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Front - March 31 3/29/05 4:52 PM Page 1
Pinwheels for Prevention Kickoff Set For This Friday
Prevent Child Abuse Pickens Encourages Residents To Attend Activities, Purchase Pinwheels / Page 9A
MARCH 31, 2005 VOLUME 117 NUMBER 47 JASPER, GEORGIA 30143 USPS 431-830 THREE SECTIONS 53 PAGES PLUS SUPPLEMENTS
If You Can Yell
“Yerrrrr Out!”
You Ye In
The Pickens County Umpire
Association needs more umpires
for the upcoming youth baseball
and softball season. Experience
beyond a good basic knowledge
of baseball/softball is not neces
sary as all needed training will
be provided by experienced
umpires. P age 10A
Learn to Climb
Your Family Tree
A new genealogy workshop
is now underway at the Pick
ens County Library. The first
session was held last week
with participants ranging from
start-up genealogists seeking
information on their grandpar
ents to seasoned researchers
who can trace their family
trees back to ancestors in
Europe. Don Thompson, class
leader, plans for the ongoing
forum to be a genealogy
roundtable where participants
help each other get past their
research snags. The library’s
collection of family history
research materials is also
available. The programs will
continue on the last Saturday
of each month. Page 2B
Great American
Clean-up Month
Observed Here
Commissioner Jones and
Mayor Weaver have pro
claimed April as clean-up
month in Jasper and Pickens
County. A number of activities
will be held during the month
under the coordination of Keep
Pickens Beautiful. Honorary
Chair for Great American
Clean-up Month activities here
is Kathryn Downes, a charter
member of KPB. Page 6B
Deaths
Jane Farrow
James Duckett
Edward Torrington
Mary McTaggart
Donald Holcomb
Mellene McDaniel
Martha Griffeth
Barbara Pihl
Jennie Cheek
Nancy Bridgeman
Arthur Cronan
Ed Powell 111
Lois Bagwell
OBITUARIES ... .See Page 3A
Weather
By WILLIAM DILBECK
HI
LOW
RAIN
Tuesday
56
49
1.87
Wednesday
62
44
.00
Thursday
64
44
.00
Friday
75
48
.00
Saturday
77
51
.66
Sunday
62
43
2.38
Monday
47
41
.00
Visit Us
On The Web
www.pickensprogress .com
The Progress is
printed in part on
recycled newsprint
and is recyclable
Harmony School bid $ 1 million less than officials expected
Lower steel, concrete prices
contribute to lower price
By Christie Pool
School officials got a nice sur
prise when they opened bid pack
ages for the planned Harmony
School Road elementary school
earlier this month - the guaranteed
maximum price for the project was
$1 million less than they budgeted.
According to the school sys
tem’s project manager, Mike
Ballew, the maximum cost to build
the school will be $7.5 million. The
82,000 square foot school will be
the county’s largest elementary
school and could house 800 stu
dents. Ballew said the 55-classroom
facility is designed so it could be
easily added onto later.
The school board voted unani
mously to approve the bids.
The $7.5 million will cover con
structing the school. Ballew said
furnishings could run anywhere
between $250,000 and $400,000,
depending on computer and tech
nology labs.
Property for the school was pur
chased in 2002 for $750,000. Funds
collected from the Special Purpose
Local Option Sales Tax (SPLOST)
paid over $300,000 of the land
acquisition costs. The approximate
ly 40 acres of property along Har
mony School Road also houses the
recently-completed bus garage.
Ballew said bulldozers will like
ly be at work the first week in April
and the contract calls for comple
tion in 15 months. The school, for
grades kindergarten through fifth, is
scheduled to open in the fall of
2006.
Before voting on the measure,
board members asked Ballew for
reassurance that the project was bid
correctly because of the huge dif
ference in the estimated and actual
cost of construction.
“This $7.5 million is the guaran
teed maximum price. It won’t be
above that,” Ballew said. “This
contract with Charles Black Con
struction includes contingencies.
They always put money like that in,
so it will be there in case you run
into rock or something. If we don’t
wind up with any contingencies
then we don’t spend that money.
One of the biggest differences is the
price of steel. Steel has come down
a good bit — also concrete.”
Funding for the school will
come from a SPLOST that was
approved by voters in March of
2001. The board has been collect
ing money since January of 2002
for the project, according to Assis
tant Superintendent Amy Burgess.
Board Member Ervin Easter-
wood said Ballew should be com
mended for all the work he has
done on behalf of the board.
Superintendent Lee Shiver said
Ballew does a great job talking with
builders and contractors.
“We do our research,” Shiver
said. “A lot of times those things
pay off — knowing how much other
schools cost and what to expect. I
think this is a really good price.”
Commissioner holds March meeting
Health Dept., Emergency Services
report increased use
By Dan Pool
Both the health department and
the emergency services director
reported increasing call volumes
during the March sole commission
er’s meeting Friday.
County EMA Director Layne
Arnold said the number of 911 calls
has seen an unusual surge since the
beginning of the year.
“Other than an increase in the
number of people coming through
the county, we don’t see any reason
for the increase,” he said. “But this
is not a slow surge, it’s a pretty
hefty rise.”
Arnold said the increase was
spread across all call types involv
ing law enforcement, fire and med
ical emergency. Thus far this year,
the county EMS has run 740 calls,
the Fire departments 650 calls, and
there have been 6,702 calls involv
ing law enforcement agencies.
Arnold cited two types of calls
in particular which have dramatic
increases — family violence and
unattended deaths.
“There has been an increase in
all types of crimes, but particularly
with family violence there has been
a significant increase,” he said.
Arnold said in the past two
weeks, EMS crews have responded
to five deaths. The emergency med
ical crews respond anytime a body
is found and five in the past two
weeks is “very unusual for this
county.”
Major Allen Wigington with the
sheriff’s department said none of
the deaths are under criminal inves
tigation. One was determined to be
a suicide by the sheriff and GBI;
the others were from natural causes.
Lois Bryant, the manager of the
county health department, said the
department is on pace to exceed the
number of people treated last year
with 6,441 clients seen this year.
She said the department had per
formed nearly 9,000 treatments of
these users, including 3,300 flu
shots. She said this was a record
number of flu shots.
“Many of these people are first
time users and we hope they will
continue to come to us,” she said.
Bryant said the state legislature
continues to work on the budget for
health departments and there will
be cuts in several programs, but she
didn’t anticipate it affecting the
staffing of the local department.
Under his consent agenda, the
commissioner handled several rou
tine pieces of business including
adopting a new pay scale for
employees and transferring some of
the payroll accounting functions for
employees of the District Attor
ney’s office to a state agency.
No public comments were given.
The commissioner holds a public
meeting on the fourth Friday of
every month at 9 a.m. in the court
house annex.
Running at the same time as the
commissioner’s meeting Friday, the
land development office held a pub
lic hearing over a proposed devel
opment in a state designated
groundwater recharge area on Talc
Mine Road.
Director of Planning Norman
Pope reported afterwards that no
members of the public were pres
ent. He said the county was
required to hold a public hearing
because the development is pro
posed in the only groundwater
recharge area identified by the state
in Pickens County.
Pope said a groundwater
recharge area is a place recognized
by the state where a significant
amount of water enters a groundwa
ter aquifer.
Rodney Buckingham of the land
development office said there are
numerous recharge areas west of
Pickens County, with the number
increasing as you get closer to
Rome and the state line.
He said the county development
standards, specifically the one acre
minimum lot size, already exceeds
state requirements for development
in recharge areas.
Buckingham said the develop
ers, Steve Folsom and Dwayne
Eckert, are aware of the designation
and their plans exceed all state
requirements.
The development, which has not
been given a name yet, is proposed
as 89 lots on 116 acres.
Buckingham said some of the
lots directly in the recharge area
will have lots even larger than the
one acre minimum which will more
than satisfy the requirements.
Damon Howell / Photo
Mike Ballew, Director of Special Projects, looks over the blue
prints for the new elementary school on Harmony School Road
west of the current bus garage.
Internet Ghost disappears
in light of investigation
By Jeff Warren
It was another middling March
work day, drizzling rain in a county
seat that likes to sit on its secrets. I
was making the rounds, checking
the usual suspects. I needed a story,
so I stopped at the library.
As I came through the door, the
reference librarian caught my eye.
She looked tall, tough and together
behind her stockbroker glasses. She
was busy about something with an
authoritative air. I knew I couldn't
pass her desk without speaking.
"You again," she looked up.
"What do you want?"
I tried to be casual, but I wasn't.
I aimed to pick her brain for any
germ of a story. She got me first.
"Know anything about a ghost at
Scarecorn Creek?" she quizzed. I
admitted I knew nothing. Her look
could have swatted a fly.
She said a dad and son out of
Gainesville had been asking a lot of
questions. Seems the shaver found
a local ghost story over the Internet
— a haint reported at the Carver
Mill Road Bridge over Scarecorn
Creek north of Hinton. The librari
an told me the website. I thanked
her for the tip and swore I'd look
into it.
The whole thing sounded dubi
ous, but I meant to check it out.
At the newspaper office, I keyed
in the web address: theshadow-
lands.net. A tragic tale appeared
before my eyes. A half century ago,
ran the account, Carver Mill Road
crossed a high wooden bridge over
Scarecorn Creek. When the old
structure collapsed, it took two
lives with it. A woman and a man
were driving across when it fell.
After dark, the website contin
ued, you can park near the bridge
rail, douse every light and wait for
the ghost man to return. He walks
Continued on page 5A
Damon Howell / Photo
ENJOYING THE OPENING DAY OF TROUT SEASON - The Kendricks family enjoyed
spending some of their Saturday fishing off the bank of Cove Creek. Several others came and
went throughout the day to relax along the creek with fishing pole in hand while taking advan
tage of the great weather and the opening day of Georgia’s trout season on seasonal streams.
The Workshop searching
for peace in the mountains
Residential recovery facility
asks for community support
Visitors to Pickens County often
come for the peace and quiet of the
mountains.
A Pickens man believes that the
peace and serenity here will add a
valuable component for drug
addicts and alcoholics who have
completed a primary recovery pro
gram and now need to return to the
rigors and pressure of modern life.
Bob Hayles, a former alcoholic
himself, said the benefits of locat
ing a “three-quarters” recovery cen
ter in the mountains, as opposed to
a bustling metro area, are obvious.
“When you walk out the front
door of a recovery center on
Roswell Road, there are three
liquor stores and two bars you pass
on your way to work,” he said.
Hayles said in addition to the
availability of alcohol in the urban
areas, the pressures a recovering
alcoholic has there are greater.
“I want to establish a recovery
center up in the mountains — not
even in Jasper,” he said. “It needs
to be a peaceful, simple setting, so
that your whole job is to learn to
stay sober.”
At this point Hayles wants noth
ing more than the community’s
support for the “The Workshop” —
his name for the proposed recovery
center. Hayles said he envisions a
setting with 10-15 acres and several
two to three bedroom cabins for
those in the program to live during
the six month to 12 month pro
gram, plus some additional meeting
space.
“Initially, I’m not looking for
funds,” he said. “I want to see let
ters, letters to the local government,
the commissioner, letters to the edi
tor expressing support,” he said. “I
want people to talk about this at
churches, in civic groups, anywhere
people get together.”
Hayles said there are two rea
sons the community should support
recovery programs: it’s ethically
the right thing to do and treatment
is cheaper than the expense of sup
porting alcoholics and drug addicts
Continued on page 5A
