Newspaper Page Text
THURSDAY. FEBRUARY 11.2021 PICKENS COUNTY PROGRESS PAGE 11A
Sassafras Youth Writing Contest winners
to be presented this Thursday
Poet and founder of the
Southern Collective Experi
ence, Clifford Brooks, will
speak at the Sassafras Youth
Writing Contest awards cer
emony Thursday, Feb. 11.
Submitted by Sassafras
Literary Exchange
On Thursday, Feb. 11th,
the Sassafras Literary Ex
change will present awards to
Pickens students who worked
hard on entries for the Cre
ative Writing Contest for
Youth.
The contest, judging, and
an awards ceremony usually
follow in a timely manner.
The confusion and turmoil
caused by the COVID-19
pandemic however, inter
rupted that smoothness. Due
to school closure, the awards
ceremony had to be post
poned.
Awards will be presented
this Thursday in two ses
sions. Middle schoolers will
gather at 6:30 p.m. with the
high school segment begin
ning around 7:30p.m. It will
take place in the Recreation
Hall of the First Christian
Church of Jasper, located at
22 Burgess Road, Jasper, Ga.
30143. This is just across
Refuge Road from the R & R
Body Shop.
Sassafras members, win
ning students, and others who
attend this event will be for
tunate to hear from guest
speaker, Clifford Brooks.
Brooks, of Jasper, has been a
successful poet for 15 years.
He has three published books
of poetry on the market. His
first book, a collection of
short poems, is entitled: “The
Draw of Broken Eyes and
Whirling Metaphysics.”
Also Published are; “Athena
Departs,” and “Exiles of
Eden.”
Sadly, most adults don't
read much poetry. One pos
sible excuse for that is that
poetry makes us use our
minds and retreat into those
safe spaces in our psyche that
we seldom go. Brooks'
works does just that. The
human mind is an underused
recourse. Hopefully, the
works of Brooks may be able
to address that issue. In ad
dition to his writing, Brooks
has formed a company that is
designed to support and fos
ter the arts. The company's
name is the Southern Collec
tive Experience and can be
found online.
As is the common proto
col these days, facial cover
ing are requested. The public
is invited and the building
large enough for proper so
cial distancing.
A ‘paws’ for celebration for World Spay Day
FEBRUARY 23
Submitted by Julie Ram-
ing of Be-Paws We Care
Valentine’s Day may be
just around the comer but the
February holiday that gets the
most attention all around the
world - and rightly so, ac
cording to my dog - is World
Spay Day on February 23.
Doris Day was a great an
imal lover and started Spay
Day USA in 1995. It became
so popular that in 2006, Spay
Day USA evolved into World
Spay Day and is now ob
served in more than 70 coun
tries around the globe.
Why celebrate a day
where people promote spay
ing and neutering animals?
Well, to start with, our world
(and that includes Pickens
County) is overpopulated
with way too many stray an
imals. Spaying and neutering
can help cut back on the
number of strays by prevent
ing unwanted “surprise” lit
ters, and by reducing the
number of animals in shel
ters. Spaying and neutering
can also help prevent many
reproductive diseases and
cancers in pets.
You can do your part by
supporting spay and neuter
programs in your community
and sharing the benefits of
spay-neuter practices. In fact,
this year, when you send that
Valentine’s Day card to
someone special, remind
them that February 23 is
World Spay Day and tell
them about the benefits of
spaying and neutering pets;
they’ll be impressed!
Oh, by the way, my dog
said to be sure to remind
everyone that February 20 is
National Love Your Pet
Day and February 22 is Na
tional Walking the Dog Day
- plus, she said to PLEASE
keep those Valentine goodies
away from your pets because
chocolate can be deadly for
them. She mentioned a nice,
juicy steak would suffice.
If you are interested in
having your pet spayed or
neutered, Be-Paws We Care
will be hosting another Cer
tificate Sale for Low Cost
Spay & Neuter on March
20th through their partner
ship with Georgia Animal
Project in Ball Ground, Ga.
Look for the specifics for the
upcoming event in the Pick
ens Progress, on our face-
book page
www.facebook.com/bepaws.
wecare or on our website be-
pawswecare.com. It will be
posted by February 23rd,
World Spay Day.
seeks ban on transgender athletes in
Georgia girls’ school sports
Bill
By Beau Evans
Staff Writer
Capitol Beat News Service
Legislation blocking boys
from playing in girls’ sports
in Georgia and giving ath
letes cause to sue in court
over violating that ban is up
for debate in the General As
sembly, sparking outrage
from transgender rights ad
vocates.
The bill, sponsored by
state Rep. Phillip Singleton,
R-Sharpsburg, would prevent
“biological males” from
playing in school sports with
“biological females,” halting
children of different sexes or
gender identities from play
ing in the same leagues.
It would also allow stu
dents who are deprived of
athletic opportunities or face
“direct or indirect harm” due
to teams violating the pro
posed boy-girl split in Geor
gia sports to seek damages in
civil court.
“Allowing biological
males to compete in girls’
sports spells the end of girls’
sports,” Singleton said at a
news conference Thursday at
the state Capitol. “If we ig
nore biological reality and we
ignore the science, our
daughters will get hurt.”
Critics argue the bill dis
criminates against transgen
der athletes, marking the
latest move by some conser
vative state lawmakers and
religious groups to trample
on LGBTQ rights. Transgen
der advocates condemned a
nearly identical bill Singleton
sponsored last year that
sought the same gender divi
sions in Georgia sports but
stalled.
Advocacy groups Georgia
Equality and the nonprofit
Athlete Ally also argued the
bill would run afoul of trans
gender athlete inclusion rules
for the National Collegiate
Athletic Association
(NCAA) that could jeopard
ize Georgia’s changes for
hosting future college sports
events - as well as the state’s
bid to land the 2026 FIFA
World Cup soccer tourna
ment.
"This is a shameful attack
on Georgia’s transgender
youth and young adults,” said
Georgia Quality spokes
woman Shannon Clawson.
“The proposed legislation
does nothing to protect or
support girls’ sports, rather it
serves only to spread hateful
stereotypes and endangers
children and their ability to
fully participate in important
extracurricular activities.”
Singleton dismissed accu
sations his bill targets trans
gender student athletes, tying
that criticism to “identity pol
itics.” He framed the issue as
a question of competitive ad
vantage, noting two Con
necticut transgender runners
sparked controversy in 2018
by winning top prizes in
girls’ track.
The Georgia High School
Association, which sets rules
for the state’s school sports
teams, already does not per
mit boys to play on girls’
teams. It does let girls to play
on boys’ sports teams “when
there is no girls’ team offered
in that sport by the school,”
according to the association’s
bylaws.
Gov. Brian Kemp ap
peared briefly in the Capitol
Thursday to take photos with
Singleton and about three
dozen young Georgia women
currently participating in
girls’ sports. Kemp declined
to comment on whether he
supports Singleton’s bill, cit
ing his office’s policy not to
endorse pending legislation.
The bill has several Re
publican co-sponsors includ
ing Rep. Jodi Lott, R-Evans,
who is one of Kemp’s floor
leaders in the Georgia House
of Representatives, and state
Rep. Todd Jones, R-South
Forsyth, who chairs the
House Appropriations Edu
cation subcommittee. Geor
gia Senate Education and
Youth Chairman Chuck
Payne, R-Dalton, also ap
peared at the news confer
ence supporting the bill.
Advice to Buyers and Sellers
Mistakes to avoid when selling your home
By Ron Barnes,
Associate Broker
Berkshire Hathaway Home
Services
Every step of the home
selling process can lead to
making a mistake. Mistakes
can lead to leaving serious
money on the table or your
house going unsold. Let’s
take a look at a few top mis
takes you can make when
you sell your home.
Getting Emotional
Selling a home can get
highly emotional. Whether it
was your first home, or you
raised a family in that home,
there can be some fond mem
ories. Emotions lead to bad
decisions. Check your emo
tions at the door or those
emotions can cost you. You
might love the house, but the
house really doesn’t care.
Failure To Prepare Your
Home
Every home requires
some preparation, whether it
is one weekend or several
months of working towards
listing your home for sale.
Good home preparation starts
with a deep cleaning, de-clut
tering and de-personalization
of the home. From there you
home may need some repairs
and other sprucing up. Re
member first impressions
about your home will form in
the first few minutes. Start
with a good impression and
the negatives will seem
minor
Not Using An Agent
Not using an agent or
even more important an ex
perienced agent can be a
huge problem. Your real es
tate agent will be the one
guiding you through the en
tire process.
Not Pricing Your Home
Properly
Pricing your home prop
erly based on your level of
preparation, condition and
size and features is one of the
most critical steps to selling
your home. Overpricing by
even $10,000 can lead to a
home languishing on the
market.
Getting Stuck On One
Price
Often the seller wants to
push the highest price they
can possibly get for their
home. Then that number
sticks and they won’t budge.
Do you want to be right or do
you want to sell your home?
Listing and Praying
A home sale requires a
carefully crafted marketing
plan. Next to pricing your
home properly, quality real
estate photos are essential
and are the second most im
portant aspect of selling your
home. But it does not end
there. You need buyers to see
your home online. An experi
ence listing agent can lever
age your home visibility on
the internet. Choose an agent
that has a clearly defined
marketing plan. Not the one
that offers you the best price.
It takes more than a St.
Joseph Statue.
Not Heeding Buyer
Feedback
Feedback can be one of
the biggest tools you have
once your home is on the
market. It lets you know what
the buying population and
the real estate agents that are
out in the trenches are think
ing about your home.
Not Heeding Your Agent’s
Advice
You hired a real estate
professional for a reason.
Hopefully, you chose the
right real estate professional
based on your interviews.
You need to trust your
agent’s advice.
Failure To Consider
Every Offer
An offer is an opportunity.
It may or may not pan out but
nevertheless it is an opportu
nity to sell your home. Do
not automatically shut down
home negotiations without
carefully considering the
offer and at least making a
counteroffer.
Be Prepared To Deliver
Your Home On Time
Your home must be deliv
ered free of all personal be
longings, in broom-clean
condition and all negotiated
repairs being done. Along
with delivering the home,
there may be fire safety in
spections, title issues to re
solve and other ministerial
tasks to complete before you
close. Remember you are in
a legal and binding contract
and you can be held respon
sible for any financial losses
a buyer incurs because you
were not ready to close.
Having Unrealistic
Expectations
The worst thing you can
do sometimes is listen to your
neighbor or family that sold a
house 10 years ago. They can
fill your head with ideas and
falsehoods. You always have
the loud mouths around the
water cooler at work saying
how they got over asking and
they sold their house in one
day. No one brags about their
home sitting on the market
for months and having to re
duce their price $50k to get it
sold. The market is hot now,
but that too shall change.
Ron Barnes is an Associ
ate Broker with Berkshire
Hathaway Home Services, a
member and past president of
the Pickens County Board of
Realtors®, and can be
reached at 678-520-6648 or
by visiting RonBarnes-
RealEstate.com. All statistics
are believed to be correct but
are not warranted.
Protect yourself
y,\from scams a
Dp 2k I itini IC Any time you are doing
UvT V/Cltl llUil J person-to-person business.
or with someone
who lives locally.
Be Skeptical
If an offer sounds too good
to be true, it probably is.
Other tips to avoid scams:
Do not send payments in advance, unless you know you can trust the person or business.
Never wire funds and Remember money orders are like cash, you can’t cancel or stop
payment. The Jasper Police Chief has said that if you are sending a money order out of the
country for a business deal, it’s likely a scam.
Watch out for deals, jobs or offers where you must first pay a fee.
Never give financial info (bank account, social security, paypal account, etc).
t=t
Brooks Run Apartments
100 Brooks Hollow Drive • Jasper, Georgia 30143
706-692-5931
APPLICATIONS ACCEPTED AT THE SITE OFFICE
MONDAY THROUGH THURSDAY, 8:00 AM - 4:30 PM
1 & 2 BEDROOM APARTMENTS
Washer/Dryer Connections • Central Heat/Air • Playground
LIMITED RENTAL ASSISTANCE AVAILABLE FOR QUALIFIED APPLICANTS
“This Institution is an equal opportunity provider”
ACCESSIBLE UNITS - REASONABLE ACCOMMODATIONS
TTY Relay 711