BOE: AUG. 7 OPENING, MILLAGE ROLLBACK, BASKETBALL COACH

DELAYS SCHOOL 4 DAYS; SETS TAX DECREASE; NAMES

TOMMY BLACKSHEAR AS NEW HEAD COACH

By FRANK SAYLES JR.

Tifton Grapevine

The Tift County Board of Education (BOE) on Thursday set Aug. 7 as the opening date for schools, approved a slight millage rollback for taxpayers, and brought back former Blue Devil Head Coach Tommy Blackshear to once again lead the Tift County High basketball program.

On the recommendation of Superintendent Adam Hathaway , the BOE is delaying the start of school by four days to allow teachers to better prepare for the school year during the pandemic and to allow their input about how new procedures in place may work.

The school system is opening under level Green , allowing physical instruction but under new guidelines and procedures.

“It’s not going to look like it did last August,” Hathaway told the board. “ Social distancing is going to be the order of the day."

Face masks will be required on all school buses but will only be required inside school buildings “when social distancing is a challenge ,” Hathaway said. However, he doesn’t expect such challenges to occur very much. The superintendent said students will not be “in a mask all day and locked in a room."

The school system has posted answers to “ Frequently Asked Questions ” about school reopening: Click Here!

Regarding the tax millage rate for the new fiscal year, the BOE rolled back the rate from the current 16.940 rate to 16.932.

“That’s the best thing we can do for our community right now,” Hathaway said. He added that the reduced millage will not result in any program or personnel changes in the school system’s budget.

The BOE also named Tommy Blackshear as head boys' basketball coach.

“We are happy to welcome Coach Blackshear to the Tift County family,” Hathaway said. “We expect great things from our boys' basketball program under his leadership. He has a long history of success on the basketball court as a head coach, and we know that will continue in the future for our Blue Devils .”

 

Blackshear coached the Tift County boys' basketball team from 1988-2004 and was named the 1996 Georgia Tip Off Club’s Coach of the Year . After becoming the Blue Devils head coach in 1988 , Blackshear's teams won 10  region titles, went to the final four of the state basketball tournament three times and captured the AAAA state championship in 1996 .

Blackshear’s Blue Devil teams went to the state tournament 11 of his last 12 seasons. 

“Coach Blackshear understands hard work, success, and what it means to be a Blue Devil,” said Tift County High Principal Chad Stone .

Blackshear is a graduate of Armstrong Atlantic State University , where he excelled as an All American both on the basketball court and in the classroom. He was inducted into the Tift County Athletic Hall of Fame in 2015 .

Xavier Holmes was the Blue Devils’ interim head coach last year.

GOV. SUES ATLANTA OVER MASK REQUIREMENT

Local governments' requirement of face masks in public places, which ignores Gov. Brian P. Kemp’ s executive order, is headed to the courts.

Kemp on Thursday filed a lawsuit against the Atlanta City Council and Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms for requiring face masks as COVID-19 cases continue to rise in Georgia.

The state's lawsuit claims that Kemp alone "leads the state of Georgia in its fight against the worldwide novel coronavirus/COVID-19 pandemic," and that he has the power to " suspend municipal orders that are contradictory to any state law or to his executive orders."

Atlanta and about a dozen other cities have implemented requirements for face masks in public, even though masks are not mandatory in Georgia; Kemp has previously ordered that local governments cannot enact any requirement more stringent than the state has set during the pandemic.

On Wednesday , Kemp went further and issued an executive order that specifically forbade local officials from setting mandatory face-covering policies.

"This lawsuit is on behalf of the Atlanta business owners and their hardworking employees who are struggling to survive during these difficult times," Kemp said on social media.

"These men and women are doing their very best to put food on the table for their families while local elected officials shutter businesses and undermine economic growth," Kemp said.

Mayor Bottoms responded on social media: “ 3,104 Georgians have died and I and my family are amongst the 106k who have tested positive for COVID-19. Meanwhile, I have been sued by @GovKemp for a mask mandate. A better use of taxpayer money would be to expand testing and contact tracing."

Kemp has consistently encouraged the use of face masks but described formal mask requirements as “a bridge too far ” and " unenforceable .” However, some cities, including Atlanta, Savannah, Augusta and Kemp’s hometown of Athens , are requiring mask usage to help slow the spread of the coronavirus.

Kemp’s executive order this week brought condemnation from some of those cities:

"It is officially official. Governor Kemp does not give a damn about us," Savannah Mayor Van Johnson  wrote on Twitter. "Every man and woman for himself/herself. Ignore the science and survive the best you can."

Russell Edwards , Athens mayor pro tempore, said on social media Wednesday that “Brian Kemp fails to do right. And that’s putting it lightly. His order today sabotages protections, banning local governments from requiring mask-wearing. Words fail to describe this monstrous behavior .”

SYLVESTER POLICE CHIEF

CONTRACTS CORONAVIRUS

Sylvester Police Chief Shawn Urquhart has tested positive for COVID-19 and is quarantined at home, officials said.

The city is testing other personnel, and an additional police department employee has tested positive and is in quarantine, officials said.

Sylvester-Worth County has recorded a total of 366 positive cases and 22 deaths, according to the Ga. Department of Public Health (DPH).

In Tift County , COVID-19 cases now total 1,062 with 29 deaths, the DPH said Thursday . There have been 132 hospitalizations with the virus in Tift.

Statewide , cases reached 131,275 on Thursday with 3,104 deaths, the DPH reported.

Testing continues to rise in Georgia; contact your county's health department to schedule a free COVID-19 test – Click Here! for information.

TIFTON FOOD DISTRIBUTION TODAY

Second Harvest of South Georgia , the region's leading hunger-relief organization, is having another free distribution  of  food today ( Friday ) in  Tifton .

Beginning at 7:30 a.m. and continuing while the boxed food lasts, the distribution will be  at the  Georgia Museum of Agriculture'  s parking lot off Whiddon Mill Road . Cars will be served on a first-come, first-served  basis.

One box will be distributed per household; an adult household member must be present. Vehicles will line up, and food will be placed in the vehicle's trunk. No walk-ups are allowed.

Second Harvest of South Georgia  has been holding monthly food distribution events recently in Tifton and throughout South Georgia during the pandemic.

Also today, the local Salvation Army is distributing gallons of milk at the Tifton Mall beginning at 9 a.m. and continuing while supplies last. The milk distribution is sponsored by Borden dairies and the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

TICKETS AVAILABLE NOW THROUGHOUT JULY!

SRTC vet tech student Savannah Maton recently participated in the advanced CPR training for cats and dogs.

SRTC VET TECH STUDENTS JOIN WORLDWIDE CPR TRAINING

The veterinary technology program at Southern Regional Technical College (SRTC) is participating in a worldwide effort to train veterinarians and veterinary technicians in the most current, evidence-based emergency life-saving techniques for cats and dogs . 

During the COVID-19 pandemic, the RECOVER initiative (Reassessment Campaign on Veterinary Resuscitation) has extended cardiopulmonary resuscitation ( CPR ) training at no cost to students or their accredited colleges with veterinary training programs.

The initiative is a non-profit , volunteer-based program. As of May, more than 160 schools in 23 countries had registered with the program, and 18,507 students enrolled in the online evidence-based canine and feline CPR training. As of July 15, 83 percent of SRTC’s current veterinary technology students and 100 percent of recent graduates had completed the training. 

“We had already covered canine CPR in our labs, but this training deepened my knowledge and confidence in emergency care for cats and dogs,” said SRTC vet tech student Savannah Maton .

GSP HANDLES 29 WRECKS IN TIFT DURING JUNE

During June in Tift County , Tifton Post 13 of the Georgia State Patrol handled 29 traffic accidents resulting in 27 injuries and one fatality, the GSP said.

State troopers issued 357 traffic citations during June in Tift, including four arrests for driving under the influence, 223 citations for speeding, 43 seatbelt violations and eight child-restraint violations.

 

There were also 264 warnings issued by Tifton-based troopers.

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TIFTON GRAPEVINE'S PET OF THE WEEK

This boy is available for adoption or rescue. The shelter, located at 278 Georgia Highway 125 S., in Tifton, is open to the public for adoptions from  1-6 p.m. Mondays  through  Fridays .

For more information , call 229-382-PETS (7387).

Pets of the Week are sponsored by:

Branch’s Veterinary Clinic

205 Belmont Ave., Tifton, 229-382-6055   

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Tifton Grapevine

e-published every Tuesday and Friday

Frank Sayles Jr.

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Bonnie Sayles

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