Newspaper Page Text
Thursday, November 25, 2021 | Volume 134 Number 32 | Jasper, Georgia | 30 pages, 3 sections | Published Weekly | $1.00
ATM machine stolen
from Hill City store
Sheriff’s Facebook / Photo
Security camera footage from the Hill City Store on Highway 53 shows a truck pulling off an ATM machine at
1:42 a.m. on Sunday. Anyone with information on the Dodge truck is asked to contact the sheriff’s office.
Waleska man
sentenced to
life for murder
of girlfriend
Inside on 5B
Two public
hearings
for county
budget in
December
Employees to
receive $3,000
bonuses, 5%
pay increases
By Angela Reinhardt
Staff Writer
areinhardt@pickensprogress.com
Pickens commissioners
will hold two public hear
ings for their proposed
2022 budget, which in
cludes an increase of the
total budget by $4 million
mostly due to an influx of
COVID-19 relief funding.
The budget includes
across-the-board em
ployee raises, but budget
requests from department
heads this year came in ei
ther at or lower than last
year.
“We went conservative
on our revenue projec
tions,” said Pickens Com
mission Chair Kris Stancil
at commissioners’ No
vember 18 meeting. “We
have tried to be conserva
tive taking a look over the
last five years at where
those... different line
[items] have increased so
that we didn’t stay on the
high end, we stayed on the
conservative side. We
hope if we’re able to man
age.. .in 2022 as we did in
2021 we will move for
ward with additional good
news at the end of next
year as well.”
Primary budget chal
lenges outlined for 2022
are: inflation, health care
costs, increased opera
tional demands, and the
ongoing impact of the
COVID-19 pandemic.
Three budget priorities
outlined were: minimizing
costs while improving
services; establishing a
solid foundation for
growth and effective oper
ations and long-term plan
ning; and provide a
cost-of-living adjustment
“that enables our dedi
cated public servants to
See Hearings on 10A
By Dan Pool
Editor
dpool@pickensprogress.com
Sheriff investigators were
continuing to work a case
Monday where criminals
stole an entire ATM machine
by using a truck to drag it off
from a Hill City store early
Sunday morning.
Sheriff Donnie Craig
stated their deputies first re
sponded to a suspicious ob
ject in the roadway on
Mullinax Road near the Hill
City Road intersection about
3:30 a.m. Sunday and recog
nized it as the Community
Bank of Pickens County
ATM from the convenience
store on Highway 53.
The sheriff’s office re
leased information on their
Facebook page Sunday stat
ing, “At 1:42 a.m., at least
two males driving a dark, 4
door, Dodge pickup truck
stole an ATM at the Hill City
BP gas station. If you have
any information about this
case or the whereabouts of
these individuals, please call
706-253-8923. To submit an
anonymous tip, you can text
your tip information and
keyword PSOTIP to
847411.”
An accompanying two-
minute video on the Sheriff’s
Facebook shows the track
dragging the machine
through the parking lot with
See ATM on 10A
Holiday Market ushers in
shopping season
Beth Coberly, center, founded the Holiday Market in Jasper 10 years ago.
She was honored with the Vendor of the Year Award being named after her.
Coberly presented this year’s award to Marble County Toffee, run by Judy
Galvin and Paul DeShane.
By Angela Reinhardt
Staff Writer
areinhardt@pickensprogress.com
The Holiday Market in Jasper unof
ficially kicked off the local holiday
shopping season in a big way, with
around 80 vendors selling everything
from candles to jewelry to handmade
shaving kits and much more.
The event, held at Chattahoochee
Tech Friday and Saturday Nov. 20 and
21, had modest beginnings as a Busi
ness Women’s Expo, then morphed
into the Holiday Market to appeal to a
broader audience. Over the last decade
the event has grown every year, to
nearly 110 vendors in 2019.
“Then COVID hit, but we’re here
today with 83 booths and 76 vendors,”
said longtime event organizer Michelle
Daniel.
The Friday night extravaganza, a
ticketed event which included dinner,
cocktails, music and preview shopping,
was also a big hit that sold out in ad
vance.
Daniel honored event founder Beth
See Market on 10A
GDOT funds two bridge replacements
Pictured above — Construction un
derway at Thompson Lane bridge on
Thursday, Nov. 18. The crew arrived on
site around two weeks ago.
Pictured at left — In late October a
county truck broke through this bridge
on Fairview Road, which was already
slated for repair by the Georgia Depart
ment of Transportation this December.
The bridge will be closed until replace
ment is complete.
Angela Reinhardt / Photos
By Angela Reinhardt
Staff Writer
areinhardt@pickensprogress.com
Two bridges - one on Fairview
Road in south Pickens and one on
Thompson Lane in west Pickens -
are being replaced with funds from
the Georgia Department of Trans
portation.
Construction is underway at the
Thompson Lane bridge, with those
crews to shift to Fairview Road
when they are complete, according
to Pickens Commission Chair Kris
Stancil.
On Thompson Lane, which runs
between Jerusalem Church Road
and Highway 53 West, the old
bridge was considered deficient due
to corrosion on beams and caps.
That bridge was 38’ x 13’ wide. The
new bridge will be 70’ x 30’ wide
and will have two 10-foot lanes with
paved shoulders and concrete barri
ers on each side, according to
GDOT.
A detour route has been set while
the project is under construction,
signs already in place.
Cost for the Thompson Lane
project are: Preliminary engineering
See Bridges on 10A
Inside this Edition:
A Charitable
Sisterhood
Christmas
Spectacular
opens Friday
Page 2A
Awards
Sassafras
recognizes
young writers
Page12A
Help needed in
reporting winter
monarch
sightings
Page 7A
Legals
County tax sale &
legals Section C
Obituaries - 9A
• Bernice Pinyan
• Betty Robson
• Ellen Caldwell
• Glenda Moss
• Imogene Stephens
• Jane Murray
• Larry Quarles
Contact Us
94 North Main Street
Jasper, Ga. 30143
706-253-2457
www.pickensproaress.com
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