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THURSDAY. JANUARY 28. 2021 PICKENS COUNTY PROGRESS PAGE 3A
W^St 7*Z7
Report from the Capitol
By State Representative Rick Jasperse
Thrift Store extends
closing until Feb. 1st
Sunday, January 31,2 - 5 p.m.
47 Mountainside Village Parkway, in Jasper
Optimists donate to non-profits
Foster homes needed
for shelter animals
worm treatment. Fosters can
provide a temporary, safe,
stress-free environment for a
homeless mama cat or dog
and her babies, too.
If you want to help our
homeless felines and canines
by fostering, please call the
Pickens County Animal
Shelter at 706-253-8983 for
a foster application. They
can email it to you or you
can go by to pick up, but
please call first.
What if fostering is not
your passion but you still
want to help make a differ
ence in the lives of our
homeless and unwanted
pets? We always need volun
teers to assist with and pro
mote our low cost
Spay/Neuter (SNIP) Certifi
cate sales, our Community
(feral TNR) Cats Program
(PCCP) and always, al
ways.. .fundraising! Per
haps you have experience in
Grant writing? Whatever
your talent, we need you!
Please email us at
bepawswecare 19@gmail.co
m.
I want you to know I have
told the governor and his
folks in charge what is going
on out in the counties. After
you cut through the poor
process the Georgia Depart
ment of Public Health has put
in place, the problem is the
number of vaccine shots
available for Georgians to
use. It is only 120,000 per
week. Forty thousand shots
have been directed towards
our nursing home and as-
sisted-living Georgians. That
means the supplies are very
tight all across America, and
the two companies producing
it are making all they can.
DPH has promised a new,
better appointment system in
the near future. I am sorry for
the current system and your
frustration; I have passed it
up the chain.
I thank you for the honor
of allowing me to be your
representative in the Georgia
House. As always, I greatly
appreciate any feedback I re
ceive from my constituents,
and I welcome you to contact
my office for questions or
concerns about the legislative
session. My Capitol office
number is 404-656-7153 my
home 770-893-2039, and my
email address is
rick.jasperse@house.ga.gov.
Please contact me anytime.
Submit
an article
news@pickensprogress.com
Submitted By
Be-Paws We Care
An e-mail from the manager of the
Community Thrift Store on Samaritan Drive,
said Monday they would extend their closing
through February 1st.
The popular non-profit has been closed for
much of the year due to COVID concerns
among their volunteer workforce.
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
During two January meet
ings, the Optimist Club of
Jasper provided donations to
10 local non-profits after
completing their 2020
fundraisers in October.
These donations were de
layed because our regular
fundraisers (golf tournament
and 5K Flapjack Run) were
postponed from the spring to
the fall.
Our club determined that
our January meetings would
be held via Zoom. The 10
non-profits were invited to
participate in that manner and
each of them provided infor
mation about how their or
ganizations have fared during
this past year and how they
plan to move forward in
2021.
Jim Kirk, club president
for 2019-2020 club year pre
sented donations to the fol
lowing organizations:
ACES Youth Home/Erin
Bleisath, Angels on Horse
back/Tammy Hermann,
CARES/Chris Rumble, Hope
House/Max Caylor, North
Georgia Family
Partners/June Ash, Pickens
County 4-H/Elizabeth
Adams, Ferst Readers of
Pickens County/Sue Apple-
ton, Pickens Habitat for Hu
manity/Debra Cook, The Joy
House/Steve Lowe, Weekend
Snack Program/Fran Bishop.
Dave Slade, club presi
dent for 2020-2021 presented
our annual donation to Stan
ton Rogers, club director of
the Pickens County Boys and
Girls Club for their monthly
Youth of the Month recogni
tion program.
Our next meeting will be
Thursday, February 4 at 7
a.m. If you would like to join
us, send an email to jsapple-
ton@windstream.net to get
more information. Check us
out at our website at
www.jasperoptimistclub.org.
Pictured above, the Opti
mist Club welcomed ten
non-profits to their January
Zoom meeting.
As an all-volunteer non
profit in Pickens County,
volunteers are the heartbeat
of Be-Paws We Care, Inc. -
and we are thankful for each
one of them. However, we
currently need more volun
teers to foster through the
Pickens County Animal
Shelter (PCAS).
Fosters bring the animal
shelter’s homeless pets into
their home to decompress
and settle into a routine, then
the fosters help train and so
cialize them before sending
them off to a rescue group or
to their forever family. Many
rescue groups require a two-
week period of in-home fos
ter care prior to accepting a
pet into their rescue pro
gram. Fosters can be critical
to saving these pets and
preparing them for living in
a home environment. Fos
ters also help our injured
pets through recovery from
surgery and provide care for
those going through heart-
The General Assembly
has begun their work for the
156th meeting of representa
tives elected from all over
our state. It was good to walk
into the People’s House on
Monday and be sworn in
with Marcia by my side.
Since this is a new group of
legislators who had just been
elected, we had lots of reor
ganization to do for the next
two years. New folks who
had been elected don’t have
office assignments yet, com
mittee chairmen haven’t been
selected yet. Due to Covid
caution, all 180 of us are
spread out over three rooms
to increase social distancing.
Oh yes, we are being tested
twice a week to try to keep it
as safe as possible for every
one.
It has always been a very
solemn and powerful mo
ment when you are sworn in.
You have been through the
elections, and now the re
sponsibility is in your hands
to represent the folks in your
area and around the state the
best you can. Have to say, I
look around and walk
through the Capitol rotunda
almost every morning to feel
the honor of having the op
portunity to be your represen
tative.
We elect the leadership of
the House, and we elected
David Ralston (R-Blue
Ridge) again as our Speaker
as well as Jan Jones (R-Mil-
ton) as our Speaker Pro tem.
The House also elects the
Clerk, Messenger, Door
keeper, and Postman. All of
these are very important jobs
to make the House run
smoothly. Due to Covid we
are not having Pages this ses
sion, and I am very sad about
that. I will miss the folks
from home being there for
the day.
On Thursday morning we
had a community friend, Max
Caylor, as our Pastor of the
Day. As you can imagine, he
did a wonderful job giving us
words of wisdom and action.
Later that day Governor
Kemp gave his State of the
State Address. His message
outlined what was accom
plished over the last year, de
spite the impacts brought by
COVID-19. While the pan
demic has impacted eco
nomic activity across the
state, we are on track to
bounce back and fully re
cover through our continued
efforts of conservative spend
ing and a balanced budget.
Most importantly, no new
budget cuts will be necessary,
and Gov. Kemp has called for
more than $647 million in the
Amended Fiscal Year 2021
budget for K-12 education,
which will fully fund enroll
ment growth.
Governor Kemp also elab
orated on his plans for in
creased broadband internet
access, an enhanced freight
transportation network, in
creased protections for
human trafficking victims,
PPE tax credits to pharma
ceutical and medical compa
nies, and continued
expansion of access to qual
ity medical care across our
state.
As the legislative session
continues, I will update you
on all items regarding the
governor’s agenda.
A word on vaccines. I
know most of you who are
eligible to receive the Covid
vaccine have had a terrible
time getting an appointment.
Good Samaritan
HEALTH & WELLNESS CENTER
Restoring Health. Saving Lives.
All kinds of care for all ages.
All types of payments.
All under one roof.
Medical • Dental
Behavorial Health • Pharmacy
Open Monday - Friday.
Call 706-253-4673 for appointments.
75 Samaritan Drive • Jasper GA 30143
goodsamhwc.org
We accept a wide variety of insurance: Blue Cross Blue Shield,
Cigna, United Healthcare, plus Medicare, Medicaid & Veterans
Choice. Plus, we have a low-cost sliding fee scale for
ndividuals without insurance.
Ths
Ad
Bring
In
&
Get
1/2 OFF Pork Plate
with the Purchase of a
Pork Plate
and
2 Drinks
(Not Valid With Other Specials.)
TENDERS • WINGS»SALADS
CATERING • DINE IN OR TAKE OUT
706-635-RIBS (7427)
FAX 706-635-7429
289 Highland Crossing • East Ellijay, GA 30540
Across from Walmart