Newspaper Page Text
Stars and Stripes Forever
Jasper Lions Invite Everyone To Celebrate July 4th Here • Page sb
^3
Briefly ...
Daisy Mae
meet Daisy Mae
The first production
staged by the Tater Patch
Players was Li’l Abner.
Now, 30 years later, the
local theatre troupe is
preparing to present Li’I
Abner for the third time,
and three generations of
Daisy Mae actresses talk
about the play. Page 4B
Bugs, Candy
and Books
Reading programs, craft
programs, story times,
vacation reading club ...
the Pickens County
Library is a busy place
this summer. From teens
to toddlers and everyone
in between, the library is
hosting a variety of sum
mer programs. Page 10A
Congrats 2007
Leadership Grads
Under the auspices of
the Pickens County
Chamber of Commerce,
members of the
Leadership Pickens Class
of 2007 recently marked
the completion of this
year’s session with a
graduation program. This
is the 15th group to com
plete the program that
challenges participants to
get involved in the com
munity’s future. Page 6A
And Drug Court
Grads Too
The Appalachian
Judicial Circuit Drug
Court celebrated its fifth
anniversary and honored
recent graduates at a
reception in Jasper last
week. To reach gradua
tion, felony drug offend
ers must complete two
years of intensive outpa
tient treatment. To date,
43 people have completed
the program. Page 7A
Cocaine Bust
One person was arrested
in Pickens County last
week and another is want
ed on felony distribution
of cocaine charges.
Authorities say the suc
cess of a meth crackdown
here may be resulting in
an increased amount of
cocaine being imported.
Page 12A
Weather
By WILLIAM DILBECK
HI
LOW
RAIN
Tuesday
82
64
1.22
Wednesday
82
60
.00
Thursday
85
57
.00
Friday
86
57
.00
Saturday
89
64
.00
Sunday
90
65
Trace
Monday
86
65
.08
Deaths
Jewell Thomason
Lee Etta Ligon
Hershel Padgett
Lillie Baldwin
Charles B. Edington, Jr.
Myrtle Taylor
OBITUARIES . ..See Page 11A
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www.pickensprogres s .com
The Progress is
printed in part on
recycled newsprint
and is recyclable
THURSDAY, JUNE 28, 2007 • VOLUME 120 NUMBER 8 • JASPER, GEORGIA • 500
Pickens woman charged with April murder of husband
Medical examiner’s finding key evidence
in case against Tammy Poole
By Dan Pool
A 33-year-old Talking Rock woman was
arrested on murder charges Thursday after a med
ical examiner from the GBI crime lab ruled the
April shooting death of her husband was homi
cide.
Tammy Poole was indicted on felony and mal
ice murder charges for the death of her husband,
Robert Michael Poole, by a Pickens grand jury
following the presentation of the medical examin
er report and other evidence last week. She also
faces other charges including possession of a
firearm during the commission of a crime, giving
a false statement and a felon in possession of a
firearm.
She was arrested Thursday in a home in
Gilmer County, where methamphetamine was
also found, according to a sheriff department
spokesman. Another person in the home faces
charges for the drugs.
The Pickens Chief Deputy and the District
Attorney revealed few details of the case, but both
said the shooting was immediately considered
suspicious and had been under investigation since
it occurred.
The husband was found shot in the head with a
single bullet from a .22 rifle at around 9 p.m. on
Sunday, April 22. He was pronounced dead after
being transported to Piedmont Mountainside
Hospital by emergency personnel.
Wigington said the investigators had worked
closely with the victim’s family during the inves
tigation to keep them updated on progress.
Both Wigington and the DA said the crime lab
report was a key piece of evidence in building a
strong case.
“We had been waiting on the medical examin
er report,” said Chief Deputy Allen Wigington. “It
showed that it was a homicide,”
He said the medical examiner report shows
why the fatal shot to the head was homicide,
rather than suicide or accidental, but Wigington
would not comment on how that was determined.
Neither Wigington nor the DA would com
ment on motive. The malice murder indictment
states the shooting was done with “malice afore
thought.”
District Attorney Joe Hendricks presented the
case to the grand jury before the arrest had been
made last week, a move that, he said, was slight
ly unusual but mostly just a matter of timing.
He said they received the medical examiner
report and had completed the investigation in
time to present the case to an already convened
grand jury. Poole will be formally arraigned in
Pickens Superior Court on July 13th. She is being
held under maximum security without any bond
in the Pickens County jail.
Poole was featured in the Progress this spring
for successfully completing a paralegal program
at Appalachian Tech in an article titled “Local
Mom Builds Better Life,”
Continued on page 4A
Tammy Poole with deceased husband
Robert Michael Poole. She faces murder
charges resulting from his April death.
Photo from previous Progress feature.
Plan for 60 mile North Georgia Loop green area
put in front of top officials from five counties
By Daniel Cumming
North Georgia does not yet
need a Beltway, but plans for a
60-mile Greenway are on the
table.
Dr. Robert Keller, president
of the Mountain Conservation
Trust of Georgia (MCT), pre
sented his idea for a North
Georgia Conservation Loop
during a meeting at the Pickens
County Administrative Building
last week.
Officials from Pickens,
Dawson, Cherokee, Forsyth and
Gilmer counties and State offi
cials as well as members of
Georgia conservation groups
attended.
The proposed loop would
span the five counties, follow
ing Long Swamp Creek to the
Etowah River to the Amicalola
Creek to the Amicalola Scenic
Byway. This loop would also
connect by Highway 52 to large
tracts of protected land in
Gilmer County.
MCT already has about
1,200 acres protected as a
Preserve in northern Pickens
County, and hopes to protect
much more land with this proj
ect.
Keller explained that the goal
was originally to protect water
quality in Pickens County by
working with property owners
to create a buffer of at least 50
feet to 150 feet of undeveloped
land on either side of some
streams.
He said the private owners of
the land around the streams
would be asked to cooperate by
either selling the land to the
county or agreeing to preserve
the buffer or even the entire
property for various incentives.
“We already know where
each and every one of the [prop
erties along the loop] are,”
Keller said, “we already know
who the owners are.”
The meeting on Tuesday,
June 19, and had more than 20
people in attendance. Keller
said in an interview afterwards
that he was thrilled with the
turnout and with the way the
meeting went.
He thought that everybody at
the meeting was on board with
the idea in principle, but each
county would have a different
situation and goal with conser
vation, he said.
For an overarching bench
mark, his goal is to preserve 20
percent of each county, he said.
At the meeting, Keller intro
duced Ross King, Deputy
Director, Association of County
Commissioners of Georgia
(ACCG), to talk about collabo
ration between counties.
In the words of Keller, “Ross
has graciously agreed to serve
as our broker for this.”
King talked about the
urgency of projects of this
nature in light of the urban
growth in Georgia, and other
Continued on page 16A
Architect hired
to present
courthouse
annex plans
Downtown county
offices could be
ready by year’s end
By Michael Moore
At his monthly meeting
Friday, Commissioner Robert
Jones announced the county has
begun working with an archi
tect to design the renovation of
the courthouse annex building
in downtown Jasper.
The commissioner signed an
agreement with JKH
Architects, LLC to develop
plans for the annex. Jones said
after his meeting that he is
seeking a design for the interior
of the building which will give
the clerk of court more room,
and provide adequate office
space for court officials and
staff.
Currently the top floor of the
building is vacant as county
departments formerly there,
including the commissioner’s
office, moved out
Continued on page 4A
Pickens County marble industry founder remembered
New Fitzsimmons monument unveiled in Marble Hill
Man with suit
against officials
goes to jail
for obscenities
Bob Hayles found in
contempt of court order
By Michael Moore
A Price Creek man was sen
tenced to three days in jail
Wednesday for shouting
obscenities and displaying a
hand gesture known as “shoot
ing the bird” toward his neigh
bor.
Bob Hayles was found in
contempt of court for violating
a restraining order brought
against him by his neighbor,
Gregory Hartman.
Hartman brought the suit in
Pickens County Superior
Court, claiming that Hayles
violated the terms of the order,
which was filed in July 2006.
Hartman claimed that
Hayles was in violation by
making sign language, yelling
profanities in his direction, and
generally “harassing” him.
On one occasion, according
to witness testimony, Hayles
drove toward Hartman’s
Continued on page 16A
HENRY T. FITZSIMMONS CEMETERY
FOUNDER OF THE PICKENS COUNTY .MARBLE INDUSTRY
Daniel Cumming / Photo
The new historical monument as it was unveiled at the Fitzsimmons
Cemetery Saturday. Polycor donated the marble. Stone cutters David Carver
and Hugh Bozeman did the carving.
By Daniel Cumming
Local historian Linda Geiger read an
Irish prayer. It began, “May the leaves of
your cabbage always be free from worms,
may crows never pick your haystack,” and
with that, the new historical marker was
unveiled Saturday.
Almost 50 people came to the Henry T.
Fitzsimmons Family Cemetery for the
“It’s so much more than just a
cemetery, ” local historian says.
“They’ve underestimated this
man [Fitzsimmons] for years. ”
unveiling of a new marble monolith monu
ment, made possible by a long list of people
through donations, services, volunteering.
research and...dowsing.
Yes, dowsing.
Joe Chastain located 15 lost and over
grown graves at the cemetery using two
thin, L-shaped brass rods. The age-old prac
tice has little science to back it up, but as
Chastain explained after the ceremony,
“everything puts off an energy. How the
rods pick it up, I don’t know.”
Chastain has been dowsing for more than
40 years, he said. To locate a grave, he sim
ply holds a rod loosely in each hand by the
short handle, long part horizontal, and walks
slowly, letting the rods swing freely to point
the way.
The rods come together over a grave, or
underground water source, or quarter hidden
in the grass, or just about anything else you
want to find, Chastain said, and “X” marks
the spot.
“I’ll tell you what,” he laughed, “This’ll
tear up any metal detector.”
Even the hundred-year-old Masonic
monument marking the graves of Henry
Fitzsimmons and his wife, Almyra, was
sparkling white for the ceremony. Henry
Fitzsimmons, the monument proudly pro
claims, was the founder of the Pickens
County marble industry.
Continued on page 16A
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