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7momma 1 AWARENESS See Healthlines 4A -MMH- The Florida Slavery Smear See page 7 A The Vidalia Advance Established 1901 The Lyons Progress Established 1894 ncc Vol. 126 No. 32 Your Newspaper - Toombs, Montgomery & Wheeler County, Georgia 75$ August 9, 2023 “A long habit of not thinking a thing wrong gives it a superficial appearance of being right.” -Thomas Paine News BYTES Touch A Truck Downtown Event This month's Sweet Saturday event, lo cated in Downtown Vidalia, will feature the opportunity to "Touch A Truck," al lowing children and the public to learn more about the jobs in our community. This event will be held from 11 a.m. un til 3 p.m. on Satur day, August 12. For more information, call the Downtown Vidalia Association at (912) 537-7661. Higgston On the Grow By Makaylee Randolph Staff Writer mrandolphadvance@gmail. com The Higgston City Park is getting a facelift after the Mayor and City Council’s dis covery that restrictions on the use of American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds have been relaxed. These renovations to the park began on Saturday Au gust 5, as the members of the Sons of Confederate Veterans Battleground Guard Troop 5/Robert A. Toombs Camp 932 of Higgston and Rising Sons Troop 5 Squad of Dublin volunteered their time to as semble and install new pieces of playground equipment at the park. According to Mayor Jesse Ledford, this new equip ment was the beginning of a series of improvements to the City Park which will be fund ed with leftover ARPA money. “The government started broadening criteria of what Please see Higgston page 3A K 5LTTW Photo by Makaylee Randolph GROUP EFFORT - Volunteers from the Sons of Confederate Veterans Battleground Guard Troop 5/Rob ert A. Toombs Camp 932 of Higgston and Rising Sons Troop 5 Squad of Dublin came together on Sat urday to assemble and install the new playground equipment at Higgston City Park. Kneeling, L to R: Nathan Coursey, London Johnson. Standing, Lto R: Mayor Jesse Ledford, Laine Ledford, Michael Tap- ley, City Councilman Ed Wonn, John Bridges, Kenny Williamson, Steve-O Powell, Billy Lee, Jason Aldrich, Daryl Hill, Bill Wood, Jeremy Powell. The Wizard of Oz Franklinia Playhouse will perform their ren dition of The Wizard of Oz at Southeast ern Technical Col lege at 7 p.m. on Au gust 10-11, and 5 p.m. on August 12. Tickets are available online at the Franklinia Playhouse website or at the door. For more infor mation, call (912) 293-5060. Grief Support First Baptist Vidalia and Community Hos pice are partnering to provide Grief- Share, a grief support group. Meetings will begin on Tuesday, August 15, at 5:30 p.m., at First Baptist Church, 107 E. Sec ond St., Vidalia. Ev eryone is invited to attend. For more in formation, contact JaLayne Coleman at 912-537-0063 orja- laynecoleman@ gmail.com. 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 IMV Call 537-3131 (or delivery! MoCo Commission Proposes Tax Increase By Makaylee Randolph Staff Writer mrandolphadvance@gmail. com The Montgomery County Commission has proposed to increase the county’s millage rate by 0.50 mills, which will in crease property taxes by 3.41%, and will make the new millage rate 15.160 mills. This proposed millage rate will create a $25.00 increase for a home with a fair market value of $125,000, and $10.00 for non-homestead property with a fair market value of $50,000. According to the County’s 5-Year History of Levy, this tax increase is the smallest increase since 2019, as taxes raised 3.88% in 2020, 4.78% in 2021, and 5.84% in 2022. This pro posed millage rate will generate $99,782 more net tax funding than last year, creating a total levy of $3,193,688. This decision was made after commissioners met on Thursday, August 3, in a called Please see MoCo page 3A Toombs County Returns Grand fury Indictments UNIFIED APPROACH - Several offi cers and deputies from the Lyons Police Department and Toombs County Sheriff's Office worked to gether to locate and apprehend the armed robbery suspect. Kenny Battle By Makaylee Randolph Staff Writer mrandolphadvance@gmail. com The Toombs County Grand Jury met on Thursday, August 3, and returned 21 true bills to the Toombs County Superior Court, including the indictments of Kerri Samples Monroe and Kenny Peardell Battle. Monroe was indicted on five counts of insurance fraud, as the Georgia State Board of Worker’s Compensation argues that Monroe fraudulently issued fake certificates of Worker’s Compensation insur ance to five businesses. Monroe, who previously owned and oper ated The Monroe Agency, was first arrested on July 25, 2022, on five counts of felony identity fraud and seven counts of felony reporting and dispositions of premiums after the Toombs County Sheriff’s Of fice investigated a formal criminal complaint for fraud and theft filed against her on May 11, 2022. The Toombs County Sheriff’s Office was assisted in this investiga tion by the Office of the Commis sioner of Insurance and Fire Safety and the Georgia State Board of Worker’s Compensation. The next step in the legal procedure will be Please see Indictments page 5A Lothridge Named Head ofRTCA Courtesy of Robert Toombs Christian Academy Robert Toombs Christian Academy for mally announced the naming of Mike Loth ridge as the new Head of School. Previously, Assistant Head of School Lindsey Moore acted in conjunc tion with the Robert Toombs Christian Acad emy Board of Directors as the school’s admin istrative leader after the resignation of former Headmaster Travis Ab- sher. During that time, the Board accepted ap plications for new head- Mike Lothridge masters until the position was filled. Having earned his Educational Specialist and Master’s Degree in Educational Leadership from Georgia Southern University, Lothridge is a veteran educator who has served in many lead ership positions. These leadership roles helped him to cultivate the skills necessary to serve as a Georgia Independent School educational lead er. In a formal statement, Robert Toombs Chris tian Academy shared that it is Lothridge’s experi- Please see RTCA page 3A