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The Vidalia Advance Established 1901 The Lyons Progress Established 1894
Vol. 123 NO. 48
Christmas is a time when
kids tell Santa what they
want and adults pay for
it. Deficits are when
adults tell the
government what they
want and their kids pay
for it.
— Richard Lamm
News
BYTES
Memorial
Service and Tree
Lighting
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, 10 a.m.-6
p.m.
IN THIS ISSUE
Editorials Page 5A
Obituaries Page 7A
From the Record Page 8A
Your Mind On Line Page 2A
Sports Page 1 B
By The Advance Staff
Communities throughout the area are getting into the
holiday spirit with celebrations, parades and other events to
mark the Christmas holiday.
Thursday, December 2
On Thursday, December 2, the Paul Anderson Youth
Home will hold its annual Christmas Family Extravaganza at
First Baptist Church in downtown Vidalia. The annual com
munity Christmas program, which begins at 6 p.m., is a tick
eted event that is open to the public.
The Rev. Don Moye of First Baptist Church Vidalia will
lead a production featuring local talent, PAYH staff, young
men and alumni. A “Jingle Mingle” will be held before the
main program featuring a Christmas goodies and heavy hors
d’oeuvres. Details and ticket information about the event can
be found at payh.org/Christmas.
Also on Thursday, Memorial Health Meadows Hospital
will honor and remember those who passed away in the CO
VID pandemic with a memorial service and tree lighting. The
event will take place at 5:30 p.m. as guests join the hospital
Please see Christmas page 9A
Photo by Makaylee Randolph
CHRISTMASTIME IS HERE — City of Vidalia workers put the finishing touches
on the Christmas tree at the city park downtown ahead of Tuesday night's
tree lighting ceremony, Communities throughout the area have sched
uled parades and events to kick off seasonal celebrations.
Your Newspaper - Toombs, Montgomery & Wheeler County, Georgia
It’s Beginning
toLookaLot
Like Christm
Photo courtesy of U.S. Attorney’s Office, Southern District of Georgia
OPERATION BLOOMING ONION — David H. Estes, Acting U.S. At
torney for the Southern District of Georgia, speaks during a news
conference on November 22, to announce indictments in Op
eration Blooming Onion, a human trafficking investigation nam
ing 24 defendants on felony charges including human smuggling
and document fraud.
24 Indicted on Human
Smuggling Charges
Two dozen defendants
have been indicted on federal
conspiracy charges after a trans
national, multiyear investiga
tion into a human smuggling
and labor trafficking operation
that illegally imported Mexican
and Central American workers
into brutal conditions on South
Georgia farms.
In the Southern District of
Georgia, these activities were
alleged to have taken place in
the counties of Atkinson, Ba
con, Coffee, Tattnall, Toombs
and Ware as farmers paid the
conspirators to provide contract
laborers. Two of the defendants,
JC Fongoria Castro and De
lia Ibarra Rojas, have Toombs
County addresses.
The newly unsealed,
54-count indictment in USA
v. Patricio et al., details felony
charges resulting from Opera
tion Blooming Onion, an Orga
nized Crime Drug Enforcement
Task Forces (OCDETF) inves
tigation.
The multiagency investiga
tion, led by Homeland Secu
rity Investigations and other
federal agencies, spans at least
three years, and the 53-page in
dictment documents dozens of
victims of modern-day slavery
while spelling out the illegal acts
that brought these exploited
workers into the United States
and imprisoned them under
inhumane conditions as con
tract agricultural laborers, said
David H. Estes, Acting U.S. At
torney for the Southern District
of Georgia.
“The American dream is a
powerful attraction for destitute
and desperate people across
the globe, and where there is
need, there is greed from those
Please see Charges page 3A
3 Wounded in Shooting
By Deborah Clark
Regional Editor
dclarkadvance@gmail.com
Vidalia police are looking
for suspects in two shootings
that occurred within hours of
each another last week — one of
which left three people wound
ed.
A press release from the
Vidalia Police Department re
ported that around 9:43 p.m.
Tuesday, November 21, officers
responded to the area of North
east Main Street to investigate a
shooting. When they arrived on
the scene, officers found Kyjuan
Phillips, age 20, of Vidalia, who
had sustained a gunshot wound.
Phillips was transported by am
bulance to Memorial Health
Meadows Hospital.
A short time later, officers
were advised that two additional
subjects suffering from gun-
Please see Shooting page 9A
Caraballo Named
Vidalia School System's
Teacher of the Year
An 18-year veteran teacher
has been named the Vidalia City
School Systems Teacher of the
Year. Julie Caraballo, a seventh
grade teacher at J.R Trippe Middle
School, has been with the Vidalia
City School System for 17 years.
Caraballo was selected from a
group of four finalists representing
each ofVidalia's schools. The other
finalists who represented Vida
lia's three other schools are: Wade
McFeod, Vidalia High School;
Kristen Palmer, Sally Meadows
Elementary School; and, Valerie
Tapley, J.D. Dickerson Elementary
School.
Caraballo said, "Teaching is
what I was created to do and I am
blessed to be an educator." She
added, "This is such an amazing
honor to be named System Teach
er of The Year. I teach with highly-
qualified and amazing teachers
who care about students and who
Julie Caraballo
do their j ob day in and day out, and
I'm not sure how you choose one
teacher for this."
Caraballo said that the reason
Please see VCS page 4A
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LETTERS TO §AMTTA
Send us your Letters to Santa, and we'll publish them in the
December 22 issue of ®I]e Aiiuance. 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
do atic Aiitrance
P.O. Box 669,
Vidalia, GA 30475
