Four years of reading books and taking tests over them has paid off for local schoolchildren and
the adult volunteers who gave them a hand in earning 1,000,000 Accelerated Reader points, the most ever accumulated in any town.

     Long before the goal was reached in October, the Tift County Foundation for Educational Excelennce and school and civic leaders were meeting regularly to plan for today’s celebration.

     Today the total stands at 1,043,705, 43,705 more than expected.

     Between 5,000 and 7,000 people are expected at the Tift County stadium today as the community prepares to celebrate its accomplishment.  Also, a film crew from CBS that was in town two weeks ago to do interviews is scheduled to return to Tifton today to get footage of the celebration.  The story on Tifton’s succss with the program is scheduled to air near the end of tonight’s CBS Evening News with Dan Rather.

     Scheduled at 12:45 pm, the celebration will feature The Cat in the Hat, the Tit county High School Blue Devil Brigade, the release of hundreds of balloons and other activities kept secret by the foundation.

     Accelerated Reader founder Judi Paul will be the guest speaker, and local singer Marlene Bowen will sing the national anthem.

     Everyone in the community is invited.  Each person should bring a book to serve as a “ticket.”  In case of rain, the event will be postponed and the new date announced later.