Newspaper Page Text
Patrols beefed up for New Year's Eve
By Angela Reinhardt
Staff Writer
areinhardt@pickensprogress.com
Motorists can expect an
increased presence from
local law enforcement agen
cies on New Year’s Eve, as
well on travel days over the
holiday weekend.
The Georgia State Patrol
identifies the 78-hour New
Year’s holiday period as be
ginning at 6 p.m. on Thurs
day, Dec. 30, and ending at
11:59 p.m. on Sunday, Jan.
2. GSP troopers will be on
high-visibility patrols on in
terstates and state roads dur
ing that time.
“As more people travel
the roadways to visit family
and friends, troopers and of
ficers will continue to focus
on motorists who break state
traffic laws and exercise bad
driving habits that could po
tentially cause serious in
juries or fatal crashes,” said
Colonel Chris C. Wright,
Commissioner of the Geor
gia Department of Public
Safety in a prepared state
ment.
Locally, GSP Post #28
Commander Tim Nichols
said they will have addi
tional troopers assigned to
the late shift for New Year’s
Eve, Friday, Dec. 31, for
DUI enforcement. When
asked if they typically have
more DUI arrests on that
evening, Nichols said over
the past few years they have
fortunately not been substan
tial.
“I’m not sure if people
have gotten smarter or
what,” Nichols said, “but we
haven’t seen a significant
number of DUIs that night,
and we don’t have Uber or
taxis in this area. We hope
people continue to stay safe
and use caution.”
Jasper’s Interim Police
Chief Matt Dawkins said
their officers will also be
more visible on New Year’s
Eve, with additional patrols
as staffing allows. He said
the number of DUI arrests
they make fluctuates de
pending on traffic volume,
but that there is typically a
slight uptick.
“We’re hoping this year
goes smoothly with no inci
dents,” he said.
Pickens Sheriff’s Chief
Deputy Jeff Hall, said they
will have additional deputies
concentrating on traffic
safety to include DUI, ag
gressive driving, and speed
ing, among others.
“We want to be sure the
roads are as safe as possi
ble,” said Hall, who added
that like the GSP they do not
see a big jump in DUI arrests
on NYE.
“I think people are just
aware we are out there, that
it’s New Year’s Eve, and
they take precautions,” Hall
said. “Now, if they would
just take those precautions
year round, that would be
Qualifying for
commission,
school board
seats in
March
La Nifia predicted to lead
to warm, dry winter
blocking
high pressure
The average location of the
jet stream and typical tem
perature and precipitation
impacts during La Nina
winter over North America.
Map by Fiona Martin for
NOAA via climate.gov
drier
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JU.JLL.
By Angela Reinhardt
Staff Writer
areinhardt@pickensprogress.com
Two county commission seats
and three board of education seats
are on the primary ballot May 24,
with candidate qualifying to be held
March 7-11, 2022. The General
Election will be Tuesday, Nov. 8.
Seats for District Commissioner 1
(west Pickens, currently held by
Jerry Barnes) and District Commis
sioner 2 (east Pickens, vacant) are
both up for election this year. District
commission qualifying fees are
$306.
Elections for district commission
seats were originally set up to be
staggard, separated by two years, but
due to the recent resignation of com
missioner Becky Denney both will
be held in the same year this year.
The term for Denney’s unexpired
seat will end December 2024.
Three Pickens County Board of
Education posts are also up for elec
tion. Those are: Post #2 (currently
held by Aaron Holland); Post #3
See Qualifying on 10A
By Pam Knox
CAES News
December is the start of the
three-month winter season here in
the Northern Hemisphere. In 2021,
December started out 4 to 6 degrees
Fahrenheit (F) warmer than normal.
Whether this is likely to last
through the rest of the winter de
pends on two major weather pat
terns that are affecting the winter
climate in Georgia.
The first pattern is the long-term
trend in December-through-Febra-
ary temperatures that we are expe
riencing due to greenhouse
warming across the planet.
The second is the variability of
climate across the region due to the
See Weather on 10A
Top stories of 2021
For our New Year’s edition The Progress looks back through the archives and picks out the biggest, most important,
and most interesting stories we’ve covered over the last 12 months. Here are some of the highlights from 2021.
m ^ y
Suzanne Cronk was one of the people who received a
COVID-19 vaccine at Good Samaritan Health <6 Wellness
Center on Monday, January 11, 2021, the first day people
65 and older were eligible. Over 100 people also received
their first dose of the two-dose vaccine at the Pickens
County Health Department that same day.
Events come back in full
force....mostly
Barring the Georgia Mar
ble Festival, Tate Days and
the New Year’s Eve celebra
tion in Jasper, 2021 saw the
majority of events return
after they were cancelled in
2020 due to the pandemic.
The first big event of
2021 was July 4th, which or
ganizers with the Jasper
Lion’s Club say was the
biggest ever since they
started hosting it in the
1930s. Organizers cited the
public’s need to get out after
a long year of shut downs
and quarantines.
JeepFest also returned
with near record crowds,
raising over $200,000 for
local charities and the Geor
gia Sheriff’s Youth Home.
This was their 10th anniver
sary of the event.
Downtown trick-or-treat-
ing, the Night of Lights
Christmas parade, the Holi-
7 1
Changing superintendents enrages parents, public — Approximately 60 people turned
out to oppose the decision at the Monday, January 18th school board meeting.
day Market, Talking Rock
Heritage Days, and the Pick
ens High School graduation
also returned with good
turnouts. Library events
came back as well, with the
first big event being a petting
zoo held over the summer.
January 7
Jasper identified as “sky
rocketing suburb” for real
estate prices
Few available homes and
high demand lead to sky
rocketing prices
Realtor.com, a leading
national real estate site, iden
tified Jasper as #6 in their
“Skyrocketing Suburbs: The
10 Urban Escapes Where
Prices Are Rising the Most.”
The article stated, “Just
an hour's drive from Atlanta,
this little mountain town
feels like it's on another
planet. With an easy-living,
country vibe, the area has
been a hotbed for second-
home owners for most of the
past decade. However, as
COVID-19 has left office
workers free to telecom
mute, there have been far
more buyers than homes for
sale in this affordable get
away—which has driven the
prices up astronomically.”
The article calculated
Jasper at sixth on the list of
10, with a Median listing
price: $259,900, Percentage
increase: 32.2. The article
explained that they based it
on prices from Oct. 2019 to
Oct. 2020. And went on to
say, “To keep it geographi
cally diverse, the team lim
ited the selection to one
suburb (with a minimum of
100 listings) per state.”
Local realtors said prices
at that time in Pickens were
the highest they had ever
seen.
See Stories on 11A
great.”
According to the GSP, dur
ing the 2020-21 New Year’s
holiday travel period, which
was 78-hours long, there were
14 fatalities from 11 fatal
crashes. GSP investigated 548
crashes that resulted in 257 in
juries and nine fatal crashes re
sulting in 12 fatalities. In
See Patrols on 10A
Christmas
Surprise at
Fellowship
Presbyterian
helps recent
Kentucky tornado
victims Page 2B
Obituaries - 10A
• Catherine Mann
• Cindy Mulkey
• Jackie Nation
• Jim Quinton
In Remembrance
See a full list of
names for all
those we lost over
the past year
Pages 4-5B
Contact Us
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