DALE THOMAS "TOM" BROWN

Dale Thomas “Tom” Brown of Trenton, GA went to be with his Lord and Savior, Sunday March 1st, 2020. Tom was a member of Rising Fawn Baptist Church.

He was preceded in death by his father and mother, J. Dale Brown and Emily E. Brown of New England, GA.

He is survived by his wife and best friend Bess Anne Brown, daughter Shannon Bacon, son-in-law Trey, grandchildren, Sydney and Andrew Bacon, his brother in law, Steve Dew and wife Sheri, niece Stephanie Garrison (Michael) and nephew Stephen (Brandy) and nieces and nephews, Chase, Brady, Tate Garrison and Avery and Tillman Dew and many beloved cousins.

He graduated from Dade County High School where he was nominated “Most Athletic” in 1966.

He joined the United States Army in November 1967 as an Infantryman Paratrooper. He completed Airborne training at Ft. Benning, GA. He was deployed to Vietnam in 1968 with the Recon Rangers platoon, 1st Battalion, 16th Infantry Division “The Big Red One” as Private First Class Paratrooper. He was wounded in action in August 1968 and received an Honorable Discharge in April 1970. He was awarded the National Defense Service Medal, Vietnam Service Medal, Parachutist Badge and Combat Infantry Badge.

Tom received his B.S. degree in Criminal Justice from Brenau University and joined the Georgia State Patrol in 1971. After completing Trooper School he was assigned to the GA Executive Security Detail at the Governor’s Mansion under the Carter and Busbee Administrations. He traveled extensively with Governor Busbee in this capacity. From there he transferred to GA State Patrol Headquarters where he retired as Major, Division of Administrative Services after 29 years. One of his proudest accomplishments was being assigned to the State Olympic Law Enforcement Command (SOLEC) where he helped plan and provide security for the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta. Tom was proud of his service with the Georgia State Patrol.

Tom’s love of fast cars and motorcycles led he and Bess to join “The Buckhead Bikers” group in Atlanta where they took many fun trips and created lasting friendships.

Tom loved God, his Country and his family and always let everyone around him know. He was a joy to be around and could be quiet and caring as well as the life of the party. He had a gift for remembering details like everyone he played with on the Little League baseball team and that they were the first team to play under lights.

He was an avid viewer of Fox News, NASCAR, Braves baseball and Alabama football. He was blessed with many friends who were like family.

Funeral services will be held Wednesday, March 4, 2020 at 2:00 p.m. at the Rising Fawn Baptist Church with Rev. Robby Dunn & Rev. Richard Harp officiating. Interment will follow in Bethlehem Cemetery with full military honors.

Please share expressions of sympathy at ryanfuneralhome.net. In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made to Rising Fawn Baptist Church.

The family will receive friends on Tuesday, March 3, 2020 at Ryan Funeral Home from 5:00 p.m. until 7:00 p.m. and Wednesday from 12:00 p.m. until the service hour at Rising Fawn Baptist Church, 4411 U.S. Highway 11, Rising Fawn, GA 30738.

Arrangements are by Ryan Funeral Home & Crematory, Trenton, GA.

"Road Trippin' Across the Midwest"

Alison Henderson Dade County 4-H Extension Educator

For the rest of the summer, we’ll be Road Trippin’ Across the USA, visiting a different region of the country each week. Today we’ll travel to just a few of the many interesting places to see in the Midwest.

Our first stop is at City Museum in St. Louis, Missouri. This museum is an old factory that has been transformed into a maze of amazement! There are tunnels and slides and stairs and more tunnels. Be prepared to do a lot of climbing and walking. There are also collections of everything from old arcade machines to butterflies to architectural tiles. You can spend hours here and not see everything. This is one of the few museums we have gone to more than once.

Our next stop is Hutchinson, Kansas. Hutchinson is in the middle of nowhere, but there are two interesting museums in the same town. The Cosmosphere is a branch of the Smithsonian, and exhibits the Apollo 13 command module. Stractaca, formerly known as the Kansas Underground Salt Museum, takes you 650 feet below ground for a tram tour through an old salt mine to view the mining process from decades ago.

Next we’ll move on to Nebraska. Our favorite site in Nebraska was Carhenge. It is set up like Stonehenge in England, but with old cars. It’s a great place to take a break from riding to walk around outside for a while.

Of course the most famous attraction in South Dakota is Mount Rushmore. It is one of the few places in the country that was as amazing in person as I imagined it would be. It took 14 years and 400 workers to complete this sculpture of Presidents Washington, Jefferson, Lincoln, and Roosevelt. It is impressive from up close and far away.

Another fun attraction in South Dakota is the Corn Palace in Mitchell, South Dakota. Farmers from all over the state donate produce each year for the murals on the outside made from corn, grains, and grasses. The exhibits inside are all about corn as well.

The Hjemkomst Center is located in Moorhead, Minnesota. It houses replicas of a ninth-century Viking ship and a medieval Norwegian wood stave church. The wood working details on both are worth the stop.

When you go to Chicago, Illinois, one of the best ways to see the city is on one of their architectural boat tours. Your tour guide will take you through the city on the Chicago River, where you learn the history of various downtown buildings as you cruise down the river.

Another cruise that our family enjoyed was at Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore in Munising, Michigan. Located on the south shore of Lake Superior in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, the area is known for its colorful cliffs and unusual sandstone formations.

My absolute favorite museum in the whole country is also located in Michigan. The Henry Ford Museum and Greenfield Village are located in Dearborn, Michigan, close to Detroit. The indoor exhibits are in the Henry Ford Museum. It houses items from history, such as the chair Lincoln was shot in and the bus Rosa Parks rode in. There are items that show how technology has progressed, such as old steam engines, tractors, and cars. You can also see items that show what everyday life was like in our homes, such as old sewing machines, kitchen appliances, and radios. There is even an example of housing that never quite took off – the Dymaxion house.

Greenfield Village just outside leads you down a lovely lane with buildings such as an old one-room schoolhouse, old farmhouses from different eras, and an old grist mill. And over there is the Wright Brothers bicycle shop. If you’re there at just the right time, you might even run into the Wright Brothers themselves! Just down the street is one of Thomas Edison’s laboratories. He came to the grand opening in 1929 and recreated his first successful lightbulb experiment. Greenfield Village has a little bit of history for everyone.

If you have family members that love airplanes, then you need to visit the largest military aviation museum in the world. The last place on our tour today is the National Museum of the Air Force in Dayton, Ohio. You can view aircraft from all eras there. I especially enjoy touring some of the old Air Force One planes used by past presidents.

I hope you enjoyed our tour of the Midwest. There is much more to see than we have seen today, but maybe our tour will get you interested in traveling to this region. Researching the area you are traveling to and choosing attractions that appeal to your family will make your trip fun for everyone! You can watch our Road Trippin’ Across the USA! – The Midwest! video on the Dade County 4-H Facebook page or on our new Dade County GA 4-H YouTube channel. A new video is posted each Monday at 11:00 a.m. Eastern.

From The Ground Up:

Sarah (Flowers) Dyer  Agriculture and Natural Resources Extension Agent UGA College of Agricultural & Environmental Sciences | Dade County Extension For the Month of: May 2020

Back in April, I waited to encourage planting until our last projected cold front (mid-April) had passed, and then BOOM! Possibly the coldest Mother’s Day weekend in 50 years decided to come a month later and surprise us all! I spoke with many of you during the days leading up to the cold front about protecting the crops you already had established in your garden. Kuddos to many of you who used a sheet, buckets, or whatever you could to keep the frost off of your plants. Don’t be too worried if you were unable to protect established plants; you can pull up any damaged crops and replant new ones. At this point, I hope we can confidently say any frost potential is behind us!

Now is the time to make additional plantings of vegetables mentioned in April (or new plantings of those crops that were damaged by the cold weather). Examples of these include beans (snap, pole, and lima), corn (sweet), cucumbers, eggplant, okra, field peas, peppers, squash, and tomatoes. As your vegetables grow, continue to control surrounding grass and weeds as they compete for moisture and fertilizer. Locate mulching materials for such crops as tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, Irish potatoes, okra, and lima beans. Apply mulch before dry spells occur but after plants are well established (usually by blooming time). If you’ve planted pole beans, keep in mind that they’ll cling to the trellis or sticks more readily if attached by the time they start running. Keep an eye on them to get them attached early.

Watch out for the “10 most wanted culprits.” These include the Mexican bean beetle, Colorado potato beetle, bean leaf beetle, Harlequin cabbage bug, blister beetle, cabbage worm, tomato hornworm, tomato fruit worm (and corn earworm), cucumber beetle, and squash bug. Early discovery makes for the possibility of early control. If you suspect one of these culprits in your garden, snap a picture and email it to us at and we will be glad to confirm the insect and provide a recommended control method. Continue to water as needed and mulch as needed. Don’t wait until it is time to harvest to get your canning or freezing plan in place. Make plans now for putting up some of your garden produce for later in the year.

The art of vegetable gardening is fine-tuned through trial and error. It is okay to make mistakes, especially if you’re new to gardening. It is a great idea to keep a log book of problems and failures that occur so you can avoid or prevent them in the next planting season. Also note in your log the successful techniques and varieties used for consideration next season.