In the coming months, the Grady County Board of Education will be deliberating on the operating budget for the 2012-2013 fiscal year, which begins July 1, 2012. School board members face the daunting task of reducing the school district’s expenses by approximately $1.3 million. “The only way to cut that much money is through personnel,”…

Like hundreds of country clubs and golf courses nationwide, Cairo Country Club is struggling financially. An emergency meeting of the club’s membership was held Tuesday night to hear an update from Club President Louie Chastain and members of the club’s board of directors. “We’re down to the wire folks,” Chastain said Tuesday night. Club membership…

Just when an effort by the Grady County Commission to consolidate the magistrate, probate and state courts appeared to be going no where the issue was raised again Tuesday night and instructions were given to the county administrator to formulate the cost savings created by the proposed consolidation and report back to the board as…

The city of Cairo and Grady County were plunged into darkness for about half an hour Tuesday night. A transmission line that is part of Georgia’s power grid or “Integrated Transmission System” was compromised when a large pine tree fell on Old 84 shortly before 7:30 p.m. According to Rod Prince, energy services director for…

The Grady County School System will host a town hall meeting on Tuesday, Jan. 17, at the Southside Elementary School auditorium beginning at 7 p.m. According to School Superintendent Dr. Tommy Pharis, personnel with the charter school division of the Georgia Department of Education will facilitate the information gathering session for interested residents and school…

It has been 14 months since the environmental groups known as American Rivers and its sister organization the Georgia River Network filed suit in United States District Court against the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers for issuing a federal 404 permit for the construction of the 960-acre Tired Creek fishing lake and there is still…

The Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Collaborative has announced that John Monds, chairman of the Libertarian Party of Grady County, will serve as the grand marshal of Monday’s MLK Day Parade and featured speaker at the program held at Holder Park immediately following the parade. The parade steps off next Monday at 11 a.m. with…

The city of Cairo’s water system was drained nearly dry Sunday morning when a malfunctioning alert system failed and pumps used to pump water into the system were not automatically activated. At the same time the city was suffering from low water pressure and volume, Cairo firemen were being dispatched to a kitchen fire in…

Southwest Georgia Ethanol, LLC, (SWGE) a 100 million gallon per year ethanol facility located in Mitchell County, successfully emerged from its Chapter 11 restructuring on Dec. 31, 2011, according to a press release issued by the unit of First United Ethanol, LLC, of Camilla. Murray Campbell, president of SWGE and one of the founders of…