Newspaper Page Text
The ADVANCE, March 3, 2021/Page 12A
(Eift Aiiuancg
VHA SPELLING BEE WINNERS — Vidalia Heritage Acad
emy students Arya Dudhwala (L) and Isla Kersey (R) won
the GAPPS Elementary Spelling Bee held on Feb, 8 in 5th
and 2nd grades respectively (Arya won last year's 4th
grade contest as well). VHA students who placed were
1st Grade, Claire Jones, 3rd, Adeline Poole, 4th; 2nd
Grade, Isla Kersey, 1st, Declan Carney, 3rd; 3rd Grade,
Leyton Williams, 3rd, Samuel Torrance, 6th; 4th Grade,
James Beall, 3rd, Matt Nalley, 6th; 5th Grade, Arya Dud
hwala, 1st, Jonah Sikes, 5th,
Clavannah
OLuggage^
c Worhs
gag
rt\§
Built on quality, innovation & service.
Since 1978
VHS/STC STUDENTS HONOR BLACK HISTORY — Students at Vidalia High School, enrolled
in the Dual Enrollment program through Southeastern Technical College, remembered
and honored important African-Americans who have made key contributions during
the history of the United States. The students researched various people and events to
make individual posters which explained the importance of these US citizens who faced
challenges while pressing on in their accomplishments. The student-historians presented
their research to their classmates and displayed their posters throughout the school for
others to read and learn about these amazing Americans. A major goal of Vidalia High
School and Southeastern Technical College is to prepare students to become successful
citizens. This project supports that goal by allowing students to appreciate the contribu
tions by diverse American citizens, so these students will be able to successfully work with
others within a pluralistic society. In the picture (left to right): Mason Galbreath, Tori Foster,
Tenajia Tanner, David Thigpen.
IN THE BEGINNING
Savannah Luggage Works was started
by Allen and David Rice in March of
1978, in a one bedroom, 250 square
foot apartment on Church Street in
Vidalia. We had one person working
with us, one machine, a few hand
tools, a little money, and two bad
ideas. From that meager beginning,
we knocked down one wall between
the apartments and moved into two
one bedroom apartments and hired Our First Factory
two more people. In 1982 we moved
out on Highway 297 into an old dilapidated building 4 miles north of town. At that point
we had six people in the company and we got our first big break. We ran an ad in a trade
publication. The ad was titled “Hard Work, Low Pay.” Tumi of Middlesex, NJ, answered
the ad and that is how we came to meet Tumi, the number one brand of better luggage in
America. In 20 years we built over 2,500,000 pieces of Tumi luggage. Tumi's worldwide
distribution is still located in Vidalia.
OUR PEOPLE
Over the past 43 years we have met a lot of smart, hard working people who really deserve
most of the credit for what Savannah Luggage Works has accomplished. To them goes the
credit and the sincere thanks for a job well done.
If America loses its industrial base, the game is over!
Ban on defunding police in
Georgia clears state House
By Beau Evans
Staff Writer
Capitol Beat News Service
A bill aimed at prevent
ing Georgia city and county
governments from making
deep cuts in the budgets
of their local police agen
cies passed in the Georgia
House of Representatives
on Wednesday.
Sponsored by state Rep.
Houston Gaines, R-Athens,
the bill would limit local
governments from reduc
ing funds for police by more
than 5% over a 10-year span.
It includes exemptions for
smaller jurisdictions and
for spending on equipment
purchases.
The bill passed 101-
69 nearly along party lines,
with three Democrats vot
ing in favor. It now heads to
the state Senate.
Speaking from the
House floor on Wednesday
Gaines called policies to
reduce funding for police
a “radical idea” that would
put police officers in danger
and slow response times for
emergencies.
“This legislation sends a
strong message that we sup
port our law enforcement
officers and we will never
defund police here in Geor
gia,” Gaines said. “When we
have local governments that
are out of control and put
ting lives at risk, we have to
step in.”
Gaines also highlighted
recent failed attempts by
some Athens and Atlanta
elected officials to slice mil
lions of dollars from their
police budgets amid pro
tests over police brutal
ity and racial injustice that
swept across Georgia and
the country last summer.
Critics called the fund
ing restrictions a power
grab by the state over local
governments and argued it
would stall efforts to fund
other areas like mental
health, housing and educa
tion that aim to keep people
from landing in jail.
“The efforts to transfer
funding from police depart
ments is about address
ing the root causes we are
desperate to address,” said
state Rep. Bee Nguyen, D-
Atlanta. “This bill would
shut down the necessary
discourse leaders are having
with their communities.”
Opposition to the bill
also came from the Geor
gia Municipal Association
and the Association County
Commissioners of Georgia
(ACCG), which represent
city and county govern
ments and argued police
funding should be left to lo
cal officials.
Gaines’ bill comes af
ter last summer’s protests
following the high-profile
killings of Black men by po
lice officers, including the
deaths of George Floyd in
Minnesota and Rayshard
Brooks in Atlanta.
Property destruction
and violence at some of
those protests sparked a
backlash from conservative
leaders over a push by some
progressive officials to curb
police funding, dubbed “de-
fund the police.” The subject
took center stage as an issue
for both political parties in
the 2020 election cycle.
Several Republican
state lawmakers traced the
need for the bill directly to
those protests, saying police
funding decisions have been
politicized as a result.
“It is as much an answer
to the politicization of an is
sue that has been made over
the past few years,” said Rep.
Alan Powell, R-Hartwell.
“There’s one place you don’t
need to defund and that’s
public safety”
Democratic lawmakers
dismissed that way of fram
ing the bill, arguing its intent
instead is to let state officials
pry into local affairs and
ignore calls for more com
munity-oriented policing
in predominantly minority
neighborhoods.
“This bill does abso
lutely nothing to increase or
protect public safety,” said
Rep. Renitta Shannon, D-
Decatur. “There are better
ways for the money to be
spent and let us figure that
out in our communities.”
Georgia Republicans
have brought legislation in
recent weeks to ease proba
tion hardships for released
offenders. Democratic law
makers are pushing broad
changes to arrest tactics like
no-knock warrants, use-of-
force training and civilian
oversight of officer-involved
shooting reviews.
A separate measure
moving in the House to
overhaul Georgia’s citizen’s
arrest law has drawn bipar
tisan support, marking the
major criminal-justice re
form bill most likely to pass
this year.
That bill would repeal
state law allowing private
citizens to detain someone
who commits a crime in
their presence or during an
escape attempt. It would also
let owners and employees in
businesses detain those be
lieved to have committed a
crime on their property, so
long as they’re handed over
to local authorities within an
hour.
Gaines’ bill also joins a
handful of other measures
critics have slammed as state
overreach into local deci
sions, including a bill to block
locals from banning certain
energy sources that passed
out of the House on Monday.
THE FUTURE
Like it or not, we are living in a global economy and we are having to compete with factories
all over the world. Although it is difficult for an American manufacturer to compete, we believe
that the original concept of our company - Built on Quality, Innovation and Service, which has
served us well for 43 years - will continue to serve us well as we live up to those principles. We see
a bright future for Savannah Luggage Works in Vidalia, Georgia. We believe that our customers
and others will continue to need high quality, quick response, American made products as
they grow and expand their markets. We are staying in Vidalia, GA. We are not moving
to China. We believe in
U.S. manufacturing and
we believe we can't all sell
insurance, sue each other,
or work at the hospital.
Somebody has to make
something in America. So
we believe in American
manufacturing and the
American people. We also
believe in the American
industrial base, of which
Savannah Luggage is
a part, and that base is
actually a national security
issue.