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COPYRIGHT-THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 8, 2011 • VOLUME 124 NUMBER 19 • JASPER, GEORGIA • 500
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School Board approves tentative budget
“Teeny-tiny tax decrease” this year
By Dan Pool
Editor
dpool@pickensprogress.com
Only because school administrators “overcame”
more than $1.8 million in budget challenges this
year will property owners see tax bills that did not
increase from last year, according to discussion at
a called school board meeting last week.
Pickens schools’ Chief Financial Officer Amy
Burgess told members of the school board that
hefty cuts in state and federal funding in many
areas coupled with price increases in other areas
forced deep cuts as they prepared the $40,556,691
budget for the next fiscal year.
“We cut and cut and were able to come up with
what we needed to get [the same millage rate],” she
said.
Because of the cutting, property owners will see
the same school tax bill they saw last year.
The board voted on a tentative budget August
30 that will hold the millage rate at 15.97 — the
same as the past two years. The static millage rate
will produce a .29 percent decrease in net tax rev
enue due to a decline in the tax digest.
“It is a teeny tiny tax decrease,” said Superin
tendent Ben Desper. “But it is better than a tax in
crease.” See Tax on Page 15A
Damon Howell / Photo
Bethany-Salem Fire Department volunteers with chiefs, past and present, along with Pickens County Commissioner Robert Jones (right) and builder
of the new firehouse, Jeff Roland (second from right), breaking ground at the location of the new fire station to be located at 200 Henderson Mountain
Road.
Approximately 40 people at
tended the groundbreaking cere
mony for the new Bethany-Salem
Volunteer Fire Station. A prayer was
spoken, then Kristy Easterwood of
the Pickens 911 Center (also a
Bethany-Salem volunteer) brought
everyone up to speed on the history
behind Fire Station 8.
The department began in the
spring of 1990, when Frank Rid
dick, T.J. Prather, and Ronnie
Brownell met with then Commis
sioner Bill Quinton to have a new
station built for the Salem and
Bethany Church areas. The land for
the original Bethany station was do
nated by Inland Rome. Land for the
Salem station was donated by
Shirley Chambers and Century 21.
Bethany-Salem’s first fire chief,
Frank Riddick, was at the ceremony
and said when the department
started in 1990 they had only one
station and one fire truck. Now it
has grown to include two stations
and four fire trucks. Riddick’s suc
cessor as chief, Tim Prather, also on
hand, said when he started fighting
fires at the age of 15, they were
“driving junkers” and poorly
equipped. “We’ve been around and
seen a lot,” Prather said. “I think
we’re all lucky to be here.”
A1 Godin, current volunteer fire
chief, said the new building will
contain training facilities, offices,
three bay doors and will be expand
able in case the community grows.
“Volunteers are a major part of
what we do,” said Godin.
Members have spent over 30,000
hours training in various fire/rescue
and emergency medical classes.
Last year the Bethany/Salem de
partment responded to 327 calls, up
from 11 in 1991.
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Jasper man recalls day
as first responder at Ground Zero
Approaching the ten-year anniversary of the Septem
ber 11 terrorist attack on the World Trade Center in
New York City, we recap the following Progress story
from July 2009.
Retired from the New York City Fire Department, Pickens County
resident Danny Fink was a paramedic responding to the attack on the
World Trade Center the Tuesday of September 11, 2001. He is shown
in the New York City Fire Dept. EMS dress uniform.
By Jeff Warren
Staff writer
jwarren@pickensprogress.com
Sometimes heroes are like angels.
They can move among us looking
just like the next guy. A transplant to
Jasper, Danny Fink restores motor
cycles and volunteers with Pickens
Animal Rescue and as a member of
the Jasper Lions Club. Tuesday, Sep
tember 11, 2001, Fink was a para
medic with the Fire Department of
New York.
As terrorists began executing their
plot to hijack two jetliners and attack
the twin towers of the World Trade
Center, Fink was finishing a double
shift, 16 hours on a city ambulance.
Off from work at 7 a.m., he was soon
home and ready for some rest. But by
9 a.m. the news was streaming over
the television: a plane had flown into
the north tower of the World Trade
Center.
"I thought what kind of drunk
idiot flew his private plane into the
World Trade Center," Fink remem
bers. "When I saw the picture, I just
put my uniform back on."
Soon a call went out for emer
gency responders to return to their
stations. Fink worked at EMS 57,
based at the Bedford-Stuyvesant Sta
tion House about a mile and a half
from the Trade Center—just over the
East River from Manhattan near the
Williamsburg Bridge. "I worked in
Brooklyn, which is a separate bor
ough," Fink said. But he often re
sponded to calls on Manhattan. "We
would routinely be assigned to jobs
near the Trade Center," he said.
He sped down the freeway to re
turn to his station. "I did about 100
miles per hour to get back," he said.
"I made it almost to the station when
the south tower came down." It was
the first tower to fall, he said. From
his vantage point at the station house,
Fink could see the north tower still
standing.
In his day-to-day job, Fink served
on one of four city ambulances with
a special "35-Zebra" designation, he
said. These four vehicles carried
crews specially trained to respond in
terrorist situations, he explained.
After the bombing of the World
Trade Cen- See Fink on Page 17A
Six qualify
for Nelson
Council races
By Jeff Warren
Staff writer
jwarren@pickensprogress.com
Candidate qualifying closed last Friday for No
vember elections to fill four city council seats at
Nelson. Six candidates have qualified.
Three council seats come open at year's end by
normal rotation. A general election will fill those
seats, the three winners elected by a plurality.
By that method, any number of candidates can
qualify. After balloting on election day, candidates
for the three open seats will be ranked according to
the number of votes each received. Then, with three
seats open, the top three vote-getters become the
new council members.
Four candidates have qualified for this general
election race. They are listed below.
•Jonathan Bishop (age 37), a middle school band
teacher, resides on Bar- See Nelson on Page 15A
New court
to help
veterans
Mentors needed
for veterans support
By Angela Reinhardt
Staff writer
areinhardt@pickensprogress.com
After returning home from war, veterans often
leave behind firefights and roadside bombs for
restaurant outings and channel surfing.
But many soldiers are unable to reintegrate, and
they soon realize that slipping back into life as they
knew it will not be as easy as they had imagined.
Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, homelessness,
drug or alcohol addiction and unemployment are
just a few examples of the unwanted baggage Amer
ican vets carry back home with them, and one local
judge is working to help, not hinder, them for the
sacrifices they have made.
According to The National Association of Drug
Court Professionals (NADCP), one in four veterans
ages 18-25 suffer from substance abuse disorder.
One-in-five veterans has symptoms of a mental dis
order.
“Imagine going overseas] and seeing the things
they see,” said Appalachian Judicial Circuit Chief
Superior Court Judge Brenda Weaver, who is
launching a Veteran’s Treatment Court in the Ap
palachian Circuit later this year.
“They’ve got friends they see die and other
things we can’t imag- See Vet Court on Page 15A
Obituaries - Page 3A
Archie Collis Nancy Crawford
Dr. John Lundberg Thomas Holbrook
Janet Dorsey
Remembering q/u one decade a fter tragedy
Jasper Lions host Patriot Day this Sunday
By Angela Reinhardt
Staff writer
areinhardt@pickensprogress.com
To honor those who were killed in
the tragic collapse of the World Trade
Center’s twin towers on September
11, 2001, the Jasper Lions Club will
host a memorial ceremony this Sun
day, September 11, at Lee Newton
Park.
Patriot Day is a national day of
mourning, occurring on September
11 of each year.
Ten years ago on that day, 2,977
lives were lost, from civilians to first
responders and other law officers and
personnel.
In Jasper, the Patriot Day obser
vance will begin at 8:15 p.m. with a
candlelight ceremony to memorialize
those who died.
Pickens resident and former New
York City Firefighter, Danny Fink,
who was a first responder the day of
the tragedy, will then offer a prayer,
followed by Lakeisha Myles, who
will read a poem inspired by the day
that changed Americans’ lives for
ever.
Fink will also present a special
coin to the family of Sgt. David
Collins, the Pickens County man
who was killed on April 9, 2006
while stationed in Ar-Ramadi, Iraq.
The evening will close with trum
peter Leslie Miller playing Taps.
The Lions Club invites the public
to attend this poignant event, also in
tended to memorialize those men and
women who died at the Pentagon in
Washington, D.C. and on United Air
lines Flights 93 and 175, and Ameri
can Airlines Flights 77 and 11 on the
same day.
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