Newspaper Page Text
THURSDAY. MARCH 25. 2021 PICKENS COUNTY PROGRESS PAGE 3B
Prom the Progress files — Turning Back The Pages
From March 28, 1946
Connahaynee
Lodge
destroyed
by fire
Last Sunday afternoon
about 1 o’clock Conna
haynee Lodge, the show
place of Pickens County, was
destroyed by fire with practi
cally all its contents.
Mr. Fuller Forrest, who
looks after the property dur
ing the winter months, no
ticed the pipe that contained
the electric wires was red hot
between the switch and the
entrance and he ran about a
mile to the home of Mr. and
Mrs. R.H. Martin to get a
telephone message to Jasper
to have the power cut off.
When he got back to the
building it was on fire and
beyond control.
The lodge was owned by
Mr. Joe Adams, who also
owns the El Comodoro Hotel
in Miami, FL, and is only
open during the summer
months. It was built in 1929-
1930 by the Tate Estate and
was constructed of chestnut
logs.
There were about 30 guest
rooms with marble baths, be
sides a large dining hall,
lobby and parlor. The base
ment and foundation were of
native stone and the building
cost about $75,000.
It was 3,300 feet above sea
level, located on Burrell Top,
Pickens landmark, the Connahaynee Lodge, in flames in 1946.
of the Amicalola chain of the
Blue Ridge mountains.
Nearby is an 18 hole golf
course and Lake Sequoyah,
which is over 2,000 feet
above sea level, which made
it an ideal mountain resort.
The guests included promi
nent society people and no
table leaders of the nation. It
was highly advertised and its
loss is quite a blow to Pick
ens County.
The fire was visible for
miles and numbers of people
gathered at various places to
watch the blaze. Many cars
went over from Jasper to aid,
but were unable to do any
thing.
60
YEARS
has
From March 18, 1971
Jasper Banking Co.
new cashier
Mr. Jay Harrison has retired
as cashier of Jasper Banking
Company and Mr. Mark
Whitfield has been selected
to succeed him. Mr. Whit
field, the son of Mr. and Mrs.
John Whitfield, is a native of
Pickens County. He gradu
ated from Pickens High
Report from the Capitol
By State Representative Rick Jasperse
Elections bills bring out
passion in everyone. We all
know how important it is to
our way of government.
House Bill 531 was written
by the House Special Com
mittee on Election Reform to
re-tool the mechanics of a
flawed system. The elections
of 2018 and 2020 created a
lack of confidence and trust
by citizens of both political
stripes. Confidence and in
tegrity of our elections are
the bedrock of Constitutional
democracy. The election sys
tem of Georgia has been out
grown by the high numbers
of voters, and with 159 coun
ties interpreting the laws and
rides differently, validity was
questioned.
As with every major piece
of legislation, there is a lot of
misinformation to its content
and effect. It is my opinion
this misinformation is being
used to ‘shake the money
tree’ in preparation for the
2022 elections in Georgia.
The terms ‘voter suppression’
and ‘Jim Crow’ are disingen
uous and divisive, but serve
those groups’ hidden agendas
of raising money for political
goals. I encourage all inter
ested to go online and read
the bill.
Key points of House Bill
531 as passed by the House
last week are:
•Eliminates private fund
ing of county election offices
to stop undue partisan influ
ence of elections.
•Eliminates subjective
signature matching on absen
tee ballot requests and ballots
and replaces it with objective
driver’s license number, state
ID numbers, or any identifi
cation permitted by the fed
eral Help America Vote Act.
•Makes clear what is and
is not an official absentee
ballot application, including
disclaimers.
•Requires one drop box
per county, or the lesser of
one drop box per 100,000
registered voters or the num
ber of early voting locations,
and establishes uniform rides
for drop boxes, including
monitoring inside an early
voting location.
•Sets start and end dates
for absentee ballot applica
tions from 180 days before
an election to 78 days before
an election.
•Allows early scanning of
absentee ballots and greater
transparency, without tabula
tion.
•Adds criminal penalties
for ballot harvesting.
•Eliminates mobile voting
locations, except for emer
gencies declared by the Gov
ernor at a particular precinct.
•Sets uniform times for
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Progress file photo from 1946
The lodge contained 30 guest rooms and was built of chestnut logs.
Wilson College of Law in
1982.
School and while attending
school he worked at the bank
after school hours and Satur
days in 1948-49. After serv
ing in the armed forces and
working at Lockheed he re
turned to the bank in 1956
and was named assistant
cashier in 1963. Mr. Whit
field is married to the former
Miss Mamie Duncan and
they and their daughter San
dra live on South Main
Street.
Mr. Harrison retired as
cashier from the Jasper Bank
ing Co., a position he had
held since the bank was or
ganized in 1945. During
these 26 years, deposits grew
from nil to 8.75 million.
Mr. Harrison, a native of
Pickens County, was em
ployed as an auditor for the
federal government prior to
working for the Jasper Bank
ing Company.
YEARS
From March 21, 1996
Weaver named judge
Gov. Zell Miller on Friday
named Brenda S. Weaver a
superior court judge for the
Appalachian Judicial Circuit.
Weaver is currently chief ju
venile judge for the circuit.
“It is an honor for me to ap
point Brenda Weaver to the
superior court,” Gov. Miller
said. “Her record as a prose
cutor and judge is outstand
ing, and I believe she will
serve the people of the Ap
palachian circuit with distinc
tion.”
Weaver, 41, graduated from
North Georgia College in
1976. She received her law
degree from the Woodrow
From 1983-84, Weaver was
chief assistant district attor
ney for the Appalachian cir
cuit. She was appointed chief
juvenile judge in the circuit
in April, 1995.
She has also been a partner
in Weaver and Weaver law
firm in Jasper since 1985.
“I am very pleased that the
governor appointed me as su
perior court judge and I will
work very hard to be fair and
will serve the people of this
district,” Weaver said. “I am
honored to serve as an Ap
palachian judicial judge.”
Weaver is married to
George W. Weaver and her
children are: Misty B. Thur
man, 13; Jenni, 9; George W.
Weaver Jr.; Lila Harste and
Lisa Payne. She has one
granddaughter, Jordan Ann
Harste.
advance voting across the
state.
•Prohibits changes to ad
vance voting locations within
14 days of a regular election.
•Prohibits out-of-precinct
voting.
•Shortens runoffs to four
weeks by using a ranked-
choice voting for Uniformed
and Overseas Citizen Absen
tee Voting Act voters.
•Eliminates jungle special
elections for statewide offi
cers that are filled by the
Governor.
•Requires security paper
for ballots that includes fea
tures to authenticate the bal
lot.
•Requires training of poll
watchers and ensures ability
of poll watchers to observe
tabulating center.
•Creates bipartisan ballot
duplication panels for any
ballots that need to be adjudi
cated.
•Ensures voter registration
lists for special and general
elections are the same if held
the same day.
When your Legislature
convenes, it’s a process, not
an event, and it requires the
majority of 180 House and
56 Senate votes to pass legis
lation. The Senate will now
review HB 531, and the
House will review the Sen
ate’s SB 241 and make
changes they want. We will
vote on these bills and then
create a conference commit
tee to work out the differ
ences.
More Georgians voted in
the November 2020 general
election than ever before -
some 5 million voters. Geor
gia is a state that cherishes
the right to vote, encourages
citizens to vote, and protects
the sanctity of the ballot box.
House Bill 531 protects the
right to vote while building
public confidence in elec
tions in Georgia.
As always, thank you for
allowing me to serve as your
State Representative for
House District 11. Please be
in touch with me on any mat
ter of state government, at the
Capitol, 404-656-7153 or at
rick.jasperse@house.ga.gov.
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