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COPYRIGHT-THURSDAY, DECEMBER 25, 2014 • VOLUME 127 NUMBER 35 • JASPER, GEORGIA
Christmas
music
plays at
PHS
Page 10A
fames Crimes «
ine Million Dollars
Ellijay
man hits
big for
third time
Page 8A
Local party
chairman says
Democrats
must regroup
Page 4A
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Mqjor personnel moves
in three county offices
Car break-ins at community center
Dan Pool
Editor
dpool@pickensprogress.com
Pickens sheriff detectives are review
ing security video and investigating four
cases of cars having windows smashed
and items stolen at the Roper Park com
munity center. The first case occurred in
mid-November and they have continued
through December 13 th.
See Break-ins, Page 13A
Animal shelter,
planning &
development,
public works to
get new directors
By Angela Reinhardt
Staff writer
areinhardt@pickensprogress.com
Following resignations from de
partment heads in the Pickens animal
shelter, the planning and development
department and the public works de
partment, the county has recently
hired one new director with plans to
fill the open positions in the coming
weeks.
Alberto Torres will replace Joey
Low as planning and development di
rector. Low, who had worked as direc
tor since 2008, resigned from his
position this past September.
According to commission chair
Rob Jones, Torres was being inter
viewed for an IT position with the
county when the board discovered he
possessed background experience
qualifying him for the planning and
See Personnel, Page 13A
New school technology
brings campuses up-to-speed
Over 300 new laptops and 100
new iPads are now in the hands of
local teachers thanks to a million
dollar technology project.
Technology director:
New year, new
initiatives
By Christie Pool
Staff writer
christie@pickensprogress.com
Laptops, Apple TVs, projectors
plus nearly a million dollars in hard
ware to link all the technology on
campuses is now a reality for Pickens
County schools.
Since August the school system has
implemented two major upgrades to
its technology - 325 laptops for teach
ers and nearly 100 projectors - in ad
dition to $900,000 in technology
infrastructure with cables and fiber
optics between schools and new wire
less technology.
According to Technology Director
Patrick Shea, 315 of the new laptops
have been placed in the hands of
teachers, at a cost of $290,000.
“With the new laptops came Win
dows 7 which was an upgrade and
which also closed a lot of security
gaps in the network,” Shea said.
“Each laptop came with a docking sta
tion which allows the laptops to con
nect to other devices.”
Shea said a second phase of tech
nology upgrades brought 97 projec
tors to classrooms so far this academic
year. This $264,000 project filled in
the gaps between classrooms that al
ready had the projector technology
and those that didn’t, Shea said.
“The first round of projectors cost
$74,000 and that did Jasper Elemen
tary and Tate and the remaining
$190,000 did the remaining five
schools, including the performing arts
See Tech, Page 13A
Lions serve 900 kids through Fill-A-Stocking
Angela Reinhardt / Photo
Jasper Lions Club Fill-A-Sto eking coordinators Paul and Eloise Lindsey sift through thousands of toys that will
go to needy children this Christmas.
By Angela Reinhardt
Staff writer
areinhardt@pickensprogress.com
Midday Tuesday, Dec. 16 Jasper
Lions Club members took a breather
to survey thousands of toys that filled
the large main room in an unused
commercial building on Camp Road.
By this week those toys - some
that were already bagged and num
bered and some that sat loose on ta
bles - would find their way under
trees in hopes of brightening a child’s
Christmas morning.
“There are going to be a lot of tears
tonight,” said Jasper Lion Mark Miller
See Stockings, Page 13A
Local Santa inducted into
international hall of fame
Santa Tim of Ball Ground has been one of Santa’s helpers for over 40
years. Tim Cavender is pictured with his wife Pam, above.
By Larry Cavender
Contributing Writer
Miraculously, every Christmas
Eve, Santa Claus makes his appointed
roimds delivering presents to millions
of good little boys and girls around
the globe. How does he do it? A little
Christmas magic maybe, but Santa
also has help from many others in
cluding his elves, reindeer and, of
course, Mrs. Claus. More help comes
in the form of the countless Santa
helpers we see each holiday season
on street comers, in malls and in de
partment stores. One of those helpers,
a local man, Tim Cavender of Ball
Ground (aka Santa Tim), has just
been honored by being inducted into
the International Santa Claus Hall of
Fame.
Cavender has been a Santa’s
helper for the past 40 years and is
well known locally for his many ap
pearances in this area and across the
southeast. Santa Tim worked solo for
many years until his marriage in 1998
to his own Mrs. Claus, his wife Pam.
Now, Santa is seldom seen without
Mrs. Claus and is also often seen with
an elf, his stepdaughter Lyndsey.
Upon learning of his induction,
Cavender said, “I was greatly hon
ored because there were so many oth
ers inducted over the years who have
contributed See Santa, Page 13A
County expects to end year
with $i million in bank
By Angela Reinhardt
Staff writer
areinhardt@pickensprogress.com
According to finance officer Faye
Harvey, the county should have about
$1 million in contingency funds after the
first of the year - an increase of approx
imately $700,000 above the cash bal
ance when 2014 started.
Harvey broke the good news at the
commissioners’ December meeting fol
lowing a budget report covering the pe
riod up through November 31, which
shows the county operating overall at
4.6 percent under budget.
The increase in cash-on-hand came
after a 6.55-percent tax hike was ap
proved by the commission board in Sep
tember to address the county’s “cash
flow problem,” which has slowly dimin
ished the county’s ability to fund its day-
to-day operations. Since 2006 the
county has become increasingly depend
ent on short-term, one-year loans called
Tax Anticipated Notes (TANs).
The amount borrowed each year has
increased from $1.5 million to $6 mil
lion. The county borrows the money in
January and must pay it back by Decem
ber 31 of the same year. In fact, this past
Friday, Dec. 19 the county paid off the
TAN borrowed earlier this year. The
total payoff including interest was
$6,056,370.
Harvey has said the increase in con-
See Budget, Page 13A
Obituaries - Page 12A
Bess Satterfield John Riley
Clayborn Davis Mary Coleman
Loy Holcomb
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