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THURSDAY. MARCH 31.2022 PICKENS COUNTY PROGRESS PAGE 7A
Lowe announces for school board district 2
Steve Lowe
My name is Steve Lowe
and I’m officially announc
ing my candidacy for the
District 2 seat on the Pickens
County Board of Education.
I will be running on the Re
publican ticket in the May
24th primary. Please allow
me to share a little about my
self and my reasons for seek
ing to serve.
I’m a life-long Pickens
County native graduating
from Pickens High in 1985.1
then attended Georgia Tech
receiving my Bachelor’s de
gree in Electrical Engineer
ing, graduating with high
honors. I worked in the elec
tric meter design/manufactur-
ing industry after college.
Soon after completion of col
lege I sensed a call on my life
from the Lord to serve teens.
I fulfilled that as a lay youth
minister at Talking Rock
First Baptist church for many
years. During that time the
Lord grew my love for teens
and I eventually left a corpo
rate job to spend more time
serving teens. This resulted in
me getting more connected at
Pickens High through the
Fellowship of Christian Ath
letes and then as chaplain of
the Pickens High varsity
boys basketball team. It was
also during the late 90s that
something else important
happened in my life. A fresh
man student at Pickens High,
Chris Tucker, became a part
of my life. He eventually
came to live with me and I
watched as God transformed
his life and mine. Seeing
what the Lord was doing in
his life and finding myself
surrounded by hurting teens,
led to the founding of The
Joy House with others who
shared my heart. I’ve now
had the privilege of leading
The Joy House for 20+ years
serving teens here in Pickens
county and our surrounding
region.
It was also during the late
90s that I met my wife
Wendy and we married in
2000. We saw Chris com
plete his high school gradua
tion at Pickens High in 2001.
Our other children have at
tended Pickens schools as
well. Tucker graduated Pick
ens High in 2021 and is now
attending Reinhardt Univer
sity playing basketball and
pursuing his degree, while
our daughter Isabella is a
sophomore at PHS. Wendy
and I have always been in
volved with our schools, with
her previously serving a four
year term on our school
board as the chair.
My adult life has been
spent in service to children in
this community and a love
for our schools. This is why I
took such a strong stand last
year against our three school
board members who acted
unethically to remove Dr.
Townsend. Our children, ad
ministrators, teachers, and
staff deserve better. There
fore, I’m putting myself for
ward as a candidate to serve
on the Pickens County Board
of Education. We must have
better leadership from our
school board.
There are three key things
that are important to me as I
pursue your vote. One, we
must be student-focused. Our
schools exist to serve the
children in our community.
This must govern every deci
sion we make as school
board members. I’ve seen far
too many school board mem
bers, who through their ac
tions, have demonstrated that
is not why they are serving.
Second, we must have ac
countability. This means two
things to me. We as a board
are accountable to our citi
zens. This was completely vi
olated last year when these
three members spent over
$400,000+ to remove our sit
ting superintendent for no
cause. We must restore this
accountability. We as a
school board also have the re
sponsibility to hold our su
perintendent accountable for
the type of schools we desire
for our community. Third, we
must have fiscal responsibil
ity. We as a school board
must be fiscally responsible
with our citizens tax dollars.
We must seek to do the very
best for our children and cit
izens with the funds we have.
We should not be wasting
$400,000+ buying out a con
tract for no-cause.
I have a 30+ year track-
record of providing proven
ethical leadership in our com
munity through my position
in the local church, The Joy
House, FCA, Pickens Tip-
Off Club, and last year
through Impact Pickens.
With a demonstrated love for
our children, schools, and a
proven track record of lead
ership I’m asking you to con
sider giving me your vote to
serve our community on the
Pickens County Board of Ed
ucation.
Caylor presented Outstanding
Community Service Award
Submitted By DAR
The Sequoyah Chapter of
the Daughters of the Ameri
can Revolution presented
their 2022 “Outstanding
Community Service Award “
to the Reverend Max Caylor.
The DAR Award recognizes
local volunteers who have
“significantly “ bettered their
communities.
Beth Finley, past DAR
Regent and Award Chair,
noted Caylor received one of
only five Panyik Rotary Dis
trict 6910 Leadership Awards
that described his leadership
style as being insightful, mo
tivating and servant based.”
He was the President of the
Rotary Club of Jasper in
2020-21 and with the help of
Amicalola EMC distributed
about 280,000 meals to local
residents through the Farm to
Table Program.
“I am humbled and hon
ored to receive your award
but I try to help people not
for recognition but because
they need a helping hand, “
said Caylor. He gave credit
for his community awareness
to his mom and dad for “ rais
ing him to care about peo
ple.” His mom was a
Registered Nurse and dad
was a Postman.
The Retired Educators
honored Caylor in 2021 by
presenting him their “Golden
Daughters of The American Revolution Regent Mary Turner stands with the Reverend
Max Caylor and his daughter Merry Grey who received The 2022 DAR Outstanding Com
munity Service Community Award for volunteer service.
Dave
Elect
GARNER
★ ★★ Post 2 ★★★
Commissioner
Your Voice for Pickens!
Celebrate National Peanut
Butter & Jelly Day with a
Candidate Meet & Greet
Come meet
Dave Gamer,
candidate for Post 2
East Commissioner
this Saturday
at the Pickens County
Recreation Department
from ipm-qpm
Stop by and grab your PB8d under the covered
pavilion at the recreation center and have your
voice heard! All opinions and ideas welcome!
Let Dave be YOUR voice for Pickens!
davegarner22@gmaii.com
Deed Award” and described
him having “a big-hearted
personality along with his
love for people and his com
munity made him our perfect
candidate for our 36th
award.”
Caylor served as pastor of
the Jasper United Methodist
Church from 1984-91 and re
turned to the Grandview area
upon retirement in 2012 after
serving 39 years as a pastor.
He is married to Nellie Lou
Caylor (45 years and have
two children LTC Max E.
Caylor and daughter Merry
Grey.
Currently, Max is the
Board Chair of Hope House,
a home for children whose
parents have drag problems,
A Court Appointed Advocate
for Children (CASA), Chap
lain of the Community Thrift
Store and Board Chair of the
$33 million United
Methodist Federal Credit
Union and more.
R&R Body Shop holds
ribbon cutting
Submitted by Pickens
Chamber
The Pickens County
Chamber of Commerce re
cently had a Ribbon Cutting
at R&R Body Shop LLC lo
cated at 3255 Refuge Rd
Jasper.
R&R Body Shop sold Oc
tober 1, 2021, to Stephanie
Ray a long-time employee.
Stephanie, purchasing the
shop from David Johnson,
became the 3rd owner of the
business that was started by
her father, Ronnie Ray in
1980. After working as an
employee for years it was
natural that she would be the
3rd owner of the shop. Being
a female owned body shop
brings a few challenges but
nothing that can’t be over
come.
Founded in 1980, R&R
Body shop could work on
about 2 cars a week with one
employee. Today R&R Body
Shop has 11 employees and
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the ability to work on several
cars at a time. With R&R be
ginning as a family-owned
business, it is now once again
family owned and operated.
R&R works well with
most insurance companies
with an up-to date electronic
system that makes communi
cation easier. Having been a
part of the community for so
long the shop sees many re
peat customers and appreci
ates the long-standing history
in the community.
Stephanie says, “Thank
you to Pickens County for
your continued support. We
couldn’t do it without you.”
Also, visit the Pickens
County Chamber of Com
merce website at www.pick-
enschamber.com, or call
(706) 692-5600 from 8 a.m.
to 4 p.m. Monday through
Friday to learn about other
great Pickens County busi
nesses!
Do you seek an opportunity
to get involved in your community?
Do you want to make a difference?
Are you looking to meet interesting
people from this community?
W.O.U). is the time!
New Optimists Welcome
N.O.W. Social
Thursday, April 14, 2022
at 61 Main Restaurant
5:00 to 7:00 p.m.
Let us know you plan to attend.
Contact Margy Lohman at
mlohman13@yahoo.com or just walk in.
The Jasper Optimist Club is a welcoming group of com
munity-minded individuals and includes people from all
walks of life. Some of our club projects and activities in
clude Legion of Character recognitions, STAR Banquet
and scholarships, citizenship awards, support of youth-
oriented organizations and more.
We are excited to meet you.
Any questions, contact Donna Enis
at donnaenis@amail.com