MARCH 21, 2017
Tifton, Georgia
478-227-7126
tiftongrapevine.com
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LAKE BLACKSHEAR
GETTING SECOND BRIDGE
A second
U.S. 280 bridge will be built across
Lake Blackshear, one of several construction contracts awarded this month by the
Georgia Department of Transportation (GDOT) that will benefit the area.
Other local projects of interest will
resurface approximately
75 miles of roads, the GDOT says.
The Lake Blackshear bridge will be built to the south of the existing bridge. The project was awarded to Scott Bridge Co. Inc. of Opelika, Ala., and has a completion date of May 2019.
This is a Transportation Investment Act (TIA) funded project. It is expected to mitigate congestion, facilitate the flow of freight and connect the Cordele Intermodal Center to cities west, which could spur economic development, according to the TIA program.
Though the construction cost is
$19.2 million, the total cost of the project including preliminary engineering, construction and right of way acquisition is approximately
$30 million. Georgia DOT's west central district will supervise construction. The project is on the line between Crisp County in the southwest district and Sumter County in the west central district.
In the southwest district, roads in several counties will receive much-needed maintenance, resulting in a smoother and safer ride for motorists, with Georgia DOT's award of
$16 million in resurfacing projects. All have a scheduled completion date of
January 2018. They include:
Ben Hill County -- 8.2 miles on state Route 11 from north of Bush Avenue to north of Bowen Road, $1.7 million, Reeves Construction Co. of Macon.
Ben Hill, Coffee and Irwin counties -- 25 miles on SR 206 from Broxton Highway to north of SR 32 and from SR 107/Jacksonville Highway to Broxton Highway, $5.4 million, East Coast Asphalt LLC of Douglas.
Berrien, Lanier and Lowndes counties -- 5.7 miles on SR 125 from north of Hightower Road to U.S. 129/SR 37, $1.1 million, The Scruggs Co. of Hahira.
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KEEP MOVING FORWARD
UGA STUDENT NEWSPAPER PROFILES TIFTON'S CHANCE VEAZEY,
ANOTHER EX-UGA BASEBALL PLAYER WITH PARALYZING INJURIES
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Johnathan Taylor, left, and Chance Veazey.
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Many of us remember hearing about the devastating
traffic accident in
Athens during
2009 when
Chance Veazey, a second baseman on the
UGA baseball team and
son of Todd and Darby Veazey of Tifton, was left with his legs
paralyzed.
Just two years later, another UGA baseball player, Johnathan Taylor, also had a spinal cord injury when he collided with a player during a game. Taylor is also now in a wheelchair.
The story of these two indefatigable young men and how they are moving forward with their lives is chronicled in a recent article in The Red & Black, the independent student newspaper at the University of Georgia.
"I had to learn patience," Veazey tells the paper.
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NEW EXHIBIT WILL SHOWCASE ONE OF SOUTH GEORGIA'S FIRST TRAVELING CIRCUIT JUDGES
Visitors will get insight into the life of a traveling
circuit judge and imagine themselves in an old-fashioned
barber's chair when two exhibits open during this year's
Folklife Festival April 8 at the
Georgia Museum of Agriculture and Historic Village at Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College.
A ribbon-cutting ceremony for both exhibits will be at
1:30 p.m. that day at the village drug store.
Polly Huff, museum assistant director and curator said an "out-of-the-blue" phone call planted the seed for the new exhibits.
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A new exhibit honors one of the area's first traveling circuit judges from the late 1800s.
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"I received a call from the great-great granddaughter of Judge
J.L. Sweat, a traveling circuit judge who lived in
South Georgia in the late
1800s," Huff said. "She was simply looking for a place where she could donate her great-great grandfather's law license."
As it turned out, the height of Sweat's career in law fit into the museum's interpreted time frame of
1870-1910. After a one-hour phone conversation, the idea for a permanent exhibit came to life.
Museum intern
Hailey Glover, an ABAC rural studies politics and modern cultures major from
Cairo, dove into the project, which gave her the "
rare opportunity to build a portfolio on a project she would participate in from beginning to end," Huff said.
The
Sweat family funded the research, design and installation of the exhibit. Initially, the exhibit was to focus on Judge Sweat's training and practice while showcasing his office as a part of the
Historic Village. With the help of Sweat's family, the museum staff gathered rare and preserved artifacts from the life and practice of the judge in the late 1800s.
The result of many hours of exhausting research is the creation of a detailed permanent exhibit which not only honors the legacy and home life of one of Georgia's first circuit judges and respected politicians of the area, but also provides a research resource for those with interested in the practice of law in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
The Sweat descendants also supported a bonus installation, a
barber shop booth. A curatorial intern, Tift County High senior
Jackson Short, assisted Huff with the barber shop exhibit's research, design and installation.
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TIFTAREA ACADEMY HOLDS JR/SR PROM
Cora Lee Layton and
Logan Carswell are
Tiftarea Academy's 2017
Prom King and Queen.
The school's
juniors and
seniors had their prom this past
Saturday in Tifton.
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CHAMBER OF
COMMERCE NAMES
AMBASSADOR
OF MONTH
Membership Vice Chairman
Curtis Akins
of the
Tifton-Tift County Chamber of Commerce presents
Allison Powell of the
Rehabilitation Center of South Georgia
with the
Ambassador of the Month
award for February.
The presentation was made last Thursday during the Chamber's membership luncheon.
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EDUCATION FOUNDATION
FUNDS SCIENCE LABS
Students at Annie Belle Clark Primary School in Tifton are shown working at science centers with new Mobile Science Labs.
The mobile labs were purchased through a $3,835 incentive grant awarded from the Bob Wight Challenge Chair of the Tift County Foundation for Educational Excellence.
The grant was written by and awarded to Belinda Griffin and Patti Dean, kindergarten teachers at Annie Belle Clark Primary.
Included in the labs are microscopes, plant-growing kits and terrariums, among other other science tools. These items help students learn life science lessons. Kits were also purchased for first-grade classes for the continuation of the life science standards.
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223 East Second Street, Suite B
Post Office Box 1613
Tifton, Georgia 31794
229.339.3721 - Phone
229.472.9151 - Fax
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ABAC READIES TRUCK & TRACTOR PULL
The Agricultural Engineering Technology (AET) Club at Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College is hosting a truck and tractor pull Thursday-Saturday, March 23-25, at the ABAC Pull Track.
The events begin at
7 p.m. daily, except Saturday when they start at
6 p.m.
Highlighting the truck and tractor pull will be ABAC's Altered Allis.
The Southern Pullers Association Inc., was formed in the early '90s to help organize local pullers who have been pulling for years under other sanctioning bodies. Some of them have been pulling since the early 1970s and are still dedicated pullers with the Southern Pullers Association.
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'STACKING UP' AT MATT WILSON ELEMENTARY
P.J. Ball and his mother Natasha Ball, who is a consultant and instuctor of "cup stacking," visited Tifton's Matt Wilson Elementary School last week. Last year, P.J. showed off his cup stacking skills on NBC-TV's "Little Big Shots" television show.
P.J. along with Will Pridgen, a fourth grader at Matt Wilson, are part of the U.S. Sport Stacking Team. Students were given the chance to learn how to stack cups and were given demonstrations throughout the day by P.J. and his mother.
At the end of the day Will Pridgen joined the duo in exhibiting what it takes to be part of U.S. Cup Stacking Team.
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