Newspaper Page Text
Thursday, January 16, 2020
Volume 132 Number 39
Jasper, Georgia
Local News Published Weekly
State rep. up
in arms over
foreign stone
contract
By Dan Pool
Editor
dpool@pickensprogress.com
State Rep. Rick Jasperse
is generally known as an
easy-going guy, but when he
learned that contractors are
planning to use stone
shipped from Asia on a new
federal courthouse annex in
Savannah, it did not sit well.
Jasperse has been calling
Georgia’s federal delegation
including the offices of Con
gressman Doug Collins and
Senator David Perdue to see
if the order for the foreign
stone is already set in stone
(so to speak) or if it can be
changed to good ol’ Georgia
marble.
According to Savannah
media, the new three-story
federal courthouse annex
will be opened later this year
at a cost of $27.8 million.
“This makes me mad. It’s
just unbelievable,” Jasperse
said Friday. “We talk about
Make America Great Again
and then we import foreign
stone. Where are we creating
those jobs?”
Jasperse said he is not
sure with the federal project
whether it is too late to
change the planned stone fa
cade or what the bid
amounts are, but he is letting
officials hear his chagrin.
The state rep. from Jasper
whose district includes the
state’s marble industry, said
it’s the principle. Even if
using Georgia stone costs
more, it’s the right thing to
do, especially considering
the overall costs of new
buildings, the long history of
using the pure white marble
mined in Pickens County,
and the fact that marble lasts
forever and weathers very
well.
“It’s the principle,” he
said. “I am proud of Georgia
marble. I give out marble
nameplates and other marble
items at the capitol.”
This is the second large
government building where
the local state rep. has been
riled into action. He said he
doesn’t even go into the
Nathan Deal Justice Center
near the capitol in Atlanta
after they completed it with
a massive fapade of syn
thetic material.
“They said they used a
little marble on the inside,
but I haven’t gone to see it,”
he said. “They didn’t use it
like they should have on the
exterior.”
See Contract on 2A
"Fractured" school
board moves ahead
Angela Reinhardt / Photo
Cheryl Sams, right, was one of four people who spoke vehemently against the board’s decision to remove Dr.
Carlton Wilson. Dozens of others attended to show their disappointment in three board members’ move.
By Angela Reinhardt
Staff writer
areinhardt@pickensprogress.com
A heated crowd turned out for the
first board of education meeting of the
year, where the public slammed three
board members for forcing former Su
perintendent Dr. Carlton Wilson to re
sign.
Public speakers at the meeting,
who are just a few of the throngs of
Pickens residents who have come out
in support of Wilson, accused board
members Tucker Green, Joeta Young
blood, and Donna Enis of not acting in
line with the desires of their con
stituents, of being unclear about their
reasons for letting Wilson go, for
being non-transparent, and for costing
taxpayers thousands of dollars.
The tension ramped up right out of
the gate, when interim superintendent
Dr. Charles Webb called for nomina
tions for chairperson. Tucker Green
was re- elected with board members
Enis and Youngblood voting in favor
of his appointment. One member of
the public was heard saying “sicken
ing” after he was re-elected to the po
sition.
Enis was elected vice chair.
Green, the most pointedly-criti
cized board member by far, was
chided for being inexperienced and
not having the best interest of the
school system in mind. Robert Keller
See School on 2A
Developments on the horizon
By Angela Reinhardt
Staff writer
areinhardt@pickensprogress.com
The following are a few of the
business/developments recently re
ported in Jasper:
JASPER DISCOUNT
GROCERY
A discount grocer based out of
Tampa, Fla. has leased a space in a
strip on East Church Street, most re
cently home to Sav-A-Lot. Jasper Dis-
77//.s banner went up just a few days ago announcing a new grocer will
locate in the East Church Street strip near the Pickens VA Clinic.
count Grocery co-partner Johnny
Hammonds told the Progress the store
will offer dried and frozen foods and
meats at deeply discounted prices.
“This is a no-frills place, kind of
like Aldi,” he said. “We get pallets of
goods and a lot of times the price is
half of what you’d pay at Walmart.”
There will be no fresh meats or
produce. Items will be left on pallets,
and will change from week to week
depending on what is available. The
space is 14,500 square feet. Ham
monds said it takes about 10 tractor
trailer trucks worth of goods to fill the
space.
Plans are to open February 28, with
hours to be Monday through Saturday,
9 a.m. to 7 p.m. They are in the
process of applying for EBT approval.
Hammond’s business partner owns
three discount grocers in this model in
Tampa - Smart Shopper of Tampa,
Lakelands Discount Grocery, and Tin
Can Pams. He also owns two of the
stores in North Carolina. They will
hire 10-12 employees and anticipate
they will bring $100,000 - $120,000
each year in tax revenue.
See Ec.Dev. on 3A
Community Thrift Store marks 20 years
Inside:
Pickens man
needs medical
help in Philip
pines
Page 4B
Senior tax
spokesman
announces
campaign
Page 7A
Obituaries - 8A
• Charles Pritchard
• Dustin Benson
• Grady Gayton
• John Crowe
Index
By Dan Pool
Editor
dpool@pickensprogress.com
The Community Thrift
Store will officially mark its
20th year of selling old
couches, clothes, used books
and household goods on Jan
uary 25th, having returned
$6 million of the $9 million
they have taken in during
that time to the non-profits
of this area.
The store, a local institu
tion for both shoppers of sec
ond-hand items and
beneficiaries of their gen
erosity, originally opened in
a rented space on Sanders
Street on January 25, 2000
before relocating to Samari
tan Drive in April 2004 -
completing the building with
$400,000 in revenue gener
ated solely from the sales.
Last Friday, the store’s
founder and driving force
Don Russell gave a tour
ahead of a volunteer recog
nition dinner planned to
mark the two decades in
business.
At the open-space shop
ping area, they see between
150-350 customers a day.
Some come twice a day and
many come to socialize
more than shop, says Rus
sell.
Several years ago Russell
spotted too many men sitting
in cars smoking while
women shopped, so he piled
guy items around some
couches and presto, an ac
tive, though unofficial,
men’s club inside the store -
without the smoking.
During the tour, Russell
mentions that after one of
these men had a bad health
Editorial
4A
report, he started coming to
Letters to the Editor
5A
walk the aisles daily as an
Obituaries
8A
exercise program and social
Kids
3B
outing.
People
4B
Russell, who teaches
Church
5B
goal-setting classes and
Legals
6-7B
other life improvement
skills, gives a simple de-
Classifieds
8-9B
scription of how they oper
ate, “There are no
Follow Us Online
In his $5 outfit purchased at the Thrift Store using his employee discount, founder
Don Russell gave a tour of the facility last week.
employees; no supervisors.
God is in charge; volunteers
manage it and customers
lend a hand.”
During a tour, Russell
went over the whole process
of how this system works,
starting with the drop-off
spot in the parking lot, often
manned by Timothy House
residents or community serv
ice workers.
Russell estimates they
take in somewhere between
1.5 and 2 tons of donations
every day. The store will also
arrange to go out and pick up
items or haul away basement
contents.
See Thrift Store on 2A
C/B □
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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
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