About Pickens County progress. (Jasper, Ga.) 1899-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 10, 2019)
PAGE 2A PICKENS COUNTY PROGRESS THURSDAY. OCTOBER 10. 2019 Continued From 1A Blaze came in and they discovered heavy fire in the area be tween the kitchen and the dining room. The fire was under control by 1:03 a.m. and was extinguished by 3:45 a.m. Jasper’s Assistant Fire Chief Von Headrick, who is heading up the investigation along with the state fire mar shal’s office, said the build ing is structurally sound but there was extensive damage to contents. He could not comment on cause of the fire as it is still under investiga tion. Shields said until the in vestigation is complete she cannot move ahead with the insurance and rebuilding process, but at this time she is busy preparing paperwork for her 12 employees to draw unemployment. “Please pray for them and pray they can find jobs tem porarily,” she said. “If any one has any positions please let me know.” Shields said when the fire occurred she was in the process of selling the busi ness to an employee, who she felt would continue Mary Ann’s in the same manner as it had been operating. “She was going to keep it going,” she said. “This is devastating for her, but we are going to move ahead, re build and go from there.” Mary Ann’s Country Cooking opened on July 29, 2013. During that time, they have supported the commu nity in a number of ways in cluding their annual community Thanksgiving meal they prepare and donate to those in need or those who do not have family to enjoy dinner with. They serve be tween 1,000 and 1,200 peo ple a free meal each year. “It’s destroying me know ing I can’t do that this year for people who don’t have anywhere to go,” she said. “I look forward to that every single year, from the day it’s over for the year until the next year.” Shields and her daughter also want to dispel rumors about this fire and another that occurred at another country cooking restaurant Shields once worked at. “This incident is com pletely unrelated to the fire... several years ago,” her daughter said in a post on the Mary Ann’s Country Cook ing Facebook page. “Further more, the fire was not intentionally set for financial gain, or to get out from under the business, etc. as has been insinuated. My mom does not even own the building, and a buyer was already secured for the sale of the business. If anyone had sat and watched her sob like I have for the last 24 hours over the loss of not only her lifelong dream, but much more importantly the livelihood of her girls she loves so much and the sup port she will temporarily be unable to give the commu nity, you would understand how fully incapable she is of such an act.” Shields thanked the com munity for their support over the years, and has faith things will work out in the long run. “Because of the great community, we’ve had a great six years,” she said, again over tears. “My land- Festival and community for a suc cessful Marble Festival,” she said. “We would not be able to spotlight our special com munity without everyone working together. A lot of hard work and long hours lord is 100 percent behind this and is wonderful. I know it’s going to be okay in the long run, and I can feel everyone’s prayers. I want to tell everyone how much I ap preciate them, and say thank you because I can feel all the prayers.” from everyone goes into pulling off such an event. We had so many great comments from locals, visitors, and ven dors. A special thank you to our Marble Festival coordi nator Tina Michelle Patterson Kuriger. She is nothing short of amazing.” Continued From 1A Continued From 1A School had been no issues with ar rests or wrecks and he wor ries that going to a night-time ceremony (used here in decades past) would open the door to more parties. He also cited the higher likelihood of early summer thunderstorms in the evenings and difficulty for metro-Atlanta relatives fighting traffic to get here for a Friday evening ceremony. Wilson did note that the morning ceremony is hotter and they have had repeated medical issues due to heat. Board member Donna Enis said in the school sys tem she worked previously, she had been in charge of graduation and out of 20 years, they only had thunder storm issues twice in the evenings. Board member Steve Smith said since he has been on the board, graduation time has been the number one complaint he has heard. Smith related a personal an ecdote that older relatives hadn’t been able to come to graduation for his children due to the heat and that when he attended one ceremony “a pregnant woman puked on my shoes and then had to be transported by ambulance. The heat is just unbearable.” During the meeting, it ap peared they would take ac tion right then and had a call made to the Pickens High principal to see if anything had been printed or sent out with a graduation times listed. It had not, and they set a timeline of reaching a deci sion by December. Bus driver shortage/ elementary school times In related topics, the board began discussing the severe bus driver shortage they and all systems face and the use of double routes and why teachers don’t/can’t drive buses. This discussion mor phed into whether they could end the elementary school day as early as 2 p.m. to allow drivers to run more double routes and see if some of the elementary teachers would drive routes if the pay and benefits could be made attractive enough. Board member Joetta Youngblood referred to the current elementary day length as “brutal.” She said for students as young as ele mentary school, 8:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. is too long. Superintendent Wilson said they have built extra minutes into the daily sched ule, which helps them avoid any makeup days due to bad weather. Green cautioned that they have added a lot of positive things to the elementary cur riculum including ample PE, art, music. “I understand what y’all are saying [about the long day]. But the reality is something will have to be cut somewhere. We are re quired to provide lunch, but what about the different camps and the extra PEs?” Wilson agreed that if they shorten the day, something will have to be eliminated. The newspaper has something for everybody: Current events, human interest stories, scientific facts and bold opinions. There’s a lot you (and a friend) can gain from a newspaper. Pick one up today and be amazed. LOCAL NEWS • BUSINESS • SPORTS • PEOPLE • LEGALS • TRAVEL • REVIEWS • CLASSIFIEDS AND MORE. Pickens County Progress 94 N. Main St. • Jasper • 706-253-2457 Great for: Packing Gift Wrap Fire Starter Pet Training Window Cleaning Gardening and Reading FREE Old Newspapers Pick up Thursdays at our office, 94 North Main Street, Jasper fii Finley said there was nothing she wanted to see taken away and wondered if they could cut a few minutes out of each subject. Arming staff Superintendent Wilson said he plans to present a pol icy to allow the school dis trict to arm certain staff members. He is still gather ing research on the policy but wants the board’s tentative approval before putting a lot more work into it. Board member Young blood cautioned that she wants to see a very detailed policy including exactly where guns would be stored, how they would be secured, would staff carry at all times and whether the schools would provide weapons or the approved staff bring their own. “I don’t want to be building an airplane while we are flying. We need very clear statues,” she said. “This is a very serious issue.” Travel/conference beef unfolds Near the end of the lengthy meeting, board mem bers and the superintendent showed clear tension over a request that the superintend ent provide information on the costs of travel and leave for conferences for himself and others. Wilson said it is time consuming and costly to have central office staff gath ering the information. Tucker Green responded quickly, “It is our right to the information. And we are going to ask for it and that is the bottom line.” Wilson questioned back whether travel was the only subject they want this infor mation on or if it will be something else after this. Green responded that he was tired of the pushback from the superintendent. Enis then said she wants to know who is going to con ferences as people are asking questions and “we need to be able to say it is legitimate.” Wilson said he didn’t in tend to give pushback but if they want information, just let him know what it is and he will get it. The final results/informa tion was not discussed during the meeting. Moving expenses This was followed by Enis also questioning a recent $5,000 expense for moving office fumishings/equipment around as they had made changes. She questioned why their staff didn’t handle it. “It seems like a lot of money to do some shifting when we had just done some shifting.” Wilson replied that they have much smaller staff than in years past and this was an effective way to handle the move. Security The meeting closed on a high note, with former foot ball coach Chris Parker, who now handles campus secu rity, showcasing a state of the art new alert system on all staff identification badges. When fully implemented, this will allow any staff member to signal an alert and shut down a campus by click ing a button their identifica tion badge multiple times. 2019 GOLDEN DEED NOMINATION FORM Presented Annually by the Pickens County Retired Educators Association A nominee does not have to be an educator. CRITERIA: A nominee must... • Be living and at least 50 years of age • Have lived in Pickens County at least 5 years • Have made significant contributions towards the betterment of Pickens County without financial compensation Using the criteria above, I nominate For the Golden Deed Award The nominee's mailing address is • Telephone Cell Phone This nomination is submitted by Nominator's Signature Telephone Cell Phone Date of Submission Please complete this nomination using another page. You are requested not to use the nominee's name. Please refer to "The nominee" "he/she" etc. You are encouraged to use additional pages as needed to present a complete description of the nominee's contributions towards the betterment of Pickens County. Please feel free to ask the person for information needed to complete your nomination. Please let the committee know why you feel the person named is deserving of the Golden Deed Award because of his/her: A. ORGANIZATIONAL and CHURCH INVOLVEMENT B. VOLUNTEER COMMUNITY SERVICE The form should be completed and mailed by December 27,2019 to: Joy Fowler 112 Ray Road or Nancy Teague 234 Frontier Road Jasper GA 30143 Jasper GA 30143
