Newspaper Page Text
Thursday, November 19, 2020
Volume 133 Number 31
Jasper, Georgia
22 pages in two sections
Published Weekly
Community
input
requested
for school
calendar
By Angela Reinhardt
Staff Writer
areinhardt@piekensprogress.com
The Pickens Board of Educa
tion is asking parents to weigh in
on the proposed 2021-2022 school
calendar.
The calendar is similar to the
2020-2021 calendar, with the ad
dition of digital learning days in
conjunction with two teacher
workdays and a slight shift to the
Winter Break.
The school year is scheduled
tentatively to begin August 2 with
staggered start times that were
used this year, and which Pickens
School Superintendent Dr. Rick
Townsend said were popular
among parents, students, and
teachers/administrators. The last
day of school is scheduled for
May 27.
Fall Break is proposed for Sept.
20 - 24, with Winter Break sched
uled for February 21-25. Three of
the Winter Break days are ear
marked for inclement weather
makeup days if needed. Students
will again get one week off for
Thanksgiving and two weeks off
for Christmas.
See Calendar on 10A
Hand count
turns up 20
more votes
12 for Trump;
8 for Biden
By Dan Pool
Editor
dpool@pickensprogress.com
Floats needed to save
Christmas parade
Submitted by Haley Bouchie
Jasper Merchants Association
The virus is trying to steal
Christmas. Just like the folks in
Whoville, we cannot let that hap
pen.
With coronavirus running ram
pant through our country, we are
trying to bring some sort of normal
to our lives. The Jasper Merchant’s
Association has been working hard
these last few weeks trying to
come up with a way to have a
Christmas parade while keeping
the safety of our citizens first. We
have a solution - a drive-thru pa
rade on Saturday, December 5th,
but now we need your help.
What we need from the public
We need floats. It does not have
to be a traditional float with a
flatbed and a truck pulling it.
Whatever you can come up with,
we want you. The theme this year
is “A Charlie Brown Christmas.”
So many possibilities. Let your
imaginations run wild. We will
keep you social distanced. Your
area will be marked, and only your
group will be allowed in that area.
What we do have: We have the
traditional lighting of the Christ
mas Tree at the courthouse. But
this year it will be virtual. Please
stay in your car. KnowPickens will
have the lighting live at 6 p.m., so
you can watch it on your device.
The Pride of Pickens will also
be on the courthouse lawn so fam
ilies can enjoy them from the com
fort of their car. They will start off
the parade.
We will be broadcasting over
the radio. We have the technology
for the public to be able to tune in
on the car radio to hear the festivi
ties live as they happen, so no mat
ter where you are, you will be able
to hear as well as see everything.
See Parade on 10A
Talking Rock seeks bids
for train car restaurant
Angela Reinhardt / Photo
Thinking of opening a restaurant? Why not put it in a train car? Contact the Talking Rock mayor to find
out more. The restaurant car is next to another that houses Talking Rock Brewery, which should open soon.
Using a large number of volun
teer poll workers the Pickens Elec
tions Office wrapped up a required
hand count of all votes in the Pres
idential race last Thursday, with
final results showing 12 additional
votes for Trump and eight for
Biden.
Elections Supervisor Julianne
Roberts said seeing the total off by
20 votes from the original election
total with more than 17,175 votes
case was more errors than she
wanted to see, but it is a tiny frac
tion of the total ballots. In Election
Day results, Donald Trump took
14,075 votes to Biden’s 2,808.
Roberts said, “I wanted it to be
spot-on. But there is always room
for human error.”
Around the state, it was re
ported that 2,600 additional votes
had turned up in Floyd County,
but the Secretary of State’s office
said most counties were either ex
actly on in the recount or had very
small deviations. In all, 5 million
Presidential votes in Georgia will
be hand-recount across all 159
counties.
Capitol Beat News Service re
ported that Biden’s lead of 14,000
votes will likely stand, even as the
votes in Floyd County cut into it
by about 800. Speaking to the
news service, Gabriel Sterling, a
top deputy in Secretary of State
Brad Raffensperger’s office, said,
See Votes on 11A
By Angela Reinhardt
Staff Writer
areinhardt@piekensprogress.com
This past Saturday, downtown
Talking Rock enjoyed a nice rush
of activity - and leaders want to
keep the momentum chugging
along.
That day, a yoga teacher hosted
a class at Talking Rock Brewery,
which is located inside one of the
train cars downtown. The yoga
class, called ‘‘Pints and Poses,”
was held in partnership with Yoga
del Soul and the brewery on a cov
ered concrete patio in front of the
train car. People shopping at an
tique stores across the street wan
dered over to see what was going
on, and seemed pleasantly sur
prised to find out about the new
addition to downtown.
Renovations are nearing com
pletion at Talking Rock Brewery’s
train car and they expect to open to
the public soon - but another train
car located directly beside the
brewery remains empty. If it’s up
to town leaders it won’t be that
way for long.
“We are looking for a restaurant
See Train on 10A
New handrails make Old Jail safer,
while preserving unique appearance
Staff Reports
The Pickens Historical Society, which
has been working to reinvigorate the Old
Jail on Main Street, completed their main
fall project of installing handrails and
guardrails.
Ben Lohman, chair of the historical so
ciety’s building and grounds committee,
explained, “The primary focus of this
project is public safety. The support rail,
handrail and nose ends are all in compli
ance, including a double rail on both sets
of stairs, in particular the new dual hori
zontal rail around the porch with vertical
balusters set [at code].”
But the historical society also recog
nized the need to maintain the unique
gothic exterior of the building, originally Jordan Hunter of Weld Right with the new handrails and
built in 1906. See Rails on 11A guardrails bringing the historic structure up to modern codes.
Armadillos making themselves at home here
National Wildlife Federation / Photo
Nine-banded armadillos, the only armadillo species in
the U.S., migrated eastward from Mexico and Texas.
Sightings becoming more
common in north Georgia
By Angela Reinhardt
Staff Writer
areinhardt@pickensprogress.com
The inimitable nine-banded armadillo
evokes images of a stark, shrubby desert
with tumbleweeds and cowboys, its pre
historic shell seeming appropriate for such
a harsh landscape.
In the late 1800s, the armadillo mi
grated north from Mexico into Texas,
where it now proudly serves as the small
mammal of the state. The word armadillo
even means “little armored one” in Span
ish, a language widely-spoken in that re
gion. But it’s becoming increasingly more
common to see those little armored ones
here, in the green hills of north Georgia -
and according to experts they could be
here to stay.
“By the 1930s they were in Louisiana,
and by 1954 they had crossed the Missis
sippi River heading east,” reports the
See Armadillos on 11A
Inside:
Need help with
your Thanksgiving
meal? See
recipes from
our readers Page 3B
Entertainment
Pickens County
4-H has partnered
with the Progress to
bring our younger
readers a new color
ing page and a
chance to win an ice
cream every week
Page10B
Covid
Since the pandemic
began, there have
been 952 confirmed
cases of COVID-19 in
Pickens County with
13 deaths, 2 probable
deaths, and 74 hospi
talizations, according
to the Georgia De
partment of Public
Health as of Tuesday,
November 17th. In
Georgia there have
been 391,466 con
firmed cases, 8,496
confirmed deaths and
33,439 hospitaliza
tions, and 6,259 ICU
admissions during the
same time period.
Vaccine Update - 11A
Obituaries - 9A
• Gary Pedigo
• Pooran Zadeh
• Tom Dicus
• Truman Parks
• Violet Cook
Contact Us
94 North Main Street
Jasper, Ga. 30143
706-253-2457
www.pickensprogress.com
Open for business during
these hours: Mon-Thurs,
9-5, and Fri, 9-4:30