About Pickens County progress. (Jasper, Ga.) 1899-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 29, 2011)
Read our Georgia Marble Festival special section before you go COPYRIGHT-THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 29, 2011 • VOLUME 124 NUMBER 22 • JASPER, GEORGIA • 500 I’ithfiw (Eonntj! I’rnqrcs-i Black history series: Tate and Jasper communities Page 16A 5 Star 5K walk gearing up for Oct. 29 Page 18A If you would like to subscribe call 706-253-2457 or fill out a form at pickensprogress.com Together, Jasper couple navigates blindness Rumerys start support group for visually impaired By Angela Reinhardt Staff writer areinhardt@pickensprogress.com Being married can be chal lenging enough, but imagine adding blindness to your list of marital hurdles. Keep that in mind the next time you drive through Jasper. If you keep your eyes peeled, you might just see Bronwyn and Scott Rumery walking up Main Street with guide dogs Jadyn and Duke leading the way. The Rumerys, who were both blinded by a degenerative eye disease called Retinitis Pigmen tosa (RP), spend their days doing a multitude of tasks they say many “sighted” people don’t re alize can be accomplished by the blind. Now the couple is taking steps to help support the visually impaired in the area and educate others about the disability. “Other than driving, we can do everything seeing people can do, we just do it a lot slower,” said Scott, who met his wife Bronwyn on an Internet site ded icated to RP back in 2003. Bronwyn, a class of ’87 Pick ens High School graduate, says she and her husband cook; they clean; she does arts and crafts; they go to grocery store and are currently raising two girls, 12 and 13, from Scott’s first mar riage. “We do it all and are very in dependent,” said Bronwyn, who maintains a jovial and friendly air. “It’s not like we have the black sunglasses and walk around with a little tin cup. We want to advocate for blind people and help others understand more about what to do when you meet a blind person.” Bronwyn was diagnosed with RP at nine but maintained 20/40 to 20/60 vision until 9th grade when she began to rapidly lose her sight. Now she says she has nearly no vision in the “tunnel” you see when looking straight ahead, but can see a limited amount through her peripheral vision. “My mom first noticed when I was in my bedroom and we were saying prayers with the nightlights on, and she told me to look at her. I said, ‘I am looking at you,’ but I was looking at the ceiling,” Bronwyn said. After receiving the diagnosis, her mother was told to put Bron wyn in an institute for the blind, but after getting other advice her mother enrolled her in public school. “I was mainstreamed as much as possible,” Bronwyn said, who also graduated from the Acad emy of the Blind in Macon dur ing her 11th grade year at PHS. See Blindness on Page 17A Angela Reinhardt / Photo Scott and Bronwyn Rumery’ with guide dogs Jadyn and Duke. The Rumerys live in Jasper with their daughters Elizabeth and Makayla. Serious financial issues loom for school board Budget finalized, flat tax rate set for this year By Dan Pool Editor dpool@pickensprogress.com Even as members of the school board gave voters a flat tax rate for this year, adminis trators warned that events on the horizon augur poorly for school finances. During a called meeting, September 22, the school board voted to finalize a $40,556,691 budget for the 2012 fiscal year. This budget holds the line on taxes with a 15.97 millage rate, the same tax rate applied for the past two years. With lower property values in Pick ens County this year, the same millage produces a .29 percent decrease from last year in prop erty tax revenue to be collected by the board. Four members of the board, Byron Long, Dan Fincher, Wendy Lowe and John Tram mell, all voted to approve the millage rate and budget. Board member Ervin Easterwood was absent. For this year, all worked out well with tax payers getting flat bills, school staff suffering no layoffs and students getting a full calendar. School staff members warned, however, that next year is shaping up to be a very different story. Specifically, Superintendent Ben Desper and Chief Finan cial Officer Amy Burgess told the board there are two big budget items that have them concerned. First, Desper said, he was told in a state meeting that the system could see drastic in creases in health insurance costs in the next fiscal year. Based on the number of in sured employees in the local See School on Page 17A PHS pulls Constitution speaker following pressure by Democrats By Angela Reinhardt Staff writer areinhardt@pickensprogress.com After catching wind that the speaker for Pickens County High’s Constitution Day as sembly was in charge of educa tion for the Pickens County TEA Party, local Democrats said the speaker was under- qualified and put enough pres sure on the high school principal until he eventually cancelled the presentation. According to PHS Principal Eddie McDonald, TEA Party See Speaker on Page 17A li-year-old recovering after being hit by car By Jeff Warren Staff writer jwarren@pickensprogress.com A vehicle-pedestrian acci dent, near 1100 Pickens Street in Nelson, seriously injured an 11- year-old boy Wednesday evening. Sept. 21. According to a Georgia State Patrol report prepared by Senior Trooper Dan Avery who worked the accident, young Dylan Haynes was struck by a Hyundai Santa Fe, driven by Letisha Crowe, age 33. The accident happened shortly before 5:31 p.m., the time the Pickens County 911 Center first received a call for help. Dis patched in response, Trooper Avery arrived to the accident place ten minutes later. Pickens County ambulance, Med 2, responded from the Tate station house. Paramedics Sandy Scarborough and Nick Pickett See Accident on Page 17A Homecoming events at PHS all this week Dragons are Our Heroes — Pickens High students parade down Main Street Monday evening to kickoff homecoming events. The parade with about 20 vehicles was just reaching the end when “the bottom fell out, ” said PHS teacher Steven Wilkie. Unfortunately later events that evening, incluidng a bonfire, were cancelled due to the heavy rains. See more on the homecoming ac tivities in the monthly edition of the high school newspaper, The Dragons ’ Lair News, on page 14A of this week’s Progress. ifuimGt II r ur 1' ' 1 Self-portraits of all 575 Hill City students displayed Submitted by Hill City Elementary There must be a pot of gold hiding somewhere in Hill City Elementary. Re cently a large mural was hung for all cu rious eyes to see. The rainbow of self-portraits is composed of 575 draw ings of all students in the school from kindergarten to fifth grade, including one hidden in the mix of Jacqueline Tip- ton, the art teacher at Hill City Elemen tary. Mrs. Tipton spent the first three weeks of school working with the chil dren to draw, color and paint their self- portraits. Each grade level created their portraits in one color of the rainbow; kindergarten in red, first grade in orange, second grade in yellow, third grade in green, fourth grade in blue and fifth grade in violet. In creating their draw ings the children learned about symme try, proportion, perspective and shading. One of s ee Portraits on Page 13A Obituaries - Page 12A Delilah Lasky Jeannine Hartman Fred Sutton Linda Cagle www.PickensProgress.com www.facebook.com/PickensProgress www.Twitter.com/PickensProgress o The Progress is partly printed on recycled newsprint and is recyclable. 1 6 3 0
