Area News

Fans attending Friday night’s game between the Cairo High School Syrupmakers and the St. Pius X Catholic High School Golden Lions are in for a special treat, according to CHS Director of Bands Johnny Folsom. The CHS band leader reported Monday that the Marching Syrupmaker Band will join the Marching Golden Lion Band in performing…

Cairo City Manager Chris Addleton may have technically been on vacation last week, but the city executive was busy between hunts trying to work on the kinks in the city’s pending purchase of the former Bank of America building on 5th Street N.E. All Bank of America property is managed by the CBRE Group, Inc.,…

A month after tax bills were mailed to local taxpayers only 14 percent of the total taxes due have been collected by Grady County Tax Commissioner Phyllis Gainous’ office. The tax commissioner reported Monday that of the $13,095,542.09 in county, school, city of Cairo and state taxes billed, $1,808,747.36 has been collected. Mrs. Gainous has…

After a two week delay, the Grady County Board of Commissioners voted unanimously to authorize the purchase of 20 pre-owned M26 Tasers for the Grady County Sheriff’s Office. Corporal Jake Bush and Assistant Jail Administrator John Walton appeared before the board to explain the request and answer questions Tuesday night. Cpl. Bush told commissioners 20…

This year’s annual Christmas parade is just the beginning of a weekend full of planned holiday activities in Cairo. Following the popular community kickoff of the Yule season that takes place in just two weeks on Thursday, Dec. 1, are special performances by the Syrup City Players and the Cairo High School Bands plus a…

Facing declining participation, Grady County Recreation Department Director Becky Bracewell is looking to revamp the county’s basketball program in hopes of making it more beneficial and attractive to local youth. With participation dropping from 150 children to 138 this year, compared to 700 this year for baseball, softball and teeball and 703 for flag football,…

A deal between the city of Cairo and Bank of America to purchase the former bank building for use by the Georgia Department of Labor appears uncertain. City Attorney Thomas L. Lehman briefed Cairo city councilmen Monday night concerning the ongoing negotiations with Bank of America attorneys to close on the purchase. According to Lehman,…

The much publicized closing of 20th Street N.E. scheduled to have taken place Monday has been delayed. Cairo City Manager Chris Addleton told The Messenger Tuesday he anticipates the road being closed to thru traffic later this week. “We had said it would be closed effective Monday, but that just didn’t happen. We had done…

A man “cooking” a batch of methamphetamine refused to stop for Cairo Police early Tuesday morning, but was finally brought to a halt when his car wrecked into a ditch, police say. Cairo Police Chief Keith Sandefur says his officers tried to stop Larry Christie for a traffic violation, but he refused to pull over.…

Remediation and retesting of a segment of the students at both Washington Middle School and Southside Elementary School paid off big for the two local schools and has resulted in them being added to the list of Georgia public schools to meet federal Adequate Yearly Progress standards. Grady County School Superintendent Dr. Tommy Pharis briefed…