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PAGE 10A PICKENS COUNTY PROGRESS THURSDAY. FEBRUARY 4. 2021
Local grocery store owner charged
with forgery, identity theft
By Angela Reinhardt
Staff Writer
areinhardt@pickensprogress.com
John Hammonds, owner
of Jasper Discount Grocery
store on East Church Street,
has been arrested for several
counts of forgery and identity
theft.
According to Pickens
Sheriff’s Detective Buzz
Benson, Hammonds’ land
lord David Shouse filed a
complaint with the sheriff’s
office regarding his tenant
forging information on his
lease and lease application.
Shouse told the Progress he
filed charges after issues
arose with the lease and he
contacted a person he be
lieved was a financial backer.
Shouse said when he finally
tracked him down, that party
told him he had not agreed to
any arrangements with Ham
monds regarding Jasper Dis
count Grocery.
Shouse initially suspected
there were issues when
emails and court summons to
the supposed financial backer
went unanswered.
When the Progress inter
viewed the grocery store
owner before his store
opened earlier this year, he
said his business partner had
three other similar grocery
stores in Tampa, Fla.
Hammonds told the
Progress on Tuesday the
charges were related to a mis
understanding with the lease
arrangement, and that he had
no other comment at this
time. He said plans are to
keep the store open.
Det. Benson noted that
typically charges that involve
forgery and identity theft end
up financially benefiting the
suspect, but in this instance
Hammond did not benefit fi
nancially. According to the
detective, Hammonds was al
legedly trying to “make him
self look better” to the
landlord on the lease arrange
ment by falsifying informa
tion about an additional
financial backer for the gro
cery store.
The detective could not
provide additional informa
tion as the case is still under
investigation.
Shouse said he has also
filed civil charges against
Hammonds regarding the
lease.
Tuesday afternoon, Febru
ary 2, the store located at 934
East Church Street, Ste. 105,
was still open for business.
Hammonds was arrested on
January 27.
Hammonds has been
charged with four counts of
Forgery in the 1st Degree and
one count of ID Theft Fraud.
All are felony charges.
Site changes underway for public
health COVID-19 vaccinations
North GA - Location
changes are underway for
some of the public health
COVID-19 vaccination clin
ics in the North Georgia
Health District, each of
which are operating indoors.
These changes will allow
more people to be vacci
nated, so that as additional
vaccine becomes available,
health department staff will
be in position to vaccinate
larger numbers of people.
As of Monday, February
1, public health COVID-19
vaccination operations will
be as follows in these North
Georgia counties:
Pickens County: Pick
ens County Recreation De
partment, 1329 Camp
Road, Jasper, GA 30143.
Mon.-Thurs., 8 a.m.-12
p.m. & 1 p.m.-3 p.m., and
Fri., 8 a.m.-12 p.m.
Cherokee County: Can
ton First Baptist Church, 1
Mission Point, Canton, GA
30114. Mon.-Thurs., 8 a.m-
3 p.m., and Fri., 8 a.m.-3
p.m.
Gilmer County: Piedmont
Community Center, 824 In
dustrial Blvd., Ellijay, GA
30540. Mon., Wed., Thurs., 9
a.m.-12 p.m. & 1 p.m.-3:30
p.m., Tues., 9 a.m.-12 p.m. &
1 p.m.-5:30 p.m., and Fri., 9
a.m.-12 p.m..
For other county informa
tion, see nghd.org
The vaccine will continue
to be offered at no out-of-
pocket expense at all loca
tions; insurance will be
billed, but only if it is avail
able. There will be no ex
pense to any client, and
anyone who does not have
insurance will not be billed
for the vaccination.
People who have received
their first dose from the
health department and were
scheduled for their second
dose at the original location,
will need to go to the site
where the health department
is currently providing the
vaccine.
The Whitfield County
Health Department has stor
age capacity to offer both
Pfizer and Modema COVID-
19 vaccine. The other county
health departments in the dis
trict offer Modema vaccine.
Each health department is
using its current stock of
COVID-19 vaccine for ap
pointments that already exist
and for second doses. More
vaccine is expected to arrive,
although it is currently un
clear when that will occur
and in what quantities be
cause it depends on the over
all national supply.
As of January 28, a total
of nearly 30,000 COVID-19
vaccinations were adminis
tered by the six county health
departments in the North
Georgia Health District.
When new appointment
times are ready to be sched
uled for residents who are
currently eligible for
COVID-19 vaccine, an an
nouncement will be released
to the public on the North
Georgia Health District web
site at www.nghd.org with in
structions for appointment
registration.
96 Christmas trees
recycled by chipper
Consumer £Jl
Brought to you by the Georgia
Department of Law's
Consumer Protection Division
Keep Pickens is pleased
with the results of this years
Bring One For the Chipper.
Ninety-six Christmas trees
were recycled into mulch
with the KPB sponsored
event.
Better than that, they were
kept out of landfills. Many of
our county residents put the
trees out in their yards and
make a place for the birds to
seek reliige, others are placed
in area lakes to provide habi
tats for fish.
Thank you for your part in
reducing our landfills by re
cycling. If you would like
more information on recy
cling visit our web site at
www.keeppickensbeautilul.o
rg or call our office at 706-
253-3600, leave a message
and we will return your call
asap.
Paying off
old debt
Dear Consumer Ed:
I had a bill that went into
collections. Now that I’ve
paid it in full, will this con
tinue to negatively affect my
credit?
Consumer Ed says:
It depends. There are dif
ferent credit scoring models,
so it depends on which model
a particular lender uses.
Some newer models ignore
collection items if they have
a zero balance, so your credit
score may improve once you
pay off the outstanding bal
ance. However, older credit
scoring models do not ignore
collection items with a zero
balance. For those older scor
ing models, any bill that goes
into collections is subject to a
seven-year reporting period,
regardless of whether the ac
count is subsequently settled.
The seven years begins 180
days after the account be
comes delinquent. That
means paying off a collection
item will not have a positive
impact on your credit score
until seven years have
elapsed.
However, practicing good
credit habits starting now can
help to improve your score
over time. The two main
components of healthy credit
habits are paying current and
future bills on time and keep
ing your outstanding debt
low.
You can check your credit
score for free on Experian’s
and Equifax’s websites, as
well as some other sites, such
as creditkarma.com.
To see what information is
on your credit file, you
should review a copy of your
credit report from each of the
three credit reporting agen
cies (Experian, Equifax and
TransUnion ). In considera
tion of the COVID-19 pan
demic, all three of the credit
reporting agencies are now
offering free weekly online
reports through April 2021.
To access your free credit re
port, go to annualcreditre-
port.com.
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