Digital Newspaper for Tifton, Ga., and the Greater Tiftarea

Cook County Sheriff's Office Maj. Terry Arnold, left, and Crisp County Deputy Sheriff Tyee Browne, who both died in the line of duty, are among the fallen officers being remembered in the Beyond the Call of Duty organization's End of Watch Memorial Ride as it continues its journey across the nation this summer.

MOBILE MEMORIAL TO FALLEN OFFICERS STOPS TODAY IN ADEL, CORDELE

By FRANK SAYLES JR.

Tifton Grapevine

An organization of motorcyclists traveling the country with a mobile memorial to honor police officers who died in the line of duty will stop in Adel today (Friday) to memorialize a Cook County Sheriff's major who died in 2022.

Maj. Terry Arnold, 59, died of a fatal heart attack Oct. 3, 2022, after responding to a fight between two students at Cook County High School in Adel.

The Beyond the Call of Duty organization's End of Watch Memorial Ride to Remember is scheduled to arrive under escort at 8 a.m. today at the Cook County Sheriff's Office. Its rolling memorial trailer with photographs of the fallen officers will remain on display in Adel until approximately 10 a.m. when it is scheduled to travel to Crisp County.

Being honored in Cordele later this morning is Crisp County Deputy Sheriff Tyee Browne, 26, who was shot and killed last July 5 during a traffic stop on Highway 280 West in Cordele.

The End of Watch Ride to Remember is a dedicated group of motorcycle riders from the state of Washington escorting the 40-foot memorial trailer across the country to honor fallen officers from the previous year.

The organization is honoring 259 fallen officers who died in the line of duty in 2022 and 2023 at 234 departments. The memorial will travel 22,550 miles in 73 days on its journey across the nation.

Beyond the Call of Duty founder Jagrut Shah, a former deputy sheriff, said the group wants to show law enforcement departments and their families they are not alone. "I wanted to bridge this gap that we have and give back to the departments and let the surviving officers and their families know that their loss has not been forgotten."

The event' s name, the End of Watch Ride, is based on an officer's "end of watch," or last radio call, a ceremony in which a police dispatcher issues a final call to a fallen officer over the police radio, followed by silence. All officers in that department hear the call and observe the silence, remembering their fallen brother or sister.

For more information about the End of Watch Ride, visit www.endofwatchride.com

ABAC SOPHOMORE ALSO SERVES AS MAYOR OF ARABI

Tifton Grapevine Staff Reports

Brooke Huckaby lives a fairly typical college life. The 21-year-old agricultural technology management major attends class, studies hard, and puts hours in at work.

But unlike her classmates, the sophomore at Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College has another more unusual role: She is the mayor of her hometown of Arabi.

“As far as I know, I’m the youngest female mayor in United States history, and the youngest mayor in Georgia state history,” Huckaby said.

Huckaby was elected mayor of Arabi, a small town in Crisp County, when she was just 20 years old and has been serving while attending college fulltime. The initial push to run came when someone approached her father about running for the seat.

“He told me he wasn’t going to sign up for it again, and I was like, ‘Well you’re crazy. Why don’t you want to do it?” she said. “And he looked at me and said, ‘Well Brooke, if you think it’s so great, then why don’t you do it?’ So, when qualifying came around, I just went up to City Hall and put my name on the ballot.”

Campaigning as a young woman in South Georgia wasn’t easy, she said. But she just had to convince people that new ideas weren’t bad ideas.

“I told people I wasn’t coming in to try and make big changes and completely flip everything upside down,” she said. “I just want to continue what we’ve had going and investing in ourselves, and the community really came together and supported me.” 

Huckaby does have big plans for her small hometown. She sits on several boards and is involved in the county’s larger political scene, all to make things better for the people who live and work there.

“We’re part of the Propel program, which is aimed at bringing prosperity and economic development to rural cities in Georgia,” she said. “I’m on a board that focuses on youth enrichment, and we’re really focusing on illiteracy rates, juvenile crime. We’re in the process of starting a police department, and I’m about to get started on the hiring process for that.”

Huckaby said that her ABAC professors have been supportive.

“All of my professors have been wonderful,” she said. "I haven’t had to miss any tests or due dates for assignments. But if I do need something more flexible because of it, they’ve really worked with me. I’ve got a really good support system." 

Eventually, Huckaby wants to end up in the Governor’s Mansion in Atlanta. 

“I really want to go further,” she said. “I want to get high enough in politics where I can influence change, but not high enough to where the politics start to influence me. I feel like at a state level, I’ll still be able to balance everything else in my life too.” 

For now, though, she’s focused on her town and her studies. 

“It’s a tough gig but I enjoy it,” she said. “We’re really trying to target the younger generations in our small communities … let them know that somebody’s there, that somebody cares about them and their future. You’ve got so many people leaving where they were raised because they don’t feel like there’s anything there for them. But nothing’s going to be there unless people try to come back and rejuvenate it and put something into it. 

“In my opinion, you don’t have a position to complain about anything if you’re not willing to be part of the change,” she said.

“People my age need to realize that the older generations aren’t going to be around forever. If we don’t start now, then when are we going to start?”

TURNER COUNTY JAIL INMATE FOUND DEAD

Tifton Grapevine Staff Reports

The Georgia Bureau of Investigation is conducting an autopsy on a Turner County Jail inmate found dead in his cell Saturday morning.

Randall “Kraig” Bobo, 44, of Ashburn, was pronounced dead at 8 a.m. Saturday, authorities said.

He had been arrested June 7 on multiple drug charges. A 1998 graduate of Turner County High School, he had worked in the construction industry for approximately 20 years.

Click on Firearms Descriptions Below to See Informational Videos:

AG MUSEUM KICKS OFF SEASON WITH A

SUMMER CELEBRATION

Tifton Grapevine Staff Reports

Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College’s Georgia Museum of Agriculture is celebrating the beginning of summer with a Summer Celebration from 9 a.m.-4 p.m. Saturday.

The event features family-friendly activities, including an antique tractor show and parade, an inflatable obstacle course, and friendly animals. There is an admission fee.

Throughout the Historic Village, costumed docents will provide demonstrations and interpretations, leading visitors in historical games and contests. Interpreters will provide demonstrations on lost arts such as coopering (the fabrication of wooden barrels and storage vessels) blacksmithing, and rope making. Village interpreters will also guide guests in activities that test such skills as hatchet throwing and watermelon seed-spitting.

A celebration of summer would not be complete without tasty watermelon. Throughout the Historic Village and Destination Ag area, watermelon slices will be available while supplies last.

The museum’s Destination Ag area will have a kid’s zone featuring activities for younger visitors, such as big tractors, an inflatable obstacle course, and face painting. Also located in that area will be sheep, goats, chickens, and "Ernest" the gopher tortoise. Visitors may stop by the Langdale Nature Center to visit with snakes, turtles, frogs, toads, and a possum.

The Village Drug Store, Museum Country Store, Scoop Dawgs Snack Shack, and Los Authentic Tamales will offer a variety of treats and food options.

Dr. Margaret Richardson-Nixon, Tift Regional Foundation Board member and physician; from left, Allen Owens, Hope EMS chief; Chris Dorman; Tift Regional Foundation Board member and TRMC CEO; and Mandy Brooks, Tift Regional Foundation director with a a patient-care manikin.

TRMC FOUNDATION PROVIDES

'MANIKIN' TO HOPE EMS

Tifton Grapevine Staff Reports

The Tift Regional Medical Center Foundation recently presented a patient-care manikin to Hope EMS.

A "manikin" is not to be confused with a "mannequin." Manikins are human-shaped models that medical professionals use to simulate the human body for the purpose of medical training.

“Manikins allow nursing, clinical and emergency professionals the ability to extend their learning,” said Mandy Brooks, director of the Tift Regional Medical Center Foundation. “The manikin provided is lifelike, which allows the student an opportunity to excel when faced with a real patient emergency.”

The 2024 “Hearts and Diamonds” Gala by the TRMC Foundation provided funds for the device. The gala raised more than $107,000, allowing the foundation to provide lifesaving tools to the community.

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Statewide influenza data released from the 

Georgia Department of Public Health (DPH) as of week ending June 15:

Since Seasonal Tracking Beginning Oct. 23, 2023:

TOTAL INFLUENZA OUTBREAKS: 199 ............................................... LATEST WEEK: 0

TOTAL METRO AREA HOSPITALIZATIONS: 4,393 ..............................LATEST WEEK: 3

TOTAL INFLUENZA-ASSOCIATED DEATHS: 58 ................................. LATEST WEEK: 0

In Georgia, influenza is not a reportable condition, with the exception of influenza-associated deaths and outbreaks.

YOUR GUIDE

TO ACTIVITIES

THIS WEEKEND

IN THE GREATER TIFTAREA

Saturday, June 29, is National Camera Day, celebrating photography. The first recorded "photographic" image was made in 1825 by French scientist Joseph Nicéphore Niépce. He invented the "heliograph," a print that required eight hours of light exposure and which soon faded. In 1839, Louis Jacques Daguerre invented the Daguerreotype, the first commercially successful photographic process for creating a permanent image on a metal plate. Then in 1884, George Eastman devised the first flexible photographic film, following it up with another first in 1888 when he patented the Kodak roll-film camera. With the dominance of digital photography, Kodak stopped making film cameras in 2004.

FRIDAY, JUNE 28

• Southern Mercantile Art Collective, 6-8 p.m., artwork and meet/greet artists Mary Ann Cox, Lisa Eldridge, Shawn Sutton, and Roxie Crain, 201 S. Grant St., Fitzgerald
• Nashville Final Friday, 6-8 pm., live music, games, food trucks, Downtown Nashville
• Fireworks & Fun, 6:30 p.m., opening; 7 p.m.: concert; 9:45 p.m.: fireworks, Woolard Center, 709 W. Wallace St., Sylvester

SATURDAY, JUNE 29

• Wiregrass Farmers Market, 9 a.m.-Noon, Ga. Museum of Agriculture, Tifton
• Summer Celebration, games, historical demonstrations, food, watermelon, music, tractor show, train rides; 9 a.m.-4 p.m., Ga. Museum of Agriculture, Tifton
• Ray City's Independence Day Celebration, noon: games, foods, crafts; 6 p.m.: parade; dusk: fireworks, Pines Field, Ray City
• Freedom Fest, 5 p.m.: Kids' Zone activities, food trucks; 7 p.m.: Music; 9:15 p.m.: fireworks; Salem Baptist Church, 1128 Salem Church Road, Tifton

SUNDAY, JUNE 30

• Freedom Celebration, bouncy houses, cookout following 11 a.m. service, Union Church, 4144 U.S. Highway 41 S., Tifton

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Meet "Cinnamon Girl," a sweet dog seeking a home. Come visit Cinnamon 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).