Newspaper Page Text
Thursday, February 27, 2020
Volume 132 Number 45
Jasper, Georgia
Local News Published Weekly
Sheriff to create holster policy
as result of Walmart incident
Report blames
accidental
discharge on trigger
being caught in
clothing
By Dan Pool
Editor
dpool@pickensprogress.com
After presenting the cir
cumstances to the grand jury
last week, District Attorney
Alison Sosebee stated in a
memo this week that there
will be no charges, nor fur
ther investigation into the ac
cidental discharge of the
sheriff’s backup firearm dur
ing a Shop-with-a-Cop event
December 17th at the Jasper
Walmart.
The grand jury, according
to Sosebee’s memo, found
no violation of any law, nor
any sheriff’s office policy.
However, it did find a ‘‘pol
icy failure as to Pickens
County Sheriff’s Office for
failing to identify approved
holsters for on-duty person
nel.”
The report from the DA
replayed the events as re
ported by an investigator
with the Cherokee Sheriff’s
office. The GBI declined to
investigate as they saw no
violation of a state law.
In the findings from the
Cherokee County investiga
tor, Craig was using a Tech-
naclip, commonly called a
minimalist holster.
“Lt. Barone found that at
the time of the discharge,
you did not have your hand
on or near your firearm and
the firearm was not dropped
or struck by an object when
the firearm discharged. Lt
Barone found that ‘without a
definitive finding as to the
reason for the discharge of
the firearm, it is believed that
a piece of Sheriff Craig’s
clothing caught on the trig
ger causing the firearm to
discharge.’”
Sheriff Donnie Craig,
able to speak about the case
for the first time this week,
said he had used the mini
malist holster for several
years for a Glock .43, a
backup weapon inside his
waistband. He said this was
See Holsters on 3A
Dealing
with power
outages
Generator use
becomes part of
mountain living
By Mark Millican
Progress contributor
Merrie Dace and her hus
band moved to Pickens
County in August and found
living in the country can
have drawbacks.
“(It's) very secluded, and
we have random power
glitches all the time,” she
said in a post on the Face-
book page of the Pickens
Progress. “It's so aggravat
ing. We obviously lost
power Saturday with the
snow that moved in for sev
eral hours, but we were pre
pared as much as possible.”
Dace said a generator
“will have to be in our near
future to handle these fluctu
ating outages.”
“I've never experienced
anything like this before, but
I know it can't be good on
appliances,” she added.
Two weeks ago, some
portions of the county were
without power again after
torrential rainfall. A brief
snowfall of several inches
on the second Saturday of
F ebruary didn't help matters
with the white stuffs heavy
consistency weighing on
See Generators on 3A
Elections office gears up for voting season
Voting machines being tested and calibrated in the basement of the Pickens Office of Elections & Registration
before the presidential primary begins the first week of March.
By Angela Reinhardt
Staff writer
areinhardt@pickensprogress.com
Monday before early voting in the
presidential primary began, the Pick
ens County Office of Elections & Reg
istration was busting at the seams with
voting equipment, some being tested
for the upcoming March election as
well as dozens of “extras” that won’t
be used until later in the voting season.
“The state has sent everything in,”
said Elections Supervisor Julianne
Roberts, who pointed to the lobby that
was full of printers on one side and
touch screens on the other.
That same afternoon in the base
ment of the office, 54 of the new vot
ing machines were being tested in
anticipation of the presidential pri
mary, with early voting in that election
to run March 2 - March 20 (Saturday
voting will be March 14). Early voting
will be held at the elections office with
polling places to be open for regular
voting Tuesday, March 24.
One of the workers said they were
performing “logic and accuracy test-
See Voting on 3A
County officially supports Second Amendment
Budget revised
to add
economic
development
deal with city
Commissioner Jones
asked the packed house to
stand and show their sup
port of the Second Amend
ment. At right, Tommy
Gartrell was one of many
supporters in attendance.
By Dan Pool
Editor
dpool@pickensprogress.com
With a standing ovation
from the public on February
20, Pickens County Com
missioners officially signed
a resolution saying they sup
port the Constitutional right
to bear arms.
Saying they were follow
ing the lead of other coun
ties, including most recently
Gilmer, Chair Rob Jones
See Support on 3A
Hemlocks planted in park raise awareness of their plight
photo/MaxCaylor
(L - R) City of Jasper employees Blake Gorth and Eddie Chastain; Donna Shearer, state
chair of Save Georgia Hemlocks; and Jasper employee Ryan Ledbetter plant hemlocks
for Arbor Day. A fundraiser is being held to plant more of the trees next year.
On Friday, February 21 in
celebration of Arbor Day
2020 in Georgia, the city of
Jasper partnered with Save
Georgia’s Hemlocks (SGH)
to plant several hemlock
saplings along Town Creek
in Lee Newton Park. The lit
tle trees are the first install
ment of a larger project
conceived by local citizen
Donnie R. Low to plant
more of these beautiful ever
greens to enhance the enjoy
ment of visitors to the park
and draw attention to the
plight of the hemlocks.
During a brief ceremony
attended by Jasper Mayor
Steve Lawrence, City Man
ager Brandon Douglas, City
Council Members Kirk Raf-
field and Sonny Proctor, and
others, SGH Chairman
Donna Shearer explained
that hemlocks, a keystone
species of our southern Ap
palachian forests, are dying
by the millions due to a tiny
but lethal invasive insect
called hemlock woolly adel-
gid (HWA) that was acciden
tally introduced to the
eastern U. S. from Japan
seven decades ago. She also
shared that the SGH Hem
lock Help Line (706-429-
8010) can provide
information on how property
owners and volunteers can
save these valuable trees on
public and private lands.
Following these remarks,
Donnie Low and Jim Heil
man, both of whom are
trained SGH facilitators in
Pickens County, assisted city
See Hemlocks on 3A
Inside:
Alan Morris
for chief
magistrate
Page 8A
Mark Godfrey
for coroner
Page 6A
Tracy Chester
for tax
commissioner
Page gA
Obituaries - 6A
• Bob Allen
• Evelyn West
• John Wright
• Tamer Mulllinax
Index
Editorial . . .
4A
Letters to the
Editor . ,5A
Church ....
5B
People ....
6B
Kids
7B
Legals
8-9B
Classifieds .
.10-11B
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