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The ADVANCE, Januory 19, 2022/Page 8A
Obituaries
Mrs. Lorie Edge
Mrs. Lorie Haynes
Edge, age 58, of Vidalia,
died on Saturday, Janu
ary 15, 2022, at Landmark
Hospital in Savannah, fol
lowing an extended illness.
Mrs. Edge was born
in Rome, GA. She was
preceded in death by her
parents, Bobby and Hilda
Haynes, and 1 son, Kevin
Edge.
Survivors include her
husband, Jeff York; 1 broth
er, Bobby Jim Haynes, Jr.;
2 sisters, Wendie New-
some (Randy), and Anna
Meyers; several nieces and
nephews; and 1 special
friend, Tammie Palmer.
Funeral services will
be held on Wednesday, Jan
uary 19, 2022, at 2:00 p.m.,
in the chapel of Roberts-
Stewart Funeral Home of
Vidalia. The family will re
ceive friends at the funeral
home beginning at 1:00
p.m. until just prior to the
service. Interment will fol
low in Pinecrest Cemetery.
ROBERTS - STEWART
FUNERAL HOME
Mrs. Geneva Ricks
Mrs. Geneva Willis
Ricks, age 83, of Soperton,
died on Monday, January
17, 2022, at the Treutlen
County Health and Reha
bilitation Center in Soper
ton.
Mrs. Ricks was born in
Treutlen County and was
a lifelong resident of the
Soperton area. She worked
as a Quality Control In
spector at Soperton Man
ufacturing and the Shirt
Factory in Dublin. She was
a member of the Orianna
Baptist Church. She was
preceded in death by her
parents, Elmo “Hop” Wil
lis and Dorothy Ennis Wil
lis; her husbands, Holmes
Thigpen and Billy Ricks;
1 brother, Elmo Willis, Jr.;
and 1 sister, Anne Reece.
Survivors include her
daughters, Kathy Tapley,
Teresa Thigpen and Peggy
Hooks (Robbie), and 2
grandsons, John and Rob
ert Hooks, all of the Ori
anna Community; 1 sister,
Nell of Adrian; and several
nieces and nephews.
A graveside funeral
service will be conducted
on Wednesday, January 19,
2022, at 2:00 p.m., in Ori
anna Cemetery, with Rev.
Arthur Conley officiating.
Sammons Funeral
Home in Soperton is in
charge of arrangements.
Parker
continued from page 6A
America or the eternal
truths that were brought to
bear in its founding.
The problem was the
failure of the nation to live
up to the challenges of its
great founding principles.
This was the heart of
King’s message that day.
He appealed to the na
tion to realize the dream of
its founding fathers. Not to
crush it and bury it, as we
hear today.
The problem is not
white people.
“The marvelous new
militancy ... must not lead
us to a distrust of all white
people,” he said.
And, of course, the
most memorable and oft-
quoted line of the speech,
“I have a dream that my
four little children will one
day live in a nation where
they will not be judged by
the color of their skin but
by the content of their
character.”
What has happened
instead? Where has this
great message of King got
ten lost?
In the name of racial
justice, our race campaigns
today are defined by selec
tion and placement based
on race, based on the color
of skin, and not based on
the content of character, as
King implored the nation
to do.
King’s speech is di
vided into three parts.
Part one is an appeal to
the nation to live up to its
great founding principles.
Part two is an appeal to
Black Americans to rise up
and act accordingly in the
noble cause of the pursuit
of liberty and justice. Let’s
not drink “from the cup of
bitterness.”
Part three is an appeal
to the ideals of the Chris
tian soul of the nation.
He quoted the prophet
Isaiah that “the crooked
places will be made straight
... and the glory of the Lord
shall be revealed, and all
flesh shall see it together.”
Biblical truths and ide
als have been sadly lost to
wokeism, which has for all
practical purposes become
a religion in itself.
Let’s honor Dr. Martin
Luther King, Jr., now, as we
come out of COVID-19
and enter 2022, by revisit
ing and taking to heart the
great truths he spoke on
that summer day in Wash
ington, D.C., 1963. Great
truths that have very sadly
been cast to the side and
replaced with the religion
of politics and power.
Let us honor King by
seeing America as he pre
sented it then, as embody
ing the ideals of a free na
tion under God.
And then we can join
hands and sing, as King ap
pealed, “the words of the
old Negro spiritual: Free at
last! Free at last! Thank
God Almighty, we are free
at last.”
Star Parker is president of
the Center for Urban Renewal
and Education and host of
the weekly television show
"Cure America with Star
Parker." To find out more
about Star Parker and read
features by other Creators
Syndicate writers and
cartoonists, visit the Creators
Syndicate website at www.
creators.com.
COPYRIGHT 2022 CREATORS.
COM
From the Record
THE BLOTTER
These are the reported
arrests from the Toombs
County Sheriff's Office,
the Vidalia and Lyons
police departments,
and the Montgomery
County Sheriff's Office
for the past week.
Incidents are taken
directly from police
files. All suspects are
innocent until proven
guilty.
In Lyons...
• Angela Yvette
Jennings, of Lyons,
was arrested on Jan
uary 11 and charged
with No Insurance
1st, Operating a Ve
hicle While Registra
tion is Suspended.
• Wesley Ryan
Fountain, of Louis
ville, was arrested on
January 15 and
charged with Posses
sion of Marijuana
Less Than Ounce,
Possession of Drug
Related Objects.
• Lavertes Donnel
Anthony, of Lyons,
was arrested on Jan
uary 16 and charged
with Criminal Tres
pass.
In Toombs
County...
• Lydia Burke, of
Reidsville, was ar
rested on January 12
and charged with
Simple Battery FVA.
• Lillian Co-
routhers, of Vidalia,
was arrested on Jan
uary 10 and charged
with Battery-Family
Violence (1st Of
fense).
• Tracy McDaniel,
of Forsyth, was ar
rested on January 9
and charged with
Parole Violation.
• Matthew
Spivey, of Jesup, was
arrested on January
9 and charged with
Probation Violation-
Felony, Failure to Ap-
pear-Misdemeanor.
• Jennifer West,
of Mt. Vernon, was
arrested on January
11 and charged with
SCH II Controlled
Substance-Purchase,
Possession, Manf, Dis
tribution, Sale.
In Montgomery
County...
The Montgomery
County Sheriff's De
partment police re
port was unavailable
at presstime.
In Vidalia...
• Gabriel O. Mon
tanez, of Vidalia, was
arrested on January
10 and charged with
Simple Battery.
• Latoya Denise
Bacon, of Ellabell,
was arrested on Jan
uary 10 and charged
with Suspended Li
cense / Driving Due
Care Hands Free.
• Lawrence C.
Patrick, of Vidalia,
was arrested on Jan
uary 10 and charged
with Maintaining a
Disorderly House /
Simple Assault
• Veronica Rivera
Cervantes, of Vida
lia, was arrested on
January 15 and
charged with No
Driver's License /
Child Restraint / Driv
ing Due Care Hands
Free.
Solar
continued from page 1A
generated across three lo
cations in southern Geor
gia—including Alley—
and will produce enough
low-cost, renewable power
to help serve more than
44,000 EMC households
annually
Silicon Ranch is fund
ing the three utility-scale
solar facilities and plans to
build them in stages over
the next three years. The
company will also own,
operate, and maintain the
arrays for the long-term.
Green Power EMC will
purchase all the energy and
environmental attributes
generated by the facilities
on behalf of its member
cooperatives. This unique
procurement model allows
participating cooperatives
to capture value through
economies of scale and
source low-cost renewable
power to benefit the mem
bers and communities they
serve.
The site at Alley will be
an 80 MWAC solar facility
located on 875 acres in the
northwest corner of the
county, stretching north
to south from Ga. High
way 292 to U.S. Highway
280. Silicon Ranch plans
to construct the project,
to be known as Alley Solar
Farm, in 2024 and expects
the facility to be online late
that year.
Silicon Ranch has
committed to invest ap
proximately $90 million to
construct the Alley facil
ity and (beginning in late
2023/early 2024) plans to
hire about 300 craft work
ers over the 12-month
construction period, the
majority of whom will be
recruited from Montgom
ery County, the surround
ing area, and the military
veteran community, ac
cording to a company
spokesperson.
Once the Ailey So
lar Farm is operational in
late 2024, the project will
generate significant tax
revenues (an estimated
$260,000 annually) to
support the local govern
ment and school system.
In addition, Silicon Ranch
has pledged an annual
$10,000 payment for a col
lege scholarship fund to be
awarded each year to an
outstanding Montgomery
County student.
As Silicon Ranch ex
plored the right solution
for its co-op partners, they
were fortunate to work
closely with Joe Filippone,
the Executive Director of
the Montgomery County
Development Authority
(who is also a U.S. mili
tary veteran himself), who
helped lead the recruit
ment of the Ailey project,
according to Matt Kisber,
Silicon Ranch’s co-founder
and chairman who person
ally led the effort on the
company’s behalf.
“This project and this
investment would not have
been possible without the
tremendous cooperation
we have received from Joe
Filippone, who led the
recruitment of this excit
ing new project. He is an
excellent economic de
velopment professional
and a great ambassador
for Montgomery Coun
ty,” said Kisber, who was
previously the Commis
sioner of Economic and
Community Development
for the state of Tennessee
and a long-time economic
development professional.
Kisber also remarked
that Leland Adams and the
rest of the Montgomery
County Board of Commis
sioners and L. Perry Avery,
Jr., the attorney for the De
velopment Authority, also
played important roles in
helping to bring the project
to Montgomery County.
In 2013, Silicon Ranch
pioneered utility-scale so
lar in the state of Georgia,
and today is one of the larg
est independent producers
of solar power in the Unit
ed States. “Silicon Ranch
looks forward to becoming
the newest corporate citi
zen in Montgomery Coun
ty and working with local
officials to help maximize
the economic and environ
mental benefits this project
will bring to the surround
ing region for decades to
come,” Kisber said.
“We put together a
contract that will be good
for them (the investors)
and good for the county,”
Filippone said. He ex
plained that the Develop
ment Authority, which is
not reaping any monetary
benefits from the contact,
will act as a title holder to
allow certain tax breaks for
the company. He said that
an insurance policy has
been put into place to cov
er any unforeseen issues
that may arise over mainte
nance or disassembling of
the site.
“As much as possible,
we will urge the use of lo
cal contractors for building
and maintaining the site,”
Filippone said.
Montgomery County
Commission Chairman
Leland Adams said, “The
Montgomery County
Board of Commissioners
is excited about Silicon
Ranch’s decision to con
struct one of their solar
power facilities in Mont
gomery County. Their
investment will provide
economic and educational
rewards for Montgomery
County while providing
clean energy. The commis
sioners and I applaud their
management practices, as
well. The agricultural and
environmental aspects of
this project really go to
show you that this com
pany has a lot of credibil
ity. We certainly welcome
Silicon Ranch to our com
munity.”
The power produced
at the site will be sold to
Georgia Power that will
in turn sell the power to
an EMC for use in Dalton
County.
Other Area Solar Farms
A second solar site be
ing built by Silicon Ranch,
Snipesville III, will be a
107 MWAC solar facil
ity located in Jeff Davis
County. Construction is
expected to commence
later this year, and the fa
cility is scheduled to be
operational by mid-2023.
The site will be in close
proximity to two other
cooperative solar projects.
Nearby, Silicon Ranch and
Green Power EMC com
missioned Snipesville I
(86 MWAC) in December
2020.
Silicon Ranch com
pleted construction
of Snipesville II (107
MWAC) in December
2021 to provide power
to one of Green Power
EMC’s member coopera
tives, Walton EMC, as part
of the utility’s agreement
to supply renewable ener
gy to Meta’s data center in
Newton County.
The third site in the
portfolio, DeSoto II, will
be a 65 MWAC solar facil
ity located in Lee County.
Silicon Ranch expects to
begin construction in late
2022 and plans to bring the
facility online by late 2023.
The facility will be built
next to DeSoto I, where
construction is already
underway and, like Snipes
ville II, the DeSoto I facil
ity will serve Walton EMC
to support Meta’s Geor
gia operations. Governor
Brian P. Kemp joined of
ficials from Silicon Ranch,
Green Power EMC, Wal
ton EMC, and Lee County
for a ceremonial ground
breaking at the project site
in October 2021.
Investments in
Communities
“Over the past eight
years, Silicon Ranch has
been proud to work shoul
der to shoulder with Green
Power EMC and the Geor
gia cooperatives to deploy
more than one gigawatt
of solar power and invest
more than $ 1 billion across
the state of Georgia,” said
Silicon Ranch Co-Founder
and CEO Reagan Farr.
“Over the past year,
Silicon Ranch employed
more than 1,000 Georgians
to help us construct solar
facilities across the state,
and thanks to the leader
ship of Green Power EMC
and Georgia’s electric co
operatives, we will hire
1,000 more to help drive
meaningful economic im
pacts in the communities
where we locate,” Farr said.
Silicon Ranch has
committed to make signifi
cant capital investments
and hire local craft work
ers in Jeff Davis, Lee, and
Montgomery Counties to
construct the projects over
the next three years. Once
the projects are opera
tional, they will generate
millions of dollars in new
tax revenues to support the
local economies, govern
ments, and school systems
of these rural communities
for decades to come, ac
cording to a company news
release.
Each of the proj
ects will integrate Silicon
Ranch’s Regenerative
Energy® model, a holis
tic approach to design,
construction, and opera
tions that co-locates solar
energy production with
regenerative agriculture
practices. Once each proj
ect is operational, Silicon
Ranch will restore its land
to a functioning grassland
ecosystem, while keeping
the site in agricultural pro
duction through managed
grazing using regenerative
pastureland management
practices.
The innovative ap
proach to land manage
ment delivers valuable
environmental, social, and
economic outcomes above
and beyond the significant
positive impacts a solar fa
cility alone can produce,
creating additional value
for the surrounding com
munities and project stake
holders.
“Georgia’s coopera
tives continue to grow
Please see Solar page 9A