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PAGE 8A PICKENS COUNTY PROGRESS THURSDAY. NOVEMBER 19. 2020
Georgia Trust for Historic
Preservation lists endangered sites
By Dave Williams
Bureau Chief
Capitol Beat News Service
ATLANTA - The Georgia
Trust for Historic Preserva
tion has released its 2021 list
of “10 Places in Peril,” his
toric sites across the state ei
ther threatened by neglect or
in danger of demolition or
encroaching development.
The nonprofit organiza
tion’s 16th annual “Places in
Peril” list, as was the case
with its predecessors, is
aimed at encouraging owners
of the sites or historic preser
vation groups to invest in re
vitalizing the properties.
Here is this year’s list:
Ashby Street Theatre in
Atlanta, one of the city’s first
theaters serving the African
American community.
Atlanta Eagle and Kodak
buildings in Midtown At
lanta, originally built as ex
pansive private homes in
1898 and 1905, respectively.
Blackshear City Jail, known
locally as the old “Hanging
Jail,” thought to be the third
in a series of interior-gallows
jailhouses in the South.
Cherry Grove School-
house in Wilkes County, a
rare surviving example of an
Downtown Toomsboro, Wilkinson County. Image by MotorSportMedia/Halston Pitman
early 20th century rural
African American school
building.
Cohutta African American
Civil District in Whitfield
County, consisting of three
contiguous properties - two
churches and a school.
Downtown Toomsboro in
Wilkinson County, an old
whistle stop on the Central
Georgia Railroad between
Macon and Savannah.
Kiah House Museum in
Savannah, one of the first
museums in Savannah started
by African Americans in
1959, unoccupied for 20
years.
Old Monticello United
Methodist Church, built in
1895 and listed on the Na
tional Register of Historic
Places.
Terrell County Court
house, built in 1892 and
listed on the National Regis
ter of Historic Places, one of
the tallest historic court
houses in Georgia.
Vineville Avenue Corridor
in Macon, three-block his
toric residential district
threatened by commercial
development.
The annual Places in Peril
list has a track record of get
ting results. Historic Griffin
City Hall was fully rehabili
tated this year after appearing
on the list, while the Central
State Hospital Depot in
Milledgeville received a
grant that will go toward a re
habilitation project.
Georgia EMCs, telecoms far apart on rural broadband
By Dave Williams
Bureau Chief
Capitol Beat News Service
ATLANTA - Georgia’s elec
tric membership cooperatives
(EMCs) and telecom
providers remain far apart on
how to expand broadband
connectivity in rural Georgia
with time growing short for
the state to decide a key com
ponent of the issue.
The EMCs want the Georgia
Public Service Commission
(PSC) to nearly double what
they can charge providers to
attach broadband technology
to their utility poles, from the
current $20 per pole per year
on average to $37.95, while
the providers are calling for
rates to be lowered to $7 per
pole, the rate set by the Fed
eral Communications Com
mission (FCC).
Under legislation the General
Assembly passed this year,
the PSC will decide how
much the EMCs can charge
for pole attachments.
As the commission opened
what is expected to be several
days of hearings on Tuesday,
representatives of the two
sides defended the pole rate
they are seeking as critical to
the successful deployment of
broadband across wide
swaths of rural Georgia lack
ing high-speed internet con
nectivity.
The rate the EMCs are seek
ing is fair based on the cost to
the utilities of the additional
investment they will have to
make, Chris Stevens, presi
dent and CEO of Coweta-
Fayette EMC, told
commissioners. Requiring
EMCs to charge a lower rate
would force them to choose
between raising customer
rates or reducing their budg
ets at the risk of service and
safety, he said.
“If EMCs aren’t permitted to
recover a fair rate for our
pole attachments, these
[broadband] deployments
may not exist,” he said.
Stevens presented an offer
the EMCs are proposing to
incentivize providers by
charging just $ 1 per pole per
year for pole attachments in
areas where EMC customers
currently lack broadband
service.
“We want our member-own
ers to have access to broad
band,” he said.
But lawyers for telecom
providers who cross-exam
ined Stevens Tuesday argued
that nearly doubling the pole
attachment rate in areas that
don’t qualify for the $1 dis
count would give the EMCs
a revenue windfall.
Mari Browne, representing
the Georgia Cable Associa
tion, disputed the EMCs’ as
sertion that lowering pole
attachment rates would force
the utilities to raise cus
tomers’ monthly bills. She
pointed to past instances
where the EMCs increased
pole attachment rates without
lowering customers’ bills ac
cordingly.
“Changes in pole rents ...
don’t impact service rates,”
Browne said.
Browne went on to assert that
a federal law adopted in 1978
requires the FCC to set pole
attachment rates, and many
states have adopted the FCC
formula.
But Stevens said the lower
pole attachment rates set by
the FCC are no guarantee
that utilities will aggressively
expand broadband service.
Even though Georgia Power,
for example, charges the
FCC rate, 43% of its rural
service area is without broad
band connectivity, he said.
“Our revenue stream would
go up,” said Stevens, refer
ring to the proposed $37.95
rate for pole attachments.
“But it would be a true, fair
return on the investment our
members have made.”
The PSC will hear additional
witnesses representing the
EMCs and the telecoms dur
ing the coming days. The
commission is due to vote on
the pole attachment rates in
mid-December.
Clues Across
I. Dutch word for “language”
5. Popular music style
8. Body part
II. Largely dry valleys
13. Brew
14. Ancient Greek sophist
15. Where rockers play
16. Human gene
17. One point east of northeast
18. Adversary
20. Small cask or barrel
21. About ear
22. Benign tumors
25. In a different way
30. One charged with a crime
31. Chinese principle underly
ing the universe
32. Long, narrow straps
33. Passover
38. Ottoman military com
mander
41. One who does not succeed
43. Data
45. 3D image
47. Whale ship captain
49. Japanese title
50. Made of wood
55. Yokel
56. Exercise system -bo
57. Supreme being
59. Playing card with three
spots
60. Hostelry
61. Spiritual leader
62. Single lens reflex
63. Time of the 90th meridian,
used in the central U.S.
64. Thomas , American car
toonist
Clues Down
1. Shuttered airline
2. Swiss river
3. Port city in Yemen
4. It can be straight
5. Tennis player’s tool
6. Estranged
7. Garden archway
8. Assists
9. Grain crop
10. Millisecond
12. U.S. Founding Father
Adams
14. Small, deerlike buffalo
19. Easily manageable
23. Male parent
24. Nearsightedness
25. Patriotic women
26. Decorate a cake with frost
ing
27. fi (slang)
28. A joke rooted in wordplay
29. Attack violently
34. Keyboard key
35. juris: independent
36. Corporate executive (abbr.)
37. Adult female bird
39. Pertains to knowledge
|40. Pashtoe^
41. Prefixed title for Italian
monks
42. To be fired from a gun
44. A way to position
45. process: produces am
monia
46. Follow instructions
47. Humanistic discipline
48. Throw
51. Swiss river
52. American hate group
53. Actor Idris
54. Seizes
58. Baseball stat
Secretary Raffensperger says no
signs of foul play found in audit
JoK mole than 130 yeals, the Pickens
Pfogless has keen an open, impartial souice
of community news, operating on a principle
offakness and neuhality. WJe print all views
without prejudice. %Ve lespect ad opinions,
suppress none. 3t is oul mission to infoim
the people in a well bounded mannei.
www.pickensp’iogless. com
(ATLANTA) - Secretary of
State Brad Raffensperger last
week ordered Pro V&V, a
U.S. Election Assistance
Commission certified testing
laboratory, to do an audit of a
random sample of machines
to confirm no hack or
tamper: “Pro V&V found no
evidence of the machines
being tampered.”
“We are glad but not sur
prised that the audit of the
state’s voting machines was
an unqualified success,” said
Secretary Raffensperger.
“Election security has been a
top priority since day one of
my administration. We have
partnered with the Depart
ment of Homeland Security,
the Georgia Cyber Center,
Georgia Tech security ex
perts, and wide range of other
election security experts
around the state and country
so Georgia voters can be con
fident that their vote is safe
and secure.”
Pro V&V, based in
Huntsville, Alabama is a U.S.
Election Assistance Commis
sion-certified Voting System
Test Laboratory (VSTL),
meaning the lab is “qualified
to test voting systems to Fed
eral standards.” VSTL certi
fication is provided for under
the Help America Votes Act
of 2002. Pro V&V’s accredi
tation by the USEAC was
also recommended by the
National Institute of Stan
dards and Technology
(NIST), the U.S. govern
ment’s physical science labo
ratory dedicated to creating
standards and measures that
would help America be the
leading science innovator in
the world. NIST contributes
regularly to the development
of cybersecurity and elec
tions security standards for
the U.S. and the world.
Pro V&V conducted an
audit of a random sample of
Dominion Voting Systems
voting machines throughout
the state using forensic tech
niques, including equipment
from Cobb, Douglas, Floyd,
Morgan, Paulding, and
Spalding Counties. ICP
(precinct ballot scanners),
ICX (ballot marking de
vices), and ICC (central ab
sentee ballot scanners)
components were all subject
to the audit. In conducting
the audit, Pro V&V extracted
the software or firmware
from the components to
check that the only software
or firmware on the compo
nents was certified for use by
the Secretary of State’s of
fice. The testing was con
ducted on a Pro V&V laptop
independent of the system.
According to the Pro V&V
audit, all of the software and
firmware on the sampled ma
chines was verified to be the
software and firmware certi
fied for use by the Office of
the Secretary of State. Cou
pled with the risk-limiting
audit of all paper ballots rely
ing solely on the printed text
of the ballots, these steps
confirm the assessment of the
Cybersecurity and Infrastruc
ture Security Agency that
there are no signs of cyber at
tacks or election hacking.
PICKENS COUNTY
RECYCLING CENTER
ACCEPTS THE FOLLOWING ITEMS
#1 Plastics
Water bottles,
drinking bottles,
soda bottles,
mayo jars,
peanut butter
jars. etc.
DC
#2 Plastics
Milk jugs, washing/
detergent jugs,
bleach bottles,
etc.
DC
Paper Products
Mixed paper,
junk mail,
newspapers,
etc.
DC
DC
Glass
Bottles Only:
Clear, brown,
green
No window Panels/
or car
windshields
Steel Cans
&
Metal
Do Not Accept
Styrofoam. Plastic
furniture, water
hoses, all other
plastics not
mentioned, incl.
#3-7, Plastic
flowers, hard
or rigid Plastics.
w
Help us recycle the correct products.
Director Waste/Recycling, Kenny Woodard
390 Appalachian Court. Jasper. GA