Newspaper Page Text
Vol. 123 No. 38 Your Newspaper - Toombs, Montgomery & Wheeler County, Georgia September 22, 2021
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News
BYTES
Passing Stories
The quilt collection of
Katlyn Colley will be on
display at the Altama
Museum of Art and
History through October
30. For more information
visit www. Altama
Museum.org.
Tire Amnesty
Week
The City of Vidalia is
hosting Tire Amnesty
Week September
27-October 1. For more
information, contact
jkirby@vidalia.gov or call
537-7661.
Scarecrows
'Round
Downtown
The Downtown Vidalia
Association is sponsoring
Scarecrows 'Round
Downtown. Applications
are due September 29.
Setup is October 4-11.
For more information,
contact the DVA at 537-
8033.
Walk to End
Alzheimer's
A Walk to End Alzheimer's
is scheduled October 2 at
10 a.m. at Southeastern
Technical College.
Register free online at
http:ejchsadc,wixsite.
com/website.
Meadows
Offering
Vaccinations
Memorial Health
Meadows Hospital is
operating a public
COVID vaccination
clinic. Call 912-535-SAFE
(7233) to schedule a free
vaccination.
COVID Testing
Underway
Free COVID testing is
available at a mobile
site on the campus
of Memorial Health
Meadows Hospital. For
more information, visit
the Georgia Department
of Health website: www.
sehdph.org.
IN THIS ISSUE
Editorials Page 5A
Obituaries Page 7A
From the Record Page 9A
Your Mind On Line Page 13A
Sports Page 1 B
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By Deborah Clark
Regional Editor
dclarkadvance@gmail.com
A Vidalia man has
been charged with mul
tiple offenses following
an armed robbery at a
local pawnshop that es
calated into gunfire and a
chase across a city neigh
borhood on Wednesday
September 15.
Vonnie Marquise
Harris, 22, was charged
with armed robbery pos
session of a firearm dur
ing the commission of a
felony aggravated assault
on a peace officer (five
counts) and aggravated
assault (four counts).
Vidalia police re
sponded to the Vidalia
Pawn Shop at 410 North
Street West in Vidalia at
approximately 4:02 p.m.
September 15 in refer
ence to an armed robbery
that had just occurred, ac
cording to a press release
issued Thursday, Septem
ber 16, by the Georgia
Bureau of Investigation.
Photo by Mike Branch
CRIME SCENE — Police block off the area around the Vidalia Pawn Shop following an
armed robbery that escalated into gunfire and a chase across a city neighborhood
on September 15. Vonnie Marquise Harris, 22, (inset photo) was charged with multiple
offenses in the incident and is being held in the Toombs County Detention Center
without bond.
Vonnie Harris
The GBI was called in to assist in
the case by the Vidalia Police De
partment.
When officers arrived, a Vida
lia Pawn employee told them that
a man entered the business bran
dishing two knives and demanding
firearms. The man, later identified
as Harris, took the firearms, along
with ammunition and magazines,
and ran from the business.
Harris was confronted by Vi
dalia Police Department officers
a short time later in the area of
Peachtree Street in Vidalia, which
is located behind Vidalia Pawn.
Please see Robbery page 12A
Dress Code Complaints
Bring Crowd to BOE Meeting
By Makaylee Randolph
Staff Writer
mrandolphadvance@gmail. com
A large group of parents and
students attended the Vidalia City
Schools Board meeting on Septem
ber 14 to lodge complaints about
the school system’s dress code. The
issue stemmed from an incident in
which a middle school student was
called out for wearing clothing dis
playing the American flag.
Last month, many families be
came disgruntled as administration
at J.R. Trippe Middle School pre
sented several students with dress
code violations because of images
of the American flag on shirts. Stu
dents quickly became bothered by
this and protested by purposely
wearing clothing with the flag on it.
The School System addressed
Please see VCS page 2A
Photo by Makaylee Randolph
MAKING HIS POINT — Kelly Tippett, left, listens as her
son Trace, a student at J.R. Trippe Middle School,
talks to the Vidalia City School Board about what
happened when he went to school wearing a shirt
displaying the American flag. The Tippetts were
among a group of concerned citizens who spoke
at the Board session September 14.
Tillery Hosts Election
Integrity Town Hall Meeting
By Makaylee Randolph
Staff Writer
mrandolphadvance@gmail.com
Election integrity was
the focus of a town hall
meeting hosted in Vidalia
last week by State Sena
tor Blake Tillery, R-19. The
September 16 session was
part of Tillery’s effort to
update constituents in the
11-county District he repre
sents on a high-profile issue
about which he has received
numerous calls. A second
meeting was held in Jesup
later the same day.
The town hall featured
Election Law Committee
FOCUS ON ELECTION IN
TEGRITY — Election Integrity
Project Chair John Gordon
speaks to a group assem
bled at a town hall session
hosted in Vidalia last week
by Sen. Blake Tillery.
Chair William Ligon and
Election Integrity Project
Chair John Gordon, who
discussed a lawsuit against
the electors on the Board of
Elections in Fulton County.
This lawsuit came about
as complaints of voting
fraud in the 2020 Presiden
tial Election emerged from
the State Farm Arena, where
votes were being tallied. Li
gon and Gordon explained
that individuals such as Su-
zie Voyles and Scott Hall,
who were witnesses to al
leged voting irregularities,
have stepped forward to lead
Please see Integrity page
3A
Monoclonal
Antibodies in
Short Supply
Local Physician Says
Impact Already Being Felt
By Deborah Clark
Regional Editor
dclarkadvance@gmail. com
The federal government has changed
the way COVID-19 monoclonal antibody
treatments will be distributed in the United
States, including Georgia.
Health care providers, like Memorial
Health Meadows Hospital in Vidalia, will
no longer be able to order the treatments di
rectly from the manufacturer, and this may
affect people at high risk for severe COVID
illness and drive hospital admissions up, a lo
cal healthcare provider warned.
Monoclonal antibodies are synthetic,
laboratory-created antibodies. They help
people at high risk for severe COVID illness,
individuals who have recently tested positive
(within 10 days) for the virus, or people who
are close contacts of persons who have tested
positive for COVID. “They do not teach a
patient’s body how to create its own antibod
ies and they are not a replacement for COV
ID-10 vaccination,” the Georgia Department
of Public Health stated in a September 15
news release.
On Tuesday, Dr. R. Chris Rustin, Direc
tor of the Georgia DPH’s Division of Health
Protection, told a virtual Board of Public
Health meeting that preliminary data shows
monoclonal antibody therapy is effective
mostly early in treatment.
“You have to get it early on,” said Rustin,
who added the state DPH is collaborating
with the Department of Community Health
to support the existing 36 sites across Geor
gia currently administering the treatment. “It
is important to stress this is not a substitute
for vaccines,” Rustin said.
The decision to alter the way the treat
ments are distributed was announced Sep
tember 13 by the U.S. Department of Health
and Human Services (HHS). The reason
Please see COVID page 12A