Newspaper Page Text
Continued From 1A
THURSDAY. JANUARY 28. 2021 PICKENS COUNTY PROGRESS PAGE 7A
Jasperse
raw materials, agricultural
products and our families to
and from our jobs safely
across our state is the back
bone of our strong economy.
I look forward to investing
my time in the house trans
portation committee to im
prove transportation not only
for our region, but also for
our state.”
Transportation is one of
the top, if not the most, pow
erful chairmanships in the
state and Jasperse said in an
interview Monday that for
the 10 years he had served in
the State House, he has been
strategic about working on
committees that affected this
area and also advanced his
influence to better help this
area.
Rep. Jasperse has previ
ously served as chair of the
Education and Higher Educa
tion committees and as well
as Health and Human Serv
ices. He continues to serve as
a member of the Appropria
tions Subcommittee on
Higher Education, Health &
Human Services, Higher Ed
ucation, Human Relations &
Aging, Public Safety &
Homeland Security, Regu
lated Industries, Special
Rules, Agriculture & Con
sumer Affairs, and Education
committees.
Jasperse also serves as
secretary of the Rules Com
mittee, a lesser known, but
very influential body that de
termines which legislation
will reach the floor.
Jasperse was not previ
ously serving on the trans
portation committee, but
when former chair Kevin
Tanner stepped down to run
for Congress, Jasperse was
tapped for the job by House
Speaker David Ralston of
Blue Ridge. Jasperse said
having a neighboring district
to the speaker and a connec
tion as north Georgia Repub
licans clearly helped, but
over the past decade he has
also worked hard on all the
committees he has served on
and his work as the chair of
the state rural development
council lead him to travel
widely and become familiar
with the transportation needs
on the statewide scale.
“I appreciate the confi
dence that Ralston has in me
to do the job,” he said.
While Jasperse said his
chairmanship of this commit
tee will definitely have a
local impact, his committee
looks primarily at big issues.
“Logistics is a big deal —
shipping freight around the
state is a big deal,” he said.
“And we look at any way to
get people to and from places
across the state safer and
faster.”
Plus planning what comes
next with state roads.
“Ten years ago, someone
had a vision for the express
lanes that we use now,” he
said. “That is what we have
to do now. What will be
needed for when we won’t
even be there?”
Jasperse said this latest
advance will add to his work
load, but the post came with
both an aide and an intern to
help with background re
search and day-to-day opera
tions.
The legislature has been in
session for two weeks, and
Jasperse said Monday the
news from Washington so
overshadowed everything
that many people aren’t even
aware they are at work. He
likened the news cycle as
going from “screaming in
your ear all day” to dropping
back down to normal.
The big issue is going to
be election review and re
form. “It’s the big bear in the
woods” ensuring election
counts are accurate and mak
ing sure people trust the sys
tem, he said.
Jasperse said Georgians
are lucky that the state here
came out of shutdown early
and sees a strong economy,
with jobs abounding and rev
enues solid. “We are going to
put a billion dollars in educa
tion this year and there are
some states begging to be
bailed out by the federal gov
ernment.”
Finally, when asked if
moving this high in the State
House could lead to his eying
another post in state govern
ment or elsewhere, Jasperse
said no. He wants to be effec
tive for his home region and
can best do that as a state rep
resentative.
Continued From 1A
Burglaries
travelling from Atlanta that
came here and hit other out
skirts of Georgia at conven
ience stores,” Craig said.
The sheriff noted that
there has not been a commer
cial burglary in Pickens
County in “quite a while.”
Despite surveillance video
of the actual crime not re
vealing much about the sus
pect’s identity, investigators
are reviewing surveillance
for people casing the busi
nesses on days prior to the
crime.
“We are reviewing that
video and hope to release in
formation about persons of
interest soon,” Craig said.
The sheriff added that it
appears that independent
pharmacies are more of a tar
get of this group than chain
pharmacies, and his office
urges pharmacies to “take
necessary precautions and be
on the lookout.”
Authorities were made
aware of the burglary after an
alarm went off at Bell’s Fam
ily Pharmacy. Katie Bell,
owner and pharmacist, said
she and her husband were
alerted by the security com
pany. Bell’s husband was at
the business within just a few
minutes of being notified to
see if it was a false alarm, but
arrived to find the front door
ajar. Deputies arrived imme
diately after and cleared the
scene.
“They were in and out in
four minutes,” Bell said. “We
have an alarm, but they knew
exactly what they were
doing. An alarm can’t stop
that.”
The owner said suspects
stole all of the narcotics they
had on hand. The incident re
ports stated they took “sev
eral USPS mail carrying
boxes worth of narcotics.”
“And they were in a safe,”
she said. “If they can pry
open a door they can pry
open a safe.”
The incident report states
cash registers were broken
into and a black box of petty
cash was also stolen.
At the time of the inter
view Tuesday morning, Bell
was still tallying the number
of bottles stolen to send to the
U.S. Drug Enforcement Ad
ministration to report loss of
medication due to burglary.
“This is so I can order
more than I would on a typi
cal month,” she said, noting
that if a pharmacy orders
more narcotics than they usu
ally do it can set off red flags.
The only damage done to
the business was one the door
and safe. Supply can be re
stocked by next day delivery
so business should not be im
pacted.
“We were back up and
running by 8 a.m.,” Bell said.
“We will be increasing secu
rity and protective meas
ures.”
Ball Ground Police Sgt.
Kim Murphy said the last
burglary in their community
was at the same exact phar
macy, Ball Ground Pharmacy
on Valley Street, about four
years ago. In terms of com
mercial burglaries, there have
also been a few at the
Chevron convenience store
on Canton Highway.
“They got some bank bag
deposits as a bonus, but they
were after pharmaceuticals.
That was their sole goal,”
Murphy said. “It appears sus
pects scoped out the area
prior to the crimes “because
both pharmacies are off the
beaten path, on back streets.”
Suspects’ total time at the
Ball Ground Pharmacy was
six minutes. Video shows
suspects sweeping bottles of
narcotics into a black trash
can.
“I think they spent more
time in Ball Ground because
they had a hard time prying
the safe open,” Murphy said.
Surveillance of burglaries
in Covington, Gwinnett and
Newnan also show three in
dividuals dressed in black
hoodies and other black at
tire, also with a yellow crow
bar like the one in local sur
veillance footage. This evi
dence connects the incidents,
officials say.
“Crowbars are usually
darker in color,” Sgt. Murphy
said, adding that they also do
not believe the suspects are
local.
“There’s some comfort
knowing they’re not local,
but it doesn’t mean they
won’t come back,” she said.
Local surveillance video
footage indicates the person
with the handgun was a look
out.
“This shows the person
going back out to the street,”
Murphy said. “You’ll have
burglaries where people
break in and steal items, but
usually they don’t have a
lookout that’s armed. This
could be a very dangerous
situation.”
She urged people not to
get involved if they suspect
criminal activity.
“Nothing is worth some
body’s life,” she said. “Don’t
encounter them. In this case
they were armed and on a
mission.”
Murphy noted that a Pick
ens sheriff’s deputy arrived
on the scene very quickly,
and missed the suspects by
about a minute to a minute
and a half.
“With them being armed it
could have been a much dif
ferent situation had they still
been there,” she said.
She urges business own
ers to be sure their security
systems are functioning
properly.
“You can’t stop crime, but
at least make them work for
it,” she said.
According to Murphy, the
Ball Ground Pharmacy
owner’s security system
alerted him of the incident at
home and he was able to re
motely access his security
cameras and witnessed the
crime as it was happening.
At this point Ball Ground
Police have not been able to
identify the tag number from
the surveillance video. Inves
tigation is ongoing.
Continued From 1A
Schools
from his predecessor. He said
he used the same procedures
that had been used all year
and under them opening was
permissible.
“I was shocked when the
director of health services
told me about the decreasing
numbers. I had thought we
would have been closed an
other week,” he said.
Young, however, did go
on to make significant
changes in the COVID proto
col to accompany the good
news, in essence tying future
decisions to staffing levels,
rather than quarantine num
bers.
“I will go to the principal
and ask, ‘do you have enough
staff to put teachers in all the
classrooms and teach kids
safely?”’ he said.
Under Young’s changes,
the decision to close will be
at the school level, rather
than system-wide.
Young said there are no
table exceptions, such as
whether there are enough bus
drivers and food service
workers. Obviously those
roles are also “critical in op
erating a school system”
safely and could force a sys
temwide closure, he said.
Another exception: if the
number of positive cases
among students or staff is ris
ing rapidly or is very high,
“there is obviously some
thing bad going on” and clos
ing schools and potentially
the whole system may be
warranted for community
safety, he said.
But Young said this would
be based on positive cases of
COVID, not kids in quaran
tine.
Any time more than half
the schools are forced to
close, they would close the
whole system as this would
also indicate there may be a
rapid spread across the whole
community underway.
Young said part of his de
cision to switch to staff num
bers as a guide is the
difficulty gauging what is
happening based on the com
munity numbers.
“Staff numbers is some
thing we can get our arms
around,” he said. “Kids
[COVID numbers] are hard
to gauge but teacher and staff
% of Staff Absent *
Distance Learning Threshold **
Status
Harmony Elem
5%
20%
Open
Hill City Elem
2%
20%
Open
Tate Elem
4%
20%
Open
Jasper Middle
8%
25%
Open
Pickens Jr. High
4%
25%
Open
Pickens High
0%
20%
Open
Northstar
22%
55%
Open
Transportation
7%
10%
Open
Food Service
6%
28%
Open
* 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 listed percentages, we will transition
to distance learning.
GREEN
-- Open for in-person learning
• YELLOW — On alert as numbers are rising; plan for possible transition to
distance learning
• l;d»l — in-person school is closed and distance learning is in place
STAFF ATTENDANCE STATUS FOR Jan. 26 - The above chart outlines key information
that will be used to determine if any school needs to close. This information will be updated
by 8:30 a.m. each school day. Parents are encouraged to check the chart, on the school’s
website, on a regular basis.
numbers we can handle.”
Young noted that for
much of the 40 days that
schools have been closed,
they could not have func
tioned with so many staff af
fected by COVID so it’s pos
sible, even with this new ap
proach, they will be closing
schools again.
At this point, the interim-
leader of the schools is hop
ing to get all three weeks
leading up to winter break in
without any further COVID
disruptions.
The schools have issued a
percentage guideline for
staffing levels and threshold
where they would have close.
To go along with this, there is
a daily update on the school’s
website tracking the staff ab
sence numbers broken down
by school and department.
On Tuesday (January 26) the
report showed no category
with more than 10 percent
absent (except Northstar
which has a different proto
col) so all schools were in the
green.
Young said this lets par
ents see the numbers and
trends on a daily basis and
should give them some in
sight into the decisions that
may follow. He advised par
ents to watch for steadily ris
ing staff absences as a
warning that another closure
might be coming. “If it goes
to yellow, I would start call
ing bosses or lining up child
care,” he said.
The staff status report can
be found at pickenscoun-
tyschools.org by following a
link on the homepage “staff
attendance status.”
Continued From 1A
Site
“We’re ready the moment
they are,” said Pickens Com
mission Chair Kris Stancil,
who has been in discussion
with health district officials
regarding the relocation. “We
were targeting for February,
but we just have to wait and
see when they have supply.”
King said there are some
operational matters that need
to be finalized before the
move date to the Pickens
Community Center can be
announced, and that, “We
want residents to know we
are going to provide addi
tional appointments for
COVID-19 vaccine as doses
become available. The prob
lem is not just our supply, but
it involves the overall vac
cine supply across the U.S.”
According to Stancil, the
Pickens Community Center
was selected, in part, because
unlike flu vaccines, COVID-
19 vaccine recipients must be
monitored for at least 15 min
utes after receiving a dose.
The facility will allow people
to be spaced out inside the
building while they are being
monitored, and it also has
better ability to handle larger
traffic volume and flow.
Stancil said arrangements
have been made where the
Pickens County Rec. Depart
ment will be able to allow
some recreation activities to
continue.
“They will be using the
back half of the building to
allow the rec. center to con
tinue to operate and expand
appointments as more vac
cines begin to come in,”
Stancil said.
He added that it will be a
two to four month arrange
ment at the community cen
ter considering second dose
appointments will need to be
scheduled at the time the first
dose of the vaccine is admin
istered.
“We are ready and are
here as support for the health
department’s needs,” Stancil
said. “We want to do what we
can to get as many people
vaccinated as we can.”
The NGHD has sus
pended all services at the
Pickens Health Department
except for very basic serv
ices, which include routine
immunizations, TB treat
ment, STD treatment, and
breast and cervical cancer
screening for women. They
will not resume other serv
ices once the move takes
place, but will continue to
focus resources on COVID-
19 vaccinations.
The North Georgia Health
District will resume schedul
ing COVID-19 vaccination
appointments as they receive
more vaccine beyond the
doses they have in stock for
the appointments that exist.
They will also provide sec
ond doses at the new loca
tions to people who received
their first dose at their county
health department.
They ask residents to
monitor their website for new
updates about vaccine ap
pointment scheduling at
www.nghd.org
People may also want to
consult their doctor to see if
they are providers of
COVID-19 vaccine or click
the Georgia Department of
Public Health’s COVID-19
Vaccine Provider Locator at
dph.georgia.gov/covid-vac-
cine.
Continued From 1A
Deaths
I.C.U. is at 83 percent occu
pancy with 99 COVID pa
tients. They are reporting 5
available I.C.U. beds.
Georgia Coordinating
Center lists Northside Chero
kee’s emergency department
as “Busy.”
Northside Hospital
Forsyth in Cumming is at 87
percent I.C.U. occupancy and
has 117 COVID patients with
just four available I.C.U.
beds, according to DHHS.
Similarly, Wellstar Kenne-
stone Hospital in Marietta is
at 97 percent I.C.U. occu
pancy and has 264 COVID
patients with four available
I.C.U. beds
Occupancy levels in in
tensive care units across the
nation remains high, with
more than one-fifth of U.S.
hospitals with intensive care
units, reporting that at least
95 percent of their I.C.U.
beds were full. In the week
ending January 21, an aver
age of 79 percent of intensive
care hospital beds were occu
pied nationwide, according to
the DHHS.
In Pickens last Tuesday,
January 19th, there were 22
confirmed deaths here, ac
cording to the Georgia De
partment of Public Health
(GDPH ). By Friday, January
22nd that number had risen
to 28 and by Tuesday, Janu
ary 26th the number of
COVID deaths here stood at
34.
In Georgia on January
26th, there were 727,752
confirmed cases of coron-
avirus since the GDPH began
tracking statistics. There have
been 11,996 deaths in the
state, with 48,915 hospital
izations, 8,248 ICU admis
sions and another 1,486
probable deaths due to
COVID-19. On Tuesday, Jan.
26th there were 5,706 new
confirmed cases reported,
142 confirmed deaths and
417 hospitalizations from
COVID in the state.
In Pickens County, on
January 26th, there had been
251 cases reported here over
the past two weeks and a total
of 2,044 cases total.