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THURSDAY. MAY 14. 2020 PICKENS COUNTY PROGRESS PAGE 15A
Craig
vised in every area of the
sheriff’s office. I served in
roles including jailer, patrol
deputy, detective, sergeant,
lieutenant, captain, and
major. I was appointed to the
position of chief deputy,
where I was second in com
mand to the sheriff until I re
signed to run for sheriff in
2008.1 was elected as sheriff
and took office on January 1,
2009. During my law en
forcement career, I have
completed many hours of ad
vanced law enforcement
training and education, in
cluding supervision, manage
ment, and executive
development classes.
I have 24 years of experi
ence working and managing
the sheriff’s office in Pickens
County with the last 12 serv
ing as your sheriff. As sheriff,
I believe I have been able to
build relationships which
have helped unite our com
munity during some of our
toughest times. This has al
lowed us to accomplish
things we never thought was
possible.
One of the top qualities
that I feel that is necessary to
hold the office of sheriff is in
tegrity. I feel that I demon
strate integrity because I
consciously choose to do the
right thing, even though the
right thing isn’t always easy.
Regardless, doing the right
thing is always right. When
you do the right thing you
don’t live in fear and you will
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never have anything to hide.
What are the main reasons
you want to continue to be
Sheriff?
Pickens County is my
home, and is where I have
raised my family and where
my grandchildren will grow
up. I want to continue to en
sure it is a safe community
for them and others to live. I
have spent my entire adult
life in Pickens County work
ing with the sheriff’s office
and the citizens here. There is
absolutely nothing I would
rather do with my life than
serve my community. It’s
about being a part of some
thing much larger than my
self. I feel being your sheriff
is my calling, and I know that
together we can continue to
make a difference.
COVID-19 and resulting
business restrictions has
had a severe impacts on the
economy. What are your
plans for next years budget
in light of these unprece
dented changes to our econ
omy?
This is definitely going to
be a tough year for everyone.
Anyone who has followed
this election has read or been
told that we have been over
budget for the past few years
(Please see paid advertising
on page 15A). The county
budget process has been bro
ken for many years and is
going to require some work.
As I pointed out in our 2019
budget meeting, we can’t
continue waiting until the day
of the budget meeting to dis
cuss our plans for the follow
ing year. We must be able to
work together and be proac
tive. Depending on the pro
jected shortfalls for our
county, I will fully cooperate
with the Board of Commis
sioners and other elected of
ficials and make some
necessary cuts to our budget.
We will, however, continue
to house inmates for addi
tional revenue to assist with
any shortfall the county may
experience, as well as seek
ing additional grants which
may be available.
High turnover rates has
been an issue in the Sher
iff’s Office. Do you feel the
current staff levels are ade
quate? What will you do to
help retain high quality of
ficers?
Recruitment and retention
have not just been an issue
with our office, it’s an issue
nationwide. In fact, studies
have shown that nationally,
66% of law enforcement
agencies have experienced a
significant decline in applica
tions over the past several
years and more officers are
leaving agencies to seek em
ployment outside of law en
forcement.
We started several years
ago working on recruiting
and retention programs for
our office. We have made pay
adjustments for all staff and
increased our entry level
starting pay by 38% to com
pete with surrounding agen
cies, implemented an
incentive pay for employees
with advanced degrees and
certifications, implemented
accelerated advancement op
portunities as a result of
ready access to the basic law
enforcement training avail
able through our local Geor
gia Public Safety Training
Center satellite campus. We
are also currently working
with area colleges to imple
ment advanced degree pro
grams for our staff. We are
now holding job fairs and re
cruiting at our local schools
and colleges as well as focus
ing more attention on our vet
erans.
Our staffing levels have
not changed in the past 12
years, but we continue to im
prove the services to our
community such as adding
school resource officers to all
of our schools and adding ad
ditional drug agents to our
multi-agency task force. This
has caused a reduction in
other areas of the agency
which are not adequate. This
has been a contributing factor
to the large amount of over
time in the past several years.
The sheriff’s office operates
numerous programs, initia
tives and events, which
many have been well-re
ceived by the community.
How does the role of the
Sheriff’s Office extend, and
how do these programs fit
into that role.
The sheriff’s office oper
ates a number of programs in
our community which I feel
is very important to many of
our citizens. I believe it helps
us build a better relationship
with our community. One
such example is the Explorer
program. This program takes
our youth from 14 to 21 and
prepares them for life chal
lenges, for roles as citizens,
community leaders, and fu
ture law enforcement careers.
We have been able to hire
several of our Explorers as
deputies, see many join the
military, and others do many
great things after school.
The Citizens Academy
has been another great pro
gram for our office and the
community. This is a 12-
week class and gives our cit
izens an opportunity to gain a
personal understanding of the
daily operations of the sher
iff’s office. This also gives
our staff an opportunity to
build great relationships with
our citizens as well.
Do you have any specific
crime prevention/public
safety goals or initiatives?
What are some key areas of
need the Sheriff’s Office
you feel need attention in
the coming years.
Last August we an
nounced our partnership with
Cherokee Multi-Agency Nar
cotics Squad to combat the
ongoing opioid, heroin and
methamphetamine crisis in
both counties. We have al
ready seen a tremendous re
sponse from these efforts
with over 150 arrests, and
have already grown our staff
to three full time agents
working for Pickens County
with access to an additional
sixteen agents. While things
are better than ever before
with our drug enforcement,
we must stay focused and
continue to find ways to do
more with the current re
sources we have to help com
bat this continued issue.
I do not believe we can
just “arrest” ourselves out of
this problem. We must con
tinue working very closely
with our accountability
courts, and find ways to as
sist those affected by this epi
demic. Drug addiction and
abuse affects many more cit
izens than just the addict.
Families are tom apart, and it
leaves many shattered lives
in its destructive path.
We have also recently
started working with our sen
ior citizen population by im
plementing programs such as
Project LifeSaver and
RUOK. As a community
with a large retirement demo
graphic, I believe we must
focus more attention on pro
grams to build better relation
ships with our older adults
and find ways to better meet
their needs.
I also think we need to
work on a better way to com
municate with our commu
nity, and continue to find
ways to keep our citizens ac
tively involved and up-to-
date with the happenings in
its local government.
Hunger
doing well at that time,”
Rumble said. “Of course, all
that changed.”
According to the most re
cent data available from
Feeding America, which
tracks hunger in the United
States, in 2017 Pickens
County had a food insecurity
rate of 8.4 percent, or 2,560
of its estimated 30,343 popu
lation. To compare, Gilmer
had 10.6 percent; Cherokee
7.5 percent; and Gordon 11
percent.
Rumble said at CARES
the majority of their clients
are “food insecure,” which he
said is distinguishable from
the population that is threat
ened by actual malnutrition
or severe hunger. At CARES
they provide healthy food to
that food-insecure population
so they can reallocate their
salary to pay for rent or utili
ties. CARES also provides
job placement assistance in
hopes that these clients will
eventually not need their
food pantry services
“But there is a population
that is more in danger that we
worry about,” he said.
“Those are the elderly, shut-
ins people forget about, and
the kids who have irresponsi
ble parents who neglect them
and put other things first.”
These groups are not able
to provide for themselves,
and may not get the help they
need.
Typically at CARES they
have family counseling that
is required before a client can
receive food. Counseling has
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been temporarily suspended
due to COVID-19, but Rum
ble said there are certain
groups that will never come
in under usual conditions be
cause they have to provide
identification and other per
sonal information. Rumble is
exploring some alternative
models that will allow clients
to anonymously pick up food
in the future to help reach
people who are squeamish
about coming in.
“You’ve got some people
who are just not going to do
that and come in, fill out a
form because they don’t want
you to have their informa
tion,” he said. “It’s interest
ing though, right now people
can come in without that
oversight, but we’re still not
seeing a big spike in numbers
or seeing our program
abused. I think that’s a testa
ment to people in Pickens
County. ”
The director said they
have recently partnered with
the Pickens Sheriff’s Office,
which has been using Student
Resource Officers to help
them identify populations in
need the pantry might miss.
“Presently, families can
call the sheriff’s office di
rectly and then the sheriff’s
office will send deputies to
CARES to deliver food to
them,” Rumble said. “In the
future, I am hoping that the
sheriff’s office can be a re
source for us to locate fami
lies, populations in need of
food, and then find creative
ways to get that food to
them.”
Interestingly, the director
said, their financial assistance
program which typically has
10 clients (max number al
lowed) is down to just three
during the pandemic.
In addition, CARES is
partnering with MUST Min
istries out of Canton, as well
as the local extension office,
for a summer lunch program
for students. MUST is spear
heading the project and will
provide the food, and
CARES will help mobilize
volunteers and get food to
kids. He said numbers typi
cally start small at the begin
ning of summer and increase
“once parents figure out the
program is here.” Details are
still being worked out.
Schools move to fill gaps in
student hunger
Pickens schools have been
providing food to students
during remote learning. Well
over 60,000 meals have been
made and delivered to desig
nated hubs in the community
- but still they are only reach
ing about 1/3 of the number
of 3,000 students they typi
cally serve on a traditional
school day.
The program began in
March with 496 meals on the
first day and peaked at 1,144
students served in a day
(which includes breakfast
and lunch for each student, or
2,288 meals). Pickens School
Nutrition Director Beth
Thompson wants to serve
more but there are some
things that keep that from
happening - and like the
CARES director - she said it
can be difficult to identify
and reach pockets of the pop
ulation who may need help.
Thompson said after the
school year ended and
COVID-19 restrictions are
now slowly being lifted, par
ents are returning to work
and are unable to drive their
students to the pick-up loca
tions. This has caused a drop
in their service numbers, but
was also an issue at the
height of delivery. To miti
gate this, at the high school
location where very few stu
dents were coming to pick up
meals the manager and other
staff decided to do deliveries
to individual houses.
“I had a parent call last
week to ask about pick up
times, but he’s working dur
ing those times, so we just
bring it to them,” she said.
“But, when we go out the
families and kids seem so ap
preciative and gracious.”
They currently deliver to
around 210 students’ individ
ual homes three times a
week, which is around 1,200
total meals (including break
fast and lunch per delivery).
Pickens currently has
51.19 percent of their stu
dents on free and reduced
lunch. Of that, 10.29 percent
are on reduced lunch prices,
with 40.89 percent who re
ceive free lunch. But because
students are not required to
be on free and reduced lunch
to receive the mobile meals
Thompson can’t determine
which population is being
served.
Overall, the nutrition di
rector said Pickens’ free and
reduced lunch rate “puts us
pretty much in the middle of
the pack” in Georgia. To
compare, Gilmer County has
64.36 percent of students on
free and reduced lunch;
Cherokee has 29.49 percent;
Gordon has 60.82 percent;
and Dawson has 43 percent,
according to the Georgia De
partment of Education.
Thompson said many peo
ple are aware of local food
resources that are available,
but pointed to an online net
work through FoodFinder, a
partner of the GaDOE, on the
web at www.foodfinder.us or
with the app “FoodFinder -
Fighting Hunger.”
Fran Bishop, who heads
up the weekend snack pro
gram for Pickens students
through a local church, was
at CARES that same Monday
dropping off over 100 bags
filled with ravioli, fruit, gra
nola bars and other items that
supplement students’ nutri
tional needs. In total, that
program has provided over
500 snack packs a week
through the schools. With re
mote learning, these volun
teers have been dropping
their snack packs at four lo
cations in the county, includ
ing CARES which distributes
them.
Summer lunch plans
The school system’s lunch
program will end on May 22,
the last day of the original
school year. The program is
being funded through the
U.S.D.A. as part of a waiver
for their Seamless Summer
program, which typically de
livers to facilities with sum
mer camp programs such as
the Pickens Rec. Department.
The U.S.D.A. has provided a
waiver that will allow local
programs to serve those
meals on a pick-up or deliv
ery basis, but they tradition
ally have to be served in
those group settings on-site.
This year, Thompson said
they are looking at options
for the summer lunch pro
gram, but not knowing if
summer camps will be held
they are exploring alterna
tives. At this point, locally
the Boys & Girls Club is the
only confirmed summer pro
gram with limited student ca
pacity. She said the current
drop off breakfast/lunch
schedule that has existed dur
ing remote learning will not
continue, but again they are
exploring alternatives for that
program.
Mainly, Thompson said
they don’t want anyone to be
without food. She is working
on some other local food pro
grams, but said, “I know
there is a pride issue, but if
people are hungry please give
me a call. We’re not going to
say no to anyone.”
Contact Thompson at the
central office at 706-253-
1700 or by email at
beththompson@picken-
scountyschools.org.
CARES Food Pantry is lo
cated at 89 Cares Drive,
Jasper, Ga. They currently
have food pick-up from 9
a.m. to noon Monday,
Wednesday, and Friday on a
curbside pickup basis only.
They can be reached at 706-
253-4777.
Break-ins
that is not the case - espe
cially in residential areas.
“They want the easiest
way possible,” he said. “If
you’re in a parking lot or
busier public space we could
see a window broken out, but
in quiet residential areas that
makes a lot of noise and in
creases the risk of getting
caught.”
Deputies are currently re
viewing footage from some
of the homes in the subdivi
sion that had motion-detector
cameras. The sheriff’s office
asks that any residents who
have cameras that may have
footage from the time of the
incident to contact them. At
this point they have no vehi
cle description.
All break-ins occurred in
the rear portion of the subdi
vision. One resident said he
was confused about the
break-ins in that area, since
the road many vehicles were
broken into is a dead end,
which would make escaping
more difficult.
Stancil said these issues
makes law enforcement think
it could have been someone
with family in the neighbor
hood.
“Of course we don’t know
that for sure,’ he said. “We
are still investigating.”
Rashes of vehicle break-
ins, while not common here,
usually happen just before
the holidays when people
need extra cash. There was
also a gang who came from
Atlanta and targeted vehicles
just off 515 in recent past, ac
cording to Stancil, who said,
“it’s just kind of an odd time
of year for this.”
The sheriff’s office rec
ommends people keep doors
locked, valuables out of sight
or secured inside the home,
“especially if it’s a gun,”
Stancil said. “It seems like
when we have these incidents
there is usually a gun stolen.’
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Testing
ers or law enforcement, any
one can register from this
point on.
“Even though we empha
size the priority groups and
the importance that they be
tested, we are definitely now
registering anyone who
wishes to be tested,” she said.
Pop-up sites are deter
mined on a week-to-week
basis and will be determined
by need. The North Georgia
Health District has three per
manent COVID-19 testing
locations in the region at the
health departments in Chero
kee and Whitfield counties,
and at ETC Communications
in Gilmer County.
In Fannin County last
week for their pop-up, 39
tests were performed. And in
Murray County, 31 tests. In
cidentally, Fannin had their
second pop-up testing Mon
day and performed 29 tests.
Tests are nasal swab sam
ple collections. The state
public health department
aims for a two to three day
turnaround, but King said
that time could be longer
with the increase number of
testing.
For pop-up site testing,
she reiterated the importance
of registering ahead of time
by calling 1-888-881-1474.
When asked how long
pop-up testing will continue,
the PIO officer said it was at
the discrimination of the
health director, but, “would
likely continue until people
want access to that testing
and where we determine the
need is.”
According to the Georgia
Department of Public
Health’s Daily COVID-19
status, as of Tuesday, May
12th there are 35 confirmed
cases in Pickens County. Two
people from Pickens County
have died as a result of the
vims and nine have been hos
pitalized.
For more information visit
www.nghd.org and visit them
on Facebook.
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If you spot an error in our pages,
let our staff hear about it.
Call 706-253-2457 or email
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