Newspaper Page Text
THURSDAY. DECEMBER 10. 2020 PICKENS COUNTY PROGRESS PAGE 13A
Continued From 1A
Mvmlimliip Corpo
ship Corpc
Fnibership Coi
photo from Amicalola EMC
Jason Smith, chief operating officer, ETC; John and Cathy Harrison, ETC; Senator
Steve Gooch; Representative Rick Jasperse; David and Marianne Bowman, ETC; Den
nis Chastain, CEO of Georgia EMC and Todd Payne, CEO of Amicalola EMC.
Broadband
fiber to its network, which
will accommodate broadband
growth as consumer demand
in the region increases.”
The Progress inquired
about the timeline and map
of the project and other de
tails, but a definitive start
date has not been made and
more specific details were
not released at that time. The
Progress was told that Ami-
caola EMC will not begin
billing internet service as part
of the agreement.
“ETC is still the internet
provider; internet service will
still be billed by ETC,” ac
cording to the local EMC.
Dennis Chastain, presi
dent of Georgia EMC, the
trade association representing
the state’s 41 electric cooper
atives, told attendees at
Wednesday’s meeting that
the partnership would likely
become a model in the state.
Amicalola EMC CEO
Todd Payne called the part
nership a “win-win” for
members and said they are
excited to work with ETC to
help bridge the broadband
gap-
“We know that a lack of
adequate internet access
places a hardship on rural
areas,” he said. “We are ex
cited about working with
ETC to help bridge that
broadband divide, while at
the same time improving re
liability for our members.
We’ve worked on joint proj
ects for many years, and we
are happy to partner once
again with a trusted and reli
able provider like ETC.”
ETC Chief Operating Of
ficer Jason Smith reiterated
the fact that rural broadband
access has become a looming
national issue and that their
partnership with Amicalola
EMC should be replicated
across the state.
“We look forward to pro
viding them with a state-of-
the-art network for their
internal needs, while at the
same time, providing gigabit
fiber optic broadband service
to all the homes and busi
nesses along the new routes,”
he said in a later statement.
Continued From 1A
Missing
was very cold and that snow
had recently come through
the area. There were also
some possible health issues at
play.
Dawson said it is a com
mon misconception that a
person must be missing for
24 hours before it can be re
ported. He said as soon as
something out of the ordinary
occurs people can contact
law enforcement.
The Amicalola EMC press
release regarding the partner
ship goes on to state that, “In
recent years, Georgia EMCs
have been aggressively pur
suing solutions to help ex
pand broadband. Some, like
Blue Ridge Mountain EMC
and Habersham EMC, have
created affiliates and are al
ready providing high-speed
service to members and
Parade
Bouchie said she was re
ally glad the JMA went ahead
with the event, something
they pulled together in just
two weeks.
“We thought really seri
ously about not having it.
When we started setting up at
around 3 p.m. that day we
were like, ‘gosh I hope 10
cars show up. We had that in
the first 10 minutes.”
Bouchie said organizers
many are exploring or have
formed partnerships with
broadband providers. In addi
tion to this news from Am
icalola EMC and ETC, other
EMC partnerships and proj
ects were announced earlier
this year by Carroll EMC,
Colquitt EMC and Diverse
Power to expand access for
thousands of Georgia house
holds.”
heard complaints about the
traffic but they did hire four
officers to help with the
many cars that came through.
“I just don’t have a com
plaint about how it went,”
Bouchie said. “Hopefully
we’ll be back to normal next
year but if not then we know
it’s something we can do. We
didn’t want to disappoint
anyone.”
Continued From 1A
Georgia Power utility work underway
Subcontracting crews with a Georgia Power utility project work on Spring Street in
downtown Jasper.
By Angela Reinhardt
Staff writer
areinardt@pickensprogress.com
Motorists and residents in
Jasper have likely noticed nu
merous utility crews working
over the last month or so. Ac
cording to local officials, the
work is part of a state-wide
Georgia Power utility proj
ect.
According to the Georgia
Power website, their Grid In
vestment Plan is “a multi
year initiative to enhance
service and reliability in
communities across Georgia.
The company is investing
$1.3 billion over the next
three years as the initial
phase of our multi-year grid
investment plan.”
The local project area is
north Jasper, areas on Burnt
Mountain Road and in Talk
ing Rock, and includes “un
dergrounding” of lines as
well as automated line de
vices. When powerlines are
underground they reduce the
number of outages experi
enced because they are not
prone to being hit by trees,
affected by weather events,
or damaged by vehicles. Au
tomated line devices isolate
outages to smaller areas on
the line so fewer customers
lose power, the website
states.
Jasper City Manager
Brandon Douglas said local
officials have little to no con
trol over when and where
Georgia Power crews or their
subcontracted crews work.
The city was originally made
aware of the large project in
August and work has been
underway since around Octo
ber. Douglas said he is unsure
when work would be com
plete but that initially, when
the project was scheduled to
begin in August they antici
pated finishing by the end of
the year. The project informa
tion on the Georgia Power
website says completion date
will be January 2021.
Douglas said in the long
run the project will be a plus
for city and county residents
in those service delivery
areas.
Give the gift of history
Saturday December 12
From 10 a.m. until 2 p.m.
At the Old Jail on Main Street
Al l PROCEEDS BENEFIT
the Pickens Historical Society
A 2,02,1 MEMBERSHIP INTO THE PlCKENS HISTORI
CAL Society and a t-shirt, $25
Remaining hardback
COPIES OF HARD OF FIND,
LOCAL HISTORY BOOKS
• Cherokee Footprints by
ESTEEMED LOCAL HISTORIAN
Rev. Charles Walker
(only two copies avail
able) $90
• Pickens County Geor
gia Heritage 1853-1998
(only four copies avail
able) $70
• Henley 1903 Map
posters $5
Notice of Called Meeting
The Talking Rock Town Council
will hold a called meeting on
December 10, 2020 at 7 p.m.
at town hall.
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Now Hiring
EMTs
40th Annual North Georgia Toy Run the biggest ever
Jasper Lions Treasurer Eloise Lindsey and President An impressive pile of toys and goodies were left by Toy
Leslie Miller with Greg “Santa” Hartman. Run riders.
Submitted by the Jasper Lions Club
On Sunday, Dec. 6, an impressive
1,400 motorcycles roared into town to
deliver lots of toys and goodies to ben
efit the Jasper Lions Club’s Fill-A-
Stocking project.
This year marks the 40th year for the
North Georgia Toy Run, sponsored by
Hartman Cycles, Custom Riders Motor
cycle Club, Fowler Insurance Agency,
and Steelhorse Law. The Toy Run cele
brated its 40th year with the biggest
crowd ever.
“We are so grateful to the people
who come out each year to support Fill-
A-Stocking,” said Jasper Lions Presi
dent Leslie Miller. “Thanks to the
generosity of all the riders, we are able
to helps hundreds of children in Pickens
County this Christmas.”
For information on how you can
help, please contact the Jasper Lions
Club at 706 -253-LION (5466) or geor-
gialions@mac.com.
VERY competitive wages
For more info, 770-330-0161
Skyline.ems.llc(g)gmail.com
1 549 East Church St., Ste. D
Jasper, GA 30143
Forest Glen Apartments
504 Indian Forest Rd.
Jasper, GA 30143
706-692-5355
TDD
1-800-255-0056
2 Bedroom Apartments
$570 - $670 a month
Deposit same as rent
Taking applications for waiting list
Please call for details
Office Hours Mon - Fri
4:00 PM - 6:00 PM
FOREST GLEN IS AN EQUAL
OPPORTUNITY PROVIDER
EQUAL HOUSING
OPPORTUNITY