Newspaper Page Text
Wednesday, February 28, 2024
ASHBURN,GA, 31714
VOL 109 - No. 9 • 750
www.thewiregrassfarmer.com
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Tags due by
April 30
Vehicle tags are due April
30. Please have your tag
number or vehicle identifi
cation number and proof of
insurance when you come to
renew your tag. You can
come in anytime during our
working ours. You can also
renew your tag online by
visiting: www.eservices.dri-
ves.ga.gov .
Firearm and
driver safety
class
Turner County Sheriffs
Office will have a Public
Firearm Class March 16
from 9am until. To register
or if you have any questions
regarding the training, call
229-567-2401. Registration
ends Thursday March 14,
2024, or when the maxi
mum limit is reached.
TCSO will also have a Pub
lic Driver Safety Class
March 30 from 9am until.
To register or if you have
any questions regarding the
training, call 229-567-2401.
Registration ends Thursday
March 28, 2024, or when
the maximum limit is
reached.
Food & books
Feb. 6th-March 12th on
each Tuesday from 5:30-7
p.m.Victoria Evans Memo
rial Library will host a
Prime Time Family Reading
Series for families with chil
dren 6-10. A nutritious meal
will be served and free
transportation is available.
Two free books will be
given to each family and
door prizes will be given!
Registration cards for the
program are available at
Turner County Elementary
School and Victoria Evans
Memorial Library.
Obituaries
Clifford Evan Free, 82,
Ashbum
Odin Dunbar, Ashbum
Complete obituary
information Page 5
V J
HOMETOWN NEWS SINCE 1902
Food bank gives out 147 tons
In 2023, the Shepherd’s
Pantry Food Bank
handed out 295,094
pounds of food.
That comes to 147.5 tons of
food. A semi’s max load is
around 48,000 pounds or 24
tons .That works out to just a
bit more than 6 semi loads of
food given away by the food
bank in 2023.
“We are so grateful we are
able to do this,” said Diane
Saylor, food bank director.
“We appreciate everyone who
helps and we want to do even
more.”
All this food was free and
comes from the Feeding South
Georgia food bank warehouse
program based in Valdosta.
The giveaway includes food
for the Backpack Buddies pro
gram. Backpack Buddies sends
food home with little kids on
the weekend during the school
year. This school year 107 chil
dren are signed up in the pro
gram.
“No one working here is
paid. We spend our own
money for gas, oil and other
vehicle expenses to go to
Tifton every week and
Thomasville periodically to get
food,” said Ben Baker, food
bank director.
Donations are appreciated.
While a lot of the food handed
out here comes to Shepherd’s
pantry at no cost, the food bank
does buy some food.
With more donations, the
food bank could buy even
more food to give away.
Money works better than
donating food. The cost per
item at the food bank ware
house in Tifton is much lower
than what you spend to buy the
same food in the grocery story.
Donations are tax de
ductible and the food bank will
(See FOOD Page 2)
Glenda Dawsey (I) and Patricia Harris. Mrs. Dawsey
was thanked for contributions to the BackPack Buddie
program.
Andrea Pierce (I) and Patricia Harris. Mrs. Pierce was
thanked for contributions to the BackPack Buddie pro
gram.
See all local board meetings on YouTube @TheWiregrass Farmer
Sturdevan to compete for Ms. ABAC title on Feb. 29
Wyleigh Rose Sturde
van, a biology major
from Rebecca at ABAC,
is one of 20 young
ladies competing for the
Ms. ABAC contest on
Thursday, February 29.
The event, which is spon
sored by the ABAC
Agripreneurs, begins at 7 p.m.
in ABAC’S Howard Audito
rium. Admission is $10, and
advance ticket purchase is ad
vised because of limited seat
ing. Tickets can be purchased
from any Agripreneurs officer
in Donaldson Dining Hall the
week of the event.
"Being involved in this
long-standing tradition is a
highlight of each year,” said
Dr. Audrey Luke-Morgan, as
sociate professor of agribusi
ness at ABAC.
2024 MS. ABAC contestants
“This is the 12th Ms. ABAC
pageant I have directed, and
each group of young adults
brings something new and dif
ferent to the experience. From
planning and organizing the
pageant as an Agripreneurs’
member to competing as one
of the twenty fabulous contest
ants, each individual has the
opportunity to learn and grow
from the experience. It takes a
lot of hard work, but everyone
has fun through the process.”
Contestants will compete in
casual and evening wear and
will be judged on a written
essay and interview with the
judges. The top 10 contestants
will answer a question on
stage.
Sexually transmitted disease on the rise in Turner
Sexually transmitted dis
eases (STD or STI) are on the
rise in Turner County.
Health Department reports
from 2018-2022, '22 being the
most recent year-long stats
available, show Chlamydia,
Gonorrhea infections rose over
that time, and Syphilis infec
tions saw far fewer cases, but
still had arise.
HIT HARDEST
STDs hit the Black commu
nity more than any other race
group in Turner County. Cen
sus data shows Turner County
has 39.5% Black people and
57.4% White people.
Of the 673 reported cases
from 2016-2022 where the per
son's race is identified, 555
were identified as Black peo
ple. According to that, 82% of
Turner
reported infections
were in Black people.
About 16% were in
White people.
In Turner County,
women are also far more likely
to have an STD, at least one
that is reported. In Turner
County, females accounted for
488 of the cases in 2016-2022,
and men accounted for 262 of
the cases.
From 2016-2022, Turner
County saw 11 STDs reported
in the Hispanic community
from 2016-2022, but the state
did not say which year these
were reported.
Also, the state reports do
not break down infections by
age group.
EDUCATION
Education, teaching people
2018-2022
Chlamydia
43
91
71
97
74
Gonorrhea
16
21
28
57
34
Syphilis
2
7
7
6
4
about safe sex and how to
avoid infections and what to do
if infected is the key to slowing
STD rates.
"We are proud to offer STI
testing within ah of our health
departments. These services
are available on a sliding fee
scale. We also offer free con
doms within ah of the health
departments as well as by mail
a t
www.southhealthdistrict.com/f
reecondoms. Our HIV preven
tion program as well as several
of our health departments
share information at commu
nity events to encourage safe
sex practices and the impor
tance of knowing your status.
Our priority and focus is en
couraging people to get tested
so they know their STI status
as well as asking the status of
your partner and always using
protection. Anyone who is
practicing risky behaviors
should be tested regularly to
ensure they are current on their
STI status and should always
use protection," said Kristin
Patten, public information of
ficer for the health district.
School Superintendent
Craig Matthews said health ed
classes in the school system
discuss STDs, transmission
(See STD Page 2)
Hisfor
Month' 1
Albert Murray
CNN lists Albert Murray
as one of the most impor
tant thinkers of the 20th
century.
A profilic
writer, Mr.
Murray was
most noted for
his musings on
race, commen
tary that stated
the facts as he Murray
saw them and paid little heed
to what others thought. He se
riously launched his career as
a writer in 1962 while living in
New York.
“The United States is not a
nation of black and white peo
ple,” Mr. Murray wrote. “Any
fool can see that white people
are not really white, and that
black people are not black.” He
also refused to identify himself
as anything but an American, a
definition of himself that con
tinued until his death in 2013.
A report at Tuskegee Uni
versity says, “In his writing,
Murray presents an authentic
analysis of African American
life as he has known and lived
it. As he does so, he neither ig
nores nor apologizes for the
negative elements in the com
munity that cause people to de
fine African Americans as
social problems —elements
such as the poverty and crime
resulting from a long tradition
of slavery, segregation, dis
crimination, and racism. But
he does strongly challenge the
negative, oversimplified im
ages that both blacks and
whites represent as the com
mon experience of ah African
Americans. Murray insists on
portraying and celebrating the
positive, nurturing qualities of
African American life and the
complexity of the culture.”
His obituary in The
Guardian, a newspaper pub
lished in Great Britain, said,
“The writings of Albert Mur
ray, who has died aged 97, ex
pressed his impatience with the
modern stereotype of the
African American as victim.
Murray was equally suspicious
of the chic status sometimes
bestowed on black people and
black culture by mainstream
white society. In fact, Murray,
who did not publish his first
book until he was 54, disliked
even the frequently shifting
terminology. “I am not
African,” he said. “I am an
American.”
(See MURRAY Page 2)
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THE WIREGRASS
FARMER
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Ashburn
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Generosity is giving more than you can, and pride is taking less than you need. - Khalil Gibran • Remember the happiest people are not those getting more
but those giving more. - H. Jackson Brown, Jr.
