Guess it's time to learn about cotton

Where grass is greener

Don Gardner

Extension agent

Updated: Apr 11, 2011, 4:53 PM

Published: Apr 11, 2011, 5:01 PM

It was a sight to behold. The funeral procession of cars and pickups was more than a mile long. I had to wonder if anyone other than the Pembroke police officers and Bryan County Sheriff deputies manning the roadblocks were left in Pembroke and north Bryan County.
Danny Page was an easy man to like. The turnout of friends on Tuesday night and again at midday on a beautiful Georgia Wednesday to lay him to rest was no surprise to me, even though I was the newcomer and had spent less time with him probably than anyone else in attendance. I was so new to Danny that he had not christened me with a nickname yet.
The first time we met he came in to the extension office, sat down and got straight to the point: “Do you know anything about cotton?”
I told him the truth. “It feels good when I wear it.”
Danny grabbed the bill of his cap, whipped it off his head and waved his arms in the air. “Darned if they didn’t send me one that doesn’t know nothin,’” he exclaimed.
I know a challenge when I see it. I knew this would happen when I took the job. My agent skill set fit the south end of the county fine, but the traditional row crop and cattle agriculture of the Pembroke area would mean this old dawg would have to learn new tricks. Danny was the bar I was going to have to clear to truly succeed in Bryan County.
Like everyone else, I thought I would have more time with him. He was five years younger than me, president of the Bryan County Farm Bureau, paramedic for LifeStar for more than a decade and ran successful farming and forestry operations. I did not know how lucky I had it.
Danny Page and Bob Floyd are both competent farmers, which gave me the chance to get up to speed before they really needed me. Both have been trying to help me along, and they gave me opportunities to learn at their sides.
Now Danny’s son Shaun has to shoulder the family business a lot sooner than he expected. My learning curve just got a lot steeper. Danny’s mother, Mrs. Hughlynn Page, had picked out a beautiful spot for the Page family cemetery at the edge of a field backed by live oaks where Hughlynn and now Danny can supervise to make sure the rows are plowed straight in the spring and watch the cotton harvest in autumn.
As I greeted Mrs. Page at graveside I found out where Danny learned to get straight to the point. I told her to call on us if we could help in any way. With Shaun clearly on her mind, she reset the bar for me: “You’re going to have to learn something about cotton.”

Gardner is the extension agent for Bryan County. He can be reached at dgardner@uga.edu.

Record April boosts Savannah's container trade at port

The Port of Savannah moved 356,700 20-foot equivalent container units in April, an increase of 7.1 percent. - photo by Provided

GardenCityTerminal — The Port of Savannah moved 356,700 20-foot equivalent container units in April, an increase of 7.1 percent. - photo by Provided

Bryan County News

Updated: May 23, 2018, 1:59 AM

Published: May 23, 2018, 2:00 AM

The Georgia Ports Authority's busiest April ever pushed its fiscal year-to-date totals to more than 3.4 million 20-foot equivalent container units (TEUs), an increase of 8.8 percent, or 280,000 TEUs, compared to the first 10 months of fiscal 2017.

"We're on track to move more than 300,000 TEUs in every month of the fiscal year, which will be a first for the authority," said GPA Executive Director Griff Lynch. "We're also anticipating this to be the first fiscal year for the Port of Savannah to handle more than 4 million TEUs."

April volumes reached 356,700 20-foot equivalent container units, up 7.1 percent or 23,700 units. As the fastest growing containerport in the nation, the Port of Savannah has achieved a compound annual growth rate of more than 5 percent a year over the past decade.

"As reported in the recent economic impact study by UGA's Terry College of Business, trade through Georgia's deepwater ports translates into jobs, higher incomes and greater productivity," said GPA Board Chairman Jimmy Allgood. "In every region of Georgia, employers rely on the ports of Savannah and Brunswick to help them become more competitive on the global stage."

To strengthen the Port of Savannah's ability to support the state's future economic growth, the GPA Board approved $66 million in terminal upgrades, including $24 million for the purchase of 10 additional rubber-tired gantry cranes.

"The authority is committed to building additional capacity ahead of demand to ensure the Port of Savannah remains a trusted link in the supply chain serving Georgia and the Southeast," Lynch said.

The crane purchase will bring the fleet at Garden City Terminal to 156 RTGs. The new cranes will support three new container rows, which the board approved in March. The additional container rows will increase annual capacity at the Port of Savannah by 150,000 TEUs.

The RTGs will work over stacks that are five containers high and six deep, with a truck lane running alongside the stacks. Capable of running on electricity, the cranes will have a lift capacity of 50 metric tons.

The cranes will arrive in two batches of five in the first and second quarters of calendar year 2019.

Also at Monday's meeting, the GPA Board elected its officers, with Jimmy Allgood as chairman, Will McKnight taking the position of vice chairman and Joel Wooten elected as the next secretary/treasurer.

For more information, visit gaports.com, or contact GPA Senior Director of Corporate Communications Robert Morris at (912) 964-3855 or rmorris@gaports.com.

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