Newspaper Page Text
Inside this week
nee
See Healthlines page 11A
The Vidalia Advance Established 1901
The Lyons Progress Established 1894
Vol. 123 NO. 33
Your Newspaper - Toombs, Montgomery & Wheeler County, Georgia
August 18, 2021
Good, better, best.
Never let it rest.
‘Til your good is
better and your
better is best.
- St. Jerome
News
BYTES
Meadows
Offering
Vaccinations
Memorial Health
Meadows Hospital is
operating a public
COVID vaccination
clinic. Call 912-535-SAFE
(7233) to schedule a free
vaccination.
Celebration
of Life Event
Postponed
Because of the increase
in COVID cases in the
community, the City of
Vidalia has postponed
a Celebration of Life
tribute to late Mayor
Ronnie Dixon scheduled
for Thursday, August
19. A new date for
the event will be
announced later.
Museum Delays
Event
The Altama Museum
of Art & History has
rescheduled its ribbon
cutting and 2021 season
kickoff from Sunday,
August 22 to Thursday,
September 16 at 5 p.m.
A reception will follow.
DOT Schedules
Roadwork
The Georgia Department
of Transportation is
conducting bridge
construction activities on
SR4/US1 overAltamaha
River in Appling and
Toombs counties.
The area affected
includes West River
Road (Appling) to Bob
Cato Road (Toombs)
Daily Lane closures will
occur Monday through
Friday, 8 a.m.- 6 p.m.
through August 31.
IN THIS ISSUE
Editorials Page 5A
Obituaries Page 7A
From the Record Page 10A
Your Mind On Line Page 10A
Sports Page 1 B
Inclusive and Transparent
Vibrant Community Workshop Facilitator Advocates Action
By Makaylee Randolph
Contributing Writer
How volunteers
can impact and in
fluence the future of
their community was
the scheduled focus of
a workshop held last
Thursday in Vidalia;
Community and Eco
nomic Development
Manager with Georgia
Power, facilitated the
session which drew to
gether a cross-section
of community institu
tions and agencies for
a common purpose:
ensuring the com
munity’s growth and
“Stop only thinking about
Toombs and Vidalia only and
consider your workforce, because
60% of them drive in.”
- Mickey Daniell, Georgia Power
Regional Community and Economic
Development Manager
however, to best ac
complish this mission,
the speaker turned at
tention to addressing
some issues within the
efforts.
Mickey Daniell,
prosperity. Daniell has
studied the community
and the local effort in
order to help the Great
er Vidalia Chamber of
Please see Workshop
page 3A
Photo by Makaylee Randolph
INSTRUCTING IMPACT - Georgia Power Regional Community and Economic Devel
opment Manager Mickey Daniell speaks to attendees about the need to "divide
and conquer" areas and volunteers to effectively impact the community.
COVID Numbers Climbing
By Deborah Clark
Regional Editor
dclarkadvance@gmail.com
As the COVTD-19
Delta Variant sweeps
across the country, South
east Georgia—includ
ing the Toombs County
area—is reaping its share
of the crisis.
“The Delta variant
is hitting our area hard,”
said Memorial Health
Meadows Hospital Chief
Medical Officer Dr. Kar
en J. McColl. “We are at a
critical point. We can turn
this around-but only if
people get vaccinated.
This is the time to sound
the alarm.”
As of Monday morn-
Please see COVID page
2A
Kemp Sending More Hospital
Staff to Fight COVID-19 Surge
By Dave Williams
Bureau Chief
Capitol Beat News Service
Georgia’s health
agency will more than
double the number of
temporary hospital staff
to help cope with the
current surge in CO
VID-19 patients, Gov.
Brian Kemp announced
Monday.
The Department
of Community Health
(DCH) will commit
$125 million in addi
tion to $500 million the
state already is spend
ing to increase state-
supported hospital staff
at 68 hospitals across
Georgia from 1,300 to
2,800, Kemp said.
Specifically, 170 of
the new staff will go to
Please see Kemp page
2A
GBI Investigating
Discovery of Body in
Woods Near Alamo
The Georgia Bu
reau of Investigation is
probing the discovery
of a body in Wheeler
County last week. The
remains were found
in woods along Old
Glenwood Road a
little less than a mile
outside of Alamo on
Monday, August 9.
The Wheeler
County Sheriff's Of
fice asked the Georgia
Bureau of investiga
tion to assist in the in
vestigation at approxi
mately 7:45 p.m. on
August 9. The remains
were sent to the GBI's
Crime Lab for exami
nation.
The investigation
is active and ongoing
with investigators fol
lowing leads. Further
information on the
cause of death and the
identity of the victim
are pending the com
pletion of the autopsy.
In previous weeks,
the Alamo Police De-
Please see Alamo page
8A
City of Vidalia Contracts
To Purchase Two Sites for
Community Development
By Deborah Clark
Regional Editor
dclarkadvance@gmail.com
The City of Vidalia
has signed agreements
to purchase two prop
erties that will facili
tate community devel
opment.
On Monday
morning, the City an
nounced it had signed
an agreement to pur
chase the property at
201 Stockyard Road.
The site, which accom
modated the “Cap
tain’s Corner” restau
rant until recently,
totals 12.99 acres.
The property will
be vital to the Ed Smith
Complex regarding fu
ture development, said
Vidalia Mayor Doug
Roper. “We recognize
that we have a parking
issue at ‘The Ed.’ We
see this not only as an
Please see Vidalia page
3A
$45 WEIGHT LOSS MANAGEMENT
every other month! Ask about out $25 weight loss injection!
# Appling
Baxley
(912)367-4122
Healthcare
Call 537-3131
lor delivery!
Blackshear
(912)705-4910
Vidalia
(912)705-4905
