Newspaper Page Text
Thursday, May 26, 2022 | Volume 135 Number 6 | Jasper, Georgia | 30 pages, 3 sections | Published Weekly | $1.00
Memorial Day ceremony Monday
Keynote speaker nominated for
Pulitzer Prize as war correspondent
By Angela Reinhardt
Staff Writer
areinhardt@picken-
sprogress.com
Memorial Day cere
monies will be held Mon
day, May 30. The event
will be held at Sunrise Me
morial Gardens at 10 a.m.
The public is invited to at
tend.
“Everyone is welcome
to come honor our heroes
who have died serving our
country,” said Marine
Corps League Det. #1280
Commandant Bill Craig.
The keynote speaker
will be Jedwin Smith who
served with the marines
and is also a Pulitzer Prize
nominee for his work as a
war correspondent.
The event is being hosted
by the Marine Corps
League Det. #1280.
Jedwin Smith bio
The recipient of 57
Photo/Marine Corps
League Det. #1280
Jedwin Smith is a ma
rine and print journalist
for 36 years, during which
time he worked as a war
correspondent. He was
nominated for the Pulitzer
Prize twice for his war
coverage.
major writing awards dur
ing his 36 years as a print
journalist, Jedwin Smith
twice was nominated for
See Memorial Day on 10A
A Band of Brothers
Local Marine veteran reunites
with Vietnam brothers-in-arms
By Larry Cavender
Progress Contributor
It had been 56 years
since they had seen one an
other, yet recently, three
Vietnam veterans, includ
ing Jerry Blackwell of
Jasper, reunited in Yuma,
Arizona.
In addition to Corporal
Blackwell, the others were
Sergeant Doug Walker of
Oregon and Colonel F. M.
Luckie of Yuma, who were
all members of the
USMC's C Battery, 2nd
Light Anti-Aircraft Missile
Battalion. The last time
they were together was in
March of 1966 in Viet
nam's Chu Lai Province.
They became close
friends when they began
training for deployment at
See Blackwell on 10A
Pickens resident and
Vietnam veteran Jerry
Blackwell proudly wear
ing his Marine Corps T-
shirt. After joining the
Marines in April of1965,
Blackwell, served as a
radar technician.
Pickens native
Willis Padgett recalls
lessons, losses in Vietnam
Willis Padgett, deployed in Vietnam from 1967-68,
saw heavy action on numerous occasions.
By Mark Millican
Contributing Writer
Fresh out of high
school in 1960, Willis Pad
gett landed a job at the
Pickens County Progress
in Jasper. His employment
initially forestalled him
being drafted for Vietnam
when Uncle Sam came
calling.
“Ermie Edge kept me
out of the Army for several
years,” he said of the
woman whose family
owned the newspaper.
“She had some say. They
drafted me, so she called
the colonel she knew and
said, 'I don't want him
drafted, he's the only one
that knows how to run my
linotype machine. So we
don't need to let him go.'”
When a second lino
type machine was eventu
ally purchased by the
Progress and another man
was trained on it, however,
Padgett was drafted at age
25. After boot camp at Fort
See Padgett on 10A
Sleeping bag, junk
dumped into manholes
damages sewage station
By Alex Goble
Staff Writer
agoble@pickensprogress.com
A city of Jasper sanitary lift station that
serves the area around the hospital malfunc
tioned and shut down on Monday, May 16
after debris lodged in the pump station.
The debris consisted of items such as
lumber, sleeping bags and clothing in what
might be called a dump labeled as vandal
ism.
“We got everything taken care of, got the
debris completely removed, and we’ve got
a rental pump out there that is doing basi
cally the work of the station and taking care
of that for the time being until we can get in
there and get the pumps pulled and figure
out all of the piping configuration,” said As
sistant City Manager, Kim Goldener. “That
station is extremely deep. This one, unfortu
nately, is going to take a while to fix.”
The city believes that the materials were
dumped by removing the lids on a couple of
different manholes that are in the collection
system upstream of the station - meaning
that they flow to the station to be pumped
further along and eventually to the plant for
treatment.
The pump stations are designed to handle
liquid and very specific things: water, grey
water, restroom water, and toilet paper. The
pumps are not designed to take on big,
heavy, fibrous materials.
“When you get rags, or you get towels,
See Sewage Woes on 11A
As school year ends,
Tate students go all out
1JfcLO<- HtuMjLun.
‘ TTdfjL bcbaol
George Washington
by Maverick Hall
Jackie Robinson
4 by Brady Woodward
Theodore Roosevelt
by Parker Styles
Christopher Columbus
by Sully Ketterer
Amelia Earhart
TZDs
jSfcr by Emma Ostrom
Orville Wright
by Caleb Hux
Queen Elizabeth, II
by Maddie Trent
Paul Revere
by Lucy Wright
By Angie Wright
Tate Elementary
During the month of May, 4th grade stu
dents at Tate Elementary put forth many
hours of hard work and effort to complete
their Wax Museum project.
This project allowed students to choose a
historical figure that they have studied dur
ing their elementary school career. Students
researched, wrote about the life of that per
son, prepared a speech, and a display board
graphic by Katie Cagle/photos from school
showcasing what their figure is famous for.
On Thursday, May 19th, all their hard
work came to life as our Tate families visited
our living Wax Museum. Students dressed
the part and recited their speeches from
memory to all our visitors.
Many of them even answered questions
off script that they were asked because they
had actually become experts and taken on
the persona of their chosen figure.
249 to graduate Friday from
Pickens High School
The 249 members of the
PHS Class of 2022 will grad
uate Friday, May 27 at
Dragon Stadium.
The ceremony will begin
at 7 p.m. as graduates take
their seats to Pomp and Cir
cumstance. Senior Class
Secretary Katherine Perez
will deliver the invocation
followed by the PHS Chorus
Ensemble leading the class
in singing the national an
them and the alma mater.
Principal Chris Wallace
will welcome everyone be
fore Senior Class Vice Pres
ident Griffin Cantrell intro
duces the graduation
speaker, Cana Lutz. William
Jent will deliver the saluta
tory address followed by
class Valedictorian Piper
Duncan delivering her
speech to the class.
Ishan Iqbal, Senior Class
President, will join Superin
tendent Tony Young and
Principal Wallace in award
ing diplomas before giving
the president’s speech.
Following the speech and
closing remarks the class
will leave the stadium as
graduates to their song, “I
Lived by One Republic.”
For those attending grad
uation, shuttle service will be
offered from Pickens Junior
High school, Chattahoochee
Tech, and Royston LLC.
Buses will depart from each
location between 5:15 p.m.
and 6 p.m. for the PHS Sta
dium.
If you are planning to ride
a shuttle back to any of these
locations, please load within
30 minutes of the cere
mony’s conclusion. See ad
on shuttles on Page Bl.
Education
Graduation
special section
in this week’s
edition.
See Section C
Talking Rock
convenience
store broken into
Page 8A
Election Results
See results
vote and wrap
up of
Tuesday’s vote
pickensprogress.com
Obituaries - 6A
• Carla Holt
• Donnie Copher III
• Gale Archer
• Gladys Jones
• John Bauer
• Leon Bridges
• Mahria Smith
• Martha Pruitt
Bike trail plans discussed
for Doris Wigington Park
Homeowners say
crime, creepy ac
tivities remain a
concern at park
on Lumber Com
pany Road and
Gennett Drive
By Dan Pool
Editor
dpool@pickensprogress.com
A solid roomful of inter
ested parties turned out to
hear the latest plans and
offer input May 18th on the
50-acre Doris Wigington
park with entrances off
Lumber Company Road and
Gennett Drive.
The meeting was opened
by Jasper’s recently named
Assistant City Manager Kim
Goldener who said she had
been charged with getting
some projects, including this
one, moving. She said later
in the meeting that the city
had dedicated sales tax rev
enue (SPLOST) to fund a
good deal, maybe all, of this
project, so the key challenge
is making sure they have the
right plan and the right con
tractors in place. “We’re
going to be patient and do it
right,” Goldener told the
crowd.
When asked by followup
e-mail on the next steps,
Goldener replied, “For next
steps, [the trail designer]
will be finishing up the de
tails on his trail plan and get
ting us a final copy to use
with our bid package. Terry
Palmeri with SORBA
(Southern Off-Road Bicy
cling Association) is assist
ing the city with the
preparation of the bid docu
ments. Ultimately, it will
need to go before full coun-
See Trails on 11A
• Marianne Woltman
• Mazie Melton
• Miki Roth
• Robert Countryman
• Russell Palmer
Contact Us
94 North Main Street
Jasper, Ga. 30143
706-253-2457
www.pickensproaress.com
Open for business during
these hours: Mon-Thurs,
9-5, and Fri, 9-4:30
$1.00 per copy
8 IB 0 4 8 7 9 08163" 0
