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Thursday, January 9, 2020
Volume 132 Number 38
Jasper, Georgia
Local News Published Weekly
First fatal
crash of
the year
on 515
By Angela Reinhardt
Staff writer
areinhardt@pickensprogress.com
Authorities are having
trouble contacting next-of-
kin for an Acworth man who
lost his life in a crash Sun
day, January 5 on Highway
515 near Captain D’s.
According to Georgia
State Patrol Post #28 Com
mander Tim Nichols, the 44-
year-old man was traveling
southbound on Highway
515 in a 2017 Ducati motor
cycle when Heather Duck
ett, 39, Jasper, attempted to
make a left-hand turn from
the highway onto B.H. Lee
Street. The man, whose
name is not being released
because his family in Hon
duras had not been notified
as of Tuesday at noon, struck
the front right quarter panel
of Duckett’s 2014 Jeep
Wrangler.
There were three passen
gers in the Jeep, ages 15, 6,
and 5. No one in that vehicle
has reported injuries, ac
cording to GSP.
Nichols said this was the
first fatal crash in Pickens
County in 2020, and noted
that there have been several
crashes at that intersection
over the years.
There is no traffic signal
at the crossing.
“We’ve had several on
both sides of that intersec
tion, at B.H. Lee on one side
See Fatality on 2A
Commission
chair says it’s
“hands off’
with school
board
By Dan Pool
Editor
dpool@pickensprogress.com
Commission Chair Rob
Jones said last week that al
legations that he had any
input into school board is
sues or the termination of
former superintendent Carl
ton Wilson are “ludicrous.”
In a separate interview,
he was seconded by school
board chair Tucker Green
who called any belief that he
mingles his school board
work as the chair to his part-
time job as the county public
information officer as
“silly.”
Both Jones and Green
had heard the rumors, wide
spread online, that the
county commission chair
was behind or advised on the
December removal of the
school superintendent when
the Progress sought com
ment from them.
Jones said he doesn’t ad
vise Green or offer input
about anything school board
related.
“I was as shocked as
everyone else about [the
board’s decision to relieve]
Wilson,” said Jones. “I con
sider Carlton a friend and I
would have questioned the
timing, but I didn’t have any
input and it wasn’t mine to
question anything about it. I
found out when it happened
just like everyone else.”
Jones said he is careful to
not broach any school board
issues in public forums or
with Green. “As [Chief
Magistrate] Allen Wigington
likes to say, ‘not my mon
keys, not my circus,”’ he
said.
Green has worked for the
county on a part-time intern
ship since he was in high
school and has continued on
See No Hands on 2A
Big changes in city hall
as new mayor takes seat,
longtime attorney replaced
Council member Jim Looney Council member John Foust
By Angela Reinhardt
Staff writer
areinhardt@pickensprogress.com
There were no shortage of changes
at city hall on Monday, Jan. 6 when
Steve Lawrence led his first council
meeting as Jasper’s new mayor. Not
only was the city’s top elected official
a new face after 27 years, but council
hired a new lead attorney and replaced
their CFO with an interim.
The January council meeting was
just a few days after Lawrence and
three council members - Jim Looney,
Kirk Raffield, and John Foust - took
the oath of office at a swearing-in cer
emony on Friday, Jan. 3. All elected
officials were sworn in by Pickens’
Chief Magistrate Judge Allen Wiging
ton.
The crowd, which was so large it
was spilling into the hallway, stood
and erupted in applause after
Lawrence was officially sworn in as
mayor.
“Moving forward, I look forward to
working with every single member
here and working with all of you,” he
said after he took his place at the
mayor’s chair. “The fact that there are
so many of you here that expressed an
interest in what we will do is a great
motivator for all of us.”
He thanked everyone for coming
out, and asked council if they had any
comments.
Council member John Foust
thanked the voters of Jasper and said
there are “exciting things coming your
way. We just need your patience and
support.”
Council member Anne Sneve
thanked Jasper employees for “all
their hard work and getting us to
where we need to be.”
Council member Sonny Proctor
thanked Pickens County commission
ers Rob Jones and Becky Denney for
attending, which he said was “sym
bolic of the new relationship we’re
forging.” He also thanked citizens for
their support.
House Representative Rick
Jasperse and Pickens Sheriff Donnie
Craig were also present.
Council mem- See Jasper on 2A
State rep. Jasperse previews session,
identifies key state topics,
weighs in on local issues
By Dan Pool
Editor
dpool@pickensprogress.com
In a wide-ranging interview Mon
day, Rick Jasperse, the state represen
tative for Pickens County gave his
predictions on what will be the biggest
issues before state lawmakers when
the session opens this month.
“The biggest by far is the budget as
it always is,” Jasperse said. “I know
the governor is looking at the econ
omy and sees it slowing down in the
future and we’ll be scaling back
spending.”
Jasperse, who has served as state
representative of this area since 2010,
said most people would be surprised
to see how fine-tuned the state’s mas
sive $22 billion budget is.
“We’re like a family and you don’t
want to run out of money before the
end of the month and you really have
to watch for any little hiccup or spend
ing too much,” he said.
Jasperse said the key thing to
watch this year is what the governor
wants included in the spending, issues
such as a planned additional $2,000
pay raise for teachers, that was going
to follow a $3,000 raise given to
teachers in this pay year, along with
plans to further roll back the state in
come tax. It came down from six per
cent to 5.75 percent and is scheduled
to come down to 5.5 percent.
“This year the story is going to be
not what’s in the budget, but what is
not in the budget,” he said.
Other topics:
• Gambling - Sports betting and casi
nos. Jasperse said there are questions
that need to be hashed out and he said
he doesn’t have a clearcut feel for
what the public wants on sports bet
ting in general and separately on
whether the state should begin allow
ing casinos.
He said his bet is the public is di
vided about 50/50 for and against, but
he wants to hear from local con
stituents on their views of expanding
gambling. Jasperse said his current
view is “if I were to warm to this at
all, the funds would need to be di
rected to healthcare as our healthcare
needs here are so vast.”
He said there are several specific
aspects that will be subject of debate
if the state decides to go forward, such
as where should the funds the state
makes go? Also, whether should there
be one or two large casinos or several
smaller ones spread around the state?
• Dual enrollment - making sure
high school students can take classes
at technical schools and universities.
• Paying college athletes.
• Broadband expansion -
Jasperse said they recognize this as a
key topic for the state and with eco
nomic development, but he said it’s
very complicated both from a technol
ogy point and from a financial side.
The goal is “to facilitate expansion,”
but there are concerns about public
versus private efforts on this goal.
• Private school vouchers — This
won’t really affect us in Pickens a lot,
but around the state deciding if state
dollars can go to private schools is
going to be huge issue, he said.
•Water/sewage expansion - The
state needs to allocate more resources
to expand water and sewage in rural
areas, in places like Jasper, Fairmount,
and towns like those, so this will im
pact us, Jasperse said.
• Mental Health - There will be ef
forts to promote more mental health
workers in rural areas. “There just
aren’t enough of them,” he said.
Local issues:
• Jasper Library - They have saved
their money locally for the past years
and now it’s important to get the state
on board and make sure the hinds are
there for a renovation. “It is important
to get this done,” he said.
• VA Clinic - Jasperse said he is
very excited to see the VA clinic open
ing soon here, giving veterans more
access to services they need. Jasperse
said he has followed along with the
progress of the forthcoming clinic and
knows people were frustrated by how
long it took but that was not unusual
for the VA.
• Senior Exemption for school
taxes - The talks are ongoing on what
the income cap should be.
• Chattahoochee Tech - “We need
them to expand. They are important to
the community and we need not only
me but the community to put pressure
on them to expand offerings.”
Jasperse will file regular reports
on his work during the session in the
Progress. Look for these weekly while
the legislature is in session.
Inside:
School board
seeks public
opinion on
superintendent
search
Page 11A
Baylon, Beasts
and the Bible
series begins
at Mt. Zion
Church this
Sunday
Page 10 A
Brewery
leases rail cars
in Talking
Rock
Page 8B
Obituaries - 5A
• Betty Sitten
• Dick Wohlwend
• Doris Hendrix
• Elizabeth Gahan
• Florence Freeborn
• Gwen Dasher
• Lionel Hobson
Index
Editorial 4A
Obituaries 5A
Letters to the editor . ,5A
Church 10A
People 11A
Kids 3B
Legals 4-5B
Classifieds 6-7B
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