Newspaper Page Text
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THURSDAY. APRIL 21.2022 PICKENS COUNTY PROGRESS PAGE 15A
Address
that some urge “close the
gate after we all got here.”
He said by using the Com
prehensive Plan, available at
the county’s website, as a
standard, the county can have
a responsible growth policy.
One startling figure Stan-
cil presented to show what
happens when growth runs
out of control is the popula
tion density in Pickens is cur
rently 148 people per square
mile more than some sur
rounding counties, but drasti
cally lower than the average
of 600 people per square mile
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Arrest
truck dragging the ATM
through the parking lot be
fore it drove away with the
machine still attached.
It is approximately one-
and-a-half miles from the
convenience store to the spot
the machine was discovered.
The amount of money that
was stolen was not released.
Pickens Sheriff’s Criminal
Investigation Division Capt.
John Cagle said use of ad
vanced technology the office
has only recently had access
to led to the arrest of James
Brown, Jr., 55., who ended a
20-year sentence for armed
robbery just a few months
before the incident. Accord-
in Cherokee or the 1,300 as
the average in Forsyth.
Stancil said the growth
wave coming north from the
metro area is no longer spec
ulative, it is here.
School Superintendent
Tony Young pointed out a
weird anomaly with the
growth at this point - while
the overall population has
grown, the school population
has declined. In 2018-2019
the student population ended
with 4,267 students enrolled
but has reached points as
high as a 4,500 student body.
In 2021-2022 the student
population dropped to 4,066
and at times has been as low
ing to Cagle, Brown was re
leased from state prison in
January of 2021.
Through the newly avail
able technology, which
Cagle does not want to make
public because it could im
pede future investigations,
CID connected Brown to the
scene at the Hill City BP.
They later discovered that a
2003 Dodge Ram was regis
tered in Brown’s name. The
vehicle matched the one in
the surveillance video, Cagle
said, and warrants were is
sued for Brown’s arrest. In
vestigators found and
arrested the suspect at his
home on Hampton Court in
College Park on Thursday,
April 14.
The surveillance footage
as 4,000 students since reach
ing its peak. The superintend
ent said COVID led to their
numbers dropping with kids
simply not coming back to
school.
“It’s been a long time
since we were below 4,000.”
Young said undoubtably
the student number will
bounce back and in the
meantime they will use the
cushion to prepare for
growth.
Saying he knows it will
not be popular, Young said
the first response to a rapidly
growing population would be
redistricting among the ele
mentary schools to spread
from November shows at
least one other person inside
the truck at the time of the
crime, and Cagle said the in
vestigation is ongoing.
Brown is being held in
custody at the Pickens Adult
out the growth into different
campuses to make use of
classrooms already here.
Young said people are sur
prised when they learn that
the student body has shrunk.
The school system has re
sponded by cutting staff lev
els and recognize the
opportunity this gives to pre
pare.
Sheriff Donnie Craig said
with the past 14 years as
sheriff, he considers himself
lucky to be able to do the job
he wants to do in the place he
wants to live. One of the
greatest assets in this county
is the ability to reach out to
people to solve problems, the
sheriff said.
With growth, crime rates
will increase and his office’s
job is to prevent as much as
possible. The bottom line is
people want to know that
they are safe and “when you
go to work your stuff will
still be there when you get
back,” Craig said.
The sheriff wanted it
known that in the past year,
his office came in 5 percent
below their budget of $7.6
million and did that while
raising pay for deputies. He
said his office is not able to
match salaries of many sur
rounding law enforcement
agencies, but his staff is ded
icated and loves this commu
nity. The sheriff’s office has
been working to recognize
longer serving officers with
longevity pay and reward of
ficers who have additional
education and training. But
Craig also wanted it noted
that he has not raised his staff
levels having roughly the
same size of staff of 98 as
when he entered office 14
years ago.
Craig said his officers
stopped 4,183 motorists in
the past year but only issued
983 citations. Interacting
with drivers is a great way to
spot drug activity and look
for intoxicated drivers.
He closed by saying they
have two excellent programs
“In Plain Sight” where peo
ple with security cameras are
asked to let the office know
they have the cameras. They
do not give any control or
permission to randomly
watch the feeds, but it lets in
vestigators know where cam
eras are in the event a crime
takes place in that area. He
said they get a good bit of
tips from the Tip 411 app
and wanted to assure people
that “there is no way we can
see who sent it.” To find out
more about both these pro
grams see the sheriff office
website at “pickensgasher-
iff.com.
A still from surveillance footage of the incident at a Hill City convenience store. Photo
taken from the Pickens Sheriff’s Facebook page.
Detention Center. He was on
parole at the time of his ar
rest, and because of that is
being supervised by the
Georgia Department of Com
munity Supervision out of
Atlanta. That department su
pervises approximately
180,000 adult offenders in
Georgia.
Brown has been charged
with one count of Theft by
Taking, which is a felony.
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Wallace
be at their best and to always
be looking for ways to better
themselves and the environ
ment around them. Addition
ally, I challenged myself to
be that person as a role model
for them. I feel that great
strides have been made in
equipping quality, capable
young people with the tools
necessary for them to experi
ence success at our school
and beyond. Over these past
five years, it has been a true
blessing to witness first-hand
the numerous accomplish
ments by the students and
staff of Pickens High School.
After much prayer and con
sideration, I will be stepping
down as principal of Pickens
High School at the conclu
sion of the 2021 -2022 school
year. It has been a privilege
and an honor to serve in this
capacity. The impact that our
students, staff and commu-
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Spill
The city will be sure of the
safety of the situation after
the initial reports come back
and the EPD will make a de
termination on whether fur
ther steps will be necessary
concerning the creek or the
area.
Any specific questions or
concerns can be addressed to
David Hall, Utility Director
for the City of Jasper at 706-
692-9102.
Continued From 1A
Satterfield
parent or sibling die. The stu
dent must go to a post high
school higher education pro
gram to receive the scholar
ship. This can be a technical
college or four-year univer
sity.
The scholarship was cre
ated through Hope After
Grief, Inc. by Sydney Ford,
who lost her dad at age 10.
Sydney realized when going
to college that there were no
scholarships available specif
ically for grieving youth.
Most grieving families are
working from either a single
parent income or have spent
a lot of their funds on funeral
costs and expenses. In addi
tion, some families have to
cover hospital costs. This
scholarship will help allevi
ate the financial burden on
two grieving families.
More information can be
found at hopeaftergrief.org or
@hopeaftergrief on Insta-
gram and Facebook.
nity have made on my life
during my tenure here is im
measurable. For this, I am
grateful.
Upon transitioning out of
this role, I will begin serving
as the director of transporta
tion and maintenance for our
district. Within this new role,
I will also be overseeing
safety and security. I am
looking forward to the oppor
tunity to serve our more than
4,000 students and their fam
ilies within our district, as
well as the wonderful staff
who make up our outstanding
transportation and mainte
nance departments.
As is the case with any de
manding job, sacrifices must
be made in order to give
those you serve the very best
you have to offer. I am eter
nally grateful to my family,
who have understood that
much of my time, effort and
energy had to be dedicated to
PHS over the last five years.
I could not have possibly
been successful in this role
without the unconditional
love, support and encourage
ment from all of you. I espe
cially want to thank my wife
Lynda and my son Nathan. I
appreciate your love and sup
port more than you will ever
know.
I chose to dedicate my life
to education 16 years ago,
with the last 14 of these years
serving in our district.
Twelve of these years have
been as a PHS employee, the
same school I graduated from
26 years ago. Pickens High
School is home to me and
will always have a special
place in my heart. Although I
will not be leading PHS into
the 2022-2023 school year, I
have no doubt that the caring
and talented staff assembled
there will continue to do ex
ceedingly great things for our
students in the years ahead.
They are committed to this
profession and the work of
shaping our students into pro
ductive and prepared mem
bers of society.
I would like to conclude
by thanking the many who
have supported and encour
aged me throughout my jour
ney over the last five years. I
am grateful for each of you
and the many kind words that
have been shared with me. To
my staff at PHS, I want to
send my sincere thanks to
you for “rowing” with me
and for working hard along
side me to make our school a
great place to work and leam.
I want to thank the members
of our Board of Education,
our Superintendent Mr. Tony
Young, and Chief Operations
Officer Mr. Stacy Gilleland
for their support and belief in
my abilities to fill this impor
tant role within our district
moving forward. I pledge to
work diligently in my pursuit
to continue making a positive
impact on our students, staff,
system and community.
With heartfelt apprecia
tion,
Chris Wallace, Ed.S.
Professional Women updated on Pickens non-profit organizations
The latest networking
luncheon for PWPC (Profes
sional Women of Pickens
County) was hosted on April
7. The program focused on
some of the non-profits in the
Pickens County area. The
Pickens County Progress was
the sponsor for the event.
Pictured left to right is the
program speakers along with
the PWPC leadership team.
Jessica Wells, CEO with
Boys & Girls Club of North
Georgia; Sally Stenger, a
local attorney and PWPC
secretary; Kathleen C. Varda,
Foundation Director for
Highland Rivers Foundation;
Jennifer McDonald, Out- Financial and PWPC presi- Crowe, Pickens County luncheon will be June 2. mation about attending con-
reach Coordinator with North dent-elect; Kelly Stover, Progress, and PWPC past PWPC is a program through tact the chamber office at
Georgia Family Partners; iTHINK Financial and president. the Pickens Chamber of 706-692-5600 or visit
Michelle Tidwell, iTHINK PWPC president; and Sheri The next networking Commerce. For more infor- www.pickenschamber.com.
Heavy turnover in General Assembly likely won't change party makeup
By Dave Williams
Bureau Chief
Capitol Beat News Service
ATLANTA - There will be
a lot of new faces in the Gen
eral Assembly come next
January.
But the breakdown be
tween majority Republicans
and minority Democrats may
not change much.
Twelve of the 56 Georgia
senators are not seeking re-
election this fall, while 54 of
the 180 members of the state
House of Representatives
aren't running for another
two-year term under the Gold
Dome.
That's an unusually large
amount of turnover, driven in
part by the ambitions of law
makers leaving their seats to
seek statewide office in posi
tions including lieutenant
governor, attorney general
and secretary of state. But
many others simply have had
their fill of the job.
"It was a combination of
having been there awhile and
the demands of the job, the
sacrifices of being away from
homes and businesses," said
House Speaker David Ral
ston, R-Blue Ridge.
At the same time, high
turnover in the General As
sembly is being accompanied
by a larger than usual number
of contested races for legisla
tive seats.
In the House, contests for
87 of the 180 seats feature at
least one Republican and one
Democrat. The ratio is nearly
the same in the Senate, where
at least one candidate from
each of the two major parties
is on the ballot in 27 of 56
races.
Charles Bullock, a politi
cal science professor at the
University of Georgia, attrib
utes the large number of con
tested races to the
once-per-decade redrawing
of legislative maps to accom
modate changes in popula
tion reflected in the U.S.
Census.
The legislature's Republi
can majority made major
changes to many House and
Senate districts, forcing in
cumbents to court lots of new
constituents on the campaign
trail while encouraging new
comers to jump into the fray.
"Especially in a district
that has swapped some pop
ulation in and out, parts of
the district would be like an
open seat," Bullock said.
In the immediate after-
math of the General Assem
bly's redistricting special
session last November, the
consensus among Georgia
political observers was that
the new maps put Democrats
in a position to gain up to six
seats in the House and pick
up at least one seat in the
Senate. While Republicans
were in control of drawing
the new districts, growing
minority populations in sub
urban Atlanta were expected
to help Democrats gain
ground.
"The changing population
is spreading further out of At
lanta, putting some districts
in Gwinnett [County] and
North Fulton up for grabs,"
Bullock said. "Democrats
came close to winning them
in 2018 and 2020."
"We are optimistic about
potential gains in the Senate,"
Monica Fambrough, spokes
woman for the Georgia Sen
ate Democratic Caucus,
added in an e-mail. "We do
expect to pick up at least two
seats, and we are going to be
competing in several districts
where we see a path for gains
in the future."
Fambrough pointed to
Senate Districts 6, 7, 14 and
48 in Atlanta's northern sub
urbs as competitive districts
where the Democrats have
fielded strong candidates.
Even if those gains are re
alized, Republicans still
would remain in control of
the General Assembly. The
GOP now holds 34 Senate
seats to 22 for the Democrats,
while the House includes 103
Republican members and 77
Democrats.
On the House side, Ral
ston said he's not buying that
Democrats will gain six
seats.
"We're a competitive state
now because of the changing
demographics. We get that as
Republicans," he said. "[But]
I think [a six-seat pickup] is
a real reach for them. I expect
we'll end up pretty close to
where we are now. We may
pick up one or two [seats]."
Ralston said Republicans
will be able to talk on the
campaign trail about a strong
list of accomplishments dur
ing the recently concluded
General Assembly session,
including an overhaul of
Georgia's mental health sys
tem, a tax cut and an econ
omy that has remained strong
despite the pandemic, outper
forming other states.
"We were the last to close
and the first to reopen," he
said. "That put us in a good
position economically."
Democrats supported the
mental health bill, but most
voted against the Republi
cans' other priorities. Demo
cratic candidates will tell
voters Republicans have
made Georgia less safe by al
lowing the carrying of con
cealed firearms without a
permit and are threatening
their voting rights by em
powering the Georgia Bureau
of Investigation to look into
complaints of election fraud
on its own.