For 100 years a 50-acre, bamboo-studded tract of U.S. Highway 17 outside of Savannah has been attracting plant enthusiasts, scientists and day-trippers to the southeast corner of Georgia. As it enters its second century, the land, recently renamed the Coastal Georgia Botanical Garden at the Historic Bamboo Farm, is poised to take on a new role — as a cultural and educational center for Georgia’s oldest city and the entire region. “Our goal is to build the premier garden on the I-95 corridor between those located in Miami, Fla. and Richmond, Va.,” said Norman Winter, who took over as director of the gardens this fall. “We want a place where people can come out and walk through an incredibly beautiful picture of nature while getting inspired about their home landscape.” “The garden will truly become a place to escape the every-day stresses of life, whether it is by watching the flight of the hummingbird or butterfly feasting on nectar rich flowers or sitting on a great lawn and listening to a jazz concert. “UGA Extension has operated the garden as a research station and public outreach center since 1983. In the last few years, a dedicated and vocal group of local supporters have worked to help the garden expand the learning and civic opportunities located there. There are plans and funding to build a new formal garden, a model of the original Trustees Garden in downtown Savannah, a grand lawn and band shell and — as a centerpiece — a new 5,000 square foot visitor education center. The garden’s staff and supporters broke ground on the Andrews Visitor and Education Center on Nov. 24, and plan to have the building done in November or December, 2014. “Today we’re opening a new chapter in our mission to provide education, public outreach and applied research in horticultural and environmental sciences,” said Alan Beals, president of Friends of the Coastal Gardens, at the recent ground breaking. “The impact of this center in fulfilling this mission will be considerable. In the foremost, the center will provide new educational opportunities for people throughout this community and throughout the region … We can expect these gardens to achieve the status of a premiere destination.” The center funded by Savannah couple Jim and Barbara Andrews will include a large community room, a gift shop, a large terrace leading to the formal garden and a media room for documentary screenings. The new education and visitors’ center will increase the number of events the garden will be able to host and help draw new visitors to the museum. While the gardens are going through their metamorphosis over the next few years, their facilities will still be open to the public for summer camps, regular gardening workshops, educational tours and special events. Along with new buildings and plantings, the garden will also see an increase in funding for maintenance and operations from the University of Georgia College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, which administers UGA Extension programs across the state. Horticultural landmarks at the gardens — including the Judge Arthur Solomon Camellia Trail, the water garden, the Dwarf Palmetto and Palm Collections, the rose and cottage gardens, the orchid and bearded iris collections and the bamboo stands — will still be open. To find out more about the Coastal Georgia Botanical Gardens at the Historic Bamboo Farm or how to help the facility into its next chapter, visit their website http://www.coastalgeorgiabg.org.
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Nighttime/Early Morning Spraying
A University of Georgia plant pathologist is advocating nighttime and early morning fungicide application as an option to combat white mold disease, a perennially devastating disease for Georgia peanut farmers.Because of its ability to produce oxalic acid and enzymes that can kill peanut crops, white mold disease is an annual concern, not only in Georgia but throughout the Southeast. The disease was not as widespread this year as in years past, said UGA College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences plant pathology professor and scientist Tim Brenneman, but the disease’s impact will continue to be felt statewide.To better optimize fungicide use, farmers may want to consider spraying in the early morning hours or at nighttime. Brenneman contends the conditions during both times of the day allow for the treatments to better reach the lower parts of peanut plants. Peanut leaves have four leaflets, and these fold as matching pairs when the sun sets. Application in the early morning or at nighttime makes it much easier for sprays to penetrate the plant canopy.During the early morning, dew on the folded leaves is an additional benefit. When the fungicide is sprayed, the spray droplets land on the leaves and the vibration from the sprayer shakes the moisture and fungicide to the base of the plant. “The water runs down the stems of peanut plants and ends up at the crown, and if it’s on a lower stem, it will go down a peg, which is exactly the tissue that you need to protect—the crown and the peg,” Brenneman said. “That’s where the disease usually initiates and causes the most loss. It’s taking the fungicide you’re spraying and channeling it down and focusing it on your infection sites. For a fungicide to work, it’s got to be at those infection sites.”Brenneman said that when peanut farmers apply fungicides during the daytime, a lot of the product can get intercepted by the upper leaves that are exposed to the full sunlight. The lower leaves and the stems at the base of the plant are still vulnerable to white mold disease. During Brenneman’s research, he studied the effects of daytime spraying versus nighttime spraying and early morning spraying. Brenneman applied spray cards at different levels of the plant to see how, and if, the fungicide is evenly distributed.“It was very clear during the day that a lot more of your fungicide was being intercepted by those upper leaves and never made it down to the lower part of the canopy,” Brenneman said. “Whereas at night, when the leaves are folded, it sprays down to the lower stems, the crown, the lower branches where the pegs are; it just gets a lot more of your product down to the soil where it needs to be for white mold.” For those farmers concerned about spraying at night, Brenneman said that some growers are doing it successfully, particularly if their tractors are equipped with GPS, which helps them stay aligned with the rows. Also, spraying at alternate times of the day will allow more working hours for the average farmer.Since the conclusion of Brenneman’s study, the research has been published in multiple publications. Brenneman contends that this spraying technique, while not suitable for all farmers, would be most applicable in fields with more disease pressure. The key is to generate the maximum benefit from the fungicide being applied.
10 ways you’re hurting your kids financially
58SHARESShareShareSharePrintMailGooglePinterestDiggRedditStumbleuponDeliciousBufferTumblr As a parent, protecting and providing for your child is a top priority. In addition to caring for your child’s daily needs, you’ve probably spent countless hours thinking about how to save for your child’s future. But given all that you’ve done, you might be surprised to learn that you could be dooming your child’s financial future.Here are 10 ways you are sabotaging your child’s future finances.1. Not Talking About MoneyChildren who don’t have conversations about money at home are less likely to understand the value of a dollar, and many of them grow up uncertain about how to manage money, according to T. Rowe Price’s 2015 Parents, Kids & Money Survey.Financial experts agree that not talking to your children about money is one of the worst parenting mistakes you can make. Even if talking about the family’s finances makes you uneasy, you should still make an effort to teach basic personal finance skills. If you avoid the topic, you could be neglecting your children of essential life skills that will help them avoid debt and low credit scores. continue reading »
Doing an annual financial checkup can help you save
If there’s one lesson from this year’s wild ride on Wall Street, it’s this: Stuff happens, and it’s better to have a plan in place before unexpected events turn your financial life upside down.Thanksgiving is right around the corner and the hectic holiday season is coming soon, so there’s no better time to get your money matters in order and nail down a 2016 game plan.“Now’s the time,” says Chris McMahon, president and CEO of Pittsburgh-based McMahon Financial Advisors. “Things get too hectic around the holidays, and it’s tough to review financial things in detail.”Money stuff you need to address includes your investment portfolio, debt load, retirement savings and insurance needs. continue reading » 13SHARESShareShareSharePrintMailGooglePinterestDiggRedditStumbleuponDeliciousBufferTumblr
Three unconventional budget fixes that boost your financial freedom
You may think that the key to financial success is investing prowess. It’s not. Investing is important of course, but it’s not the key. Budget mastery is. This may be shocking to hear a Certified Financial Planner say. But over the last 30 years working in the field, I’ve learned that budgeting and spending is more important than investing.Why? Because even if you are an investing wizard, if you spend too much, you’ll soon be broke anyway. In other words, think about spending first if you want to get your financial life in order. Of course this will help you save money. But in addition, many money saving tactics will pay off for you across the entire spectrum of your financial life.Here are three unusually powerful such opportunities:1. Focus On Your FridgeLet’s learn about mindful spending by first thinking about your ice box. This is an easy way to learn about cutting out the waste in our lives. continue reading » 12SHARESShareShareSharePrintMailGooglePinterestDiggRedditStumbleuponDeliciousBufferTumblr
Contracted medical worker for Willow Point tests positive for virus
Coronavirus numbers: (WBNG) — Willow Point Administrator Ryan LaClair announced Tuesday that a contracted medical provider for Willow Point Nursing Home has tested positive for the coronavirus. LaClair says the contractor is not an employee of Willow Point and has not been in the facility for a week. Broome County May 12 coronavirus update 257 people recovered from the virus and 25 people have died. As of May 12, LaClair says no residents or Willow Point employees have tested positive for the virus. Reopening: On Monday, Governor Andrew Cuomo OK’d the Southern Tier to reopen on May 15 when New York On Pause expires. They did not work while symptomatic, he says.
In total, 375 cases have been reported. For map detailing where cases are located in the county, click here. Broome County Executive Jason Garnar announced 250 businesses were part of a Zoom call that discussed the reopening of the economy. The Zoom calls aim to offer guidance on how individual businesses should open with CDC precautions. Willow point The county executive will also host Zoom calls Wednesday and Thursday at noon. There are 93 active cases of the coronavirus in Broome County.
Hanna pummels Texas coast with strong winds, heavy rain
Topics : In Port Mansfield, 150 miles (240 km) south of Padre Island, winds flattened sugarcane fields and leveled trees. Deer roamed the streets, stopping to nibble downed branches in the yards of homes, some that lost their roofs.Heavy downpours of more than a foot (30 cm) of rain flooded roadways and swelled streams and rivers across south Texas, the National Weather Service said.There were no immediate reports of injuries.”You could hear the wind blowing and the rain blowing and you looked outside you could see sheets of water blowing down the street,” said Sharon Pecce, 75, a resident of Port Mansfield, whose roof was ripped off her house on Saturday night. Hanna, the first hurricane of the 2020 Atlantic season, left a trail of destruction along the Texas coast on Sunday, downing power lines, flooding streets and toppling 18-wheeler trucks as torrential rains threatened the area.Hanna came ashore on Padre Island on Saturday afternoon as a Category 1 hurricane on the five-step Saffir-Simpson scale of intensity and later made a second landfall in Kenedy County, Texas. It swept through a part of the state hard hit by the coronavirus pandemic. By Sunday, it had weakened to a tropical depression.Powerful winds from Hanna knocked over at least three 18-wheeler trucks and a recreational vehicle, with tow trucks trying to right the toppled vehicles on Sunday, shutting down a 2-mile (3.2-km) stretch of US Route 77 in Sarita, Texas, near the Mexican border.
“It’s scary to go through this at my age, a lot could have happened … we could have been killed,” added Pecce, who was at a friend’s home with her 70-year-old husband when the damage occurred. “We are lucky we weren’t there.”Roderick Kise, a spokesman for US Customs and Border Protection in the Rio Grande Valley, told the Caller Times newspaper in Corpus Christi that his agency was looking into a report that winds toppled a newly constructed portion of the border wall built between the United States and Mexico.At one point, more than 283,000 homes and businesses were without electricity. But that figure fell to 98,000 by Sunday night, according to poweroutage.us.The storm was not expected to affect offshore oil-and-gas production. Energy companies have not evacuated workers or shut down production from their Gulf of Mexico platforms because of Hanna.Some residents took advantage of the wild weather, with Alejandero Carcano, 16, and Jesse Garewal, 18, both of Galveston, surfing the high swells whipped up by Hanna.Governor Greg Abbott said in a statement on Sunday that the Federal Emergency Management Agency declared the storm a federal emergency and would help fund evacuation and shelter efforts.”I continue to urge Texans to heed the guidance from their local leaders and follow best practices to keep themselves and their loved ones safe as severe weather continues to move through our communities,” he said.The Texas area struck by Hanna has struggled to contain outbreaks of COVID-19 in recent weeks. Cases along the state’s coast have soared into the tens of thousands.More than 440 people in the Corpus Christi area were hospitalized with the illness, according to the state health department.Still a threatWeakening as it headed west over land, Hanna’s center on Sunday was about 35 miles (55 km) from Monterrey, Mexico, as it moved 9 miles per hour (15 kph), the US National Hurricane Center said in a bulletin posted at 4 p.m. (2100 GMT).The storm’s top sustained winds were around 35 mph (56 kph), the center said.The storm was forecast to lose more steam as it moved across Texas and northeastern Mexico. On Sunday, weather watch officials canceled a storm surge warning they had issued for the Texas coast.Hanna still posed a threat, forecasters said, noting it could dump upward of 18 inches (45 cm) of rain in isolated areas of southern Texas through Monday.”This rain will produce life-threatening flash flooding, rapid rises on small streams, and isolated minor-to-moderate river flooding,” the NHC said.In the Pacific, Hurricane Douglas was churning near Hawaii on Sunday, with torrential rains and damaging winds.
Petitioners won because they hid passport says lawyer for UWP
Share Tweet Share LocalNews Petitioners won because they hid passport says lawyer for UWP by: – January 11, 2012 Share
200 Views 4 comments Sharing is caring! Geoffrey Letang: “They won becuase they hide their passport”.Attorney at Law Geoffrey Letang, one of the lawyers on the legal team representing the Petitioners; Ronald Green and Maynard Joseph, has announced that his clients lost on Tuesday because the Respondents supposedly hid their passports.The Opposition United Workers Party filed an election petition challenging the validity of the nomination of the prime minister and minister of education claiming that they were under oath of allegiance to a foreign State and as such they were disqualified from contesting the 2009 general election.On Tuesday the Petitioners election petitions were dismissed by Justice Gertel Thom who ruled that they had “failed to lead any evidence to show that Mr. Skerrit was by virtue of his own act under acknowledgement of allegiance, obedience or adherance to a foreign power of State”.However, Mr. Letang in an interview with Kairi FM News stated that the judge “refussed to allow” the Respondents; Roosevelt Skerrit and Petter Saint-Jean, to submit their passports or to testify and be cross-examined in Court.“Let me say that the Petitioners lost the case because the judge refused to allow the Respondents to submit their passport or to go in the witness box and give evidence where they would be cross examined. Their major defence; that is the Petitioners major defence is that the Petitioners did not prove that they had a passport that was their major defence. The Petitioners made application to the Court whereby requesting that the Respondents submit or disclose their passport and had the Court grant the application that would be the end of the matter.”(L-R): Petitioners; Ronald Green and Maynard JosephMr. Letang stated further that the Petitioners subpoenaed the Respondents to the witness box but that was objected by lawyers for the Respondents which the Court upheld.“The Petitioners also subpoenaed the Respondents to come to the witness box in as much as they did not disclose the passport but to come to the witness box. They made an application to object to the two subpoenas being issued, the Court upheld the objection and as a consequence set aside the subpoenas. So basically their victory is based solely of they hiding the passport, they won because they hide the passport.” Mr. Letang told reporters outside the Court on Tuesday afternoon that he would not issue any statement until he had read the judgment in its entirety.However, he told Kairi FM News that having read the judgment he is certain that there are grounds for appeal which is the next course of action for the legal team representing the Petitioners.“Having read the judgment I am convinced that there is sufficient ground for an appeal and that the Petitioners will be appealing the matter. So all is not lost and there is cogent evidence that the Petitioners did submit sufficient evidence in the Court in the absence of the passport to prove to the Court that at the time of nomination day the Respondents in question were not qualified to be so nominated and we will prove that to the Court of Appeal. We’re appealing Justice Thom’s decision, we have to respect the decision of the Court but we do not agree with her ruling or the judgment.”Mr. Letang says he “is very confident that if the matter goes to appeal that the outcome will be different”. Dominica Vibes News
Rosemary Hountz
Memorial donations are requested to the Heritage Project at St. Nicholas or to Hospice of Margaret Mary Health. To sign the online guestbook or to leave a personal condolence, please visit www.cookrosenberger.com. The staff of Cook Rosenberger Funeral Home is honored to care for the family of Rosemary Hountz. Those surviving who will cherish Rosemary’s memory include her daughter, Angela (Tom) Myers of Moores Hill; sons, Kenneth (Karen) of Sunman, William (Rose), Marvin (Marilyn), Dan (Tina) all of Batesville, and Randy (Diane) of Lafayette; 17 grandchildren; 9 great grandchildren, and 2 sisters, Virginia Back of Sunman and Marcella Schutte of Millhousen. Besides her parents and husband, she was preceded in death by a sister, Philma Kuebel. Rosemary Hountz, of Sunman, was born on May 27, 1933 in New Alsace, the daughter of Francis E. and Anna Braun Schantz. She married David A. Hountz on October 15, 1955 in New Alsace, and he preceded her in death on November 9, 1997. Rosemary was a full time homemaker and an office employee at Dunnings Inc. in Lawrenceburg. She was a member of St. Nicholas Church and their Ladies Sodality, the Red Hats, and the Batesville Senior Citizens. In her spare time, she enjoyed quilting and traveling. Rosemary was a long time resident of St. Andrews Health Campus in Batesville, where she passed away on Wednesday, February 24, 2016, at the age of 82.
Friends may visit with the family on Friday, February 26, 2016 from 4 to 8 p.m. at Cook Rosenberger Funeral Home, 107 Vine Street, Sunman. Rosary will begin at 3:15. A Mass of Christian burial, officiated by Father Shaun Whittington will take place on Saturday at 10:30 a.m. at St. Nicholas Catholic Church. Burial will follow in the church cemetery. 
September 22, 2017 Police Blotter
September 22, 2017 Police Blotter092217 Batesville Police Blotter092217 Decatur County EMS Report092217 Decatur County Fire Report092217 Decatur County Jail Report092217 Decatur County Law Report