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Dragon
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Page IB
Kaila wants
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kids for her
birthday
Page 3A
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Pickens in desperate need of foster parents
“All you need is an
extra bed, patience
and love,” said
DFCS director
By Angela Reinhardt
Staff writer
areinhardt@pickensprogress.com
Imagine that you’re 10 years old and
a court has ordered you be taken away
from your parents, who are both ad
dicted to meth and who have been abus
ing or neglecting you and your siblings.
Life up to this point has been hard
enough, but now you find yourself in an
unfamiliar office in the Pickens County
Department of Family and Children
Services with people you don’t recog
nize, but who say they have you and
your family’s best interests in mind.
Little do you know life is about to get
even more unfamiliar as preparations
are made to ship you to south Georgia
to a family willing to take you into their
home temporarily. You’ll be going to a
school where you don’t know anyone.
You’ll be in a town you’ve never seen,
living in a house that’s not yours. Your
brother and sister will go with another
family in a different part of the state.
With just six foster families in Pick
ens currently accepting children who are
in the care of DFCS, this less than ideal
outcome is what happens to the majority
of foster kids in the county.
“We currently have over 70 kids in
care and only six foster homes in Pick
ens, so that means over 80 percent of our
kids are placed out of county,” said
Carla Poole, a DFCS case manager who
See Foster, Page 13A
Shane and Mandy Grizzle are one ofjust six foster families in Pickens County.
The Grizzles currently have three adopted children, pictured above, and one foster
child living with them in their west Pickens home.
Womack dies
from gunshot
wounds
By Dan Pool
Editor
dpool@pickensprogress.com
The Pickens man wounded in a
Christmas Eve gunfire exchange with
a Pickens deputy died Sunday.
Ned Womack, 47, had remained in
critical condition after he was shot in
the head and torso after he first fired
in the direction of two Pickens
deputies responding to a domestic dis
pute call at his Bethany Road house.
Friends and customers of Womack,
a popular mechanic, expressed disbe
lief that the man known as being a
“kind” and “honest” person would fire
on deputies.
Some speculated that his behavior
might be tied to recent medical issues.
Sheriff officials said in previous inter
views they had no reason to suspect
Womack had any ill feelings towards
law enforcement.
Sheriff Donnie Craig said Monday,
“Our heart goes out to his family. The
family is a victim in the whole situa
tion. Our prayers are with the family.
It was very unfortunate.” Sheriff Don
nie Craig said that both the deputies at
the scene had been cleared to return to
duty including a required meeting
with a counselor. Both officers were
declared “fit for duty.”
In the account, Deputy Ryne Kirk
land had fired on Womack as Womack
fired a second round from a shotgun
in the deputies’ direction. A second
deputy, Travis Curran, had been ap
proaching from a different angle.
Sheriff Craig said his office has
conducted an internal review and re
quested the GBI investigate as well.
Craig said the internal review found
the shooting a “justified use of force.”
Deputy Curran had been wearing a
body camera at the call and his video
was reviewed as part of the investiga
tion but not released to the public.
Craig said he asked the GBI to also
investigate and their findings, which
were not complete on Monday, will be
presented to an upcoming grand jury.
“The GBI is still wrapping up
theirs on the paperwork side of things
and they may have a few more inter
views,” the sheriff said.
Craig said for any law enforcement
agency, presenting findings and ask
ing others to investigate may not be
required, though it is very necessary
he felt. In Pickens it is standard proto
col to request an outside investigation
and then present that to a grand jury,
so that private citizens also get to see
the findings.
Craig said he wants “another
group to look over it.”
Uppens
to lead
animal
shelter
By Dan Pool
Editor
dpool@pickensprogress.com
Phillip Tippens will start as director
of the Pickens County Animal Shelter
Thursday.
Tippens, who was already em
ployed by the county at the Recreation
Department, replaces Cindy Wilson
who resigned near the end of 2014.
Commissioner Rob Jones said Tues
day that Tippens was among four or
five people who had inquired about the
opening. Jones said that with open
meeting rules, he could not directly
discuss the personnel move with fel
low commissioners Becky Denney or
Jerry Barnes, but communicating
through the county clerk they had all
agreed to go with Tippens.
“We like to hire from within,” said
Jones of moving Tippens from recre
ation to animal control.
Tippens expressed strong feelings
for animals when applying. But Jones
believes Tippens’ leadership and office
skills are the key. “A manager is
mainly what we were looking for,” he
said.
Tippens was hired with a salary of
slightly over $28,000 a year. Jones said
this pay is lower than other department
heads, which results from the time the
position was under the sheriff office —
not county control. The county as
sumed operation of the shelter in July
of last year.
Jones said they had not really
See Tippens, Page 13A
Obituaries - Page 6A
Charlie Gibson
Jan Payne
Janet Hamrick
Marjie Fowler
Mike Jackson
Mildred Williams
Retta Smith
Sam Quinton
Crowd lighter, but New Year’s Eve party goes smoothly
Max Caylor / Photo
Jasper’s New Year’s Eve celebration drew hundreds ofpartiers to Main Street to ring in 2015 with a ball drop,
fireworks and a live DJ.
By Angela Reinhardt
Staff writer
areinhardt@pickensprogress.com
The city of Jasper’s second annual
New Year’s Eve party on Main Street
drew a smaller crowd than the 2013
celebration, but Jasper Mayor John
Weaver said the event went well and
hopes it catches on in the future.
Speaking at the January council
meeting. Weaver said although the
city enjoys hosting a party for the
community, the overall goal is to sup
port local businesses.
“We ultimately want to create a
downtown environment for our busi
nesses to prosper,” Weaver said.
“We’re not here to watch a ball drop,
which is nice - we want to support
business.”
Several councilmembers and event
organizer Lonnie Waters said they
were pleased with the celebration,
which they called a “good evening.”
Jasper Police Chief Greg Lovell re
ported a single arrest during the event,
and said a few partygoers had to be es
corted off the premises. According to
Weaver, one spectator got debris in
their eye while looking up at fire
works, but “the police handled that,”
he said. “There were no serious in
juries.”
“The crowd was not as large as ex
pected, but it went very well,” Weaver
added. “I’m proud of the city staff for
all their hard work. We had the street
closed at Stegall Drive at 2 p.m. and
they were there cleaning up until 2
a.m. that morning.”
Jan employees arrested, fired
following contraband investigation
Staff reports
After completing a three-week internal investigation
into illegal contraband being brought into the local jail and
distributed to inmates, Pickens Sheriff Donnie Craig re
quested the assistance of the Georgia Bureau of Investiga
tion. Four employees have now been terminated; two of
which have also been arrested.
Sheriff Craig said the investigation began after employ
ees noticed on several occasions the smell of cigarette
smoke in the jail, which is a no-smoking facility.
The investigation found that the contraband included
loose tobacco that could be rolled into cigarettes, and hand
sanitizer, which inmates will drink for the alcohol.
See Contraband, Page 13A
Rezoning
request for
industrial
facility
denied
City to start pre
treating most
dangerous roads
in winter weather
By Angela Reinhardt
Staff writer
areinhardt@pickensprogress.com
By a slim 3-2 margin, the Jasper City
Council refused to grant a rezoning re
quest that could have brought an indus
trial manufacturing plant to a parcel at
Cornett Lane South and Highway 515.
Jasper resident Tim Snow, owner of
Access Concrete Products out of Dalton,
submitted the rezoning application to
the city on November 11,2014, request
ing 19.85 acres be rezoned from Resi
dential Agricultural to Light Industrial.
In a later interview, Jasper Planning
Commission member Martha Pool said
See Rezoning, Page 13A
Jasper Council denied a request to
have nearly 20 acres off Cornett Lane
South rezoned from Agricultural to
Light Industrial. The parcel is high
lighted in the above image, taken from
the QPUBLIC website.
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