Newspaper Page Text
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THURSDAY. JANUARY 13. 2022 PICKENS COUNTY PROGRESS PAGE 11A
Cabin
structures. A builder on the
board took the lead in assess
ing the condition, while I
(Chris Feldt) took the lead in
the historical research.
Our recommendations fol
low:
Instead of tearing down
the last surviving public edi
fice of the Perrow family’s
handiwork, the city should
consider using the building as
an opportunity to showcase
local/Appalachian history.
Continued From 1A
Income
was about $39,438, well
below the data
for Pickens County.
Per capita personal in
come is the total personal in
come of the residents divided
by the population. Pickens
county is the 9th most popu
lated county in northwest
Georgia at 33,216 people, but
the most wealthy in the re
gion according to these fig
ures.
According to the BEA,
personal income increased in
3,040 counties nationwide,
decreased in 69, and was un
changed in 3. These numbers
were affected by the impact
Continued From 1A
Knight
fines.)
Recently the self-pro-
claimed jack-of-all trades - a
genuine, heart-on-his sleeve
kind of guy - is forging a new
path as an author. In what
might literally have been my
last guess if asked what I
thought the topic of his first
book would be, he told me
the name — 50+ Babysitting
Tips: Helping with the Lit’
Ones.
My list of interview ques
tions was really just the one
obvious and looming one —
“Babysitting???”
But right out of the gate
Knight gave clues about why
such a kid-centric topic might
be his first topic of choice.
While catching up, I was re
minded about his two biolog
ical children who passed
away when they were infants,
and also about the goddaugh
ter he has lived with since she
was five.
“I claim her as mine and
she claims me as her dad,”
said Knight, who referred to
the now 16-year-old as
daughter several times during
the interview.
His deceased biological
children had been visiting
him in his dreams recently,
too, which along with an in
jury that put him out of work
for a month created some
bouts of depression.
“I don’t usually dream,
but they have showed up
lately, visiting me,” he said.
“It’s really kind of getting to
me.”
But when pointedly asked
why he chose to write about
babysitting, Knight fleshed
out the connection and high
lighted the importance chil
dren have in his life.
“If you know me as a per-
The small structure is well
preserved and in an easily ac
cessible. It’s rare to find a
historical cabin, already lo
cated in a public park; this
opportunity shouldn’t be
squandered.
We hope the city will seri
ously consider our recom
mendations. Members of our
historical society will make
ourselves available to meet as
a group with the city council,
city manager and mayor indi
vidually or as a group to fos
ter further discussion on the
need for preservation.
of COVID-19 and the re
sponse to it. At the national
level, a large increase in per
sonal income reflected gov
ernment relief payments
provided by the CARES Act
of 2020. Without this in
crease the BEA estimates that
personal income would have
increased in 2,006 counties
nationwide, decreased in
1,038, and remained un
changed in 68.
Our neighbor to the south,
Cherokee County had a per
capita income of $56,278 and
our neighbor to the east,
Dawson County had a per
capita income of $48,170.
Neither are in the northwest
Georgia region.
son, I’m geared towards the
little ones,” he said, pointing
to several of his videos that
were (like the book) intended
for 11-14 year olds. “With
my goddaughter I’ve had my
influence and helped, and
anything I did I always
wanted to be a positive role
model no matter what for her
and other kids. When I had
my YouTube channel kids
would email me and some of
the things they were going
through were just heartbreak
ing.”
Last year Knight came
across an article on social
media that included a couple
babysitting tips, and off he
went.
“I saw that and I thought,
I could take that and ran with
it,” he said. “I wanted to get
as many tips as I could. I got
to 50 and I thought, I’m
going to get one more so I
can say I have ‘50-plus.’
There is a guy I work with
who literally despises me, but
even he said he thought it
was cool I’m writing a
book.”
Knight makes no bones
about the fact that he has no
actual credentials or official
background in childcare, but
said he developed the 50-plus
tips more intuitively, on his
own.
“I have a monkey job
where I just push the button,
check the part, so I have a lot
of thinking time,” he said. “I
just went from knowledge of
what I thought would be es
sential key points that a child
would need to know.”
The book is around 30
pages in large font. Tips are
numbered 1-51.
“Sitting can be a fun and
fulfilling experience,” the
intro reads. “It can likewise
be cutthroat. This book is in
tended to give the sitter some
Director
County resident who worked
at the shelter as a kennel tech
for three years before her
promotion, told me she had
noticed a few more posted on
social media recently, but it
didn’t seem significant
enough to warrant a story.
What I did find out was that
this time of year is when the
shelter receives the highest
number of owner-surrenders
and also the highest number
of animal control calls.
“We see a lot of surren
ders during and after the hol
idays,” Bell said. “I think part
of why is the inconvenience
of having a pet at the holi
days with family. Then with
the animal control calls, peo
ple call more often when it’s
cold outside and they see an
imals without shelter.”
The county currently has
two full-time animal control
officers.
Other primary reasons for
owner-surrenders, she said,
are when the owner has too
many pets; when animals that
have not been spayed or
neutered produce unwanted
litters; when puppies and kit
tens outgrow the cute puppy
phase; and also when animals
produce repeat animal con
trol calls.
“Our animal control will
incredible tips to make the
sitter the best (also most se
cure) sitter on the square!”
Tips range from “Love
Kids” to “Telephone and
Door Safety” to “Fortifica
tions” (a.k.a. forts), and oth
ers.
When it came to the nitty
gritty of writing and format
ting, Knight said he’s utilized
technology to overcome writ
ing roadblocks he’s struggled
with.
“I always had a fascina
tion with writing and telling
stories,” he said. “I was ex
cellent at telling stories and
could put the fear of God into
you. The problem was I had
dyslexia and a learning dis
ability, and was a God-awful
speller. Between those three
issues, writing was always a
no-go.”
Then along came voice-
to-text recognition and Kin
dle to save the day. Knight
voice-to-text recorded his
book on a Kindle, emailed
the file to himself, then used
the online spelling and gram
mar checker Grammarly for
final edits. The book took
about a month this last De
cember for him to complete.
50+ Babysitting Tips: Help
ing with the Lit ’ Ones is now
available in digital form
through Amazon for $3.99.
He hopes to have it translated
into Spanish in the near fu
ture.
What’s next on the jack-
of-all-trades’ to-do list?
Strengthening his ministry
(the working title is “Helping
Angels”), developing addi
tional merchandise (he’s cur
rently got a few items
available including a “Winter
Penguin Here to Keep You
Warm” face mask and a vari
ety of “Dragons inspiration
gear,” new design just re
leased Monday) - and he also
Protect yourself
Be Cautious Anytimeyouaredoin8
person-to-person business.
Face-to-face
or with someone
who lives locally.
Be Skeptical
If an offer sounds too good
to be true, it probably is.
Other tips to avoid scams:
Do not send payments in advance, unless you know you can trust the person or business.
Never wire funds and Remember money orders are like cash, you can't cancel or stop
payment. The Jasper Police Chief has said that if you are sending a money order out of the
country for a business deal, it's likely a scam.
Watch out for deals, jobs or offers where you must first pay a fee.
Never give financial info (bank account, social security, paypal account, etc).
go out after receiving a cou
ple calls about dogs on a
property and people get tired
of us coming out and getting
citations, so they surrender,”
she said. “It solves the prob
lem.”
Animal shelters aren’t
typically known for being the
best way to solve an animal’s
problem - images of sad dogs
and cats on death row come
to mind - but Bell said the
Pickens shelter is considered
low-kill.
“The only time that any
animal is ever euthanized is
court mandated...when the
court system deems it dan
gerous,” she said, noting that
even then there are measures
the owner can take to get
their pet back. “The only
other time is when the vet
deems them too sick.”
The vast majority of the
animals in the shelter’s care
are either adopted in person
from walk-ins, or are trans
ported to other states (mainly
up north where they have a
pet shortage, but they also
work with a local rescue and
one in Florida). Data shows
that in 2021 the shelter took
in 634 animals, adopted out
378, transferred 109, and re
turned 83 to their owners.
There were 10 euthanasias
for the year.
There are currently 51 an
imals in care at the shelter,
plans to write more books.
I didn’t dare proffer a
guess at what book number
two would be about.
“Autism in the work
place,” he told me. “This one
was a commission. I hope to
have that one ready by July,
and then after that I’ll work
on other books about child
care.”
Follow Knight on Face-
book at “Official: David
Knight,” where the “about”
section reads, “I love learn
ing and teaching what I learn
to anybody that wants to
learn. I love children and
spending time with them and
teaching them what I can.”
including nine cats, 11 kit
tens, 26 dogs, and five pup
pies.
Bell said recently they’ve
also had a good number of
adoptions as well as owners
who have reclaimed their
pets, including one person’s
dog who made its way from
Gilmer County after being
missing for a month.
“They eventually decided
to check surrounding shelters
and we were fortunately able
to reunite them,” she said.
Looking ahead long-term
Bell said she would love to
expand the facility so they
never have to turn animal in
takes away (they have seven
kennels for quarantine, and
animals are required to quar
antine for three days before
going into the general popu
lation. If those kennels are
full - which isn’t often - they
occasionally have to turn an
animal away).
But for the time being the
shelter needs extra hands to
help with a variety of tasks.
“We need more volun
teers,” Bell said. “We’re just
starting back allowing our
volunteers to take our dogs
off the premises to take them
hiking, walking, and get
them away from the kennel
environment to make them
feel like they have a home so
they’re not so stressed out.
This also helps with adop
tions because they have their
adoption vest on and people
will see them while they’re
out hiking, or wherever they
go-”
In addition to walkers
who would take animals off
property, the shelter needs
volunteers to play catch with
dogs outside at the facility, as
well as people to help with
feeding, watering, cleaning
dishes, and even transporting
animals.
“We would absolutely
love for people to come out
and volunteer with us,” Bell
said.
For people who would
like to donate to the shelter,
they are in need of wet dog
and cat food, puppy and kit
ten formula, hard chews and
toys they can leave in the
kennel.
The Pickens County Ani
mal Shelter is located at 3653
Camp Road, Jasper. They can
be reached at 706-253-8983.
They are open Tuesday
through Friday 10 a.m. to 5
p.m. with intakes accepted
from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
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