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Nelson
mayor not
technically
a resident
By Ralph O. Dennis
Contributing writer
The mayor of Nelson, Larry Ray, owns several
pieces of property. All but one are in the city lim
its of Nelson. The fifth property is next door to
one of the others he owns and sits adjacent to the
city limits.
But, it’s the fifth property where Ray filed a
homestead exemption, which under Georgia law,
makes that one his official residence for elections.
When Ray filed to run for mayor in 2013, he
gave the address of a house he bought several
years ago as a foreclosure. He has been living
there while fixing it up. This house is located at
1661 Ray Mountain Road and is unquestionably
in the city limits of Nelson.
But, the house where Ray filed his homestead
See Mayor, Page 13A
Winter storm downs trees, knocks out power
Damon Howell / Photo
Steve Tate Highway resident David Luckie takes matters into his own hands Tuesday to clear one of the many trees that fell and blocked the road
near his home. Luckie said he would likely cut up the downed trees and use them for firewood.
Brush fires
fueled by
windy
conditions
By Angela Reinhardt
Staff writer
areinhardt@pickensprogress.com
In the days prior to heavy rains that came
through town Monday, weather conditions were
dry and windy - a perfect recipe for outdoor fires
to get out of control.
According to Pickens County Fire Marshal
Curtis Clark, several small, accidental brush fires
popped up around the county last week as a result
of those conditions.
“It’s been so dry and people need to take those
winds into consideration,” he said. “You may
think a fire is stomped out, but a 40-mile-per-hour
wind will rekindle that in a second. They can get
out of hand in a hurry.”
Fire crews quickly extinguished one brush fire
on Henderson Mountain Road late Friday, Febru
ary 13. The fire burned a small section of grass
directly off Henderson Mountain Road on the
Highway 108 side. The road was closed briefly to
traffic while crews handled the small blaze.
Another of the blazes was in the Hood Road
area.
Clark said brush fires last week were acciden
tal.
“They were from things like sparks from hot
ashes,” he said.
The bum ban is currently lifted in Pickens but
residents must obtain a burn permit before they
are allowed to legally bum vegetation.
Summer burning restrictions are imposed each
year.
See Fires, Page 13A
Staff reports
The first winter storm of this season produced
a lot of misery to around 350 homes with power
outages, but mostly spared the roads Monday and
Tuesday.
The county emergency operation center had
logged 43 separate reports of trees in roads by mid
morning Tuesday. Except for higher elevations,
however, no travel problems were reported.
Rodney Buckingham, who is the Deputy Direc
tor of the EMA in addition to other county work,
reported Tuesday that the worst of the damage to
power lines and roadways was in the Steve Tate
and Yellow Creek areas and inside the gates of Big
Canoe.
Mardi Gras royalty
raise over $40,000
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King and queen Jack Short and Chris Hice
Waldman cut a rug during Saturday’s fundrais
ing event.
By Max Caylor
Progress contributor
“Before we announce the 2015 Mardi
Gras In The Mountains King and Queen I
want you to know that together they have
raised $42,996,” stated Master of Cere
monies Allen Wigington.
The 450 valentine party goers rose to
give the eight nominees a standing ovation
for their efforts Saturday at Chattahoochee
Tech.
Jack Short of Jasper raised the most
dollar votes and was crowned 2015 Mardi
Gras In The Mountains King and Chris
Hice Waldman from Ellijay was named
Queen for her total amount.
“We have a great partnership and
tremendous appreciation for individuals
volunteering to represent their counties,”
stated Gina Pendley of Georgia Mountain
Hospice and coordinator of the event.
Tim Cavender and Dianna Goodman
were nominees from Cherokee County,
John and Sandy Lipkowitz represented
Dawson County, David Richey and Chris
Hice Waldman portrayed Gilmer County
and Jack Short and Margy Lohman sym
bolized Pickens County.
“I appreciate all the support and always
See Mardi Gras, Page 13A
Pickens spared worst of power outages from ice storm
By Christie Pool
Staff writer
christie@pickensprogress
According to Amicalola EMC, Pickens County was not
hit as hard as some of its other service areas as just over 300
customers were without power Tuesday morning following
Monday night’s freezing rain.
“While we have just over 300 members our in Pickens
County we have almost 7,000 out in Lumpkin County,” said
Stacey Fields, director of public relations for the local EMC.
“For us, Cherokee, Dawson and Lumpkin are by far the hard
est hit areas.”
Fields said the power company had broken poles through-
See AEMC, Page 13A
Crews clear a large tree from Highway 372 in down
town Ball Ground Tuesday afternoon.
GDOT/Photo
Amicalola EMC reported 360 Pickens
County customers out of service Tuesday morn
ing and Georgia Power reported around 20
homes without power. Some of those homes had
been without power all night after ice-coated
trees toppled onto power lines.
At 2:30 p.m. Tuesday, the Amicalola EMC
Outage viewer at their website showed, “Mem
bers Out by County: Cherokee - 621, Dawson -
1,791, Forsyth — 15, Gilmer - 43, Lumpkin -
6,400, Pickens - 342.”
Daniel Lindsey, a Pickens County native and
research meteorologist for NOAA, said it’s hard
to give a definitive answer why some areas got
wet and other areas (only a short distance away)
got ice. He pointed out that the rain had fallen at
a time when temperatures were fluctuating near
the freezing point.
“All locations were hovering right around the
freezing mark, so one or two degrees either way
could make all the difference between having
freezing rain and having nothing,” he wrote in
an e-mail.
Steve Smith, a fire department chaplain who
was also manning the county’s emergency oper
ation center Tuesday, said Monument Road and
See Storm, Page 13A
Life is
unscripted -
Try Improv
Tater Patch
offers live
comedy
Feb. 21
By Dan Pool
Editor
dpool@picken-
sprogress.com
Talkies, one lin
ers, physical (com
edy) and gibberish:
join it or watch it.
These are few of the
categories that will form the first ever night of im
prov at the Tater Patch Theater this Saturday, Feb
ruary 21st at 7:30 p.m.
Teresa Harris, “The Tater Patch’s Queen of Im
prov,” will lead the evening at the local theater
with assurance that you can join in or sit back and
watch. Harris said with improv, you never know
exactly what will happen, but “everyone seems to
enjoy it.”
The night will begin with the audience declar
ing they want to participate by putting their name
in Harris’ “trusty popcorn bucket” that she has
been using to conduct these workshops for several
See Improv, Page 13A
Obituaries
“Bud” Cramer, Sr., Jackie Payne, Jettie Gilbert,
Page10A
Joy Boeke, Willie Mae Padgett
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Part of this newspaper is made up of
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