Newspaper Page Text
THURSDAY. AUGUST 2. 2012 PICKENS COUNTY PROGRESS PAGE 21A
Stolen handgun, stolen truck recovered
Friday but driver gets away
By Dan Pool, editor
dpool@pickensprogress.com
Jasper Police recovered a
stolen ,9mm handgun and a
stolen truck Friday following a
short chase on Old Talking Rock
Highway, but the driver was able
to get away on foot.
According to police reports, a
customer came out of Home
Depot Friday around 3 p.m. and
noticed a black Dodge Ram
Diesel with a four-wheeler in the
back parked so close to his vehi
cle that he couldn’t get to his car.
When the truck moved, the
customer discovered a new
,9mm handgun was missing from
his vehicle. The vehicle had been
unlocked.
Corporal Matt Dawkins said
the driver in the black truck took
off when he realized that the
owner of the handgun was look
ing up at the truck.
Dawkins said it appears that
the driver fled first down High
way 53 West, then onto Antioch
Church Road before crossing
Highway 515 and coming back
almost full circle to (Old High
way 5) Talking Rock Road.
About 10 minutes after leav
ing Home Depot, a sheriff’s
deputy spotted the fleeing truck
and gave a short chase. But the
deputy stopped to check on a
Aw*
Law enforcement officers attend to the driver and her
grandson of this car that was run off the road by a supsect
fleeing in a stolen truck Friday. The occupants were unhurt
and car mostly undamaged.
motorist that had been run off the
road by the truck. The driver and
a passenger of car were un
harmed though their car went
down a steep bank into a field.
Lori Pieraerts, who was driv
ing the car with her grandson in
the back, said she saw the truck
swing into her lane and the sher
iff car behind it with lights and
sirens on.
“Something in my head said
go left,” she said. “So 1 went left
into the field and ended up with
only scratches on the car. My
grandson was playing with his
iPad and didn’t even realize any
thing had happened.”
The truck was spotted within
a few minutes of this near-crash
abandoned but still running at a
home near Old Talking Rock
Highway. The driver was thought
to have fled on foot.
Corporal Dawkins said inves
tigation revealed that the black
Dodge had been stolen at 4 a.m.
on the same day from Fairbum,
Ga. The four-wheeler was in the
back when it was stolen and be
longed to the owner of the truck.
Officers found the stolen
handgun in the truck.
Dawkins said they didn’t have
much description of the driver.
But police feel the unidentified
driver may be a local person as
his choice of roads appears to
show a knowledge of the area.
The Pickens sheriff is investi
gating a car theft during the same
period of time as the truck/gun
theft, but at this point investiga
tors say there is no reason to be
lieve they are linked.
Dawkins noted the gun was
stolen from an unlocked vehicle.
It is unlikely the perpetrator
would have smashed windows of
a locked car in the Home Depot
parking lot during business
hours. He said locking your ve
hicle is important to protect your
self from this type of crime.
“Ninety-nine percent of these
cases are from unlocked vehi
cles,” he said.
The gun was returned to the
owner later that day and the
owner of the truck had been no
tified that it has been recovered.
Police are asking anyone with
tips to call their office at 706-
692-9110.
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REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS
The City of Jasper is requesting proposals for furnishing mate
rials for construction of approximately 12,560 linear feet of 10-
inch water line (Highway 515 water line) and 7,900 linear feet of
8-inch water line (Camp Road water line), complete with appurte
nances. The proposals are due on or before 2:00 p.m. August 3,
2012. All proposals will be opened at 3:00 p.m. August 3, 2012.
A copy of the estimated material list to be used for submitting your
proposal may be obtained from Lonnie Waters at City Hall. Email
address lwaters@jasper-ga.us, phone (706) 692-9100. The list is
also available on the City’s website at www.jasper-ga.us.
Bids must be delivered via mail or hand delivery to the attention
of Tacie Williams at 200 Burnt Mountain Road, Jasper, GA 30143.
The late Mimi Jo Butler
honored at Old Jail
- &
- - 7
By Jeff Warren, staff writer
jwarren@pickensprogress.com
Marble Valley Historical So
ciety members and other friends
of the late Mimi Jo Butler gath
ered at the Old Jail in Jasper to
see a room within the structure
dedicated in Butler's honor Sun
day afternoon, July 29.
For many years a driving
force of the local historical soci
ety, Butler was instrumental in
converting the Old Jail into a re
spectable museum. She also al
most singlehandedly gained
Pickens County’s marble court
house a place on the National
Historic Register. That building,
now under renovation, will con
tinue as the face of a new and en
larged justice center soon coming
for the county.
Historical Society President
Ruth Wall chose the front right,
ground floor room of the Old Jail
to dedicate in Butler's honor. A
wall plaque records the honor
near Butler's photographic por
trait: an image of Mimi Jo look
ing across a pair of reading
glasses with a smile that says,
"Til take that on."
Filled with museum displays,
the room was not large enough to
accommodate the gathering of
folks assembled for the occasion.
Ceremonies took place out front
on the porch. There, a circle of
testimony bore witness to the im
pact Butler made on many lives.
More than an advocate for
historic preservation, Butler
owned the spirit to plow ahead, a
resource by which she accom
plished many things. Also a
woman with a great heart for
people, Butler worked for the
Welfare Department before
spending the bulk of her career
as a school guidance counselor.
In both places she made friend
ships she maintained all of her
life.
A number of people who
spoke about Butler during the
ceremony knew her all the way
back to elementary school. And
she apparently owned a purpose
ful personality even then. Her
friend, Sarah Sperrin, said she
thought she knew Mimi Jo from
even before first grade.
"If she could take up for you,
she would," Sperrin said. "If peo
ple were saying bad things about
NOTICE OF PUBLIC HEARING
Notice is hereby given of a hearing to be held at 6:00 PM,
August 13, 2012 at Jasper City Hall before the City of
Jasper Zoning Board of Appeals. The purpose of the hear
ing is to discuss a property Variance Application submitted
by RaceTrac Petroleum, Inc. Store#18, Map & Parcel Num
ber 65B-050-003 of 1.575 acres. This property is located
on the south west side of Hwy 515 and has a 911 address
of 303 Interstate South Drive, Jasper, Georgia 30143
and maintained friendships with
some over decades. Ruth Wall
recalled she could never be out in
the county anywhere on histori
cal society business with Mimi
Jo but someone would come up
and speak to Butler because they
knew her.
Butler was ever an advocate
for some cause worth defending
and often a champion for the
sake of some individual.
"You wanted her on your side
in a fight," observed Mimi Jo's
husband, Robert Butler. "In 50
years, I can tell you she wasn't al
ways right, but she never lost a
fight," he smiled.
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Marble Valley Historical Society President Ruth Wall (center) addresses members and
friends gathered at the Old Jail in Jasper to see one of it’s rooms dedicated in honor of late
local historian, Mimi Jo Butler.
you, she'd be right there and tell
'em."
"She could move mountains
seems like," James Hefner said.
"I remember the Fitzsimmons
Cemetery at Marble Hill." Butler
led the charge to reclaim that old
burial groimd from woodland en
croachment.
The place is of historic signif
icance for the grave of Henry
Fitzsimmons, founder of the
local marble industry. Butler se
cured the help of county govern
ment in clearing underbrush and
gained a property agreement
with the Imerys company, allow
ing suitable preservation of the
cemetery.
"I didn't think that would hap
pen," Hefner said, "but it did. It
was tough losing her."
Mimi Jo's daughter, Ellen, re
called filing some papers at the
county courthouse after her
mother's death. "A deputy said,
‘Your mother was Mimi Jo?
Man, when she walked in here,
people straightened up,’" Ellen
recounted to laughter from the
rest.
Von Hinton said he came to
Pickens County in 1970 to work
for the Welfare Department. "I
don't recall anything in Pickens
County in the Historic Register
until Mimi Jo started to make
that happen," he said. Hinton
noted Butler’s talent, ability and
desire to preserve historic sites in
Pickens County, so future gener
ations could know about them.
Ruth Wall said, "This [the Old
Jail] would not be a museum if
she hadn't taken charge of it."
Butler spent countless hours
identifying artifacts and organiz
ing museum displays, Wall said.
Butler's children and grandchil
dren sometimes even came along
to be involved in those efforts.
Butler's daughter, Karen, re
members her mom once sending
her upstairs to explore the jail’s
upper story, the place where pris
oners were held. Mimi Jo loved
the lore of the place, Karen said.
"She was fascinated with the sto
ries of people who had been up
there."
As a school counselor, Butler
was involved during her career in
the lives of many young people
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