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“I can't change the direction of the wind, but I can adjust my sails to always reach my destination.”
-Jimmy Dean
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Common Sense
The Progress
Editorial
May 12,2022
From the Staff
For both walkers and drivers
be courteous and cautious
By Dan Pool
Editor
dpool@pickensprogress.com
I have been working on my 20-yard
shuffle sprint as Jasper’s growth is driv
ing me to be leaner and quicker off the
start.
But at the same time running across
Main Street still warrants a little finesse
- you don’t want to look like you are flee
ing for your life while holding a cup of
coffee or bringing lunch back to the of
fice.
You see the problem all downtown
pedestrians face is we’re halfway be
tween the wild west, where some drivers
don’t even slow down for strolling
grandmothers with baby carriages, and
big city, where other drivers, particularly
those in foreign-made SUVs, slam on the
brakes if they spot someone merely
glancing at the street.
Other than working on our foot speed,
there are a couple of things that would re
ally help Main Street vehicle and pedes
trian traffic flow:
• First, let’s remember that pedestrians
in crosswalks have the right-of-way. But
this is still viewed as more of a sugges
tion by many, so for walkers, please don’t
assume the car will stop. But drivers, un
less you want to have lengthy conversa
tions with your insurance agent, a little
caution goes a long ways.
• There are six crosswalks on Main
Street north of Highway 53; two on Main
south of Highway 53. From a logistics
perspective, some reconsideration of the
placement is in order. Maybe six is too
many from The Old Mulehouse to the
Old Jail? Drivers get frustrated if they
have to stop that many times.
• The crossings that are not on distinct
comers don’t offer motorists a reasonable
chance to spot people about to step out,
especially if you have a full-sized vehicle
sitting beside the crosswalk. The crossing
at the far north end of town is partially
obscured by a tree on one side.
• The crosswalks in the center of town,
beside and across Highway 53 are risky
at all times with turning lanes converging
there. The slopes, the building and the
angles where Hwy. 53 and Main Street
meet don’t give drivers much chance to
look ahead. It has been several years
since we have had a story on a hit pedes
trian downtown but there have been at
least two cases at the Highway 53 and
Main Street intersection that resulted in
injuries.
We would urge the city to put as top
priority a safer way to handle pedestrians
crossing Highway 53 as a top priority.
• Also downtown, the city has added
the plaza/picnic table area where Stegall
turns off Main Street. This area is becom
ing increasingly popular in the evenings.
It would be great to see plans expand
pedestrian areas coordinated with park
ing on the backstreets.
In the greater scheme of things, the
flow of pedestrians and motorists along
our small town’s main drag isn’t a major
issue — yet. It will be one day, and likely
sooner than later.
This, like the issue of sidewalk foot-
traffic brought up at the April city council
workshop, is a nice problem to have as it
results from the fact more people are
strolling downtown. Five years ago, there
weren’t enough pedestrians to have any
problem.
We need a plan so that five years from
now, Jasper has a pleasant and safe
downtown atmosphere for walkers with
out constantly stopping traffic on Main
Street.
Tell us your thoughts with a letter to the editor. E-mail to news@pickensprogress.com
See letter submission guidelines on the Letters to the Editor page or call us 706-253-2457.
The Truth About Old People
By Jim Brescia
The U.S. Census Bureau es
timates that the number of
Americans age 65 and older
will more than double over the
next 40 years. That explains
why we are seeing so many ar
ticles about “old” people. They
are written by young and old
authors and discuss getting old
and being old.
With all of these “experts”
waxing eloquently about “old”
people, I think it is time to clar
ify some facts and dispel some
myths.
First of all, do not use the
“old” label for anyone under
65. If someone is under 65
years of age and complaining
about or explaining getting old,
they are misappropriating the
experience of us genuine, certi
fiable old folks.
Myth Busting
We get falsely accused of
being “grouchy.” After having
made a lot of mistakes and then
watching others do the same
stupid things for 6-7 decades,
we are disappointed that evolu
tion has not made todays under
65s any smarter than we were.
So, excuse us if, after
watching someone do some
thing stupid for the 10,000nth
time, we are a little short of pa
tience. By the way, young
folks’ fuses seem to be short
when getting annoyed at us.
We are accused of not liking
current music. We are ridiculed
for listening to the same music
we have listened to for decades.
Guilty as charged. Our music
doesn’t mention killing or sex
ual intercourse. We understand
that those things happen. We
just can’t understand why any
one would want to sing about
them.
While we are on the topic of
music, when we old folks
earned enough money to buy
high quality home sound equip
ment, we were shocked at how
many of our favorite songs we
had been butchering the lyrics
of for decades.
Busting A Move
Some people make fun of
our dancing. They say it is “old
fashioned.” First of all, we con
sider that a compliment. Sec
ondly, we should get credit for
inventing break dancing.
Every time we dance, we
break something, usually a
bone. Years ago, we had the
“twist” craze. That dance was
also known as the Chiropractor
(USPS 431-820)
Published by Pickens County Progress, Inc.
94 North Main Street, Jasper, GA 30143
(706) 253-2457
www.pickensprogressonline.com
DAN POOL
Publisher/Editor
Published each Thursday at Jasper, Pickens County, Georgia.
Entered at the Post Office at Jasper, Georgia 30143
as Mail Matter of Second Class.
POSTMASTER: Send address changes to
PICKENS COUNTY PROGRESS, 94 N. Main St., Jasper, GA 30143.
One Year Subscription: $41.17 for residents of Pickens County
or the cities of Ball Ground, Fairmount, and Ranger;
$52.30 for all other Georgia residents; $62.32 out of state residents.
Relief Fund. I always suspected
that Chubby Checker was get
ting paid “off the books” by the
chiropractic industry.
The Times They Are A
Changing
If we wistfully talk about
the past, it is with good reason.
Sure, we had our protests, riots,
wars, assassinations and short
ages of essential goods. And
like today, the leaders of dissent
were often people who had not
contributed anything of value to
whatever they are criticizing.
But we old folks never felt
that the very foundations upon
which our country was built
was being threatened with de
struction. We always felt that
the way out of the problems
was to be faithful to the tenets
laid out by our Founding Fa
thers. When in doubt about the
appropriate thing to do in a sit
uation, we would rely on the
golden rule and try to do unto
others as we would have them
do unto us.
Less seasoned folks might
think we pontificate too often
and too much. But Socrates
knew what he was talking
about when he said; “The unex
amined life is not worth living.”
We have observed our own life
and the lives of others for
decades. Forgive our immod
esty, but we think we have
some life wisdom to share.
View our comments as a mes
sage of love that we hope will
make your life easier.
A word of caution to you
“young folks.” You will be sur
prised at how quickly you will
join the “old folks.” So, follow
the golden rule and do unto us
seasoned folks as you would
have younger people do unto
you when your time comes.
The future will be in your
hands. I have faith in you.
Now, please excuse me. I
have to spend four hours sort
ing pills.
[Jim Brescia is a regular
contributor to the Progress. He
is involved in several veterans
groups in the area.]
#lbe H>cf)ciol
Other Voices - May is Mental Health Month
Take time this month to understand basics
and get help for mental health issues
By Melanie Dallas
CEO Highland Rivers Be
havioral Health
Mental health awareness
has increased greatly as a re
sult of the pandemic. Numer
ous research studies have
found more people of all ages
have experienced mental
health challenges since 2020
- many perhaps for the first
time in their lives. But al
though awareness has in
creased, not everyone has the
knowledge to recognize the
feelings they may be experi
encing could be related to
mental illness. And even
then, mental health remains
difficult for many people to
talk about, let alone acknowl
edge it is something they
may be struggling with.
As we recognize May as
Mental Health Month, this
year’s theme - Back to Ba
sics - couldn’t be timelier. So
I want to take this opportu
nity to review some basic
facts about mental health and
mental illness, what might
cause mental health chal
lenges, how to recognize
symptoms, and most impor
tant, how to get help.
One of the most basic
facts - as I’ve written count
less times - is that mental ill
ness is much more common
than most people realize. One
in five people will experience
mental illness in their life
time, and most cases begin in
adolescence or young adult
hood. While some individu
als develop chronic mental
health conditions, for many
people, mental illness may be
temporary. But without treat
ment, what may have been a
temporary illness might in
stead become a chronic con
dition. That’s why getting
help is critical.
Another basic fact is,
while we have learned much
about the brain and mental
health over the past several
decades, researchers still
don’t know exactly what
causes any individual to de
velop mental illness. What
we do know is there are sev
eral risk factors for mental
health conditions: trauma
(which could be a one-time
event or ongoing); an indi
vidual’s environment and its
impacts on his or her health
and quality of life (these are
known as the social determi
nants of health, such as finan
cial stability and access to
healthcare); as well as genet
ics and brain chemistry. Your
habits and lifestyle - such as
substance use or not getting
enough sleep - can also im
pact your risk of mental ill
ness.
Of course, having any of
these risk factors does not
necessarily mean an individ
ual will develop mental ill
ness, just as having none of
them doesn’t mean you
might never experience men
tal health challenges. What’s
important is recognizing the
signs that you might be.
Toward that end, if you
are concerned about your
mental health, there are few
simple questions you can ask
yourself about your thoughts,
feelings and behaviors to see
if there is a pattern that may
be associated with a mental
health condition:
• Have things that used to
feel easy started feeling diffi
cult?
• Does the idea of doing
daily tasks like making your
bed now feel really, really
hard?
• Have you lost interest in
activities and hobbies you
used to enjoy?
• Do you feel irritated,
possibly to the point of lash
ing out at people you care
about?
If you answer yes, you
may want to take a more de
tailed assessment - and you
can find free, anonymous and
scientifically validated as
sessments at the Mental
Health America website at
mhascreening.org. Of course,
these assessments won’t tell
you if you have mental ill
ness, but they are a good tool
for talking to your doctor or
mental healthcare provider,
and perhaps having a clinical
screening. This is important
too - because getting
screened increases the
chances of getting treatment.
One of the most important
basics is access to commu
nity-based primary mental
healthcare - which is exactly
what Highland Rivers and all
of Georgia’s 20+ community
service boards provide; other
resources in your community
are likely easy to find with a
simple web search.
Remember, if you are ex
periencing mental health
challenges, you are not alone.
Help is available in your
community, and the sooner
you begin treatment, the
sooner you might feel better.
And that brings us to the final
and most important basic
fact: recovery is always pos
sible.
Melanie Dallas is a li
censed professional coun
selor and CEO of Highland
Rivers Behavioral Health,
which provides treatment and
recovery services for individ
uals with mental illness, sub
stance use disorders, and
intellectual and developmen
tal disabilities in a 13-county
region of northwest Georgia.
WEATHER
By William Dilbeck
HI
LOW
RAIN
May
3
79
63
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May
4
78
55
.00
May
5
80
58
.28
May
6
75
53
.17
May
7
59
49
.00
May
8
68
51
.00
May
9
69
51
.00
3URNETT FAMILY IN CONCERT
Grace Fellowship of North GA
East Church St. Shopping Plaza
1052 E. Church St., Jasper, Ga.
Sunday, May 15,2022
at 10:30 a.m.
Lauuson Self Storage
Al Lawson 1188 Talking Rock Rd
Office 706-253-1188 Jasper, GA 30143
Cell 770-893-7221 allawson3@gmail.com