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qlfje Ahuattce The ADVANCE, January 6, 2021 /Page 9A Obituaries Mrs. Annette Sharpe Mrs. Annette Sharpe, age 84, of Mt. Vernon, died Tuesday afternoon, December 29, 2020, at Treutlen County Health & Rehab after a brief ill ness. She was a native and lifelong resident of Mont gomery County and retired from Brewton-Parker Col lege as a cashier. Mrs. An nette is a member of Bear Creek Baptist Church. She was preceded in death by her husband, Houston Sharpe, Jr.; and two grandsons, Derek Sharpe and Ridge Holland. She is survived by one son, Jimmy “Pedro” Sharpe (Brooke) of Tarrytown; three daughters, Donna Waller (Charles) of Mt. Vernon, Laurie Holland (Jonathan) of Mt. Vernon, and Lisa Graham (Chad) of Dublin; and one brother, Bobby Moseley of Hazle- hurst. Eight grandchildren, Charlie, Matt, Terra, Ta mara, Cameron, Mallory, Dannielle, and Ashby; and six great-grandchildren, Karmin, Jordyn, Ivy, Bray- lie, Kash, and Emily also survive. Graveside funeral services for Mrs. Annette Sharpe were held Thurs day, December 31, 2020, at 11:00 a.m., at Mt. Vernon Memorial Cemetery with Reverend Owen Waters officiating. Interment fol lowed. The family received friends for visitation at the cemetery on Thursday, December 31, 2020, from 10:00 a.m. until the hour of service. The family gathered at Mrs. Annette Sharpe’s resi dence. FUNERAL SERVICE Full Paid Obituary Mrs. Barbara Flowers Mrs. Barbara “Bob bie” Flowers, age 78, of Ly ons, died late Friday night, January 1, 2021, at Mead ows Regional Health of Vidalia after a sudden ill ness. She was a native and lifelong resident of Lyons, was a homemaker and was a member of Hammond Baptist Church. “Bobbie” is preceded in death by one son, Audie Flowers in 1975; her hus band, George Flowers in 2002; and three brothers and one sister. “Bobbie” is sur vived by two sons, Rocky (Mechelle) Flowers of Lyons, Chris (Alexan dra) Flowers of Kite; four brothers, Herbert Burton of Lyons, Ronnie Burton of Powder Springs, Lamar Burton of Deltona, FL, Danny Burton of Valdo sta; five sisters, Florence Fountain of Vidalia, Faye Hutto of Vidalia, Benita Burton of Vidalia, Caro lyn Burton of Forsyth, and Elaine Burton of For syth. Nine grandchildren, Carla, Kristen, Makayla, Keith, Tristen, Dilan, Danielle, Manuel, and Emily also survive. Funeral Services for Mrs. Barbara “Bobbie” Flowers were held Tues day, January 5, 2021, at 2:00 p.m. at Toombs County Funeral Home of Lyons with Reverend Glynn Russell and David Lamb officiating. Inter ment followed at Flowers Cemetery. The family re ceived friends for visita tion on Monday, January 4, 2021, from 6:00 p.m. until 8:00 p.m. COUlyjiy ^^Veral HoN^ Full Paid Obituary Mr. Gary McLendon, Sr. Mr. Gary Hurshman McLendon, Sr., age 78, died on Friday, January 1, 2021, at Lake City Medi cal Center in Lake City, FL. Mr. McLendon was born in Dublin and grew up in Jacksonville, FL, where he was a graduate of Ribault Senior High School. He moved to Shickshinny, PA, in 1969 and lived there for 36 years before moving to Lake City, FL, in 2005. He was a member of Sylva- nia Lodge No. 354 F. & A .M. and the Scottish Rite Bodies. He was a mem ber of the Vineyard Bap tist Church in Lake City, where he was an Elder. He was preceded in death by his father, Coney Hursh man McLendon, and 1 sis ter, Shelvia Jean Graham. Survivors include his wife of 58 years, Bernice Wolfe McLendon, Lake City; their children, Gary H. McLendon, Jr. (Kim berly), Shickshinny, PA, Kari Stephens (Scott), Gainesville, FL, and Jenni Bouchard (Gabe), St. Pe tersburg, FL; his mother, Mary Lou Perdue McLen don Hall; 1 brother, Carl McLendon (Sandra), Hill iard, FL; 1 sister, Mary Gail Seigfried (Larry), Shickshinny, PA; grand children, Madison Lynn McLendon, Gary Mat thew Edward McLendon, Mya Stephens, and Olivia Stephens; and numerous nieces and nephews. A graveside funeral service was conducted on Tuesday, January 5, 2021, at 2:00 p.m., in Red Bluff Cemetery, with Rev. Bo Hammock officiating. In lieu of flowers, me morial contributions may be made to The Vineyard Church, P.O. Box 2191, Lake City, FL 32056 Sammon Funeral Home in Soperton was in charge of arrangements. Schools’ Focus on Literacy Moves Forward By Rebekah Arnold Contributing Writer Literacy in Toombs County is experiencing a collaborative focus thanks to the receipt of a grant awarded in June to the Vi dalia City School System. Vidalia Assistant Su perintendent Ginger Mor ris presented updates about the Literacy for Learn ing, Living and Leading in Georgia (L4GA) Grant to the Board of Education members at a recent meet ing. This grant, $2.98 mil lion to VCS over five years, has already afforded the opportunity for the system to have two instructional coaches. Morris said these Coaches, Ranecci Hamp ton at Sally D. Meadows Elementary School and Beth Wiggins at J.D. Dick erson Elementary School, are doing an excellent job in increasing literacy at their schools. This is just the begin ning of the opportunities and the personnel who will work together to build and to carry out the pro gram. There is a district level L4GA Leadership team and each school has a literacy committee as re quired by the grant. Morris said, “Our Federal Programs Direc tor Tammy McFadden handles the logistics on the who, what, when and where monies are spent in the program to make sure we are meeting federal guidelines since it is a fed eral program. Wendy Lum- ley, the system’s L4GA consultant, has worked with previous grants such as Race to the Top, Striving Readers and DEAL Cen ter. Her vast knowledge in the literacy area ensures our administration, in structional facilitators, and K-12 teachers are receiv ing professional learning Nitty continued from page 6A of our worrying may be directly related to our busy lives and because we’re all acting like one-legged tap dancers. And while we’re talking about one-legged tap dancers, I think it’s only appropriate that we mention her most liberal highness - former “First Lady” Hillary Clinton. Lately, she’s been running around doing a lot of “spinning” on her own, which in the political world is also known as the deliberate broadcasting of “untruths.” Hillary, even though she lost the election to Donald Trump, has commented now on Trump’s second appointment to the United States Supreme Court. She said she was afraid the Administration was going back to a 1950 state or maybe a 1850 state. She’s very worried about overturning the 1973 Roe v Wade decision that made abortions legal. Since then millions of babies have been killed by doctors that have violated their oath to save lives and started taking the lives of babies. And the organization known as Planned Parenthood is right in the middle of it, giving tons of money to Liberal Politicians that support “abortion on demand.” (e-mail: benniebo@aol. com) Ginger Morris as well as coordinating the birth to 5 outreaches with in our system. Building the administration ensures our school improvement plans align with L4GA and are being implemented with fidelity.” Morris continued, “As Assistant Superintendent, I work with all parties to ensure curriculum and in struction is being imple mented and our students are being successful, both virtually and face to face.” During this first year of the grant, planning and first steps are being taken. Community connections and decisions on where to place funds will be made and communication with students and parents is be ing prepared for rollout in the spring. The updated school system website and social media platforms, man aged by Communications Director John Koon, is being prepared to provide access to literacy resources for families to use at home. Parents will be able to find webinars, videos, and tools for teaching reading to their children. With the L4GA re sources, teachers have op portunities to get profes sional development with world renowned reading and writing specialists, technology training and tools, and data to monitor progress. A lot of data is provided by the instruc tional programs so teach ers can determine levels of learning within small groups. Pre-K teachers are especially excited about the ability to see progress data for their young stu dents. There is a wealth of resources in the L4GA program for students, their families, instructors and school administrations to tap into as a whole team approach in increasing lit eracy. The Toombs Coun ty Schools also received the grant, and there will be collaborative efforts between the two systems as the program moves for ward. Morris is enthusiastic. "We are excited to receive the L4GA grant and the opportunity it will afford our students and staff. It is the first grant that truly ad dresses children from birth to graduation! The excite ment in working with our community leaders, as well as different community en tities such as the hospital, daycare, medical offices, etc., will allow a focus on helping our children to become literate. Our staff will receive training from some of the most world- renowned experts in the world in literacy. Active involvement from parents and the community will change our children's fu ture and the future of this community!” Morris said, “We can dream for a better tomor row for all children and the L4GA will go a long way in seeing our dreams come true!" More information about Georgia’s L4GA method of improving lit eracy can be found at https://www.gadoe. org/Curriculum-Instruc- tion-and-Assessment/L4/ Pages/defaultaspx Joondeph continued from page 5A rises significantly. Yet if he died with a positive CO- VID test, he would almost certainly be classified as a COVID death, at least in the US, his medical prob lems deemed secondary. I am not anti-vaccine and not denying the seri ousness of COVID, par ticularly in the more vul nerable populations. I am only pointing out the shifting goalposts in how this viral illness is and has been treated, with politics trumping science. This is more than just a few examples of media creating rather than re porting the news, to fur ther their political agenda. There are real life conse quences to inaccurate or sensationalized reporting. In Los Angeles County, where COVID rules and lockdowns ap pear as fickle as the weather, 20 to 40 percent of medical frontline work ers offered the vaccine have refused it, in some neighboring counties, 50 percent saying no thanks. Perhaps after almost a year of the medical ex perts like Drs. Birx and Fauci constantly changing the rules and guidelines, and the media weaponiz- ing all COVID news as a means of hurting the or ange man whom they loathe, people are under standably skeptical. The consequence is a longer pathway to herd immunity, the only way to get rid of the ongoing re strictions, either through natural infection or vacci nation. Moving the goalposts mid-game, shifting the cri teria for death with CO VID and death from vac cine adds to mistrust in anything the government recommends. Expect to see more of this sharp dis tinction between how COVID and vaccine deaths are reported and subsequent puzzlement as to why many are in no hurry to be vaccinated. Brian C Joondeph, MD, is a physician and freelance writer. Follow him on Facebook, Linkedln, Twitter, Parler, and QuodVerum. Guest continued from page 6A salons, liquors stores and shopping malls. The court ordered action against Newsom’s restrictions. Bans were lifted, and Californians flocked to worship this Christmas in churches across the state. All this against a back ground of hostility to eco nomic freedom in Califor nia that has been driving households and busi nesses out of the state. According to Census Bureau data compiled by American Enterprise In stitute economist Mark Perry, California ranked No. 5 in the nation in 2019 in net departures from the state of households and businesses. The highest individ ual tax rate in California, as Perry shows, was 13.3%, compared with a 3.5% av erage in states with top in flows of households and businesses. The top cor porate tax rate in Califor nia was 8.84%, compared with 4.1% in states with top inflows. Average un employment in California was 4.1%, and employ ment growth was 1.5%, compared with 3.4% and 2.1%, respectively, in states with highest in flows. Perry compares U- Haul rental rates for states where people are leaving to states where people are arriving. As would be ex pected, states with the highest departures have the highest U-Haul rates. In November 2020, U- Haul rental from Los An geles to Houston was $4,907. From Houston to Los Angeles, it was $1,784. From San Francisco to Dallas, the U-Haul rate was $5,290, and from Dal las to San Francisco, it was $1,655. Perhaps all this augurs a new conservative wave, just as the Proposition 13 tax revolt in California in 1978 would be followed two years later with the election of Ronald Rea gan. Maybe Georgia voters will pay heed to lessons learned in California and Georgia will stay red in the January Senate runoff elections. Star Parker is president of the Center for Urban Renewal and Education and host of the new weekly television show "Cure America with Star Parker." 0 1 5 3 7 4 2 8 9 8 4 2 9 5 1 7 6 3 9 7 3 2 6 8 5 1 4 4 3 8 5 2 7 8 9 1 7 2 0 4 1 9 8 3 5 1 5 9 8 3 0 4 7 2 2 8 1 7 9 5 3 4 8 3 9 4 6 8 2 1 5 7 5 6 7 1 4 3 9 2 8