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PAGE 8A PICKENS COUNTY PROGRESS THURSDAY. DECEMBER 3. 2020
Cherokee Chorale receives grant
funding from Council for the Arts
The Cherokee Chorale
was awarded a Vibrant Com
munities Grant for fiscal year
2021 from Georgia Council
for the Arts, a division of the
Georgia Department of Eco
nomic Development
(GDEcD). The Vibrant Com
munities Grant supports a va
riety of arts programming
opportunities in communi
ties. The Cherokee Chorale is
one of 70 entities in 53 coun
ties that received more than
$285,000 in funding as part
of this year’s awards.
“A thriving arts commu
nity creates thousands of jobs
and contributes to a healthy
and diverse economy. Geor
gia Council for the Arts is
proud to continue to support
our state’s arts organizations
through the distribution of
Vibrant Communities
Grants,” said GDEcD Com
missioner Pat Wilson. “The
arts community needs our
support more than ever, and
this funding offers immediate
assistance in facilitating arts
programs that provide mean
ingful experiences for Geor
gians.”
Scott Martin, the
Chorale’s conductor, is in
credibly grateful for the Vi
brant Communities Grant “to
help us make possible our
gift of music to our commu
nity during the coming Holi
day season, especially during
these trying times.”
Due to COVID-19 restric
tions, it is unlikely a live au
dience will be permitted, so
tickets will not be sold to
help cover the cost of the in
strumentalists, music, and re
hearsal and performance
venue costs.
The holiday concert will
be streamed live on Sunday,
December 13th. Specific de
tails about the broadcast will
be available on the group’s
website, www.cherokee-
chorale.org, close to the date.
Chorale Board President
Jaime Merino notes that
these funds granted by the
Georgia Council for the Arts
will “allow the Chorale to
plan for the rest of the season,
and continue to support
choral music education in
Cherokee County. COVID-
19 has impacted our contrib
utors, so these funds come at
a perfect time.” While the
Chorale and its sponsors are
underwriting the costs of the
concert as a gift to the com
munity, they will be honored
if concert viewers are able to
make a donation to assist
them.
Following precedent set
by the National Endowment
for the Arts (NEA), Georgia
Council for the Arts used
Peer Review Panels to adju
dicate applications. These
panels included fellow pro
fessionals who are experi
enced in the arts discipline or
type of grant being reviewed,
or are Georgia citizens with a
record of involvement in arts
activities, experience and
knowledge.
Georgia’s creative indus
tries have a reported $62.5
billion impact on the econ
omy, generating roughly $37
billion in revenue and ac
counting for about 200,000
jobs in the state.
Georgia election officials
dismiss fraud claims amid
Trump attacks, lawsuits
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By Beau Evans
Staff Writer
Capitol Beat News Service
Georgia officials contin
ued batting back claims of
election fraud Monday as a
second recount of the presi
dential election neared com
pletion and President Donald
Trump attacked one of his
biggest supporters in the
state, Gov. Brian Kemp.
A federal lawsuit filed by
a Trump supporter to halt the
election results and re-verify
absentee-ballot signatures
also moved forward Monday,
with a judge ordering offi
cials in Cobb, Gwinnett and
Cherokee counties not to
tamper with data on voting
machines before a hearing
can be held later this week.
Amid legal challenges,
Secretary of State Brad Raf-
fensperger, who has faced at
tacks from fellow
Republicans and threats from
Trump allies in recent days,
on Monday denounced “dis
honest actors” for spreading
“massive amounts of misin
formation” about Georgia’s
election integrity since the
Nov. 3 election.
“There are those who are
exploiting the emotions of
many Trump supporters with
fantastic claims, half-truths
[and] misinformation,” Raf-
fensperger, a Republican,
said at a news conference
Monday. “And, frankly, they
are misleading the president
as well, apparently.”
Raffensperger’s com
ments came hours after
Trump took to Twitter Mon
day to call Kemp “the hap
less Governor of Georgia”
and pressure him to force
election officials to match
mail-in voters’ signatures on
the envelopes of their absen
tee ballots with registration
signatures as part of the on
going recount.
“Georgia Republicans are
angry, all Republicans are
angry,” said Tramp. “Get it
done!”
Tramp also said over the
weekend he was “ashamed”
to have endorsed Kemp in
the Athens Republican’s ran
for governor in 2018, mark
ing a major rebuke of one of
his strongest allies in the state
shortly before the president is
scheduled to hold a rally in
Georgia on Saturday.
Kemp’s office said the
governor supports scrutiniz
ing a sample of absentee-bal
lot signatures for any
irregularities, but that state
law bars him “from interfer
ing in elections” or taking
control over oversight actions
done by Raffensperger, who
is an elected official.
Election officials in Geor
gia have repeatedly dis
missed claims from Tramp
and his allies of widespread
absentee-ballot signature
fraud as unfounded, noting
the push to match signatures
again without a court order is
unlikely since mail-in voters’
signatures were verified be
fore the initial count on Nov.
3.
Official election results
that were certified last week
show Tramp lost to Presi
dent-elect Joe Biden in Geor
gia by 12,670 votes, a lead
that was trimmed by around
1,500 votes earlier this month
after officials conducted a
hand recount of more than 5
million ballots cast in the
state’s presidential contest.
Two federal lawsuits have
been filed so far by Tramp al
lies seeking to force election
officials to re-verify voter
signatures statewide and halt
the election results from
reaching the Electoral Col
lege.
One suit, filed by Atlanta
attorney and vocal Tramp
supporter Lin Wood, was re
jected by a federal judge on
grounds it contained scant
evidence of any election
fraud and would more likely
result in disenfranchising
millions of Georgia voters.
Wood’s attorneys have ap
pealed the ruling.
The second suit, filed late
last week by Texas attorney
Sidney Powell, accuses
Georgia’s new voting equip
ment of “ballot-stuffing” that
allegedly mishandled 96,600
absentee ballots due partly to
being compromised by
Venezuelan and other foreign
actors.
“Georgia’s election offi
cials and poll workers exac
erbated and helped, whether
knowingly or unknowingly,
the [voting] system to carry
out massive voter manipula
tion by refusing to observe
statutory safeguards for ab
sentee ballots,” Powell’s law
suit claims.
A hearing has been set for
Friday to determine whether
Powell’s legal team can in
spect voting machines in
Cobb, Gwinnett and Chero
kee counties.
Georgia’s chief election
manager, Gabriel Sterling,
blasted many of the claims
found in those lawsuits and
circulating on social-media
channels as “insanities, fever
dreams [and] made-up Inter
net cabal.”
“It’s like playing a game
of whack-a-mole,” Sterling
said Monday. “Every time we
knock down one, there’s a
crazier one.”
Still, Sterling noted elec
tion officials have launched
investigations in some coun
ties stemming from specific
fraud and irregularity com
plaints, including one claim
that more absentee ballots
were counted than there were
envelopes in Gwinnett
County.
In all, Sterling and Raf
fensperger said officials are
working through 250 investi
gations into election issues
opened since the start of
2020, though none so far
have suggested any evidence
of widespread fraud capable
of changing the presidential
election’s outcome in Geor
gia.
Raffensperger’s office is
now focusing on allegations
of groups attempting to reg
ister people from outside
Georgia and those temporar
ily staying in the state like
college students for the U.S.
Senate runoff elections on
Jan. 5.
On Monday, Raf
fensperger highlighted four
groups under investigation
for allegedly sending mail-in
ballot applications to voters
in New York City, encourag
ing out-of-state college stu
dents to swap residences for
the election and frying to reg
ister a dead Alabama woman
to vote in the Georgia
runoffs.
“This office will continue
to take steps to protect the
voting rights of the legally
registered voters in this
state,” Raffensperger said.
Attention Veterans!
We are your American Legion!
We are dedicated to:
❖ Veterans
• Emergency assistance for homeless Veterans.
• Coordinating with Home Depot for Veteran related projects.
• Benefits counseling so that Veterans get what they earned.
• Fellowship for Veterans-We have served our country so we understand
what you are feeling.
• Monthly meetings, weekly lunches, participation in community events
throughout the year.
❖ Community
• College scholarships for Pickens County Veterans.
• Scholarships for two high school students each year.
• Youth Sports Sponsorship for 5 teams and 50 baseball players.
• Sponsorship of Scouting at the Senior and Cub levels.
❖ Patriotism
• Dedicated to the preservation of our country, its symbols
and its values.
• Participation in community events and presentation of our flag.
• Instructing in flag etiquette and proper disposal of worn flags.
❖ Remembering the Cost of Freedom
• You know the cost because you helped to pay the bill.
• All gave some. Some gave all.
We know a thing or two, because we have seen a thing or two.
Contact your
American Legion Post:
American Legion Post 149
P.O. Box 477
Jasper, GA 30143
706-253-1715 alpost149@gmail.com
www.americanlegion149.com
Donations are tax deductible.