Newspaper Page Text
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Thursday, May 6, 2021
Volume 134 Number 3
Jasper, Georgia
26 pages in two sections
Published Weekly
Funny thing
called Love
comes to town
May 7 Page 5A
Jasper
Council
looks at pay,
hiring Page 10 A
Photos
ofPHS
Prom
Page 12B
Burnt Mtn.
Center Special
Olympics
Page 6-7B
//
They're Coming
//
Development officials say growth is here
„ ■ At Grandview at Gateway, new homes are popping up Und being
- J : . sold at a quick pace. Another two developments are also in some
/’ ^ . stage of construction alongHighway 515 southof Jasper.
" r -v'' ' - ■-
By Dan Pool
Editor
dpool@pickensprogress.com
To describe where we sit on the
development scale, Green Suttles,
the joint Jasper/Pickens County eco
nomic developer, used an analogy of
a grass fire with the metro area as the
center and expanding outward. “I
would say right now the edge of this
grass fire is Ball Ground,” Suttles
said in an April interview.
To add some figures to this, Sut
tles points out Gwinnett County has
more than 900,000 people; 204,000
in Hall County and 258,000 in
Cherokee County. “Now move over
one inch on the map,” he said. His
meaning that just barely moving
your finger on a Georgia map puts
you from dense population over to
Pickens (population around 30,000).
Both Pickens and Dawson coun
ties are still mostly rural but just a
slight movement in the neighboring
populations and numbers will rise
dramatically, he said.
These numbers as seen so far
would include at least 300 new resi
dential lots in the city in some stage
of permitting and well over 200 res
idential lots in the county as well,
plus more projects in the discussion
phase. Interviews with development
officials at both the city and county
show there are three distinct patterns
of growth occurring: new subdivi
sion construction concentrated south
on Highway 515, “splits” in west
Pickens where developers are cut
ting driveways from existing roads
or opening small, less than 10 lot,
projects, plus the re-activation of
larger outlying subdivisions that had
lots ready for construction prior to
the 2008 downturn.
In the city of Jasper last month,
development officer Lonnie Waters
had the following projects as active
including 124 lots at Worley Pre
serve, 103 lots at Gateway Project,
Schools
not releasing
rebuttal
By Dan Pool
Editor
dpool@pickensprogress.com
The Pickens school district will
not release at this time a point-by
point rebuttal of the April 24 pres
entation from Impact Pickens
including text messages about re
placing the previous superintend
ent.
Rather than release their rebut
tal, which had been discussed pub
licly last week, they will hold it for
defense of potential complaints to
accrediting agencies or the courts,
according to school attorney Phil
Landrum.
School Superintendent Tony
Young issued the following state
ment regarding the rebuttal: "The
District has reviewed the slides
that were discussed in last week’s
Progress, and it has been working
on an analysis that will be used in
its response to any complaints to
outside agencies. Should those
complaints be filed, the District
will aggressively defend itself and
feels confident in a positive out
come."
Young continued, "As always,
the District is focused upon its
children, and our children are fin
ishing up a very unique and chal
lenging year as we make every
effort to return to normalcy. Just
last weekend we had our prom at
a venue in the beautiful mountains
See Schools on 11A
Fourth of July festivities,
fireworks back for 2021
By Angela Reinhardt
Staff Writer
areinhardt@pickensprogress.com
The Jasper Lions Club this week
announced the return of their annual
Fourth of July celebration, which
like all other big events was can
celled last year due to COVID.
“We are so excited to be hosting
the 4th of July festivities,” said
Jasper Lions President Leslie Miller.
“We missed it so much in 2020, and
being able to bring our decades-long
tradition back feels like a big step
forward to things getting back to
‘normal.’”
The local civic group has hosted
Fourth of July festivities since 1939,
barring one year during WWII and
in 2020 during the COVID-19 pan
demic. The decision to bring the
event back in 2021 was made a cou
ple of weeks ago, and the Lions are
going full steam ahead to get pre
pared.
“After the governor lifted restric
tions and we spoke with the city we
photo/ Kyle Frantz Photography
STAR Student Brett Menard and STAR Teacher Chris
tine Westbrook.
Submitted by Jasper Opti
mist Club
Pickens High School sen
ior Brett Menard has been
named the school’s 2021
PAGE STAR Student. The
Optimist Club of Jasper, the
local STAR program spon
sor, announced the honor.
Menard selected Christine
Westbrook as his STAR
Teacher. Mrs. Westbrook
has taught for 27 years and
currently teaches Honors
and AP Biology at PHS. She
is married to Ricky West
brook.
Brett is the son of Mark
and Michelle Menard of
Jasper and he has one
brother, Nick Menard. He
earned the recognition as the
STAR Student for academic
achievement and perform
ance on the SAT.
The PAGE Student
Teacher Achievement
Recognition (STAR) pro
gram is sponsored, adminis
tered, and promoted by the
Professional Association of
Georgia Educators (PAGE).
Since its inception in 1958
the STAR program has hon
ored nearly 30,500 students
and the teachers selected as
the most influential to their
academic achievement. High
school seniors must have the
highest score on a single test
date on the SAT and be in the
top 10 percent or top 10 stu
dents of their class based on
and 72 lots at Piedmont Village
all on south Highway 515. In
addition, he said Hood Park
may soon expand by another 50
new homes and there are six in
dividual homes in the works in
Jasper during early April. Plus
talk of apartments in several
See Growth on 11A
A scene from the last Independence Day celebration, held in 2019. COVID forced a cancellation, but the
Lions Club says everything is set to return to action this year.
started coming up with our plan,”
Miller said.
At the Jasper City Council meet
ing on May 3, Miller discussed new
plans that will split the Lions’ July 4
festivities over a two-day period.
Council and officials gave the
tweaked schedule a thumbs up, with
manager Brandon Douglas calling it
“a signature event for the city.”
All the popular elements will be
back - from the parade to fireworks
to the fair - but they will be in a
See Fourth on 11A
Menard named 2021 Pickens High STAR Student
grade point average to qual
ify for STAR nomination.
STAR begins each year in
participating Georgia high
schools when the STAR Stu
dent is named and chooses a
STAR Teacher to share in
this recognition.
The students and their
teachers are honored by their
schools and receive special
recognition in their commu
nities from one of the more
than 165 statewide civic or
ganizations and businesses
that serve as local sponsors
of the STAR program. Stu
dents then compete for
school system recognition as
the top STAR Student, and
those winners compete for
See STAR on 12A
Thursday, July 1
- Sunday, July 4
Peachtree Rides at
Lee Newton Park
Saturday, July 3
1 p.m. - Parade on
, Main Street
, BINGO and enter
tainment begin di-
| rectly after parade
Sunday, July 4 A
6p.m. - Headlin-*i
ing act High Ridge ,
Band
10 p.m. - Raffle
Drawing followed
by fireworks dis-
\play
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Obituaries - 8A
• Cecil Cornett
• Cheryl King
• Reginald Denney
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