5th Annual Great Southeast Pollinator Census, 10 a.m., Gaskins Forest Education Center, Alapaha
• Tift County High Blue Devils football team @ Coffee County High Trojans, 7:30 p.m., Douglas
• Tiftarea Academy Panthers football vs. Bulloch Academy, 7 p.m., Panther Pit, Chula

SATURDAY, AUG. 19

• Space Academy – A Kids' Interactive Show, 5 p.m., Tift Theatre for the Performing Arts, Downtown Tifton

ADVERTISE

YOUR

YARD SALE HERE!

TO ADVERTISE YOUR

RESIDENTIAL YARD SALE,

CONTACT US at 

yardsales@tiftongrapevine.com 

or 478-227-7126

Fees are $1 per word, paid in advance

"Mike Wazowski," a happy and friendly male pooch, is ready to become part of a new family. Come see Mike Wazowski and other pets available for adoption at the Tift County Animal Shelter on Highway 125 South, open between 1-6 p.m. Mondays through Fridays. For additional information, call 229-382-PETS (7387).