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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 Subscribe to our Print edition and/or HRITQ * Jackie Puckett • Robert Jarvis E-edition - Call our office at 706-253-2457 UDI I O • Lillie Shoemaker • Willie Godfrey or do it online at ww.pickensprogress.com PAGE 15A 4 8 7 9 0 8 16 3