Newspaper Page Text
Thursday, April 7, 2022 | Volume 134 Number 51 | Jasper, Georgia | 24 pages, 2 sections | Published Weekly | $1-00
City of Jasper seeks better process
to scrutinize waterline requests
City Council
covers many
topics at April
meeting
By Dan Pool
Editor
dpool@piekensprogress.com
The Jasper City Council
handled a massive amount of
business and discussed top
ics far and wide during a
lengthy work session Thurs
day, March 31st and their
April meeting Monday.
[See related stories on the
hiring of new police and fire
chiefs Page 5A. And related
story on Steve Roper’s re
tirement] .
Among the topics dis
cussed:
Veterans look
to expand park
A group of veterans ad
dressed council at the Mon
day meeting, explaining
plans to expand the Veterans
Memorial Park, adjacent to
Lee Newton Park. Veteran
Frank Leist told the council
this park may be named for
veterans but it belongs to all
citizens. He said they plan to
relocate the monument in
front of the courthouse on
Main Street to the park and
make it more inclusive by
honoring all 55 servicemen
from this county who have
died in combat in all the na
tion’s wars.
Sidewalks a
concern downtown
Business owner and resi
dent Courtney Stuart said
she has concerns about the
sidewalks downtown and the
tables that sit upon them.
She presented written infor
mation to the council mem
bers. Council member
Kirk Raffield said this con
cern is a sign of the growing
foot-traffic in town, some
thing that has not been an
issue before. He said
they would “navigate” how
to proceed by looking at ex
isting ordinance or new ordi
nances.
Budget approved
for four Second
Saturdays
The council voted to pro
vide $20,000 to the Down
town Development
Authority for four Second
Saturday events this sum
WOMEN LEADING THE CITY OF JASPER -At the close of the work session council member Kirk Raffield said he
didn’t want the headline to be about the cabin being torn down. He wanted to recognize women’s history month of
March by highlighting the prominent positions in city hall held by women. Later Raffield and City Manager Sonia
Jammes said they felt it important to recognize, “Women leading the city of Jasper. ”
L-R: Lindsey Williams, director of finance; Tara Benson, city clerk; Sonia Jammes, city manager; Anne Sneve,
council member; Kim Goldener, assistant city manager; Stacy Johnson, human resources generalist.
1 noncitizen
attempted
to register
to vote in
Pickens
By Angela Reinhardt
Staff Writer
areinhardt@pickensprogress.com
According to the Geor
gia Secretary of State’s
Office, a citizenship audit
found that one non-citizen
attempted to register to
vote Pickens County. This
finding came after the of
fice conducted its first cit
izenship review of
Georgia’s voter rolls in the
state’s history.
The review found that
one person who attempted
to register to vote here
was “not able to be veri
fied by U.S. Citizenship
and Immigration Services’
(USCIS) Systematic Alien
See Register on 10A
Jasper fire chief goes 10-7
Dan Pool / Photo
Retiring Jasper Fire Chief Steve Roper with his helmet, bearing the number 1 that he wore for 23 years as chief of
the Jasper Fire Department, is applauded by members of the Jasper City Council, and fellow Jasper firefighters Mon
day at city hall.
By Dan Pool The county’s 911 system last time, thanking him for 10-7, the code for “out of
Editor announced Monday night his long legacy of service to service” came for Roper
dpooi@pickensprogress.com that Jasper Fire Chief Steve the city and wishing him after 38 years in the Jasper
Roper had gone 10-7 for the well in retirement. See Chief on 10A
mer, which will feature enter
tainment downtown. The
money will provide for a stage
rental, bands and other ex
penses with each event ex
pected to cost $5,000.
Downtown Development
Authority member Marty Calla
han said they hope to expand
with 8 to 10 events next year
and will work to keep it local
with entertainment. Callahan
said he expects they will be
popular “as people are starving
to get out.”
Council member Sonny
Proctor said this is exciting and
See Jasper on 10A
Sports
PHS soccer
teams head to
state playoffs
Page 1B
Obituaries - 6A
• Carole Davis
• Ike Reece
• John Porter
• Martha Cash
• Mary McPherson
• Mike Meroney
• Myrtle Rich
• Paul Lindsey
• Phillip Vaughn
Pregnancy Center growing
fast, hosting Saturday
Spring Family Fair
By Alex Goble
Staff Writer
agoble@pickensprogress.com
The Pregnancy Center will host a
Spring Family Fair this Saturday, April 9
from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
Pregnancy Center FB / Photo
Executive Director Pat Page shows off
what the Pregnancy Center is all about.
Described as “our gift to the commu
nity,” by Communications Director Patti
Johnson, the fair will host several activities
and booths along with tours of the center
itself. Attendees will have access to a vin
tage fire truck, a sheriff’s office command
vehicle, therapeutic art, and a variety of
foods and snacks.
While the center may be gifting the fair
to the community, many people this re
porter spoke with felt the center itself was
a gift, and it came to many when it was
needed most.
The Pregnancy Center provides services
to families (both moms and dads) ranging
from pregnancy testing and counseling, to
tangible goods and classes.
The last three months at the center have
been record-setting, with 54 client visits in
January, 74 in February, and 84 in March.
Compare that to last year’s averages of 30-
35 client visits per month and you can see
the growth.
“It’s just skyrocketed, the amount of
people coming in,” said Pat Page, the cen
ter’s executive director.
According to Page, the center is filling
a need that has always been present and
will always be present. “As long as there’s
people there’s going to be these needs,” she
See Pregnancy on 11A
Big thank you for an
amazing Great American
Cleanup kick-off
Photos/ Robin Dunn
Vered Kleinberger and a volunteer prepare a Main
Street planting box during the Edible Jasper work day.
By Vered Kleinberger
KPB President
This past Saturday, Keep
Pickens Beautiful had an
amazing kick-off event for
this year’s Great American
Cleanup. We had a combi
nation of KPB volunteers
and board members, volun
teers from the Downtown
Development Authority, and
City of Jasper employees.
With all these helping hands,
the garden spaces on Main
Street were cleared out, the
gardens in the Pickens
See Thanks on 11A
Deceased man
thought to be
north Ga. hiker,
says GBI
Page 2A
Contact Us
94 North Main Street
Jasper, Ga. 30143
706-253-2457
www.pickensproaress.com
Open for business during
these hours: Mon-Thurs,
9-5, and Fri, 9-4:30
$1.00 per copy
4879 08163" o