VIDEO: Click the image to watch Tifton native Austin Brown's official video of his newest original song 'If I Met You Now.'

The pandemic has put touring on hold for singers and musicians, but the time away from the stage has been a blessing in disguise for Tifton native Austin Brown of the a cappella country quintet Home Free.

Brown was now free to concentrate on his own music, and like a man suddenly released the singer-songwriter burst out of quarantine with five new solo singles since last September – the latest, "If I Met You Now," just released last week and arguably his best to date.

On his website, Brown said he has written countless songs in recent years.

“I did so many things that the guys in the band really loved, but weren’t necessarily right for Home Free,” Brown said. “And the more I did, the more they would say, ‘Hey, you need to start releasing this stuff.’”

Brown calls "If I Met You Now" a "song about second chances."

“I think we all know what it’s like to wish we’d done things differently. And even though we can’t change the past, maybe we can still rewrite who we are to become a little further down the line,” he says on the Sounds Like Nashville website.

On Tuesday, Brown answered numerous questions from fans on Facebook. He said that his solo career doesn’t mean that he’s leaving Home Free, whose world tour has been delayed. "Still with Home Free. Always will be," he said, and added: "I have a lot more solo stuff coming."

Other songs he has released during the past few months are “Earn It,” “Off The Grid,” “Rest Of My Life” and “Take The Night Off."

Brown now lives outside of Nashville, Tenn., and has many relatives and friends in Tifton. He and the group Home Free most recently performed in Tifton in December 2019 during their Dive Bar Saints world tour.

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Southwell health system is experiencing fewer positive cases of COVID-19 – and fewer positive cases are being hospitalized, Ashley McDaniel, Southwell infection preventionist, shared with the Tifton Rotary Club on Wednesday.

Only four new positive cases were diagnosed during the past weekend, she said. 

“I’d like to think that our vaccines are contributing to this,” McDaniel said. “With Easter and spring break coming, it will be interesting to see how these trends will go in the next few weeks and month.”

Southwell has vaccinated almost 15,000 people. “We have plenty of vaccines, and the number of people getting vaccinated is tapering off,” she said, but this was before the vaccinations became available to all people 16 years and up on Thursday.

“We reached the one-year mark of our first positive COVID-19 case last week,” McDaniel said. The number of positive cases diagnosed by Tift Regional Medical Center had its first peak in April, and then a major peak in December-January. 

“We’re learning about this virus constantly,” she said. “For instance, we know that it is spread through respiratory droplets, which are produced with coughing, sneezing, singing, even talking or breathing heavily.”

The most effective way to prevent transmission, McDaniel said, is hand hygiene – washing with soap and water. Also, avoiding crowded indoor spaces. “If you must be inside, open windows and doors. "

McDaniel said the vaccine contains messenger RNA, which tells our cells how to make the spike protein that COVID-19 creates, “so our body recognizes that protein when it presents itself in the future and fights it off.” It does not alter the DNA.

TWO TIFTONITES HELPING RUN NATIONAL COMPETITION

Two people from Tifton will be involved in the production of a national competition, 2021 Mister World USA, in Tampa, Fla., on June 5; J.J. Jackson, owner-operator at Dance King JJ Productions in Tifton, will be choreographing the opening number for the competition.

“The producer of that pageant is a former student of mine from TCHS Chorus, Dina Zemina,” Jackson said. “I've choreographed four other national pageants she has produced. She is a former Miss Galaxy and is now producing pageants and modeling shows.”

Zemina, who lives in Tampa, asked Jackson a week ago if he was available and he said, “Yes!” A 2005 graduate of Tift County High School, Zemina is the owner of DWBeauty and Consulting.

... J.J. was actually my aunt’s show choir partner at TCHS and ABAC, so I’ve known him for many years.”

Her family lives in Tifton: Her mother is Deborah Hildebrand; her grandparents are Barry and Ina Gay; and her aunt is Lea Thompson.

She said she used to tell Jackson: “’One day, I’m going to run the show, and you’ll work for me. Little did I know we’d turn that dream into a reality.” 

As a freelancer, Jackson choreographs for the One Voice middle school show choir and is the dance instructor for the Blue Devil Brigade Marching Band. He also teaches hip hop at the South Georgia Dance Company in Adel.

No stranger to the pageant system, Zemina won Peach State USA in 2009-2010, which opened the door for her to win Miss Georgia American Dream in 2011, and then the national title Miss American Dream in 2012.

“You would think that having a national title would be enough, but I still had that pageant passion inside of me, so I entered the Galaxy system and won Miss Georgia Galaxy in 2012 and went on to Miss Galaxy 2013,” Zemina said.

With those titles came modeling contracts and opportunities. Once Zemina decided to retire from the stage and runway, she said, “I figured I could turn around and be what every model needs and wants … a good agent.” 

She produced her first pageant in Las Vegas. “The national director of the American pageants took a shot on a girl from Tifton, Georgia, and let me apply all that I had learned from production. That pageant was the No. 1 pageant viewed on live stream that year, and the rest is history.”

She brought Jackson on board in 2016, and he has choreographed a national pageant for her each year until the pandemic brought production to a halt in 2020. She said J.J. doesn’t know it yet, but she is producing and has him lined up to choreograph two more events the same weekend in June – Mister Model of the Universe and Miss Universal USA.

“Everything you see on stage, I design and coordinate. I write the scripts; I choose the music, the style, the stage, the itinerary; and I hire the incredible staff,” Zemina said. “I teach them the poses, the runway walks and prepare them to be the best versions of themselves for show time.”

Jackson said of Zemina: “When it comes to work, she turns into ‘Producer Dina.’ I love to see that switch click on when it’s time to be all business. She doesn’t waste time; she is always working -–- from photo shoots and organizing models in New York City, to creating her own make-up line called LUV and raising her nearly one-year-old daughter with her husband in Tampa.” 

Cases of COVID-19 in Tift County continue to be low, according to data from the Ga. Department of Public Health (DPH).

In the past week, Tift County reported four new cases and one additional related death. In two weeks, Tift has seen 13 new cases of the coronavirus, which translates to 32 per 100,000 population, the DPH said. The county’s positive testing rate during the period is 1.8%.

Since the pandemic began, Tift has reported 3,386 cases with 94 deaths.

On Thursday, Georgia reported 1,219 new cases with 82 additional deaths and 121 new hospitalizations. The state has had a total of 846,745 cases and 16,336 related deaths, the DPH said.

The Tiftarea YMCA's 11th Annual Tour de Tifton/Ilse Boyette Memorial Bike Ride is this Saturday, March 27.

Registration on event day opens at 7 a.m., and the mass start begins at 8 a.m.

The ride begins and ends at the YMCA's Hunt Park campus at 1823 Westover Road in Tifton. There will be a beginner’s 11-mile course, intermediate level 24- and 45-mile loops, and 62- and 100-mile century routes for advanced riders (everyone must finish within seven hours).

The routes pass through gently rolling countryside in Tift and surrounding counties. Helmets are required, and children under age 16 must be accompanied by a parent or legal-guardian rider.

The entry fee is $45 through March 26, and $50 on the day of the event. For online registration, Click Here!

All participants will get snacks/drinks at authorized stops along the course and will receive a post-ride meal. Participants completing either of the century courses will receive a special gift.

Proceeds benefit Tiftarea YMCA missions and outreach programs and the Ilse Boyette nurses' book fund at Tift Regional Medical Center. For information, visit www.tiftareaymca.org or call 229-391-9622.

Benny Dees, coach of the Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College men’s 1964 state champion basketball team, died Tuesday at the age of 86. 

Dees coached at ABAC from 1962–1967. Under his leadership, the Golden Stallions won the state junior college basketball championship in 1964. The victory marked the first men’s basketball state title for ABAC since Coach Bruce Gressette’s team won the 1949 crown.

Dees was inducted into the ABAC Athletics Hall of Fame in 2011, and the entire 1964 ABAC team was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2017.

“Tifton just fell in love with us,” said Tommy Dial, a member of the 1964 team. “Benny Dees was Bobby Knight before there was a Bobby Knight. We were just a bunch of old country boys with a crazy coach. Benny was a coach that made you better than you were.”

In the 1966-67 season, Dees’ ABAC team was ranked 13th in the nation, went undefeated in league play and a 29-5 record – a school record.

Dees left ABAC at the end of the 1967 season to become the first head coach at the new men’s basketball program at Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) in Richmond. His mother, Pearl Dees, was a longtime house mother in an ABAC dormitory, and his brother, Peter, played and coached at ABAC. 

Dees was also successful as a coach at the NCAA Division 1 level, coaching at VCU, the University of New Orleans, the University of Wyoming, and Western Carolina University.

In 1987, Dees’ New Orleans team recorded its first ever NCAA tournament win over BYU. The Privateers piled up a 26-4 record that season.

During a 10-year span from 1985–1995, Dees compiled a 172–123 record in two seasons at New Orleans, six seasons at Wyoming, and two seasons at Western Carolina. He was also an assistant coach at the University of Alabama, Georgia Tech, and Western Kentucky.

Dr. Nick T. Place, who became the University of Georgia's dean of the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences (CAES) on Jan. 1, visited the UGA Tifton campus the other day.

Place met with faculty, students, and staff at the CAES in Tifton.

Prior to Place's arrival at UGA, Dr. Joe West, formerly the assistant dean of the UGA Tifton campus, was UGA's interim CAES dean in Athens.

The online auction "Baskets on Parade is in its last week – a fundraiser for Literacy Volunteers of Tifton-Tift County, celebrating spring just before Easter.

Seventeen baskets from area businesses and organizations and a few donated paintings and pieces of jewelry are available for bidding on the Literacy Volunteers website right now until month's end.

Click here to bid.

A collection of jewelry, framed paintings, and prints have been donated by Liz Carson Keith, a longtime supporter of adult literacy and former board member of LVTTC.

Bidding is now open on the actual photos, and the winning bidders will be announced on April 1. Those who win bids will go to the individual business to pick up the item. 

For more information, email [email protected] or call Literacy Volunteers at 229-391-2527.

The Howard Center is sponsoring the event, which benefits literacy programs in Tift County. LVTTC provides and trains tutors to work with local residents wanting to improve their reading skills or work toward earning their GEDs.

This month marks "Sparky the Fire Dog’s" 70th birthday, and the Tifton Fire Department recently shared a cake in honor of the National Fire Protection Association mascot.

Sparky has taught generations of children about fire safety.

Gathered for the celebration are, pictured standing from left: Firefighter Rusty Dorman, Engineer Nathan Bassett, Battalion Chief George Cirilo, Chief Bobby Bennett, and Lt. Elliott Whitley. Kneeling in front are Lt. Adrian Hicks and Firefighter Erin Jackson.

Click the image below to see a vintage Sparky the Fire Dog public service announcement TV commercial from 1960.

Second Harvest of South Georgia will distribute food again this Saturday, March 27, at the Ga. Museum of Agriculture on Whiddon Mill Road in Tifton.

The distribution begins at 7:30 a.m., and no one is allowed to line up before 4:30 a.m. To receive food boxes, people must remain in their vehicles, and the boxes will be loaded in the vehicles' trunks.

Food will be available on a first-come, first-served basis while supplies last. There is no criteria for receiving adult boxes; a simple form must be filled out on site.

Specified child nutrition packs require proof of eligibility. For details, visit the Second Harvest Facebook page here, or call 888-453-4143.

AgGeorgia Farm Credit has announced that dividends totaling $15,678,582 have been declared by its board of directors, with 30% of borrowers’ 2020 accrued interest being returned.

The 30% return is the highest percentage returned by the association since 2003.  More than $2,660,000 of the total is going to members in Tift and adjoining counties.

“I am proud of this association’s performance in 2020, not only in light of the challenges faced by our members and staff but primarily because of the result — a record return to our members, significantly decreasing their cost of borrowing,” said CEO Rob Crain.

“Returning profits to our borrowers aligns perfectly with our mission to improve the lives of Georgia’s farmers, families and rural communities, and we are happy to do so,” said Dave Neff, chairman of the AgGeorgia Board of Directors.

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"Millie" is ready for her new home. She can be adopted at the Tift County Animal Shelter, located on Highway 125 S. The shelter is open to the public for adoptions from 1-6 p.m. Mondays through Fridays. For more information, call 229-382-PETS (7387).

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

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