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Point. Counterpoint
Multi-person & sole commissioner
advocates go head to head at forum
By Angela Reinhardt
The crowd was large and ripe with
questions at the Pickens County Library,
where the multi-person commission form
of government was pitted against the cur
rent sole commissioner format in a public
forum/debate Monday evening.
In turn, Joe Kelly, founder of sole-com
missioner advocacy group Forward Pick
ens, and Phil Anderson, elected chairman
of the Citizens’ Advisory Committee on
Commission Structure and proponent of
the five-person commission structure,
sounded off on why they believe the option
they are advocating is in the best interest
of Pickens voters.
There was no speaker present to advo
cate for the three-person option introduced
by State Senator Chip Pearson, who served
the 51 st District while the CAC formulated
its multi-man commission proposal.
In the upcoming November election,
voters will decide if they want to move to
either a three or five-member commission
board, or if they would rather stay with the
current sole-commissioner form of gov
ernment.
Here we will present the meat and po
tatoes of the presentation by topic, fol
lowed by audience questions and answers.
The League of Women Voters of Daw
son and Pickens Counties, sponsor of the
Monday forum, has posted both Ander
son’s and Kelly’s PowerPoint presenta
tions as well as ballot language for the
multi-person commission question on the
League website,
www.dawsonpickenslwv.com.
State Representative Rick Jasperse also
presented constitutional amendments that
will appear on the November ballot. Cov
erage of these questions will appear in a
later edition of the Progress.
Voter Mandate?
Kelly, the first to make his presentation,
began by claiming the 2008 non-binding
referendum, asking if Pickens should
move to a multi-person commission, did
not, in fact, reflect a mandate as propo
nents of the multi-person commission
claim.
Of the 15,980 registered voters in Pick
ens County, 6,407 voted in the primary
when the referendum was tallied. Of those
voting, 59.1 percent were in favor of a
multi-person commissioner.
“My job is to give you reference points
and data,” Kelly said. “Look at percentage
of registered voters. We have 60 percent of
[registered voters] who didn’t vote. If you
look at the people who did vote for the
[multi- Continued on Page 16A
Furry Vengeance in a Car
Groundhog, Good Samaritan
force Hwy. 515 lane closure
Toyo Tire adding 200 jobs
30 miles from Jasper
By Angela Reinhardt
Toyo Tire has announced it will add 200 employees to its plant
at White, Georgia, located just 30 miles from downtown Jasper.
“What this means is that people in Pickens have a good oppor
tunity for good employment,” said Pickens County Economic Di
rector Gerry Nechvatal. “In an article last week about the
[Downtown Development Authority] meeting, there were some dif
fering opinions about the economy here, and my opinion was that,
all things considering, we are in a good position.
“Just look at the companies here who are adding a few positions
as well as the companies outside of the county like Toyo and also
Chart Industries down in Canton, who are adding hundreds. I mean,
it would be great if we could all get employment a mile from our
door, but people need to be prepared to drive a little bit.”
After Toyo Tire North American Manufacturing adds the 200
new positions, the company will Continued on Page 17A
After 29 years, Cantrell
retires as Jasper’s
Chief of Police
A groundhog that inadvertently shut down one lane of Highway 515 is re
moved by animal control officer, Joey Thompson, as Jasper Police officers
look on Monday.
Captain Lovell
to be promoted
By Christie Pool
To say law enforcement is in
his blood would be an under
statement. From an early age,
Harold Cantrell knew he wanted
to keep law and order, and he
has faithfully done that in the
city of Jasper for the past 29
years.
In his almost three decades
with the city, Cantrell has
moved from patrolman to the
chief’s position, but even before
that, Cantrell was active as a
teenager, successfully raiding
liquor stills throughout the
county.
“I started in law enforcement
in 1964, helping then Sheriff
Billy Ray raid liquor stills. I was
19 years old,” Cantrell said.
“I’ve been close to law enforce
ment my whole life.”
Cantrell followed in his fa
ther’s footsteps. His father,
Harley Cantrell, began a law en
forcement career as a police of
ficer in Nelson, then moved on
to serve as a county deputy
Harold Cantrell
under Sheriff Bill Ray before
his own election to county sher
iff upon Ray’s retirement. When
Harley Cantrell retired as sheriff
at the end of 1981, Billy Wof
ford took over the position.
Harold Cantrell first began
working for the county as a
deputy from 1978 before joining
the Jasper police force in 1981.
Cantrell worked with two other
Continued on Page 17A
By Dan Pool
“It’s something I’ve never
seen nothing like before,” said
Jasper’s animal control officer
Lonnie Waters after it took him,
two police officers, an assistant,
and the closure of one lane of
State Highway 515 to handle an
unusual groundhog call.
Waters said around noon on
Monday, a motorist saw a
groundhog get hit by a car on
the northbound lane of Highway
515 in the vicinity of Piedmont
Mountainside Hospital.
The Cherokee County resi
dent stopped and went to assist
the varmint, which she found
still breathing but not moving.
The woman used a blanket to
move the unconscious animal to
the front seat of her car and con
tinued north, according to the
Jasper animal control officer.
At roughly the next intersec
tion, the animal regained con
sciousness. When the driver
looked over, “the groundhog
was standing on the seat hissing
at her,” said police officer Clay
Fisher.
A police report noted, “The
animal was unconscious at the
time when she picked the ani
mal up, but awake after several
minutes of riding in the vehicle
and became aggressive. The ani
mal ran under the dash area of
the vehicle and would not exit
the vehicle.”
Waters said, based on his
conversation with the motorist,
that it was considerably more
dramatic than the police report
indicates, with the furry animal
racing around the car hissing be
fore disappearing between the
driver’s legs and under the seat,
all while she was driving down
the highway.
The driver swerved off the
road, abandoned her car on the
shoulder, and called 911. The
police summoned Waters, who
said he handles groundhog calls
fairly often but had never en
countered one “burrowed in be
hind a dash.”
Officer Fisher said police had
“I bet that groundhog got back to
the kudzu patch and said, ‘Fellows,
you ain’t gonna believe this’,” Mayor
John Weaver joked after this
varmint’s day on Monday.
to close the right lane of the
four-lane so they could get to
the car and, more importantly,
so they could quickly jump back
as groundhogs, though rela
tively cute in some books, are
known to pack a nasty chomp
and claw.
Waters said he had to look all
through the car before he spot
ted “a rear leg hanging down
behind the steering wheel.”
After several attempts, Wa
ters’ assistant got a snare on a
leg and pulled the groundhog
free of the vehicle only to have
the animal slip the snare and at
tack the assistant, Joey Thomp
son.
Waters said they were able to
re-snare the critter after first
fighting him off, while the mo
torist was yelling for them not
to hint the groundhog during the
roadside melee.
“We were doing everything
we could to secure the animal,”
Waters said. “We wanted to do
it right. It’s our job.” Waters
said he feared the animal might
make another dash into traffic
and wind up roadkill after all
the trouble, so he was deter
mined to cage the beast.
The animal control officer re
ported the groundhog was “very
Continued on Page 16A
Pickens County schools all accredited “with quality”
Enrollment for 2010 school year
Change
School Enrollment
from
2009
Pickens High School
1,226
_
-8
Pickens Cnty Middle School
530
+
8
Jasper Middle School
554
+
25
Hill City Elementary
586
-
38
Jasper Elementary
535
+
15
Tate Elementary
336
+
18
Harmony Elementary
•* J 4} HlimMlllllllllH'lWl
695
-
35
Total system
4,477
-
15
Slightly lower enrollment
reported this year
By Dan Pool
The school board saw a banner un
furled indicating all schools in Pickens
County have been “accredited with qual
ity” and saw a report showing a slightly
lower enrollment for this academic year at
its September meeting Thursday.
Superintendent Mike Ballew said dur
ing the public recognitions portion of the
monthly meeting that this was normally
the time when students would be honored,
but that this month every one in the system
was to receive recognition for schools here
meeting Georgia Accrediting Commission
standards.
Ballew said this accreditation looks at
the whole operation of every school in the
county, using criteria for class sizes,
teacher qualifications and curriculum.
“Not only were we accredited but ac
credited with quality,” Ballew told the
board. “It’s a much higher standard.”
Enrollment at 4,462for 2010
During her report, Attendance Officer
Shelley Cantrell said after 20 days of
school, enrollment here is 4,462—a drop
of 15 students from the same time last
year. At a previous meeting, the school
board noted it’s hard to get an accurate en
rollment until about 20 days into the
school year, as it takes that long for all stu
dent transfers and late enrollees to show
up in the figures.
Attendance Officer Cantrell gave en
rollment totals for each school:
Pickens High enrollment -1,226, down 8
from last year; Pickens Middle School -
530, up 8 from last year; Jasper Middle
School - Continued on Page 17A
Letters to the Editor 14A
People 19A
Sports 1B
Legals 4B
Classifieds 12B
What’s Inside
Piedmont Mountainside
CEO recognized for
innovation
Ball
Ground na
tive, Mike
Robertson
has been
named to
the 2010
Up and
Comers list
in a health
magazine
for the work
he does as
CEO of the
local hospi
tal. According to the story, pa
tient satisfaction scores at
Piedmont Mountainside are at
an all time high. PagelOA
On the loose
Fairmount Police are asking
the public’s help in identifying a
forgery suspect who, back in
the spring, flashed a police
badge and passed a counterfeit
check at the IGA Food Store on
Hwy. 411. The suspect is de
scribed as a white male, be
tween 45-55 years of age,
medium height and large build.
He has close cropped, salt &
pepper hair. On the day of the
incident, he was wearing a
floppy hat. He identified himself
as a police officer or security
guard, and the check was
printed as a Cartersville Med
ical Center paycheck. Anyone
with information on this person
is asked to contact Lt. Clyde
Chitwood at 706-337-5503. All
information will be strongly con
fidential.
Domestic abuse calls up
The sheriff says his office re
ceives more domestic abuse
calls than any other complaint,
and he says those calls have
steadily increased over the
past three years. Why? He's
got a theory. Learn about it in
side. Page 7A
Mobile Home Building
Inspections
The Pickens Planning Commis
sion heard a report Monday
that the county will now inspect
any mobile or manufactured
housing that is to be moved to
a new site. The commission
also indicated they would like
to see something done regard
ing inspections of squalid con
ditions at any home. Page8A
Wooten sent to max
security mental hospital
for murder
A 60-year-old man suffering
from mental delusions was
found not guilty of the January
murder of his mother due to in
sanity. With the District Attorney
and Defense both agreeing,
Stanley Wooten was sent to a
maximum security mental hospi
tal, rather than stand trial for the
killing. Page 10A
Deaths
Maude Brackett
Robert Holbert
Willie Bennett
Eddie Jones
Hoyt Chastain
Big John Garner
Sibyl Poole
Olar Ray
OBITUARIES, Page 12A
Weather
By WILLIAM DILBECK
HI
LOW
RAIN
Tuesday
87
63
.00
Wednesday
85
65
.00
Thursday
83
65
.00
Friday
89
64
.00
Saturday
88
65
.23
Sunday
88
55
.00
Monday
82
54
.00
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