Newspaper Page Text
Continued From 1A
Officer
that Burson "will be greatly
missed." Although he was
still considered a rookie the
police chief had high praise
for Burson, saying, "He was
a model officer. If you had
the ability to clone police of
ficers, you would have
wanted your officer to be Joe
Burson."
Burson is the first officer
of the Holly Springs Police
Department ever to be killed
in the line of duty. He is also
the first Cherokee County
law enforcement officer to be
killed while on duty since
Deputy Sheriff Timothy
Wayne Woodard, 26, was
killed in a car crash on Au
gust 2, 2003.
Marykate and Joe Burson are pictured here in this pho
tograph which was posted on Facebook, with Marykate's
permission, by family friend Tasha Gaddis Whitener. The
Burson's were residents of Ball Ground and attended Rev
olution Church. They had many friends and acquaintances
in this area.
Notice
Pickens County
Board of Elections
Please be advised that the Elections Board
will have a meeting at 6:30 p.m. at the
Elections Office located at 83 Pioneer Road,
Jasper, Georgia.
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THURSDAY, JUNE 24, 2021 PICKENS COUNTY PROGRESS PAGE 11A
27 new hangars will push Pickens airport
into top 10 in state for based planes
An aerial photo shows the layout of the three new hangars to be built at the Pickens County Airport. The concrete
pad for the first row of T-hangars has been poured (right,) with the second one prepared and the box hangars to the left.
At the completion of the $2.8 million project the airport will have 129 based aircraft, putting it the top 10 of all Georgia
airports. Photo by Allen Beveridge
By Max Caylor
Progress Contributor
“The Pickens County Air
port Authority and staff,
through good administrative
methods, will soon be one of
the state’s largest ground
based airports,” said Phil
Eberly of Lead Design
Group, the authority’s engi
neer. The new 24 T-hangars
and three box hangars will
bring the total based planes to
129 aircraft.
Airport Authority Chair
man Don Boggus said, “our
development comes from ef
fective planning and imple
mentation of our yearly FFA
required five year plan. We
follow our plan step-by-step
until we reach our goal.”
Other members of the
Pickens Airport Authority
are: Ed Wood, David John
son, Jerry Edwards and Wen
dell Turner. They meet
quarterly and when needed to
conduct airport business.
Recently, the Authority
voted to use a FFA CARES
grant of $13,000 (COVID
Relief) to add safeguards to
the fuel farm area which
eases the drain on operation
expenses.
Eberly further highlighted
the airport’s administration
by stating, “we received a
“no comment” in the air
port’s two-year FFA inspec
tion. “It is highly unusual
when the FFA does not find
something to point out in
their inspections,” Eberly
said.
Airport Manager Randy
Thomason, says, “Customer
service keeps pilots coming
back to buy fuel and seek a
home base for their aircraft.”
“We want the community
to know that all new hangar
space being built was 100
percent filled with deposits
on the new hangars before
construction,” Boggus said.
Economic Development
Director Green Suttles III
said, with the new hangars
Pickens County will be by far
the smallest county by popu
lation in the top 10 so that the
dollars generated in the com
munity has more impact.
Continued From 1A
Firearm
parking lot.
“The suspect is currently un
known until we can confirm
through Gilmer with their re
port. Follow up is being
done. The victims know of
him, just not his informa
tion,” Henderson said.
While in the Ingles park
ing lot, the two men got out
of their vehicles and the
unidentified male brandished
a firearm, according to Hen
derson. The other man then
pulled a brass fitting out of
his vehicle and threw it to
wards the man, but did not
realize his wife had gotten
out of the vehicle.
“He threw it and she just
happened to walk right in
front of him at that time, and
it hit her in the head by acci
dent.” Henderson said.
The wife was treated at
Piedmont Mountainside Hos
pital, and later transported to
Kennestone Hospital for
head injuries.
No charges have been
brought against the couple.
“The [husband] was sin
cere and forthcoming with
me, and no charges have
been brought for him because
that was an accidental in
jury,” Henderson said.
The charge of pointing
and aiming a firearm at an
other parson is pending for
the unidentified male. The
firearm was not discharged,
police say.
The investigation is ongo
ing. If you have any informa
tion please contact Jasper
Police at 706-692-9110.
Continued From 1A
Retirements
I’ve come to know over the
years.”
Johnny Nicholson worked
with the county for seven
years in a variety of roles
after a 30-year career with
the U. S. Post Office. Most
recently, he worked as direc
tor of Emergency Manage
ment and Special Projects.
Denney called him the
county’s “go-to” guy who de
veloped a broad and deep un
derstanding of county
government.
Commissioners thanked
both Harvey and Nicholson
for their hard work, loyalty,
and for making a difference
during their employment.
Denney also thanked them
for their guidance over the
years.
In a public statement, the
commission board later said,
“While their presence will be
missed throughout our office,
the great work they did as
Pickens County government
employees ensures that they
will not be forgotten. What
Faye Harvey and John
Nicholson achieved here has
undoubtedly made a signifi
cant impact. We thank them
for being tireless profession
als, helpful coworkers, and
exceptional friends. We wish
them the very best as they
embark on this new chapter.”
The county has hired a
new CFO, who will be an
nounced next week.
Continued From 1A
Elections
Cantrell and Barbara Ledom-
Balducci were appointed as
the two representatives from
the local Democratic party.
The chair, Tippens, gradu
ated from Pickens High
School in 2002, and later
from Appalachian Tech. He
has worked with Windstream
Communications since 2005
in a variety of roles, currently
as the operations manager in
the Canton/Jasper market.
His wife teaches at Hill City
Elementary and they have
three children.
“I was very humbled and
honored to be asked to serve
as the chairman of the Pick
ens County Board of Elec
tions,” Tippens said in a
prepared statement. “This
was not a position I sought,
but at the request of the
Board of Commissioners,
and upon seeing the need I
am very excited to begin the
work of rebuilding the confi
dence and trust of the resi
dents of Pickens County
where our elections are con
cerned. The right to vote is
the cornerstone of a free and
democratic society; and each
individual voter should feel
that their voice is not only
heard, but matters.
“The board’s first order of
business will be to hire a new
election supervisor and re
view the existing by-laws of
the old board to see if any re
visions or updates are needed
in advance of the upcoming
municipal elections.
“I would like to ask every
one for patience while we
work through this transition.
We have a whole new board
and will be hiring a brand
new elections supervisor. I
expect growing pains and
minor setbacks as we move
forward, but please know that
we will be working diligently
to streamline the elections of
fice and improve the voting
experience for everyone.”
In a later interview, Kris
Stancil said the county began
collecting applications for the
elections supervisor position
a few weeks ago, and had re
ceived three at the time of the
interview.
Georgia landline phone customers to see lower bills
By Dave Williams
Bureau Chief
Capitol Beat News Service
ATLANTA - The diminish
ing number of Georgians
with landline telephones in
their homes are about to see
a savings on their bills thanks
to the sunsetting of a decade-
old program.
The Georgia Public Serv
ice Commission (PSC) voted
unanimously last week to re
duce the fee supporting the
program from 6% to 3.75%
in monthly phone bills start
ing next month.
The mandatory fee, imple
mented in 2011, was de
signed to bring the costs of
in-state long-distance phone
calls in line with the costs of
out-of-state long distance. It
took 10 years to fully imple
ment the program, making
the fee reduction possible.
“The bottom line is busi
ness and individual cus
tomers in Georgia will see a
savings on their phone bills,”
said Commissioner Tricia
Pridemore, who chairs the
PSC’s Telecommunications
Committee. “This is wel
come news for anyone with a
landline phone.”
A $50 phone bill will drop
by slightly more than $ 1 per
month under the reduced fee,
resulting in more than $13 in
annual savings. Georgia has
an estimated 1.7 million
landline phones.
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