During a special session , the Ga. House of Representatives on Thursday voted 162-1 to provide $470 million in relief for Southwest Georgia communities and farmers hit hard by Hurricane Michael .

The package, proposed by Gov. Nathan Deal , directs $270.2 million toward hurricane relief and another $200 million in income tax credits for pecan farmers and timber growers to encourage replanting lost trees .

The plan includes:

Some of the money provides matching funds that are required to receive federal emergency aid , according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution .

State Rep. Matt Gurtler , R-Tiger, cast the lone vote against the plan. The state Senate still must approve the relief package .

The governor called the special legislative session to address the effects of the hurricane that smashed through Southwest Georgia after leaving a path of destruction across the Florida panhandle .

Julie Ewing Hunt, center, with her Leadership Georgia award, stands with James Nixon, a former Tift Regional Health System vice president and Leadership Georgia Board of Trustees member and awards chairman, along with Nixon's wife, Angeanette Nixon, right, a Leadership Georgia alumna and former Tifton resident.

LEADERSHIP GEORGIA HONORS JULIE HUNT

Julie Ewing Hunt of Tifton was recently honored by the Leadership Georgia Board of Trustees at its annual gala in Athens .

Hunt, president of J.H. Services Inc., received the J.W. Fanning Award , presented to a Georgian whose statewide contributions through progressive leadership and service have been broad in scope and rich in achievement .

Hunt has experience in the restaurant, advertising and real estate industries, and is a former school teacher . She serves as a member of the Georgia Ports Authority , a member of the Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College President’s Club , an emeritus trustee of the University of Georgia Foundation and a former Regent of the University System of Georgia.

She is a past chair of the Tifton-Tift County Tourism Association and a past president of the Tifton-Tift County Chamber of Commerce .

To see Leadership Georgia's Facebook video about Hunt, Click Here!

Collins

2703 U.S. 41 S.

Tifton, GA

Collins is a historic grocery store in Tifton that was revamped to be a premier event space. Wisham Jellies crafts handmade, delicious pepper jellies in South Georgia. Additionally, their products are sold in grocery stores around the United States.

The concept of the Grocery Music Festival came after Milton Hall Jr. of Collins and Eric Wisham of Wisham Jellies recognized how much diversity is tied to food and groceries. These two owners recognize that when a person enters a grocery store, they enter a space filled with a chance to create dishes from various diverse communities, which can ultimately result in an opportunity to experience a new culture.

The Grocery Music Festival is the recognition that we all, no matter our background, love two things: food and music. This festival is an opportunity to bring all our worlds together for a day filled with food, fellowship, laughter and music.

TIFT DEPUTIES ARREST 70 IN OCT.

During October, Tift County Sheriff's Department deputies arrested 70 people, some on multiple charges, says Sheriff Gene Scarbrough.

He said that 25 charges of parole/probation violation were filed, 13 drug violations, 10 crimes against persons charges, four obstruction charges, 15 property crimes charges, four charges of driving under the influence, 11 failures to appear, five child support violations and three arrests of wanted persons. 

Deputies also charged 24 individuals with having a suspended or revoked driver’s license as well as with seven non-traffic charges.

The sheriff said d eputies conducted 1,710 business and property checks, 667 mobile home park and subdivision checks, 38 school checks and responded to 2,820 calls for service.

They also served 90 warrants, 118 civil papers and 273 subpoenas.

Deputies completed 545 reports, issued 672 traffic citations, 159 traffic warnings and patrolled 75,190 miles, Scarbrough reported. He said deputies also provided 60 transports, totaling 187 hours and 6,792 miles.

TIFTON-TIFT COUNTY CHAMBER OF COMMERCE

RIBBON CUTTING

South Georgia Eye Partners

416 Tift Ave., Tifton

Nov. 13

There are now at least three known truffle species found in Georgia, all of which grow in pecan orchards.

University of Georgia Professor Tim Brenneman in Tifton now has a newly discovered truffle species named after him – Tuber brennemanii .

Brenneman , an expert in pecan diseases, collaborated with plant pathologist Matthew Smith at the University of Florida to help discover the species .

Smith’s doctoral student, Arthur Grupe , published the research in a peer-reviewed scientific journal and honored Brenneman with the truffle designation. The paper describes two new species of truffles discovered on the roots of pecan trees. One was named in honor of Brenneman and the other species was named  Tuber floridanum , a truffle species seen more commonly in Florida . 

“Since we had worked together so much on this, they decided to name the other species after me,” Brenneman said. “I was very surprised and pleased . I didn’t know they were going to do that.”

Truffles are mycorrhizal , which means that the fungi have a symbiotic relationship with plants, including pecan trees. Both species were discovered using molecular tools to extract DNA from the roots of pecan trees . The plant pathologists then compared the results to other known truffle species.

“Many of the results matched up with Tuber lyonii, the main species of pecan truffle we have found for years in pecan orchards. However, the DNA samples clearly showed there were two more species other than the one we were harvesting,” Brenneman said. “For a while we just didn’t know what they looked like because we had not found the fruiting bodies.”

Through this discovery , there are now at least three known truffle species found in Georgia , all of which grow in pecan orchards .

Truffles are beneficial fungi found on tree roots that help the host tree absorb minerals and water. They function as an extended root system for the tree. The fruiting bodies form in midsummer to fall and are edible .

Pecan truffles were originally discovered in Texas in the 1950s , but Brenneman found them in Georgia in the late 1980s . Ever since, Brenneman has been searching for ways to consistently produce them.

'BROADWAY'S NEXT H!T MUSICAL'

COMES TO TIFTON ON NOV. 29

Improvisational , impromptu and impossible to guess what happens next are all on the bill when "Broadway’s Next H!T Musical" comes to Howard Auditorium at 7 p.m. Nov. 29 at Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College .

Fresh songs, new scenes and different comedy every night, "Broadway’s Next H!T Musical" is the only unscripted theatrical awards show. Audience involvement keeps everyone engaged in a spontaneous evening of music, humor, and laughter. 

ABAC Arts Connection Director Wayne Jones looks forward to the show, a part of the ABAC Presents! Performing Arts Series .

“It’s a really fun show that involves the audience from the minute they walk in the door of Howard Auditorium,” Jones said. “Cast members gather made-up hit song suggestions from the audience . The audience then votes for its favorite song and watches as the cast turns it into a full-blown improvised musical scene, complete with memorable characters, witty dialogue and plot twists galore. It’s a ton of fun.”

The show is under the direction of improv veterans Rob Schiffmann and Deb Rabbai. TheaterWeek called the show “brilliant,” and the New York Post termed it “remarkable.”

Tickets may be purchased online at  www.purplepass.com/abac  or at the box office before the event. A limited number of tickets will be available at the door at a cost of $25 for adults and $10 for students 18 and under. ABAC students are admitted free with their student ID cards.

Tiftarea Academy 's Anna Sumner of Sylvester , with her mother Deana Sumner, left, and father Tim Sumner, signed her letter of intent Wednesday to compete in gymnastics for Auburn University .

Anna is an honor student who trains more than 20 hours per week. She trains with Tift Gymnastics Academy . Anna began gymnastics at the age of three and won her first state meet when she was five years old.

She has attended Tiftarea Academy for 14 years.

Tifton First United Methodist Church

is in search of a Director of Music Ministries

who will coordinate all music programs within the church

to include opportunities for all age levels, as talent and commitment allow. 

The Director of Music Ministries will collaborate

with the pastors, music and worship teams to provide music

for traditional and contemporary worship services. 

The Director of Music Ministries will lead the chancel choir,

other musicians and the congregation in traditional music worship

for 9 a.m. and 11 a.m. Sunday services and support leadership

of our contemporary service held at 10:42 a.m.

Attendance averages 100+ at 9 a.m., 200+ at 11 a.m.

and 65+ at 10:42 a.m.  

Tifton, Georgia, is located on I-75 north of Valdosta and south of Macon.

 The population of Tifton is approximately 17,000

with an additional 23,000 living in the surrounding county.

Please mail resume and contact information for three references to:

 

Tifton First United Methodist Church 

107 West 12 ^th Street

Tifton, GA 31794

www.tiftonfumc.org

Black Friday , the day after Thanksgiving , is known as one of the biggest shopping days of the year with special deals .

This year, 22 percent of shoppers will be seeking tech deals , making electronics the hottest category, according to the r etail web site BlackFriday.com. The web site analyzed online search trends and performed a month-over-month comparison to find the most-trending Black Friday products and retailers  by state .

In Georgia , the site found, the most coveted item of 2018 is the PlayStation 4. In Alabama, the top teach deals sought are Apple products; and in Florida, home appliances.

Nationwide , the most coveted electronic product is the Nintendo Switch , followed by the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One , according to BlackFriday.com .

WALKING FOR CHRISTMAS COOKIES

Peace Lutheran Church  is hosting its annual  Cookie Walk and Yard Sale from  9 a.m.-1 p.m. this Saturday, Nov. 17 , at the church's  Fellowship Hall, 604 Tennessee Drive, Tifton.

Church members have been busy baking different kinds of  cookies, cakes, breads, candies and German pastries, and making  holiday candies and homemade peanut brittle. 

Also available will be homemade Christmas ornaments and many new gifts.

Proceeds will be used to purchase phone cards for armed forces personnel. A donation will be made to Lutheran Services Disaster Relief Fund.

Supplemental funds have been received from Thrivent Financial.

ABAC students Corey Brooke and Michele Moncrief presented their research poster at the Southeastern Entomological Society of America meeting in Orlando.

ABAC STUDENTS WIN NATIONAL

RESEARCH GRANT COMPETITION

Two students from Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College recently claimed the top prize in a national research grant competition from the Beta Beta Beta Biological Society Research Foundation.

 

Michele Moncrief , a senior biology major from Bogart , and Corey Brooke , a senior biology major from Sycamore , won the national competition open to TriBeta students conducting mentored research from all participating chapters. Their research proposal was titled, “The effects of nicotine and niacin on chemoreception in fall army worms, a major pest of sweet corn in the Southeastern United States.”

 

Dr. Joanna Gress , an assistant professor of biology at ABAC and advisor for the TriBeta Biological Honor Society , mentored the two students.

 

“This is the first time that ABAC students entered this competition , and we won,” Gress said. “They will be presenting the results of this project at the TriBeta Regional Convention at the Association of Southeastern Biologists conference in Memphis in April .”

Roxie Price , family and consumer sciences agent for Tift County , was recently honored with the Thomas F. Rodgers Award for Outstanding Outreach County Extension Agent for her "Drink Less Sugar" program.

Through the "Drink Less Sugar" initiative , all second-grade children and teachers in Tift County have received education on the amount of sugar in beverages . The program has been showcased in regional and state presentations as a way to fight childhood obesity .

Academic abstracts were published in the Journal of Applied Research and Demonstration Symposium . Four years of in-depth programming and presentations resulted in Price receiving a National School Wellness Award for recognized impact.

The past three years, Price has been a site coordinator for the Volunteer Income Tax Assistance program using Skype virtual technology to reach certified tax preparers at UGA and the University of Florida . Her local clientele tripled in 2018 by using this method.

 Price has served as president of the Georgia Extension Association of Family and Consumer Sciences as well as the National Extension Association of Family and Consumer Sciences Board' s vice president for awards and recognition.

Originally from Thomas County , Price has been with the University of Georgia Extension since 2001 .

A VETERANS DAY STORY

THIS OLD HAT

Part Two

EDITOR'S NOTE: This is the second of three parts written by local author and Vietnam veteran Warren Robinson of Lenox in observance of Veterans Day this month.

By WARREN ROBINSON

Special to the Tifton Grapevine

I I first met my boys in the 1960s as they entered military service. They came from New York, San Diego, Hawaii, from the Aleutian Islands, Miami and all parts in between.

I met them as they entered basic training . It was really something to see how different they were after that first day. Some had long hair, some wore nice clothes and some looked ragged. I heard accents from all over the United States. It didn’t take long after getting a GI haircut , a set of fatigues , GI green down to the boxer shorts they wore, and everybody started looking the same.

Starting the second day of boot camp , all that individuality was gone and the process of molding these raw recruits into a homogeneous fighting team that would respond to orders without question began. They were young, just kids really, not long out of grade school, full of life with worlds of vim and vigor . Most were 18 or 19 years old, but a few were 17 and needed their parent’s permission to join. A few lied about their age and were only 16 . 

It was fun just to see these kids laughing and joking , innocently thinking they had their whole life in front of them and were about to embark on a grand adventure . Little did they know their lives would change forever as more than 58,000 would never return home alive. They would soon become battle-hardened veterans with their boyish innocence gone forever.

To read the rest of this installment, Click Here!

YOUR WEEKEND

...at a Glance

FRIDAY, NOV. 16

SATURDAY, NOV. 16

ADVERTISE YOUR WEEKEND

YARD SALE HERE!

We will run weekend yard sales on Fridays, along with a map so that folks can easily find your yard sale.

_____________________

TO ADVERTISE YOUR YARD SALE, CONTACT US at [email protected]

Fees are $1 per word, paid in advance

Tifton Grapevine

e-published every Tuesday and Friday

Frank Sayles Jr.

Editor & Publisher

Bonnie Sayles

Managing Editor

A Service of Sayles Unlimited Marketing LLC , Tifton, Georgia