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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 750 If you would like to subscribe call 706-253-2457 or fill out a form at pickensproaress.com 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 www.PickensProgress.com www.facebook.com/PickensProgress www.Twitter.com/PickensProgress Part of this newspaper is made up of recycled newsprint and is recyclable. 1 6 3 0