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Pickleball Clinic
At Ed Smith
See Sports, page 3B
The Vidalia Advance Established 1901
nee
The Lyons Progress Established 1894
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Vol. 123 No. 15
Your Newspaper - Toombs, Montgomery & Wheeler County, Georgia
April 14, 2021
One way to get the
most out of life is to
look upon it as an
adventure.
- William Feather
News
BYTES
Sweeten Your
Ride
Downtown Vidalia
Association is sponsoring
Sweeten Your Ride on
Friday, April 16, 10 a.m.
to 3 p.m., on the grass
lot across from Palmer's
Furniture on East First
Street. A $10 donation will
purchase a window decal
with proceeds benefiting
Safe Kids Toombs County.
Earth Day
Appreciation
The Greater Vidalia
Chamber is sponsoring
an Electronics Recycling
Event in honor of Earth
Day on Thursday, April
22, from 11 a.m.-3 p.m.
at Chick-fil-A in Vidalia.
Bring old electronics for
recycling. Presented by
Chick-fil-A, Sikes Brothers
and The Advance. Visit
the chamber website for
more information.
Ribbon Cutting
and Renaming
Event
The public is invited to
attend a Faison Park
Ribbon Cutting and
Ben Mitchell Avenue
Renaming Ceremony at
Vincent Faison Sr. Park
Pavilion in Lyons on April
24 at 3 p.m.
Food Drive for
Seniors
Tri-County Connection is
accepting donations of
nonperishable food for
Senior Citizens Centers
in Treutlen, Montgomery
and Wheeler Counties
through April 16. For more
information, call 478-697-
3782.
IN THIS ISSUE
Editorials Page 4A
Obituaries Page 6A
From the Record Page 5A
Your Mind On Line Page 6A
Sports Page 1 B
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Making Vidalia a Better Place
One House
At a Time
By Deborah Clark
Regional Editor
dclarkadvance@gmail. com
Vidalian Debra
Brown moved into her
new home on Fifth Av
enue this week. After 15
years of renting, she finally
has a place of her own. “It’s
like a dream,” she said.
Brown’s hope of own
ing a home was realized
in part due to her own
merit—she has been a re
sponsible citizen and an
employee at McDonald’s
in Vidalia for 17 years—
but also because a group
of local citizens who have
a vision to make the world
a better place took note
of her worthiness and
included her name on a
list. She would become
the first person to ben
efit from the work of the
nonprofit Urban Revital
ization Group (URG).
On Wednesday,
April 7, Brown, several
City of Vidalia officials
and members of URG
gathered at the home
site on Fifth Avenue to
celebrate the completion
of URG’s initial project.
Among those attending
the ceremony was Ber
nard Stanfield, a regional
McDonald’s represen
tative who had worked
with Brown for 14 years
when he managed the
Vidalia store. “She is an
excellent employee,” he
said of Brown.
The Brown house is
the first house in an entire
block of derelict houses
Please see URG page 9A
the iloor of home ownership!
tl
! i
<
Photo by Deborah Clark
WELCOME FIOME - Among those gathering to welcome Debra Brown into her
new home on Fifth Avenue last week were, from left, James McClendon with the
Urban Revitalization Group (URG); Vidalia City Councilman Raymond Turner; Leo
Peeples, URG; Rodney Williams, URG; City Councilman Bob Dixon; Debra Brown;
McDonald's regional representative Bernard Stanfield; Vidalia Mayor Doug Rop
er; and City Councilman Lloyd Mobley.
Detective Recognized for Work
Leading to Murder Conviction
Photo by Rebekah Arnold
DETECTIVE RECOGNIZED - Lyons Police Department
Detective Andrew Britton, left, listens as Chief Wesley
Walker shares a letter of thanks from Middle Circuit
District Attorney Tripp Fitzner with the Lyons City Coun
cil. Fitnzer praised Britton's perseverance in leading
the investigation of the 2019 Colson murder case.
By Rebekah Arnold
Contributing Writer
The diligence of a Ly
ons Police Department
Detective in October of
2019 has resulted in a
conviction in a murder
case.
At the Lyons City
Council meeting on April
6, LPD Chief Wesley
Walker recognized De
tective Sergeant Andrew
Britton for working tire
lessly from day one, and
for several weeks, not giv
ing up until a break led
Please see Lyons page 2A
Georgia Tech finishes tops among
Georgia universities for value
By Dave Williams
Bureau Chief
Capitol Beat News Service
Georgia Tech provides the best
value among the Peach State’s
public and private universities,
according to a new study by a
New York-based financial
technology company.
The Atlanta
school scored a col
lege education value
index of 83.71, well
above the second-
highest score of 57.90 posted by
the University of Georgia, the report by
SmartAsset found.
The scores were based on factors
including student living and tuition
costs, student retention rates, the aver
age starting salary of graduates and the
availability of scholarships and grants.
The main category
that separated Georgia
Tech from the rest of
the pack was the aver
age starting salary of
$74,500 for Tech gradu-
w ® Closest to that figure
was $63,500, the average
starting salary for graduates of
Atlanta’s Emory University. How-
Please see Tech page 4A
FBI Offers Reward
For Information
In Laser Strike Incident
The FBI, in coordi
nation with the United
States Air Force, is of
fering a reward of up to
$2,500 for information
leading to the arrest of
the suspect(s) respon
sible for a laser strike on
an aircraft approaching
the Savannah Air Na
tional Guard Base on
March 9, 2021.
On that date at ap
proximately 9:50 p.m., a
United States Air Force
aircraft was deliberately
struck by a high-pow
ered laser for about one
minute. The laser caused
temporary eye damage
to a member of the flight
crew and put the entire
crew at risk, according
to a news release from
the FBI.
Investigators be
lieve the laser strike
originated from an area
Please see Reward page
4A
CLEANING UP VIDALIA - Angela Lane, her husband
Charlie (above) and son Brady, 12, joined the
Vidalia Rotary Club Saturday as they and other
volunteers fanned out across the community for
Cleanup Day in Vidalia, The event was sponsored
by the City of Vidalia with assistance from Repub
lic Services, Inc. and ESG Operations, Inc., which
helped with pickup of collected trash, Chick-til
-A provided lunch for participants at the Vidalia
Community Center. A total of 5.92 tons of trash
were collected by 13 teams.
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