Newspaper Page Text
Thursday, May 12, 2022 | Volume 135 Number 4 | Jasper, Georgia | 28 pages, 2 sections | Published Weekly | $1.00
No room at the storage units
Business owners say housing market, economy driving demand
By Angela Reinhardt
Staff Writer
areinhardt@pickensprogress.com
start or expand a storage unit busi
ness. Many of those requests have
been granted, which means resi
dents can expect to see more of
them popping up soon.
What appears to be a sudden
surge in interest in building storage
units made us wonder why there is
a surge, and also wonder what the
landscape of Pickens County’s cur
rent storage unit businesses looks
like. What we found was that
there’s no room left at the
vf fjter. proverbial inn, with
every single
storage
unit facility we contacted full and
with a waiting list. We also found
that some of these existing busi
nesses with correct zoning already
in place are also planning on
adding more units.
However, several owners said
while there is an immediate need
for expansion, the situation could
radically reverse with a downturn
in the real estate market or a
general recession.
When people kimTW
struggle li- “JT
nan- jt.
cially, storage units are often
among the first expenses that are
cut, said at least two of the long
time owners.
We compiled a list of storage
units in Pickens County using
a Google search, which re-
turned 25 separate
See Storage on 12A
Over the last few months the
Progress has covered nu-
merous rezoning re-
quests related to
property own-
ers who
^ want to
Hwy. 136 roundabout
opening delayed
CLOSEDi
Angela Reinhardt / Photo
The new Ellijay Road roundabout has seen the open
ing pushed back by supply chain issues.
By Angela Reinhardt
Staff Writer
areinhardt@pickensprogress.com
A new roundabout off
Highway 136 at the Ellijay
Road intersection slated to
open last Saturday has been
delayed a few weeks due to
supply chain issues.
The roundabout is part of
a large Georgia Department
of Transportation project
that spans nearly three miles
from that intersection to the
intersection of Highway 136
and the Highway 136 Con
nector.
Joe Schulman, GDOT
District 6 Communications
Officer, said contractors are
waiting for concrete that will
be used for the truck skirt,
See Roundabout on12A
MUST Ministries needs
help feeding 6,000
children this summer
Summer Lunch Program begins on June 1, and
MUST is asking churches, businesses, families, neigh
borhoods and organizations to gather items on their list.
Nearly 1,100 children in
Pickens County are facing
food insecurity, a problem
that will only be exacerbated
when they are out of school
this summer. For 27 years,
MUST Ministries has
helped to solve that problem
through its Summer Lunch
program, an outreach made
possible by donations and
volunteers.
For many children living
in poverty, the free and re
duced meals they receive
during the school year are
the only meals available to
them. Last year, MUST
helped fill the hunger gap
for more than 6,000 children
in seven counties - includ
ing Pickens - who received
537,527 meals in just nine
See MUST on 12A
Interview with Pickens
High’s valedictorian,
salutatorian
Salutatorian Will Jent and Valedictorian Piper Duncan
Piper Duncan is the
class of2022 PHS valedic
torian. Her parents are
Stephanie and Shane Dun
can. She will be attending
The University of Georgia
in the fall, double majoring
in international affairs and
anthropology’, with plans to
one day attend law school.
Will Jent is the class of
2022 PHS salutatorian. His
parents are Stacy and Alen
Jent. He will be attending
Kennesaw State University
in the fall where he will
study environmental engi
neering, with plans to trans
fer to Georgia Tech.
By Alex Goble
Staff Writer
agoble@pickensprogress.com
The Progress sat down
this week with valedictorian
Piper Duncan and salutato
rian Will Jent at Pickens
High School to discuss their
high school career and fu
ture plans.
Q. Where will you attend
college?
Piper: I’m going to the
University of Georgia. I
was offered a full academic
ride. I’m a part of the Foun
dation Fellowship Program.
It’s a full academic scholar
ship as well as a research
and travel stipend. Will:
I’m going to start off at
Kennesaw State University
then I’m going to transfer to
Georgia Tech.
Q. What will you major
in?
Piper: International af
fairs and anthropology.
Will: I’m majoring in envi
ronmental engineering. I
took AP Environmental Sci
ence my sophomore year
and it was my favorite class
and it inspired me. Just see
ing how much damage
we’ve caused to our envi
ronment made me want to
help.
Q. Did you have any fa
vorite classes or teachers
at PHS?
Piper: AP Calculus and
AP Literature. I really liked
calculus because it made a
lot of sense to me. Every
thing really connected per
fectly and it was like a
puzzle for me. I like how
there is one right answer in
calculus and there’s a very
See Val/Sal on 12A
Reeling 'em in at Fishing Rodeo
Max Caylor / Photo
The bank across from the city water intake on Long Swamp Creek proved to be a
great fishing hole as two trout were caught at the same time during the yearly Sports
men ’s Club Fishing Rodeo. See more photos and a full story on page 14A.
PHS Prom
pictures
Page14B
Cleanup
KPB Memorial
Garden refreshed
Page 10A
Max Caylor
recognized as
Volunteer of the
Year
Page 5A
History
Tales of the
Widow Franklin
Gold Mines Page 6A
Obituaries - 13A
• Barry Ray
• Frankie Atkins
• Joanne Jackson
• Nathan Mosley
• Paula Duke
• Paula Wyatt
• Peggie Chapman
• Thomas Watson
Contact Us
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Jasper, Ga. 30143
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