Newspaper Page Text
Front - Jan 30 1/28/03 4:08 PM Page 1
JANUARY 30,2003 VOLUME 115 NUMBER 38 JASPER, GEORGIA 30143 USPS 431-830 THREE SECTIONS 38 PAGES PLUS SUPPLEMENTS
Briefly. . .
It’s A Long Way
From Pakistan
To Jasper
It was a journey of many
miles and years that landed
local pediatrician, Dr. K. Raza
Mahmood and his wife, Asifa,
in Pickens County by way of
New York. But it only took a
trial three-month stay here to
convince the Mahmoods that
this is a caring community
where they not only want to
raise their own sons but to pro
vide the medical care for “little
patients.” Page 14B
How To Contact
Elected Officials
With the state legislature now
in session along with the con
tinuing national debate on a
number of important issues,
many residents may want to
contact their elected represen
tatives to voice their opinions.
Addresses and phone numbers
are given for Pickens County’s
legislators in Atlanta and
Washington. Page 4C
911 Operations
Discussed
Upgrading Pickens County’s
911 system is one of the major
items that will be covered
under a proposed new sales tax
that goes before voters here in
March. Layne Arnold, the
county’s EMS & EMA Direc
tor, discusses the county’s 911
operations. Page 13B
Storm Relief Funds
Still Needed
Although the community has
responded generously to a
local relief fund for tornado
victims, there is still help that
is needed. At least five families
with no insurance lost every
thing during the November 11
storm. Page 4A
Deaths
Dr. Samuel Lerner
Garvin Padgett
Knute Reed
Verna Collis
James Garner
Mary Lou Solomon
Johnson
OBITUARIES ... .See Page 12B
Weather
By WILLIAM DILBECK
HI
LOW
RAIN
Tuesday
55
33
Trace
Wednesday 43
15
Flurries
Thursday
21
3
.00
Friday
29
5
.00
Saturday
40
19
.00
Sunday
39
17
.00
Monday
35
17
.00
Visit Us
On The Web
www.pickensprogress .com
The Progress is
printed in part on
recycled newsprint
and is recyclable
Building permit applications plunge following drops in temperature, economy
Winter weather slows some county departments, adds stress to others
By Dan Pool
The wickedly cold winter weath
er has eased the workload on the
county’s land development/build
ing permit office, while greatly
adding to the stress of county emer
gency personnel based on reports at
the monthly commissioner’s meet
ing Friday.
The water department has
checked out a few calls of frozen
lines, but thus far they have all been
at the homes of the customers, not
on the county’s line, according to
Water Department Superintendent
Larry Coleman.
Coleman also reported that two
of the county’s wells which were
recently tested by the EPD have
excellent water quality.
“They said the Palmer Springs
Well in Tate is one of the best in
North Georgia for water quality,”
he said.
A new well at Talking Rock was
given the approval for a drinking
water source following tests on it.
Coleman said about the only
thing the water needed was a sand
filter at the source.
Building permit
applications plunge
following drops in
temperature, economy
With one week left in January,
the Land Development Office
reported they had issued about half
as many building permits this Janu
ary as in January of last year.
Planning Director Norman Pope
attributed this to both the weather
and economy.
In January of 2002 the office
issued 58 building permits. As of
Friday they had only issued 28 for
this year.
“We’ve got another week, but if
the weather stays this way, I’m not
sure anyone will be pulling many
building permits,” he said.
Icy roads, cold
mean “job security ”
for emergency workers
Layne Arnold, Pickens Emer
gency Management Director, said
the only thing good about the icy
roads and cold is it means job secu
rity for all the emergency personnel
in the county.
He said there had been no seri
ous wrecks on the icy roads by
emergency vehicles responding to
calls. He said there had been a
minor incident or two with sheriff
deputies on patrol, but nothing sig
nificant.
The crews in ambulances, fire
trucks and sheriff cars have taken
precautions to winterize their vehi
cles and equipment, he said.
“With weather like this our call
volume is way up and that means
job security for all emergency
workers,” he said.
Arnold also gave an update of
the call volumes for the month and
final figures for 2002.
In January, the 911 Center han
dled 1,828 calls. These were divid
ed with the Sheriff’s Department
responding to 1,042; Nelson Police
112; Jasper Police 343; EMS 187;
Fire Departments 132 and Campus
Police 12.
Arnold also gave final figures
for the call volume of 2002 which
was 29,322. It was up from 2001
when the center had 28,890 calls.
Rec. Dept.
committee working on
skatepark
Rec. Dept.. Director Bill
Schmitz said a committee is work
ing on plans for the skatepark. They
recently received a $10,000 grant to
help fund the park.
They are coordinating with the
county road crew to begin some of
the work.
Economic Development
sees some layoffs,
but expansion plans
still on go
Larry Toney, economic develop
er for the county, said there is both
good and bad news for Pickens,
which saw two local firms lay off
workers in the past month, but also
had expansion plans announced
from existing businesses.
Toney said unemployment here,
at 3.4 percent, is still well below
the state average.
“We’ve had a couple of layoffs
announced,” he said. “Fortunately
we’ve been spared a lot of layoffs
even as the economy is struggling,
but it may be catching up to us.”
Following the meeting, Toney
said locally, Goldkist and Royston
had announced layoffs which will
affect Pickens County and the
Evenflo plant in Ball Ground has
announced it is closing, putting
local employees out of work.
Toney did not know the number
of jobs which are being lost.
“Things seem to be softening in
the industrial areas and we’re going
to feel some of that here,” he said.
Newton discusses
water line, marshall
In his report Commissioner Bill
Newton highlighted two recent
projects which have been reported
previously.
He said a grant and loan to con
nect a water line from the Pickens
water system to the City of Calhoun
water system was awarded.
Pickens County will eventually
be able to draw 1.5 million gallons
of water a day from the City of Cal
houn’s system.
The county has applied for a
land disturbing permit to complete
the work and a variance of a trout
stream buffer to allow the line to be
run.
Continued on page 5A
By Dan Pool
James Johnson, the attorney for
the City of Jasper, normally steers
clear of controversy and politics,
but said Monday he was compelled
to respond to a downtown building
owner’s challenge of the city’s
authority to conduct building
inspections.
In last week’s Progress, it was
reported that Rubble Smith blamed
a longstanding feud with city hall as
the reason he was denied a business
license for his building at 35 N.
Main Street.
Johnson, however, said, “There
is no feud. A feud takes two sides
and we’re not against Mr. Smith.”
Although they have never gone
to trial. Smith filed two lawsuits
against the city several years ago.
One sought to stop the renovation of
the Main Street sidewalk in front of
his building. The second was over
the removal of vending machines
from his property after a ban against
the machines on Main Street was
passed.
Johnson said the city’s code
clearly grants them the authority to
inspect buildings and renovation
work and they are not applying any
codes to Smith’s building not
applied everywhere else in the city
limits.
He said it is a prime responsibili
ty of government not only to insure
the safety of anyone in Smith’s
building, but to also look out for
nearby structures.
The city has long maintained that
electrical renovations in Smith’s
building must be inspected before a
Certificate of Occupancy is granted,
and that certificate is required
before a business license will be
issued.
Johnson points out that the city
has negotiated with Smith and given
him several options for the inspec
tion, including using any qualified
inspector without any city personnel
involved.
“We’ve never told anyone they
could use an independent inspector
without our personnel entering the
building, but the owner wouldn’t
agree to that,” he said. “It doesn’t
seem that he wants to settle this.”
Johnson said the inspection
would probably take less than fif
teen minutes.
Smith has claimed that because
of lawsuits he has filed against the
city over other issues, his building
will automatically fail any city
inspection.
He also cited concerns that if an
inspection were conducted his prop
erty might be condemned and
seized by the city.
Johnson said the inspection
wouldn’t just fail him. “If some
thing were found, we’d cite stan
dard codes and have to show what
points didn’t meet the code,” he
said.
Smith would be allowed to do
any required work and be inspected
again. Smith would also have the
right to appeal the inspection to a
city board, according to the city’s
code.
Johnson dismissed claims of the
city seeking to condemn or seize the
building as ridiculous.
Although the owner claims the
city wants to hamper him from
using or renting the space, Johnson
said city hall is anxious to see the
space rented with a business occu
pant.
“The mayor has said he’d like to
see someone renting it and I know
the other merchants nearby don’t
like having it empty,” Johnson said.
Johnson provided a copy of the
city’s ordinance on inspections,
Continued on page 5A
Nelson Council meets Feb 3
City wants public input
before adopting Short
Term Works Program
The Nelson City Council will consider what projects get the highest
priority under a Short Term Works Program when they convene at 7
p.m. Monday.
The plan focuses on different areas the council would like to
improve in the south Pickens town during the next five years.
Other items on the agenda are: a land purchase from Dan Sewell to
expand their park; and a report on abandoned unsafe housing.
The Short Term Works Plan emphasizes historic preservation relat
ing to the town’s marble industry heritage as well as general improve
ments for the community.
Among some of the plans:
• “Develop a business plan to attract marble based vendors and retail
trade to the city.”
• Work to attract businesses for a “light industrial park.”
• Consider an “annual festival.
• “Explore possibilities and grant sources for a marble museum.”
• Develop a streetscape plan.
• Expand the park.
• The city also plans to become qualified to issue their own land dis
turbing permits.
The council meeting is open to the public. They have asked for pub
lic comment before adopting plan.
City attorney responds to challenges
made by downtown building owner
Stocking up on bread and milk — Jess and Cathy Duckett from Marble Hill do their weekly
grocery shopping at Piggly Wiggly. The Ducketts, like many families in Pickens County, say they
load up when they hear bad weather is on the way. (Photo by Damon Howell)
It’s true —
Bread and milk are most popular
groceries when snow in the forecast
By Michael Moore
Most of us have heard or told the joke about Pick
ens residents responding to snowy weather forecasts
by rushing to the grocery store and emptying the
shelves of milk and bread.
When asked if there is any truth to this widely held
claim, Jerry Watkins, manager of the Piggly Wiggly,
said, “It’s an absolute truth. They’ll wipe the bread
shelves clean out.”
Perhaps that’s why the long-running joke never
gets stale. Managers of local grocery stores say the
two staples are indeed shoppers’ favorite items when
the weather man says snow or ice
may trap them inside for a day or
two.
Even the new supersized Ingles
has trouble keeping the bread in stock
when the weather turns nasty.
“Bread and milk are the first
things to go,” said Richard Hudgins
of Ingles.
Other non-perishable and easily
prepared foods follow closely behind,
they say. Canned items, especially
Vienna sausages and Spam, are popular when the
mercury drops to freezing.
“Anything people think they can eat if the power
goes out,” said Charlene Higgins of Blue Star.
Cereal usually accompanies the milk for a quick
meal or snack, and bread is typically used to make the
ever dependable sandwich when there is no electrici
ty-
“You can always eat sandwiches in the dark,”
Hudgins said.
Coping with the possibility of getting trapped in
the house for several days is a major concern for the
shoppers.
Eggs are almost as popular as bread and milk at
Ingles, and all the stores sell more snack items when
the snow is about to fall. Potato chips, Little Debbie
cakes, and cookies are popular when a threatening
weather report comes in.
“People sit in front of the TV
and snack a lot if they’re in the
house all day,” Hudgins said. He
added that if there is no school,
parents buy extra snacks for their
kids.
Many people buy ingredients to
make what they normally would
buy in restaurants.
Frozen pizzas and the ingredi
ents for chili sell a lot at Ingles.
Higgins said some people buy charcoal, planning
to grill out while it snows.
If a blizzard or ice storm is expected, Hudgins said
canned items and foods that don’t require cooking
will be in high demand.
Continued on page 5A
“A lot of people wait
until they see the
snow start falling,
then it really fills up
in here, ” says
Ingles ’ Manager.