The Tifton Gazette wants to offer a round of applause to the following groups and individuals.

• Organizers and community leaders involved in planning the events for Martin Luther King Jr. Day

Local events honoring and remembering Martin Luther King Jr. and his legacy started Friday, with a Governmental Prayer Service at First Presbyterian Church.

They continued Monday morning, with a prayer breakfast at the Tift County Recreation Multipurpose Building and a commemorative service at Historic Springfield Baptist Church.

Monday afternoon a combined march and parade was held, ending downtown at the courthouse where a ceremony was held.

Nearly 49 years after his death, our country still remembers and celebrates King, his actions and his philosophy, his commitment to his ideals, even in the face of arrest and violence.

Next year will be the 50th anniversary of King’s death.

May we still be honoring him 50 years from now.

• The State Chamber of Commerce

The State Chamber of Commerce recently announced plans to open an office in Tifton.

The office is to serve as a regional hub, connecting the Atlanta-based chamber with south Georgia.

The office represents what chamber head Chris Clark calls “a renewed commitment to rural Georgia.”

Ideally, this will help the chamber connect with businesses outside of the Atlanta area, the businesses spread across Georgia’s cities, towns and rural communities.

At the same time, it’ll connect rural businesses with the chamber, with its staff, resources, knowledge and best practices.

It is tentatively scheduled to open in the second quarter of 2017.

• The Blue Devil Brigade

Tift County High’s marching band traveled to the Sugar Bowl in New Orleans, taking the field during halftime to perform in conjunction with other high schools.

Band director Curt Kimbrough spearheaded the event, taking band members not only to the Sugar Bowl, but also to explore New Orleans and Louisiana.

While band members learned a new routine to perform at the Superdome, they played their Earth, Wind & Fire halftime show on the streets of New Orleans in Jackson Square.

Kudos to Kimbrough, the band and the parents who chaperoned the trip.

• The Fitzgerald Purple Hurricane girls basketball team

For decades, Fitzgerald High had no women’s basketball team.

The girls team was shut down towards the end of the 1950s.

Administrators citied a belief that competitive basketball was harmful to women.

This put the school in the ironic position of hosting a girls basketball tournament in 1962, even though they had no team.

The team was brought back in 1978 after 20 years of being banned.

The Purple Hurricane lady’s team started this season with a nine game win streak, one that came to an end last week when they suffered their first loss of the season.

Sadly, we can’t break the space/time barrier to send our sports section back to 1958, but we can congratulate the team on a history making start and wish them well for the rest of the season.

• Tiftarea Academy

We want to offer our sympathies to the staff and students at Tiftarea Academy.

When Tiftarea Academy started back up after the winter break, they had to do so without Ron Drummonds.

Drummonds, Tiftarea Academy’s upper school principal, longtime coach and former headmaster passed away Dec. 30.

Coming up as a football coach, Drummonds worked for many schools before and after working with Tiftarea.

Drummonds came back to Tiftarea in 2015 as upper school principal and football assistant.

While he’s left us, his memory—his kindness to students, his fairness and his sharp coaching—live on and we celebrate that memory.

“I’m going to miss him,” said head softball coach Joe Barkman in an interview with the Tifton Gazette. “I already miss him.”

We at the Gazette feel the same.E