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THURSDAY. MAY 5. 2022 PICKENS COUNTY PROGRESS PAGE 5A
Letters to the, Editor
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 published, and contact info. (Email Address or
Phone Number), which will not be published.
To the Editor:
Growth, Population Den
sity and Retaining Our Com
munity's Openness and
Welcoming Spirit
A local entrepreneur re
cently noted one of the three
things which make Jasper a
great place for starting a new
business is the openness of
the people who live here—
that is, a community of peo
ple with a welcoming spirit
who are open to diversity, art,
new ideas, and progress.
The question facing us
today is: “What can we do to
maintain this openness and
welcoming spirit as the den
sity of our population sharply
increases?”
The more our population
increases, the more traffic
there is on our streets. Have
you found yourself in a long
line of cars backed-up at the
stop light or caught yourself
looking at automobile license
plates wondering: “Where
did all these people come
from?”
As growth inevitably
moves our way from Atlanta,
will we lose the openness and
welcoming spirit that made
Jasper and Pickens County
such a great place to be?
Will our leaders stay
ahead of traffic congestion?
Will they complete new road
construction before we get
frustrated with these back-
County assessors office
hires new personnel to
keep up with workload
By Alex Goble
Staff Writer
agoble@piekensprogress.com
The Pickens County
Board of Assessors had their
regular meeting on April 26.
In one of his regular in
spired moments, Chief ap
praiser Roy Dobbs quipped
to the board that “our office
does resemble the Orville
Redenbacher ready room -
there’s just something pop
ping all the time,” before div
ing into a description of how
much activity the assessors
are seeing.
To help with the heavy
workload the office has
added one recent hire and
will add another who will
start on May 2. This is in ad
dition to the two hires in Feb
ruary.
“We’re trying to get
enough people to put our
hands on more properties,
more often without having to
go contract,” Dobbs said.
Dobbs and Deputy Chief
Appraiser Stephanie Gooch
both commented on their sat
isfaction with the recent hires
and their hope that they will
be able to keep all work in-
house.
An announcement that the
new aerial photography and
lidar layers that have been
part of discussion for months
now are supposed to be ready
and received by May was
met with skepticism, but gen
eral hope that the timeline is
real.
For those unfamiliar, lidar
is a way of making high res
olution, 3-D maps of a sur
face using lasers to measure
distances. The applications of
lidar vary widely, but in this
case the lasers have laid out a
3-D representation of Pick
ens County and will be useful
to the assessors office for a
variety of reasons.
The board’s next meeting
is set for May 31 in the Pick
ens County Administration
Building at 8:30 a.m.
ups? Will they see the short
age of parking in downtown
before it is too late to find
more space?
Many challenges face our
current government leader
ship. Will our leaders make
the decisions necessary to
preserve our community’s
openness and welcoming
spirit while our population
density is on this sharp in
cline?
Bill Miller
To the Editor:
Democracy. It’s a long
word, so it kind of floats in
one ear and out the other—
doesn’t make a picture flash
into our heads. Something to
do with voting. The Declara
tion of Independence doesn’t
include the word, but it says
what the word means:
“.. .We hold these truths to
be self-evident, that all men
are created equal, that they
are endowed by their Creator
with certain unalienable
Rights, that among these are
Life, Liberty and the pursuit
of Happiness. —That to se
cure these rights, Govern
ments are instituted among
Men, deriving their just pow
ers from the consent of the
governed....”
Repeat that radical idea:
“...Governments are insti
tuted among Men, deriving
their just powers from the
consent of the governed....”
But should we citizens get
to require “the consent of the
governed”—that is, who we
allow to govern the city or
county, the state, the country?
Wouldn’t it be easier, more
efficient, to just put one re
ally smart guy—say, a really
rich real estate developer—in
charge of the country and let
him decide everything? (And
if he says his opposition
“stole” an election from him,
we should take his word for
it and let him stay in
charge—right?)
At least, that’s what one of
our big national political par
ties is saying now. We should
put their guys in charge—
permanently. If they don’t
win an election, then some
body must have cheated, be
cause... well, because there
couldn’t have been that many
people voting against them—
could there? So, votes for
them are OK, but as many
votes as possible for “the
other party” should be
thrown out.
Their argument now is not
only “Who should get to
vote?” (“Only those who can
find their way through the
maze of laws we’ve passed”)
but more importantly “Who
gets to count the votes?”
(“People we can rely on—
that is, members of our party
who will make sure we
win”).
If you’re OK with this,
you might be one of those
who make history—by over
turning that old-fashioned,
out-of-date American Revo
lution and making the con
man from Mar-A-Lago
(“Putin is a genius!”) Presi
dent for Life.
G. David Robinson
Tater Patch Theater is a very busy place
a
The cast of The Cemetery Club at a recent rehearsal:
(L-R) September Hoeler, Nancy Martin, Monashi Owens,
Alex Nawrocki (standing) and Lisa Spirko.
The cast and crew of the
next show The Cemetery
Club by Ivan Menschell, is
very hard at work. They're
almost ready to present this
marvelous play, filled with
lots of laughter, a tear or two,
and some very interesting
characters. The show dates
are May 20, 21, 22, 27, 28,
29 and June 3, 4, 5. The Fri
day and Saturday perform
ances are at 7:30 and the
Sunday shows at 2. Box of
fice will open one hour be
fore show time for admission
and ticket sales. Tickets may
be bought in advance online
a t
www.taterpatchplayers.org.
For those who cannot af
ford tickets at this time, we
offer May 19 Share Night at
7:30 p.m. This allows you to
bring one or more bags of
non-perishable food or toi
letry items to the theater. In
exchange for you sharing
through the theater with the
CARES Food Pantry, we will
share out dress rehearsal with
you. Everyone's a winner.
While all the last minute
rehearsal, costuming and
final touches of paint are
being done, Tater Patch is
also proud to announce audi
tions for the next show,
Jelloflsh, by Jim Henry. The
director, Jan Simpson is look
ing for three actors who can
play men in their late 70s and
one woman in her 30s to 40s.
Military service is a plus for
the men, but not required.
The audition dates are May
14 and 15 from 5 p.m. to 7
p.m. The dates of the show
are July 22, 23,24, 29,30,31
and August 5, 6 and 7.
You'll be totally blown
away by the humor, pathos,
grit and hope of this play. It's
about a group of veterans,
their very long friendship,
their weekly poker game, and
the unique way they remem
ber past events. You'll even
find out what a “jellofish” is.
Please come out and audi
tion, even if you've never
acted before. You can be a
part of a wonderful show.
Our homeschoolers drama
group will be performing
Alice in Wonderland on May
13 and 14 at 2 p.m. The tick
ets are $5 at the door. Bring
the kids and see the next gen
eration of actors and ac
tresses on stage. Then, be on
the lookout for the applica
tion for our Summer Youth
Camp and audition informa
tion for the Summer Youth
production. Info coming soon
to the Pickens Country
Progress and our Facebook
page and website.
All these wonderful on
stage events are at Tater
Patch Players Theater, 95
Philadelphia Lane in Jasper.
If you have questions, please
email the troupe at tater-
patchplayers@gmail.com or
leave a phone message at
706-253-2800. One of our
helpful volunteers will get
back in touch.
Early Voting Now Underway at
Roper Park Community Center
Elections are important, and sometimes painful. If you
are like me, you are tired of the political drama we see
unfolding on our TVs everyday. We need elected offi
cials who will stop worrying about re-election and their
own self interests, and start focusing on the people.
Pickens County has been my home for the biggest
part of my life. I can’t imagine my wife and I raising our
three children anywhere else. I am running to be your
commissioner because I have a sincere desire to see
the home we all love continue to prosper in a responsi
ble way. This will require open lines of communication,
mutual respect, and healthy compromise.
Proven Leader
ship that will:
Protect our History
and Culture
Expand Services to
the West End
Find Sustainable
Water in Pickens
County
Lower Taxes
Provide Better Parks
and Recreation
Keep the West End
Rural
I would be honored to have your vote and support for
West End Commissioner - Josh