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Party Local
New Year’s Eve
in Downtown
Jasper
See ad on Page 18A
PHS basketball
teams playing
tournament
this week
Page IB
Flooding
displaces six
Talking Rock
families
Swiftwater Rescue
Team called in
By Angela Reinhardt
Staff writer
areinhardt@pickesprogress.com
Heavy rains and storms
that hit Pickens over the
Christmas holidays caused
flooding in many areas of the
county, with six families in
Talking Rock displaced from
their homes as a result of ris
ing flood waters.
[Another family in the
Price Creek Road area was
also displaced as result of
lightning damage to their
home, see story 5A],
Early morning Monday,
Georgia Department of Trans
portation crews were at the
bridge over Talking Rock
Creek in the town of Talking
Rock removing logs and other
debris that damned up the
creek causing major flooding.
Six families from five homes
were displaced by the floods,
according to the American
Red Cross, including one cou-
See Families, Page 17A
Antioch/515 crossing
subject of second
called meeting
By Angela Reinhardt
Staff writer
areinhardt@pickensprogress.com
Per the request of incom
ing Talking Rock Mayor
Randy Banks, the Georgia
Department of Transportation
will hold a public meeting re
garding proposed changes to
the intersection of Antioch
Church Road and Highway
515, which has been deter
mined to have a high rate of
crashes.
GDOT held an open house
on December 15 regarding
the intersection.
“We wanted to give people
a chance to rebut,” said
Banks. “We’ve had a lot of
See Meeting, Page 17A
Flood cleanup underway, costs not assessed
Damon Howell / Photo
GDOT crews remove storm debris Monday left by high flood waters at Talking
Rock Creek, near the town park.
By Angela Reinhardt
Staff writer
areinhardt@pickensprogress.com
Midday Tuesday, floodwa-
ters had receded but cleanup
efforts were still underway at
a handful of roads that suf
fered the most serious dam
age, with county leaders
saying at this point cleanup
costs remain unknown.
Rodney Buckingham, the
deputy EMA director, said
Monday it hadn’t dried out
enough to properly assess
fallout from the flooding.
Much of the clean-up work is
being delayed until after the
expected additional heavy
rains on Wednesday.
“It might just get blown
out again,” he said.
As of Monday, the county,
like most of Georgia, had
seen damage from rising wa
ters but had been spared wind
or tornado damage.
“It was mainly a lot of
rain,” Buckingham said of
the storms thus far. “We had,
what I would call flash
floods, rising up and then re
ceding.”
Commissioner Rob Jones
said 12 roads in the county
were damaged by either sink
holes or floodwaters that, be
cause of clogged culverts,
rose above roadways or
bridges and washed portions
away
“But as of Christmas Eve
we had all but four of the
roads repaired,” he said.
“We’ve only got those four
roads left that need atten
tion.”
Roads still in queue for re
pairs are Dean Mill Road,
Hobson Road, Evans Road,
and Twin Mountain Lake
Circle.
“Twin Mountain, we were
able to get a new pipe in there
See Cleanup, Page 17A
Sheriff says seized cash ensures crime doesn’t pay
Man accused
of burglary and
dealing drugs
By Dan Pool
Editor
dpool@pickensprogress.com
On December 22, Pickens
detectives arrested the last of
a group of three suspects they
believe removed a safe from a
west Pickens home in October
containing $40,000 in gold
coins, silver certificates and
cash.
Following up on a tip, offi
cers found Sean Wilson, 22,
of McMurrian Court in
Jasper, behind a trailer work
ing on a motorcycle with
enough drugs and drug para
phernalia in a backpack to
charge him with distribution
of meth and marijuana, ac
cording to sheriff office re
ports.
Detectives say he had 19
grams of methamphetamine,
three to four ounces of mari
juana, plus scales and baggies
used for dealing drugs in a
backpack he was wearing. He
was also charged with illegal
possession of two different
prescription drugs (Xanax and
Soma).
Pickens Sheriff Donnie
Craig said Wilson told offi
cers he had no idea how the
drugs had gotten in the back
pack, which seemed unlikely
as he was wearing it at the
time officers arrived.
Detective April Killian,
head of the criminal investiga
tion division, said it looked
See Crime, Page 17A
From Tom to Trees: The Top Stories of 2015
Oct. 29 - Shootout leaves one man dead, two
deputies wounded
Two Pickens deputies were wounded in an
exchange of gunfire with 36-year-old John
Harley Turner on Carver Mill Road on Oct.
24th. Following a tense 45-minute standoff,
Turner was shot and killed. Turner had con
fronted a group of raccoon hunters and threat
ened them, waving a pistol and making “very
violent” threats toward the group. Officers ar
rived on the scene, finding Turner armed.
May 28 - Cruising Ball Ground on first day
of filming
May 21 st was the first day of the filming of
the Tom Cruise movie Mena in Ball Ground.
The first scene filmed in the small town fea
tured Tom Cruise cruising down Main Street.
Cruise did literally “cruise” up and down
Gilmer Ferry Road in a scene that depicted
Barry Seal and his family first arriving in
Mena, Arkansas, the town in which the movie
is set.
Oct. 22 - Main Street trees first step in leafy
undertaking
Love them or hate them - City of Jasper
crews installed evergreen arborvitae along
Main Street, replacing maples, locust and other
deciduous trees along Jasper’s main thorough
fare. The trees drew cheers and jeers with
many voicing opposition early on to the ever
greens.
Apr 12 - Historic Tate Depot moved
A project in the making for over a decade,
the Tate depot was moved across Highway 53.
The highway was closed at the railroad tracks
for more than five hours. Many long-time res
idents and general onlookers were present. The
building was completely restored following
historically accurate guidelines by the National
Register of Historic Places.
See More Top Stories of 2015 on Page 5B
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