Newspaper Page Text
Thursday, September 9, 2021 | Volume 134 Number 21 | Jasper, Georgia | 24 pages, 2 sections | Published Weekly | $1.00
Ceremony
to be held
for 20th
anniversary
of 9/11
The public is invited to
attend a special service for
the 20th anniversary of
9/11, this Saturday, Sept.
11. at the Pickens County
Veterans Memorial Park
in Jasper.
The ceremony, which
will pay respects to the
men and women who lost
their lives that day, will
begin at 11:30 a.m. Ma
rine Corps League Det.
#1280 Commandant Bill
Craig will deliver the
keynote speech.
Nearly 3,000 people
lost their lives in the 9/11
attacks after four commer
cial planes were hijacked;
two struck the World
Trade Center towers
which later collapsed, a
third plane struck the Pen
tagon in Washington,
D.C., and a fourth crashed
in Pennsylvania.
The Pickens County
Veterans Memorial Park is
located at 599 Veterans
Memorial Blvd. near Lee
Newton Park in Jasper.
The event is being organ
ized by local veterans
groups the Marine Corps
League Det. #1280, the
American Legion, and the
Disabled American Veter
ans.
JeepFest 2021
Big-Muddy-"Chill"
Max Caylor / Photo
Even with muddier than usual conditions, JeepFest 2021 volunteers and organizers reported a very relaxed atmos
phere. Above, a mud-covered participant waves to the crowd at the HomeBase mudpit Sunday. See more pics on 2A.
Staff Reports
“I heard a lot of people say ‘Sher
iff’s JeepFest is the best show in the
southeast.’ This year it was a little mud
dier but I think the best year we ever
had. It was the 10th anniversary and
things went smoothly. Everyone had a
blast,” said Adam Richards of A & T
Towing and Service Center who has set
up the obstacle course every year.
Many volunteers and organizers
agreed this year everything from the
trails, to HomeBase, to the vendors was
more relaxed, possibly due to cooler
temperatures, no rain, and Jeepers glad
to be back in Marble Hill.
“Not having it last year, Jeep owners
were ready to get back out there,”
Richards said. “It was kind of chill, no-
See JeepFest on 11A
Remlinger
sentenced
to life plus
10 for child
molestation
Pickens Sheriff’s Office /
Photo
Jeremy Remlinger
book-in photo
By Angela Reinhardt
Staff Writer
areinhardt@pickensprogress.com
Last week in Pickens
County Superior Court a
former Jasper business
owner was sentenced to
life plus 10 years to serve,
plus 20 years probation,
for charges that relate to
inappropriate sexual con
duct with female minors.
The sentence hearing
for Jeremy Lee Rem
linger, 39, was held
Wednesday, Sept. 1, one
month after a jury found
him guilty of 17 counts in
cluding aggravated
sodomy, aggravated child
molestation, enticing a
child for indecent pur
poses, seven counts of
child molestation, crimi
nal attempt to commit a
felony/aggravated child
molestation, criminal at
tempt to commit a
felony/aggravated
sodomy, sexual battery
against a child under 16,
cruelty to children in the
first degree, and aggra
vated assault/family vio
lence.
Testimony given by
victims during the trial in
early August revealed dis
turbing details about the
chronic sexual abuse of
female minors from pre
school age through
teenage years. When
asked, one of those vic
tims said she couldn’t be
sure of the exact number
See Remlinger on 11A
Husband and wife die within
36 hours of each other with
COVID, leave 5 children
Family thankful for
community support
- GoFundMe set up
to help with ex
penses
By Christie Pool
Staff Writer
christie@pickensprogress.com
A Pickens County family
is grieving an unbelievable
loss after Stanley and Tricia
Rescigno died within 36
hours of each other last week
after being hospitalized with
COVID for several weeks.
The mother and father left
behind five children, the
youngest just 15.
Stanley and Tricia
Rescigno, ages 58 and 49 re
spectively, lost their battle
with COVID on Thursday,
September 2nd and Satur
day, September 4th, respec
tively. They had lived in
Jasper for 20 years. Tricia
was a real estate agent while
Stanley owned a small busi
ness.
They leave behind five
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Photo courtesy of Rescigno Family
The Rescignos in happy times surrounded by their children. From left: Stanley, Joseph,
Daniel, Amelia, Marian, Thomas and Tricia.
children, the youngest - ages
15 and 16 - will be taken in
by the family’s older chil
dren. All of the children at
tended school in Pickens
County and have worked in
the community.
According to Steven
Dobson, the Rescigno’s son-
in-law, the husband and wife
spent three weeks in the hos
pital.
“We are just over
whelmed with the amount of
love and support we have re
ceived from our commu
nity,” said daughter Amelia
Rescigno. “In the worst,
most unimaginable time of
our lives, our community has
truly held us up. The kind
messages, calls, dinners, do
nations and most of all
prayers are more appreciated
See Rescigno on 11A
Read statewide numbers, 6B
Kudzu’s more than a southern thing
Photo / Damon Howell
Traffic signs near the bridge over Long Swamp Creek
on Cove Road provide perfect evidence of how fast and
high the green vines will grow if left alone.
A look at economic
impact of hated vine
By Angela Reinhardt
Staff Writer
areinhardt@pickensprogress.com
Kudzu is synonymous
with the south, its fast-grow
ing vines and broad leaves
well-rooted in the region’s
landscape, culture, and art.
Kudzu conspicuously lines
roadways in deep southern
states like Georgia, creating
those inimitable formations
as it climbs and overtakes
hillsides, trees, and power
lines - swaths of green punc
tuated by organic spiers that
look like creatures frozen in
time.
So many southern artists,
such as the renowned poet
James Dickey in “Kudzu,”
have ruminated on the plant
and its significance in our
collective southern mythos.
...Up telephone poles,
Which rear, half out of
leafage
As though they would
shriek,
Like things smothered
by their own
Green, mindless, unkil-
lable ghosts...
In addition to integrating
it into our art, like locally
when the Pickens Arts &
Cultural Alliance used its
sturdy vines to make the
world’s biggest kudzu bas
ket, southerners have come
to accept it as part of life and
use it in practical applica
tions, too. We make jelly out
of it. We make furniture. We
name things after it. But
kudzu’s cultural significance
here is sordid, an invasive
weed now infamously
known as the “vine that ate
See Kudzu on 11A
Inside this Edition:
Chair weaving -
a hot trend in
classic style
Page 14A
Government News
Pickens County
has low debt,
according to
auditors
Page 12A
Award
Friends of the
Pickens Library
massive book
sale Thurs-Sat.
Page 3A
Obituaries - 8-9A
• Amanda Ryder
• Andrew Clay
• Anne Hunter
• Cecil Smith
• Clarice Blankers
• Cynthia Burnette
• Debbie Brand
• Eunice Parker
• Fannie Anderson
• Herbert Brimer
• Hilda Parker
• Jeanette Forest
• Jimmy Whitaker
• Jerry Mull
• Jose Suarez
• Kelly Kirk
• Lou Leach
• Mary Andrews
• Roger Erwin
• Ronald Millwood
• Stanley Rescigno
• Tony Mitchell, Sr.
• Tricia Rescigno
• Sallye Ryan
Contact Us
94 North Main Street
Jasper, Ga. 30143
706-253-2457
www.pickensprogress.com
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