Newspaper Page Text
THURSDAY. MAY 13. 2004 PICKENS COUNTY PROGRESS PAGE 5A
Continued from page 1A
School Board Meets
Attending the evening’s meeting
was former board member Gary
Fountain who may have been who
Whitaker and Easterwood wanted
to appoint as Locke’s replacement.
Fountain served on the board sever
al years ago, but hasn’t been active
at board meetings in the last several
years. There was no other business
before the board Thursday involv
ing Fountain.
During the recess, board attorney
Phil Landrum III and Lountain left
the meeting room together.
Following the meeting, Young
and Superintendent Lee Shiver said
they were not aware if Fountain
was being considered a candidate
by the other members.
When the meeting was called
back to order, the board unanimous
ly approved an agenda that included
an item to resolve the vacancy
issue. Board members called a spe
cial board meeting on May 20 at 6
pm to discuss the board vacancy.
Hill City Elementary
busting at the seams
Superintendent Lee Shiver
reported that enrollment at Hill City
Elementary, just two years after
opening, is swelling to beyond
capacity.
Shiver said his office is consider
ing a couple of options to handle
the problem including the addition
of portable classrooms or “tweak
ing” the attendance zones. The
superintendent said he is consider
ing writing a letter to students on
the northern part of the Hill City
zone to ask if they would like to
attend Hill City or move to Jasper
Elementary during the coming year.
In some cases, he said, the com
mute might be shorter.
“If we have enough people to
respond that they would like to
move then we might can alleviate
the problem for the next year,” he
said.
Shiver said a major objective is
to avoid disrupting students as
much as possible.
“We would like to avoid moving
students who’ve attended Hill City
Elementary for two years and now
moving them to another school -
we’re trying to work on the least
disruptable and least emotional
option for these kids.”
Shiver said one option is to send
students who’ve recently moved
into the Hill City attendance zone to
Jasper Elementary and also those
students who will begin kinder
garten this year.
Board Member Mark Mitton
queried Shiver on transportation
concerns if students who live close
to one another begin traveling to
different schools and asked that the
administration consider this a factor
when making a recommendation.
*In other news, attendance offi
cer Shelley Cantrell reported that
the system’s student enrollment at
the end of April was 4,047, down
24 students from the previous
month. Cantrell said 15 students
dropped out during April, bringing
the total to 79 for the year with 50
males and 29 females leaving
school.
*Finance Director Amy Burgess
reported that state auditors have
completed their work reviewing the
school’s books. Burgess said the
system had two findings - one
regarding the reporting of the travel
and salary report and a second con
cerned segregation of duties for the
school activities funds.
“We have two people handling
the funds and the state wants three,”
Burgess said. “In the banking indus
try we only had to have two but the
state wants three.”
Burgess said auditors told her
every school throughout the state
will likely get the same finding for
segregation of duties.
Burgess also reported that the
school system has collected 90 per
cent of its revenues for the fiscal
year and spent 75 percent of its
planned expenditures.
“We are on target for the end of
the year,” Burgess said.
In the Special Purpose Local
Option Sales Tax account, Burgess
said, the system received $297,064
during April and collected $3,508 in
interest on the account, bringing the
balance to $2.5 million.
Continued from page 1A
Planning Commission
suit and I think the sign people are
taking a close look at that and think
it might not be as favorable for
them (to go to court)," he said. "I
think this may have been why
(Tinsley) offered to settle."
The county refused the settle
ment, sticking to its billboard ordi
nance which, Pope said, will likely
be re-worded somewhat to make it
more "constitutional".
"We're re-writing the sign ordi
nance to make it more constitution
ally viable," he said. "Governments
are always able to dictate the size
and height of signs but our ordi
nance says that billboards are pro
hibited. In order for it to be a more
‘constitutionally correct’ ordinance
we need to take that wording out
and just say that signs of a certain
height and size are prohibited."
When the billboard ordinance
was adopted in 1999, signs already
in place were grandfathered.
*Despite having its funding
scrapped by the state for the envi
ronmental compliance officer, Pope
said the county will continue to
fund the program through the plan
ning and development office. For
the past year and a half the state,
through a Scrap Tire grant, has paid
for the county's environmental offi
cer with good results, Pope said.
This year Governor Perdue, without
the legislature's support, withdrew
the funds from that program and
diverted it to the state's general
fund.
Chris Romine, the county's cur
rent environmental compliance offi
cer, recently announced his candida
cy for the office of sheriff and then
requested a leave of absence from
his job. Pope said the county will
fill the position during Romine's
absence.
"Chris thought there might be a
conceptual problem because he is
out in the field on the job a lot and
he didn't want people thinking he
was campaigning on county time,"
Pope said.
Pope said the county's employee
handbook does not specifically
address this type of situation for a
leave of absence and said although
Romine may not be assured of his
current job following the election,
he would be guaranteed a job within
the county.
*Acting upon the recommenda
tion of the county's planning direc
tor, members of the planning com
mission said they would draft a let
ter to Commissioner Bill Newton in
support of hiring a third building
inspector.
Pope said he included in his
budget request for 2004 funding for
hiring a third inspector but the
request was not acted upon by the
commissioner. Pope said his current
inspectors are putting in a lot of
hours and stay extremely busy with
all the new homes under construc
tion and a third inspector is needed
to ease the workload.
"These guys are getting so over
worked that if they threw in the
towel we'd be in a quandary," he
said. "With the volume of inspec
tions today it's hard to get all over
the county without having it carry
over to the next day."
Pope said his department could
support a third inspector through its
current user-fees.
*In other business, Rev. Jerold
Young, president of the Pickens
Ministerial Association, requested
the board reduce the number of
acres required by the county for a
church from five to three.
"Obtaining five acres is getting
difficult and expensive," Young
said. "Land prices are going up and
it's getting harder to find that for
smaller churches."
Young said the request was
unanimous among all of the minis
ters who voted.
Do You Need Expert Computer Services?
We are your one stop source for
ALL of your computer needs. Our
staff of well trained, vendor certi
fied and experienced Engineers
are ready and able to handle ALL
of your computer needs.
No Matter How Complex Your
Needs,
We Can Do It!
Monday thru Friday 9-5/after hrs.
by appt. or we will come to you.
The Edge Building
104 North Main Street Suite #6
Upstairs over the Pickens Progress-
Turn left at the top of the stairs-we’re
at the end of the hall.
We do all types of computer work:
General Systems Repairs/Upgrades
New Systems by Gateway, Dell and
others
Application Support and
Programming
LAN/WAN Networking
Web Site Design and Hosting
Wireless Broadband and Internet
Access
1 on 1 or Group Computer
Training
The Edge Group, Inc.
Phone (706) 253-9320
Fax (706) 253-9318
www.theedgegroupinc.com
E-mail: tpuett@theedgegroupinc.com
Continued from page 1A
Bethany man kills mother, attempts to burn house
through the front door due to the
smoke and heat. The deputy yelled
to see if
anyone else was inside. Hearing no
response they found a garden hose
and were able to squelch the flames
already engulfing the back door.
“It was commendable of them to
risk their lives entering a burning
house with nothing but a garden
hose to see if anyone else was in
there,” Sheriff Wofford said.
“Although there was no rescue, it
was crucial that they were able to
preserve the crime scene. If it hadn’t
been for their actions, it might be
possible all we’d be investigating
was an arson.”
While the two deputies were bat
tling the fire. Deputy Blackwell stat
ed in the incident report that the sus
pect said the blood on him could
have been his mother’s.
“The white male repeatedly told
Deputy Blackwell ‘I had to do it,’”
according to the incident report.
The deputy noted in the report
that he noticed a cut on Imbriano’s
hand and asked “if a knife was
involved,” and Imbriano answered,
“Yes, a steak knife,” according to
the report.
According to the incident report,
Imbriano told the deputy several
times that he didn’t know exactly
what happened, “because it hap
pened so fast.”
The report stated that, “The white
male constantly repeated to Deputy
Blackwell that the FBI and CIA
were going to kill everyone and that
the government was out to get him.”
The body of Martha Imbriano
was recovered in a back bedroom of
the trailer.
Imbriano is currently being held
in the state central prison hospital at
Milledgeville due to his mental con
dition, according to Sheriff Wofford.
Wofford said this appears to be a
tragic case involving mental prob
lems. He said there is no reason to
believe any related condition such as
drug use nor any other issues were
involved.
Imbriano and his mental troubles
were known to the sheriff’s depart
ment due to prior incidents, includ
ing one previous booking for crimi
nal trespass, another call on domes
tic violence where a mental condi
tion was mentioned and a bizarre
incident in the sheriff’s office itself
involving Imbriano.
Sheriff Wofford said they had
other “dealings” with Imbriano
where his mental condition was a
factor.
In July 2003, sheriff deputies
investigated an incident where
Imbriano had threatened to “stick a
fork” in the ear of a relative. At that
time the report noted a relative told
the responding officer that,
“Matthew [Imbriano] is Bi-Polar,
but that he lost his medicine and is
not taking it at the present time.”
Then on November 12, 2003
Captain Allen Wigington said
Imbriano came to the sheriff’s
office and filed an open records
request about investigations and
surveillance of him.
“He kept streaming on with all
this about the CIA, surveillance and
being tailed,” Wigington said.
Wigington and another deputy
concluded after 45 minutes of
“bizarre and erratic behavior” in
the sheriff department offices that
Imbriano posed a threat to himself
and involuntarily admitted him to a
mental health facility.
Wigington acknowledged that
this was not the first time sheriff’s
deputies had been involved in an
involuntary admission of Imbriano
to mental health facilities, but could
not elaborate due to privacy laws.
Imbriano is charged with felony
murder. There is no bond for those
charges.
The original call to 911 came
from a neighbor after Imbriano
went to his home asking for help
and saying, “He had to do it,”
according to the incident report.
m
m
Show that graduate or teacher how special they are with a gift from
The Jewelry Box & Doll Shoppe
Incredible Selection * Unbelievable Low Prices
%
e
w
m
Congratulations
I Class of2004!
m
mrf
Fashion
Jewelry
Necklaces, Bracelets
m Earrings, Watches
& More
m $2.00up
m
Large Selection h
Fashion Handbags
25% off l
Including Jellie & Feather Bags
m
/f
m
Look for the dot
&Save
20% to 50% off
select
Sterling Silver
& Gold
Gift Certificates -i-
w
Hours:
^ Tues. - Fri.
10 ‘til 6
Sat.-10 ‘til 5
Located beside Taylor’s Infant & Children Wear
1011 Camp Rd., Jasper
(706) 253-9510
Sterling Silver |
Omegas, Bracelets
Earrings, Rings to
Slides, Chains
Charm bracelets .
over 4,000 charms
and more
I
I
m
T'
prrr
pin
%
e-
—
VISA
m
m
m wmea) wmeoi) wmea) Wmea) wmveof) mL.,
n,,f ’v T ^
Georgia Connections
Our best features in one package
Only
*24f
Add DSL Lite
for only
*191
Local Phone • Long Distance • DSL • Internet • Enhanced Calling Features
©2004 ALLTEL. Products and services may not be available in all areas. $24.95 charge includes residential access line, 2 hours of long distance and certain calling features. Taxes, fees and
other charges, including Universal Service Fund, apply. Some restrictions may apply. Cannot be combined with other discounts and promotions. Limited time offer. ALLTEL reserves the
right to cancel or discontinue this plan at anytime. If any of the minimum required components for the ALLTEL Georgia Connections plan are disconnected, the features will be converted to
the tariffed monthly rate. The long distance plan is only for direct-dialed calls from home to locations within the continental U.S., Alaska, Hawaii, Puerto Rico, Guam and U.S. Virgin Islands.
If any of the minimum required components for the ALLTEL Georgia Connections plan are disconnected, the account will be converted to the Dime All the Time rate of $.10 per minute for
all domestic long distance calls. *$19.95 DSL Lite charge increases to $29.95 a month after three-month promotional period. $29.95 DSL Lite rate is only available when bundled with Georgia
Connections packages. Customer must sign a one-year DSL agreement to receive free modem. Additional packages are available. Call your ALLTEL representative for details.
1-800-ALLTEL7 • www.alltel.com
"All the features I need
at a really great price?"
Do we think alike or what?
Sign up for Georgia Connections and you
really get it all together—our most popular
calling features at a price you’ll love. Your
Connections package includes:
• Residential Service
• Two Hours of Long Distance Service
• Caller ID Deluxe
• Call Waiting
• Caller ID on Call Waiting
^CILIXEl
You got that right.