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Common Sense
The Progress
Editorial
October 28,2021
From the Staff
Local votes pack
supersize impact
By Dan Pool
Editor
dpool@pickensprogress.com
I was in our new downtown Jasper
coffee shop recently and, like you are
supposed to do at a coffee shop, began
talking with one of the Jasper city coun
cil members and the owner of another
Main Street business.
This was pure shooting the breeze
over our Red Bean coffee, nothing
planned. The three of us just happened to
be there at the same time and knew each
other professionally.
It was one of the most productive
meetings I have been to in a while.
The other business owner, who is rel
atively new here, had some ideas, the
council member was very interested and
I was engaged as a longtime
business/building owner on Main Street.
This is what’s possible and wonderful
about local government in a small town.
Neither myself nor the other business
owner are actually voters inside Jasper’s
city limits, but we know our council
members on a first name basis.
You can call, e-mail or bump into our
local officials. They will listen to you,
not necessarily agree, but at least hear
what you are saying. At the city and even
the county level if you have a mind or
motive for public service, you can get in
volved, bring your ideas to light and get
a response.
The towns of Jasper, Talking Rock
and Nelson are simply too small for any
voter or interested members of the public
to be ignored. Show up at enough meet
ings and they may put you on some com
mittee.
Consider that in Jasper, the largest of
our local towns, there are only 2,615 reg
istered voters and in Nelson just 854 (391
in Pickens and 463 in Cherokee) and
Talking Rock’s election is like a big fam
ily reunion with only 56 registered vot
ers.
Many voters get all excited by the
hoopla surrounding the national elections
- and they are certainly important - but
perhaps on a daily basis much less so
than who your city council member is.
With national races, emotions run high
about defeating the godless enemy -
which is always the party you don’t be
long to, regardless of who is running.
Voter turnout may be well above 80 per
cent across Pickens County in a presiden
tial vote - even though not one single
resident of this county was asked their
opinion directly by any candidate during
the campaign. Nor will the outcomes im
mediately effect our day-to-day lives.
In contrast, the local races determine
things you may see when you pull out of
your driveway.
For example, the council races up for
grabs could determine things like
whether Talking Rock keeps expanding
their downtown entertainment busi
nesses, or whether Nelson finally settles
their park issues, or how Jasper goes
about controlling growth and creating in
frastructure to serve new residential
areas.
A vocal group of citizens in any of the
three communities can find candidates
who would listen to them and they have
a chance to influence the area right
around their homes.
Often you hear someone complaining
about “they” in government as in, they
won’t do this or they won’t listen. A bet
ter approach is act like the they is a we as
in we talked this over or we are going to
work on the parks.
These council members are part of the
community and every one of them will
be spotted around their towns. Our com
munities are too small to hide while in of
fice.The decisions facing the town
councils over the next four years loom
large with growth coming this way
quickly.
As of late last week, these local races
where a vote really does make a differ
ence weren’t getting much attention. In
fact almost no one had shown up to vote
early. Next Tuesday is Election Day and
like the county election supervisor said
earlier, we hope that most people in the
towns are waiting to vote at their own
town halls, rather than the county’s early
voting location because the turnout thus
far is dismal - which means you really
should go vote. Your vote will count and
you can’t be ignored.
Tell us your thoughts with a letter to the editor. E-mail to news@pickensprogress.com
See letter submission guidelines on the Letters to the Editor page or call us 706-253-2457.
Rising transportation taxes
show Georgians back to
driving, traveling
By Dave Williams
Bureau Chief
Capitol Beat News Service
ATLANTA - With the num
ber of new cases of COVID-
19 in Georgia steadily
declining, more and more
Georgians are driving and
traveling.
That encouraging trend is
showing up in monthly tax
collections reported by the
state Department of Trans
portation.
The DOT collected $174
million in motor fuels tax
revenue last month, state
Commissioner of Transporta
tion Russell McMurry told
members of the State Trans
portation Board Thursday.
That represents a 9.1% in
crease over September of last
year.
During the first quarter of
the current fiscal year, the
agency collected $558.4 mil
lion in motor fuel taxes, a
9.4% increase over July, Au
gust and September 2020.
Revenues from the state
tax on gasoline and other
motor fuels plummeted when
the coronavirus pandemic
first struck Georgia in March
of last year but were starting
to recover by August 2020.
Today, tax collections are
not only up over last year at
this time but are even exceed
ing pre-pandemic levels, Mc
Murry said Thursday. In fact,
the last three months saw an
increase in motor fuel rev
enue of $39.4 million over
July, August and September
2019, well before the pan
demic.
“People are out and
about,” McMurry said.
“These are positive signs.”
The numbers on the
state’s hotel-motel tax are
even more dramatic, evi
dence that people cooped up
during the pandemic have re
sumed taking trips.
The DOT saw an increase
of 37.5% in hotel tax revenue
last month compared to Sep
tember of last year and a
whopping 50.3% rise in tax
collections during the July,
August and September quar
ter over those same months
during the last fiscal year.
(USPS 431-820)
Published by Pickens County Progress, Inc.
94 North Main Street, Jasper, GA 30143
(706)253-2457
www.pickensprogressonline.com
DAN POOL
Publisher/Editor
Published each Thursday at Jasper. Pickens County. Georgia. Entered
at the Post Office at Jasper, Georgia. 30143 as Mail Matter of Second
Class. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to PICKENS COUNTY
PROGRESS, 94 N. Main St., Jasper, GA 30143.
One Year's Subscription: $39.59 in Pickens County and in Gilmer,
Cherokee, Dawson and Gordon counties; $50.29 in all other Georgia
counties; $59.92 out of state.
#Ii)e H>d)ool
Other Voices
Staying in the moment
By Chris Feldt
I find it difficult to stay in
the moment. I do not mean
this in some general sense,
but in a literal and specific
sense of the expression. Dis
tracting tasks, emotional
states, and life in general is
usually experienced in a state
of vitae interruptus.
Planning for the future
and worrying about past
events both result in a net
loss of Now. But in order to
really experience life, that is
in its most vibrant and mean
ingful sense, one has to be
completely present.
How does one practice
staying in the moment?
Many books teach medita
tion, others talk about relax
ation techniques.
Some people attune their
focus to laser-like precision
on whatever task is at hand. I
prefer to use breathing exer
cises. By focusing my breath
on the air that passes over the
skin beneath my nose I can
hone in on how I’m feeling.
But even so, the struggle re
mains to practice this tech
nique frequently enough to
amount to any real length of
time.
Consider the following
two events, both nearly iden
tical except in mind. You’re
taking a shower, you’re in a
hurry to get to work, out of
habit you clean yourself
using the appropriate prod
ucts in the right ways. All the
while you’re thinking of
deadlines, projects, what traf
fic will be like, maybe about
finances, etc.
Or
You’re taking a shower,
you’re completely present
while luxuriating in the sen
sations of the way the water
hits your body, the differ
ences in temperature, the
sound of the water, the scent
of the soaps and shampoos.
In this instant, you don’t
worry about deadlines, or
what happened yesterday, or
about traffic. You only think
about the now and how it
makes you feel.
Scenario one feels all too
familiar. Scenario two carries
with it a sense of comfort that
isn’t present in the former.
Why is that? I suspect that
the part of the mind that deals
with abstraction, planning,
self-examination is not terri
bly good at contentment.
For me, having been bom
without a facility for experi
encing zen-like focus and
tranquility, I have a short cut
to being present. When I go
hiking for miles out into the
wilderness, I hear nothing
man-made apart from my
footfalls.
There are no cars, no air
planes, no radios, no internet
videos, and no screaming
children to divert my atten
tion. There is only the wilder
ness; the trees, plants, grass,
rocks, earth and streams, and
the wildlife; the birds, the
scampering squirrels, the
deer to leave their muted im
pressions.
It is there and then that I
feel replenished. In the forest
I find my reset button and I
am connected with all around
me.
Modem life has the dele
terious side effect of keeping
man out of balance with na
ture and the interconnected
ness of the world is lost in the
digital age.
Remember to take the
time to experience being. No
matter how brief the experi
ence may last, it is urgently
integral to maintaining good
health and peace of mind.
[Chris Feldt moved to Geor
gia in November of 2018 with
his lovely wife and two-year-old
daughter. Fie has a passion for
history, writing and hiking. He
lives in Jasper and works in Bent
Tree as a member of the admin
istration staff.]
WEATHER
By William Dilbeck
HI LOW RAIN
Oct.
19
72
39
.00
Oct.
20
73
46
.00
Oct.
21
68
54
.70
Oct.
22
66
47
.00
Oct.
23
70
46
.00
Oct.
24
71
46
.00
Oct.
25
71
48
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