Newspaper Page Text
Thursday, May 21, 2020
Volume 133 Number 5
Jasper, Georgia
Local News Published Weekly
Will 2020 be
the year with no
big events here?
June 9th Primary
candidates respond
Sample ballots. Page 6P
Pickens County
Commission Chair
Dragons
2020
Memorial Day event cancelled.
July 4th celebration cancelled.
JeepFest unlikely to take place.
Marble Festival must decide by early July.
Talking Rock Heritage Days will follow the
state’s lead.
Tate Day organizers expect to make an
announcement in July.
Memorial Day ceremonies have been can
celled after organizers consulted with city of
Jasper leaders. Wayne Poore of the North
Georgia Mountain League Det. #1280 said
they will have a few of their members meet at
the original event site that day - fewer than 10
to follow social distancing guidelines - and
hold a brief service to honor the fallen. The
public is asked to please remember to honor
the country’s fallen heroes in their own way
on Memorial Day, Monday, May 25th.
See Events on 11A
System hopes for traditional fall
school, but makes contingency plans
“We don’t know what we ’re
looking at so we need to be
prepared, ” says tech director
By Angela Reinhardt
Staff writer
areinhardt@piekensprogress.com
The word of the year may very well be
“uncertainty,” and while school leaders hope
for a traditional fall where kids go back to
school, they are making other plans.
Speaking at the online school board meet
ing held via YouTube on Thursday, May 14,
director of technology Patrick Shea addressed
the system’s foray into online learning that
closed out this school year, and contingency
plans for fall of 2020.
“Back in early March when we got wind
we might be out of school for a week or two,
we developed a plan and put it together and
implemented it and it went fabulous - then
that two weeks stretched into four weeks then
into six weeks and then we closed down
everything,” he said. “We don’t know what’s
going on in the fall. We’d love to get them
back inside the See School on 11A
Pickens man arrested in case
tied to two opioid overdose deaths
A book-in photo of Kevin
Jordan. The visible injuries
occurred prior to, and were
unrelated to, the case.
CMANS Press Release
The Cherokee Multi-
Agency Narcotics Squad
(CMANS) announces the ar
rest of an individual con
nected to heroin and fentanyl
distribution in Pickens,
Cherokee and Gilmer coun
ties.
On April 26, 2020, two
overdose deaths occurred,
one in Gilmer County and
one in Cherokee County. In
vestigative leads developed
in the overdose deaths from
the Gilmer Sheriff’s Office,
the Cherokee Sheriff’s Office
and the Pickens Sheriff’s Of
fice led CMANS agents to a
location on Old Burnt Moun
tain Road in Pickens County.
On April 30, 2020,
CMANS agents conducted a
knock and talk operation at
the residence of Kevin Jordan
located on Old Burnt Moun
tain Road, in Jasper, Ga. A
search of the residence
yielded baggies containing
unknown powders. Field
testing by CMANS agents in
dicated that the two sub
stances were suspected
heroin and suspected fen
tanyl. Agents are continuing
to follow leads in this case.
See Arrest on 11A
Why do you want to
be/continue to be
our top elected offi
cial?
Serving this com
munity has been the
honor of my life. I
ran for the position of
sole commissioner
back in 2004 with the
anticipation to serve one Rob Jones
term. Since then the cit- {incumbent)
izens of this county
have elected me to serve our community three
additional times. I often reflect on the state of
our county in 2005 and all the progress we
have made since then. Together we have ac
complished so much to benefit our commu
nity. We’ve improved public safety by
instituting fulltime Fire/EMS, constructed new
fire stations, lowered See Jones on 10A
Why do you want to
be/continue to be
our top elected offi
cial?
Like everyone
else, I have been
watching for years as
economic growth has
occurred in counties
all around Pickens
County. At the same Kris Staucil
time our parks and
recreation have remained stagnant, but our
budget has continued to grow at a staggering
pace. Many years ago, I had the opportunity
to participate as a stakeholder in the 10-year
Comprehensive Plan for Pickens County. I re
cently had a chance to participate in the same
thing again and witnessed the same issues
reappear on the list of concerns.
Simply put, in 10 years SeeStancilon 10A
Tax Commissioner
Tell us about your
background. What
qualifies you for this
office?
I have a total of al
most nine years ex
perience working for
the tax commis
sioner’s office both
Pickens and Chero
kee. I have background fracy Chester
in collections and ac
counting. I am very knowledgeable on the
laws and policies that are implemented by the
state of Georgia. I have had significant train
ing on our state system for tags and titles along
with our property tax system. I have attended
classes at University of Georgia Carl Vinson
Institute of Government and classes at the
COAG (Constitutional See Chester on 10A
Tell us about your
background. What
qualifies you for this
office?
I am proud to say
I have 20 years of
private sector experi
ence in accounting,
finance and business
management. I started Amy (ribsop
on the ground floor and
worked my way up from cashier to branch
manager. I have experience in payables, re
ceivables, collections, bank reconciliations,
liens, staff training, staff management, office
budgets and remarketing management.
I have more to offer our community than
just business acumen, however; I was taught
from an early age how See Gibson on 11A
What is your back
ground and what
qualifies you for this
position?
Nine years experi
ence in the Pickens
County Tax Commis
sioner's office.
Started as a tag/
title clerk eventually Daniel Reeves
being promoted to
delinquent tax manager and deputy tax com
missioner. I have three years training at the
Carl Vinson Institute at The University of
Georgia, three years training at the Constitu
tional Officers Association of Georgia; four
years delinquent tax training classes; pastor
for 22 years serving the community and serv-
A ing in church leader- See Reeves on 11A
^rFrili '
This week’s
“C” section
highlights the
Pickens High
Class of 2020
Page i-8C
Part 2 of our
Memorial Day
tribute Page 3 b
Early voting
underway
Page 12A
Obituaries - 6A
• Danny Hitt
• Laura Silver
• Susan Martin
• Walter Denson Jr.
Index
Editorial . . .
4A
Letters to the
Editor . ,5A
Church ....
2B
People ....
7B
Kids
8B
Legals ....
9B
Classifieds . .
10-11B
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