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The Hometown Throwdown See Sports The Vidalia Advance Established 1901 The Lyons Progress Established 1894 Vol. 124 No. 35 Your Newspaper - Toombs, Montgomery & Wheeler County, Georgia August 31, 2022 I don’t deserve any credit for turning the other cheek as my tongue is always in it. - Flannery O’Connor 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 September 1, at 11 a.m. and 6 p.m. Expungement Workshop Scheduled 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. Patriot Walk, 9/11 Memorial Observance A Patriot Walk and 9/11 Memorial observance will be held Saturday, September 10, in downtown Vidalia. Citizens are invited to convene at 8:15 a.m. the Vidalia Municipal Complex on First Street and walk to the Ronnie A. Dixon City Park for a program that begins at 9 a.m. 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! The Methodist Divide By Makaylee Randolph Staff Writer mrandolphadvance@gmail. com The United Methodist Church (UMC) is currently not very united, as affiliated churches consider whether or not to disaffiliate from the historic organization. On Saturday August 20, the South Georgia Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church met and officially approved the disaf filiation of 62 churches, in cluding 8 area churches in Toombs, Montgomery and Wheeler counties. In all, there were 19 churches in the South Georgia District to which area churches belong, that left the organization. At issue was a disagree ment between individual churches and the UMC on the matter of homosexuality and a few other doctrines that differ from those of the origi nal denomination. This exo dus follows the departure of 70 churches from the North Georgia United Methodist Church Conference over the same issues. The disagreement stems from the United Method- Photo by Makaylee Randolph METHODISTS DIVIDED - The congregations of many churches within the United Methodist Conference (UMC) deciding whether they will remain in the UMC or disaffiliate after a shift from Traditional Christianity to Progressive Christianity became an issue within the denomination, ist Church’s decision to stray away from some of the teachings of Tradi tional Christianity and move closer toward Pro gressive Christianity. The changes between the two types of Christianity in clude: Traditional Chris tianity believes that the Bible is the Authoritative and Trustworthy Word of God. Progressive Christianity often views the Bible as a record of thoughts and ideas about God and Human nature from the perspective of an ancient people. Traditional Chris tianity believes in the Virgin Birth. Progressive Christianity does not be lieve Jesus was born of a virgin. Traditional Chris tianity believes in the Deity of Christ. Progres sive Christianity believes Jesus was a good man, a prophet, and a teacher, but not a diety. Traditional Christi anity believes that Jesus is Please see UMC page 3A More Charges Brought Against Vidalia Insurer VPD Responds To 3 Shootings In 8 Days By Makaylee Randolph Staff Writer mrandolphadvance@gmail. com The owner of a Vidalia in surance agency has been rear rested and charged with one count of disposition of insur ance premiums, as well as 18 additional felony counts of in surance fraud related to work men’s compensation. Kerri Samples Monroe, 48, owner of The Monroe Agency in Vidalia, was initial ly arrested on July 22 and was charged with 5 counts of iden tity fraud and 7 counts of re- Kerri Monroe porting and disposition of premiums. With the addi tional charges filed in Mon roe’s second and third arrests, this brings the total number Please see Monroe page 9A By Makaylee Randolph Staff Writer mrandolphadvance@gmail. com Vidalia has expe rienced an increase in the number of shoot ings recently as the city’s police force has responded to three such incidents since August 20. Domestic Dispute The first of these shootings occurred on August 20, as the Vidalia Police Department was dispatched around 9 p.m. to 600 Washington Street. When officers arrived, they found De- shonna Summerset, 44, suffer ing from a gunshot wound to the left shoulder. The al leged shooter had fled from the scene. Summerset was transported by Toombs-Mont- gomery EMS to Memorial Health Meadows Hospital for immediate care ofher injury, and later Please see VPD page 5A Jerome Turnquest VHA Goes a Step Rirther To Protect Campuses By Deborah Clark Regional Editor dclarkadvance@gmail. com Vidalia Heritage Academy is taking pro tecting its campuses to the next level. A select number of the school’s staff has been trained as members of a School Response Team whose purpose is to use deadly force — if and when the unthinkable oc curs. Hardening VHA as a Target On August 2, ad ministrators at Vidalia Heritage Academy held a School Safety and Secu rity Informational meet ing on Facebook Live. VHA Head of School Jeff McCormick made clear the intent of the online session. “For all of our VHA families joining us tonight the first thing I want to say is that all the information shared in this meeting is for one purpose only — to pro tect the most valuable as set at VHA — your chil dren and our staff.” McCormick went on Please see VHA page 9A