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Front - May 20 5/18/04 5:16 PM Page 1
Pickens High School Sports: The Year That Was
With the 2003-2004 school year wrapping up, sports writer Rick Frye reviews PHS athletics/Page 1C
MAY 20, 2004 VOLUME 117 NUMBER 2 JASPER, GEORGIA 30143 USPS 431-820 THREE SECTIONS 46 PAGES PLUS SUPPLEMENTS
Briefly. . .
Coming For
A Visit?
The arrival of the 17-year
Cicadas has been in the news a
lot lately. Will these bugs
make an appearance in Pickens
County? Our County Agent
says we’re on the fringe of this
group of cicadas’ range. They
should show up in quantities
across the Chattahoochee
National Forest and some
folks’ back yards in Pickens
County could be hot spots too.
In this week’s County Agent’s
Corner, Rick Jasperse shares
some interesting facts about
these insects. Page 16B
Focusing On
Marble Hill
The program at next week’s
Marble Valley Historical Soci
ety meeting will feature Mar
ble Hill — specifically, the
general stores that were once
prominent features of the com
munity. Descendants of the
merchants who operated
Harbin & McClain, Lawson’s,
Reuben Jones’ and Gertrude
Jones’ Stores in Marble Hill
will present the program
which is free and open to the
public. Page 12 A
Shooting
The Breeze...
Mark Roland, a Jasper busi
ness owner and life-long resi
dent of Pickens County, dis
cusses his hometown and
some of the changes he’s seen
here, but concentrates on the
hobby he’s passionate about —
dirt track racing — in this
week’s Shooting the Breeze
column. Page 3B
Weather
By WILLIAM DILBECK
HI
LOW
RAIN
Tuesday
80
67
Trace
Wednesday
76
63
.84
Thursday
77
64
.60
Friday
75
62
.00
Saturday
77
61
.00
Sunday
80
63
.00
Monday
78
63
.00
Deaths
Lois Pendley
Verlan Chapman
Barbara Payne
Eloise Roe
Sam Ramp ley
OBITUARIES ... .See Page 14A
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Pickens builders group continues meetings
with planning commission on land use plan
Homebuilders cite concerns over taxes, burdensome requirements
By Dan Pool
Leaders of the Pickens Home
builders Association continued dis
cussing the proposed land use plan
last week with the county’s plan
ning commission, suggesting minor
changes and general concerns.
The group plans at least one fur
ther meeting to present information
they have gleaned after intensive
study of the more than 150 pages of
regulations, tables, classifications
and requirements.
Voters will have a chance to
voice their opinion at the July pri
mary vote. Although the vote is not
binding. Commissioner Bill New
ton said he will enact the new land
use plan if a majority of the voters
cast favorable ballots.
The builders’ comments were
mostly presented by Ken Keating,
of J and K Builders, who is the
spokesman for the group on this
issue.
The builders presented both spe
cific suggestions, such as allowing
a wider variety of fence materials
to fulfill certain obligations; and
general concerns, such as tax relief
for owners of large tracts who don’t
intend to develop their property.
Most comments made by the
builders focused on making it easi
er and cheaper for “mom and pop”
property owners to navigate the
requirements to appeal a zoning
classification, if the plan is adopt
ed.
Keating pointed out that “engi
neered site plans” are required for
all requests for zoning changes
which may be burdensome and sur
prising for a small property owner.
“Big property owners, develop
ers typically expect fees and
requirements, but mom and pop
typically wouldn’t have the
resources or know where to go to
accomplish [the engineered work],”
Keating said.
Norman Pope, the county’s
director of planning, said his office
will work with small property own
ers and families to hold expenses
down as much as possible, but
could not formally make exceptions
in the land use plan if it is adopted.
“Under state and federal law, we
can’t make exceptions regardless of
whether it’s for individual or com
mercial pieces,” he said.
Pope said there are different
Ball Ground Festival
proves to be a major success
Damon Howell / Photo
A number of craftsmen exhibited their skills at the Ball Ground festival. Terry Daniel ofElli-
jay, pictured here, gave children a chance for some hands-on experience in wood turning.
By Dennis W. Dougherty
Last year it poured during the
Heritage Festival, however, as he
promised he would, Ball Ground
City Manager Eric Wilmarth kept
the rain away from this year’s Ball
Ground Festival and parade.
There were in excess of seven
ty booths where people could fill
up on anything from funnel cakes
to Polish sausage. Kids were
entertained with painted-on tat
toos, rock climbing, and a wide
variety of jumping houses. The
Ball Ground Boy Scout troop had
an area roped off to allow people
to shoot paint balls at the notori
ous bad guy himself - Osama bin
Laden.
Continued on page 3A
guidelines “for individual ancestral
subdividing [of lots for more build
ing site].”
Pope said under the county’s
current charter and under the pro
posed land use plan, the only per
son who can grant a variance is the
commissioner.
He said problems arise when
you allow staff members to grant
variances as the staff may not uni
formly allow or deny requests.
Pope said currently the planning
office will look at a request for
variances with issues such as set
backs and make recommendations
to the commissioner, but “you have
to be very careful and treat them
on a case-by-case basis. Look at
the reasons and conditions.”
Pope said on the requirements
for site plans and engineered work,
a board considering the request for
a change in land use classification
will need the surveys and other
engineered work to understand the
request.
Pope said particularly with zon
ing appeals to allow subdivisions
or commercial operations it is
imperative that everyone have
updated information at the start of
the planning process as outdated
surveys may be drastically incor
rect.
In one case a person had pre
pared plans believing a parcel was
130 acres but once the updated
information was completed it was
only 96 acres and this was not an
isolated case. Pope said.
He said as more property
changes hands, there will be more
updated information in the coun
ty’s system eliminating the surpris
es and making it easier to prepare
site plans.
Continued on page 4A
PHS Class of ‘04
graduates
this Saturday
Commencement exercises for
the Pickens High School’s class of
2004 will take place Saturday, May
22 at 10:00 a.m. at the high
school’s athletic field. This year’s
graduating class number more than
200.
The valedictorian is Ginger Cay-
lor, and the salutatorian is Jensi
Gise.
Michelle Richards will be the
faculty speaker at the graduation
ceremony.
In the case of rain, exercises will
be held in the high school gymnasi-
Kids Fishing Day
All children (15 & under) are
invited to the trout fishing derby on
May 22 from 9 a.m. until 3 p.m.
The location is the Pendley Sta
bles pasture at Pendley Creek on
Grandview Road. Parking is limit
ed to the shoulders of Grandview
Road.
The Georgia Department of Nat
ural Resources (DNR) and the
Pickens County Sportsmen Club
(PCSC) jointly sponsor all the
activities. A lunch of hot dogs, soft
drinks and chips will be made
available.
Come bring your fishing pole,
hooks, fish bait and fish stringer.
Fishing license is not required for
children under the age of 15. Adults
(16 and older) may help bait hooks,
coach and assist in any way short
of reeling in the fish. Adults found
fishing during the derby are subject
to violation citation by DNR. The
creel limit is eight fish per child.
Whole kernel, canned corn on a
small hook is considered one of the
best baits.
Directions from Jasper: Take
Burnt Mountain Road to east on
Cove Road then north on Grand
view Road to Pendley Creek.
Pickens brothers arrested
for running chicken fighting
tournaments
Two Pickens County brothers
were arrested Thursday for organ
izing a substantial chicken fighting
circuit on the west end of the coun
ty-
The elder of the two defendants,
who resides in Talking Rock, is
charged with three counts of com
mercial gambling, three counts of
cruelty to animals, and three counts
of keeping a gambling place,
according to Pickens County Sher
iff Billy Wofford.
The other defendant, of Jasper,
is charged with two counts of cru
elty to animals, and two counts of
commercial gambling.
All charges are felonies except
cruelty to animals, which is a mis
demeanor.
Wofford said the arrests were
the result of a six-month investiga
tion by the Pickens County Sher
iff’s Department and the Georgia
Bureau of Investigation (GBI).
The investigation was initially
started with information from
“concerned citizens,” who lived
near a site off Black Knob Church
Road where chicken, or cock fight
ing matches took place twice a
month. Continued on page 4A
City preparing plans for old Roper Hospital
Water rates, pump station, zoning decisions also handled at May meeting
By Michael Moore
The Jasper City Council at its
regular monthly meeting last Tues
day was told about a possible plan
for the old Roper Hospital, which
they own.
Jasper’s chief financial officer
Shane Sosebee reported that the
2004 revenue for the seven percent
hotel/motel tax has been collected.
He said a spending plan to use
the collected funds is “almost com
plete,” and will probably include
turning a portion of the old Roper
Hospital into a tourists’ welcome
center
Mayor John Weaver said the city
would have to get approval from
the state’s Department of Commu
nity Affairs to proceed with spend
ing the tax revenues.
The council also approved hikes
in its water and sewer tap-on fees,
as well as changes in the way
prices for building permits are
determined.
Sosebee said the rate increases
are needed due to “rising costs of
labor and material.”
Specifically, the new rates
include a cost of construction aid
for water and sewer taps, which
previously were part of the fee for
the tap itself, Sosebee said follow
ing the meeting.
It also includes an availability
cost, which is generally charged
only if a builder wants a water line
bigger than three-quarters of an
inch.
Sosebee said splitting up those
costs will allow city departments to
keep better track of sewer and
water funds.
Another reason for changing the
fee schedule is to help the city’s
infrastructure keep up with growing
demand, especially for commercial
projects that require significantly
larger water mains such as a four-
inch or six-inch.
Continued on page 3A
The old Roper Hospital build
ing in downtown Jasper on S.
Main Street sits vacant in a
dilapidated condition now, but
the city is looking at its possi
bilities.
Damon Howell / Photo
