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Thursday, September 24, 2020 Volume 133 Number 23 Jasper, Georgia 20 pages in two sections Published Weekly
Deputy kills
man trying to
harm family
By Dan Pool
Editor
dpool@pickensprogress.com
A Pickens Deputy shot and killed an
armed man trying to break into a Twin Moun
tain Lakes home where his wife and children
were hiding Saturday. The man had been ar
rested last week in Bartow County on domes
tic violence charges including threats to kill
his wife.
According to the GBI investigation the
man, Derek Cooper, 52, of Acworth, had a re
straining order against him and brandished a gun and shot at the deputy who
gave a verbal command for him to stop in the yard of the home where rel
atives of the wife lived.
The GBI press release stated, “The investigation revealed that at approx
imately 11 a.m., the Pickens County 911 Center See County on 12A
Derek Cooper book-in
photo from Bartow jail.
“Strong growth” means
revenue up, tax rate down
2016
2017
2018
2019
2015
— Revenues
— Expenditures
Revenues and expenditures in county General Fund
By Angela Reinhardt
Staff writer
areinhardt@pickensprogress.com
At their September meeting, the
Pickens County Board of Commis
sioners adopted the rollback mill-
age rate of 7.613, down from last
year’s tax rate of 7.779.
Due to the increase in this year’s
tax digest (through higher property
value assessments) this will pro
duce an additional $332,107 in rev
enue for the county. This is a net in
crease of 2.94 percent. If govern
ments use the rollback rate they are
not required to hold public hear
ings. The school system will also
roll back their tax rate for this year.
“The computation of rollback
equalizes the revenue from year to
year and our tax digest did grow
considerably,” said Pickens CFO
Faye Harvey. “That will give us
sufficient revenue for the 2021
See County on 12A
Thrift Store closed for two
weeks over COVID-ig case
By Angela Reinhardt
Staff writer
areinhardt@piekensprogress.eom
The Community Thrift Store
will be closed for two weeks due to
the possibility that volunteers were
exposed to a person infected with
COVID-19.
A member of the Timothy
House, a non-profit that assists with
much of the manual labor at the
thrift store, tested positive. The per
son who tested positive has never
been to the store, but because resi
dents at the Timothy House live to
gether it was decided it was in the
best interest of safety to close, ac
cording to a statement from founder
Don Russell.
The store will be closed to
donors, customers and workers for
an estimated 14 days.
An email sent to volunteers and
media on September 19 alerting of
the closure said all Timothy House
clients will be tested, and recom
mended volunteers get tested as
well.
Coming Next Week — The third and final installment of the
Race Relations in Pickens County series will appear in next
week’s edition. Part 3 will explore how changes in the county’s
economics have affected race relations and how examples of co
operation from the past can serve as guides to nurturing positive
race relations for the future. The series is authored by Pickens
residents Bill Cagle, Thelma Cagle, Karen Benson, Lynette
Bridges, Justin Davis, and Andrea Johnson.
Commission Chair
candidates
discuss issues
The profiles are taken from interviews with both
candidates. They have been edited for clarity and length.
The direct quotes remain in quotation marks.
Kris Stancil, 45, a Pick
ens native who has lived
most his life here, a grad
uate of Valdosta State, and
is married with two kids.
David Shouse, 40, with
“my other half” Tasha,
has three kids and one
grandchild. He has lived
in Pickens or very near
here for the past 22 years.
What do you consider
your prime experience?
All his experience has
him well qualified for com
mission chair, Stancil said.
Stancil’s experience in
cludes: Former executive
director of the Pickens
Chamber of Commerce
“where I learned to form
relationships.”
He has been a family
life pastor at Oak Leaf
Church and an executive
pastor at the Pointe Church.
He has 18 years in law
enforcement, eight in the
administration side, man
aging day-to-day opera
tions, and serves on the
command staff of the 90-
employee sheriff’s office.
“I have also been the
spokesman for the office,
which has given me expe
rience representing our
county and has shown me
the importance of repre
senting the office with
truthfulness and trans
parency.”
Stancil has directly
managed multiple divisions
in the sheriff’s office.
He has been involved
with organizing the yearly
JeepFest including coordi
nating all aspects of logis
tics, set-up operations,
marketing, worked with the
non-profits and with volun
teers. “I have been respon
sible for managing public
safety for that large crowd.
We have been able to pull
off the event with no major
incidents and have raised
over a half million dollars
for local charities.”
He has sat and continues
to be active on the boards
of non-profits here, includ
ing current positions on the
boards of the North Ga.
Christian Academy and
Angels on Horseback.
Stancil is a certified
public manager, complet
ing the course at the Carl
Vinson Institute.
See Stancil on 10A
AAA
As a newcomer to local
politics, who is David
Shouse and where did
you come from?
“I was bom in Savannah
and given up for adoption
at birth. From looking at
the foster care records, I
can tell that I made the
rounds in the state system,
living in more than 100
homes.”
At six months old,
Shouse was mauled by a
German Shepherd in the
yard next to where he was
and still has scars from that
on his face and head and
had to spend months in the
ICU.
Ironically at 11-years-
old, when it’s tough for
boys in the foster system to
get adopted, a family in
Dawsonville adopted
Shouse at a home where
they raised German Shep
herds. “The couple did me
a lot of good, taught me re
sponsibility and love.”
At 17, he left that home.
“I got a job framing houses
and was sneaking back in
to sleep in the basements.
My boss knew I was doing
it, but never said anything.”
At 18-years-old, his girl
friend at the time and
Shouse had a daughter. He
bought a house in Law
son’s Landing (in Pickens
County) and he has lived
here or within two miles of
the county since then.
He got a job installing
security systems and “if
you hear that people are
hungry to make something
of themselves, well I was
starving.”
At 20, he started his
own security company, At
lanta Automation and Se
curity. During the
recession, he had cash from
monitoring the security
systems and his bank
brought him a deal to buy
some buildings, and that
led him into development.
See Shouse on 10A
Charity
Buy an RV to
support homeless
veterans
Page 2A
Zoning
Refuge residents
vociferously
oppose personal
care facility
Page 9A
Latest on COVID-19
Confirmed cases
307,339 (Georgia)
603 (Pickens)
Deaths
6,604 (Georgia)
10 (Pickens)
Hospitalizations
27,394 (Georgia)
55 (Pickens)
ICU Admissions
5,005 (Georgia)
None listed for
individual counties
Obituaries - 8A
• Evelyn Dean
• Frankie Stancil
• Garland Pinholster
• Johnny Tanner
• Patricia Champion
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