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PAGE 10A PICKENS COUNTY PROGRESS THURSDAY. JUNE 3. 2021
Continued From 1A
The Jasper bridge dub framed this photograph for Tom Lindsey, the husband of long
time bridge club member Susan Lindsey, poking fun at him after a weekend trip. Front
row (left to right): Georgette Cochran, deceased; Jackie Gise, Mary Jones, Elaine Lan
drum. Back row (left to right): Shirley Pool, Nancy Proffitt, Susan Landrum, deceased;
Janet Short of Panama City Beach, Fla., and Susan Lindsey.
The game of bridge is a trick-taking game using all 52
cards in a deck, with each player receiving 13 cards. The
bidding box (left) displays bids for players. The slam pot
(right) is used by the bridge club regulars who contribute a
dollar each time the group plays. When a team bids that
they will take all 13 tricks in a hand with success they win
the slam pot.
Bridge
- every other Thursday at 7
p.m. for three rounds of
bridge, rotating from house
to house.
“A lot of people get to
gether, but you need some
thing to bind you together
and our binder has been
bridge; that has been the driv
ing force,” said Landrum,
known as the gardener in the
group. “It has given us the
expectation of the next visit.
Bridge makes you dependent
on each other and you have
to have four to play so you
are really making a commit
ment.”
The game of bridge
After thousands of hours
of playing bridge at their bi
weekly gathering, not to
mention games played on
trips and in airports, these
women humbly claim to be
intermediate players. Several
attended “bridge camp” over
the years - their name for a
week-long Roads Scholar
program held at the Jekyll Is
land Club where the beautiful
beach and facilities play sec
ond fiddle to cards.
“It’s classes all morning
and then afternoon play and
for some of us it’s evening
play,” said Pool, who has at
tended with “campers” Lind
sey and Proffitt.
Bridge is considered im
possible to master, a complex
card game of endless possi
bilities. A 52-card deck is
shuffled and dealt to four
players at the table, each re
ceiving a hand of 13. Four
players include two partner
teams seated across from
each other. Tally cards assign
partners who communicate
without comparing hands,
and partners swap seats after
each six-hand round.
The name of this game is
deducing who has what
based on bids and tricks.
“Just think about how
many hands you can receive
when the cards are dealt,” ex
plained Lindsey, lauded for
her study of the game. “No
two hands are the same. You
are trying to explain what
you have to your partner.”
Players receive scores in
dividually, so no two scores
are ever the same.
“Bridge is addictive,” said
Proffitt, who plays a leader
ship role in the group accord
ing to fellow player Mary
Jones - “it’s easier to have
one person to say ‘everyone
shut up and play.’”
“It is challenging and it
keeps our minds sharp,”
Proffitt observed. “Bridge is
very regimented.”
“Which is really funny be
cause we’re not,” retorted
Jones, known for her devo
tion as the member who
played bridge while in labor
years ago.
The club plays the party
and rubber versions of the
game. Thursday rounds in the
1970s included tea, coffee
and dessert with competition
for high and low gifts, said
Pool, recognized for her en
tertaining prowess. “That got
old so we started putting
money in and then we did
away with desserts and
started serving wine and
things got a lot better.”
Group dynamics
evolved over the
years
“Some of us like to get to
gether and talk and laugh and
some of us have gotten more
competitive and gotten to a
higher level than some of
us,” Jones explained diplo
matically, while Landrum
added some players “fuss at
us who don’t keep up.”
Pool claims some mem
bers play slower so the rest
will forget what has been
played.
“There’s nothing more ir
ritating to a bridge player
than playing bridge with
someone who won’t pay at
tention,” Proffitt quipped,
drawing laughter from the
group.
“It’s almost like breathing
for them to play bridge,”
noted Phyllis Pool of Jasper,
a friend of the group for
decades who is not related to
club member Shirley Pool.
She describes members as
wonderful, strong women.
“I’ve told them many times
I’m going to stage an inter
vention.”
Confessing distraction as
her undoing in bridge, Phyllis
Pool is amazed that members
can remember and talk about
the particulars of certain
hands days later.
“They’ve tried to teach
me and I’ve been told many
times, ‘You are so good at so
many things but you cannot
play bridge,’ and they don’t
mind hurting my feelings,”
Phyllis said with a smile in
her voice. “They know their
quirks and skill level and
how to play the game. This is
like a war table, planning
strategy, it’s very much an or
ganized thing.”
The friendships
“You want to know why
we haven’t killed each other
in 48 years?” asked Proffitt,
“That’s a real good question.
We’re as opposite as day and
night in some situations.”
Friendships forged around
the card table created a sup
port group.
“I went through a divorce
and it was really nice to have
this support system,” Proffitt
said. “Actually I probably
would say we’ve been a sup
port group for each other
through emotional crises as
we went through life. No
body goes through life with
out some emotional
baggage.”
Bridge club has been “a
time for friendship, to cele
brate being a friend and hav
ing a friend,” said Gise, the
risk-taker who loves all card
games. “That was important
for me, not to just escape
from your world but to be a
good friend and have a good
friend was important. We lit
erally grew up together as
young adults; that’s price
less.”
Perhaps the youngest,
Gise had card sense but did
not know how to play bridge
when she started with the
group. Over the years, she
needed to step away from
regular play to focus on
younger children, but re
turned when they grew older.
“We’ve all seen the best
and the worst of each other
through the years, but I look
as forward to getting together
with them now as I did when
I was 24, and maybe even
more,” Gise added.
When not a regular, Gise
was a substitute player - a
role crucial to any bridge
club that ensures there will be
enough players. The group is
currently looking for another
sub, which is how Johnson
became a part of the group.
“I love playing with
them,” said Johnson, one of
several members known for
cooking, including her pi
mento cheese and desserts.
“It certainly was nice to be
invited to the group.”
Janet Short of Panama
City Beach, Fla. had a similar
introduction when she moved
to Jasper 45 years ago. She
learned bridge by playing in
groups with her mother and
her grandmother.
“This bridge club was un
usual in that it wasn’t all con
centrated on the competition
of bridge; it was friendships
and such a diverse group of
ladies - lawyers, teachers,
gardeners, excellent cooks,
some who didn’t care about
cooking. We shared just
about everything going on in
our lives. There was no mali
cious gossip. It is a support
ive group of lifelong friends
that remains to this day.”
Short moved to Florida
about five years ago, and typ
ically invites the club to her
house for a week of bridge
play each year. She is a joke -
ster and brought a battery op
erated toy similar to a Weazel
See Bridge on 11A
Library prepares
opening of temporary
service location
Traffic stop leads to meth seizure
By Dan Pool
Editor
dpool@pickensprogress.com
A traffic stop by Pickens
deputies last Wednesday led
to the seizure of 66.5 grams
of meth after the office’s K9
signaled that drugs were
likely inside the vehicle, ac
cording to a statement from
the Pickens Sheriff’s office.
The sheriff’s office posted
on Facebook, “It all starts
with a traffic stop. Today a
traffic stop resulted in
deputies arresting two indi
viduals. 66.5 grams of meth
as well as smaller amounts of
heroin and marijuana were
seized.”
Sheriff Donnie Craig said
in a later interview, “You
never have a ‘routine’ traffic
stop. This was a basic stop,
but working with our K9, it
Photo from sheriff’s Facebook showing bags of meth from
the traffic stop.
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Jeffery Scott Smith Chasety Duckett
alerted on the vehicle and we
were able to take an amount
of drugs off the street.”
When the drugs were
found during the search of
the vehicle, the case was
turned over to the Cherokee
Multiagency Narcotics
Squad (CMANS) so full de
tails are not available.
Sheriff Craig said they
“have done well” with K9
Storm and the partnership
with CMANS. “We have had
quite a few deployments
where the K9 has found indi
viduals as well as drugs in
side homes or vehicles.”
Arrested on May 26th
were Chasety Duckett, 40,
Marble Hill. She faces
charges of marijuana posses
sion; possession of a con
trolled substance; probation
violation and a trafficking
charge.
Also arrested, Jeffery
Scott Smith, 33, of Ball
Ground. He is charged with
possession of meth, bond vi
olation, numerous traffic
charges including DUI - al
cohol.
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6255
during renovation
The Pickens County Li
brary in Jasper, located at 100
Library Lane, has closed to
the public to prepare for up
coming renovations and ex
pansions of its facilities
through 2021. While the li
brary is closed, a temporary,
limited-service library loca
tion called “Pickens Grab &
Go” will be available inside
the Mountain Education
Charter High School build
ing, located at 339 West
Church Street. The Grab &
Go location is anticipated to
open to the public during
June 2021.
The library has launched a
webpage at www.sequoy-
ahregionallibrary.org/pcl-
project detailing the
construction project with an
swers to common questions.
Visitors can check the page
frequently for updates about
the renovations and expan
sions, as well as the opening
date and service hours of the
Pickens Grab & Go tempo
rary service location once
they are announced.
At the Grab & Go loca
tion, library patrons will be
able to check out and return
materials, place and pick up
library holds, request interli
brary loans, pay fines, and
browse a selection of items
from the library’s collection.
Express computer stations
will also be available for
users to access Wi-Fi, print,
and make copies. Free Wi-Fi
is still available in the park
ing lot of the Pickens County
Library until construction be
gins in June.
From the beginning of
June through the end of July,
items returned to the library
will not have overdue fines as
part of the library’s fine-free
summer promotion. Materi
als that have been checked
out from the Pickens County
Library have an extended due
date of June 28. Pickens li
brary patrons are encouraged
to hold onto their borrowed
items until service begins at
the Pickens Grab & Go loca
tion. Pickens County resi
dents may continue to
contact the library by phone,
online, or via social media to
receive assistance and infor
mation about services and
programming. Residents are
encouraged to visit www.se-
quoyahregionallibrary.org/sr
p to access up-to-date infor
mation about the library’s
Summer Reading Program.
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