TruVista Communications announced Thursday that it has officially acquired PlantTel – Plant Telephone Co. and Plant Telecommunications of Tifton.

The company will operate under the TruVista name. PlantTel had been serving Tifton and the surrounding communities since 1895.

“Current PlantTel customers won't see many changes right away, though in the coming weeks and months they will begin to hear more from us about the TruVista brand, and the product improvements and consumer-friendly policies that come with it," said Carla French, TruVista CEO.

"I want to thank all of the employees at TruVista and PlantTel. Throughout this transaction, they kept their focus on the customer, and as a result, today we join together two companies, each operating with tremendous momentum."

The combination of TruVista and PlantTel creates a larger broadband services and technology company serving North-Central South Carolina, Northeast Georgia and South Georgia.

When the sale was pending and announced in November, Danny Sterling of Tifton, PlantTel's president and CEO, said the sale would represent the "logical next step in PlantTel's transformation into a regional, fiber-based broadband provider."

At that time, Sterling noted that "our family has owned PlantTel for 126 years, and we are confident that TruVista ... will be the ideal steward of PlantTel's legacy."

Headquartered in Chester, S.C., TruVista is a company more than 125 years old providing broadband services and associated applications in South Carolina and Georgia.

PlantTel's sale has affected Plant Broadcasting's three Tiftarea radio stations, WTIF-AM and -FM, and WFFM Ashburn, who have temporarily halted operations. PlantTel was their parent company, and the sale has left the radio stations without access to their transmission equipment, according to RadioInsight.com.

The radio licenses have been transferred to Danny Sterling’s Sterling Southern Land LLC. A filing with the Federal Communications Commission noted that the stations will be divested to third parties before resuming operations.

"Upon such approval and divestiture, and resumption of the right of access to the antenna structures, the stations propose to resume operations under the ownership of the third parties,” according to Sterling's FCC filing.

The Food Network premieres its new series "BBQ USA" on Monday, and Tifton's Rhythm & Ribs BBQ Festival will be the subject of one of the six one-hour episodes.

Although the Tifton episode is listed as Episode 1 of the series on the Food Network's online schedule, the TV lineup for Monday shows that the series is beginning with Episode 2: "Michael Symon gets a taste of Kansas City-style 'que at the Qlathe BBQ Championship in Olathe, Kan."

According to the online schedule, the Tifton Rhythm & Ribs episode premieres at 9 p.m., Monday, July 18. According to the schedule, the Tifton episode will be re-broadcast at 9 a.m. Friday, July 22, and again at 1 p.m. Saturday, July 23, on the Food Network.

The show will also be streaming on Discovery+.

Michael Symon, Food Network star chef, award-winning restaurant owner, and New York Times best-selling author, attended Tifton's Rhythm & Ribs Festival during March.

"Symon travels to the biggest BBQ competitions across the country as elite competitors and top-notch BBQ talent battle for the ultimate barbecue bragging rights and prizes," the Food Network says in a promotional release.

"In Tifton, Ga., Symon visits the Rhythm & Ribs BBQ Festival where 60 teams compete for cash prizes. During the competition, longtime friends and rivals, The Rescue Smokers and Off The Chain BBQ, are battling for awards and bragging rights to see which team scores highest with the judges. Meanwhile, newcomers Pate’s Pit and Atomic City Smokers are ready to take on the big boys and show that they can win it all," the Food Network says.

It notes that Symon will spotlight the "talented teams that work tirelessly at honing their craft to prove they are the best in the barbecue world, while also talking with the most diehard fans, and, of course, tasting all the delicious 'cue from all over America – including fall-off-the-bone ribs and smoked brisket."

Tift County's total COVID-19 cases have risen by 163 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 two-week period totaled 34. There have been no additional related deaths reported in Tift County.

Tift County’s total positive cases represent 399 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 18.9%; the rate for the previous reporting period was 13.6%, the DPH said.

Tift has seen a total of 6,400 cases with 164 confirmed deaths, the DPH said.

The state has recorded a total of 2,066,281 confirmed cases and 32,126 related deaths, the DPH said. The state reports COVID-19 data once a week.

The former Tifton Museum of Arts and Heritage celebrated its new name Thursday with a Tifton-Tift County Chamber of Commerce ribbon cutting, honoring longtime supporter of the arts Syd Blackmarr.

The museum is now the Syd Blackmarr Arts Center. 

“Thank you for joining us as we infuse new life into our beloved old building,” said Kathy Moreno, president of the Tifton Council of the Arts. “This is more than honoring an exceptional member of our community who has shared over 45 years of her life entwining the arts into our everyday lives. 

“This ribbon cutting symbolizes the unleashing of the arts beyond these beautiful brick walls, heart pine interior, and stained glass windows,” Moreno said. “We are making the arts more accessible, affordable, and available, which is the mission of the Tifton Council for the Arts. We are partnering with other organizations and individuals who also believe the arts are for all. The arts are good for families and good for education, which makes them good for the community. 

“Today, we gather together to celebrate the arts. Welcome to The Syd!”

About 40 people in attendance went inside the arts center to view the current exhibit, "Reflections," featuring glass designs by Cindy Hammond and paintings by Mary Ann Cox. The exhibit will be open 10 a.m.-2 p.m. this Saturday during Downtown Tifton's "Second Saturday" event, Arts Director Joy Yost said. 

“Our mission and vision has changed over the 25 years that the Museum of Arts and Heritage has been open,” Yost noted. “We realized that we never really were a museum because we didn’t have a permanent exhibit. We have become more of a center for arts in Tifton, so that’s what we wanted to signify.”

An Atlanta man, who was apprehended at a Tifton traffic stop, recently pleaded guilty in a check-cashing scheme targeting Publix grocery stores.

Brandon Lamont Bell, 37, pleaded guilty to possession of counterfeit and unauthorized devices and was remanded to federal custody last week. Bell faces a maximum of 10 years in prison to be followed by three years of supervised release and a $250,000 fine. Sentencing is scheduled Sept. 29.

According to court documents, Georgia State Patrol and Tifton Police Department officers were conducting a road check at the I-75 northbound Exit 61 ramp (the intersection of Old Omega Road and Magnolia Drive in Tifton). Inside Bell's vehicle, officers found 114 fictitious checks printed with 19 genuine bank account routing numbers, a printer with electric cords, nine counterfeit driver’s licenses, and 18 VISA gift cards.

Following the encounter with Bell and other occupants of the vehicle and a subsequent U.S. Secret Service investigation, agents uncovered a check-cashing scheme involving Bell and co-defendants targeting Publix Supermarkets in Georgia, Florida, and Alabama.

Bell admitted that he possessed the items with intent to defraud more than 15 counterfeit and unauthorized access devices. The case was investigated by the U.S. Secret Service, GSP, and the Tifton Police Department.

Peach State Health Plan continued its efforts this week to deliver critically needed infant and baby formula to Georgia's medical providers in underserved areas around the state, including Tift County.

More than 200 cannisters of formula have been distributed to pediatric clinics in Southwest Georgia and Atlanta, providing approximately 4,200 meals to feed newborns and babies of parents and families struggling to find the baby formula.

"The increased cost and scarce availability of baby formula is putting undue stress on Georgia's communities and negatively impacting the health of newborns and their families," said Wade Rakes, president/CEO of Peach State Health Plan. "Some of the most negatively impacted are those living in rural and underserved regions of the state."

Across the country during the past few months, baby formula became harder to find as its price soared. While supplies are slowly returning, many underserved and rural areas of the state still have critical shortages.

Infant formula is critical to the health and development of newborns. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, roughly one in four parents exclusively breastfeed their children up to the age of 6 months, leaving the overwhelming majority of them at least partially dependent on formula.

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Today, Friday, July 8, is National Blueberry Day. The rabbiteye blueberry is native to South Georgia. A breeding program initiated in Tifton in the 1940's by Dr. Tom Brightwell, in cooperation with the USDA, has produced many high-quality rabbiteye blueberry cultivars. Cultivars from the Georgia-USDA breeding program form the backbone of the Georgia blueberry industry.

yardsales@tiftongrapevine.com or 478-227-7126

"Santana," a happy male pooch, is ready for a forever home. Santana is 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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