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PAGE 6A PICKENS COUNTY PROGRESS THURSDAY. DECEMBER 29. 2016 Continued from 1A Miller Continued from 1A Burglary through the hole in the rear wall, cutting lines to the se curity cameras and alarms. In these robberies, inves tigators believe they have someone circling the area in a vehicle, not parked at the store. In Pickens County, with the sparse traffic, inves tigators ask if anyone ever notices a car circling an area late at night to consider it suspicious and call 911. Where safes are stolen, they likely use a larger vehi cle, possibly a van, to load the safe and then another car for the burglars, Webb said. A July robbery of the Main Stop Market, on North Main, was thought to be the work of the same group. There, they simply busted out the front door, ran in and out with the safe in a matter of minutes. Whatever they drove to that robbery was parked outside the range of security cameras but the cam eras did record the image of four black males. A third burglary at Dunn’s convenience store on Antioch Church Road in the spring of 2016 is also thought to be the work of this group. A task force from agencies across north Georgia and the GBI are looking at the group, call ing them the “All About The Money Gang.” A Google search of the name “All About The Money Gang” re turns groups all over the country and at least one in another area of Georgia. A similar Gordon County robbery about two weeks ago is attributed to this group. The sheriff’s office ad vises local businesses to take several steps to protect them selves: • Make sure cameras and alarm systems are installed and operational. “We strongly encourage alarm systems,” said Det. Webb. • Don’t keep any more cash than necessary in a busi ness. Make deposits regu larly. The sheriff’s office is ask ing the public to keep an eye out for anything suspicious. As Det. Webb noted above, there is not much traffic in Pickens County late at night so any vehicle that repeatedly circles an area should be con sidered suspicious. • Keep an eye out for any one standing around a closed commercial business or resi dence. Trailer Repair/Maintenance & Tires Horse Trailer Supply Parts - Service All types of Repair in Jasper RV antifreeze in stock 33 Ralph Hicks Circle 770-651-7010 Small ads produce big results Progress classifieds 706-253-2457 Two, (Ray Ferrell and Jan Simpson) both testified they had known Miller for many years from the local Lions Club and Jasper First Bap tist, which they all attended. Both said they believe Miller would abide by the court conditions and could be trusted to return for trial. Both also said they would be comfortable putting up their personal property to secure a bond for him. Simpson said, “This is his community. This is where he lives.” However both were hit with questions from DA Ali son Sosebee about whether they realized that Miller is charged with stealing from the Lions Club. Also, for the first time publicly, Sosebee said Miller is now under in vestigation for embezzling from the estate of the Rev. Charles O. Walker, former First Baptist preacher and another former client. Miller has not been charged for anything related to that es tate. The third defense wit ness, retired lawyer and ad ministrative judge Mark Dickerson, was presented less as a personal reference and more as a professional reminder that “innocent until proven guilty” is a lynchpin of the judicial system. Dick erson said personally he had a positive working relation ship many years ago when both he and Miller served on the Grandview Lake board. Continued from 1A Lunch Last year the state aver age for students receiving free or reduced lunch was 62.29 percent. The National School Lunch Program (NSLP) is a federally assisted meal pro gram that provides low-cost or free lunches to children that qualify based on poverty rates set by the federal gov ernment. Applications are sent home with students at the beginning of each school year, but they can be submit ted at any time. The official percentage submitted to the Georgia Department of Edu cation reflects applications that were processed by Octo ber 31, 2016. “We’re still processing some applications,” said Pickens County School Dis trict’s Nutrition Supervisor Beth Thompson, who made her official report to the Weight Loss Group Choose to Lose - New weight loss group will meet at the Pickens County Com munity Center Room #1 every Friday morning. Weigh in time is between 9 a.m. and 9:30 a.m. Meeting runs from 9:30 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. No charge. Call Pat Groves for more infor mation at 1-417-413-8025. Appalachian Beekeepers The Appalachian Bee keepers Association is made up of northwestern Geor gians willing and able to “I am amazed that some one accused of a theft crime couldn’t get out on bail,” Dickerson said. Defense counsel Poole hit on this in his closing arguments that murders, rapists and all sorts of violent criminals are re leased on bail. In his summation, Poole reiterated, “He has already been held six months with out bond, this flies in the face of us doing more than providing lip service for in nocent until proven guilty.” Poole also argued that Miller’s house and office have been searched by inves tigators and the GBI has completed a full audit on his and his firm’s finances, and any fear there is a large ac count of money for him to flee with are unfounded and the state is surely aware of this. DA Sosebee countered that Miller is not the commu nity figure witnesses por trayed. “He lives two lives,” she said. “The public persona and then there is the Mark Miller who is under indict ment for stealing approxi mately two million dollars.” Sosebee appeared to make headway towards the high bond by repeatedly pointing out that this legal saga began when Miller was jailed for 10 days in Gilmer County for refusing to ap pear in court on a civil case against him involving one of the estates he is accused of stealing from. She said his history of ignoring multiple court orders in the civil suit shows he is a flight risk. school board at their Decem ber meeting. Broken down by school, this year Harmony Elemen tary has the highest number of students who receive free or reduced lunch at 61.03 percent; Pickens High has the lowest percentage at 43.72. According to data from the Georgia Department of Education that shows official numbers back to 2012, PHS has historically had a lower percentage rate than other schools in the system. Thompson said this is not unusual. “High schoolers won’t turn in the forms or they just don’t eat,” she said. “We have 150-200 kids out at lunch for the work program.” Thompson said the Pick ens system was down to just 36.4 percent of students in the free and reduced lunch program back in 2002 and 2003, but that the number rose to a high of 55 percent share knowledge of, support for and excitement about beekeeping. Young and old, experienced and new, all are welcome; all will gain from their participation in our ef forts. We offer seminars, training and events that will both enhance your beekeep ing experience, and give you the opportunity to learn and grow in this all impor tant endeavor. Come meet us. Let’s ex plore what we can do to gether. We meet every second Thursday, 7 p.m., at the Senior Center in Jasper (400 Stegall Dr.). Coffee and snacks are on us. Ques tions? You can call me (Laura Chumley) anytime at 678-314-3057. Amateur Radio Club The Jasper Amateur Radio Club meets on the second Thursday of each month at 7 p.m. at the Cor nerstone Church Auxiliary building, 145 Cornerstone Drive (off Camp Road just east of the Pickens County Community Center). All visitors are welcome to attend. Each meeting has a free presentation and dis cussion of Amateur Radio events or operating modes, including Emergency Com munications. Come see how much fun Amateur Radio can be! Please visit our website at www.jasperarc.com for more details. Judge Richard Winegar- den, who has denied Miller bond twice, closed by indi cating that he would grant a bond, but then asked the DA for the amount she believed would be the restitution if he were found guilty on all counts. Based on what she said were rough estimates, Sose bee identified five cases where she had a restitution amount: for victim Laura Diehl, $106,000; The Lions Club $8,500; Cody Ray, $61,375; David Kent Es tate/Paulette Parker Estate $1.6 million; William Lawrence Miller estate $231,855. A sixth case in volving credit card fraud still stands, but apparently some type of restitution was made before arrest, according to court discussion. The judge imposed bond amounts in line with the restitution amounts. As of Tuesday Miller remained in jail with the bond not posted. In other court action the same day: DA Alison Sosebee and Defense counsel led by Scott Poole both brought a slew of co-counsels and legal books with them to the hearing and both showed their ability with technical criminal court maneuvers. In a day long on recita tions of case law but short on drama, the state’s indict ments against Miller held. Providing one of very few lighter moments, Judge Winegarden summed up the morning in court saying, in 2011. “Now we’re creeping down each year from that high,” she said. “This num ber is, of course, directly tied to the economy and jobs.” Compared to counties of similar size, Pickens’ free and reduced lunch student population is not out of line. This school year Dawson County has 46 percent of students who qualify for the program. Fannin County has 60.83 percent. The Gilmer “Mr. Poole is challenging Ms. Sosebee’s indictment as insufficient. Ms. Sosebee is challenging Mr. Poole’s mo tion against her indictment as insufficient and Mr. Poole is challenging Ms. Sosebee motion against his motion as insufficient.” Ultimately the judge al lowed the defense to present their “Demur” motion that stated the indictment in the Kent/Parker estate is too vague. At the center of the legal skirmish, defense counsel challenged that the indict ment does not provide spe cific dates, nor any particular transaction cited as being il legal. The state countered that Miller co-mingled all the stolen funds with legiti mate funds in “a single pot” and it is impossible to iden tify the stolen from legiti mate money with later spending. With the estates of David Kent and his sister Paulette Parker, Miller is alleged to have deposited checks from them of $800,000 and $900,000 into an account he managed. Apparently there was also $292,000 in the ac count from other sources. According to the DA, Miller then spent money from this account on travel, merchandise and to benefit himself. Sosebee said it was impossible to identify specif ically which purchases Miller made with stolen money. She argued, it would be like having an account with $50 from two different people in it and then stealing $25 out of it. Whose money County district could not be reached before press time for this year’s numbers, but ac cording to GDOE reports last school year 71.45 per cent of Gilmer’s student body received free or re duced lunch. Cherokee County has a significantly lower percent age of their students in the program this year than sys tems to the north, with 30.35 percent of the Cherokee stu dents included. was stolen? Poole argued the GBI audit shows very clearly when money went in and out of the account but when it comes to the indictment, “there is nothing definite about what we will have to defend against.” He said by not being more specific, the indictment doesn’t give them a chance to prepare. It doesn’t describe whether it was taken with a wire trans fer or check. “Specifically, what are they saying he did with the stolen funds?” Poole asked. Responding to a question from the bench, DA Sosebee said if they listed every transaction made using other people’s money by Miller, the indictment would have been more than 1,000 counts. In the end the judge let the original indictment stand, but acknowledged it could have been more spe cific. He said the client may be fortunate the charges are all general. If there were hundreds and hundreds of counts and if he is found guilty, the sentence would be much heavier. The judge also noted that the “aggregate” of all trans actions lumped together in the indictments may be eas ier to defend than to prose cute. Had the defense’s mo tions succeeded, the prose cution would have been forced to re-indict. The case would not have been thrown out. There are 39 systems in the state that have over 95 percent of a student body on free or reduced lunch. Dis tricts with the lowest number of students in the program last year were the Interna tional Charter School of At lanta with below five percentage; Coweta Charter Academy at 11.59 percent; Decatur City at 14.33 per cent and Forsyth County at 16.54 percent of students who qualified. NOTICE OF PUBLIC HEARING Notice is hereby given of a hearing to be held on the 9 th day of January, 2017, at 6:00 p.m. at the Pickens County Commis sioner's Meeting Room before the Planning Commission of Pickens County, Georgia. The purpose of the hearing is to dis cuss a request by William Edward Simmons, to have parcel 053B-019 split into two parcels Tract B consisting of 3 acres to remain zoned Highway Business (HB) and to change the zoning of Tract A consisting of 2.17 acres from Highway Business (HB) to Suburban Residential (SR) to enable Mr. Simmons to obtain a VA loan. The property is located at 2415 Hwy 515 South, Jasper, Georgia. The recommendation of the Planning Com mission will be brought before the Board of Commissioners on January 19,2017 at 5:30 p.m.rz- 12 - i6 - 1215 The Family Gourmet Feas 2 (5 oz.) Filet Mignons 2 (5 oz.) Top Sirloins 2 (4 oz.) Boneless Pork Chops 4 Boneless Chicken Breasts (1 lb. pkg.) 4 (3 oz.) Kielbasa Sausages 4 (4 oz.) Omaha Steaks Burgers 12 oz. pkg. All-Beef Meatballs 4 (3 oz.) Potatoes au Gratin 4 (4 oz.) Caramel Apple Tartlets Omaha Steaks Seasoning Packet (.33 oz.) 44240VPT Reg. $215.90 I Now Only *49" Call 1-800-261-0746 ask for 44240VPT www.OmahaSteaks.com/savor78 Limit 2. Free gift must ship with #44240. Standard S&H will be added. Expires 1/31/17. All produce prices and sales are subject to Omaha Steaks, Inc. Terms of Use and Pricing Policy. Visit omahasteaks.com/terms-of-useOSI ©2016 OCG | 608B120 | Omaha Steaks, Inc. Plus, 4 more Kielbasa Sausages FREE Read something that matters in 2017 Subscribe to the Progress Real News from Real Reporters covering Your Community Fill out the form below and mail it with proper payment to P.O. Box 67, Jasper, GA 30143 i 1 i i I Name : I Address : Rates for One-Year Subscription I live: ( ) $29.96 in Pickens, Gilmer, Dawson, Cherokee or Gordon county; ( ) $39.59 in Georgia, but not in a county surrounding Pickens; ( ) $44.94 in another state besides Georgia (Sales Tux included in prices) Method of Payment < ) Check or Credit Card; ( ) VISA ( ) Mastercard ( ) Discover Name: Card// Exp. Date : (Month) (Day) (Year) You can also subscribe by phone at 706-253-2457 or online at www.PickensProgress.com Local meetings