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PAGE 2A PICKENS COUNTY PROGRESS THURSDAY. JULY 16. 2020
Community Responds: Charlie Daniels, 1936-2020
Charlie Daniels: Oct. 28, 1936 - July 6, 2020. Daniels
was born in Wilmington, N. C. photo/Charlie Daniels Facebook
By Angela Reinhardt
Staff writer
areinhardt@piekensprogress.com
As many of our readers
know, the beloved music leg
end Charlie Daniels passed
away on July 6th. To honor
his memory, our Question of
the Week is dedicated to him.
We asked our Facebook fol
lowers what their favorite
song/album is and why, and
what their favorite memory is
of him. Here are some of the
responses:
Thomas Fountain - Shar
ing the stage with him and
our conversation backstage.
Hands down the best advice
and person I’ve met in the in
dustry.
Steve Laura Weeks - My
favorite memory of Charlie
Daniels is his kindness and
warmth that he showed me
one late evening many years
ago. I was in the Varsity
restaurant downtown and the
entire restaurant seating was
filled and Mr. Daniels saw
me standing while holding
my food tray as I looked for
a place to sit. He kindly
asked me if I would join him,
as he sat in a booth by him
self. Of course I recognized
him immediately by the cow
boy hat, long white beard and
his salty southern drawl, and
said yes to his friendly invi
tation.
He was certainly a true
gentleman, displaying his
true southern charm. He had
just come from a concert at
the Fox Theater. We talked
about a few different things,
and of course we talked
about the concert that he had
attended that evening. Not
only did he share his generos
ity, but he also offered and
autographed his VIP ticket
stub for the concert that night
and gave it to me. Needless
to say that one chance en
counter was something that
has stuck with me the past 22
years, and there is no doubt
that he will always be missed
by anyone that was fortunate
to have ever crossed paths
with him in this lifetime.
RIP, Charlie Daniels. You
extended a kind favor to a
complete stranger that will
always be respected and ap
preciated.
Jennifer Beard - Saw
him at the Cumming Country
Fair. So thankful to have
heard “The Devil Went
Down to Georgia” live and in
person along with many
other great songs.
Jim Quinton - I have
been lucky enough to meet
up with Charlie several
times. My favorite memory
of him is when I took my
Mom to Nashville to the
Grand Ole Opry for her 70th
birthday. Charlie made sure
to get us on the list for back-
stage access and even had
one of the Opry's sweet ush
ers come get us in the audi
ence and bring us back to
him. She even gave us a tour
as she was heading us back.
We got to talk with Charlie
before [he] was about to host
a 30 minute segment of the
show. When he went on stage
he announced that we were in
the audience and he wished
Mom a very Happy 70th
from all the folks at the Opry.
Charlie was always a treasure
to interview or just spend
time with. Loved this guy to
pieces.
Vicky Glass - When lis
tening to his signature song
Hundreds of Georgia sex offenders off
ankle monitors as lawmakers seek legal fix
By Beau Evans
Staff writer
Capitol Beat News Service
A landmark court riding
has led to nearly half of
Georgia’s most high-risk sex
offenders being released
from their ankle monitors
over the past year, marking a
legal quandary that state law
makers fell short in address
ing during the 2020
legislative session.
State officials tasked with
recommending how to moni
tor sex offenders in Georgia
say legislation filed in the
2020 session would address
the problem going forward
by handing final authority to
judges, rather than a state-run
review board.
But criminal defense at
torneys argue the proposal
does not include certain legal
avenues for sex offenders
who often lack the means to
appeal their punishments and
who would benefit from
more focus on treatment than
lifetime ankle monitoring.
So far, 520 of 1,108 peo
ple in Georgia classified as
“sexually dangerous preda
tors” most at risk for commit
ting future sex crimes have
been freed from GPS track
ing devices, according to
Tracy Alvord, executive di-
Summer 2020: You can go
anywhere with a book, where
will you next book take you?
Hello, Slimmer by Mary
Kay Andrews: Star reporter
Conley is about to take a
fancy new position in Wash
ington, D.C. when the new
job goes up in smoke, Conley
finds herself right back where
she started, working for her
sister, who is trying to keep
The Silver Bay Beacon
afloat. Then Conley wit
nesses an accident that ends
in the death of a local con
gressman- a beloved war
hero with a shady past. The
more, she digs into the story,
the more dangerous it gets.
The Goodbye Man by Jef
frey Deaver: Colter Shaw in
filtrates a sinister cult after
learning that the only way to
get someone out ... is to go
in. Undercover, Shaw joins
the mysterious group, risking
everything despite the fact
that no reward is offer. He
soon finds some people will
stop at nothing to keep their
secrets hidden ... and to
make sure that he or those
close to him say ‘goodbye’
forever.
rector of the state Sexual Of
fender Registration Review
Board.
She expects 17 more sex
ually dangerous predators
will be off ankle monitors by
the end of this year, leaving
local law enforcement agen
cies and the state Department
of Community Supervision
to rely more on reports from
concerned citizens to monitor
sex offenders in lieu of elec
tronic tracking.
“There’s only so much
you can do unless someone
commits another crime,”
Alvord said. “Now, they have
less idea unless there’s a re
port that they’re engaging in
some kind of disturbing be
havior.”
Legislation brought by
Rep. Steven Sainz, R-Wood
bine, in the General Assem
bly session that wrapped up
last month was aimed at re
vising state law on sex-of
fender sentencing that the
Georgia Supreme Court
deemed unconstitutional in
March 2019.
The high court nded a
longstanding practice of elec
tronically monitoring some
sex offenders in Georgia after
their sentences and probation
have been completed should
not be allowed to continue,
blocking a state law that re-
The Last Flight by Julie
Clark: The Last Flight, a
novel focusing on two
women who meet in an air
port, both alone, both scared,
and both urgently needing an
escape from their lives.
Claire Cook has a husband
whose temper bums as bright
as his promising political ca
reer, and she has worked for
months on a plan to get out.
A chance meeting in an air
port bar brings her together
with a stranger equally as
desperate. Together they
hatch a plan to switch tickets
- Claire taking Eva's flight to
Oakland, and Eva traveling
to Puerto Rico as Claire. But
then one plane crashes, and
it's clear that one of them
wasn't telling the truth.
Stranger in the Lake by
Kimberly Belle: When Char
lotte married older and
wealthy widower Paul, it
caused a ripple of gossip in
their small lakeside town.
They have a charmed life to
gether, despite the cruel
whispers about her trailer-
park past and his first mar
riage. But everything starts to
unravel when she discovers a
young woman's body floating
in the exact same spot where
Paul's first wife tragically
quires automatic lifetime
monitoring for sexually dan
gerous predators.
The issue centered on a
process in which the review
board decides how to classify
a sex offender based on a risk
scale, with the highest risk
carrying automatic lifetime
monitoring. Those highest-
risk offenders mark a fraction
of Georgia’s roughly 12,000
sex offenders, according to
Alvord.
Sainz’s bill called for
making the decision on life
time monitoring part of a
judge’s sentence from the
start instead of via the review
board. It would have only ad
dressed future sex offenders,
not those who have already
been released from monitor
ing.
“My bill was a very tai
lored approach,” Sainz said.
“It intentionally wasn’t a
huge number [of offenders],
but that number we’re deal
ing with per year would be
the most needed offenders to
have that tool long-term.”
House Bill 720 passed out
of the state House of Repre
sentatives but stalled as law
makers grappled with the
COVID-19 pandemic. Sainz
said he plans to work on the
bill with Sen. Randy Robert
son, R-Cataula, and bring it
drowned.
Tom Clancy: Firing Point
by Mike Maden: While on
vacation in Barcelona, Jack
Ryan, Jr. is surprised to run
into an old friend at a small
cafe. A first, Renee Moore
seems surprised to see Jack,
but then she just seems irri
tated and distracted. After
making plans to meet later,
Jack leaves, only to miss the
opportunity to ever speak to
Renee again, as the cafe is
destroyed minutes later by a
suicide bomber. A desperate
Jack plunges back into the
ruins to save his friend, but
it's too late. As she dies in his
arms, she utters one word,
"Sammler." When the police
show up they are initially
suspicious of Jack until they
are called off by a member of
the Spanish Intelligence
Service. This mysterious se
quence of events sends the
young Campus operative on
an unrelenting search to find
out the reason behind Renee's
death. Along the way, he dis
covers that his old friend had
secrets of her own—and some
of them may have gotten her
killed. Jack has never backed
down from a challenge, but
some prey may be too big for
one man.”
back for next year’s legisla
tive session.
Critically, the bill pro
poses automatic lifetime
monitoring sentences for sex
offenders who commit more
than one felony sex crime
such as rape, trafficking,
child molestation and child
pornography.
But automatic sentencing
could prevent judges from
imposing penalties on a case-
by-case basis, potentially
tying the hands of a judge
who might opt for lifetime
probation or more intensive
treatment, said Jill Travis, ex
ecutive director of the Geor
gia Association of Criminal
Defense Lawyers.
“It completely removes
judicial discretion, which we
believe is an important fea
ture that should remain in the
law,” Travis said. “Individual
assessment is key, not just a
blanket crime ‘A’ plus crime
‘B’ equals a lifetime monitor
ing.”
As it stands, Travis said
the review board’s process
for recommending sex-of
fender classifications leaves
little room for appeal for of
fenders who often cannot af
ford legal representation. She
said the state should put more
resources into behavioral and
psychological treatments
aimed at curbing recidivism.
“That’s the best thing that
should happen,” Travis said.
“Strapping a monitor on
them for life doesn’t neces
sarily mean that they’re not
going to commit another of
fense.”
But ankle monitors can
help local police authorities
prevent sex crimes by allow
ing them to easily determine
if a GPS-tracked offender is
going somewhere that is off
limits like a school or has
come into contact recently
with people they shouldn’t,
said the review board’s
Alvord.
She said the intent is to
stave off repeated sex crimes
while also managing a con
stant stream of new cases.
Each month, the review
board receives a list of
around 200 new sex offend
ers from local, state and fed
eral law enforcement
agencies, Alvord said.
Establishing legally sound
rules on ankle monitoring
would help state and local au
thorities keep up with the
heavy workload in the effort
to protect Georgians from
sexual predators, Alvord said.
“Our front-line people do
a really, really good job de
spite the limitations we have
legally,” Alvord said.
“They’re really having to
compensate on waiting for
[Sainz’s bill] before it goes
through.”
Between the Bookends
By Emma Ingle, Pickens County Librarian
"The Devil Went Down to
Georgia," one realizes that
Charlie Daniels not only hon
ors the Bluegrass genre of
music, but honors an entire
culture of people, without
putting anybody else down,
or making people who don't
happen to be Southerners feel
left out of something special.
On the surface, it's a cute lit
tle story-song, but Charlie
gave us a brilliant concept,
brilliantly performed. Well
done Charlie.
Linda Palermo Lullie -
Seeing him in concert in
1979 at the Nassau Coliseum
- the Million Miles Reflec
tion Tour...first concert and
definitely one of the best
ever.
Charles Mark Walker -
Lynyrd Skynyrd Jacksonville
1975, he opened the show.
First song was “Caballo Dia
blo.” He was so excited to be
there, he began "South's
Gonna Do It Again." He
sawed the strings off his bow.
He had to restring onstage.
Band kept playing as he did.
Cindy Albrecht - Saw
him along with the Marshall
Tucker band and the Outlaws
as a teenager in Knoxville,
Tenn. Mid 70s. Gas prices
were really high and lines at
the gas pumps were long so
that weekend he pumped
people's gas for them at a sta
tion in West Knoxville.
Ann Padgett Blackwell -
My favorite memory is see
ing him in concert when he
did a concert to raise money
for McCaysville Ga./Copper
Hill Tenn. It was at the Fan
nin County High School sta
dium.
Alicia Owens - My fa
vorite memory was getting to
meet him at the county fair in
Cobb County. Of course, my
favorite song is “Devil Went
Down to Georgia.”
Tina Geiger -1 saw Char
lie Daniels in the 1980s in
The Nassau Coliseum (N.Y.).
The opening band was a fa
vorite of mine at the
time...The New Riders of the
Purple Sage. I will never for
get the roar when he began
"The Devil Went Down to
Georgia,’’...the place was
rockin'.
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