Farm aid for 22 counties

Governor Sonny Perdue announced today United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Secretary Edward T. Schafer has declared 22 eligible Georgia counties disaster areas as a result of the damage sustained from Tropical Storm Fay. The designation was sent in response to Governor Perdue’s request submitted in September.

“Agriculture is Georgia’s largest industry and the backbone of our economy,” said Governor Perdue. “I’m pleased the federal government agrees we should do everything in our power to assist farmers in counties that have been hit hard by Tropical Storm Fay.”

Based on USDA Damage Assessment Reports, farmers in 22 counties experienced enough damage to peanuts, cotton and corn crops to qualify for the disaster declaration. Eligible farmers in designated counties that meet the criteria may apply for a USDA low interest loan at their county Farm Service Agency (FSA) office. The 22 counties are listed below:

Baker, Berrien, Brantley, Brooks, Charlton, Clinch, Colquitt, Decatur, Early, Echols, Grady, Lanier, Lee, Lowndes, Miller, Mitchell, Pierce, Randolph, Seminole, Thomas, Ware and White.

25 additional counties were named as contiguous disaster counties. They are listed below:

Appling, Atkinson, Bacon, Calhoun, Camden, Clay, Coffee, Cook, Crisp, Dougherty, Glenn, Habersham, Hall, Irwin, Lumpkin, Quitman, Stewart, Sumter, Terrell, Tift, Towns, Union, Wayne, Webster, and Worth.

For more information, please visit www.fsa.usda.gov.

(Press Release from office of Governor Sonny Perdue)

Americus, Albany hospitals to merge operations

Local residents examine overturned vehicle in SRH parking lot on March 2, 2007, the morning after the tornado struck. (file/Dave Bender)

Officials at Sumter Regional Hospital in Americus have decided to lease operations to Albany's Phoebe Putney Health System.

Sumter Regional was destroyed by a tornado on March 1, 2007.

Wrecking crews demolishing Sumter Regional Hospital earlier this year. The facility was severely damaged by a twister that tore through Americus on March 1, 2007. (file/Dave Bender)

Patients have been using temporary facilities nearby, and relying on other area hospitals for more comprehensive medical services since then.

Hospital officials say Phoebe Putney will add at least $25 million dollars to rebuild SRH, and will provide core primary and emergency services, according to a report in the Albany Herald newspaper.

Both hospitals are expected to finalize the agreement by the New Year.

Click here for more GPB News coverage of the tornado, and it's effect on SRH and Americus.

Flu shots available in W. Ga.

The Columbus Department of Public Health and the West Central Health District report that they have received supplies of influenza vaccine, for the winter flu season.

The flu shots will be restricted to Georgia residents of the following counties, and will be distributed at their local health departments this coming Monday, September 22 from 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m:

Chattahoochee, Clay, Harris, Macon, Marion, Muscogee (Columbus), Quitman, Randolph, Schley, Stewart, Sumter, Talbot, Taylor, Webster.

The vaccine will be available on a walk-in basis to the general public and high-risk population for $23.00 apiece, and pneumonia vaccine will cost $14.00, according to a statement by the West Central Health District (WCHD).

The WCHD recommends vaccinations for the following high-risk populations:

• Adults age 65 years or older
• All children aged 6-23 months
• Residents of nursing homes and long-term care facilities
• Health-care workers involved in direct, hands-on, face-to-face patient care
• Pregnant women
• Children aged 6 months-18 years on chronic aspirin therapy
• Individuals who live with or care for one or more children less than 6 months of age
• Individuals with long-term health problems such as heart disease; kidney disease; lung diseases like asthma; metabolic diseases like diabetes, blood disorders like anemia; a weakened immune system caused, for example, by cancer or cancer treatment, HIV/AIDS, or steroid therapy; or certain conditions such as neuromuscular disorders that can cause breathing problems.

Click here for moore GPB News coverage of of health issues.

FEMA to cover most of Americus hospital rebuilding

Wrecking crews demolishing Sumter Regional Hospital earlier this year. The facility was severely damaged by a twister that tore through Americus on March 1, 2007. (Dave Bender/file photo)

The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA)has approved 75 percent of a $7.4 million dollar bill for rebuilding Sumter Regional Hospital in Americus, ravaged by a tornado in 2007.

The $5.5 million FEMA aid will help equip several departments, including operating rooms and cardiac care.

State and local funding is expected to cover the remainder of the cost, according to a statement from the Governor's Office.

The hospital served as the primary care facility for seven counties until it was destroyed when a twister that ripped through Americus on March first of last year.

Meanwhile, patients are using temporary facilities nearby, that opened on April 1.

Two of a series of COGIM units set up in the hospital's parking lot, which serve patients in the interim, until a permanent facility is built. (Dave Bender/file photo)

Hospital officials say they hope to break ground on a permanent structure in early 2009.

Click here for more GPB News coverage of the twister's damage to SRH and Americus.

Sumter Co. schools to curb bus service

Sumter County School buses ferrying students to classes this fall will be making fewer stops, primarily to save on gas according to the Americus Times-Recorder.

The decision, by the Sumter County Board of Education, will affect students residing no more than one and a half miles from school. State law does not subsidize fuel costs up to that distance.

The familiar yellow buses will continue on the same routes, but will not stop at locations listed here.

Sumter Co. plane crash kills three

Three people were killed late Saturday night when their private Beechcraft plane crashed shortly after takeoff from Southerfield Airport in Americus, according to local reports.

A witness said the plane nosed over and crashed, killing the three occupants, who were reported thrown from the cabin. The pilot and passengers were reportedly Alabama residents headed back after a local airshow.

Federal Aviation Administration officials opened an investigation at the crash scene on Sunday.

Sumter Regional close to full service

Sumter Regional Hospital in Americus will be back open for full-service business starting tomorrow. Since a tornado ripped through the town March 1st, 2007, the facility has been able to provide only urgent care out of tents and modular buildings. Now the hospital will be able to offer the full menu of services--surgical to inpatient--in its 76-bed facility. A permanent replacement hospital will be opened in 2010 after ground is broken in October. Last March, the storms that swept through Georgia killed nine people in Sumter, Taylor, and Baker counties--accounting for more than 210-million dollars in damage.

Official faces animal cruelty charges

Investigators have found the bones of scores of horses on land in Sumter County, South Carolina once owned by the family of a South Carolina official. Now James Trexler is charged with mistreating horses in that state as well as Georgia. Trexler is South Carolina's Assistant Agriculture Commissioner. Trexler's mother and brother have also been arrested after 30 horses were found starving at the family's land in Jefferson County, about 40 miles from Augusta.

Americus: One year since deadly twister

Wrecking crews demolish ruins of Sumter Regional Hospital, severely damaged by the storm, February, 2008. (Dave Bender)

Governor Sonny Perdue and state officials will attend memorial services in Americus today, commemorating the one-year anniversary of a tornado that devastated the town.

The F-3 twister took two lives, and left a two-mile swath of destruction through the town on the night of March first, 2007.

Then and now: Doctor's Pharmacy, Americus, in Feb., 2008, and on the morning after the storm, March 2, 2007. (Dave Bender)

Perdue will join local officials and residents in mourning their loss, but, looking to a brighter future:

An anonymous donor has given a $1 million dollar donation to reconstruction efforts at the town's Sumter Regional Hospital, destroyed by the storm.

The SRH Foundation has received close to $4 million dollars in donations and equipment, according to local reports.

COGIM units set up in the hospital's parking lot, will serve patients in the interim until a permanent facility is built. (February, 2008/Dave Bender)

A temporary, 76-bed acute-care center will serve the community until a permanent hospital is built. It is slated to open in 2010. More information is available on the Internet at http://www.sumterregional.org.

Click here for more GPB News coverage of the tornado and the reconstruction.

Teacher of the Year finalists

Ten Georgia teachers are finalists for the 2009 Georgia Teacher of the Year. The finalists were chosen from a statewide pool of 141 applicants who were selected from their school districts. The winner will be announced May 9th, and will be entered in the National Teacher of the Year competition.

This year's finalists are:

Leanne Maule
Cartersville High School

Clay Hildebrand 

Smokey Road Middle School in Coweta County

Gina Coss

Sedalia Park Charter Elementary School in Cobb County

Christopher Spraggins
Columbus High School in Muscogee County

Aletha Snowberger

Davidson Fine Arts Magnet School in Richmond County

Daniel Petritz
Conyers Middle School in Rockdale County

Tracy Wilson
Americus-Sumter County High School

David Curtis
Callaway High School in Troup County

Dwight Stafford
Performance Learning Center in Walton County

Stephanie Shelton
Washington County High School

Americus, hospital plan to rebuild from the ruins

Sumter Regional Hospital, Americus, Ga., Feb. 4, 2008. (Dave Bender)

On March first of last year, a tornado ripped through Americus, killing two and devastating the community. What did the city learn and what are their plans if such a disaster strikes again?

The force-3 twister ripped apart lives, homes, businesses and vehicles in a two-mile wide-swath of destruction. Although much of the external damage has been fixed, city and county officials are still dealing with deeper issues of planning and preparation.

Mary Ann Crowley directs the Americus chapter of Habitat for Humanity:

“These kinds of events and catastrophes in the lives of communities are not 30-minute sitcoms. They don't start and end when you want them to. You can't do the instant replay and skip the parts that you don't like.”

Crowley says that long time residents of Habitat homes damaged in the tornado faced a welter of legal and insurance issues over ownership, that only a year later have been cleared up.

Little of the physical damage is left, according to Americus Mayor Barry Blount:

"Within 69 days the community was, essentially, cleaned up. The rebuilding, reconstruction has gone on - if you ride through town, you can see new buildings have been put up in place of the buildings that have been destroyed. We do still have some structures that are still, haven't been rebuilt; there are still some issues with insurance companies...”

But the biggest issue in town is the local hospital. Sumter County Regional was destroyed by the tornado.

A new interim facility will open in March, exactly one year after the disaster. A completely new hospital is planned to open by 2010.

The hospital is holding a fundraiser – one of several. They're selling off the bricks of the original 1953 structure, after the bulldozers bring them down.

But other shocks to Sumter County's system are still not resolved.

Blount says there's still no county-wide emergency warning system. The city has turned to the Federal and Georgia Emergency Management Authorities for help:

“We've applied for some grants from FEMA and GEMA; thus far, we have not received any for an emergency warning system.”

Blount is hopeful he'll get such a system in the coming year. But one thing has changed for the better since the tornado - communication between the Police, Sheriffs Department, city and county rescue services:

“We have rectified that, so that now all the different emergency personnel can communicate with one another.”

Turning to the home front, Blount says he's told residents that first and foremost they have to get their own houses in order. That means a supply of non-perishable food, water, an evacuation plan and an emergency radio with fresh batteries.

Blount's comments echo the “YOYO-72” idea, stressing individual preparation: You're On You're On for the first 72-hours.

On February 29th, Americus is planning a commemoration of that tornado-stricken night.

Click here for more GPB News coverage of the tornado, and efforts to rebuild Americus and lives affected by the storms.

Twister-hit hospital selling bricks for new building

Destroyed vehicle in SRH parking lot. Hospital is in the background, March 2, 2007. (Dave Bender)

The hospital destroyed in a tornado that ripped through Americus nearly a year ago is for sale - one brick at a time.

Sumter Regional Hospital is selling bricks from the building ripped apart by the March 1st, 2007, storm to help pay for a new hospital. For months, doctors treated more than 5,400 patients in eight counties in tents set up near the hospital.

Since then, the facility has operated in a temporary structure.

Basic medical triage services were held in several tents like these, set up in the hospital's parking lot. March 2, 2007. (Dave Bender)

The bricks go for $25, $50 and $100 each. For more information, contact the hospital's marketing department at (229) 928-4000.

(Dave Bender)
The tornadoes killed nine people in Sumter, Taylor and Baker counties, and caused more than 210 million dollars in damage, demolishing dozens of Georgia homes and businesses.

Click here for more GPB News coverage of the twister and its aftermath.

(The Associated Press)

Rosalynn Carter, Senate president to aid Americus hospital

Local residents examine overturned vehicle in SRH parking lot the morning after the tornado struck. (Dave Bender)

Georgia Senate President Pro Tem Eric Johnson, and former First Lady Rosalynn Carter are teaming up to help Sumter Regional Hospital in Americus win a new, million-dollar MRI scanner, according to hospital officials.

The hospital used the diagnostic tool to serve thousands of area residents. But twisters that ripped through the town on March 1st destroyed the facility, ruining their existing scanner.

Officials say a new hospital is slated to open it's doors in 2010.

Americus is close to Carter's hometown, Plains.

Click here for more GPB coverage of the storm's aftermath.

Georgia + drought = No. 1 pecan state in '07

(Graphic courtesy: Old Shoe Woman)

The record drought gripping the Southeast isn't all bad news for Georgia.

The historic dry spell has meant nearly perfect weather for growing pecans, and Georgia is on pace to be the nation's top producer this year after slipping to third in 2006, said pecan horticulturist Lenny Wells with the University of Georgia's agriculture extension. Shellers are predicting Georgia will harvest more than 125 million pounds by the end of the year, he said.

The nation's two other top producers - New Mexico and Texas - are not expected to grow nearly as much, Wells said. New Mexico's predictions are for a pecan crop of 80 million pounds, and Texas is expected to have 73 million pounds, according to Wells.

Texas was the top producer in 2006, followed by New Mexico, which meant Georgia - which is usually a top producer - dropped to third. New Mexico's harvest was worth $85 million, followed by Texas at $75 million and Georgia with $66 million.

This year Georgia had a spring freeze that destroyed a few orchards close to Augusta, but the drought - combined with irrigated orchards and some August and September rains - have been kind to the pecan crop.

The larger production year means lower prices for "desirable" - the most popular variety of pecan. A pound costs $1.47-$1.67 this year, compared to $1.93-$2.18 this time last year.
The nation produced nearly 189 million pounds of pecans in 2006 from the Pecan Belt - a 15-state growing region located in the southeastern and southwestern United States. The pecan harvest is expected to begin in late November and will last about six weeks.

In a related story, the Georgia Pecan Festival took place in Rylander Park in Americus on Saturday.

Rick Whaley, president of Citizens Bank of Americus, told the Americus Times-Recorder:

"This was a community-wide effort."

Whaley said the pecan industry is important to Georgia and Sumter County, according to the report.

Perdue, Riley to meet with Interior Sec'y., White House adviser

Water Wars, Water Woes from Dave Bender on Vimeo.
YouTube version: http://youtube.com/watch?v=nASTHXpvyz8

Governor Sonny Perdue plans to meet with Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne, and Jim Connaughton, environmental quality adviser to President George Bush, on Friday to discuss the drought, according to a report citing a Governor's Office official.

The two Administration officials, in an effort to head off more acrimony between Georgia, Alabama, Florida and the Army Corps of Engineers over water usage, are to meet later in the day with Alabama Governor Bob Riley.

Riley told The Birmingham News:

''We're going to tell him that the only way all of us get through this is through a concept of shared pain."

Perdue, at a press conference on the fast-drying shores of West Point Lake on Wednesday, Oct. 24, lashed out at both the Army Corps of Engineers and Riley (see video).

The U.S. Department of Agriculture has designated Chattahoochee, Dooly, Marion, Muscogee, and Talbot counties as primary natural disaster areas, due to drought-incurred losses. Crisp, Macon, Schley, Stewart, Sumter, and Taylor counties were named contiguous disaster areas.

The decision allows farmers in both areas to apply for low-interest emergency loans from the Farm Service Agency (FSA).

Click here for more GPB News coverage of the drought.

Sumter Co: Smokey Bear goes to school

Shown: “Smokey Bear,” (Ranger Brandon Albritton) greeting students at Sumter Primary School.

For over 50 years, “Smokey Bear,” has symbolized fire safety and prevention. “Smokey” appeared at Sumter County Primary School on Friday, and warned kids about the threat of fire – especially in light of the severe drought afflicting the state.

Georgia Forest Representative, Mark Shutters, was also there, and met with re-K students at Sumter Primary, shared Georgia fire statistics and screened a short video aimed at instilling fire prevention.

"The tragic fire in South Georgia and Florida, in the Okefenokee Swamp, burned over 600,000 acres, 500,000 of these acres were in Georgia. This was started from a careless spark and this event should make us all more aware of fire prevention," Shutters said.

Click the links for more GPB News reports about wildfires and the drought.

Americus hospital rises from rubble

Construction workers at Sumter Regional Hospital in Americus, ravaged by a twister on March 1st, have erected the first of a series of COGIM temporary facilities.

COGIM unit. (Photo courtesy of The Americus Times-Recorder)

The 70,000-sq. ft. facility will hold 76-beds, and be fully functional, hospital officials say.

Federal and state organizations, donors and local volunteer groups been active in caring for SRH patients in the interim, as the construction continues.

SRH the day after the tornado struck. (Dave Bender)

Click here for more GPB News coverage of the tornado and the aftermath.

Sumter Co.: Chicago firm mulling $30M plant

A Chicago food-processing firm may relocate to the Sumter Co. area, according to The Americus-Sumter County Industrial Development Authority (IDA).

IDA Executive Director David Garriga told reporters that the deal could mean several hundred jobs and a possible $30 million investment in the next few years. Garriga made the announcement at the group's meeting on Monday.

$28M for tornado recovery

Georgia will have access to $28-million state and federal relief funds to help recover from March tornadoes. Today Governor Sonny Perdue announced the money for eligible people and communities in Sumter and surrounding counties in southeast Georgia. 15 counties hit by tornadoes March 1st received a Presidential Disaster Declaration. One tornado destroyed Sumter Regional Hospital in Americus. Nine people died in the storms.

Click here for a breakdown of where the aid is going, and more GPB coverage of the twisters that swept through southwest Georgia.

FEMA: breakdown of GA emergency aid

The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) reports that $27,968,851 million in federal and state assistance has been approved by their organization and the Georgia Emergency Management Agency (GEMA) to help eligible individuals, communities and counties recover from the March 1st twister and other storms that have ripped through Georgia.

Counties affected or aided include Baker, Clay, Crawford, Hancock, McDuffie, Mitchell, Muscogee, Stewart, Sumter, Taylor, Warren, Webster and Wilkinson counties, according to FEMA's latest update. Federal aid approved as of August 29, 2007 includes:

• $1,323,054 in disaster assistance has been approved through the Individuals and Households Program:
  
  
• $875,520 has been approved for Housing Assistance. This includes temporary disaster housing and help in restoring uninsured homes that were made unsafe, unsanitary or non-functional.
• $447,534 in disaster assistance has been approved for Other Needs Assistance (ONA). ONA awards are for disaster-related necessary expenses and serious needs such as medical or dental expenses; funeral expenses; moving and storage; transportation costs; and the repair or replacement of household appliances, clothing and necessary educational materials.
  
  
• $9,599,900 in loans has been approved by the SBA for homeowners, renters and businesses:
• $5,588,300 in loans for homeowners and renters.
• $4,011,600 in business loans.
• $93,235 in Disaster Unemployment Insurance has been disbursed.
• $16,952,662.23 in Public Assistance funds has been obligated.
• $ 2,463,344.34 state obligated
• $14,489,317.89 FEMA obligated

A county-by-county summary of Individual and Household Program assistance follows:

Georgia Tornado and Severe Storms Recovery
Individual and Household Program: HA - Housing Assistance ONA - Other Needs Assistance as of 8/29/07
County	HA Amount	ONA Amount	Total Individual Assistance
Baker	$120,988.24	$54,715.43	$175,703.67
Crawford	$29,255.99	$4,391.52	$33,647.51
Dougherty	$58,042.16	$1,711.86	$59,754.02
McDuffie	$67,617.17	$47,142.07	$114,759.24
Mitchell	$66,045.05	$3,104.73	$69,149.78
Sumter	$313,717.04	$303,929.71	$617,646.75
Taylor	$34,449.02	$11,756.77	$46,205.79
Warren	$80,365.47	$350.00	$80,715.47
Worth	$105,039.80	$20,432.09	$125,471.89
TOTAL	$875,519.94	$447,534.18	$1,323,054.12

More GPB News coverage of FEMA/GEMA funding, and where much of it is went is here.