Newspaper Page Text
Front - April 29 4/27/04 5:02 PM Page 1
“Let Freedom Ring”
National Day of Prayer To Be Observed On Courthouse Steps Thursday At Noon / Page 3A
APRE.39, 2004 VOLUME 116 NUMBER 51 JASPER, GEORGIA 30143 USPS 431-830 THREE SECTIONS 53 PAGES PLUS SUPPLEMENTS
Briefly. . .
Time To Sign Up
For Kindergarten
All three elementary schools
in Pickens County will be
registering upcoming kinder
garten students this Saturday
morning. Parents are asked to
bring the child along with var
ious required paperwork to the
school in their district. Phone
the school if more information
is needed. Page 20B
The Latest Word
On Gardening
Chris Hastings, a fourth
generation horticulturist and
author of several books on
gardening, will be the guest
speaker at a Friends of the
Library meeting Thursday
evening. Mr. Hastings will
talk about various aspects of
gardening in the South and all
local residents are invited to
attend this program. Page 2B
Tee It Up
For Good Sam
The second annual Good
Samaritan Golf Tournament
will be played on the Bent
Tree Course next Thursday
with the deadline for register
ing to play coming up on May
2. All proceeds will benefit
the all-volunteer Good Samar
itan Center that provides
health care for the uninsured
in the community. Page 5B
Spring Bargains
Shoppers will find an assort
ment of bargains this Friday
and Saturday along Jasper’s
Main Street when members of
the Jasper Merchants’ Associa
tion hold their spring sidewalk
sale. Maxine Moore,
spokesperson for the retail
shops, said everyone is invited
to visit downtown Jasper for
the sidewalk sale. See adver
tisements in this week’s
Progress for details.
Weather
By WILLIAM DILBECK
HI
LOW
RAIN
Tuesday
78
52
.00
Wednesday
74
52
.00
Thursday
77
58
.00
Friday
80
58
.00
Saturday
83
58
.00
Sunday
80
58
.87
Monday
80
42
.43
Deaths
Lee Scott
Allen Winn
Etna McGehee
Bertie Ryder
OBITUARIES ... .See Page 8A
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On The Web
www.pickensprogress .com
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recycled newsprint
and is recyclable
Commissioner holds monthly meeting
Planning & Development reports busiest month ever in April
By Michael Moore
Pickens County departments
have continued to stay busy this
month, they reported Friday at the
commissioner’s monthly meeting
for April.
Most of the activity has been a
result of continuing growth, which
signs indicate is still steadily on the
rise.
Norman Pope, director of plan
ning and development, reported
that April has been “the busiest
month we have ever had in our
entire history.”
As of Friday, the department
had issued 84 building permits in
April, 62 of which were for site
built homes, Pope said. Four were
for commercial. Total building per
mits for the year are at the same
level they were at last year.
“It’s possible we will issue over
100 permits before the month is
over,” said Pope.
Pope also noted 19 new busi
ness licenses have been granted in
April. He added there are now 690
businesses operating in the unin
corporated parts of Pickens.
The state will soon begin work
on a transportation study of Pick
ens County, Pope said. He said the
final results of the study are
expected by October or November.
Chief tax appraiser Roy Dobbs
said his department is “trying to
keep up with everything.”
He said so far this year the tax
Continued on page 4A
Drugs named as number one
cause of neglect in Pickens
Prevent Child Abuse recognized
at commissioner’s meeting
By Michael Moore
At the commissioner’s monthly
meeting on Friday, members of
Prevent Child Abuse Pickens
(PCAP) were recognized for their
efforts to bring awareness of the
problem to the community during
the month of April, which has been
designated Child Abuse Prevention
month.
“Prevent Child Abuse Pickens is
a great asset to Pickens County,”
said Commissioner Bill Newton
before introducing some of the
group’s members at the meeting.
“They are committed to preventing
maltreatment of children and pro
moting positive parenting.”
PCAP executive director Margy
Lohman said the organization has
served close to 600 first-time par
ents since it was started in 1995.
Lohman said the focus of PCAP
is to work with new parents and
help them acquire the resources
Continued on page 4A
Damon Howell & Dennis Gregg / Photos
BIKERS PEDAL THROUGH PICKENS on the last stage of the Tour de Georgia on Sunday.
Residents living along Hwy. 53 and Hwy. 5 had their chance Sunday to see what they would usu
ally only get to see on their TV screens. 120 world class cyclists from 21 different countries com
peting in the final stage (Stage 7) of the Tour de Georgia raced through Marble Hill, Tate, and
Nelson. The entire race lasted six days and covered 641 scenic miles of Georgia. The race Sunday
was 88.4 miles, starting in Dawsonville and ending in Alpharetta.
Top cyclists participated in the second annual Tour de Georgia this year because of the similari
ties in terrain with what they will see for the Tour de France. Although Canadian rider Gordon
Fraser won Stage 7 of the race Sunday, American Lance Armstrong won the overall race.
About 40 minutes into the race, pictured above in Tate, the 120 riders were still in one large
pack. Anyone watching the race had to look quickly as all 120 racers were gone in a matter of sec
onds - even when climbing some of the steeper hills in the county.
Pictured inset - Five time Tour de France champion Lance Armstrong approaches the turn in
Tate at the four-way-stop.
Jasper’s online sewer system brings
highway development one step closer
By Michael Moore Weaver said many potential developers and busi-
City of Jasper officials expect the recent completion nesses have sought to buy commercial property along
of the sewer system which services Highway 515 past the highway since it was built.
Highway 108 to spark further devel- “The state built a four-lane highway
opment of commercial property along through an undeveloped part of Pick-
the four-lane. “WhCTC VOU find WCltCV ens County,” he said. Weaver cited the
“It’s been an expensive and time , ' J ... , development of the Home Depot and
consuming process,” said Mayor John GTUX S6W6T, yOU Will fltlCl Kroger site as the “perfect example”
Weaver of the $1.2 million-dollar sys- dcVClODmcnt” of infrastructure attracting develop-
tem that took almost five years to * ment.
complete. “But where you find water SCiyS WlQyOT The sewer system includes five pump
and sewer, you will find develop-
ment.”
The long-awaited expansion of the sewage system
south along Highway 515 was completed earlier this
month, opening the door for a flood of new businesses
and industries on the highway.
stations — simply titled A, B, C, D,
and E — connected by six miles of
forced main lines, carrying sewage from Fairview Road
below Highway 108 to the city’s waste water treatment
plant on Montview Drive.
Continued on page 5A
Plans for second major development
at Hwy. 515/53 intersection announced
By Dan Pool
Plans for a second major com
mercial development were
announced last week directly
across Highway 515 from the
Home Depot/Kroger area now
under construction.
Grading is already underway at
the 31-acre Jasper Highlands,
which could see construction on its
fifteen parcels this summer
according to spokesmen from M.
E. Realty who is handling the mar
keting for Elite Development LLC,
operated locally by Craig Meffert.
Virlyn Estes, the “E” of M. E.
Realty, said, “We don’t have the
names of any of the buyers that we
can release, yet. But, the lots will
Continued on page 5A
This photo of the grading
underway at the Hwy. 515/53
intersections shows the size and
location of the county’s two
biggest commercial projects.
The photo was taken by Joe
Warren, sales agent for one of
the developers, whose son is a
helicopter pilot.
$63,000 in Meth seized and
six arrested in drug bust Friday
Six people were arrested and
$63,000 of ice, a type of metham-
phetamine, was seized in a Friday
night bust at a trailer in McMurrian
Court in Jasper.
Agents from the GBI and Zell
Miller Drug Task Force, and Pick
ens Sheriff deputies acting on a tip,
executed a search warrant and
made the
arrests with no
resistance,
according to
Captain Allen
Wigington of
the Pickens
Sheriff
Department.
Two of the
men arrested were charged with
possession of cocaine and four
were charged with trafficking in
methamphetamine.
Wigington said information that
they were re-selling and the quanti
ty led to the trafficking charge. He
said the federal DEA may handle
the case due to the large quantity of
drugs present.
Agents seized 18 ounces of the
meth in several plastic bags. They
also seized three vehicles.
All the men remain in Pickens
jail without bond.
Positively identifying the sus
pects, all Hispanic males, has been
complicated by the lack of docu
ments and a language barrier.
Gary Hughes, agent with the Drug
Task Force, said all were born in
Mexico. Three speak some English.
He said they are sending finger
print information to other agencies
to see if any have previous records.
He said no official documents for
them have turned up in this country.
Wigington
said identifica
tion has been
difficult as
some of the
men had no
ids, while one
had three dif
ferent ids.
Hughes said
this arrest is part of a larger situa
tion with more arrests expected.
Wigington said there was no rea
son to believe that the drugs were
manufactured at the trailer or in
Pickens County. He said no labora
tory equipment was found.
Hughes said the type of meth
seized is commonly called "ice." It
is a more pure and more addictive
form of methamphetamine which
has been refined one step further
than regular meth.
He said it can be ingested orally
by dissolving in the mouth, inject
ed, or most commonly smoked in a
glass pipe with a special lighter.
Jasper Police Dept, arrests
two for coin laundry theft
Police Chief Harold Cantrell
said one of his officers got lucky
Friday while investigating a previ
ous day’s theft at a Jasper business,
and the suspected perpetrators came
back to try their hand again.
Cantrell said Officer Rick Hales
was at the Golden Image Tanning
Salon reviewing a video surveil
lance tape of two men robbing the
machines of a coin laundry next
door when the same two men
returned to the laundry.
“The same perpetrators came
back and started doing the same
thing again,” Cantrell said. “The
owners had called to report the loss
the day prior and, as luck would
have it, we just happened to be on
the scene when they came back.
What was so amazing is that we
had a parked police car across the
street when they came back in - I
think these guys are probably up for
brain testing.”
Police arrested two men in their
30s, both of Norcross, and charged
them with the crime.
According to Cantrell the duo
was able to take a sizable amount
of change from the coin laundry’s
machines. The men, Cantrell said,
“just came to Jasper to try and
clean out the laundry machines.”
Cantrell said there have been no
other incidents at the Southeast
Street coin laundry.
“It’s not the first time this has
happened in Jasper but it’s the first
time we caught anybody,” he said.
According to the chief, Jasper
police caught two women shoplift
ing at Dunn’s on Hwy. 108 the
same day. He said two women in
their mid to late 30s from Bartow
County were charged with shoplift
ing after taking peanuts and sun
glasses from the store.