False Alarms = $$$

Tuesday, February 2, 2021

Tifton, Georgia

478-227-7126 ~ www.tiftongrapevine.com

TIFTON MAY IMPOSE FINES ON REPEAT

FALSE FIRE ALARMS

By FRANK SAYLES JR.

Tifton Grapevine

The City of Tifton is considering imposing a fine on businesses whose fire alarms repeatedly go off from malfunctions because responding to false alarms is costing the city thousands of dollars.

“It took $15,000 out of our overtime budget last year," Tifton Fire Chief Bobby Bennett told City Council at its workshop Monday night.

Out of 166 fire-alarm responses last year, 84 were false alarms, Bennett said. The fire department treats each alarm seriously, even if it comes from a site that previously had several false alarms.

“We have to treat every one as real,” Bennett said.

City Manager Pete Pyrzenski said there are usually overtime costs when alarms come in during the middle of the night. “If we make a run from the fire department, that’s $1,300 for starters,” he said.

Bennett and city staff recommended charging a $250 fine for the fourth time that a business has a false alarm and charging $1,000 for each time thereafter.

“I hope we never have to write a citation for this,” Bennett said. “It’s not what this is about. This is not about fining people; it’s about getting them to fix their equipment."

Councilman Jack Folk suggested that the fines are not stringent enough.

“This is a cost to the taxpayers,” Folk said. “I wouldn’t wait until the fourth time” to impose a fine.

But Mayor Julie B. Smith said that “what is proposed is reasonable. I don’t think people realize if this happens, there’s a cost associated with it."

Council members said education is needed about the importance of repairing faulty alarms.

City Council is expected to further discuss the proposal at its next meeting.

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BERRIEN GRAND JURY INDICTS NASHVILLE MAYOR

A Berrien County Grand Jury has indicted Nashville's mayor on theft charges, according to the Alapaha Judicial Circuit.

Taylor Scarbrough, 56, has been indicted on charges of theft by conversion and theft by deception, said Alapaha District Attorney Dick Perryman.

The Georgia Bureau of Investigation had arrested Scarbrough on Aug. 28 after investigating an allegation of property damage by a public official. The Berrien County Sheriff’s Office requested the GBI investigation after a resident, James Hobbs, alleged on Aug. 17 that Mayor Scarbrough had taken and used Hobbs’ excavator without permission and had caused significant damage to the machinery.

Scarborough is serving a four-year mayoral term that ends in December 2023.

TIFTON COCA-COLA FACILITY PLANS SPRING OPENING

Coca-Cola Bottling Co. United's new sales and distribution facility in Tifton is expected to be in operation this spring.

The 300,000-square-foot facility on approximately 88 acres on Lamb Loop Road near U.S. Highway 41 South is adjacent to I-75 and will offer more distribution capacity.

Coca-Cola United is moving its Valdosta operations to the Tifton facility. The Valdosta center is slated to close May 10, and its 45 employees are being offered jobs in the new center, which is now hiring.

The company operates a sales facility in Sylvester, which will also be consolidated in Tifton.

The Tifton facility will serve customers and other Coca-Cola facilities throughout South Georgia and the Florida panhandle, distributing about 4.5 million cases of Coca-Cola products annually.

Coca-Cola United is the second-largest privately held Coca-Cola bottler in North America. Headquartered in Birmingham, Ala., the company employs approximately 10,000 people in more than 60 facilities spanning Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Tennessee.

TIFT SEES 61 COVID CASES,

3 MORE DEATHS IN WEEK

By FRANK SAYLES JR.

Tifton Grapevine

Tift County recorded 61 new coronavirus cases and three additional related deaths in the past week, according to state data.

As of Tuesday, Tift has had 3,285 cases and 88 deaths from COVID-19, according to the Ga. Department of Public Health (DPH). During the past two weeks, Tift has seen 124 new cases, translating to 304 cases per 100,000 population.

Tift's positive testing percentage during the period was 11.1 percent, the DPH said.

Georgia reported 2,996 new COVID-19 cases on Tuesday with 162 additional deaths and 363 new hospitalizations. The state has had a total of 755,412 confirmed cases and 12,772 related deaths, the DPH reported.

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Located on 2nd Street next door to Turner's Furniture in Tifton.

Exchange Club Public Safety Chair Carla Carlson, from left, Officer Scott Parker and Tifton Police Chief Steve Hyman.

EXCHANGE CLUB NAMES TIFTON COP 'OFFICER OF YEAR'

The Exchange Club of Tifton has named Tifton Police Officer Scott Parker as "Officer of the Year."

Parker has been with the Tifton Police Department for two years after spending time with the sheriff’s office. In the Tifton department, he has been the field training officer to four new officers, showing them the ropes and teaching them for 12 weeks.

Parker has worked with the patrol unit and currently serves on the crime suppression unit.

He has also stepped up in other ways. When some shifts have run short, Parker has had to take on some of the duties that would typically done by higher positions. He has done this while continuing to do his own job.

“He has never grumbled about the amount of work he has to do or that he isn’t being compensated to do a certain job. He is always smiling when he comes in to work and will often ask what else can he do,” said Chief Steve Hyman.

Parker thanked the Exchange Club of Tifton "as well as the Tifton Police Department for the opportunity to make a difference in our community; it’s a great honor to accept this award."

TIFTON GETS GRANT TO PLANT 165 TREES

The City of Tifton, the Tifton Tree Board and the Tifton Heritage Foundation have been awarded a $10,000 grant by the Georgia Tree Council’s ReLeaf Program to plant 165 native trees along Tifton’s right-of-ways and parks.

The project, which will help restore the city's street canopy and tree-lined streets, will focus on educating the public on the importance and benefit of trees while encouraging participation.

The Tifton Tree Board and the city are asking the public to adopt a newly planted tree to help them survive and get established. Homeowners, businesses, schools, and non-profit organizations may request that a tree be placed in an approved right-of-way adjacent to their property or designated public parks and grounds.

The city Public Works Department will determine the locations and appropriate tree species in accordance with Tifton’s tree ordinance.

“The Tifton Tree Board is excited to partner with the Southwest Georgia ReLeaf Program and other community partners to re-establish the canopied streets that our community was known for up until recently," said George Vellidis of the Tree Board.

"This is a very exciting project for Tifton. Since January 2019 we will have planted 435 trees along our city’s streets, and this would not have been possible without the support of the Georgia Tree Council and the Tifton Heritage Foundation.”

Residents wishing to participate may call 229-391-3937.

ADEL ON TRACK AS 'CLASSIC MAIN STREET'

Adel is on its way to becoming a Georgia Classic Main Street community.

The Cook County city is expecting to receive the designation soon from the Georgia Main Street Program.

Classic Main Street programs are designated by the state of Georgia and nationally accredited by the National Main Street Center. As part of the annual accreditation process, all Classic Main Street communities are required to meet standards that emphasize historic preservation education and economic development – which lends itself to an active and vibrant downtown.

Brandie Dame, Adel's Main Street manager, says her goal is found in a quotation by Mayor Bill Bell of Durham, N.C.: "A downtown defines a city as a living room defines a home."

"My goal is to have a well-defined and relaxing 'living room' that everyone will feel comfortable and will want to live, play, work, shop, and enjoy," Dame,said.

The Georgia Main Street Program is housed in the Office of Downtown Development at the Ga. Department of Community Affairs. Main Street is a signature program for community development and revitalization in Georgia’s downtowns.

TIFTON'S RHYTHM & RIBS BBQ FEST POSTPONED TO LATER IN YEAR

Tifton's 2021 Rhythm & Ribs BBQ Festival, originally set for March 6 at Fulwood Park, has been postponed because of the pandemic.

"This was a very difficult decision to make and one we were hoping to avoid," the festival's organizers said in a statement released this week. "However, in order to abide by current CDC guidelines and the governor’s executive order, it is in the best interest of staff, vendors, teams and festival-goers that we postpone to a later date.

"The safety and well-being of everyone involved is of utmost importance. We are working hard now to find a new date in early fall to hold the 2021 festival. We hope to announce that date within the next few weeks. This change would be for this year only."

The festival has become very popular in recent years with its professional and backyard BBQ competitions, children's games and activities, arts and crafts vendors, food vendors, and cutting-edge live entertainment.

GA PEANUT COMMISSION HONORS TIFT SCHOOLS

FOR FEEDING KIDS DURING SCHOOL SHUTDOWN

The Tift County Schools System is one of four school districts in the state being recognized for efforts to continue feeding students when the pandemic shut down schools earlier this year.

The Georgia Peanut Commission worked with the Georgia School Nutrition Association to seek entries from school districts highlighting their efforts in the areas of innovation, volume and community engagement.

In the “Not All Superheroes Wear Capes” contest, schools systems in both Tift and Houston counties are receiving the Peanut Butter Usage Award; the Coffee County School System is getting the Engagement Award; and the Glynn County School District, the Most Creative Award.

When schools closed their doors in March, Tift County’s school nutrition team knew that some students would go hungry without access to school meals because of the percentage of students who participate in the free and reduced-priced meal program.

The school system activated nine drive-through feeding sites as well as eight buses to deliver meals on the first day of the school closure. As time progressed, Tift's school nutrition directors and administrators spent time each day helping to load and deliver meals on the buses, and nearly 250,000 peanut butter & jelly sandwiches were served during that time.

Each winning district will receive a trophy, 123 cases of peanut butter to use in their feeding program and a Georgia Peanuts dish towel and spatula for each team member.

TIFTON GRAPEVINE'S CAT OF THE WEEK

This female kitty is seeking her forever home and is available for adoption at the Tift County Animal Shelter. To adopt her or see other pets available, visit the Animal Shelter from 1-6 p.m. Mondays through Fridays, or call 229-382-PETS (7387).

Pets of the Week are sponsored by:

Branch's Veterinary Clinic

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

HOTEL MYON TO BE BUILT

– FEB. 2, 1906

I.W. Myers has announced that he has decided to rebuild a hotel on the site of the Hotel Sadie, which burned the previous year, at the corner of Main and First streets. The new hotel will "include 60 rooms, 40 with baths and steam heat."