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THURSDAY. APRIL 14. 2022 PICKENS COUNTY PROGRESS PAGE 5A
Letters to
t/a Editor
£
To the Editor:
This letter is in response
to the March 31, 2022, edito
rial “The slap seen round the
world But, the show just
went on.”
The editor is obviously
bothered by the fact that no
action was taken against Will
Smith. But I guess they are
not bothered by the insensi
tivity of Chris Rock making
hurtful comments about
Smith’s wife’s medical con
dition. Maybe if Rock had
made a racial comment, it
would have been acceptable
for someone to step up and
smack him. Since he was just
poking fun at Smith’s wife’s
medical condition, I guess
that’s acceptable. After all,
Rock is a comedian, so he
should be able to make hurt
ful comments about anyone
without repercussion, right?
Not right. We’ve all likely
heard the old adage about
sticks and stones breaking
bones but words never hurt
ing. That’s not really true.
Words may not physically
hurt, but they can sure cause
emotional pain. Don’t misun
derstand, Smith didn’t have a
right to do what he did, but
neither did Rock. If we are
going to excuse Rocks be
havior, perhaps we should
excuse Smith’s as well. I be
lieve that it’s significant that
Rock didn’t press charges.
Did he perhaps realize that
he was also in the wrong?
Daddy always said, if you
can’t say anything nice, don’t
say anything at all. Good
words to live by.
Regards,
Jeff Brooks
Letters welcomed -
No letter more than 450 words;
Send to news@pickensprogress.com
or Pickens Progress 94 N. Main,
Jasper, Ga. 30143; All letters must
have a full name that will be pub
lished, and contact info.
(Email Address or Phone Number),
which will not be published.
To the Editor:
I read the article regarding
the city council meeting
Monday, seeing a lot of
things...
Mainly lack of discipline,
organization and a big pic
ture. A lot of projects from
T9 are still not executed.
Has anyone checked to
see if similar communities
such as Dahlonega what has
been their timelines to com
plete projects? Did they re
ceive additional state funding
or higher SPLOST collec
tions than Jasper? We need to
make sure that we are on task
and that performance is on
par with other communities
similar to Jasper.
It would appear that
council and staff has bit off
more than it can chew. In the
vocation I am in, we try to
break things down in short,
crisp cycles of determined
projects, expected outcomes
and results. And funding.
Sprint cycles is what it's
called and other government
entities have adopted whole
sale or parts of accelerated
cycles with quality not al
lowed to diminish.
Quite frankly recreational
projects probably need to be
put on pause. I've tried to
suggest quick 100k projects
that can be done in 90 days
or less.
A. The first project would
be seeking out and replacing
city hall, yesterday designed
for the public entry and for
guests to the city.
B. Develop a traffic pat
tern that encourages effi
ciency and travel as well as
sufficient parking in the cen
tral business district with
minimal construction at
first.. I still think A. W. Law-
son and Church Street be one
way with one or two connec
tor roads. This will require
good rapport with GDOT .
People don't like waiting in
traffic.
C. Control the N.
Main/Whitfield area mini-
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HELP WANTED
DO
South Cherokee/Jasper
Driver Improvement Clinic
1623 East Church Street, Jasper GA
Part-time Office Assistant
Basic computer skills required. Will
train. Minimum 16 hours per week
Part-time Behind-the-Wheel Instructor
Must have clean driving record and 15+ years of
driving experience. Background check will be re
quired. Evenings, weekends, school breaks and
summer. Will train.
Send resume to info@southcherokee.com
or call 770.928.3679
mizing traffic to support
pedestrian movement in the
CBD. This includes banning
through truck traffic. Then
ensuring pleasant public rest
rooms with a kiosk to direct
citizens and guests to Jasper.
During this time, work on
infrastructure such as water
and other core infrastructure
items with a publicly com
municated goal line capacity
in terms of residential, com
mercial and manufacturing
support.
D. Once we have devel
oped good cash flow and
only after these items above
are complete, then and only
then develop the recreation
projects.
Develop town hall meet
ings that engage the entire
community to engage in a
white board exercise to de
termine projects and impor
tance of vision without being
ensnared in tunnel vision.
Greg Moore
To the Editor:
Good commentary [last
week’s editorial on consider
ation should be given to
merging city and county
water/sewage systems]:
• Turf guarding is the
challenge
• Two kingdoms get re
duced to one
• That is pure political
propaganda octane
•Business wise you end
up with a utility authority,
Typically 3-5 members
• City selects the same
number of members as the
county
•Governor selects one to
keep an odd number
•The authority hires an
experienced executive direc
tor
•Then the numbers get
crunched by folks with more
utility math discipline and
less political math influence.
Dan Loy
To the Editor:
Letter to Rick Jasperse,
State Representative 11th
District, Georgia
I live in Jasper and have
long desired a law that re
quires all legislation adhere
strictly to the limitations
placed on all three branches
of government by the US
Constitution.
Each “bill" have the exact
enumerated power listed im
mediately under the bill
name.
Any bill that cannot be di
rectly supported by any enu
merated power is, on its face
unconstitutional and invalid
as well as unenforceable.
The bill should be written
to include all laws passed by
federal, state and local gov
ernments and provide harsh
penalties for violating the
rights of all citizens.
Also, specifically applica
ble to all 'rides' and/or regu
lations by government
agencies at all levels.
Sincerely
Drew Dickey
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Books&Writers
Poet’s first novel a stunning success
Reinhardt University professor releases “Lakewood”
William Walsh, director of Etowah Valley Masters of
Fine Arts (MFA) program at Reinhardt University, has re
leased his first novel, “Lakewood. ”
By David R. Altman
Contributing Writer
Reinhardt University’s
William Walsh has written a
novel that may very well be
one the year’s best.
Walsh’s “Lakewood” is a
highly personalized (albeit
not totally autobiographical)
account of a young man’s
coming of age in the idyllic
small town of Lakewood,
New York, on the shores of
Lake Chautauqua, near Buf
falo.
“Lakewood” (TouchPoint
Press, 2022) is a book rich
with dialogue and unforget
table characters—characters
like we all have known. In it,
you will find the beginning
of an epic journey of youth,
one with unlikely events that
may take you back to both
happier (and more troubling)
times.
Having read many great
novel narrators, from
Fitzgerald’s Nick Carraway
to Salinger’s Holden
Caulfield, we can now add
Walsh’s Robert English to
the list.
The novel takes place in
the year 1973, when the pro
tagonist and narrator, 19-
year-old Robert English, is
attending college in the town
of his boyhood. He has de
cided to stay on campus in
the summer semester after
his sophomore year rather re
turn to his Stone Mountain,
Ga. home. Through of series
of seemingly meant-to-be oc
currences he ends up house
sitting for a professor who is
leaving town for a summer
trip to Europe.
What English does not re
alize when he accepts the job
is that the professor’s house
is the one he (English) grew
up in - filled with memories
of his childhood, including a
haunting family tragedy in
1962 that is always in the
background, quietly but pro
foundly shaping this story as
the summer evolves.
Lakewood’s young pro
tagonist is caught between
college-age feelings and the
insightful observations re
vealed only through the wis
dom of experience—and
even some of those are even
beyond his own comprehen
sion.
Walsh’s flowing, conver
sational prose puts you in
mind of his earlier four books
of poetry. He writes with the
sort of comfortable pacing
that effortlessly carries the
reader from page to page.
“The sun rose up this
morning to an isochromatic
canvas of apricots and
peaches painted in one slow,
firm stroke. A solitary motion
glowed over the hills and
broke the tops of the trees.
The air warmed up today and
honeysuckle floated through
the air. I smelled pine trees,
too. I walked the dogs to the
park across the street, then
along the lake. There were a
number of small boats out
early, with people’s fishing
lines cast outward with hope.
But, as the reader will dis
cover, not all is quiet in the
mind of young Robert Eng
lish.
English is his own worst
enemy, and you find yourself
pulling both for and against
him as this most unlikely
story unfolds.
Not since Tom Wolfe’s
character Sherman McCoy,
whose wrong turn in “Bon
fire of the Vanities” changed
his life forever, have we seen
a book’s protagonist make so
many bad choices. Walsh’s
lead character, as most of us
did in our late teens, finds a
way to overcome many - but
not all - of them. Still, some
of those choices return to
haunt him in very adult ways.
About 50 pages into the
story, a startling event takes
place while English is out on
a date with a girlfriend who
had just failed her biology
class.
“Near twelve-thirty, I
stopped the car and we got
out in Bemus Point, in front
of the Hotel Lenhart. A man
and a woman were sitting on
the front porch in rocking
chairs looking out over the
lake, but except for them, we
were the only people around
and the only sound was the
lapping of water against the
shore.”
The consequences of that
evening, which Walsh clev
erly keeps in waiting as the
book evolves, contributes
(much later) to the book’s
most violent passage, al
though Walsh deftly de
scribes the scene with just
enough detail to allow the
reader’s imagination to take
over.
Another engaging aspect
of this book, informing both
its credibility and drama, is
that “Lakewood” takes you
back to 1973, the year of Wa
tergate, of Secretariat win
ning the Triple Crown, of
Johnny Miller’s final round
63 to win the U.S. Open and
to the end of the Vietnam
War.
Walsh’s character chroni
cles these events and refer
ences them through the eyes
of a college sophomore, un
derstandably more worried
about his draft deferment and
more interested in baseball
trades and pinball games than
the consequences of deci
sions that would shape his
defining summer.
You will also find refer
ences to Atlanta, including
Lenox Square, the Atlanta
Braves and one particularly
troubling passage which took
place at Stone Mountain
Park.
Walsh said that Lakewood
was 39-years in the making,
a project he had started in the
1970s but it remained in a
desk drawer until he asked a
colleague to read it. That col
league’s reaction prompted
the Sandy Springs resident to
begin anew, ultimately fin
ishing the book in the past
three years.
Walsh, a prolific writer of
seven books who also directs
the Etowah Valley Masters of
Fine Arts (MFA) program at
Reinhardt University in
Waleska, Ga., shows a range
in his writing that blends
memories with imagination
and historical events with
personal experience - an ex
perience that awakens a
young man’s consciousness
that will ultimately define his
character.
“Lakewood” (currently
available at www.touchpoint-
press.com or on-line) is at
once as charming as it is
troubling and as funny as it is
touching. Ultimately, you re
alize you are reading some
thing profound - a
compelling story about
human nature, our past and
our ability to overcome (and
later embrace) our youth.
As a reader, you will real
ize there is a Lakewood
somewhere in each of us.
Walsh, like all great writers,
reminds us that our past is al
ways worth remembering,
even at the cost of recogniz
ing our own mistakes.
David R. Altman is a for
mer Georgia Author of the
Year nominee and his second
poetry chapbook is sched
uled for publication in early
2023. He can be reached at
altmandavidr@gmail.com or
at www.davidraltman.com.
Josh Tippens
Republican Candidate
Post 1 Commissioner
for the West End.
Tippens ForPicken5@gm ail, com
Prouen Leadership that mill:
• Protect our History
• Expand Seruices
• Find Sustainable Water
• Lower Taxes
• Prouide Better Parks and
• Keep the West End of the
Republican Primary on May 24th
Early Voting begins on May 2nd
Josh
Tippens
Leadership you can Trust
West End
COMMISSIONER
—o^—
YOUR VOTE
MATTERS
Recreation
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