Newspaper Page Text
24-page special section insert
to get you on the road again.
Inn
Thursday, June 10, 2021
Volume 134 Number 8
Jasper, Georgia
20 pages in two sections
Published Weekly
Wanna run for office?
Municipal elections
“He was the
first victim,
not a criminal,”
says sister of
man arrested
in phone scam
David Bramblette did not un
derstand what he had gotten into,
says sister Brenda of the phone
scams he is accused of taking
part in. They are shown at a
birthday party several years ago.
By Dan Pool
Editor
dpool@pickensprogress.com
The sister of the Refuge Road
man arrested for involvement in
an international phone scam in
May said her brother suffered with
mental limitations and did not
have the ability to understand
what he had gotten into. This view
was seconded by a longtime local
business owner who also knew
David Bramblette.
Brenda Bramblette said her
brother, David, 63, was first
tricked out of all of his money and
then tricked again to helping the
people who had swindled him.
“I want people to know that
David was not some criminal
type,” his sister said in a phone in
terview last week. ‘■‘He was a
pawn. He was their fall guy. He
didn’t know any better. He was
their first victim and he just didn’t
understand it.”
Her account is seconded by
Sam Parker, owner of North Ga.
TV, just off East Church Street in
Jasper, who has known Bram
blette since the mid 1990s and
considers him a friend. Parker said
he occasionally hired Bramblette
to help around the shop and he
was honest, though with some so
cial difficulties.
“He just didn’t realize what
was happening,” said Parker.
“They had taken all his money and
his lights had been cut off and his
See Scam on 11A
By Angela Reinhardt
Staff Writer
areinhardt@pickensprogress.com
The cities of Jasper, Nelson and
Talking Rock have numerous seats
up for election this November, with
candidate qualifying to be held on
different dates prior to election day.
Jasper
City council seats held by Sonny
Proctor and Anne Sneve are up for
grabs. Candidates must be a resident
of the city of Jasper and have lived
there for one year. Qualifying dates
will be Monday, Aug. 16 through
Wednesday, Aug. 18. Qualifying
fees are $35.
Nelson
The mayor’s seat, currently held
by Sylvia Green, and two council
seats, held by James Queen and
Salary increases, Stegall
Drive social area, other
news from Jasper
By Angela Reinhardt
Staff Writer
areinhardt@pickensprogress.com
With the city of Jasper’s waste-
water expansion project now behind
Susan Johnston, are up for election.
Candidates must be residents of Nel
son and have lived there at least one
year for council members, and at
least two for the mayor’s seat. Qual
ifying fees are to be set at their June
meeting with qualifying dates to be
determined soon.
Talking Rock
Council seats held by Andrea
Watson (Post 1), Tony Hawf, (Post
2), and James Bryant Jr. (Post 4) are
all up for election. Talking Rock
Town Council will set qualifying
fees and dates at their upcoming
meeting on Thursday, June 10. Can
didates must be a resident of Talking
Rock and have lived there for one
year.
There are no county or school
elections this year. Next year, seats
held by school board members
Tucker Green, Steve Smith, and
schedule by about two years due to
holdups with the EPD, the city is
forging ahead with a portion of the
project they say can’t wait any
longer.
The $8 million expansion project,
to be funded by a U.S.D.A. Rural
Development loan, will increase the
city’s wastewater treatment capacity
from 780,000 gallons a day to 1.56
million gallons a day. Jasper Water
coming
Aaron Holland will be up for elec
tion. Seats held by school board
members Sue Finley and Tommy
Gartrell are up for election in 2024.
Pickens’ west district commis
sion seat, currently held by Jerry
Barnes, will be up for election in
2022.
The Progress typically gathers
election information from the Pick
ens County Elections Office, but the
office currently does not have an
elections supervisor. The elections
supervisor quit abruptly after issues
she had regarding changes to the
Pickens Board of Election appoint
ment process. There is a person
staffing the office, but when asked
about upcoming elections informa
tion said she was there to field phone
calls and did not have that informa
tion. We gathered information from
county and city clerks instead.
Superintendent David Hall has said
this expansion is crucial for eco
nomic development with the city
nearing treatment capacity coupled
with a surge in new residential
growth.
It’s not that the city hasn’t
planned ahead, Hall told the
Progress, “because this project has
been in front of council for years and
See Council on 11A
Jasper forced to move ahead
with wastewater expansion
The city of Jasper’s wastewater treatment facility is long overdue for an expansion, which has been in the
works for years. City officials have said they are forced to move ahead with parts of the project because of
long and unexpected delays with EPD approval.
34 percent of Pickens has at least one COVID shot
By Christie Pool
Staff Writer
christie@pickensprogress.com
Approximately 34 percent of
Pickens County residents have re
ceived at least one dose of the
COVID-19 vaccine as of June 7th,
according to figures released by the
North Georgia Health District
(NGHD).
The NGHD reported Monday
that 10,792 Pickens residents have
received at least one dose of the
coronavirus vaccine - 34 percent of
the population - and 9,861 people -
or 31 percent - are fully vaccinated.
Those figures are well behind the
state’s overall percentage of 41 per
cent with at least one dose and 34
percent who are fully vaccinated.
There are 32,591 Pickens resi
dents, according to the latest avail
able figures from 2019 from the U.S.
Census Bureau.
As of June 7th, the NGHD re
ported that 20,185 doses of the coro
navirus vaccine have been
administered in Pickens County.
That figure includes non-residents.
“People were coming from other
See Vaccines on 11A
Record turnout for Rec. Department summer camp
By Angela Reinhardt
Staff Writer
areinhardt@pickensprogress.com
While Pickens Recre
ation Director Brian Jones
can’t definitively say what
caused record numbers the
first week of summer camp,
his top guess is parent pan
demic burnout.
“I think it might have to
do with the pandemic and
people really wanting to get
their kids active doing
things,” he said. “The first
week is always the roughest
week, but this year we
ended up having to put a
cap on campers because we
couldn’t take any more.”
The program saw be
tween 120 and 130 campers
show up that first day, a sig
nificant increase from the
average of 80 kids a day in
previous years. Due to the
high volume they’ve added
four new counselors, up
from between eight to 10 a
day to between 12 and 14.
Parents can drop-off and
pay for a day at a time, but
can also pay for the entire
week up front. The rec de
partment had enough par
ents pay for the entire week
which forced them to limit
numbers. Jones guessed
about 15 kids were turned
away.
“We got slammed on
Tuesday and by Wednesday
we had to shut it down to
new applications,” he said.
In 2020, summer camp
was plagued with issues
created by the pandemic.
Camp opened the first
See Camp on 11A
Kids get out energy at Pickens County Rec. Depart
ment’s summer camp in Roper Park Tuesday.
Brian Jones / Photo
Inside:
Shooting the
Breeze with
community leader
Lawton Baggs
Page 2A
Sign up to be
in the 4th of July
parade
Page 10A
WyldLife goes to
Southwind
Page 1B
Government
County to receive
$3 million in
COVID-19 relief
Page 5A
Obituaries - 10A
• Gene Troglin
• John Meyers
• Mary Strohm
• Tammie Bradley
• Tommy Brooks
• Wanda Dobson
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