Friday, September 4, 2026

Tifton, Georgia

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TIFT BOE FIRES SUPERINTENDENT

NATALIE GORE HAD ALREADY ANNOUNCED HER RETIREMENT EFFECTIVE NEXT APRIL

By FRANK SAYLES JR.

Tifton Grapevine

Just months before her scheduled retirement as Tift County Schools superintendent, Natalie A. Gore has been abruptly fired by the Tift County Board of Education (BOE).

During a surprise special-called meeting Wednesday night, the BOE terminated Gore's contract without comment. In July, she had announced her retirement effective next April 1.

Gore, 52, has been superintendent less than three years, beginning in January 2024.

Her predecessor was Adam Hathaway, who resigned Sept. 28, 2023, after being placed on administrative leave indefinitely. The BOE gave no reason for placing Hathaway on leave. Although resigning, Hathaway said he "voluntarily" terminated his employment contract with Tift County Schools effective June 30, 2024, and was paid for the nine months through that date. He was hired in 2019.

When contacted Thursday, BOE Chairman Jonathan Jones directed questions to administrative staff for public documents concerning Gore's dismissal and whether there will be any payout of her contract. The Tifton Grapevine has made an open records request for information.

Gore had been recruited from Gwinnett County Public Schools, where she served as chief strategy, performance and accountability officer, and had served before that as associate superintendent of performance and accountability in Henry County Schools.

In Tift County, Gore immediately faced challenges with the Tift County High School principal suspended for misusing public funds and the resignation of the head football coach, who had been recruited by the previous superintendent. There were also other incidents involving school personnel.

During her tenure, Gore had been criticized for her low profile in the community and for not being readily accessible. Some parents have also complained about school scheduling and alleged school staffing shortages.

Gore has a bachelor’s degree in English and secondary education from the University of Iowa, a master's of education in educational leadership and administration from National Louis University, a master's of science in literacy from Indiana University, and an educational specialist degree in English education from Indiana University.

The BOE has named Jennifer Howell, current deputy superintendent for teaching and learning, as acting superintendent. Howell was previously the school system's chief academic officer. She has been in Tift County Schools her entire career as a teacher, instructional coach, assistant principal, and principal at Matt Wilson Elementary School before taking on district responsibilities.

TIFT SHERIFF'S OFFICE IDENTIFIES DEPUTY WHO MISUSED FLOCK CAMERA, SAYS DID NOT VIOLATE STATE LAW

By FRANK SAYLES JR.

Tifton Grapevine

The Tift County Sheriff's deputy accused of misusing the agency's Flock cameras was identified Thursday, and the infraction was not a violation of state law, a county attorney said.

In a Sheriff's Office statement released by attorney Jennifer Herzog, a Tift County Sheriff’s Office data system audit discovered discrepancies in the Flock license-plate reader system involving Deputy Dallas Hancock.

"An internal investigation was initiated and completed with the finding that Deputy Hancock had used the Flock database to search his own personal automobile tag on numerous occasions. Although there was no finding that Deputy Hancock accessed anyone else’s data other than his own, and further no finding that any data was used in any improper way, ultimately leadership determined the use was improper and therefore demoted Deputy Hancock," the statement read.

"Deputy Hancock’s access to his own personal data did not violate Georgia law," according to the statement.

Hancock was the Exchange Club of Tifton's Officer of the Year from the Tift County Sheriff’s Office for 2024. He joined the Sheriff's Office in January 2018 as part of the detention staff, attended the training academy in 2019, and became a deputy sheriff upon graduation.

More than two dozen law enforcement personnel from across Georgia have been accused of misusing Flock camera data. Most of them have been fired and/or face charges.

When asked what the Tift County Sheriff’s Office is doing to ensure such misuse doesn’t occur again, the Tifton Grapevine received the following statement: "Sheriff (Gene) Scarbrough had his administration issue a memorandum to his entire agency expressing a zero tolerance for any behavior that tarnishes the trust of the community, and for all deputies to re-familiarize themselves with all policies that pertain to any confidential data system and its proper usage."

FLOCK CAMERAS TO BE 'HOT ISSUE' IN GEORGIA LEGISLATURE

By FRANK SAYLES JR. and BONNIE SAYLES

Tifton Grapevine

Flock license-plate reading cameras are expected to be a controversial topic in next year's General Assembly, state Sen. Carden Summers, R-Cordele, told the Tifton-Tift County Chamber of Commerce's annual legislative breakfast Thursday morning.

"If there was a vote today, we'd vote to take them down because the general public thinks they're being spied on," Summers said.

"The bad guys want them all gone."

Summers said, "We love Flock cameras," adding that they have been effective in solving child abductions and other crimes, but acknowledging law-enforcement abuses have occurred.

"There's going to be some laws going to be enacted; it's going to get ugly," Summers said.

"It's to be determined, but it's going to be a hot issue, no question about it."

State Rep. Jaclyn Ford, R-Tifton, told the Chamber of Commerce members that there will be a lot of lobbyists around the Flock-camera issue the Capitol this session. Summers added that he wished lobbyists had patches on their jackets lake NASCAR drivers to show who is sponsoring them.

Summers also mentioned controversy surrounding data centers, which he said are misunderstood. While Bitcoin mining centers are noisy, he said data centers are not and use less water than pecan orchards.

As far as the water usage, Summers said data centers use a constant recirculation of the water in a cistern system. “It’s an osmosis thing. ... I literally found out that a 100-acre pecan orchard uses five times – five times – the water of a big data center,” he said. “There’s so much misinformation out there about this.”

The senator said a medium-sized data center is going into Crisp County. “The lowest paid person will make $75,000 a year, right out of high school,” Summers said. “They’ve already announced that. You can get trained at the technical center and come work at the data center.” 

Data centers could be an economic boon for Georgia's rural communities, Summers said, adding that counties with data centers "will probably wind up being tax-free communities."

Rep. Ford ticked off a list of some things the General Assembly accomplished during the past session, including raising teacher’s pay by $10,000, increasing maternal leave for state employees from six to nine weeks, increasing the standard income deduction for dependents to $5,000, and creating legislation to protect landowners against eminent domain, which expands property protections to save family and generational farms, and agricultural land from unhindered development. 

She served on a House insurance study committee and said the Legislature was able to get insurance premiums reduced.

"We have done a lot to hold them accountable. Ten insurance companies have announced rate reductions, cutting their customers bills by up to 10%. That helps us in affordability," Ford said.

She noted that this past legislative session was highly partisan because of the upcoming state elections. She said the Local Homestead Option Sales Tax (LHOST) was discussed but not approved to be placed on the ballot. LHOST is a penny tax for local property tax relief for local governments. It's essentially a fiscal swap: Localities can ask voters to approve a 1% sales tax hike. The collected revenue is then used to reduce or eliminate county and city property taxes, specifically for owner-occupied homestead (primary residence) properties.

Fitzgerald Head Coach Wesley Tankersley, left, and Irwin Head Coach Beau Johnson speak about tonight's rival game during Tuesday's joint meeting of the Fitzgerald and Ocilla Rotary clubs.

FITZGERALD-OCILLA'S 'BORDER BRAWL' BRINGS COMMUNITIES TOGETHER

By BONNIE SAYLES

Tifton Grapevine

It's a big day in Irwin and Ben Hill counties: A rivalry that began in 1922 continues tonight on the gridiron.

The annual football “Border Brawl” between the Irwin County Indians and the Fitzgerald Purple Hurricane begins at 7:30 p.m. at Jaycee Stadium in Fitzgerald. Friends and neighbors in the two towns 10 miles apart will cheer on their teams in the sometimes friendly/sometimes not so friendly competition on opposite sides of the stadium.

On Tuesday, the Fitzgerald and Ocilla Rotary clubs held their 10th annual joint meeting to commemorate and celebrate the annual football rivalry. Ocilla Rotary Club members will run the game football from Buddy Nobles Stadium in Ocilla to the Irwin/Ben Hill county line, where Fitzgerald Rotary Club members will take it in a relay to Jaycee Stadium. That game ball will be presented to the referees on the field.

This year for the first time, a special Rotary winner’s trophy will be presented to the winning team to keep until next year's faceoff, Fitzgerald Rotary President Jad Dixon told attendees at the “Rival Week” joint Rotary meeting in Fitzgerald. 

At the joint meeting, WALB-TV Sports Director Aaron Meaux moderated a panel discussion with the two teams's head football coaches – Wesley Tankersley, in his second year with Fitzgerald; and Beau Johnson, in his first year with the Irwin County Indians.

Meaux asked the coaches about their first impression of Rival Week. “Really cool,” said Tankersley. “It’s a great opportunity to be part of history, something that’s bigger than you.”

“It’s great to be part of these two communities,” said Johnson. “We don’t like each other, but really we do. You want good coffee, you go to Café Budapest in Fitzgerald. You want good catfish, you go to the Catfish House in Ocilla.”

Meaux asked how the coaches prepare the teams for the rival game.

“To be brutally honest, we haven’t mentioned Fitzgerald,” Johnson said. “We’re still learning football.” He said the Indians have a lot of freshmen among their 36 players. “Our kids ought to play like it’s Fitzgerald every week,” he said.

“I told the kids they could not wear red (Ocilla's color),” Tankersley said. He said he teaches players to “control what you can control. Focus on the game and what they have to do to win the game.” He encourages his players to stay off Snapchat, TikTok, and other social media to stay focused. 

Asked about community support, Johnson said, “This community (Ocilla) loves our kids.” He said the community raised more than $8,000 to provide them hot meals for practice nights. Teachers provide award stickers to players who did something special during the week, that are presented every Friday.

Tankersley said having people out at the games and supporting the kids means so much to them. He said coaching in Fitzgerald is his “dream job,” because he gets to interact with so many students, not just players, in a special way, in a school and city the size of Fitzgerald. 

“Both towns love to wear their colors,” Johnson said.

Asked about their teams, Tankersley said his offensive line has some experience, and cited other players, including L.J. Devine, who had over 1,000 yards last year, and L.J.’s younger uncle “Pookie” Devine, Braden McRae, and David Davis.

Johnson said he has 36 healthy players with seven seniors. “They are buying in to trying to get better,” he said. “They need to get more physical. Our kids are awesome. We need to keep doing the things we need to do.”

“Who gets more fired up about the game?” Meaux asked. Tankersley said the coaches do. The players can “flush a loss more than we can,” he said.

Johnson said those who get the most fired up are “the old men in the coffee shop that played in the '50s and '60s. Without a doubt, they get the 15 minutes.”

Asked what song gets them in the mood, Tankersley said “Welcome to the Jungle,” and Johnson suggested, “A Country Boy Can Survive.”

What one word describes the rivalry? “Fun” said Tankersley; “historic,” said Johnson.

The final message? “Get as many people to the game,” Tankersley said. “The kids feel, ‘These people care about me.’”

“Just keep loving the kids,” Johnson said. When they know their teachers care about them, they do better in class, he said. “It’s the same for the community. They’ll do better in life.”

Three years after Tifton's movie theater abruptly closed outside Tifton Mall, the theater building will be totally refurbished and reopened sometime in the coming weeks.

FINALLY! MOVIE CINEMA RETURNING TO TIFTON

By FRANK SAYLES JR.

Tifton Grapevine

The movies are returning to Tifton.

No, not the film companies that shot several movies here in recent years but the theater to show them in widescreen glorious color with popcorn available.

Tifton's Pope, the Real Estate Co., has shared that the old AMC theater outside the Tifton Mall is reopening under new ownership. The word is the venue will still be an AMC theater.

"This isn’t simply a reopening," the Pope Co. noted. "The theater will be getting a complete overhaul, including all-new projectors, luxury seating, upgraded concessions, and more — bringing an entirely new movie-going experience back to our community."

The theater closed abruptly on Oct. 29, 2023, and has been dormant since.

There's no word yet on a projected opening date of the refurbished Tifton movie theater.

In a related matter, Pope Real Estate announced that the entire Tifton Mall is now fully leased.

"What was once a property with empty storefronts and an uncertain future is entering an exciting new chapter, and we couldn’t be more thankful to have played a part in it," the company said on social media.

"A huge thank you and congratulations to our partners at In-Rel Properties (Keith Newell) on this accomplishment and for trusting us to be part of the process. Bringing a property like this back to full occupancy takes vision, investment, persistence, and a lot of work behind the scenes — and we are excited for what it means for Tifton."

PROJECT TO PRESERVE TIFTON HISTORY ONLINE

Tifton Grapevine Staff Reports

The Downtown Development Authority of Tifton has launched an historic preservation Facebook page called Tifton Blueprint to preserve and share historic stories and photos about Tifton, Main Street Director Abbey McLaren told the Tifton Merchants Association Wednesday. 

She said it is in recognition of the 40th anniversary of the Tifton Main Street Program. 

“So many stories of Tifton are in danger of being forgotten,” a post on the page asserts. “As citizens of Tifton, it's our job to preserve these stories; it's our job to keep our history alive. We can propel even more forward if we learn from the past.”

The moderators of the page will share old photographs, records, and interviews with those who lived through history, and more. The page invites Tifton residents to submit stories to be shared by filling out a form here.

FORMER LOCAL CONGRESSMAN

CHARLES HATCHER DIES AT AGE 87

By FRANK SAYLES JR.

Tifton Grapevine

Former local Congressman Charles Hatcher, 87, known in Washington for promoting Georgia's peanut industry, died Tuesday.

Hatcher served six consecutive terms in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1981-1993. A moderate Democrat, Hatcher represented the 2nd Congressional District, which at the time included much of South Georgia including Tift County.

He also served in the Georgia House of Representatives and in the U.S. Air Force.

Born in Doerun, Hatcher earned a bachelor’s degree from Georgia Southern University and a law degree from the University of Georgia School of Law in 1969. He established a successful law practice in Albany before seeking political office.

In Congress, Hatcher chaired the House Agriculture’s Peanuts and Tobacco Subcommittee. During debate on the 1990 farm bill, Hatcher was credited with preserving the federal peanut program.

“He was good to agriculture; he was good for agriculture,” U.S. Rep. Austin Scott, R-Tifton, was reported saying Thursday.

According to the Roll Call publication on Capitol Hill, Hatcher also prioritized making federal funds available to rural businesses.

"In the 100th Congress, he used his perch atop the Small Business Committee’s panel on Energy and Agriculture to push for the expansion of Small Business Administration loans in rural areas. His proposal was enacted as part of the SBA’s reauthorization," Roll Call reported.

A funeral service is scheduled for 3 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 10, at Camilla United Methodist Church in Camilla, with interment at Oakview Cemetery.

TIFTON-TIFT COUNTY CHAMBER OF COMMERCE RIBBON CUTTING

Tarte's Steel Innovations

1140 Carter Road, Sycamore

Sept. 1

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YOUR GUIDE

TO ACTIVITIES

THIS WEEKEND

IN THE GREATER

TIFTAREA

Sunday, Sept. 6, is National Read a Book Day, which encourages book lovers to indulge in their favorite hobby, guilt-free. Dive into a new world, revisit a classic, or discover a new author. Challenge your perspective, expand your knowledge, and explore new literary adventures. Today, we have more options than ever to read books – on desk computers, laptops, phones, and old-fashioned printed, bound volumes. We can even listen to books being read. So, go ahead and spend a little time reading something just for yourself this weekend. As George R.R. Martin, the "Game of Thrones" author, once said: "A reader lives a thousand lives before he dies ... the man who never reads lives only one."

Born on September 4: Richard Wright, author, 1908-1960; Paul Harvey, radio broadcaster, 1918-2009; Dick York, actor in TV's "Bewitched," 1928-1992; Mitzi Gaynor, actress-singer-dancer, 1931-2024; Vince Dooley, UGA football coach-athletic director, 1932-2022; Gene Parson, drummer for The Byrds, 1944–; Tom Watson, golfer, 1949–; Damon Wayans, actor & comedian, 1960–; Mike Piazza, baseball Hall of Fame catcher, 1968–; Mark Ronson, record producer & songwriter, 1975–; Max Greenfield, actor, 1979–; Beyoncé, singer-songwriter, 1981–.

FRIDAY, SEPT. 4

• All-Comers Exhibition, Open to artists of all ages & experience levels; Exhibit opening: 3 p.m. (exhibit available through Oct. 19), Carnegie Center, 120 S. Lee St., Fitzgerald

• Tift County High Blue Devils football vs. Lambert High Longhorns (of Suwanee), 7:30 p.m., Brodie Field, Tifton

• Tiftarea Academy Panthers football vs. Turner County High Titans football, 7:30 p.m., Panther Pit, Chula

• Fitzgerald High Purple Hurricane football vs. Irwin County High Indians, 7:30 p.m., Fitzgerald

• Worth County High Rams football @ Early County High Bobcats, 7:30 p.m., Blakely

• Berrien County High Rebels football vs. Charlton County High Indians (of Folkston), 7:30 p.m., Nashville

• Cook County High Hornets football @ Colquitt County High Packers, 7:30 p.m., Moultrie

SATURDAY, SEPT. 5

• Georgia Muscadine Festival 5K & Fun Run, 8 a.m., Paulk Vineyards, 1788 Satilla Road, Wray

• Community Garden Volunteering, hosted by Keep Tift Beautiful, 9:30-11 a.m., 1413 Central Ave. S., Tifton

• Ride 4 Recovery, benefit for Oasis Recovery Community Organization in Tifton, 10 a.m., Tifton Harley-Davidson

• Recovery Fest, music, food, info, testimonies; sponsored by Celebrate Recovery, Noon-3 p.m., Fulwood Park stage, Tifton

• Miss Fiesta del Pueblo Contestants - Meet & Greet, 8-10 p.m., Taco Loco, 901 Pine St., Tifton

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TIFTON GRAPEVINE'S DOG OF THE WEEK

"Sukii" is accepting applications! Position: Forever Family. Requirements: A cozy place to nap, plenty of treats, daily reminders that she is the prettiest girl in the world. What Sukii offers: One adorable face, lots of love, extra happiness for your home. Applications are open, but Sukii only needs one perfect match. Come meet Sukii 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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