Newspaper Page Text
THURSDAY. APRIL 1.2021 PICKENS COUNTY PROGRESS PAGE 5A
Atlanta spa shootings spur bills to delay
gun purchases, protect Asian Americans
By Beau Evans
Staff Writer
Capitol Beat News Service
Deadly shootings at three
Atlanta-area spas earlier this
month have prompted Dem
ocratic lawmakers of Asian
American and Pacific Is
lander descent to file bills
aimed at multi-lingual train
ing for law enforcement and
delaying gun purchases.
The measures from state
Reps. Bee Nguyen, Sam Park
and Marvin Lim and Sens.
Sheikh Rahman and Michelle
Au - all Democrats repre
senting parts of metro Atlanta
- will need to hop rides on
bills already moving in the
General Assembly before the
legislative session wraps up
on Wednesday, March 31.
Board of Commissioners
Work Session
agenda
April 1,2021
10:00 a.m.
Commission Conference Room - Ste. 168
Items for Discussion:
1. Department Updates
2. General Discussion
3. Adjourn
Board of Commissioners
Called Meeting
THURSDAY-APRIL 1, 2021
Immediately Following the BOC Work Session
at 10:00 a.m.
CONFERENCE ROOM - STE. 168
The Pickens County Board of Commis
sioners will have a Called Meeting for the
purpose described below immediately fol
lowing the BOC Work Session at 10:00
a.m. on Thursday, April 1, 2021 in Suite
168 of the Administrative Office Building
located at 1266 East Church Street.
AGENDA
I. Call to Order
II. Authorizing the District Attorney of
the Appalachian Judicial Circuit to Enter
into a Contract with the Prosecuting At
torneys’ Counsel of the State of Georgia
Pursuant to the Provisions of
O.C.G.A. § 15-18-20.1
III.
Adjourn
Notice to Bidders
April 2021
SEPARATE sealed BIDS for the construction of 2021
ASPHALT PAVING PROJECT will be received by
Pickens County, 1266 East Church Street, Suite 188,
Jasper, Georgia 30143, until 2:00 p.m. local time on
the 8th day of April 2021, and at said place publicly
opened and read aloud.
The work to be done consists of cleaning, tacking,
and placing an asphaltic overlay on selected streets
in Pickens County, the approximate length of the
streets are as follows: Carver Mill Road 9,821 ft.,
East Price Creek Road 14,996 ft., Sutton Road 4,964
ft., Old Mill White Road 4,594 ft., Evans Road 5,492
ft., Thompson Lane 2,429 ft., Yellow Creek Road
13,200 ft., Scarecorn Creek Road 7,023 ft., Old
Waleska Road South 1,848 ft., Refuge Valley Road
2,904 ft., and Roland Road 2,218 ft., for an approx
imate total of 69,489 linear feet of resurfacing and
approximate tonnage to be 13,809 tons.
No bids will be received or accepted after the above
specified time for the opening of Bids. Bids submit
ted after the designated hour will be deemed invalid
and returned unopened to the Bidder.
Copies of BIDDING DOCUMENTS may be obtained
at Pickens County Administration Office, 1266 East
Church Street, Suite 188, Jasper, Georgia 30143.
The successful bidder will be required to furnish a
Bid Bond and a Performance and Payment Bond. A
certified check in the amount of 5% of the bid
amount will also be acceptable. Check to be re
tained by the County until all work is completed to
satisfaction.
Provide the County a copy of Certificate of Insurance
as additional insured.
After the award of the contract and before the start
of work, you will be required to attend a preconstruc
tion conference with representatives of the County.
The conference will serve to acquaint the partici
pants with the general plan for paving of the streets
and to discuss any special conditions that the
County may have that may alter the original bid
price.
Eleven (11) roads in the project herein described are
to be completed within sixty (60) calendar days from
the date of award of contract.
No bidder may withdraw his bid within thirty (30)
days after the actual bid date of the opening thereof.
Pickens County reserves the right to waive any ir
regularities or reject any or all bids.
Pickens County
1266 East Church Street, Suite 188
Jasper, Georgia 30143
The lawmakers sponsor
ing those bills and others
have called for bolstering
support for Asian American
Georgians in the wake of the
March 16 shootings at two
spas in Atlanta and one in
Cherokee County that left
eight people dead, including
six Asian American women.
“Together, we mourn the
senseless loss of life from
those so cherished, so impor
tant and so loved by their
families and friends in the
Asian American Pacific Is
lander (AAPI) communities,”
the five lawmakers said in a
joint statement.
“We look to our history,
and where this country has
been, and we look forward to
the change we need to see. As
AAPI legislators in the Geor
gia Senate and House, we are
committed to not only draw
ing attention to the issues our
communities face, but enact
ing meaningful change
through legislation to address
them.”
Two of the measures,
sponsored by Park and Rah
man, would require gun sell
ers to wait five weekdays
before clearing firearms pur
chases or face a felony
charge with possible prison
time for violating the delay
time.
Those measures aim to
stave off future rushed pur
chases of guns by dangerous
persons such as the suspect in
the recent spa shootings, 21-
year-old Robert Aaron Long,
who police say bought his
weapon the same day he
went on the killing spree.
Gun restrictions habitually
face an uphill battle in the
Republican-controlled state
legislature where the Second
Amendment’s right-to-carry
rides rank high on the list of
conservative priorities to pre
serve.
Already, lawmakers are
close to final passage of a bill
to make it easier for gun
owners from outside Georgia
to have their carry permits
accepted within the state.
The measure, which has
drawn backlash following the
spa shootings, passed the
House largely along party
lines and is awaiting Senate
floor consideration.
The bill’s sponsor, Rep.
Mandi Ballinger, R-Canton,
said on the House floor last
month its intent is partly to
allow gun owners from out
side Georgia to “enjoy our
wonderful state while they’re
enjoying their Second
Amendment rights as well.”
Two other bills, sponsored
by Lim and Au, would create
an officer-training course for
police focused on responding
to calls and general outreach
in non-English speaking
communities to bolster rela
tionships between those com
munities and law
enforcement.
Another two bills, spon
sored by Nguyen and Rah
man, would set up statewide
language translation services
for 911 operators to help curb
communication issues for
non-English speakers during
emergencies.
Typically, legislation filed
this late in the annual General
Assembly session has no
hope of passing unless it is
tacked onto other bills that
have already advanced in
both chambers via the legis
lature’s stringent vetting
process.
Any proposals in the bills
brought in response to the spa
shootings that are added to
other still-alive measures
would likely first face
scrutiny in committee hear
ings before moving further,
according to Georgia House
Speaker David Ralston’s of
fice.
Some lawmakers have
shown support for backing
the proposals with two days
of committee hearings left
Pickens
Progress
Article
Archive
pickensprogress.com
before the session’s ending
next Wednesday including
Sen. Kim Jackson, D-Stone
Mountain, who said recently
she will push for passage of
the measure prolonging wait
times for gun purchases.
“It is our responsibility as
legislators to take concrete
action to prevent future
tragedies,” Jackson said on
Twitter.
Jackson joined other
Democratic co-sponsors on
the bills from the metro At
lanta area and elsewhere, in
cluding Reps. Zulma Lopez,
Pedro Marin and Becky
Evans as well as Senate Mi
nority Leader Gloria Butler
and most Democratic law
makers in the Senate.
Meanwhile, the spa shoot
ings this month prompted
broad calls for the admitted
gunman to face charges
under the state’s recently en
acted hate-crimes law, which
adds penalties for crimes mo
tivated by a victim’s race,
color, religion, nationality,
sexual orientation, sex, gen
der, or whether they have a
physical or mental disability.
Authorities have not yet
divulged whether Long’s mo
tive in the shootings involved
alleged hate crimes. Chero
kee County officials earlier
this month said Long claimed
he targeted Asian-run spas to
purge a sex addiction that he
sought to satisfy at those
spas.
That information has
spurred some observers to
dismiss characterizing the
shootings as hate crimes.
Sen. Bruce Thompson, R-
White, challenged Atlanta
Mayor Keisha Lance Bot
toms’ recent assurances the
spas were operating legally,
adding that the shooter’s and
victims’ races should not
matter.
“The reality here is this
person shot people and all
lives matter regardless of
race,” Thompson said March
22 on the Senate floor.
The Sheriff’s
Beat
From the Pickens
Sheriff’s Office
During this past week, the Pickens Sheriff’s Office responded to or
initiated 1,316 calls for service. These numbers are taken from the
report provided directly from the 911 Center where all calls are
logged as they are performed. Below is a breakdown of all dispatched
calls by the call type for each incident.
Accidents 20
Suicide Threats / Attempts 1
12
17
6
87
26
5
34
7
6
7
3
3
Extra Patrol - neighborhoods, businesses, residences 880. In ad
dition to these, other calls include search warrants, civil service, 911
hang-up calls, assaults, disorderly persons, missing persons, assis
tance with medical calls, natural death investigations, demented per
sons, funeral escorts, harassment, trespassing, and many more.
Domestics
Theft / Burglary Related
Forgery/Fraud
Traffic Stops
Citations Issued
Animal Investigation
Suspicious Persons/Activity
Alarm Calls
Stranded Motorists
Street Hazards
Vandalism
Abandoned Vehicles
Breakdown of Charges for those Arrested:
13 individuals were booked into the Adult Detention Center on
charges from the Pickens Sheriff’s Office. Out of these, the following
charges were taken by PSO deputies (note,
multiple charges):
some individuals have
DUI-Alcohol
i
Failure to Maintain Lane
2
Exploit/ Implicit Pain to Elderly
1
Theft by Deception
1
ID Theft Fraud
1
Family Drug Court Violation
1
Simple Battery- Family Violence
1
False Imprisonment
1
Possession of a Controlled Substance
1
Drug Related Object
1
Unregistered Vehicle
1
Drive with Suspended License
2
No Proof of Insurance
1
Open Container
1
Safety Belt Required
1
Criminal Trespass
1
County Ordinance- Disorderly
1
Probation Violation
4
Disorderly Conduct
1
In addition to the above
activity from the Uniform
Patrol Division, Court
Service Deputies reported
the following statistics for
the past week:
Persons Scanned at
Front Door: 885
Weapons Found: 0
Courts Held: 13
Arrest Made in the
Courthouse: 0
Civil Papers Received : 30
Civil Papers Served: 46
In the Adult Detention
Center:
Total Jail population: 77
Total male inmates: 59
Total female inmates: 18
Sex Offenders:
There are currently 75 sex
offenders registered with
the Pickens Sheriff’s Office.
GRISHAM, POOLE
& CARLILE, PC
Criminal Defense I Family Law
"You can't go back and change the beginning,
but you can start where you are and change
the ending." - C.S. Lewis
21 COURT STREET
JASPER, GEORGIA
678.880.9360
Experienced. Established. Effective.
Clear, Pure Water. The way it should be.
Do you know what’s in your water?
We do. And we can make it
safe and clean for you. to
^FREE
WATER
DIAGNOSIS
CALL 888-604-8043
Our quality and service
« V’ 0) A
are 100% guaranteed.
■N
Just ask our customers.
oWaterFilter
www.metrowaterfilter.com 888-604-8043
Refer a friend or family member and get $75 when they purchase a new system.