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Quote of the Week: “I really know nothing. And that's to me happiness: to acknowledge that I know nothing.”
—Anthony Hopkins, Actor, from GQ Magazine
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Common Sense
The Progress
Editorial
February 4,2021
From the Staff
Press 1 for frustration
Press 2 to abandon hope
For better and worse, the “new nor
mal” as some people call life in the 2020s
frowns upon face-to-face interaction.
On the better side, a lot of businesses
have raised their game substantially at
home delivery, automated ordering and
seeing that you never have to leave the
house. Unfortunately, this has really
hampered the mom-and-pop shops that
are the lifeblood of small towns. If Ama
zon was killing small town retail before,
these uncertain times shifted the deck
even more in Goliath’s favor.
But one of the worse, most annoying,
aspects of the new normal, is the rush to
make all communication as impersonal
as possible and the fact that it doesn’t
work, especially not for anyone who
wants to talk with someone.
Companies, both big and small, have
jettisoned the receptionist and secretary
for the infinite number of automated
phone options.
Our calls are not that important if the
companies don’t have anyone to answer
them. Machines stink at customer serv
ice.
This has been particularly frustrating
for many people seeking COVID
tests/vaccinations to be met with the
computer voice and no answers. But, at
least the health departments have the ex
cuse of being overwhelmed when a sud
denly small staff sees almost every adult
in the community calling at once.
There is no excuse for the routine
companies who also force us to endure
the dreaded recorded message: Press 1
for billing. Press 2 for technical support.
Press 3 for a helicopter ride to Mars. (Ok
that one was made up but by the time we
get to three or four we’ve already forgot
ten what we were calling about.)
Other recordings tell us: Please listen
carefully as our menu options have re
cently changed (as though we had them
memorized before);
Please continue to hold while we re
trieve your... (and our employees sit
around, drink coffee and share TikTok
videos of people falling down);
Press one for billing and payments
(and these seem to get answered more
promptly than other calls);
And worse of them all are the systems
that dictate you speak slowly, apparently
with no accent, so a computer can assist
you.
And when you try to speak your re
quest, things can get hairy. A nice-sound
ing lady-computer will tell you: “I’m
sorry I didn’t quite get that.” Or, even
worse: “Go to our website or use the mo
bile app to check on your request.”
While bodily-threats to a person are il
legal, what about threatening well-being
of a computer who can’t understand the
north Georgian dialect?
In his final interview in office, Com
mission Chair Rob Jones said he always
maintained human receptionists. He rec
ognized it was old-fashioned, but he
thought it was tax money well spent to
give the public a human voice. We con
cur wholeheartedly.
Here at the Progress we also believe
in old-fashioned phone answering. When
you call here, you’ll always get a person
- or you won’t get anything at all since
we don’t have voicemail. It keeps things
simple. And for a small business, we rec
ognize that our bread-and-butter is our
readers and advertisers and we hope they
know we’ll always answer when they
call.
Our wish for days to return to a non
pandemic will be fulfilled at some point,
but it doesn’t seem likely that more, es
pecially bigger, businesses will turn
again to humans to answer phones, but
we can hope, after all retro is now recog
nized as a style.
Tell us your thoughts with a letter to the editor. E-mail to news@pickensprogress.com
See letter submission guidelines on the Letters to the Editor page or call us 706-253-2457.
Ponderings of a Simple Man
Py Caleb Smith
Groundhog Day
In the hills of north Geor
gia, deep in the heart of win
ter’s cold embrace, a rustle of
hope stirs the heart of the
chilly populace. A faint bea
con of light shines in the
dark, dreary days for those
that live in the hollers of the
Appalachian foothills, where
the sun rises closer to lunch
than breakfast, and sets soon
after, sinking slowly behind
the towering hills around us.
Only one figure can save
them from the snow and ice
that constantly looms to the
North. The name of this
hope? General Beauregard
Lee, Georgia’s official
groundhog. [Who predicted
an early spring Tuesday.]
As January ends and we
head towards a new month,
the people of north Georgia
wait with baited breath to dis
cover if our prognosticating
rodent will bring us good
news, or ill. Whether we can
begin to shop for seeds online
as we prepare for an early
spring, or whether we should
consign ourselves to six more
weeks of chilly winter.
Heavy lies the crown
upon the head of our worthy
weathering woodchuck, a re
sponsibility he does not take
likely. Every year like clock
work, he takes the task upon
himself to step outside his
home and either delight or
bring to despair millions of
Georgians with his predic
tions.
This year, more than most,
we must commend his brav
ery of setting foot outside his
home, a risk I have been un
willing to take for the past
few months myself.
Undeterred by the dan
gers, uncaring of the critics,
unswayed by the politics, this
Nostradamus of North Amer
ica, this psychic of the South,
boldly makes his prediction.
As he steps out to look for
his shadow, people gather,
news crews arrive.
Anything could happen.
Well, one of two things
could happen.
Either he will step outside
and going about his ground-
hoggy business, whatever
that may be. Or he’ll see his
shadow and quickly retreat
back to the safety of his den.
The underground whistlepig
betting markets paid out big
to the no shadow fans Tues
day.
Some may look at this oc
casion as a waste of time and
money. A useless diversion
based upon an old supersti
tion. To these people, I say
how dare you. Groundhog
watching is a time honored
tradition in north Georgia,
with roots going all the way
back to the founding of the
original colony.
Moreover, you have to
simply look at the results. If
the groundhog’s shadow is
just a superstition, how then
were three of his last six pre
dictions accurate? Can mere
statistics account for such a
record? I think not.
And with Tuesday’s re
sults, we’re in the home
stretch. Soon we can stop
worrying about such things
as snow or ice, and merely
worry about tornadoes and
floods. That’s life in the
South.
[Caleb Smith is a long
time, award-winning, colum
nist for the Progress. Look
for his books at the Progress
office or on Amazon.]
WEATHER
By William Dilbeck
HI LOW RAIN
Jan.
26
63
46
.12
Jan.
27
61
31
.12
Jan.
28
42
23
.00
Jan.
29
46
24
.00
Jan.
30
44
30
.37
Jan.
31
45
30
*
Feb.
01
33
28
.00
(USPS 431-820)
Published by Pickens County Progress, Inc.
94 North Main Street, Jasper, GA 30143
(706) 253-2457 FAX (706) 253-9738
www.pickensprogressonline.com
DAN POOL
Publisher/Editor
Published each Thursday at Jasper, Pickens County, Georgia. Entered
at the Post Office at Jasper, Georgia. 30143 as Mail Matter of Second
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Reboot
OTHER VOICES
Rural Right of Way - The Land of the Lost
Richards Street in Jasper shows how over years expand
ing roadways and utilities take private property a little at
the time. The orange dots represent the location of the prop
erty corners. The pink markings are where GA Power had
the right of way marked. “11.5 R/W” represents where they
say it’s 11.5’from the mark in the asphalt.
By Russ Howard
Surveyor
I often hear stories of lost
property, but most of the time
there was no real taking of
the land. No pin has been
pulled up; the new pipe the
neighbor “just drove in the
ground yesterday” is exposed
to find 50 years of flagging
and rust; and that new house
is exactly where it should be.
More often, unintended
property loss is far less sinis
ter and happens right in front
of the owner along the Right
of Way of the road, and espe
cially in rural areas.
Metropolitan Right of
Ways (R/W) are generally
easy. They were based upon
an actual written or mapped
property transfer and have
been recovered and re
mapped through time...
everyone agrees on them.
Rural roads are a bit dif
ferent, and often have a mix
of written and unwritten fac
tors which determine their
R/W width and location.
Some began as old roads
where the property line was
along the centerline of the
road. Aside from State High
ways and major roadways,
rural roads can be some of
the most difficult to survey
and accurately assess the AC
TUAL limits of the public
Right of Way.
Poor mapping is the num
ber one reason folks lose land
to roadways. Unfortunately,
surveyors get it wrong some
times. During their work,
surveyors sometimes assign
more R/W than is actually
there.
On a parcel that has never
been surveyed, they might
find research and current data
indicating a 60’ R/W (30’
from centerline). The new
plat is drawn which depicts
60’ R/W, and the whole time
nobody recognized that the
original deed went to the cen
terline of the road.
Although there is truth to
a R/W of “some” width, it
certainly wasn’t 30’ from the
centerline of the road.
Whether by recognition of
the current owner or transfer
of the property per the new
survey, there was a loss of
property due to the inade
quate assessment of the R/W.
Less apparent loss of
property can happen with
continual improvements
along a road through time.
Although the R/W was
historically defined (original
City of Jasper plats, for in
stance), road improvements,
widening, and re-alignment
can create an issue of “pre
scriptive maintenance”, a
rightful loss of property due
to quasi-ownership of the
roadway and its surface,
ditches, and structural fea
tures.
One of the more extreme
cases, coincidentally, is be
hind my survey office along
Richards Street in Jasper.
The historic and current sur
vey data is clear, and the
monuments are still there.
But the deeded rear prop
erty lines of the businesses
that back up to Richards
Street actually extend about
three feet into the road. The
problem is the roadway was
never constructed in the cen
ter of the original R/W. And
now over time, the different
widening and improvements
of the road has taken 13 ’ -15 ’
along the entire Right of Way
along Richards Street.
Moreover, the recent
markings and following util
ities improvements missed
the mark by well over 10
feet, as it was assumed the
R/W was 25’ from the center-
line of the paving.
The list of examples of the
types of property loss men
tioned is almost endless.
Most of them happen slowly,
piece-by-piece over time.
Some are individual prob
lems and some compound
upon one another. In rare in
stances, large projects along
the R/W are a combination of
these factors and could pre
sumably create isolated prop
erty losses along the entire
project.
In most of these cases,
there is no actual intent to
take property from a private
individual. There was no real
neglect by anyone, but there
was no real awareness either.
Without listing volumes of
Code Section and law, the
loss of that property just hap
pened!
As I’ve witnessed, some
times the most substantial
loss is happening closest to
home... all because the
boundaries right in front of
us are often times the most
difficult to ascertain.
[Russ Howard has been a
surveyor in Pickens County
for 11 years and prior to that
worked with right-of-ways
for Gilmer County.]
"Cash or credit card, ma'am. We don't take
government promises for COVID relief."