Friday, January 16, 2026

Tifton, Georgia

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Tifton saw record snowfall last January as more than 5 inches of the white stuff fell around the county. In photo below, Tifton's Tift Avenue glistens after last year's rare snowstorm.

SNOW IN TIFTAREA?

RAIN/SNOW SHOWERS POSSIBLE THIS WEEKEND, FORECASTERS SAY

By FRANK SAYLES JR.

Tifton Grapevine

Nearly a year ago, in late January, South Georgia was blanketed in a rare snowfall totaling more than 5 inches in Tifton and even more around the Tiftarea. Early Sunday morning, the possibility of snow is once again in the forecast, but this time no accumulation is expected.

The National Weather Service is calling for a chance of rain and snow showers early Sunday morning with a 50% chance of precipitation, with lows in the 30s and highs in the lower 40s. The sun is expected to come out later in the day Sunday.

The Great Snowfall of 2025 set records in Tifton and South Georgia, and is not expected to be repeated this year. However, the Tifton office of the Georgia Department of Transportation (GDOT) is ready in case the weather turns and snow and ice covers area roads.

"You know what time it is when we break out the snow plows in Tifton," GDOT noted on social media Thursday. "We're sending 19 plow trucks and about 80 employees to Atlanta tomorrow to assist with plowing, if necessary, and operating brine trucks. We'll still have 23 plow trucks here in SWGA, if needed (and please, everyone cross your fingers that we won't need them!)."

GDOT said it will be scouting roads and bridges in Southwest Georgia this weekend to ensure they remain free of ice.

The weather forecast for Monday through Tuesday night is for clear skies with lows in the mid 20s and highs in the upper 40s.

ABAC HAS LARGEST AG ED PROGRAM IN U.S., PRESIDENT SAYS

By BONNIE SAYLES

Tifton Grapevine

Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College is now the largest agricultural education program in the nation, surpassing Texas A&M for the first time, ABAC President Dr. Tracy Brundage told the Tifton Rotary Club on Wednesday. 

“We are the largest agricultural education program in the country,” Brundage said. “We have more agricultural education teachers out there teaching agriculture in our schools, and the number of graduates and students is more than any other program right now.”

She said ABAC has the first elementary agricultural education certification program in the country, and has a 100% placement rate in the School of Agricultural and Natural Resources, as well as the nursing program.

“We are the state school of agriculture,” she said, with the largest undergraduate School of Agriculture program in Georgia. ABAC is also the only University System of Georgia state college's dining hall to partner with the Georgia Grown program. 

ABAC's enrollment has grown from 2,600 to more than 4,000 within 25 years she said. The college’s motto is “Rooted in Tradition, Focused on the Future.”

Founded in 1908, ABAC has been a four-year state college since 2008, and is now located in Tifton and Bainbridge. It has an 18-to-1 faculty to student ratio. Currently, 4,051 students are enrolled in four academic schools with 16 bachelor of science degrees and four associate degrees. 

The in-state college tuition, which also is available to neighboring states, is under $4,000 a year, allowing most students to complete four years of study debt free, she said.

One hundred fifty-two of Georgia’s 159 counties currently have students at ABAC. Fifty of Florida’s 67 counties are represented at ABAC, as well as 25 of South Carolina’s 46 counties. Students also are from 19 of 67 counties in Alabama, the ABAC president said.

UNEMPLOYMENT RATES RISE ACROSS REGION

By FRANK SAYLES JR.

Tifton Grapevine

Counties throughout the Tiftarea posted significantly higher unemployment rates for November, according to data released Thursday by the Georgia Department of Labor (GDOL).

Tift County's jobless rate was 3.6% in November; it was 3% in September –October's data is unavailable because of a "lapse in federal appropriations related to the federal government shutdown," the GDOL reported.

During November a year ago, Tift's unemployment rate was 2.8%.

However, Tift County's labor force – the number of people who are employed or are unemployed and seeking employment – showed improvement in November at 20,382. It was 19,979 during September and 20,176 a year ago, according to GDOL data.

November's unemployment rates in area counties versus the previous reported rates were: Turner, 4.3% vs. 3.7%; Worth, 3.9% vs. 3.3%; Irwin, 4.5% vs. 3.3%; Cook, 3.7% vs. 2.8%; Berrien, 3.6% vs. 3.0%; and Ben Hill, 5.3% vs. 3.9%.

Georgia's November unemployment rate was 3.5%, slightly up from 3.4%. The national unemployment rate for the month was 4.6%, rising from 4.4% according to the GDOL.

"In November, Georgia's unemployment rate remains more than a full point below the national average, and we're seeing job growth in sectors that matter most to hardworking Georgians," said Georgia Labor Commissioner Bárbara Rivera Holmes.

After three straight months of job losses in the state, jobs were up 1,000 over the month to 4,987,500 and were up 16,300 from the past 12 months., the GDOL said.

In photo at left, City Councilman Josh Reynolds, standing with his family, is sworn into another term by City Attorney Rob Wilmot. In photo at right, City Councilman Lester Cromer Jr. is also sworn into another term on City Council by Wilmot.

TIFTON COUNCILMEN BEGIN NEW TERMS

By FRANK SAYLES JR.

Tifton Grapevine

At Tuesday night's Tifton City Council workshop meeting, two recently re-elected city councilmen were each sworn in to another four-year term.

District 1 Councilman Josh Reynolds and District 3 Councilman Lester Cromer Jr. were re-elected in November to their second terms on City Council. They both ran without opposition.

Reynolds has also been serving as vice mayor since 2024. Every two years, the council appoints a vice mayor from within its ranks. Mayor Julie B. Smith said City Council will make the vice mayor appointment at its next full council meeting.

The vice mayor handles the mayor's official duties whenever the mayor is unavailable.

TIFTON'S BILL BRIM RECEIVES LEADERSHIP AWARD FROM FRUIT & VEGETABLE GROWERS

By FRANK SAYLES JR.

Tifton Grapevine

Bill Brim, president and co-owner of Lewis Taylor Farms in Tift County, received the first Charles Hall Leadership Award last weekend at the annual Southeast Regional Fruit & Vegetable Growers Conference in Savannah.

Brim is a longtime leader in agriculture, serving on numerous industry state and national councils and committees.

He was the 2009 Georgia Farmer of the Year and was inducted into the Georgia Agricultural Hall of Fame in 2019. A Pelham native, Brim and business partner Ed Walker purchased Lewis Taylor Farms in 1985.

The Charles Hall Leadership Award is named for the late, longtime executive director of the Georgia Fruit and Vegetable Growers Association, who was also a good friend of Brim's.

The GBI is asking if anyone recognizes this person of interest in a sexual-assault investigation, who is seen in this video image recorded in Sparks.

GBI SEEKS PUBLIC'S HELP IN IDENTIFYING PERSON OF INTEREST

Tifton Grapevine Staff Reports

The Georgia Bureau of Investigation is asking the public's help in identifying a person of interest in an ongoing sexual-assault investigation.

A person being sought was seen on security footage in the Fox Run area of Sparks in Cook County, the GBI said.

Authorities are asking the public to provide any information concerning the identity of the person, and for residents in the surrounding area to review their security videos.

Anyone with information is asked to contact the GBI tipline by calling 1-800-597-TIPS (8477), going online at https://gbi.georgia.gov/submit-tips-online, or by downloading the See Something, Send Something mobile app.

GOVERNMENT OFFICES, POST OFFICE, BANKS CLOSED MONDAY

Tifton Grapevine Staff Reports

Monday is a federal holiday – Martin Luther King Jr. Day, which means federal, state, and local government offices will be closed.

The U.S. Post Office will also be closed, and United Parcel Service (UPS) will not offer pickup or delivery on MLK Day. FedEx will be open but will have some modified service, according to the company's holiday schedule.

Banks will also be closed Monday.

President Donald Trump had announced changes to two federal holidays in 2026. The National Park Service has eliminated Martin Luther King Jr. Day, along with the Juneteenth federal holiday, from its calendar of free admission days for sites that charge entrance fees. 

Instead, the new lineup of National Park fee-free days will include Trump’s June 14 birthday, which is also Flag Day but is not a federal holiday.

VENDORS NOW ACCEPTED FOR 'SWEET TASTE OF TIFTON' FUNDRAISER

Tifton Grapevine Staff Reports

Board members of Literacy Volunteers of Tifton-Tift County are seeking chocolate dessert vendors and auction items for the 12th annual chocolate tasting fundraiser, rebranded this year as "The Sweet Taste of Tifton," to be held at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 10, at the Paulk Vineyards Tifton Tasting Room.

Tickets are $30 in advance and include all desserts and two drink tickets. They may be purchased at the Tifton Tasting Room, located at the corner of Commerce Way and U.S. Highway 82. Tickets will be $40 at the door.

Up to 10 restaurant and bakery vendors will provide 100 samples of their desserts and savory snacks. Attendees will taste desserts and vote for the Best Taste, Best Presentation, and Most Original.

A silent auction with potential Valentine’s gifts and gift certificates from local merchants, department stores, and service providers will be ongoing during the event.

The chocolate-tasting evening is a fundraiser for Literacy Volunteers of Tifton-Tift County, which works to increase adult literacy in the community through tutoring clients and supporting students in adult education classes at Southern Regional Technical College in Tifton.

For more information, contact tiftlv@gmail.com or message the Literacy Volunteers of Tifton-Tift County Facebook page.

COMMUNITY GROUPS JOIN TO PROVIDE DICTIONARIES TO ALL TIFT THIRD-GRADERS

Tifton Grapevine Staff Reports

The Jay Deason Fund and the family of Harold Harper once again have sponsored the purchase of dictionaries to be distributed to all Tift County third-graders, through a donation to Literacy Volunteers of Tifton-Tift County.

Members of the Tifton Woman's Club, part of the General Federation of Women's Clubs, will personally place the dictionaries in the hands of every third-grader in Tift County, allowing each child to own their own book of words, definitions, and information.

In the photo at left, Bert Ponder, Courtney Howell, Lee Powell, and Beth Lewis with the Jay Deason Fund review the dictionaries. In photo at right, Hal Harper and Donna Ross examine the books to be distributed.

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YOUR GUIDE

TO ACTIVITIES

THIS WEEKEND

IN THE GREATER

TIFTAREA

Monday, Jan. 19, is Martin Luther King Jr. Day, honoring the slain Atlanta minister and civil rights leader who preached nonviolence as a moral path to freedom and societal change. King helped lead the grassroots movement that eventually led to the enactment of the Civil Rights Act and Voting Rights Act. President Ronald Reagan signed the bill creating the holiday into federal law in 1983, observing it on the third Monday in January. Monday is also the birthday of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee and was traditionally Robert E. Lee Day in the South. When the federal MLK Day holiday was adopted in the 1980s, Mississippi and Alabama added it to the existing Lee holiday. Several states initially adopted this approach, but all have since dropped celebrating Lee except for Alabama and Mississippi. Lee is considered as one of America's best tactical military leaders and is still the only person to graduate from West Point Military Academy without a single demerit. His military tactics were studied and used during World War II.

Born on Jan. 16: John C. Breckinridge, 14th U.S. vice president, 1821-1875; André Michelin, industrialist & tire manufacturer, 1853-1931; Ethel Merman, actress and comedian, 1908-1984; Jay Hanna "Dizzy" Dean, baseball Hall of Fame pitcher, 1910-1974; Susan Sontag, writer, 1933-2004; A.J. Foyt, auto racer, 1935–; Ronnie Milsap, country music singer, 1943–; John Carpenter, director & screenwriter, 1948 –; Debbie Allen, actress & choreographer, 1950–; Kate Moss, British supermodel, 1974–.

FRIDAY, JAN. 16

• Lunch 'n Learn: Small Business Marketing, noon-1 p.m., Sylvester-Worth County Chamber of Commerce, 122 N. Main St., Sylvester

• Sweets & Songs: Tift County Show Choirs, 6:30 p.m., Performing Arts Center, Tift County High School, Tifton

• Cirque Italia: Water Circus, 7:30 p.m., American Legion Fairgrounds, U.S. Highway 82, Tifton

SATURDAY, JAN. 17

• Cirque Italia: Water Circus, 1:30 p.m., 4:30 p.m. & 7:30 p.m., American Legion Fairgrounds, U.S. Highway 82, Tifton

• Tiftarea Junior Gardeners' Club, 2 p.m., Tifton-Tift County Public Library, Tifton

• Sweets & Songs: Tift County Show Choirs, 2 p.m. & 6:30 p.m., Performing Arts Center, Tift County High School, Tifton

• Community Craft Night, 5:30 p.m., Syd Blackmarr Arts Center, Tifton

• Darci Lynne and Friends: Up Close & Personal Tour, Darci and her puppets –including Petunia, Oscar, and Edna – with original comedy, music, and audience interaction, 7:30 p.m., Tift Theatre for the Performing Arts, Downtown Tifton

SUNDAY, JAN. 18

• Cirque Italia: Water Circus, 1:30 p.m., 4:30 p.m. & 7:30 p.m., American Legion Fairgrounds, U.S. Highway 82, Tifton

• Sweets & Songs: Tift County Show Choirs, 2 p.m., Performing Arts Center, Tift County High School, Tifton

• Tifton Council for the Arts Volunteer Social, 3-5 p.m., Syd Blackmarr Arts Center, Tifton

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TIFTON GRAPEVINE'S DOG OF THE WEEK

"Grim" is about three years old, 60 pounds, and patiently awaiting his new home. This handsome guy is the total package — friendly with people, great with other dogs, and even good with cats! He has a loving, social personality and is always happy to make new friends. Come meet Grim and see other pets available for adoption between 1-6 p.m. Mondays through Fridays at the Tift County Animal Shelter on Highway 125 South, or call 229-382-PETS (7387).

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