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THURSDAY. MAY 14. 2020 PICKENS COUNTY PROGRESS PAGE 5A
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Across from Walmart
Perdue restructures retirement savings,
won’t trade individual stocks
By Dave Williams
Bureau Chief
Capitol Beat News Service
ATLANTA - U.S. Sen.
David Perdue, R-Ga., has re
structured his retirement sav
ings to eliminate individual
stock trades.
In a financial disclosure
statement filed last month,
Perdue reported that he and
his wife, Bonnie, sold shares
in dozens of companies and
bought shares in exchange-
traded funds. The couple al
ready was invested in mutual
funds and bonds.
Perdue’s announcement
came one month after Geor
gia’s other senator, fellow
Republican Kelly Loeffler,
announced in an op-ed in The
Wall Street Journal that she is
liquidating her family’s hold
ings in stocks in individual
companies and moving those
investments into exchange-
traded funds and mutual
funds.
Loeffler - and, to a lesser
extent, Perdue - had been
caught up in media reports
that they sold a large number
of stock shares following a
briefing by health officials
about the coronavirus pan
demic.
Perdue spokeswoman
Cherie Gillan pointed out that
he did not attend that briefing
and said he has never shared
or acted on any “nonpublic”
information. She also noted
there was no major selloff
since more purchases were
made at that time, reinforcing
did not profit from the
COVID-19 crisis. In a state
ment issued late last week,
Perdue said he and his wife
have retained independent
advisors including Goldman
Sachs and fund managers to
handle most of their stock in
vestments since 2005, almost
a decade before he was
elected to the Senate.
“Goldman Sachs or these in
dependent fund managers
bought and sold individual
stocks without consulting
with us,” he said.
Perdue said the couple
continues to own three spe
cific stocks he earned as
compensation for serving on
corporate boards before en
tering the Senate.
“Right now, I remain fo
cused on helping Georgians
recover from the devastating
impact of the COVID-19
pandemic and getting Amer
ica back to work,” the senator
said.
“This was a personal deci
sion Senator Perdue and his
wife made to avoid any con
fusion about their retirement
savings,” Gillan added.
“They did so voluntarily.”
Sassafras
Zoom meeting
May 21
Join in to read your
original works
The Sassafras Literary
Exchange is hosting its sec
ond meeting via Zoom, and
would like to invite the pub
lic to attend and read their
own original works and hear
works from other members
and non-members.
The meeting will be held
Thursday, May 21 at 6:30
p.m.
Please use the following
link to enter. (You can also
find the link on the Sassafras
Literary Exchange’s Face-
book page for easier one-
click access.)
Link:
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/8
2215967732?pwd=clR0emt
SN2 JKMU 5 aRV ZhM 1 pNe
HlBZz09
Meeting ID: 822 1596 7732
Password: 873470
Find your local number:
https ://us02web.zoom.us/u/k
cE2zUPupp
CARES thanks churches for support
CARES food pantry would like to thank our local churches for your incredible generosity during these unprecedented
times. We could not do this without you!!! Thank you to Revolution, Trinity Church of Marble Hill, Jasper United
Methodist, Tate United Methodist, Mtn. View Alliance, Living Word, Woodstock Church at Jasper, Mt. Zion Baptist
Church, Hope Lutheran, Fellowship Presbyterian,Talking Rock First Baptist, Pleasant Hill Christian, Cool Springs
Baptist, Jasper First Baptist, Mtn. Community, Mount Zion Baptist, Big Canoe Chapel, Our Lady of the Mountains,
and individuals from many other churches in our amazing community. WE ARE GRATEFUL for you.
Dear Editor,
As a resident and voter of Pickens County, I
would like to share my knowledge with my fellow
residents. My name is Rebecca Prather and I
work for the Pickens County Tax Commis
sioner's Office. I previously worked for Cherokee
County Tax Commissioner Sonya Little from
2003 until 2016 when I decided that working
closer to home was what my family needed.
Sharon Troglin was the Tax Commissioner here
in Pickens in 2016 and hired me to transfer from
Cherokee to Pickens. With me, I brought a
wealth of knowledge. Now let us fast forward to
2020. Darrin Satterfield our current Tax Commis
sioner has decided to not seek re-election. Our
county has three candidates wanting to take his
place. For me, the choice is easier to make as I
know all three personally.
The first candidate is Amy Gibson. I met Amy
through mutual friends as a teen and then pro
fessionally through my time at Cherokee County
Tax Commissioner’s Office when she worked for
Hennessy Honda. She was always a cut-up,
loud, and not professional. She seemed more
like a friend than a business associate. When
she called and ask for my vote for Commissioner
Chairman I said, “well I had thought about voting
for Stancil, but wasn't completely sold.” She
gave me her spill and said that she wanted my
vote. I told her she would have it. She sold me
on change and Unity in the Community slogan.
She tried to sell me on Tucker for Sheriff, but I
will proudly vote for Craig. Amy after some
thought reached out to me for my opinion on her
changing races. She decided to jump to the Tax
Commissioner's race as she felt it would be an
easy win against Darrin, and Allen did not want
her to take votes from Rob. Amy would call me
for dirt on the office, and I would tell her my is
sues with the office. Amy asked me “what does
Darrin do?” I found this odd because if she was
running for his job, she should not have to ask
this question. She has no clue about the daily
operations of the office. Amy offered me the po
sition as Chief Deputy Tax Commissioner once
she was elected. I explained to Amy that she
would be crazy not to give it to Daniel Reeves
and keep him, she then said ok you can have
any position you want. This made me question
if she was just running for the job title. With some
research, I found out Amy has filed bankruptcy,
been foreclosed on, evicted, and had a State Tax
Lien. All this and her campaign slogans are Fis
cal Integrity, Accountability, and Responsibility.
The next candidate is Tracy Chester. Tracy
worked with me at Cherokee for a brief period.
When she came to work at Cherokee Tax Com
missioner’s Office she worked only for a brief
moment then quit because in her words to me,
“she kept missing work and knew she was going
to get fired.” She applied again at Cherokee
County Tax Commissioner's Office and they
hired her back. Both times did not even total 3
years. She worked there between 2007 to 2010.
She was not always easy to work with and had
attendance issues. Tracy asked for certain days
off for vacation and then at the last minute re
quested a change of dates because her daugh
ter’s softball team made it to the Allstars.
Unfortunately, other people had those days offs
and her request was denied. She did not call or
come in those days and was considered a no
call, no show, and terminated, or as she calls it,
she quit without notice. She filed for unemploy
ment and was denied. Tracy tried to get her job
back for the third time. Sonya came to the Wood-
stock office that I managed and asked me for my
opinion. I told Sonya I would quit if she hired her
back. Tracy was never hired back. When I came
to Pickens to work Tracy seemed like a different
person. She was a Positive Polly. I encouraged
Darrin to give any promotion to Tracy. Then
slowly but surely, she showed her true colors.
The hostility kicked in. Darrin had not given her
any promotion, however, she acted like she was
a supervisor. In January of this year, she tried to
exert authority over me, and we ended up in an
argument. She raised her voice to me and in de
fense, I raised my voice back. Because of this,
we both got written up. My perfect work record
tarnished. She would not even sit in a room with
me. She requested to be moved. Once moved
she got even more hostile because her system
access was changed. She was written up a sec
ond time for her hostility. All the tellers on the line
had their access changed, not just her. Tracy
stated approximately a week and a half before
Daniel announced he was running that she was
not ready to run. Once Daniel made his inten
tions of running public with the office Tracy was
suddenly ready to run because God told her to.
Tracy talks about team player and unbiased, but
she would not sit in a room with me or aid me
with a question. She has given over half the of
fice a cold shoulder. She split the office.
Our last and final candidate is Daniel Reeves.
I met him when I first came to work at Pickens
Tax Commissioner’s Office. I was not sure about
Daniel at first. After working with him a few
months I thought he was a very well-spoken
man. I felt he lacked focus with tags and titles
like he was bored. Then when Darrin Satterfield
took office, he moved Daniel to Delinquent Tax.
Daniel was energetic and focused like a light
bulb come on. Daniel found his nitch, and he ex
celled. I saw a different person. I came to know
him as more than a co-worker or boss. He is a
family man, but most of all a man of God. He is
the humblest, kind, loyal, and honest person I
have met. He strives to help our community
daily. The training and experience alone should
get him the votes he needs, but his personality
is the icing on the cake. Just to list some of his
accomplishments and training: COAG 3 years
attended, GATO 3 years attended, Delinquent
Tax Class 4 years attended, 22 years as a min
ister, 98% collection rate, started automatic bank
drafts for partial payments, and upgraded the
delinquent tax system. Mr. Reeves holds many
job titles: Deputy Tax Commissioner, Delinquent
Tax Manager, and Ex-Officio Deputy Sheriff.
I have been in the Tax Commissioner's busi
ness for 17 years, more than anyone currently
employed in our office, and I know without a
doubt Mr. Reeves is the man to lead our team.
Please take a moment and visit his Facebook
page or call him at 770-377-1902.1 humbly ask
you to VOTE RIGHT and VOTE REEVES for
your next Tax Commissioner. Thank you for your
time.
Sincerely, advertisement
Rebecca Prather
Memorial Day
Service set for
May 25, so far
By Angela Reinhardt
Staff writer
areinhardt@pickensprogress.com
The annual Memorial
Day Service is currently
scheduled for Monday, May
25 at Sunrise Memorial
Garden in Jasper. The serv
ice will begin at 10 a.m.
Wayne Poore of Marine
Corps League Det. #1280
said organizers will assess
restrictions caused by the
pandemic and make a final
decision to either go ahead
with the event or cancel. An
announcement will be made
in next week’s edition of
this publication.
If organizers do choose
to move ahead with the
event more details will be
released at that time about
the day’s schedule.
Report from the Capitol
By State Representative Rick Jasperse
The State Budget
Each day I get a report
on what is going on in Geor
gia about the status of test
ing, hospital occupancy
rates, etc., in Georgia. The
data is looking a lot better,
and you can see that re
flected in the actions of our
friends and neighbors. They
are thinking so, too. I saw a
lot more folks on the road
when going to see my
daughter and granddaughter
for the first time since early
March. I did see a lot of
masks and social distancing
over the weekend, too. I
have liked the mask Marcia
has made for me; ours are
color coded so we can tell
them apart.
My aide at the Capitol,
Lisa Fountain, and I have
continued to help a lot of
folks trying to get their un
employment right, overpay
ments of stimulus dollars,
rides on certain business
openings, advocating for
certain business openings
and expansion, and worries
by some that we are moving
too fast. It has been very re
warding to hear or see the
words, “We got it!” in an
email, when we have had
success helping them with
their question answered or
their just-in-time monies.
We have been thinking
about the budget for weeks,
as we know our income is
down. Just like many of
you, our income has
changed and we have to
change our state’s spending.
We met last week via zoom
meeting to learn how much
from the State Economist
and Governor’s Financial
Director. That meeting is
available if you are inter
ested; let me know.
I sit beside this fella on
the House floor, and his
comment kinda says it all.
“It’s a different world than it
was three or four months
ago,” said State Rep. Terry
England, (R-Auburn),
Chairman of the House Ap
propriations Committee.
“Nothing’s going to be
easy.”
Two weeks ago, depart
ment heads were asked to
give us plans for 14% state
agency spending cuts for the
2021 budget.
During last week’s zoom
meeting, we got the first
look at just how much Geor
gia’s economy is reeling.
We found out the dismal
news that state tax revenues
fell by more than $ 1 billion
last month compared to
April of last year.
With those numbers ac
tually reflecting taxes col
lected in March, when the
pandemic was just starting
to affect Georgia, we know
the worst news is yet to
come. We all know April
was pretty bad for the econ
omy. The April report will
be a doozy.
While some of the
spending reductions will
come through such obvious
steps as freezing vacant po
sitions and furloughing em
ployees, the department
heads will have to get cre
ative to achieve the deep
cuts necessary to fill the
huge shortfall.
We will be meeting with
them a lot to make sure the
cuts they are proposing
align with the policy we are
trying to accomplish. Some
times the easy cuts are not
the ones we want to do, and
cutting an older noneffec
tive program is hard for
some department heads to
do.
We do know there are
some federal dollars com
ing, and we have the rainy-
day fund to fill in the 2020
budget shortfall. As Chair
man England said, “The
2021 budget will not be
easy.”
While we get ready to
meet again in June to finish
our session, there are meet
ings and calls and informa
tion requests going back and
forth every day. You are
welcome as a few have done
already, to contact me on
ideas of what’s important
and what is not. I will keep
you up to date as quickly as
I can as we move through
this.
Please don’t hesitate to
call on us if you think we
can help you. Call here at
the house, 770-893-2039, or
Lisa at the Capitol at 404-
656-7153, or email me at
rick.jasperse@house.ga.gov
, or use the “Ask Rick” link
at rickjasperse.org.
Thank you for the oppor
tunity to serve you as your
State Representative.
Business
cards printed
Call the Progress
office at
706-253-2457