Newspaper Page Text
Thursday, January 20, 2022 | Volume 134 Number 40 | Jasper, Georgia | 24 pages, 2 sections | Published Weekly | $1.00
Three
vehicles
worth
$300K
stolen
from
Ford
dealer
Two cars
driven out of
showroom
By Angela Reinhardt
Staff Writer
areinhardt@
pickensprogress.com
Three vehicles totaling
nearly $300,000 were
stolen from Shottenkirk
Ford dealership last week,
with the investigation still
underway.
On Monday, Jan. 10 at
approximately 7:10 a.m.
Jasper Police were dis
patched to the dealership,
located on Highway 515
near the Highway 53 in
tersection. The call was in
reference to a burglary.
According to police re
ports, an employee who
arrived at work that morn
ing found a window on
the north side of the build
ing busted out, and upon
entering the building
found two vehicles were
missing from the show
room floor. One of those
vehicles was a black 2021
Mustang Shelby GT500
valued at $95,000. The
second was a red 2020
Jeep Grand Cherokee
Trackhawk valued at
$92,990.
Jasper’s Interim Police
Chief Matt Dawkins said
after breaking into the
building the burglar
opened the front doors
and drove the vehicles
outside.
Officers were later in
formed that a third vehi
cle, a 2017 Ford F-450
Lariat DRW crew cab
turbo diesel valued at
$79,750, was also stolen.
It is white and tan in color.
The report goes on to
state that the employee
found two other windows
inside the building busted
out - one in the door
going from the service de
partment to the shop and a
third going in the roll-up
door on the west side of
the building.
“The chain they used
to lock the gate had been
cut and was laying in the
middle of the driveway,”
the report states, and “...
the front doors they use to
take vehicles in and out of
the showroom [were]
propped open with blue
chairs from the show
room.”
The business closed
Saturday night at approx
imately 7 p.m. and was
also closed all day Sun
day. The business alarm
was sounding inside the
building when the re
sponding officer arrived,
but there was not an audi
ble alarm outside.
From Airbnb to VRBO:
New short-term rental hotel tax law doubles county collections
Whilestone
Map/Airbnb
A search for “Pickens County, Ga. ” on the Airbnb website returns numerous results
for the area. Hotel/motel taxes on these and other short-term rental properties are now
being collected after a state law passed last year.
By Angela Reinhardt
Staff Writer
areinhardt@picken-
sprogress.com
Interested in a mountain
top cabin for the weekend?
What about a romantic tiny
home getaway? Perhaps a
sprawling tree house retreat
that can accommodate up to
10?
A quick search on Airbnb
and VRBO for “Pickens
County, Ga.” returns these
results and many more - and
now these short-term house
rentals are bringing in
hotel/motel tax revenues for
the county, doubling that
category of tax collections.
The change came last
April when Gov. Brian
Kemp signed HB 317 into
law, which later went into
effect on July 1, 2021. The
law requires short-term
home rental companies now
collect the $5 a night lodg
ing tax and local excise
taxes traditional lodging
providers have been re
quired to collect. HB 317
was intended to tax online
and app-based companies
like Airbnb and VRBO -
which use their websites to
sell other people’s goods
and services - and put them
on a level playing field with
brick-and-mortar companies
that pass those fees onto
customers. The online com
panies now also pass those
fees onto their customers.
Airbnb and VRBO are
the two largest players in the
online short-term rental
game, but the law impacts
smaller online rental busi
nesses as well, such as lo
cally-based companies like
Mountain Vista Rentals that
features Big Canoe proper
ties, county leaders said.
The Atlanta-Journal
Constitution reports that,
“The lodging tax is pro
jected to raise $17 million
for the state in fiscal 2022,
according to a fiscal note
produced by the state audi
tor. Local governments
could receive a combined
$20 million to $30 million
annually from hotel excise
taxes, according to the Asso
ciation of County Commis
sioners of Georgia.”
Pickens County Clerk
Lesa Thomason, who over
sees the county’s
hotel/motel tax collections,
said, “Until July, we were
collecting half of what we
are collecting now.”
Prior to July the county’s
hotel/motel tax collections
were around $15,000 a
month. Those collections are
now around $30,000 a
month.
We selected a bungalow
in Big Canoe from the
VRBO site to see how the
cost breaks down. The
nightly rental fee for the
See Rentals on 10A
Gas, snacks and crypto-currency
Bitcoin ATM at local convenience store draws steady use
By Alex Goble
Staff Writer
If you’re in the know then Bitcoin
has already made its way to this small
town, but if you’re like most of us
then discovering that Bitcoin ATMs
exist and have been in Pickens
County for months now is a surprise.
According to the clerk at the High
way 53 Exxon, where the Bitcoin
Depot ATM sits, at least 10 people use
the kiosk per shift, putting the level of
use very high for such a small and
aged community.
Bitcoin ATMs aren’t ATMs in the
traditional sense, where someone can
withdraw money physically. Instead,
bitcoin ATMs allow users to deposit
cash and then send cryptocurrencies
to a digital wallet via a QR code.
That might be too much for some
readers already, but we used the Bit-
coin Depot ATM on Highway 53 for
research and found it all to be quite
easy. After following the onscreen in
structions and inputting some infor
mation we were off to the races
turning cash into bitcoin with no more
knowledge than your average layper
son. If you can use your smartphone
and a regular ATM then you can use a
bitcoin ATM.
Bitcoin ATMs seem to provide an
avenue for someone new to crypto to
just step in and turn cash into bitcoin,
but The Consumer Financial Protec
tion Bureau (BFPB) warns that fees
can be very high and the exchange
rates may not be competitive, espe
cially compared to other online op
tions. Bitcoin Depot at the local ATM
wanted to charge us a 20% fee before
See Crypto on 10A
The Bitcoin Depot ATM at the
Exxon on Highway 53.
Pickens avoids the worst of winter storm
Some 50 trees downed by high winds cause power outages
Above, crews work on downed power lines on Old Cove
Road North Sunday (photo Dan Pool). At right an Am-
icalola EMC truck navigates an icy road (photo Amicalola
EMC).
By Alex Goble
Staff Writer
Over the weekend the
eastern portion of the U.S.
was covered in winter
weather thanks to Winter
Storm Izzy, and in Pickens
County anywhere from one
inch in lower elevations to
five inches of snow in
higher elevations fell. Ac
companying wind brought
along a number of power
outages.
Amicalola EMC reported
4,358 outages in Pickens
County on Sunday morning,
January 16 and by Tuesday
morning that number was
down to 32.
According to Pickens
County Emergency Man
agement Agency (EMA) Di
rector Mark Harris, no
injuries were reported and
all roads were cleared by
Monday night alter 50 trees
were downed, with some
roads such as Monument
Road and Sunrise Ridge,
still slick but passable Tues
day morning.
“I think we got less ice
than we expected and from
what the National Weather
Service was warning us
about it could have been one
of those ice storms of the
century, but we were fortu
nate.” Harris said. “We
didn’t have ice accumulation
in the trees; everything was
downed by high winds.”
Across Pickens County
gusts were reported up to 60
miles per hour on Burnt
Mountain and 37 to 40 mph
at lower elevations, bringing
more danger and damage
than the snow and ice itself.
See Winter Storm on 10A
Inside This Week
Pets:
Some animals
can handle the
cold; while
others need a
little more care,
says local vet
Page 5A
Sports
PHS swimmers
compete in
NWGA
championships
Page 9B
More Sports
Requested racing
column begins
this week
Page 1B
Help Needed
Fund established
for hard working
PHS employee/
waitress with brain
aneurysm Page 5A
Obituaries - 8,9A
• Vonce Farrow
• Charles Roach
• Christine Walker
• Eunice Chumbley
• Gary Eubanks
• Haley Stone
• Henry Ledbetter
• Margaret Smith
• Max Free
• Pamela Wallace
• Robert Daubs
• Robert Parker
• Troy Evans
Contact Us
94 North Main Street
Jasper, Ga. 30143
706-253-2457
www.pickensprogress.com
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these hours: Mon-Thurs,
9-5, and Fri, 9-4:30
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