Newspaper Page Text
The ADVANCE, November 2, 2022/Page 2A
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Montgomery County Elementary School also kicked the week off with a parade and
poster contest on October 24, with Madison Thomas's (far right) prekindergarten class
taking home the prize for the best poster. Here, the class poses with their poster, Thom
as, Montgomery County Sheriff's Office Chief Deputy Ron Bivins and CHAMPS Mascot
Milo (center), School Resource Officer Melinda Williams (right), and Parapro Brittany
Bullard (far left).
Elementary Schools
Celebrate Red Ribbon Week
Last week, area el
ementary schools cele
brated Red Ribbon Week,
an activity-filled event
that focuses on educat
ing youth on the dangers
of drugs and encouraging
participation in drug pre
vention activities. Many
schools made these activi
ties fun for the students,
such as Sally D. Meadows
Elementary School and
Montgomery County Ele
mentary School and Eagle
Academy, which held Red
Ribbon Week parades.
SDM's parade, featuring law enforcement officials, the
Vidalia High School Sound Tribe, and students, marched
through the community on October 26,
Fatality
continued from page 1A
impact, Taylor’s vehicle
traveled 88 feet northward
and struck a sign and cable
wire adjacent to the road
way before coming to an
uncontrolled rest with her
vehicle facing eastward on
the right shoulder of SR
15. Bell’s truck continued
to travel north for 81 feet
before striking a curve
and rotating clock-wise.
He eventually came to an
uncontrolled final rest also
facing eastward on the
right shoulder of SR 15.
Taylor was pro
nounced dead at the scene,
and a blood alcohol and/or
drug test has been submit
ted to determine if any sub
stance usage contributed to
the accident, but the results
have not been disclosed by
GSR Bell was uninjured
in the crash, but a passen
ger in his vehicle, Victor
Hester, 63, of Woodbine,
was taken to Memorial
Health Meadows Hospital
by Toombs-Montgomery
EMS for possible injury.
This accident is not
the first of its kind at this
intersection, as husband
and wife David and Patty
Winge were traveling south
on SR 15 in 2019 when an
eastbound pickup truck
ran the stop sign and t-
boned the couple, causing
them to continue to travel
through the Higgston Bap
tist Church sign adjacent
to the intersection. The
couple both succumbed
to their injuries from the
crash.
According to the
Georgia Department of
Transportation (GDOT),
75% of all traffic crashes
in Georgia were reported
to occur at or adjacent to
intersections, as of 2019.
State highway intersec
tions, such as the inter
section at Higgston, are
controlled by the State
Highway System, which
is monitored by GDOT,
making any alteration to
the intersection subject to
approval approved by the
governing authority.
ODDS
NDS
Feed the
Homeless-
smith Street Bap
tist Church, 503 Smith
St., Vidalia, was host a
Feed the Homeless
event on Nov. 12 at
5:00 p.m. A Thanksgiv
ing style dinner will be
served, followed by
worship and perfor
mances. Information
on community re
sources will be avail
able, along with es
sential items to take.
Donations of items,
food, money, or time
are welcome.
For more informa
tion or to donate,
contact April Worth at
912-245-9786.
• • • • •
Anniversary
& Founder's
Day-
New Life in Christ
Ministries, 208 Mead-
owbrook St., Vidalia,
will celebrate their
23rd Church Anniver
sary/Founder's Day
beginning Saturday,
November 5, at 4:30
p.m., with Community
Praise and Worship.
On Sunday, Novem
ber 6, the Worship Ser-
vide will begin at
12:30 p.m., with guest
speaker Assistant Pas
tor Gregg Johnson of
Cross Culture Church
in Lithonia.
Everyone is invited
to attend.
Home-
coming-
Aiiey Baptist
Church in Ailey will
celebrate Homecom
ing on Sunday, No
vember 13, at 11:00
a.m. A covered dish
lunch will be served
following the service.
Everyone is invited
to attend.
Monthly
Meeting—
The monthly
Toombs County Re
tired Educators Asso
ciation (TCREA) meet
ing will be held on
Thursday, November
6, at 10:30 a.m. at
Chatters Restaurant.
Speaker from Teacher
Retirement System
and buffet lunch after
meeting.
Student Art
Exhibit-
Tan Into Art" ex
hibit at Southeastern
Technical College,
Sunday, November 6,
2-4 p.m. will feature
the work of elemen
tary and high school
students from the Art
by Gwen Studio.
Open to the public.
Kemp
continued from page 1A
leadership right here in this
area.”
Mayor Fountain told
the audience of Kemp’s his
tory, including his time as a
small business owner, state
congressman, and Gover
nor, before inviting him to
speak to the attendees. “He
spent over 8 years as a sena
tor and Secretary of State,
working on bills to help
small business owners, and
he has kept that focus as
Governor,” Fountain em
phasized.
Momentum Building
According to Kemp, the
days leading up to this elec
tion have been filled with
trips throughout Georgia,
both rural and urban, to
continue to build support
for the upcoming election.
“The momentum is truly on
our side, and we just have
to keep it going for 15 more
days,” Kemp remarked. “We
have great people in place
to represent Georgians well
and make sure it is a great
place to live and do business
in.
He continued, “Our
state is doing so well be
cause we have been saying
no to all the things that Sta
cey Abrams is for. When I
reopened small parts of our
state that were closed to stop
the spread [of COVID-19],
build PPP supplies, and
manage hospital bed capaci
ty during the toughest times
of the pandemic — when I
made the decision to reopen
those places — I took a lot
of grief from the national
media, Atlanta media, and
many others, while hard
working Georgians, like
many of you, were about to
lose everything they had.
That is why I didn’t listen to
them, I didn’t listen to Stac
ey Abrams — I was listening
to the barbers, cosmetolo
gists, and restaurant workers
who told me that they could
not continue living like that
because they were about to
lose everything they had.”
The Governor noted,
“That’s who I was fighting
for, because that’s who I told
you I would fight when I
was here in 2018 in front of
this bus —putting you first
before the politically cor
rect.” Kemp shared how he
made the decision to keep
Georgia open regardless of
criticism because of his fo
cus on education. “The data
in the Trump administra
tion has the same data that
we have today in the Biden
administration, and that is
that our kids need to be in
the classroom.”
Law Enforcement
On the topic of poten
tially defimding the police,
Kemp reassured officers
that he was for them and
not against them. “I want
every law enforcement of
ficer to know that we have
your back. That’s why we
work with people like (Dis
trict 156) Representative
Leesa Hagan, (R-Lyons), in
the state Congress to make
sure we are passing bills that
support our law enforce
ment, rather than defund
them. We can hold people
accountable, but we have to
support our men and wom
en in law enforcement.”
Taxes
Kemp continued to
highlight the successes of
his term, such as the biggest
income tax cut in Georgia
history and the gas tax ex
emption. He recognized
several dignitaries in the
crowd, such as sheriffs, lo
cal school superintendents,
county and city officials, and
more, before fisting several
plans for the state as long
as he is reelected, including
one-time property tax re
lief grants that will provide
Georgians with decreased
property taxes of around
25% next year and another
reimbursement of income
taxes similar to that this year.
Voter Turnout
When asked his
thoughts on the high voter
turnout rate in the local
counties and statewide,
Kemp attributed the success
to Senate Bill 202. “This tru
ly indicates that the bill that
was passed, (Senate Bill 202,
also known as The Election
Integrity Act), made it easy
to vote and hard to cheat.
Stacey Abrams has lied and
said and that voting has
been suppressive, but that’s
just not the case, and that is
what we are seeing.”
He added, “I believe we
are in the 4th quarter of a
University of Georgia foot
ball game, and we have worn
[the opponent’s] defensive
fine out. We are getting 4-5
yards a play — but we need
to keep blocking and tack
ling because soon those 4-5
yard plays will move the
ball 10-15 yards, and even
tually into the end zone on
November 8,” Kemp ex
plained. “We cannot give up
now. We do not win unless
we get 50% plus 1 vote. We
have a lot of good people on
the ticket with us that we
also need to help push over
that fine. We cannot take
for granted that our neigh
bors, family members, etc.,
are going to vote. Remind
them, talk about it, and let’s
just keep chopping all the
way to Election Day”
vcc
continued from page 1A
the community.
Mayor Doug Roper
said, “Getting golf back into
Vidalia has been an ongoing
process for over five years
with both prior councils
and private citizens trying
to find a solution. For al
most two years, our current
Council has been working
diligently on this issue while
at the same time applying
for and receiving grants to
support this project. With
those funds in place and
exhausting every effort to
revive either of our prior
courses, the time has come
to move forward and bring
golf back to our great com
munity”
With this announce
ment, the City began
searching for a Golf Course
Architect to design and
build an 18-hole municipal
golf course on its property
to include all 18 holes, a
practice range, a putting
green, a cart/equipment
shelter, and a pro shop. This
architect also serves to co
ordinate with the Authority
regarding the construction
of cart bridges that will be
required to cross streams to
accommodate safe play and
movement of golfers.
Proposals for the archi
tect position were due by
September 30, and three fi
nalists were interviewed by a
panel on October 20. These
finalists were scored by 6 re
viewers on their knowledge
and experience, approach to
scope of work, and cost of
efforts. Mike Young Designs
outscored the other two op
ponents, as Young received
a score of 552 out of a pos
sible 600, while the other
two finalists received scores
of477 and 397.
Plans are continuing to
be developed for the con
struction of the golf course,
and details of the course’s lo
cation and structure will be
released at a later date.
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