Newspaper Page Text
So what is Turner County Connections?
Let Greg Millette explain, Page 3
™ E Wiregrass Farmer
Serving Turner County Since 1902
Wednesday, January 21,2015
ASHBURN,GA, 31714
VOL 109 - No. 3 • 500
www.thewiregrassfarmer.com
{Around Town\
Subscribe to
The Wiregrass
Farmer
Delivered in your
mail every week
Call 567-3655 for
information.
Donations
For various reasons dur
ing the school year, TCES
has children who need
clothing. In order to help
meet their needs, we are
seeking donations of gen-
tly-used jeans or pants,
shirts, and jackets (chil
dren’s sizes 4T-14) and gen-
tly-used shoes. We also
need new socks and under
wear to fit students in
kindergarten through fifth
grade. Any donations of
clothing may be dropped
off at TCES between 8:30
and 2:30 each day. Keeping
children in school and suc
cessful benefits them today
and our community and
their futures tomorrow.
Call TCES at 567-2461 if
you have any questions.
We appreciate your support.
Archery Range
Turner Co. Rec. Dept.
Archery Range will be open
the 1st and 3rd Saturdays
Feb., March and April. 1st
Saturday in May, 1st and
3rd Saturday in Aug. and
1st Saturday in Sept. Times
will be from 9am-2pm. For
more info please call Mike
Coker at 229-567-5223.
Rec basketball
signups
The Turner County Rec.
Dept, will be signing up for
basketball Jan. 20-23 and
Jan. 26-30 from 4:30-6pm
at the old gym at Special
Services School. Boys and
girls ages 4-14 can sign up
at a cost of $25 per child.
For more info call Mike
Coker, 229-567-5223.
Obituaries
Herbert Roger Ireland, 91,
Ashbum
Rayford Carroll Page, 74,
Ashbum
Jewel Victoria Beard
Courtoy, 92, Tifton
Jesse Collum Vincent,
Mississippi
Complete obituary
mformation is on Page 5 ^
Shop local
Put local people
to work and keep
your tax dollars
at work at home.
Explanation falls short
Even the state is not sure what’s going to happen
by Ben Baker
Editor
A promised explanation of
the three types of school sys
tems the Board of Education
can have didn’t quite material
ize as promised.
At the workshop meeting
earlier this month, the School
Board was promised a visit
from a state Department of Ed
ucation employee who’d ex
plain: Status Quo; IE Squared
and Charter Schools.
Instead, DOE representative
Bobby Smith came back for
the regular meeting and spent
his presentation explaining re
cent test scores. He did say ex
plaining the three options was
not really something he could
“Nobody knows. I don’t think the Legisla
ture knows what they are going to do.
Sam Brown
Turner County schools earn overall
passing marks on test scores. Only
a few areas slipped.
do because the state is contin
uing to change what each one
of the three school systems are
and what is required.
“Nobody knows. I don’t
think the Legislature knows
what they are going to do,”
said then BOE-chairman Sam
Brown.
Add to that, whatever is de
cided is going to change as
time goes on. Mr. Smith said
the educational system
changes regularly. Changes are
inline right now. The Criterion
Referenced Competency Test
(CRCT) is being replaced with
other tests. Mr. Brown said
these new tests are still setting
benchmarks. Then, goals can
be set.
STRATEGIC PLAN
He started his speech with a
(See SCHOOL Page 2)
ROCK, PAPER, SCISSORS
The Fellowship of Christian Athletes met last week and prior to the guest speaker,
played games. The above is a version of Rock, Paper Scissors except it is Ape, Man,
Gun. Gun beats Ape. Ape beats Man. Man beats Gun. The ABAC Baptist Campus
Ministries staged the games for the students, The FCA meeting had a spaghetti meal
sponsored by Bethel Baptist Church, Christian Union Church of God, God’s Ministries
of Hope, Rocky Mount and New Providence. Derrick Moore, chaplain for the Georgia
Tech football team was the guest speaker.
Hospital says rank due to records
Tift Regional is listed one of
several Georgia hospitals that
will lose one percent of
Medicare payments for this
year.
According to Medicare re
ports and a summary published
on Kaiser Health News, the
federal agency “evaluated
three types of HACs (hospital-
acquired conditions).”
“The decision by Medicare
to lower payments to Tift Re
gional Medical Center
(TRMC) is based on older
quality data and the hospital is
meeting key performance stan
dards,” hospital officials said
in a press release.
“Medicare based the reim
bursement penalty on data
Our issue during that period was more about
documentation than it was actual care. Since
that time, we have made significant improve
ments in coding and the classification of a
patient’s admission type. Mindy McStott, rn
being best to 10 being worst.
TRMC scored an 8 on serious
complications defined as eight
from July 2011 to June 2013,”
said Mindy McStott, RN,
TRMC vice president of qual
ity management. “Our issue
during that period was more
about documentation than it
was actual care. Since that
time, we have made significant
improvements in coding and
the classification of a patient’s
admission type.”
The Medicare report gives
TRMC a 7.35 overall score out
of 10. The ranking goes from 1
types of injuries, including
blood clots, bed sores and
falls.” The hospital scored a 7
on central-line associated
bloodstream infections, and 7
on catheter-associated urinary
tract infections.
Across the nation, a few
hospitals scored a 1 across the
board and a few also scored a
10. (See MONEY Page 2)
Week of activities
for 20th annual FAF
21 - Laser light & DJ
22 - Always Patsy Cline
23 - The Gong Show
24 - Bingo
25 - no event
26 - Parade
27-28 - FAF!
Need more info?
Call 567-3436,
567-3655 or
567-9696.
FAF meeting
Noon, Wednesday
(Jan. 21) at
Shoney’s. You are
invited to attend.
This year’s Fire Ant
Festival will have a
week’s worth of activities
to celebrate the 20th year
of the event.
The festival is March
21-28 with the main event
being March 27 and 28.
Nick McClellan will
bring a DJ and laser light
show to town Saturday,
March 21. The FAF has
had this show once before
and it proved to be a big
hit with younger people.
This is free.
Always Patsy Cline, a
tribute to the late Country
music legend by Jennifer
Varnadoe will be Sunday,
March 22 at 2:30 p.m. at
the Civic Center. The
show is a joint presenta
tion by the Turner County
Arts Council and the FAF.
Blocks of tickets are being
sold for $100 for $10. Tickets at the door are $12.
Does Turner County have talent? A local edition of The Gong
Show will let people put that to the test on Monday, March 23. A
grand prize will be announced. Anyone interested in entering may
call 567-34-36 or 567-3655. The Gong Show will be at the Civic
Center. Tickets at the door the night of the show.
On Tuesday, March 24, the FAF will host a Bingo tournament
at the High School cafeteria. $5 gets you a bingo card, drink,
sandwich and chips. Additional cards are $1.
Nothing is planned for Wednesday.
The FAF will have a parade on Thursday, March 26. The route
will be the same as taken by the Annual Christmas parade.
There’s no charge to have an entry in the parade. To enter the pa
rade call 567-3436 or 567-3655.
Friday the Festival properly kicks off on E. College, Heritage
Park and Turner County Elementary School. Among the new
items for this year is a 300-foot zip line. We’ll have more details
in the coming weeks.
To be a vendor at this year’s FAF, call 567-3436. This year,
ALL food vendors must be inspected by the Health Department.
Anyone selling food without a Health Department report will be
shut down and possibly fined.
The FAF committee is now meeting regularly to plan this
year’s event. Everyone is invited to be a part of the committee.
For more information call 567-9696,567-3655 or 567-3436.
Sat
AM Rain
Sun
1*4
Partly Cloudy
T77T
40%
51
j£W 40
10%
it ©
This space available.
Every week.
Call Linda at 567-3655
The philosophy of the school room in one generation will be the philosophy of government in the next.
Abraham Lincoln
