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See what everyone has to say! Your Mind ONLINE See Page 5A The Vidalia Advance Established 1901 UCC $ 70 SALES FLYERS INSIDE! ! SAVE AS MUCH AS $ The Lyons Progress Established 1894 ON FAMOUS BRANDS Vol. 124 No. 34 Your Newspaper - Toombs, Montgomery & Wheeler County, Georgia August 24, 2022 The world has become too absurd to be satirized - GK. Chesterton News BYTES Public Hearings on Tax Hike The Toombs County Board of Education invites citizens to attend public hearings concerning a proposed increase in 2022 property taxes. The hearings will be held at the Toombs County High School, 500 Bulldog Road, Lyons, on August 25, at 5 p.m. and on September 1, at 11 a.m. and 6 p.m. Toombs County Tailgate Event A tailgate event will be held in downtown Lyons on Friday, August 26, from 4 until 6 p.m. Citizens are invited to shop and dine prior to the Toombs County High School football game. Roadwork on SR56 Toombs County The Georgia Department of Transportation announced that State Road 56 from Paul Lockley Road to Underwood Road in Toombs County will have daily lane closures from 6:30 a.m. until 7 p.m. through August 31 as resurfacing continues. Expuna Workshop Scheduled ement How to restrict public access to certain criminal records will be discussed in a workshop sponsored by Middle Judicial Circuit District Attorney Tripp Fitzner, Toombs County Sheriff Alvie "Junior" Kight, and Toombs County Clerk of Court Nancy Pittman on September 10, from 9 a.m. until noon. IN THIS ISSUE Editorials Page 6A Obituaries Page 8A From the Record Page 5A Your Mind On Line Page 5A Sports Page 1 B SUBSCRIBE AND SAVE 30% OFF NEWSSTAND PRICES! Call 537-3131 (or delivery! Photo courtesy of the Tattnall County Fire Dept. WAREHOUSE DESTROYED - Firefighters from throughout the area responded to a massive fire early Saturday morning at the David Jarriel farm in Tattnall County. The onion warehouse was destroyed in a blaze that is believed to have started in onion drying equipment located in the back room of the structure. Fire Claims Legacy Farm Warehouse By Deborah Clark Regional Editor dclarkadvance@gmail.com An early morning fire destroyed the Dry Branch onion packing facility lo cated on Hub Jarriel Road in Collins on Friday August 19. The 88,000-square-foot facility housed office space, cold storage, onion drying and packing equipment for the David Jarriel farm. The fire is believed to have start ed in an onion dryer located in the back of the ware house, said Tattnall Fire/ EMA Director Walt Rogers. The state fire marshal and insurance investigators were on the scene this week to of ficially determine the cause and origin of the blaze, as well as the extent of damage. Ten fire response units from as far way as Dodge County, including 5 prison fire units from the area, re sponded to the scene at 2:30 a.m. Saturday. The building was fully engulfed when fire crews arrived, and after ex tinguishing the blaze, crews returned to douse hot spots that continued to flare up through Sunday afternoon, Rogers said. The fire was fed by thousands of flammable plastic storage containers used in onion production. “We were able to protect a cold storage facility about 10 feet away from the main warehouse,” Rogers said. The fire was discovered by workers living near the Please see Fire page 4A Neurosurgeon Joins Meadows Medical Staff By Deborah Clark Regional Editor dclarkadvance@gmail.com With the addition of a neurosurgeon to its medical staff, Memorial Health Mead ows Hospital is making history once again. Dr. Ryan Lingo, who is currently practicing at the Neurological Institute of Sa vannah and is affiliated with Memorial Health University Medical Center, is now visit ing Vidalia on a biweekly basis to see patients and to perform surgery. Memorial Health and Meadows are regional health care partners through their parent company, HCA Health care. Dr. Lingo, who is an ex pert in brain, skull base, spine and peripheral nerve surgery, including minimally invasive spine and cranial procedures, is Meadow’s first neurosur geon. He has been perform ing surgery at Meadows since April and sees patients every other Wednesday at Meadows’ Lucy Pierson Building. Dr. Lingo graduated from Mercer University School of Medicine in 2012 and com pleted his neurosurgery resi dency at the University of Ten nessee Health Science Center and the Semmes Murphy Clinic in Memphis, Tennessee. He is on the medical staffs of both Memorial Health and St. Joseph’s Hospital in Savannah. A native of Columbus, Dr. Lingo and his family now live in Savannah. He said he wel comed to opportunity to prac tice in Vidalia because the city reminded him of the commu nity where he grew up. “Obvi ously, it is a good market for health care providers to build a practice and the Meadows facilities are fantastic." Please see MHMH page 2A Kiwanis Club of Vidalia Enters Its Second Century of Service Photo by Makaylee Randolph TELLING HIS STORY - Famous running back and fellow Kiwanian Herschel Walker spoke at the Kiwanis Club of Vidalia's centennial celebration and encouraged attendees through his life story, By Makaylee Randolph Staff Writer mrandotphadvance@gmait.com The Kiwanis Club of Vidalia entered its “second century of ser vice” on Friday, August 19, as the group celebrated a centennial an niversary at a special meeting. Guest Speaker Herschel Walk er, former University of Georgia Running Back and fellow Kiwan ian, held a photo-opportunity with attendees before speaking to the group on hard work and suc cess by sharing his life story. Please see Kiwanis page 3A Toombs County Schools Set Millage Rate, Approve Partial Rollback By Makaylee Randolph Staff Writer mrandolphadvance@gmail.com The Toombs County Board of Education has of ficially approved their new millage rate, which will pro vide taxpayers with a partial rollback from last year’s 14.6 rate. “Previously, we had moved the millage rate up to 15 to be competitive with other districts and fund sev eral new programs for our students. Then we accepted the rollback rate last year, which moved the millage rate to 14.6 mils, and we will accept the rollback rate again this year, which will move the rate to 14.3 mils,” Superintendent Barry Waller explained. Though this proposed millage rate is less than the previous year’s rate, it is larger than the current roll back rate, which is set at 13.6 mils because of inflation. Waller said that the Toombs County School System can not adhere completely to this set rollback rate because of a national law regarding state equilization funding. “By state law, if the school system sets the rate below 14 mils, we will lose state equal ization funding, which totals around $3 million,” Waller remarked. “It would then take raising the millage rate Please see Toombs page 2A