Newspaper Page Text
THURSDAY. MAY 12. 2022 PICKENS COUNTY PROGRESS PAGE 9A
Letters to tfa Editor
Body
of hiker
identified
Remains found on
Springer Mountain in
Fannin County have been
identified as Stephen
Lucas Ryan. Above is a
photo of him provided to
the investigation by his
family.
Courtesy of The News-
Observer
By Glenn Harbison
glenn@thenewsobserver.com
A body found earlier
this year on Springer
Mountain in Fannin
County has been identified
as that of Stephen Lucas
Ryan, 40, of Connecticut.
Fannin County Coroner
Becky Callihan said the
identification was made by
two specialists in the Fed
eral Bureau of Investiga
tion’s Missing Persons
unit.
To the Editor:
I live off Grandview Road
and use Cove Road back and
forth from town.
The rock cliffs on the
winding road above the creek
look ominous to me.
I wonder how often the
city of Jasper checks on
them?
Are there any plans to pre
vent rocks from falling onto
the road?
Will it take another land
slide and bad accident to get
anything done?
Maybe they are waiting
for the kudzu to leaf out, help
hold the rocks and keep all of
the faults out of sight.
Does the city of Jasper
worry at all about their liabil
ity in the situation?
Jane Lipscomb
To the Editor:
Money Money Money
Money can buy you polit
ical power, and political
power can make you more
money. Look at Stacey.
Everyone that I have ever
talked to about this has
agreed. Everybody knows
this basic truth.
We also know that money
is being concentrated more
and more in the hands of
fewer and fewer people. We
can see the structure of old
Europe being reconstituted
here in the USA.
We have not yet put the
english titles to it of knights,
dukes, barons, queen and
king but given time we will.
Even the certified nut
cases of Congress recognize
this.
I propose two changes in
the law to reverse this trend.
First, no individual shall
give more than $5,000 in
total or in kind per year to
any political party or candi
date or office holder at a city
county, state or federal level
and such donations shall be
published annually by name
of the giver by each receiver.
That is a total of $5,000 to all
politics.
No organizations like
companies or unions would
be permitted to donate at all.
Second, the executives of
any public corporation shall
not be paid more than 200
times the total average annual
amounts paid to the bottom
one-third paid employees of
that organization.
The first law should work
to limit the power of money
of the rich to own the law
making of government. The
second ride would limit the
pay of executives of the large
organizations of the country
who shelter their individual
wealth behind the corporate
protections provide by the
rest of us.
You can probably think of
other laws that will allow
capitalism to work more
freely. I do not agree with
AOC that taxing the wealthy
at even higher rates will do
what we want. I am not
against those that make a lot
of money. But I do not want
the rich to be the only ones
that run the country and the
rest of us to have almost no
practical say.
Gary Pichon
To the Editor:
Thank you to Mountain
City NAPA of Jasper for as
sisting in the free oil changes
for ladies on Saturday, May
7th. Almost 30 ladies re
ceived oil changes on their
vehicles free of charge.
Mountain City NAPA pro
vided the oil and filters for all
of the vehicles serviced. A
few vehicles were not serv
iced, and we are thankful to
Precision Automotive for
getting these vehicles serv
iced. We also want to thank
the Pickens Progress for
helping us get the word out.
We are proud to partner with
the wonderful people at
Mountain City NAPA, Preci
sion Auto, and the Pickens
Progress who love the com
munity of Jasper and Pickens
County.
Please support these local
businesses that support our
community.
Mark Porado
Lead Pastor
Living Word Church
To the Editor:
It is long past time to com
pensate disabled veterans
fairly.
Our disabled veterans are
grossly undercompensated.
The consequences for all of
us could be dire.
In 2022 a totally disabled
veteran with no dependents is
compensated at the ridicu
lous rate of $39,984.72 dol
lars annually. The National
Average Wage Index
(NAWI) for 2020 was
$55,628.60 dollars per
annum and the median in
come for 2020 was
$67,521.00. The per capita
GDP in 2020 was $63,416.00
dollars, among the highest in
the world. This rate of com
pensation to disabled veter
ans is deliberate and cruel.
They have been asking
various administrations and
Congresses for fair compen
sation since the end of WWI
in November 1918. That was
103 years ago. Where is it?
In my opinion the basic
reason for their gross under
compensation situation is be
cause they are only compen
sated for projected loss of
wages due to their disabili
ties. They are not compen
sated for their low quality of
life which is now the norm
throughout the nation in per
sonal injury cases.
I ask you to pass legisla
tion this year to compensate
them fairly, especially the to
tally and permanently dis
abled among them who
should be compensated at
least at the level of the
NAWI.
This is now a national se
curity problem.
Once there is full realiza
tion among our youth that se
rious injury or illness in the
armed forces almost guaran
tees a lifetime of near poverty
the armed forces will col
lapse rather quickly. Once it
starts it will be impossible to
stop.
We have no right to de
mand this kind of severe life
time sacrifice from our youth
who are injured in the armed
forces solely in order for our
Elites to evade fair taxation.
This is outright oppression
from the Investor Class.
Congress must act now.
Kiara Hill
Letters welcomed -
No letter more than 450 words;
Sendlonews@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,
Rebecca Hughson, Fan
nin County chief deputy
coroner, said Friday a
cause of death has not been
determined.
Hughson, who headed
up the local investigation,
said the 40-year-old Ryan
had joined the U.S. Navy
immediately after high
school. He was awarded a
full scholarship to the U.S.
Naval Academy at An
napolis where he earned a
degree in physics.
Ryan transfered to the
U.S. Marine Corps and be
came an Osprey pilot.
Ryan’s remains were
discovered January 21,
2022, off the Benton
MacKaye Trail where it is
part of the Appalachian
Trail. A hiker who had be
come lost made the discov
ery.
The remote location,
while in Fannin County,
was more easily accessed
from Lumpkin County.
The Georgia Bureau of
Investigation was called to
investigate.
Callihan said at the time
there were no signs of foul
play at the scene, but be
cause decomposition had
been effected by cold tem
peratures it was hard to tell
how long the body might
have been where it was
found.
Second arrest made
in ATM theft case
Book-in photo/Pickens
County Sheriff’s Office
Justin Gravley
By Angela Reinhardt
Staff Writer
areinhardt@pickensprogress.com
Talking Rock man Justin
Gravley, 34, has been ar
rested for his involvement
with the theft of an ATM
from a convenience store in
west Pickens County last
year.
Gravley is the second sus
pect to be arrested in this
case. James Brown, Jr. 55,
College Park, Ga. was ar
rested in April of this year.
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The incident occurred last
November 20, 2021 at ap
proximately 1:42 a.m. The
Pickens County Sheriff’s Of
fice originally responded to a
call regarding a suspicious
object in the middle of Mul-
linax Road after a motorist
nearly crashed into it. Inves
tigators determined it was a
Community Bank of Pickens
County ATM from the BP
convenience store on High
way 53 in Hill City. Surveil
lance footage from the
convenience store showed a
Dodge pickup track dragging
the ATM through the parking
lot before it drove away with
the machine still attached.
The machine was found
around a mile and a half from
its original location. The
amount of money that was
stolen has not been released.
Pickens Sheriff’s Criminal
Investigation Division Capt.
John Cagle said the Sheriff’s
Office received a tip regard
ing Gravley and his connec
tion to the theft, and
investigators then connected
him to the first suspect
through phone records and
other evidence. Gravley was
taken into custody at his
home on Ellijay Road on
Monday, May 2. He has since
bonded out. His bond was set
at $10,000.
Use of advanced technol
ogy the sheriff’s office has
only recently had access to
led to the arrest of Brown
who recently ended a 20
years sentence for armed rob
bery. Brown was released
from state prison in January
of 2021 after serving time for
that crime.
Both Brown and Gravley
have been charged with Theft
by Taking, which is a felony.
The case is still under inves
tigation with additional ar
rests expected.
Marine Corps League meet
The N. Ga. Mtn. Det.
1280 Marine Corps League
invites all Marines and
Navy FMF corpsmen to be
come involved with us. We
support our active Marines
and their families as they
are deployed around the
globe to defend our way of
life.
We meet the third Satur
day of each month at Moun
tain Education Center, 339
Church St. Jasper, for social
time at 8:30 a.m. with the
meeting beginning at 0900
to 1000. For more informa
tion contact Wayne Poore at
706-692-2836. Semper Fi.
Business cards printed
Call the Progress at 706-253-2457
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Renee Burgess
VICE PRESIDENT, MORTGAGE LOAN ORIGINATOR, NMLS# 501421
118 Whitfield Drive, Jasper, GA 30143
P 706-253-9393 | D 706-299-5711
renee_burgess@ucbi.com
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