About Pickens County progress. (Jasper, Ga.) 1899-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 10, 2019)
Thursday, October 10, 2019 Volume 132 Number 25 Jasper, Georgia Local News Published Weekly Marble Festival attendance up over ‘18 Mary Ann's heavily Si- * * this week. damaged in blaze Inside: Mary Ann Shields / Photo While the building has been deemed structurally sound, the interior of Mary Ann’s Country Cooking suffered extensive damage by an early Sunday fire officials say started near the drink machine in the lobby. By Angela Reinhardt Staff writer areinhardt@pickensprogress.com Although final numbers had not been calculated, Pickens Chamber Executive Director Am- berle Godfrey said attendance for the 39th annual Georgia Marble Festival was up over last year, and she and other organizers have heard nothing but positive com ments about the event. “Everything went very well,” she said. “We’ve heard a lot of compliments from people who at tended, and people who said they thought it was very well organ ized.” Godfrey reported excellent vendor sales for the two-day event, with some vendors nearly selling out of their goods. “Some of them didn’t want to close at four on Sunday they were doing so well,” she said. This year’s new “Egg Fest,” which featured Big Green Egg demonstrations and samples, was well received and will return next year with a competition element. Godfrey said the fine arts show had higher attendance than last year. The only snag was the high winds late Friday and Saturday, which blew over a few tents. The Chamber will hold a de briefing meeting in the next two weeks, and start planning for 2020’s event in November. Godfrey made a public state ment about the event on the Pick ens Chamber Facebook page. “We would like to sincerely thank our wonderful volunteers See Festival on 2A “My heart is absolutely broken,” said owner of burned restaurant By Angela Reinhardt Staff writer areinhardt@pickensprogress.com Mary Ann’s Country Cooking, a popular restaurant on East Church Street in Jasper, burned in the early morning hours of Sunday, Oct. 6. “My heart is absolutely broken,” said restaurant owner Mary Ann Shields through tears. “It’s broken for my employees who don’t have jobs, some of them who are single and it’s their only source of income. I’m absolutely tore up. I’m so sorry for everyone and we’re going to try to rebuild as fast as we can.” Shields received a call at approx imately 12:45 a.m. after her security system was triggered. Although damage to the exterior of the build ing looks minor, “the inside and the dining room are completely de stroyed,” she said. According to Jasper Fire Chief Steve Roper, fire crews arrived three minutes after the emergency call See Blaze on 2A Bombshells drop at school board State Rep. Rick Jasperse (l) addresses Superintendent Carlton Wilson. Jasperse asked the school board to re-open the always contentious topic of tax exemptions for seniors, just one of the highly-charged subjects that came up during the called meeting Friday. By Dan Pool Editor dpool@pickensprogress.com In the normally staid world of school board discussions, it’s fair to say that Friday’s called meeting fea tured one bombshell after another, including drastic changes to the cal endar, moving graduation cere monies to evenings, arming staff members, shortening the elementary school day and re-opening the al ways contentious senior tax exemp tion debate, with a little beef between the board chair and super intendent thrown into the mix. The board did not take any action, but it looked like a decision on changing graduation times was com ing soon and they are scheduled to see a policy for arming staff pre sented at their regular meeting this week. Here are the highlights of the meeting which ran all morning at the central office. School tax exemption for seniors State Rep. Rick Jasperse ap peared before the board asking that they look at increasing the income threshold for senior citizens to be ex empt from paying property taxes to fund the schools. Currently seniors (aged 62 or older) who have income less than $25,000 a year are exempt from school taxes. In a frequently heated topic, Jasperse told the board that they are responsible for funding ed ucation and need to take the lead in any change to the exemptions. He said the current income threshold is too low. While he said he would leave changes up to the board, Jasperse suggested that raising it an other $ 10,000 would really help a lot of people who need it. In a brief aside, School Superin tendent Carlton Wilson asked if Jasperse could look at the percent age of the property taxes that the county charges the schools for han dling the bills/collections to which Jasperse replied that was a county issue, not state. School start date may be pushed back to late August The board looked at several dif ferent calendar options. They em phasized that they are simply researching possibilities at this time and nothing has been changed, nor was it clear if any big change will occur. Wilson emphasized after the meeting that they are just gathering information. Discussion indicated the schools may seek to shorten the school year down to 176 educational days, with a start time around August 21. However, board member Sue Finley emphasized that they must look at the data and see if the 176- day school year really does stack up against a 180 day calendar with aca demics. Wilson said teachers would still be required to work the same number of days as they do now to re ceive their full state pay. Board chair Tucker Green said he has concerns that the first semester would not end until after the Christ mas break, which might hamper stu dent preparation for finals. Wilson said one suggestion was to start on August 21 and eliminate fall break but then take off the Friday before Labor Day to give a vacation there. Board discussion indicated they will keep the calendar on their agenda and make a decision by De cember. It was noted that they under stand parents need to know as far in advance as possible in order to plan vacations. Graduation may return to evening ceremony Superintendent Wilson and sev eral board members expressed op posing views regarding when the graduation ceremony should be held. Wilson listed pros and cons of night versus daylight ceremony, emphasiz ing that since a morning ceremony had been used in recent years, there See School on 2A Empty Bowl event Oct. 19 Nancy Trowell, left, prays over each piece of pottery she makes. “I pray for God to bless the people who receive it and I thank God for the way they bless us, ” she said. Trowell’s works will be on sale during the Timothy House’s Au tumn Fun Festival on October 19th. The fes tival will run from 10 a.m. to 4p.m. at 35 Re generation Way, Talk ing Rock. Proceeds from the fundraiser will feed lo cal homeless and bene fit the Christian-based program that for 20 years has supported men suffering from drug and alcohol addic tions. See page 6A to read the full story. photo/Jennifer Paire Pickens High homecoming Page 12B Editorial: A great time to be a sports fan Page 4A THINK FIRST KNOW YOUR 5 FREEDOMS Ttatimai fletubfiafen, 76ee& Octo&en 6-12 Obituaries - 7 A • Barbara Bowden • Clara Quinton • Alan Abell • Janice Bradley • Joseph Camp Jr. • Mary Carver • Timothy Jones • Virginia Walker Index Obituaries 7A Editorial 4A Letters to the Editor . ,5A Church 8-9B Kids 10B People 11B Classifieds 11-12C Legals 3-10C Follow Us Online 6Gl YouQH§ Contact Us 94 North Main Street Jasper, Ga. 30143 706-253-2457 www.pickensprogress.com Open for business during these hours: Mon-Thurs, 9-5, and Fri, 9-4:30
