Area News

In a surprise move Tuesday night following a 15-minute closed door meeting, the Grady County Board of Commissioners voted unanimously to offer to loan the Grady County Joint Development Authority $727,700. The loan proceeds would pay off half of the debt on the former Higdon Furniture Company facility located on Wight Road.Without any public discussion…

 All fathers in Grady County should be polishing their dancing shoes and planning to take their best girls to the annual Father-Daughter Valentine Dance here in just over two weeks.The community wide event is scheduled for Saturday, Feb. 6, 2010, 7 p.m. until 9:30 p.m. at the Grady Cultural Center. “The purpose of this dance…

The Grady County superintendent of schools says teacher morale is extremely low in light of additional state cuts to public education, but he remains confident the quality of instruction will not be diminished.Dr. Tommy Pharis and superintendents across the state have been scrambling to gain an understanding of the impact of additional budget cuts and…

Grady County commissioners continue to bat around the issue of zoning in the unincorporated areas of the county, meeting last week with the head of the Southwest Georgia Regional Commission (RC) to discuss the process involved in adopting a zoning ordinance.County officials met with Regional Commission Executive Director Dan Bollinger Thursday to continue their discussion…

The Cairo City Council and Grady County Board of Commissioners have been discussing the possibility of paying off a loan they obtained to purchase property from Hall Farms for the expansion of Milestone Industrial Park.On Monday night, the city council took the first step by authorizing City Manager Chris Addleton to use Municipal Electric Authority…

The Cairo City Council will likely give the green light on a major renovation of two of the city’s oldest commercial buildings after hearing a report on the project by a local contractor.John B. Tuggle of Deep South Builders appeared before the council Monday night to review the plans for the remodeling of the former…

City officials now admit that what appeared to be the first-ever operating profit for CNS Cable is not accurate.The Cairo Messenger reported on the preliminary audit report in its Dec. 16 edition. According to Auditor Tom Carmichael of the auditing firm of Bowen, Phillips, Carmichael, Davis & Sims of Tifton, CNS had total revenues of…

Friday, Jan. 8th is the deadline for nominations for the annual community awards presented by the Cairo-Grady County Chamber of Commerce.The original deadline was  Monday, Jan. 4, 2010, but nominations have been slow to come in.Awards are presented annually by the chamber for the man, woman and young professional of the year, as well as…

Grady County commissioners want to be more efficient and effective with the operation of the county’s rescue truck and beginning Jan. 1, 2010, a new modus operandi was initiated.Until the beginning of 2010, the county has funded three full-time positions to cover the rescue truck 24-hours a day, seven days a week, but now the…

The Timken Company announced Thursday it completed the sale of its needle roller bearings business, including its Cairo plant,  to Japan’s JTEKT Corporation.Timken received approximately $330 million, including retained receivables, from the sale. These proceeds will be used for general company purposes, while also providing additional liquidity, bolstering the company’s financial position in a year…