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
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