Editorial: Round of applause

Published 2:00 pm Friday, April 26, 2019

The Tifton Gazette offers a round of applause to individuals and organizations doing good things in our community.

Tift County Fire/Rescue

Tift County Fire/Rescue and the American Red Cross recently partnered for Sound the Alarm.

TCFR staff and the Red Cross were joined by volunteers in distributing home fire alarms door-to-door.

Firefighters also worked with residents to develop an emergency plan and exit strategy in the event of a fire.

People who need smoke alarms can contact TCFR at 229-388-6051.

To paraphrase an old saying, an ounce of fire prevention is worth a pound of cure. We thank the TCFR and Red Cross for their efforts.

Weeks Honey Farm

Weeks Honey Farm in Omega was recently held up as a success story for the Small Business Administration and United States Department of Agriculture’s program.

Representatives and officials from the SBA and the USDA were visiting South Georgia for a SBA “Rural Strong” workshop. They stopped in for a tour of Weeks Honey Farm, which utilized the SBA and USDA’s resources to grow the business.

Company president Ray Crosby said that when he was looking to grow his business, he was unable to secure loans via typical lending institutions. He was directed to the SBA and USDA small business programs, which helped him secure funding.

The farm both harvests their own local honey and bottles honey from other small-time beekeepers.

The family business has been running for 59 years through four generations. It began with two hives kept as a hobby and grew to where it is now: 5,000 hives and products sold nationwide.

As a country, as a state and as a community, we depend on our small businesses. They are the backbone of the United States. We congratulate Weeks Honey Farm on their success.

Tifton Fire Department Firefighters

Firefighter Shannon Jimenez and Lieutenant Chris Thomas from the Tifton Fire Department recently attended the Deep South Fire Training Conference in Birmingham Ala. on Mar. 28-30.

The conference drew in firefighters from all over the south for presentations and hands-on training.

Jimenez said that conferences like this are a relatively new way to teach firefighters and that going to different places and learning other techniques is invaluable.

Thomas said that running as many calls as larger companies, like in metropolitan areas, run gives those firefighters a special set of skills. Attending conferences allows them to share those skills with others, and allows smaller companies, like the TFD, to pick up tricks of the trade.

We applaud the firefighters for attending and bringing that training back to share.

Ambus Powell

Surrounded by his friends, family and teammates, Ambus Powell signed a shotgun team scholarship with Emmanuel College recently at Tiftarea Academy.

Ambus has been on the shotgun team for five years, four of those years with his dad, James Powell, as his coach.

While on the team, Ambus has been the reigning 4-H National Champion for four years and an All-State team member for four years, as well as a two-time All State member of the Scholastic Clay Target Program.

We congratulate him on his accomplishments and wish him well for the future.