Newspaper Page Text
Thursday, September 30, 2021 | Volume 134 Number 24 | Jasper, Georgia | 20 pages, 2 sections | Published Weekly | $1-00
Cast your ballot for the
2021 municipal elections
Pickens County Board of Elections & Registration will conduct a mu
nicipal election November 2, 2021, for the cities of Jasper, Nelson and
Talking Rock. Only registered voters living in the city limits of these mu
nicipalities can vote during this election.
Qualifying candidates are:
City of Jasper
Sonny Proctor-City Council Post#1 (Incumbent)
Ryan O’Dea - City Council Post #1
Anne Sneve -City Council Post #2 (Incumbent) (Unopposed)
City of Talking Rock
Steven Lewis - City Council Post #1
Andrea Watson - City Council Post #1 (Incumbent)
Cheryl Sams - City Council #2
Anthony Hawf - City Council Post #2 (Incumbent)
James Bryant, Jr. - City Council Post #4 (Incumbent)
Kenneth Darrell Cain - City Council Post #4
City of Nelson
Sylvia Green - Mayor (Incumbent) (Unopposed)
Terry Johnson - City Council Post #1
James Queen - City Council Post#1 (Incumbent)
Michael Brown - City Council Post #2
William Taylor - City Council Post #2
Susan Johnston - City Council Post #2 (Incumbent)
Eligible registered voters
may vote as follows:
October 4, 2021: Last day to reg
ister to vote for this election. You can
verify your voting registration at the
Georgia Secretary of State, Voter
Info:
https://www.mvp.sos.ga.gOv/MVP/.d
o. If you do not have access to the
website, contact Pickens County
Board of Elections and Registration
at contact information provided
below.
October 12, 2021 - October 29,
2021: Advance in-person voting will
be at the Pickens County Recreation
Center, 1329 Camp Rd., Jasper, GA,
30143. Dates and times as follows:
•October 12 - October 15, 2021,
Tuesday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 5
p. m.
•October 16, 2021, Saturday, 9
a.m. to 4 p.m.
•October 18 - October 22, 2021,
Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 5
p.m.
•October 23, 2021, Saturday, 9
a.m. to 4 p.m.
•October 25 - October 29, 2021,
Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 5
p.m.
Mail-in absentee voting applica
tions: Georgia Law SB 202 has
changed the absentee voting applica
tion process. Mail-in absentee ballot
applications can be requested now
and no later than October 22, 2021 for
this election. Absentee ballot appli
cations received after October 22,
2021 will not be processed. Absentee
ballots will be mailed out by the Pick
ens County Board of Elections &
Registration no earlier than October
11,2021.
Absentee ballot applications can
be requested online
https://www.mvp.sos.ga.gov/MVP/rn
vp.do. If you do not have access to
the website, please contact the Pick
ens County Board of Elections &
Registration at contact information
provided below. Follow the instruc
tions in the application. Applications
can be returned by mail, fax, email (as
an attachment), or in-person to the
See Elections on 11A
$15,000 raised for
client services at Burnt
Mountain Center
Max Caylor / Photos
John Atman, a caregiver himself, gives “thumbs up”
from his Harley CVO Ultra Glide as he and his wife
Cynthia are one of 60 bikes that rode for the Burnt
Mountain Center Saturday.
Julie and Megan Thomas are selling beautiful “trea
sures” made by Burnt Mountain clients. In addition, 48
silent auction items were donated by local businesses
and supporters.
A gun raffle and motor
cycle ride highlighted a fun
fundraiser for the Burnt
Mountain Center last Sat
urday at Lee Newton Park.
Some 60 riders partici
pated in the hour tour to
Waleska and back. Local
businesses and supporters
donated 48 silent auction
items and 15 speciality
cakes were auctioned at the
event along with barbecue
plates.
Rachel Elliot from the
center and parent volun
teers helped to organize the
day.
“This amazing $15,000
will go to help better serve
our clients beyond the very
basics from the state,” said
Burnt Mountain Center Di
rector Debbie Rooker.
The nonprofit Burnt
Mountain Center has been
providing care and support
for clients with mild, mod
erate and severe develop
mental disabilities since
1973. Clients range in age
from 19-65 and primarily
reside in Pickens County.
Their motto is: “Where
every step leads forward.”
Talking Rock Heritage Days
Festival set for Oct 16-17
By Angela Reinhardt
Staff Writer
areinhardt@pickensprogress.com
“We’re ready to rock and
roll,” said Talking Rock Her
itage Days organizer Cheryl
Sams of the Oct. 16-17 fes
tival. Last year would have
been the 27th annual cele
bration, but because it was
cancelled due to COVID,
2021 will get the popular
downhome event back on
track.
Festival-goers can expect
the return of their favorite el
ements - crafts, antiques, and
food vendors, live demon
strations, musical acts per
forming on both days, and
an antique fire truck that
pumps out cheery tunes
through an instrument af
fixed to the top. The re
stored Talking Rock
Schoolhouse Teaching Mu
seum, built in 1877, will be
open to the public, and ad
mission and parking will be
free as usual.
The difference this year is
that festivities will be relo
cated from the main drag
that runs through historic
downtown, into Talking
Rock Park. The change will
provide additional safety and
save the tiny town some
money, too.
“We won’t have to close
the road, and this is going to
keep us from having to use
shuttles,” Sams said. “It’s a
way to be safer with COVID
by not having people riding
shuttles together or having to
disinfect the shuttles in be
tween trips.”
Nixing the shuttle service
See Festival on 11A
New Nelson beautification
committee gets down and dirty
By Angela Reinhardt
Staff Writer
areinhardt@pickensprogress.com
Two weeks ago a group
of Nelson residents, part of
the newly-formed Beautiful
Nelson committee, began
the first of what they say will
be many beautification and
improvement projects
around the community.
According to the Beauti
ful Nelson website, the com
mittee - founded by resident
Keith Johnston, husband of
council member Susan John
ston - “is intended to bring
together like-minded resi
dents who want to see im-
See Nelson on 11A
WELCOME t O
4lY C^NEL'tIN
Beautiful Nelson / Photo
This is first of many planned improvement projects by the new “Beautiful Nelson”
committee. The public is invited to an event this Saturday, Oct. 2nd, when final plantings
and speeches will be made at the town’s welcome sign at the corner of Kennesaw Avenue
and School Street. Beautification committee members (l-r): Will Taylor, Wilt Pyle, Elisa
Marathas, William McNiff Jodi Chapman, and Kim Bare.
Witnesses slam Ga. prisons in legislative hearing
A correctional officer at Lee Arrendale State Prison,
who declined to identify himselffor fear of retaliation, tes
tified via cellphone the prison system is plagued by a short
age of guards and medical staff.
By Dave Williams
Bureau Chief
Capitol Beat News Service
ATLANTA - Georgia’s
prison system needs a total
overhaul to stem the neglect
and violence rampant inside
prison walls, a Democratic
member of the General As
sembly said Thursday.
State Rep. Josh McLau-
rin, D-Sandy Springs,
chaired a hearing that in
cluded jarring testimony
from mothers of Georgia in
mates who have died while
in the state’s custody or suf
fered serious neglect.
“The level of human
rights abuses is intolerable,”
said McLaurin, chairman of
the Georgia House Demo
cratic Caucus Committee on
Crisis in Prisons, which was
formed to raise public
awareness of conditions in
the prisons. “We want to
change the system. We want
there to be a reckoning.”
Thursday’s hearing came
a week after the U.S. Justice
Department announced it
has opened an investigation
into conditions inside Geor
gia’s prisons following com
plaints from civil rights
groups and others who have
expressed concerns about in
mate safety.
The federal agency cited
deaths of at least 26 inmates
in state custody by con
firmed or suspected homi-
See Prison on 11A
Inside this Edition:
Pickens moves
all to 9th in first
proposal for
redistricting
Page12A
Sports
Dragons play big
region game vs.
Cedartown this
Friday at Dragon
Stadium PagelB
Pets
*• cat®
Low cost
spay/neuter
deal for Pickens
pet owners
Oct. 2nd
Page 5B
Obituaries - 6A
• Alfred Thomas
• Annie Mae Dean
• Charles Leverette
• Doug Patterson
• Elizabeth Edmunds
• Gerard Brown Sr.
• Jack Griffith
• Jackie Jones
• Jana Godfrey
• Jeanene Moore
• Joey Russell
• Linda Hightower
• Mary Pross
• Odean Padgett
• Ronald Hannahs
• Sukhdevbhai Patel
Contact Us
94 North Main Street
Jasper, Ga. 30143
706-253-2457
www.pickensprogress.com
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these hours: Mon-Thurs,
9-5, and Fri, 9-4:30
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