Newspaper Page Text
THURSDAY. APRIL 29. 2021 PICKENS COUNTY PROGRESS PAGE 5A
Letters
totkd Editor
To the Editor:
The April 22, 2021 issue
of the Progress featured a
cartoon that included the
quote "There is no griev
ance that is a fit object of re
dress by mob law," an
image of burning buildings,
and an image which I take
was intended to be President
Abraham Lincoln.
I suppose the artist was
referring to the January 6,
2021 attack on the U.S.
Capitol by supporters of
Donald Trump.
James S. Reid
To the Editor:
Income Tax
President Biden and the
Progressives want more
money to do whatever it is
they want to do under the
banner of infrastructure. In
frastructure defined now as
anything.
Joe needs some "hep"
with math. He says that
many corporations pay zero
taxes so he wants to raise
the corporate tax rate. But
zero times any percentage is
still zero. If you do not
change the definition of in
come, nothing will change
in the amount of taxes paid.
Clearly we need some
federal roads and bridges
fixed. I do not understand
why the Progressives sim
ply do not list those projects
and their costs in a bill and
pass it. The old grumpy
Conservatives will vote for
it. We could start fixing
things right now.
The real problem is not a
tax rate at all. It is how to
define taxable income. Tax
able income is way down on
the income tax form. A cor
poration takes the first in
come line and then subtracts
a zillion different items
from it until they have al
most no taxable income.
Big companies do it. Little
companies do it. Individu
als do it but individuals have
fewer neat tax reduction de
ductions than companies.
If you undo all the ex
emptions that have been
granted and start with the
total income of a company
and apply a tax rate to that,
then all companies would
pay some taxes. The rate
could be tiny but the col
lected amounts would be
large.
It would be almost how
we tax an individual that
makes say 50 grand a year
and has no deductions.
Pretty simple. This will
never happen because the
government never ever does
anything that is simple or
straightforward. Both the
progressives and the conser
vative parties must like the
system we have because
they both seem to pass laws
which fundamentally make
no substantive changes.
They just want it to look like
they are doing something
when doing nothing.
Gary Pichon
To the Editor:
All that is necessary ...
Lately, I find myself par
aphrasing a favorite quote
of mine: “All that is neces
sary for evil to succeed is
for good people to do noth
ing.” I must confess that at
times I get overwhelmed
with the things I feel are
going wrong in this country
that I love. It seems that
some people in Washington
feel that fermenting divi
siveness is their ticket to job
security. They divide us by
race, religion, geography,
socio-economic status and
whatever other category
they can think of. These
politicians realize that if the
masses ever realize our
commonalities we will iden
tify who the real enemy is.
It is them.
But, what can I do to
overcome this barrage of di
visiveness? Well I received
a firsthand lesson this week.
I belong to the American
Legion Post 149 in Pickens
County. We have a Tuesday
lunchtime non-meeting
where 10-20 of us get to
gether to share fellowship
and verbally solve most, if
not all of the world’s prob
lems. (Only in our heads of
course!) We rotate the loca
tion so that many local
restaurants who can accom
modate a group our size can
benefit from our patronage.
This past Tuesday we ate
at Bub-ba-q. There were 12
people in our group made
up of members and some
spouses. When it came time
to pay for our meals, we
were told the bill had al
ready been paid. We looked
at each other and quickly re
alized that no one in our
group had paid the bill.
Michelle, our waitress
would not disclose our
benefactor. All she would
say was that the generous
person wanted to thank us
for our service to our coun
try. As veterans, we often
hear that but it is never ac
companied by the payment
of meals for 12 people.
As veterans, we really
don’t expect much. We want
whatever benefits for which
we are eligible. We expect
non-veterans to honor and
respect our flag, national an
them and constitution. We
believe that this country is
the greatest country on this
planet but we are willing to
work toward making it even
better.
Another thing you
should know about veterans
is that once we accept a mis
sion, we do not quit. I
tapped some sources (you
guessed it; I cannot divulge
my sources) and found out
that our benefactor was
Norman Zimmerman,
owner of Z-Best Painting
right here in Jasper. Nor
man, you have been caught
doing something good.
The good deed got me
thinking. Perhaps that is
how we prevent evil from
succeeding. We should do
good deeds and be kind to
one another whenever and
wherever we can. If each of
us works to get our little
comer of the world peaceful
and inclusive, there will be
no place for “the enemy” to
land. It is your move.
Jim Brescia
■ shooting glasses, ■
1 earplugs 1
and ear mulls.
, All made by Clock,
: $19.99:
L . . ...... J
RANGE KITS!!!
IQCK
PERFECTION
Includes:
r PUMP 22LR! •
Gallery Pump
22IR
18” Barrel
15-Shot
$26945
30-ROUND AR15 MAGS $9.99 EACH!!!
COVID relief funding
by the numbers
Obituaries
By Angela Reinhardt
Staff Writer
areinhardt@pickensprogress.com
Over the past year, govern
ing bodies have received sig
nificant COVID-relief
funding, with more expected
from the American Rescue
Plan (ARP) Act of 2021. The
Progress compiled figures to
see how much has been - and
will be - received locally.
The Pickens County gov
ernment received about $1.3
million in 2020 from the fed
eral Coronavirus Aid, Relief,
and Economic Security
(CARES) Act. This was used
for public safety personnel
salaries and benefits.
The Association of County
Commissioners of Georgia
(ACCG) recommended that
for governments to be able to
claim their full CARES
amount they should use the
funds for payroll related to
those first responders. Pickens
County CFO Faye Harvey told
the Progress last year ACCG
advised “public safety payroll
and benefits would be the eas
iest way to be eligible for all
that money,”
Governments have had to
adhere to restrictions about
how they can spend COVID-
relief funding.
Harvey anticipates funding
from the American Rescue
Plan Act of 2021 “will be sub
stantially more” than they re
ceived from the CARES Act.
“We have not received any
additional funding in 2021,
and I am not aware of any
plans for the use of those
funds at this time,” she said.
The city of Jasper has re
ceived two CARES Act pay
ments totaling just over
$208,000.
“That money reimbursed
the general fund for the cost of
public safety salaries and ben
efits,” said Jasper CFO Bev
erly Ragland. “This was an
allowable use of the funds.
Cities had to submit records of
expenditures and we chose to
send in costs from the police
department salaries and bene
fits. That doesn’t mean the
money was only spent on
salaries and benefits in the po
lice department. Both fire and
police are paid out of the gen
eral fund so we could have
shown the reimbursement
equally but chose to keep it
simple and submit the expen
ditures from only one depart
ment.”
Jasper is expecting an ARP
payment this year and next.
The allocation projection for
the city of Jasper is
$1,252,067 over two years,
Ragland said, with that
amount subject to change.
“We are still waiting for
guidance from the [U.S.] De
partment of Treasury for de
tails on eligible uses,” she
said.
Ragland referred us to a re
source with the Georgia Mu
nicipal Association that
provides estimates of ARP Act
allocations for governing bod
ies. The estimates were pre
pared by the U.S. House
Oversight and Reform Com
mittee and updated March 8.
“These are the estimated al
location amounts that each ju
risdiction will receive either
directly from the federal gov
ernment for COVID relief or
from the state as a pass
through entity only. Each city
will be eligible to receive its
own allocation,” according to
the Georgia Municipal Associ
ation.
On that list, Pickens
County is estimated to receive
$6,320,824; Nelson,
$433,844; and Talking Rock,
$22,370 in ARP funds. These
numbers are subject to change.
Georgia is estimated to receive
just shy of $8.4 billion in ARP
funds.
The Pickens County
School System has received
$747,600 in funding through
the CARES Act. Of that, they
have spent just over $576,640
with $170,959 remaining in
coffers. Those funds were
spent on “continuity of core
services (school-based staff
and utilities); equitable serv
ices for private schools (PPE,
cleaning, nurse related, and
school supplies and utilities);
school nutrition program ex
penses related to school clo
sures and
COVID...(restoration of a
freezer, plexiglass, food bag
warmers),” according to infor
mation provided by the fi
nance office.
The school system has also
received funding from the
Coronavirus Response and
Relief Supplemental Appro
priations Act (CRRSA) in the
amount of $3,177,460. Of this,
the system has spent
$643,776, with $2,533,684 re
maining. These funds have
been used for “continuity of
core services (bonuses to re
tain staff and utility costs); in
structional software licenses;
online learning platform; costs
related to sanitizing and disin
fecting buildings and buses;
equipment for facilities (plex
iglass, hand sanitizing sta
tions, bottle filling stations,
additional chairs for social dis
tancing, mulch for social dis
tancing during recess); and
infrared thermometers,” ac
cording to the finance office.
They school system re
ceived an additional $578,164
from CRRSA to pay for
bonuses approved by Gov.
Brian Kemp.
The district has also col
lected $4,638,481 in American
Rescue Plan Act funding, and
anticipates receiving a total of
$7,136,125 from that source.
The full use of these funds has
not yet been determined but at
least 20 percent must address
gaps in leaming/leaming loss
created by the pandemic.
Schools in Georgia will re
ceive a total of $3.8 billion in
ARP funding.
The school system has re
ceived several much smaller
grants, most around $1,000
each, that are being used for
salaries and benefits for the
agriculture department and
CTAE for extended work
days/years and other needs
related to the pandemic.
There has also been an
additional $8,000 funded for
equitable services for utili
ties/cleaning supplies for
private schools, and $7,391
for special education, the
latter of which has not yet
been budgeted. In addition,
there is $15,000 in a reserve
school nursing grant antici
pated to be used for nurse
overtime for COVID-re-
lated responsibilities.
Robert
Millsap Jr.
Robert Paul Millsap Jr.,
72, of Jasper, passed away
Wednesday, April 21, 2021
at Piedmont Atlanta Hospi
tal. He was bom October
4, 1948 to Robert Paul and
Magdalene Millsap Sr. in
Dalton, Georgia.
Paul is survived by
wife, Frances Millsap of
Jasper; daughter and son-
in-law, Allison and Joseph
Holt of Jasper; grandson,
Conner Holt of Jasper; sis
ters and brother-in-law,
Carolin and Trundle
Vaughn of Ball Ground,
Janice Mulkey of Ellijay;
bothers-in-law and sisters-
in-law, Reverend Joe and
Shirley Fountain of Cal
houn, Jean and Junior
Carver of Jasper, Jimmy
and Bernice Fountain of
Jasper. Several nieces,
nephews, and other rela
tives also survive.
Funeral services were
held at 2 p.m., Friday,
April 23, 2021 at Pleasant
Hill Baptist Church with
Reverend Grant Wade,
Reverend Harold Cantrell,
and Reverend Ronnie Ray
officiating. Interment fol
lowed in the Pleasant Hill
Baptist Church Cemetery.
Pall Bearers were Mark
Fountain, Terence Green,
Seth Green, Luke Green,
Eddie Burleson, David
Mulkey, and Honorary Pall
Bearers Jimmy Fountain,
Charlie Grant, and Joseph
Holt.
Arrangements are en
trusted to the staff of Roper
Funeral Home and Crema
tory.
John Ogburn
John Franklin Ogburn,
83, of Ball Ground, passed
away on Tuesday, April 20,
2021.
A graveside service was
held on Friday, July 2nd at
Georgia National Ceme
tery. He is survived by
his sons, John Barton
"Bart" Ogburn of Denton,
TX, Scott E. (Sharon) Og-
bum of Ball Ground, Brett
(Michelle) Ogburn of Ma
rietta; nine grandchildren
and nine great-grandchil
dren also survive.
The caring staff of
Darby Funeral Home is
honored to serve the Og-
bum family.
Past obits
pickensprogress.com
Grier&Share
Grief Support Group
Are you grieving thejdeath of a loved one?
Turn your loss to joy!
Sundays 2-4 p.m.
April 25 - Aug. 8, 2021
Contact Stephanie Patrick at 706-301-9191
For more information
call, email, or go to the website below.
King of Kings
SPONSORED BY
King of Kings Lutheran Church
45 Appalachian Circle, Talking Rock, GA * 706-301-9191
First left turn off US 515 north of Philadelphia Rd. in Jasper
www.kingofkingslcmsga.org • kingofkingslcmsga@gmail.com
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. C>
WATER
DIAGNOSIS
CALL 888-604-8043
Our quality and service
are 1 00%guar«mteed.
Just ask our customers.
swfX
www.metrowaterfilter.com 888-604-8043
Refer a friend or family member and get $75 when they purchase a new system.
■T’S GONNA
get messy
«.css-. 7427
SHANESRIBSHACK.COM
TENDERS • WINGS • SALADS
CATERING • DINE IN OR TAKE OUT
706-635-RIBS (7427)
FAX 706-635-7429
289 Highland Crossing • East Ellijay, GA 30540
Across from Walmart