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Thursday, January 28, 2021 Volume 133 Number 41 Jasper, Georgia 20 pages in two sections Published Weekly
County offices forced to
close after COVID spike
By Angela Reinhardt
Staff Writer
areinhardt@piekensprogress.com
Pickens County administrative
offices were closed two days last
week after a rash of COVID-19
cases among employees.
At least one of those employees
had to be admitted to the ICU for
COVID pneumonia. The offices
were closed Thursday, Jan. 21 and
Friday, Jan. 22.
Speaking from home in quaran
tine, Pickens Commission Chair
Kris Stancil, who recently tested
positive for COVID-19 himself, dis
cussed the decision to close and the
impact on county operations.
“We had one if not multiple peo
ple in every department who were
positive,” he said. “We decided to
close, deep clean the facility and see
if anyone else developed symp
toms.”
Stancil’s own symptoms started
as a cough but developed into fever,
difficulty breathing, upset stomach
and loss of smell - but Pickens
County government’s top official
continues to handle business from
home. Still, he said, there are proto
cols in place in case if the chair had
to be out of work for an extended pe
riod of time, and the commission
board also appoints a vice chair they
can fall back on.
Stancil’s quarantine period will
run through the end of this week.
“I’m still available by phone and
email, and have been able to work
from here and hold some meetings
by phone,” he said, noting that his
symptoms appear to be improving
after a difficult weekend.
Despite setbacks created by
COVID-19 and resulting office clo
sures and quarantine, Stancil said
county business is trucking along.
“Things are still moving for
ward,” he said “There is a lot of be
hind-the-scenes stuff going on,
projects like the ones we’ve got in
the water and road departments are
still underway, we are working with
fire, EMS and the health department
on vaccine rollout, among other
areas.”
Pickens County commissioners’
first regular meeting of the year,
originally scheduled for Thursday,
Jan. 21, was also cancelled as a re
sult of the high number of COVID
cases.
“We didn’t want to kick off our
first meeting of the year on Zoom,”
Stancil said.
The make-up meeting will be an
nounced this week, with one possi
bility being to hold it the same day
as the February commissioners’
work session on Thursday, Feb. 4.
“We will have to have to regular
meetings next month because we’ve
got some things that need to be voted
on that can’t wait,” Stancil said.
Jasperse’s stature
continues to rise
at state house
Local state rep. named
chair of influential
Transportation
Committee
By Dan Pool
Editor
dpool@pickensprogress.com
Rick
Jasperse, the
state repre
sentative who
serves Pick
ens and parts
of surround
ing counties
to the west,
has been
named chair
man of the
House Trans-
portation
Committee by the house’s com
mittee on assignments
“Being selected to be the chair
man of the House Transportation
Committee is a great honor and re
sponsibility,” said Jasperse in a
press release. “I have always
worked to be on House commit
tees that deal with issues that have
a direct impact on our community,
and transportation affects all of us.
The movement of manufacturing,
See Jasperse on 7 A
Rep. Rick
Jasperse
Local pharmacy burglaries
connected to larger operation
By Angela Reinhardt
Staff Writer
areinhardt@pickensprogress.com
Authorities are investigating bur
glaries at two pharmacies in Tate and
Ball Ground, which they believe
were performed by the same group
that broke into pharmacies in Cov
ington, Newnan, and Gwinnett ear
lier this month.
The incidents occurred early
Monday, Jan. 25. At approximately
4:16 a.m. three individuals in black
hoodies, black pants, and wearing
black masks pried open the door at
Bell’s Family Pharmacy in Tate. Just
20 minutes later, at approximately
4:35 a.m., the same three individuals
broke into Ball Ground Pharmacy.
Large amounts of narcotics were
stolen from each business. Surveil
lance shows one individual with a
yellow crowbar and another with a
blue-steel, semi-automatic handgun.
A late model white, four-door car
can be seen in the Ball Ground sur
veillance video.
Pickens County Sheriff Donnie
Craig said that based on the burglars’
technique, incidents are believed to
be connected to an operation based
outside of Pickens County.
“It reminds me of the ABM [All
About the Money] groups that were
See Burglaries on 7A
Pickens Sheriff Facebook/ Photo
Surveillance footage of masked burglars robbing Bell’s Pharmacy in
Tate. The same group also hit a pharmacy in Ball Ground.
Schools shift gears on how to deal with COVID
More attention to
staffing, less to student
numbers should keep
kids on campus longer
By Dan Pool
Editor
dpool@pickensprogress.com
When Tony Young reported for
his first day of work as the interim-
superintendent of Pickens schools
Jan. 19th, he was greeted with
sorely-needed good news after a rau
cous meeting where the board voted
to make the change in leadership.
COVID numbers with Pickens
students and staff had dropped sig-
mficantly and the system’s director
of health services was giving a green
light if they wanted to re-open
schools after 40 days of all students
being at home for distance learning.
The number of positive COVID
cases among Pickens students and
staff had dropped from 46 down to
14 on the Jan. 19th report. The dis
trict health department also showed
Pickens was one of two counties in
the region with the lowest number of
cases overall.
School Name
Percentage of Staff
CURRENTLY
absent due to
quarantine/isolation
or other significant
health outbreak (flu,
stomach virus, etc.)
When any of
our school or
department
absences for
staff reach the
following
percentages,
we will
transition to
distance
learning
STATUS
GRLE.\| open for in-person
learning
YELLOW: on alert as #s are
rising; plan for possible
transition to distance
learning
in-person school is
closed and distance learning
is in place
Harmony Elem
20%
Hill City Elem
20%
Open
Tate Elem
The staff status report
20%
Open
Jasper Middle
can be found at
pickenscountyschools.org
by following a link
on the homepage
25%
Open
Pickens Jr. High
25%
Open
In an interview this week, Young
Pickens High
20%
Open
said that he did make the call to re
Northstar
“staff attendance status."
55%
Open
open on his first day as interim be
Transportation
10%
Open
cause of the improvement of
Food Service
28%
Open
numbers - not as any type of change
Parents can monitor trends with staff absences at the schools’ website
See Schools on 7A
with clear thresholds for future closing based on staffing.
Community Rec. Center to be used as vaccination site
The Community Center is located on Camp Road at Roper Park.
By Angela Reinhardt
Staff Writer
areinhardt@pickensprogress.com
As soon as vaccine supply in
creases in the North Georgia Health
District, the Community Rec. Center
in Roper Park will be used as the
COVID-19 vaccination site instead
of the local health department.
Health departments in most of the
North Georgia Health District
[NGHD] are relocating their clinics
as they prepare to administer doses
to larger numbers of people, said
NGHD Public Information Officer
Jennifer King, “especially as vaccine
becomes increasingly available.”
The only health department
within the district that is not moving
their vaccination clinic is Whitfield
County Health Department because
their facility can work well for han
dling large volumes of vaccination
appointments, King said.
NGDH announced last week that
they were temporarily suspending
COVID-19 vaccination appoint
ments because they did not have
available supply to support more ap
pointments. All existing appoints are
still valid, though. As of last Friday,
the Pickens County Health Depart
ment had administered 1,790
COVID-19 vaccines. The dis
trictwide total in the six-county area
was 24,343. Statewide, 674,967
COVID-19 vaccines have been ad
ministered according to Georgia De
partment of Public Health data
available Tuesday afternoon.
See Site on 7A
Inside:
Myers named
Head Football
Coach Page 1B
Deaths from
COVID rise in
Pickens; number
of new cases
declines while
Piedmont Moun
tainside at 100%
ICU occupancy
By Christie Pool
Staff Writer
christie@pickensprogress.com
The number of deaths
from COVID-19 among
Pickens County residents has
risen to 34 as of Tuesday,
January 26th even as the
number of new cases begins
to decline.
Piedmont Mountainside
Hospital reported its I.C.U
occupancy at 100 percent,
with 32 COVID patients, as
of Monday, January 25th, ac
cording to the Department of
Health and Human Services
(DHHS).
Piedmont Mountainside
Hospital is listed as “severe,”
according to the Georgia Co
ordinating Center, meaning
the emergency department is
severely overcrowded.
Northside Cherokee’s
See Deaths on 7A
Obituaries - 8-9A
• Bob Hayles
• Bobby Klein
• Chu Chong
• Dickey Lofton
• Jimmy Lowe
• Linda Wood
• Philip Pettitt
• Robert Redman
• Ronnie Ray
• Roy Hightower
• Tammy Denny
• Stella Anderson
Contact Us
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