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The Progress
Editorial
May 27,2021
From the Staff
Remember our fallen soldiers
If you’ve lived in Pickens County for
any length of time you’ve most likely
heard of Sgt. David Collins or seen the
symbol that has come to represent his life
and sacrifice - the silhouette of soldier’s
helmet and rifle with the words, “In
Memory of Sgt. David Collins.”
Collins died on April 9, 2006 while
stationed in Ar-Ramadi, Iraq. It was Palm
Sunday morning when a roadside bomb
took his life. He served as a specialist
with the 101st Airborne Division, 506th
Infantry Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat
team. He was bom on August 10, 1981
and was survived by two children.
Collins was the most recent Pickens
County veteran to die while serving his
country according to records from a local
veteran’s group. A Progress reporter re
members the difficult, tear-soaked inter
view in 2009 with Collins’ mother who
had just travelled to see the Middle East
Conflicts Wall where her son’s name had
been added. When you speak with the
parent of a soldier who died in service
you see what that “ultimate sacrifice”
looks like up-close and personal - raw
and difficult with sadness and longing,
but also with a resoluteness to find peace
and healing.
“When I saw David’s name engraved
in stone I guess it just reinforced that it
was final, but I was proud to see that
everybody would remember his service,”
she said. “Now when I think about David
I can focus more on the positive things
instead of just focusing on his death, and
you know what? A few days after he told
me he was going to enlist, which was just
after 9/11, I went to bed but couldn’t
sleep so I went to ask him if he was sure
he wanted to do this. Well, he told me
that he had two little sisters and if he did
n’t make a stand we would be fighting
them over here. He did what he wanted
to do.. .It was his time.”
Collins is one of so many fallen sol
diers we ask you to remember on Memo
rial Day while celebrating your freedoms
with family and friends. There are hun
dreds of thousands of these heroes over
the course of U.S. history. In 1949,
American Legion Post #149 in Pickens
County erected the marble statue in front
of the courthouse “honoring all who
served and dedicated to the everlasting
memory of the men from Pickens County
who made the supreme sacrifice in World
Wars I and II.” The monument has been
added to over the years. Here is the list
of Pickens’ fallen as displayed.
WWI - Charles M. Barrett, John W.
Barrett, Grover Cleveland Brooks,
Homer Carver, William Champion,
Charlie Disharoon, Frank Elrod, Howard
Lee Minter, Claude L. Moss, William V.
McBee, Charles Pendley, Arthur L.
Roland, Pleas B. Russell, Joe Tatum,
Joseph B. Teague.
WWII - Linton Bruce, Hilbum
Bunch, Newman Columbus Bunch,
David Winston Champion, James T.
Champion, George M. Dodd, Robert H.
Dorsey, Charles C. Evans, Sam T. Fitts,
Welford A. Fitzsimmons, James Hugh
Fowler, Willie Frank Free, McFarland
Gayton, Paul Junior Gayton, George W.
Hayes, Mose Washington Hendrix, Etsel
F. Holbert, Herbert C. Holbert, James W.
Hulsey, Joseph Lewis Jarrett, Clifford
Waldo Owenby, James Hugh (Sam)
Philyaw, Robert L. Pittman, George
Lewis Pruitt, C. F. Reeves, Theodore
Benjamin Reese, Lee H. Shipman, Joe F.
Stanfield, Bennie L. Stephens, Henry
Stephens, Dallas Glenn Thacker, John
William Wehunt, Reynolds James
Young, Donnas Hank Boyd.
Korean War - Curtis E. Bunch, Jack
Alexander Burrell.
Vietnam War - Billy Guinn Langley,
Bobby Arthur Young, Charles George
Boling.
Iraq War - David S. Collins
This Memorial Day we ask people to
also remember veterans who take their
own lives because of post-traumatic
stress and other mental health issues cre
ated by their service. According to Stop-
SoldierSuicide.org veterans are at a 50
percent higher risk of suicide than peers
who have not served, and that since 2001
over 114,000 veterans have died by their
own hand.
The Progress staff thanks all veterans
for their service, and thanks those men,
women, and their families who have,
made that ultimate sacrifice.
Tell us your thoughts with a letter to the editor. E-mail to news@pickensprogress.com
See letter submission guidelines on the Letters to the Editor page or call us 706-253-2457.
Ponderings of a Simple Man
Py Caleb Smith
School
NEVER FORGET.
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Trail
chapter Whittington event
languages ^ ^
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logic Professor Ranch ^
language hretower V_
census month Oglethorpi
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nw i :_ al I Q T0 hint ma p S
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icci year .
nouns tj me sites
knowledge Fort history facilitator PoillltV
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M0Untam acres 7 grading Sam Plck “ S . f °
■ P>lK * e Tacn^r Harvard
Fairclotlf UUC Jas P e >
Estates name Southern engineering
topographic
timeline Road
superintendent
A word cloud shows the spiral an online history search can
go, down all sorts of paths, always uncovering new angles.
The Aches of Wrath
I have always been a bit
hot headed. When I was
younger I always assumed
that my temper would mel
low as I aged, become more
manageable. Instead of aging
like a fine wine, however, it
has simply distilled, becom
ing more potent. I no longer
have the time or patience to
deal with things that annoy
me.
A lot of things push my
buttons; other drivers, gas
prices, celebrities, sudden,
last minute changes to the
deadline of when my article
is due (hint, hint), but the
thing that will set me off the
fastest is appliances that
don’t work.
It bothers me on an almost
philosophical level. The en
tire purpose of toaster oven
or microwave is to cook or
heat my food. If it doesn’t do
that, it has no reason to exist.
Unfortunately, when you’re
married, that doesn’t mean
you can take it outside to
smash with a hammer then
go buy one that actually
works. Apparently that’s
‘wasteful’ and instead you
have to ‘fix it’.
Longtime readers will
know that I have struggled
for years with my aging
lawnmower. As of this sum
mer, I have invested more on
parts to repair the ancient ma
chine than it would have cost
to buy a new one. So, when it
finally died its final death just
a few short days ago, I went
ballistic.
After hours of sweating,
cursing, and writhing around
in the dirt in a last ditch effort
to coax it back to life long
enough to cut the jungle mas
querading as my yard, I fi
nally gave up. Leaping to my
feet, I hurled my screwdriver
across the yard in a fit of
pique.
Unfortunately, I forgot a
few key facts. One, it is inad
visable to throw a small tool
into knee-high grass if you
ever want to find that tool
again. Two, I am no longer at
an age where I can leap to my
feet without consequences.
As the screwdriver left my
grasp, my vision went dark as
my circulatory system tried
to keep my fool brain sup
plied with oxygen and I had
to steady myself on the near
est object to keep from
falling.
The nearest object just
happened to be the still pip
ing hot engine of the blasted
lawnmower I had been trying
to crank for the better part of
an afternoon. The end result
was I wound up on my butt in
the dust, ‘Deere’ burnt into
the palm of my hand.
To add insult to injury, I
also pulled my shoulder from
throwing the screwdriver.
Fits of petulant rage are a
young man’s game. I shuffled
inside to tend to my injuries
and my wounded pride, suf
fering from the aches of
wrath.
[Caleb Smith is a long
time, award-winning, colum
nist for the Progress.]
OTHER VOICES
The
By Chris Feldt
Every noun holds a poten
tial avenue for investigation
with each noun connecting to
other nouns in a web or a
word cloud. Reconstructing
history is like a game of de
ductive reasoning via nouns.
Each noun, sometimes
proper, takes you to a new set
of facts. And from there, all
knowledge is assembled
under each noun, like the
heading of a chapter.
Each chapter contains
new nouns that radiate in dif
ferent directions. Some
nouns define space (a name,
a place - assigning speci
ficity and location).
Other times they are indi
cator of time (a day, month,
or year). Each noun presents
a face value clue and then an
cillary hints.
Once nouns reveal every
thing they can, and all sec
ondary and tertiary nouns are
exhausted, you can assemble
the sequence of events to
build a timeline.
Frequently, there are gaps
in the puzzle, some of which
may be filled in by aligning
the parts in a fashion similar
to a logic puzzle.
For example: Begin with a
primary search of a single
noun:
• Tate Mountain Estates led
to the following nouns to
search with:
• Jasper, Georgia
• Colonel Sam Tate
• 1930
• Professor E.C. Perrow
Searching online, within
books and newspapers for the
above nouns lead to these
nouns:
• Camp Tate
• Camp 1449/P-77
• Appalachian Trail
• Mt. Oglethorpe
• Abandoned Dude Ranch
• Charles Whittington
And thus pieces come to
gether as:
• Professor E.C. Perrow
was listed on a 1933 report as
being the camp superintend
ent of CCC Camp 1449.
• A newspaper article from
1934 says that men moved
from Camp 1449 near Tate to
a Butler County in 1934.
• An article from Charles
Faircloth says the men from
Camp 1449/P-77 came from
Fort Benning in 1933.
• An excerpt from a Geor
gia Forestry book mentions
that the camp was in Pickens
County.
• The Southern Guide to
the Appalachians mention
that the CCC camp site was
located about 6 miles from
Tate, and about 1 mile away
from the Champion house
and that it was the site of a
Dude Ranch. Beginning in
Tate on Highway 53.
• An article from a jour
nalist in 1931 says the Dude
Ranch was located at 1800
feet elevation.
• The Tate Mountain Es
tates pamphlet from 1930
mentions a Dude Ranch
being owned by Col. Sam
Tate.
• The P in P77 indicates
that the camp was on private
land.
• A newspaper article
mentions that the CCC camp
was located on the former
property of Charles H. Whit
tington.
• A newspaper from Butler
County mentions that the
men were taught by a Har
vard graduate.
• Roads and home sites
are shown on the 1926, 1928,
1940, 1950 topographic and
census maps.
From these facts you can
deduce Professor Perrow was
in charge of the camp and it
was located within Tate
Mountain Estates about one
mile north from the Cham
pion house (located on what
is now Bent Tree Dr.) There
are only so many places one
mile from the Champion
House around 1800 feet ele
vation that follow the path of
old roads.
Running down the Profes
sor Perrow path you find out
that he was Colonel Tate’s
private surveyor and the sur
veyor Pickens County. You
discover he hand drew a map
that matched the approximate
location of the Dude Ranch
on the Southern Guide to the
Appalachians. You find that
he was fluent in several lan
guages and graduated from
Harvard University.
Researching the CCC you
learn that forestry camps
built roads, firebrakes and
firetowers. Each camp had
over 100 men. Each camp
offered recreation and educa
tional classes on a multitude
of subjects like math, foreign
languages, forestry work,
road grading and building,
fire suppression techniques,
mechanical engineering.
From this (and the hint from
the newspaper from Butler
County) you deduce that Pro
fessor Perrow was the educa
tional facilitator.
You realize that the camp
was in Pickens County long
enough (one year) to allow
the men time to build roads
and firebrakes up to Mt.
Oglethorpe from Tate and
Tate Mountain Estates
needed roads for people to
travel on and a reason to visit.
From Professor Perrow’s
connections to Colonel Sam
Tate you learn that Col. Tate
bought 10,000 acres of land
in 1929 to build his Tate
Mountain Estates. You de
duce that Colonel Sam Tate
used the CCC men that he
housed on his private land for
a year to help construct the
beginning of the Appalachian
Trail atop Mt. Oglethorpe as
a way to draw interest to his
new land development proj
ect.
Facts are like pieces of fil
ament with each strand intri
cately linked to another,
moving in all directions, but
connected to various centers,
like a cluster of spider webs
in an abandoned house. Each
new fact only contains so
many subsets of facts. But
with enough assembled
strands the web fleshes itself
out.
Every assembled fact
pulls you just a little closer to
the edge of the unknown -
which is really all we can
ever hope to know.
[Chris Feldt is an active
history buff and writer who
lives in Bent Tree,]
Printing
The Pickens Progress
can handle all set up
and printing for
everything from
business cards
to flyers.
706-253-2457
WEATHER
By William Dilbeck
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Published by Pickens County Progress, Inc.
94 North Main Street, Jasper, GA 30143
(706) 253-2457
www.pickensprogressonline.com
DAN POOL
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