Newspaper Page Text
PAGE 8A PICKENS COUNTY PROGRESS THURSDAY. JANUARY 13. 2022
Area singers wanted for spring
season of Gilmer Arts Chorus
The Gilmer Arts Commu
nity Chorus is soon to start
preparation for its spring sea
son on January 18th, 2022.
The annual spring concert
will begin rehearsals at the
George Link Jr. Gilmer Arts
Playhouse on Dalton Street
in downtown Ellijay. We
wish to invite area singers to
join us. Is that you?
As a new chorus member
you will need to arrive on
Tuesday January 18th at 6:30
p.m. at the George Link Jr.
Gilmer Arts Playhouse for
auditions and placement in a
chorus section. Returning
and new members begin re
hearsals January 25th with
registration at 6:30 prior to
the 7 p.m. rehearsal starting
time. A chorus member pays
a $20 registration fee to help
cover costs for music and
supplies for the season. If
you are experienced with
high school or college choral
groups, or sing in a church
choir, please consider joining
our chorus of music lovers
from all over the area. Our
members come from Pick
ens, Gilmer and Fannin coun
ties and we really enjoy
singing and preparing for our
concerts and audiences each
spring and fall. Dress Re
hearsal is April 23 2022
10am -noon at Ellijay First
United Methodist Church
Concert April 24 2022 at
4pm at Ellijay First United
Methodist Church
The Gilmer Arts Commu
nity Chorus performs choral
works of popular music, sa
cred, show tunes, holiday se
lections, men’s chorus and
woman’s chorus, and an a
cappella ensemble. We prac
tice under the direction of
multiple area conductors
with many years experience
in choral conducting and per
formance. This season’s con
ductors are Hannah Carter,
Susan Gooch, Dr. Patrick
Young and Charles Clai
borne. If you love to sing, can
read music and want to be a
little challenged by some of
the area’s best choral direc
tors, come sing with us. You
will really enjoy it.
Any questions please con
tact the chorus via email at
gachorus@hotmail.com
Gilmer Arts
207 Dalton Street
Ellijay, GA 30540
706-635-5605
www.gilmerarts.com/com-
munity-chorus
After moving to Jasper
in 2015 Susan Gooch joined
the Cherokee Chorale in
Canton and is the piano ac
companist for Jasper United
Methodist Church, Gilmer
High School, and Pickens
High School.
She is excited to be work
ing with the Gilmer Commu
nity Chorus this year.
Assistance with water bills available
METAL ROOFING
DAWSON VILLE
METAL PRODUCTS
Your Metal Roofing Specialist
BUY DIRECT in Dawsonville
Painted Galvalume Metal Roofing
18 Colors In Stock
Delivery & Contractor Referrals Available
82 Etowah River Road • Dawsonville
706-265-3099 • 800-519-4616
The Low-Income House
hold Water Assistance Pro
gram administered by the
Georgia Division of Family
and Children services is now
open. Low-income house
holds who have an arrearage
or past due bill, households
with persons aged 60 years or
older and households who
have children aged 5 years or
younger are eligible to apply
for assistance for the month
of January. All other house
holds will be eligible to re
ceive assistance beginning
February 1, 2022.
All households participat
ing in the program must meet
the income criteria; receive
water services through public
pipelines from a vendor that
has signed an agreement to
participate in the program;
and be U.S. citizens or aliens
admitted to the U.S. for law
ful, permanent residence.
Out of our 10-county
service area, we only have
six counties with LIHWAP
vendor agreements. Cus
tomers can contact their
water vendor and request
they sign an agreement with
the Department of Human
Services to be eligible for
funds to be applied to their
account. Unfortunately, fam
ilies receiving water services
from a vendor without a
water supplier agreement,
will not receive LIHWAP as
sistance.
To apply, applicants must
send in their most recent
drinking water or wastewater
bill, proof of household in
come, proof of valid Social
Security Number, proof of
citizenship with a valid pic
ture I.D. and/ or alien status.
In addition, households must
provide proof of age for all
household members aged 60
years and older/or for chil
dren 5 years or younger.
All Community Service
Centers are closed to the pub
lic because of COVID 19. To
apply for assistance, you
must call the service center in
your county to receive in
structions on how to submit
your documents for your ap
plication.
Assistance will be in the
form of a one-time payment
on behalf of the eligible
household to help offset the
cost of water services. The
checks are issued directly to
the home water supplier.
The following counties do
have one or two suppliers
who have signed an agree
ment to participate in the pro
gram:
Catoosa - Vendor City of
Ft. Oglethorpe 706-858-
0926;
Chattooga - Vendor City
of Summerville and Town of
Trion, 706-857-0729;
Cherokee - Vendor City of
Ball Ground 770-345-6531;
Murray - Vendor
Chatsworth Water Works
706-695-5913;
Pickens - Vendor City of
Jasper; North Georgia Com
munity Action, Inc.
Pickens County Office
706/692-6803
Walker - Vendor City of
LaFayette
Good teens -
bad friends
By Mary Migliaro
Parent Mentor
When your child reaches
teen years and you can see
the fruits of your labors, you
take pride in your teenager.
They are responsible, de
pendable, and caring soon-to-
be adults. But what happens
if your teen starts to hang out
with bad friends?
Your child’s friends and
peer group wield tremendous
influence: they are a major
contributor to the behavioral
choices your child makes.
For parents, the prospect that
your child’s friends could
lead them into addiction or
other dangers is both real and
scary.
So, how do you know
whether your child is hang
ing around the wrong crowd
or just going through a nor
mal phase of adolescent de
velopment that may involve
experimentation, questioning
authority, or some acting out?
Here are a few signs: dis
regard of curfew and other
family rides and responsibil
ities; disciplinary troubles at
school or unexplained ab
sences; a loss of interest in
former hobbies; and spend
ing way too much time on so
cial networking sites.
In fact, the wrong crowd
your teen might be hanging
with may simply be on social
media. A September 2017 ar
ticle in The Atlantic docu
mented an alarming correla
tion between the quantity of
time spent on Facebook and
other social networking sites
and rates of teen depression
and suicide.
Depression is also a major
risk factor for teen substance
abuse. Teens who spent three
hours or more daily on their
smartphones on Facebook
and other networking sites,
raised their risks of suicide
by 35 percent.
Whether it is in-person or
online friends, if one or more
of the above signs confirms
that your child is indeed
hanging around the wrong
crowd and falling prey to
negative peer pressure, have
an honest, heart-to-heart chat
with your child.
The following tips can
help:
• Find the right time to
talk. You may have already
established a regular daily
routine that provides some
space for one-on-one connec
tion with your child, without
the constraints of time or an
agenda. If you have this rou
tine in place, this space in
your day may work best for a
candid conversation. And if
you don’t, create a time that
does.
• Reference your child’s
strengths, goals, and values.
If you can, try to recall the
times when your child did
something that made you feel
proud or connected to them.
Perhaps they volunteered to
help their sibling out with
homework or gave you a big
hug when you were feeling
down. Draw your child’s at
tention to the things you love
about them.
• Keep it positive. Al
though it may sound counter
intuitive, shelve the negative
criticism as much as possible.
A warm and loving tone is
more likely to be heard.
• Avoid personalizing
your concerns when possi
ble. Try to keep the focus on
particular behaviors and
whether these are serving
your child well, as opposed
to focusing on specific peo
ple. It may be tempting to say
that you don’t like your child
hanging around Tom or Lucy
because they are so disre
spectful, but that may trigger
defensiveness or cause your
child to tune you out.
• Establish clear stan
dards for behavior. Bound
aries involve two things:
clearly stating what the ex
pectations are for living
under the same roof as a fam
ily, and the delivery of natu
ral consequences if these
boundaries are violated, such
as use of the family car, time
on social media, etc.
• Offer positive incen
tives. Invite your child’s
feedback about what sorts of
activities or social events in
terest them, then support that
involvement. In the process,
your child will be forming
new and hopefully healthier
friendships that you can en
courage.
These techniques will en
sure that your relationship
with your teen is strong
enough to withstand expo
sure to bad kids or negative
peer pressure, and help your
teen grow into the productive
adult you raised.
[Mary Migliaro, M.Ed. is an
educator and Parent Mentor.
She may be contacted at
marymigliaro@aol.com.]
Don't let the stairs
limit your mobility.
The AmeriGlide Rave 2 stair lift is
the ideal solution for anyone:
@ Who struggles with using the stairs
@ That is worried about risking a fall
@ Who wants to access all of their home
Call now to save on a Rave 2 stair lift!
01-877-699-1659
AmeriGlide
City of Jasper
200 Burnt Mountain Road
Jasper, GA 30143
Phone: 706-692-9100
Fax: 706-692-9109
Mayor
Steve Lawrence
Mayor Pro Tern
Jim Looney
Council
City Manager John B. Foust, Jr.
Sonia Jammes Anne Sneve
Dr Folsom Proctor III
Kirk Raffield
PRESS RELEASE:
The City of Jasper is now accepting applications for a Chief of Police.
Below are the MINIMUM qualifications:
• High School Diploma Required
• Bachelor Degree is preferred and will be given additional consideration
• Knowledge and level of competency commonly associated with the completion of a baccalaureate
degree in a course of study related to the occupational field.
• Experience sufficient to thoroughly understand the diverse objectives and functions of the de
partment in order to direct and coordinate work within the department, usually interpreted to re
quire three to five years of related experience.
• A minimum of 5 years’ experience with management / supervisory training
• Possession of or ability to readily obtain a valid driver’s license issued by the State of Georgia
• Ability to meet current requirements set forth by the Police Standards and Training Council for
the State of Georgia.
Interested parties that meet the minimum requirements are urged to submit a completed appli
cation on our webpage at www.iasper-ga.us under Human Resources, and submitted to Stacy John
son, Human Resources by January 31, 2022 close of business. Her email address is
sjohnson@jasper-ga.us. Included with your application should be a detailed resume (all lapse of
employment should be explained) as well as a cover letter. Any and all training and schooling cer
tificates are appreciated as well. Compensation will be determined by the amount of training, ed
ucation and experience you possess.
Interviews of selected candidates will be held Friday, February 18, 2022 and Friday, February
25, 2022.
200 Burnt Mountain Road
Phone: 706-692-9100
Fax: 706-692-9109
Mayor
Steve Lawrence
City Manager
Sonia Jammes
Mayor Pro Tern
Jim Looney
Council
John B. Foust, Jr.
Anne Sneve
Dr Folsom Proctor III
Kirk Raffield
PRESS RELEASE:
The City of Jasper is now accepting applications for a Fire Chief.
Below are the MINIMUM qualifications:
• High School Diploma Required
• Bachelor Degree is preferred and will be given additional consideration
• Knowledge and level of competency commonly associated with the completion of a baccalaureate
degree in a course of study related to the occupational field.
• Experience sufficient to thoroughly understand the diverse objectives and functions of the de
partment in order to direct and coordinate work within the department, usually interpreted to re
quire three to five years of related experience.
• A minimum of 5 years’ experience with management / supervisory training
• Possession of Class “B” vehicle operator’s license or equivalent
• Compliance with Georgia Code 25-4-1 (Fire Fighter Standards and Training)
Interested parties that meet the minimum requirements are urged to submit a completed appli
cation on our webpage at www.jasper-ga.us under Human Resources, and submitted to Stacy John
son, Human Resources by January 31, 2022 close of business. Her email address is
sjohnson@jasper-ga.us. Included with your application should be a detailed resume (all lapse of
employment should be explained) as well as a cover letter. Any and all training and schooling cer
tificates are appreciated as well. Compensation will be determined by the amount of training, ed
ucation and experience you possess.
Interviews of selected candidates will be held Friday, February 18, 2022 and Friday, February
25, 2022
d,
MtjtfNI i J.A
litr tiirrliJi ii IJk
BUILDING YOUR DREAM HOME
JUST GOT EASIER.
Enjoy hassle-free financing for your new home with a Construction-to-Perm
Loan from United. Our convenient Construction-to-Perm program allows you to
complete your construction loan and permanent loan in a single closing - with
up to 90% Loan-to-Value.
Through the added support of rate protection, you can lock in a great rate for
twelve months while your home is being constructed, then float down later if
rates are lower once your new home is built.
Speak with us today or visit ucbi.com/home-construction to get started.
JASPER I 118 Whitfield Drive I 706-253-9393
United
Community Bank®
MORTGAGE SERVICES
Member FDIC. © 2019 United Community Bank | NMLS# 421841 | United Community Mortgage
Services is the mortqaqe lendinq division of United Community Bank. We are an approved
EQUAL HOUSING -* * 11
lender seller/servicer for the Federal National Mortgage Association (Fannie Mae) and the Federal Home
Mortgage Corporation (Freddie Mac). Normal credit criteria apply.