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The Vidalia Advance Established 1901
The Lyons Progress Established 1894
Your Newspaper - Toombs, Montgomery & Wheeler County, Georgia
November 24, 2021
“Thanksgiving dinners
take 18 hours to
prepare. They are
consumed in 12
minutes. Half-times
take 12 minutes. This is
not a coincidence.”
— Erma Bombeck
News
BYTES
Memorial
Service and Tree
Lighting
Interview With
Tom Thrkey
By Amber Nagle
Contributing Writer
I got an interesting phone call
this past week from someone claim
ing to be Thomas T. Turkey. He was a
bit difficult for me to understand, and
the entire phone conversation only
lasted fifteen minutes, but it was one
I’ll never forget.
After the initial introduction, he
told me I could call him “Tom,” not
ing that everyone calls him that, and
I agreed.
After we got those niceties out of
the way, Tom launched into a rant.
“I read your article from last
week,” Tom said. “A lot of it had to
do with cooking and eating turkey
on Thanksgiving. Well, Ms. Nagle, I’ll
have you know that I am a member of
the subspecies Meleagris gallopavo
domesticus, or as you humans call us,
Please see Turkey page 10A
A COVID memorial
service and tree lighting
will be held at Memorial
Health Meadows
Hospital on Thursday,
December 2 at 5:30 p.m.
PAYH Christmas
Extravaganza
The Paul Anderson Youth
Home will hold its annual
Christmas party at 6 p.m.
on Thursday, December
2, at First Baptist Church
of Vidalia.
Lyons Christmas
Parade
The Lyons Lighted
Christmas Parade will
be held downtown on
Friday, December 3, at 6
p.m.
Vidalia
Christmas
Parade
"Inside Santa's
Workshop" is the theme
for Vidalia's 2021
Christmas Parade that
will be held downtown
on Saturday, December
4, at 11 a.m.
Alamo Christmas
in the City
Alamo will hold its
annual "Christmas in
the City" on Saturday,
December 4, beginning
at 1 p.m. downtown. A
Christmas parade starts
at 6 p.m.
Christmas in
Dixie
Higgston's annual
"Christmas in Dixie"
will be held Saturday,
December 4, 10a.m.-6
p.m.
IN THIS ISSUE
Editorials Page 5A
Obituaries Page 7A
From the Record Page 10A
Your Mind On Line Page 8A
Sports Page 1 B
Special Redistricting
Session Wraps Up
By Dave Williams
Bureau Chief
Capitol Beat News Service
The Republican-
controlled state House
of Representatives ap
proved a new congres
sional map Monday, the
final act in a once-a-de-
cade redistricting spe
cial session.
House members
voted 96-68 virtually
along party lines after
Democrats complained
Republicans drew a map
that targeted a Black
woman incumbent and
spread minority voters
thin in order to retain a
GOP majority in Geor
gia’s congressional del
egation through the end
of this decade.
“This map puts pow
er over principle, par
tisanship over people,”
said House Minority
Leader James Beverly,
D-Macon.
Legislative Demo
crats proposed a con
gressional map that
likely would have led to
a 7-7 split in the delega
tion, which they argued
would reflect the 50-50
partisan divide that has
arisen in Georgia as a re
sult of minority popula-
Please see Map page
3A
$2.2m Grant Will Fund
Airport Runway Repairs
Photo by Deborah Clark
AIRPORT IMPROVEMENTS — The Vidalia Airport was
awarded a $2.2 million grant for runway improve
ments. Above, Airport Manager Billy Ragan points
out one of the sections of the main runway that will
be replaced with the funding.
By Makaylee Randolph
Staff Writer
mrandolphadvance@gmail. com
The City of Vidalia
has received a $2.2 mil
lion federal grant for re
pairs to the Vidalia Air
port, City Manager Nick
Overstreet announced
at the regular meeting of
the City Council on No
vember 8.
No matching funds
were required for the
federal grant, 90% of
which came from the
2020 Appropriations
Act and 10% from the
American Rescue Plan
Please see VCC page
3A
Photo by Makaylee Randolph
CHALLENGE — Reverend Sande Bailey-Gwinn, keynote speaker for the Greater
Vidalia Chamber's ConnectHER Gathering for Women, urged the audience to
abandon comfort zones and to thrive. The gathering, which offered entertain
ment, shopping at vendors' booths, and a plated meal, drew a large crowd
from throughout the area,
ConnectHer Speaker:
“You Survived, Now Thrive”
By Makaylee Randolph
Staff Writer
mrandolphadvance@gmail.com
“You’ve survived — but now, it
is time to rise up and thrive,” keynote
speaker Reverend Sande Bailey-Gwinn
told the audience at the Greater Vida
lia Chamber’s ConnectHER Gathering
for Women on November 16 at the Vi
dalia Community Center.
Bailey-Gwinn connected with at
tending women through uplifting sto
ries and comedic delivery to provide
a message of motivation. She empha
sized the importance of going after
individual goals, abandoning comfort
zones, and bringing light back to life
after two years of heavy emotion and
worry that accompanied the pandemic.
“As I was driving, I got to thinking
about the different lives that would be
in this room,” Bailey-Gwinn said. “Dif
ferent hair texture, different body types,
different educational backgrounds, dif
ferent careers, different beliefs - but
the main thing that really made me
think was the different life changes that
have taken place in the past 24 months.
Life changed.”
She continued to detail the chang
es the public has faced because of loss,
quarantine, and normal worldly strug
gles. Yet, Bailey-Gwinn presented ev
eryone with one more change: the ad
dition of hope and motivation to their
lives.
“What is thriving?” Bailey-Gwinn
questioned the audience. “It is to prog
ress toward or realize a goal despite
circumstances. It is navigating you to
a new goal for another place of accom
plishment.”
Providing a memorable acrostic
poem for the word “Thrive,” she argued
that thriving comes with the exodus of
comfort zones, realization of individual
purpose and talent, honesty with self,
focus on good mental, physical, and
spiritual health, and much more.
“Just remind yourself: ‘Eve sur
vived it, but now I must thrive,” she
concluded.
The second annual ConnectHer
was deemed a big success by the event’s
organizers. A total of 150 women from
throughout the area enjoyed shopping
at booths set up by local businesses,
drawings and prizes, musical entertain
ment by The Wardlaw Brothers, and a
plated meal.
The Wardlaw Brothers furthered
promoted a message of hope through
their performance of their original
Gospel songs, “God Has Kept Me” and
“Right Now, Lord.”
The Chamber plans to host its next
ConnectHER gathering on March 24,
2022.
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LETTERS TO OAMTA
Send us your Letters to Santa, and we'll publish them in the
December 22 issue of STye Ahunnce. We'll make sure Santa receives
your letters in plenty of time to fill your Christmas wish list.
Deadline is December 13.
Mail your letters to:
SANTA
LETTERS
c/o She Aiiuance
P.O. Box 669,
Vidalia, GA 30475