Newspaper Page Text
Inside
.week
The Vidalia Advance Established 1901
Touch-A-Truck
See Page 4A
The Lyons Progress Established 1894
Your Newspaper - Toombs, Montgomery & Wheeler County, Georgia
75$ August 16, 2023
A rich man is
nothing but a
poor man with
money.
-W. C. Fields
News
BYTES
Elder Fraud
Forum
Altamaha Bank &
Trust is holding an El
der Fraud Forum
Lunch & Learn to ed
ucate the public on
protecting them
selves and loved
ones from common
scams targeting se
nior citizens. This
event will be held at
the Vidalia Commu
nity Center on Thurs
day, September 7.
Lunch will be served
at 11:00 a.m„ and
the forum will begin
at 11:30 a.m. To reg
ister, call Valerie
McLendon at (912)
537-6624.
Lyons
Community
Clean Up
The City of Lyons will
host a community
clean up event from
9 a.m. until 12 p.m.
on Saturday, Sep
tember 9. All supplies
and lunch will be
provided to volun
teers. The event will
begin at Partin Park
and will run through
out the city. To sign
up as a volunteer,
call (912) 526-3626.
Warm Feet
for Warriors
1st Franklin Financial
will be accepting all
colors and sizes of
new socks in original
packaging for U.S.
troops and veterans
until November 30.
These socks may be
dropped off at any
surrounding area lo
cation of 1st Franklin
Financial, including
the Vidalia office,
which is located at
1100 East First Street.
IN THIS ISSUE
Editorials Page 6A
Obituaries Page 8A
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!
Tuesday Storm Ravages Area
By Makaylee Randolph
Staff Writer
mrandolphadvance@gmail. com
Many were left with
out power on Tuesday
August 8, as a storm
ripped through the area,
causing damage to trees
and power lines across
several counties.
According to Geor
gia Power Local Manager
Eric Smith, a total of 109
events caused interrup
tions of 2,600 customers’
power services. “Outages
were caused by lightning
and downed trees due to
wind,” he remarked. “We
utilized all of our on-sys
tem contractors as well
as some contractors we
pulled from Florida to re
store all customers - with
the exception of those
who had entrance cable
damage needing an elec
trician to make repairs -
within 24 hours.”
Altamaha EMC re
ported similar occurrenc
es, citing a total of 8,551
members across over
6,000 meters without
power. Through the uti
lization of lineman from
three other EMCs within
DESTRUCTIVE WINDS - Winds whipped through the area during the storm on
Tuesday, August 8, as trees, power poles, and power lines were scattered across
roads and properties.
contract crews, power
was restored within 48
hours. The Coopera
tive issued a statement
regarding the event,
stating, “It takes three
to four hours to re
place one broken pole.
We had every available
lineman in the field
working to restore out
ages. We also had all
contract crews work
ing to aid in restoration
efforts.”
D owned trees were
reported across road
ways in Normantown,
Lyons, and Vidalia, in
cluding Highway 297,
West 6th Street, Old
Normantown Road,
Adams Street, Currie
Street, Meadows Lane,
North Cheney Street,
East 5th Street, Bay
Street, McDilda Street,
West Oglethorpe Av
enue, McSwain Drive,
Morningside Drive,
Sharon Drive, Larry
Street, and more.
Crews contin
ued to clean up debris
Please see Storm page
3A
the state and three
Congressman Allen Promotes
Literacy Within the Area
MORE
Of WHIT.
MIKES
YOU
§
J nAN* 1 --'
■9 vn/ls'H,
3, J
g unW fifral
ENCOURAGING LITERACY - U.S. Congressman Rick Allen emphasized the importance of
literacy and early education at Montgomery County Elementary School during his visit
on August 9. L to R: Congressman Rick Allen, Principal Eric Burns, A'Niyah Banks, Caylee
Adams, Isaac Serrano, Michael Nobles, Assistant Principal Candace Keen, Kinley Cook,
Carter Rodgers, Instructional Coach Emily Cartwright, Pre-K Director Leigh Anne Helms,
Media Center Paraprofessional Ada Powell, Media Specialist Haley McKie, Assistant Su
perintendent Beverly Faircloth.
By Makaylee Randolph
Staff Writer
mrandolphadvance@gmail.com
U.S. Congressman Rick
Allen visited Montgomery
County Elementary School
and Lyons Primary School
on Wednesday, August 9, to
donate books to the schools
from the Library of Con
gress.
“This is something
we do throughout our
district,” Allen explained.
“The Library of Congress
receives multiple copies of
every book published in the
country. They keep those
Please see Allen page 5A
Toombs
Implements
911 Text
Service
Courtesy of Toombs
County Sheriff’s Office
The Toombs County Sheriff’s Of
fice has implemented a new text system
to help aid those in emergency situa
tions where a phone call is not the safest
option.
The Text to 911 computer system
was recently upgraded and allows 911
Dispatch to utilize the app Texty, which
allows citizens to send a text message
through all mobile providers to 911
dispatch and allows the dispatchers to
text back. Also, 911 Dispatchers may re
spond to a 911 hang up call through text.
The text will always begin with “Toombs
County 911” then the message. No app
is needed to utilize the service.
Captain Jordan Right commented
on the system. “It is very important for
citizens to understand that texting 911
is only practical when a voice call would
endanger the person calling 911,” he ex
plained. “As with anything, we are sure
that at some point ‘scammers’ will at-
Please see TCSO page 3A
MoCo Mistake Rolls Millage Rate Back
By Makaylee Randolph
Staff Writer
mrandolphadvance@gmail.com
A mistake in the PT32 form, which
helps to calculate the county millage rate,
has caused the Montgomery County Com
missioners to agree to roll back the millage
rate, which cancels the tax increase previ
ously proposed.
Montgomery County Tax Commission
er Loretta Lane addressed the Montgomery
County Commission to inform them of a
mistake made in the form, which caused the
millage rate calculations to be incorrect. “I
let them know of the mistake so that plans
could be made to correct the issue,” she
commented on the situation.
According to County Manager Bran
don Braddy, the mistake came when the
2021 millage rate was used in place of the
2022 millage rate for this year’s calculations,
which caused some of the values on the
Property Tax Digest and Five Year History
of Levy Notice to be incorrect. “After finding
this mistake, we realized that accepting the
rollback rate would generate an additional
$40,000 than what we previously thought,”
Please see MoCo page 2A