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Thursday, December 9, 2021 | Volume 134 Number 34 | Jasper, Georgia | 24 pages, 2 sections | Published Weekly | $1-00
Suspect barely misses striking
patrol car, busted for drugs
By Dan Pool
Editor
dpool@piekensprogress.com
An Atlanta motorist was found to
have enough methamphetamine in
his vehicle Sunday to bring felony
trafficking charges after he was
stopped for narrowly missing a sher
iff’s patrol car that had pulled an
other motorist over.
Thomas Brookshire, 49, of At
lanta was charged with a number
drug possession offenses including
having two bags of meth totaling 27
ounces in his vehicle and several
pills, plus some marijuana.
The Sheriff’s Public Information
Officer Hannah Wise said it started
with Brookshire barely missing a
deputy’s patrol vehicle on the side of
Highway 515 after the deputy
stopped another driver.
A different deputy stopped
Brookshire further down the road for
a violation of the “move over law”
Pickens Sheriff’s Office / Photo
A variety of narcotics, including two bags of methamphetamine, were seized after a motorist was pulled
over for nearly hitting a patrol car conducting a stop on Highway 515.
and found that he was driving on a
suspended license. Wise said the
deputy noticed Brookshire appeared
very nervous when he got out of the
car and the deputy called for backup
and for his supervisor. The officer
then alerted the Cherokee Multi-
Agency Narcotics Squad (CMANS)
drug officers after seeing some mar
ijuana in the vehicle and suspecting
there might be other drugs as well.
See Drugs on 12A
Jasper
moves
ahead with
plans to
demolish
Perrow
buildings
Council approves
take-home
vehicles, facial
hair for police
By Angela Reinhardt
Staff Writer
areinhardt@pickensprogress.com
The city of Jasper is
taking steps to have the
three structures at the
green space near Main
Street and Spring Street
demolished by early next
year as part of larger plans
for that comer.
The green space area,
just over three acres in
two adjacent parcels, has
long been on city coun
cil’s radar as a prime spot
for developing a down
town public space. Sev
eral years ago pop-up
events were held at the
empty lawn and picnic ta
bles were added, but
council’s future plans are
for more permanent im
provements including an
amphitheater, additional
structures and facilities, as
well as some green space
areas. Concept drawings
for the project were devel
oped after several years of
See Buildings on 12A
After successful Christmas
parade, bigger plans,
different day for next year
Robin Dunn / Photo
The Christmas holidays rolled in to Jasper with a well-attended Night of Lights parade Saturday. Organizers said
parade participants went above and beyond this year with their creative float designs. See more photos on page 14A.
By Angela Reinhardt
Staff Writer
areinhardt@pickensprogress.com
This year’s Night of Lights Christ
mas parade drew big crowds, festive
floats, and enjoyed mild temperatures
that made for a very successful down
town Jasper event.
“I was very happy with the way
things turned out,” said Haley Bouchie,
president of Jasper Merchants Associ
ation. “We had a few behind the scenes
snags but everything went extremely
well.”
There were around 45 floats in the
parade, as well as 23 vendors at the Sat
urday, Dec. 4 event.
“I know the food vendor lines were
50 people deep at points,” she said,
“and I’ll tell you what, people in this
community have great imaginations -
there were some wonderful floats.”
See Plans on 12A
Lollidrops Sweet Shoppe voted Best of Georgia
By Angela Reinhardt
Staff Writer
areinhardt@piekensprogress.com
It was right after school let out on a chilly,
rainy Monday afternoon, but that didn’t stop
customers - mostly adults with kids in tow -
from dipping into Lollidrops Sweet Shoppe for
a scoop of ice cream (and maybe a little candy
or fudge to go along with it).
That Monday was just a few days after the
downtown ice cream shop in Jasper was named
Georgia Business Journal’s “Best of Georgia” in
the Ice Cream Parlor category.
“We were just floored when we found out,”
said owner Darren Fichter. “I’m not actually sure
who nominated us - and I actually thought it was
a scam when I first got the email - but we were
thrilled. We’ve got over 4,500 Facebook follow
ers so I guess Jasper really showed up to vote.
Employee Nadia Ganster dips one of the 20
flavors of ice cream Lollidrops carries. In ad
dition to ice cream, the store has vintage toys
and nostalgic candy, as well as coffee, fudge,
cotton candy and other sweet treats.
This ranked us up there with Leopold’s Ice
Cream in Savannah, which is awesome.”
The process begins with a nomination on the
GBJ website, then voting opens to the public.
Winners are selected by a combination of read
ers’ votes and editors’ input, and vetted through
other ranking sites like the Better Business Bu
reau.
Fichter said since 2019 Lollidrops has had
great customer support despite obvious negative
impacts the pandemic has had on small busi
nesses, and along the way have tried to let the
community know they are here for more than
just the bottom line.
“We built our business model around chil
dren, and really wanted to give them something
to do and somewhere to go,” he said. “I love see
ing kids’ eyes get wide when they walk in and
it’s like Willie Wonka in here. We do special
things during the year too to support the com
munity. ”
Lollidrops participates in the “Pledge for Ice
Cream” event in July where kids 12 and under
can come in, say the pledge, and get a free ice
cream; they put out a vintage red mail box dur
ing Christmas for kids to write letters to Santa
(and get a response See Lollidrops on 13A
Inside this Edition:
Final weekend
to catch
Tater Patch
Players’
Christmas show
Page 9A
Grandview
tops county
road project
list for 2022
Paving should
begin in spring
By Angela Reinhardt
Staff Writer
areinhardt@pickensprogress.com
The county’s 2022 paving
plan was unveiled at last
week’s commissioners’ work
session, with over 11 roads
slated for some form of repair
or resurfacing. Grandview
Road is the biggest project on
the list, scheduled for a “full
deck reclamation.”
“What’s happened out
there, the surface of the road
has delaminated,” Pickens
Road Department Director
Kirk Anderson said at a
county meeting Thursday,
Dec. 2. “It’s letting water
down in (the asphalt), and it
freezes and causes further
damage.”
The county will do a deep
grind on the road, re-prep the
ground, and re-asphalt the
surface. Grandview Road is
approximately 5.5 miles
See Grandview on 12A
Obituaries - 11A
• Angy Wills
• Belva Guthrie
• Cary Snelgrove
• Don Creson
• Jack Snelgrove
• Joyce Newhouse
• Patty Grant
• Peter Bolia
Contact Us
94 North Main Street
Jasper, Ga. 30143
706-253-2457
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