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MEMORIAL DAY REMEMBER AND HONOR ^ Monday, May 29 All Gave Some... Some Gave All. The Vidalia Advance Established 1901 The Lyons Progress Established 1894 Saluting those who served and sacrificed ncc Vol. 125 No. 21 Your Newspaper - Toombs, Montgomery & Wheeler County, Georgia May 24, 2023 $6.6M in Grants Awarded For Area Community Improvements “Here men endured that a nation might live.” - Herbert Hoover News BYTES By Deborah Clark Regional Editor dclarkadvance@gmail. com Montgomery County and the cities of Lyons and Alamo each received $2.2 million for community upgrades as part of $225 million grant package an nounced May 18 by Governor Brian P. Kemp. The preliminary grant awards for 142 qualified projects will im prove neighborhood assets like parks, recreation facilities, side walks, and healthy food access in communities all across the state disproportionately impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. "With our partners on both the local and state levels, we've pri oritized helping Georgia's com munities further recover from the pandemic with a bottom-up approach," said Kemp. "Today, we're investing these funds to see that those most heavily impacted have even more resources at their disposal, and I want to thank our partners for helping us make that Please see Grants page 5A Community Food Drive Boy Scout Troop 933 is collecting canned goods and nonper ishable items for God's Storehouse until June 27. Dona tions may be dropped off at the drop-off box on the front porch of the Vidalia Boy Scout Hut, located at 102 Stockyard Road be side the tennis courts. For more in formation, contact Scoutmaster Brett Copeland at 706- 476-1684. Magic Show Magician Bill Pack ard will be perform ing a free show at Southeastern Techni cal College in Vida lia on Wednesday, May 31, at 11 a.m. as a part of the Nelle Brown Library's Summer Programs. For more informa tion, call the library at 912-526-6511. Movie At The Library The Dr. Mark and Tonya Spivey Public Library in Vidalia will welcome guests for a free movie at 1 p.m. on Tuesday, May 30, as a part of the library's summer programs. For more information, call the library at 912-537- 9283. IN THIS ISSUE Editorials Page 6A Obituaries Page 10A From the Record Page 5A Your Mind On Line Page 2A Sports Page 1 B SUBSCRIBE AND SAVE 30% OFF NEWSSTAND IMV Call 537-3131 (or delivery! Photo by Deborah Clark FLAG RAISED - The Confederate "Stars and Bars" was raised on a flag pole recently erected on private property in Wheeler County adjacent to U.S. Highway 441, The property has been in the Harrelson family since the 1820s and is still owned by descendant J.B, "Angelo" Crowe. Flagpole Dedicated To Confederate Soldiers By Deborah Clark Regional Editor dclarkadvance@gmail.com The American Civil War ended 158 years ago, but the Harrelson family has not for gotten the sacrifices of their ancestors in that conflict. In a ceremony on May 20, Harrelson descendants and others gathered in Wheeler County to dedicate a flag pole in remembrance of four Confederate soldiers who are buried in the Harrel son Family Cemetery. Two brothers who never returned from war were also honored. No matter what your sentiments are about the Civil War, it was a tragic event that devastated fami lies on both sides of the strife. The markers in the Harrelson Cemetery tell the story. South Georgia pioneers Elizabeth (Betsie) Clark Harrelson and John William Harrelson had 13 children. Of their five sons who went off to war, only three made it back home; two of their boys are buried in Virginia. “That’s a 40% casualty rate for their family, and that is a big sacrifice,” said historian, genealogist, and author Hu Daughtry of Metter, who spoke at the pre-Memorial Day event. By the time she saw her boys join the Confederate Army, Elizabeth Harrelson was a widow. Her husband died in 1855, but she lived a long life. She passed away in Please see Flagpole page 13A NeeSmith, Angel Named VHS Val & Sal VHS Valedictorian Emma NeeSmith By Makaylee Randolph Staff Writer mrandolphadvance@gmail.com Vidalia High School announced Emma Nee Smith as the Class of 2023 Valedictorian and Aylin Angel as the Class of 2023 Salutatorian at the school’s annual Senior Honors Night, which was ^ 'ri- S. VHS Salutatorian Aylin Angel held on Thursday, May 18. Valedictorian Emma NeeSmith began attend ing Vidalia High School in her sophomore year, but has since made her presence known through both athletics and aca demics. NeeSmith is a well-decorated cheerlead- Please see VHS page 9A Photo by William Ledford FIRE 'N ICE - A semi-trailer loaded with ice headed for a local produce packing facility caught fire on its under carriage and burned on Ad ams Street Saturday about 7 pm. Vidalia Fire units were called to the scene to get the fire under control and the team from Cooper Towing worked into the night to dismantle the wreckage so that it could be re moved. Adams Street was closed to traffic for several hours and there were no injuries reported in the incident.