Area News

Grady County elected officials are laying the groundwork to call for a referendum early in 2012 to ask the voters to renew the one penny Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax (SPLOST) for a period of six years. Over that time, it is estimated the penny sales tax will generate $18,000,000 in revenue and the…

Grady County’s many Hispanic citizens may share a common language, but as they hail from numerous countries thousands of miles apart, the similarities often stop there. Organizers hope an upcoming celebration will highlight the unique and endlessly varied backgrounds of all local Hispanic people, while tearing down generalizations and stereotypes bred from ignorance about this…

The Grady County School System is implementing a remediation program for at-risk students this school term that Superintendent Dr. Tommy Pharis says is more focused than ever before. Dr. Pharis says more of the decision making in formulating the remediation program has been put at the school level, which he says, is better for the…

Grady County Sheriff Harry Young has reported to The Cairo Messenger that shortly after 1 p.m. today, Monday, Investigator Daniel Singletary suffered a gun shot wound to his leg when local lawmen attempted to stop an alleged truck thief on GA Hwy. 188 North near Aldridge Road. Singletary was shot when the suspect attempted to…

CORRECTED VERSION: Please note this report has been corrected to properly identify the farmer who owns the irrigation well questioned by residents of south Grady County. The farmer is Steve Perkins and NOT Sammie Perkins as previously reported. The Messenger was provided incorrect information from county officials and we regret the error, but gladly correct…

After a lengthy debate and following comments made by three opponents of zoning, the Grady County Board of Commissioners Friday morning voted 3-2 to proceed with a series of public hearings on the proposed new zoning ordinance crafted by the Grady County Planning Commission with assistance from planners with the Southwest Georgia Regional Commission. Chairman…

Students at Cairo High School are working to raise money in memory of young Brandon Hartley who was killed in a car accident over the holiday weekend. Brandon, a junior at CHS, was killed when he wrecked his 2008 Dodge Charger around 4 a.m., Sunday. The 16-year-old was attempting to negotiate a curve at 630…

Editor’s Note:The following article is submitted by Cairo native, Sonya Wade Couture, MSgt, USAF, AFE Superintendent/Aviation Life Support Air Advisor, NATO Air Training Command-Afghanistan, Kabul, Afghanistan. Couture is the daughter of Joyce Wade of Cairo and the late Lewis Wade. She is a 1987 graduate of Cairo High School and mother of a current Cairo…

Although Cairo is hundreds of geographical miles from the tragedies of September 11, 2001, the feelings of horror and sadness from that day emanated out across the country, and many groups here have planned events to give Grady Countians an opportunity to commemorate the 10th anniversary including the unveiling of a special memorial that includes…

Two Syrupmaker football players charged last week in connection with the alleged robbery of a 25-year-old Cairo man were on the practice field Monday at Cairo High School contrary to the wishes of Superintendent Dr. Tommy Pharis. However, Dr. Pharis is taking the blame for a “lack of clear communication between myself, the school administration…