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Front Jan 23 1/21/03 4:12 PM Page 1 American Red Cross Presenting Jubilee for Heroes Those Who Helped After The November 11 Tornado To Be Honored At Program Saturday / 11A JANUARY 23,2003 VOLUME 115 NUMBER 37 JASPER, GEORGIA 30143 USPS 431-830 THREE SECTIONS 36 PAGES PLUS SUPPLEMENTS Briefly. . . A Marble Nameplate For the Governor There’s a new name in the Governor’s Office — and it’s written in Georgia Marble. With the cooperation of the Georgia Marble Company, local resident Dennis Burnette continued a tradition of pre senting Georgia’s new gover nor, Sonny Perdue, with a mar ble nameplate for his desk. Burnette initiated the name plate program in 1982 and three of Perdue’s predecessors in the Governor’s office — Har ris, Miller and Barnes — were presented nameplates made of marble quarried in Pickens County. Page 3B “Tales Of A Country Girl” Author Lois Wehunt Stewart will be signing her new book at a program hosted by Marble Valley Friends on February 2. “Tales of a Country Girl — Growing Up on a Two Mule Farm” documents many events of rural life in Pickens County in the 1920s, ’30s and ’40s. Page 7 A Honor Roll Students Pickens County schools have announced honor roll students for the first half of the year. See page 6-8C for the listing. Thrift Store Grants Coming The Pickens Community Resource Association (operator of the Thrift Store) announces the next round of grants — in the amount of $24,000 — will be awarded this spring. Local organizations who wish to apply are invited to submit an application. Page 6B Deaths Mollie Hooks Krystain Kennedy Jimmy Logan Onnie Mae Edwards Jacquelyn Maughon Richard Williams OBITUARIES ... .See Page 2A Weather By WILLIAM DILBECK HI LOW RAIN Tuesday 49 23 .00 Wednesday 39 23 .00 Thursday 37 22 Trace Friday 29 9 .00 Saturday 31 11 .00 Sunday 38 20 .00 Monday 54 33 .00 Visit Us On The Web www.pickensprogress .com The Progress is printed in part on recycled newsprint and is recyclable Stephens says year will be a “challenge ” Economy, ethics, education at top of state senator’s agenda By Michael Moore During the first week of the new governor’s term, the beginning of the year’s legislative activity and only a couple days after the proposal of the state’s yearly budget, Senator Bill Stephens somehow found time for an interview in his office at the Capitol Thursday afternoon. Cardboard boxes, still full, scattered throughout the first floor suite and several framed pictures lean ing against a bare wall next to the senator’s desk are proof the year started off busy and hasn’t let up for Stephens, the Republican who represents Pickens County as part of his North Georgia District. The move into the first floor office came after the election of the Republican governor, Sonny Perdue. The party’s takeover of that office and the state sen ate vaulted Stephens into a more prominent position as administration floor leader. Until last week, he had worked in the neighboring Senate office building. Clearly Stephens, who represents most of Pickens County, has more to worry about than unpacking and decorating. Namely, Stephens is concerned about funding in the coming year with the lowest revenues Georgia has raised since the 1930s. “We have to educate our children and provide Senator Bill Stephens who represents Pick ens County at the statehouse. With the election of Sonny Perdue as governor, the Republican lawmaker has moved into a first floor office at the capitol and a prominent leadership position in the legislature. (Photo by Michael Moore) health care to people who can’t afford it, and we have to do it all with such low revenues,” he said. “It’s going to be a big challenge.” Georgia is facing a $600 million budget shortfall and a weak economy. Stephens said this will be a “tough year” to right some of the wrongs brought about by the last administration. But he added the November 5 elections were a sign things could get better. That fateful day brought probably the most dramatic change in the history of the state, Stephens said. Voters elected Georgia’s first Republican governor since Reconstruction, and the Republicans won enough seats to take control of the senate. “The November elections turned the Georgia political world upside down,” Stephens said. “It cre ated a lot of chaos, but out of chaos comes opportuni ty-” And what does this political upheaval mean for Georgians? Continued on page 10A Planning Commission says welcome 176 unit apartment complex coming to town By Christie Pool Jasper’s three-member planning commission last week gave unani mous support to change zoning along Hwy. 515 to accommodate a multi-unit, rent-controlled apart ment complex. This approval follows a previ ous request for re-zoning for the same project at a different location which was withdrawn at the open ing of a December zoning meeting due to “public outcry and develop mental demands on the city.” Property owner Gary Copeland, who was not present at the meet ing, asked that zoning on 25 acres of his property along Hwy. 515 be changed from commercial to R3. Last month the city withdrew a request to annex and re-zone another piece of Copeland’s prop erty near the intersection of Hwy. 515 and Allred Mill Road citing “public outcry” against the planned apartment complex. Since that annexation failed, developers of the apartment com plex and Copeland entered into a contract to place the facility on another piece of his property which also includes the site where the new hospital is being constructed. When initially annexed into the city approximately two years ago, the property was zoned commer cial. According to City Administra tor Jim Smith who spoke on behalf of Copeland who was out of town, there will be two roads going into the project. The principal road will be a city street connecting with Hwy. 515 and another entrance off Salem Church Road. A small crowd of citizens showed up at the hearing and inquired if the planning commis sion had looked at whether such a project would benefit the city. “I wonder if a cost-benefit analysis has been done concerning this project,” said Francis Stewart, who lives in the area. “That many units brings in a lot of children and you have to have classrooms for them and teachers. Also what about traffic lights? Have you all considered the amount of traffic that will be going in and out of the area with that many apartments?” Stewart said he was also con cerned about the environmental impact of the project. “They’ve completely raked that whole site out there already. There will be a lot of children in there but there are no trees for them to run under (because they’ve been cleared).” Smith said the city is working with the Department of Transporta tion to put a traffic light at the intersection. “We’re working with the DOT and if anyone here has ever worked with the DOT you know Continued on page 5A The Battle over Bill ’s Downtown building owner says city “nitpicking” while city inspector says the code is clear By Dan Pool Prior to Wednesday, Rubble Smith, the owner of the 3,500 square foot two-story building at 35 North Main Street, had not been willing to discuss the ongoing feud between he and Jasper city hall which has kept the building pad locked for well over a year. Last week, however, Smith called the Progress and asked for a reporter to accompany him to buy a business license for Jasper Salvage, a business he plans to open in the first floor of his building. Smith said he wanted someone to come along to see firsthand the story. When Smith arrived at city hall, he asked Gary Lowe, who handles the business licenses, if his was ready? Lowe motioned to a stack of papers on his desk and said he had not had time to look at Smith’s. Smith said his request had been there for at 15 days and there couldn’t be that many ahead of him. He asked to see the dates when the other requests for licenses were submitted. Lowe left the room and a few minutes later city administrator Jim Smith arrived. J. Smith (no relation to Rubble) asked what type of business the owner was planning to open. Retail and wholesale, a salvage store, which will sell new and pos Continued on page 5A School board listens to concerns on calendar and block scheduling By Michael Moore The board of education embarked on a fact finding mission Monday in two workshops to NEW TATE POST OFFICE OPENS — Postmaster Joy Patterson (right), and Postal Clerk Juanita Robinson have a busy first day Tuesday at the new facility. The new location is near the four-way- stop. The Tate Post Office serves some 500 boxholders now. The new facility has an extra 300 boxes to take care of future growth. Besides more space, a major reason for the move was more and safer parking. “At the new location, well be able to better serve our customers along with having better parking,” says Patterson who has been postmaster in Tate for 10 years. The post office had been at its old location since 1958. Originally the post office was on the grounds of the Georgia Marble plant. (Photo by Damon Howell) assess the pros and cons of block scheduling and the starting date of next year’s academic calendar. Both drew large crowds of parents, stu dents, faculty and concerned citi zens. No vote was made at either of the two consecutive workshops except for the approval of tabling a decision on the calendar until the board’s next regular meeting in February. At the calendar workshop, sever al members of an association made up of area country churches protest ed two options for the calendar pro posed by the board. Both options would start school in the middle of the revival season, which is approx imately the first two weeks of August. Church association members, concerned that academics could cut into revival participation, requested that school not start until August 25. Board member Ervin Easter- wood explained the dilemma of state mandated tests, which can only be offered at a specified time of the year and no later. “The tests are going to be given regardless of whether your child is ready or not ready,” he said. “We’ve got to give your child ample oppor tunity to pass the tests.” Typically the tests are adminis tered in late April and early May. The Reverend Johnny McPher son said, “A number of families will be affected by your decisions.” He said 20 churches belong to the asso ciation and would be affected by school starting earlier. He added that a lot of teachers and school staff belong to the organization. Several mentioned the impor tance of visiting churches in other counties during revival. Starting school before the 25th would cause the churches to “crowd up.” The association also suggested that the board take some in-service days and holidays off the calendar to make up for lost instruction time. Curriculum director Susan Reeves said the tests are controlled by “outside forces,” and passing scores are important for state fund ing. “If we start three weeks behind other schools we are jeopardizing our performance on the tests,” she said. “The state does not care whether we test in the 36th week, or the 32nd or 33rd week of instruc tion.” She added that lower scores will make Pickens look bad compared to other schools. According to information from the school board office, almost all the neighboring systems started this year in the first or second week of August. Pickens started on the 19th. Two teachers — Christine West brook and Glenda Cagle — echoed Reeves’ position. They said the more time they have to teach aca demics, the better prepared the stu dents will be. But another teacher, David Whitaker, disagreed, noting the importance of religion in students’ lives. He said school and church have common goals — to help stu dents “excel and become good citi zens.” Continued on page 10A