Allied Arts to host book signing

MILLEDGEVILLE, Ga. — Allied Arts will host a book signing and reading Sept. 10 with author Sandra Worsham. “Going to Wings” is a memoir of Worsham’s life and her struggles with family, church and herself. Worsham grew up in Milledgeville, where she attended City Elementary School and Baldwin High School. Her father, a barber on Wayne Street and a deacon at First Baptist Church, and her mother, a nurse at Georgia College, raised Worsham and her sister in the Baptist faith. Worsham has been working on her memoir, “Going to Wings,” for 70 years. This book signing and reading is a free event for the community. Copies of the book will be available for purchase. The event will take place from 1 to 3 p.m. at the Marlor Arts Center and Worsham will read from her book at Allen’s Market at 2 p.m. Call 478-452-3950 or visit www.milledgevillealliedarts.com for information.

Pollinators to be discussed at Sparkleberry Chapter meeting

BRANFORD, Fla. — The Sparkleberry Chapter of the Florida Native Plant Society will be learning about the pollinators that visit local yards every day, the services they perform and the native plants that draw them in at the Tuesday, Sept. 12, meeting at 6:30 p.m.  

The guest speaker for the September meeting is Taryn Evans, a specialist in helping homeowners create backyard habitats. Her presentation is designed to help homeowners better understand native plants and the principles of sustainable gardening; such as rainwater harvesting, using less fertilizer and pesticide, and the importance of all types of insects in our landscapes, especially native bees and pollinators. Her presentation will surely inspire members of the audience to make their own garden one more part of a more sustainable Florida.

The Sparkleberry Chapter meets at 6:30 p.m. on the second Tuesday of each month at Hatch Park Community Center, 403 S.E. Craven Street, Branford. The meetings are free and always open to the public.

Colquitt County FFA member attends state floral training

COVINGTON, Ga. — Colquitt County FFA member Kaitlyn Hart recently attended the statewide FFA Floral Design Career Development Event training held at the GA FFA/ FCCLA Center. This two-day training was developed specifically for FFA members to strengthen their floral design skills as well as build confidence in their own creative ability. The training was led and sponsored by members of the Georgia State Florist Association along with generous donations from many floral companies from across the nation.  The partnership between the middle and high school agriculture programs and the Georgia State Florist Association plays a fundamental role in preparing students through hands on experiences for the future careers in the floral industry, according to a press release from the Colquitt County FFA. “It was great opportunity to learn new techniques and expand on the skills I currently had,” Hart said. “At the clinic we focused more on modern floral designing preparing us for the CDE competitions that are coming up in the fall. As a florist you want to be well rounded in the floral industry and I feel that participating in this clinic helped me achieve that.”

ABAC students, Tifton community meet at Town and Gown 

TIFTON, Ga. — Representatives of local restaurants, other businesses and churches turned out at Gressette Gym on the Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College campus on Thursday for the annual Town and Gown event, according to a press release. ABAC students were able to sample homemade cookies and other treats as they perused what the Tifton community has to offer. ABAC has over a $329 million annual impact on the economy of Tift and surrounding counties, the release states.

Program focuses on college’s history in celebration of 50th anniversary

DALTON, Ga. — The Bandy Heritage Center for Northwest Georgia hosts the program “Dalton Gets a College” on Tuesday from 6 to 7:30 p.m. in room 105 of the James E. Brown Center on the campus of Dalton State College. As part of the commemoration celebration of Dalton State College’s 50th anniversary, James Burran and John Hutcheson will speak on the college’s founding and development, and share their personal memories of the institution known over time as Dalton Junior College, Dalton College and Dalton State College. Hutcheson joined the Dalton Junior College faculty in 1974 and was chair of the Division of Social Sciences from 1997 to 2003 and was Vice President of Academic Affairs from 2003 to 2010. Burran was Dalton State’s third president from 1995 to 2008.

Storm chances easing off

VALDOSTA — A slight cooling phase and decreased chances of thunderstorms mark the weather this week for South Georgia, according to forecasters. Hurricane/Tropical Storm Harvey, which wreaked havoc in Texas during the weekend with record-breaking flooding, didn’t have any real effects in the Valdosta area, said Emma Weston, a meteorologist for the National Weather Service’s Tallahassee, Fla., office. The real driver of the area’s weather in the early part of the week will be a warm front moving northward, bringing moisture with it, she said. “This will generate most of the thunderstorm activity in South Georgia,” Weston said. Not that the weather service is expecting that much in the way of thunderstorms. The official forecast pegs storm chances in Valdosta at 20 percent through Tuesday, spiking to 40 percent on Wednesday and bouncing around the 30-40 percent range for the rest of the week. “This is the time of the year, going into September, when the storm chances start dropping off,” Weston said. Another factor to watch for is a low-pressure system off Georgia’s coast which could develop into a tropical depression or even a tropical storm in the next couple of days, said Jordan Root, a meteorologist with the private forecasting firm AccuWeather. “It’s moving north, so it’s really not much of a factor for Valdosta, but anyone with plans along the coast should look out for it,” he said. High temperatures should be in the upper 80s early in the week, rising to the lower 90s by week’s end, Weston said. Overnight lows are expected to hover just above 70 degrees weeklong, according to the weather service’s forecast. Neither meteorologist expected much of a chance of severe weather, though Weston said a chance of an isolated storm with gusty winds is possible. One such “pop-up” storm hit Dasher last week, resulting in downed trees and a power outage.