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PAGE 6A PICKENS COUNTY PROGRESS THURSDAY. JANUARY 21.2021
Missing 12-year-
old boy found
quickly
Submitted by the Pickens
County Sheriff’s Office
At 5 p.m. on Jan. 18,
deputies responded to a miss
ing juvenile call. Deputies
made contact with the juve
nile’s father, who last saw his
son, while burning brush to
gether at 1:30 p.m.
While burning brush, the
father confronted his son
about behavioral problems
and subsequently took his
phone and returned to the
house. When the father re
turned at 2 p.m., the father
couldn’t find the juvenile and
began looking for him in the
area as the father claimed he
had a history of running
away.
The Pickens Sheriff’s Of
fice along with Pickens Fire,
the Department of Natural
Resources, and Georgia State
Patrol aviation began a
search for the suspected run
away.
The juvenile was located
at 10:45 p.m. under an over
look in The Preserve. He was
found to be in good health
and interviewed by detectives
at that time.
Ga. More
Than Doubles
Reported
Vaccinations
for Second
Straight Week
Press Release from
Governor’s Office
Atlanta, GA - Governor
Brian P. Kemp today an
nounced that, for the second
straight week, Georgia has
more than doubled its num
ber of reported COVID-19
vaccinations. From Mon
day, January 11, to Monday,
January 18, the Georgia De
partment of Public Health
reported an increase from
206,900 to 423,011 vac
cines administered.
It’s a boy! Gender reveal party
brings a big bang Saturday
Submitted by the Pickens County
Sheriff’s Office
On January 16, 2021 at around 4:30 p.m.,
Pickens Sheriff’s Office deputies responded
to numerous complaints of a loud explosion
in the area of Philadelphia Road and High
way 53 West.
Deputies discovered that the origin of the
explosion was related to a gender reveal party
and the use of tannerite.
Tannerite is commonly used in target
shooting to produce a loud explosion. It is
commercially available to the public and
legal to possess.
It was reported that the couple is having a
boy. Based on reports, there were a total of
three tannerite explosions.
Mother-to-be Teresa Gerten, commenting
on a Pickens Sheriff’s Office Facebook post
about the gender reveal party, said, “Ok. So,
I apologize to Pickens [County] for not warn
ing before we did our gender reveal. Thank
you for all the entertaining comments and for
the congratulations. We are very excited we
are having a boy. It won't let me post the
video for you guys. We are only having one...
just had to let the boys have their fun with the
leftovers.”
Father-to-be Russel Decker commented
on the same Facebook post, “FYI my preg
nant fiance was not involved, as to not dam
age our baby boy’s newly developed ears.”
Official Georgia DOT
highway map now
available online
Gooigla Deportment
of Transportation
OnMyMnd
What/Why: The 2021-
2022 Georgia Official High
way and Transportation Map
(also known as the state map)
is now available. The map is
produced by the Georgia De
partment of Transportation's
Office of Transportation Data
through a collaborative effort
between OTD and the Carl
Vinson Institute of Govern
ment at the University of
Georgia. The state map is
used for road navigation,
planning, historical purposes,
and other uses.
When: Available Now.
Where: Maps are avail
able free of charge to the
public through GDOT’s web
site -
www.dot.ga.gov/DS/Maps
Fun Tip: Test your observa
tion skills by searching the
map for hidden objects and
animals! See the back of the
map for a list of the objects
and animals, such as an alli
gator, an owl, and a fishing
trawler. When you think you
have found them all, request
an answer key from
statemap@dot.ga.gov.
Economist: Georgia employment, consumer
spending still strong despite pandemic
The Sheriff’s
Beat
From the Pickens
Sheriff’s Office
During this past week, the Pickens Sheriff’s Office responded
to or initiated 3,285 calls for service. These numbers are taken
from the report provided directly from the 911 Center where
all calls are logged as they are
performed. Below is a break-
down of all dispatched calls by the call type for each incident.
Accidents
22
Suicide Threats / Attempts
4
Domestics
25
Theft / Burglary Related
34
Forgery / Fraud
10
Traffic Stops
82
Citations Issued
0
Animal Investigations
20
Suspicious Persons/Activity
45
Alarm Calls
16
Stranded Motorists
5
Street Hazards
9
Vandalism
6
Abandoned Vehicles
5
Extra Patrol - neighborhoods, businesses, residences 2,658.
In addition to these, other calls include search warrants, civil
service, 911 hang-up calls, assaults, disorderly persons, miss
ing persons, assistance with medical calls, natural death in
vestigations, demented persons, funeral escorts, harassment,
trespassing, and many more.
Breakdown of Charges for those Arrested:
12 individuals were booked into the Adult Detention Center on charges
from the Pickens Sheriff's Office. Out of these, the following charges
were taken by PSO deputies (note: some individuals have multiple
charges):
Possession of Weapon During Crime- Felony 3
Possession by Convicted Felon or Felon First Offender 1
Violation of Georgia Controlled Substance Act 6
Possession with Intent to Distribute- Felony 2
Bond Violation 2
DUI- Drugs 1
Failure to Maintain Lane 1
Probation Violation 2
Driving with a Suspended License 1
Obstruction of Law Enforcement Officer 1
Loitering/ Prowling 1
Battery-Family Violence 1
Cruelty to Children- 3rd Degree 1
In addition to the
above activity from the
Uniform Patrol Division,
Court Service Deputies
reported the following
statistics for the past
week:
Persons Scanned at
Front Door: 692
Weapons Found: 10
Courts Held: 4
Arrest Made in the
Courthouse: 0
Civil Papers Received :
44
Civil Papers Served: 33
In the Adult Detention
Center:
Total Jail population: 77
Total male inmates: 60
Total female inmates: 17
Sex Offenders:
There are currently 72
sex offenders registered
with the Pickens Sheriff’s
Office.
"While supply for the
Pfizer and Modema
COVID-19 remains ex
tremely limited, these num
bers show encouraging
progress in our efforts to
work through backlogs in
provider reporting and get
Georgians vaccinated
quickly and safely," said
Governor Kemp. "Thanks
to the hard work of public
health officials and the sup
port of private sector part
ners like Publix, Kroger,
Ingles, Walmart, CVS, and
Walgreens, we are making
strides to vaccinate our ex
panded la populations. We
still have a long way to go,
but we will continue work
ing tirelessly to get shots in
arms and win the fight
against COVID-19."
To view the Georgia De
partment of Public Health's
vaccine dashboard,
https ://dph.georgia.gov/covi
d-vaccine
By Dave Williams
Bureau Chief
Capitol Beat News Service
ATLANTA - The unusual
nature of the current pan
demic-driven recession has
put Georgia in a stronger eco
nomic position than could
have been expected other
wise, the state’s chief econo
mist said Tuesday.
Georgians have received
so much money from the
coronavirus relief bills Con
gress has passed that personal
income is actually higher than
before the pandemic struck
last March, Jeffrey Dorfman
told state lawmakers at the
start of three days of hearings
on Gov. Brian Kemp’s $27.2
billion fiscal 2022 budget
plan.
“People have more money
than they had before,” Dorf
man said. “People have the
money to spend. They’re just
waiting until it’s safe to do
so.”
A large portion of the net
job losses Georgia has suf
fered since the pandemic
began-about 113,000-were
part-time jobs occupied
Sequoyah Regional Library Board of Trustees
January 26, 2021
4:00 PM
Virtual Meeting*
AGENDA
CALL TO ORDER
CALL FOR AMENDMENT TO AGENDA
ANNUAL AUDIT REPORT
APPROVAL OF MINUTES
COMMUNICATIONS
PUBLIC INPUT**
FINANCE REPORT
DIRECTOR’S REPORT
CHAIRMAN'S REPORT
COMMITTEE REPORTS
• Constitution & Bylaws Committee
o Draft Revision of Constitution and Bylaws
UNFINISHED BUSINESS
NEW BUSINESS
• Personnel Actions Report
• Surplus Items
• Budget Adjustments
• Proposed Changes to Public Service Policy
o FAC-5 Exhibits & Displays
o FAC-12 Electric Outages
o INF-2 Interlibrary Loan
ADJOURNMENT
* All meetings are open to the public. For instructions on how to access the virtual meeting by
phone or computer, please submit an email request to seauouahreaional@amail.com. **Public
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mostly by high school and to take jobs,” Dorfman said,
college students or parents “We need to grow the labor
with child-care responsibili- force.”
ties, Dorfman said.
“Our labor market is about
as fully recovered as it can be
until the pandemic is over,” he
said.
Dorfman also credited
Kemp’s decision to reopen
Georgia’s economy ahead of
many other states and the cre
ativity of business owners
who limited their losses by
adapting to the pandemic.
“Business owners in Geor
gia have done a tremendous
job finding ways to keep their
businesses operating,” he
said. “The ingenuity of Geor
gia citizens really helped.”
As a result, consumer
spending has remained strong,
which has kept state sales tax
revenues higher than ex
pected, Dorfman said.
Another mark of an un
usual recession has been an
increase in the savings rate
among Georgians, higher
credit scores and a decrease in
credit card debt, Dorfman
said. The stimulus checks
Congress has handed out
since last spring have gone to
Georgians whether they have
lost their jobs or not.
“Our citizens have been
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Pickens County Progress
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very financially responsible at
saving a lot of the money the
federal government gave them
if they weren’t unemployed
and needed the money,” he
said.
However, Dorfman
warned that a long-term trend
could put a dent in an other
wise positive economic fore
cast.
He said population growth
in Georgia, which soared dur
ing the 1980s and 1990s, has
been coming down since the
turn of the century. The result
ing reduction in available
workers could threaten Geor
gia’s status during most of the
last decade as the No.-l state
in which to do business, he
said.
“We can’t keep that up if
there aren’t enough workers
GRISHAM, POOLE
& CARLILE, PC
Criminal Defense | Family Law
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but you can start where you are and change
the ending." ~ C.S. Lewis
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