About Pickens County progress. (Jasper, Ga.) 1899-current | View Entire Issue (June 2, 2022)
To plant a garden is to believe in tomorrow. - Audrey Hepburn • Opinions • Community Views • Good Old Common Sense The Progress Editorial June 2,2022 From the Staff Kids, parents, dogs and owners all need space at the park Geese should be sent packing back to Canada What is cuter than kids and dogs? Not much. Now what about kids and geese? Nope, not so much and maybe even a little creepy. Or kids, dogs and geese, if both the kids and dogs are free-ranging? Now we have defi nitely dropped into the not-cute-at-all cate gory. Ironically, this situation exists at the “Duck Pond” park of the city of Jasper - where there are few ducks, but a whole lot of Canada Geese who enjoy the tranquil spot to proliferate with undiminished glee and daily coat surfaces with slimy goose poop. It goes without saying this makes a nasty situation. We know adult walkers/joggers who don’t like going around the pond be cause of the white splotches and streaks cov ering the walking paths. In addition, nesting Canada Geese, and birds that have learned to associate people with food, can both be ag gressive. The park was not planned as a bird refuge. It was designed for kids and families, first and foremost. There are playgrounds and open areas for kids of all sizes. The city has done a fabulous job of maintaining the spot off Pioneer Road. We publicly applaud the crews, as the park was clean and clear of litter following the Memorial Day weekend which also speaks well of the two-legged users. But, it doesn’t take a wildlife biologist to realize the goose numbers there are way be yond any acceptable level. It’s unsanitary, un sightly and not fair to the kids who want to roughhouse on the ground and run without fear of coming home covered in bird poop. As is widely known, Canada Geese are protected, thus no shooting them. But an ar ticle from the Ga. DNR in the May 5 Progress encouraged property owners to ha rass the “adaptable bird that can thrive every where” when they become poor guests at ponds. Property owners can go as far as de stroying nests and destroying eggs. It may be an odd job description, but we’d suggest the city begin a goose harassment campaign until the flock decides there are It ’s time to reclaim our park from these winged invaders. more suitable places to live - perhaps back in Canada. For a third group of users, dogs and dog walkers, we’d again first commend the city and their crews for maintaining the Kyle Brock dog area already in the park. It’s a neat looking space for dogs to run over some ob stacles - a doggie playground. But the draw back, according to a couple of speakers at a recent meeting on Doris Wigington Park, is the lack of plain ol’ running space for Fido. Perhaps if the dogs known to our staff are any indication, there is a serious gap in their understanding of what they should do with the obstacles. As their owners have spent years trying to keep them off the couch, it’s hard for them to comprehend when they are supposed to jump on something. A little more fenced space, well away from picnicking areas and kids, would seem a simple solution. With the growth wave still rolling in, (es pecially a new residential area directly across the street from the park), it’s inevitable more dogs and their owners and parents and kids will vie for space in the wonderfully shady park this summer. We’d encourage city hall to be pro-active with their small but premier public facility. Before the park’s numbers reach an un comfortable point, it’s time to rethink where the kids go and where the dogs go and where the picnics happen and allow space for all - that is except the feathered freeloading men aces and defilers of clean walkways. 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. Senior Moments Password rage By Mary Migliaro Senior Golden Girl Do you have ‘pass- word rage’? Password rage is actually a real phe nomenon. A third of people admit to tantrums over pass word frustration and admit to suffering from 'password rage.' Passwords are a decades- old authentication method, designed in the 1960s to au thorize on-site users in fixed and secure locations. So, it seems hardly surprising that in our increasingly complex technology environment, many would gladly welcome their demise. We’ve all heard of road rage and air rage, but now there’s a new one on the block - ‘password rage.'As if we don’t have enough frus trations in our lives, pass words are an added irritant, but also an essential part of what we need in order to ac cess online accounts and ap plications both at work and in our personal lives. Poll findings reveal that users are becoming increas ingly frustrated with trying to remember different pass words to access online ac counts, with a quarter (25%) saying they forget their pass word at least once a day - and 5% admitting they forget all the time. Here are some other interesting facts. • Only a quarter of people regularly change their pass words. The majority of peo ple are not following guidelines to change their passwords frequently. • 44% of Americans only change passwords when they forget them or are prompted to change them. • 8% of Americans never change their passwords at all, and 13% use the same pass- (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. word for everything. So why are passwords such a pain? Most of us have to remember dozens of dif ferent passwords for the var ious systems, applications, and websites that we need to log into. Your bank, email, bill pay sites, etc., all require their own usernames and passwords. Now for the big question, how do you remember all those passwords? Fortu nately, newer computer pro grams provide built in password storage and even password generation. The downside is if you are not al ways using your personal computer or if your computer itself doesn’t have a strong master password. The other option that many people use is a little old-school. They simply write down the usernames and passwords and store them somewhere secure. Ex perts have said this is okay for home computer use as long as the password is stored in a secure location. But you should not store the password in the same location as the computer and you should still be using secure password methods to secure those sites and information. Your master password list is also only as good as the up dates you make to it when ever you change a password. Unfortunately, passwords are here to stay for the time being. Look for the best way to store and remember yours so you don’t get password rage and end up throwing your computer or tablet out the window. [Mary Migliaro is a frequent contributor to the Progress as both a columnist and with a reg ular parenting/family advice col umn. She may be reached at marymigliaro@aol.com.] #lbe School Other Voices Making school buildings safer not too difficult and would enhance community reputation By Shawn Guess Pickens could advertise it self as having the nation’s safest schools. I have proposed ever since Columbine, long years ago, to design new schools and adapt old ones as if we live among terrorists. I'm sorry if that disturbs your opinion of America in the 21st century. It's the truth. The reasonable way to pre serve the Second Amend ment right to keep and bear arms, in this steadily crazier world, is to harden our schools. • One entry for all stu dents and staff. • Harden that entry with enough concrete and steel to stop a tank. • Post an armed guard there. • Ensure every fire escape will activate a loud alarm and HD camera whenever opened. Make it pretty if you must, make it original, stylish, ar chitecturally inspiring, or whatever but make it so. To morrow. Every school, everywhere. Make it that schools cannot get insurance unless they are unreasonably resistant to unauthorized entry by maniacs. Simple. There was much discussion not long ago about what niche Pickens County could fulfill in order to attract not just growth, but the right kind of growth. This is it. An oasis of sanity and security. Do not start in on this being an insensitive attempt to take advantage of a terrible event. This is a proactive leap for ward in the preservation of safe, high quality education. A step towards maintaining an overall quality community environment. A safe school environment will not only attract the par ents of students who value both safety and quality, it will attract or retain the quality educators willing to forego a higher salary elsewhere for the peace of mind of not con stantly maintaining the full alert of a patrolling soldier. In the past when I began to suggest this idea, the in evitable replies were, "It is too expensive." A million dollar high school football field was acceptable? "The limited access makes our school a prison." You prefer the children in a mausoleum? Safety and freedom have al ways been opposites, better the children are restricted for a season than all of us surren dering freedom for an era. What price do you put on your Second Amendment? Because history is full of ex amples where surrendering weapons equalled surrender ing freedom. Some cite Aus tralia's involuntary 'buy back' program, I'll cite Native Americans. What price for your lifestyle as a free Amer ican? Because without the implied ability to resist tyranny, you will live under a tyrant. What price will we put on the children's futures and ensuring they will live to enjoy one? It is also time to acknowl edge the evidence supporting re-introduction of a Christian based curriculums. Some 50 years ago the Supreme Court of this land chose to experi ment with removing Christi anity from public schools. Can anyone reasonably deny that experiment has failed? How many more of our pre cious lab rats must die before we have the courage to admit a grave mistake was made then? One nation under God will prevail only if we first remain under the authority of God. That will not be possi ble without providing an ed ucated understanding of the basis of a moral society. Right now there is Build Back Better money (about to disappear down deep pock ets) that could do nothing more tangible for your way of life than preserving young lives, that matter. Or, just do it. This could be completed during this very summer break. All hands report to your local schools. Forget the lawyers, contracts and bids. Bring your talents, your sand, lum ber and tools. Bring your covered dishes and your politicians who can pass out water while the people get done what they only talk about. You all are a bright bunch, just sort it out and raise this bam. WEATHER By William Dilbeck HI LOW RAIN May 24 77 61 .03 May 25 67 61 .04 May 26 73 61 .64 May 27 75 53 .00 May 28 76 58 .00 May 29 79 65 .00 May 30 83 64 .00 Spot a mistake? Contact our editor dpool@ pickensprogress.com 706-253-2457 Clarification: In the article about the new Georgia State Patrol Post #28 Commander Kevin Evans there are some clarifications to the titles as reported. Evans started his career in 2001 at Post 6 Gainesville as a Trooper, and was promoted from Corporal at Jasper to Villa Rica as a Sergeant in 2019. From there he was promoted to Post Commander (Sergeant First Class) at Post 29 Paulding in 2021. He lives in Cherokee County with his wife, two sons and daughter. His other daughter lives in Hartwell. ll RE NAS ANT MORTGAGE LENDING Get A Home Loan From THE BEST BANK IN THE SOUTH There's something to be said for developing a relationship with a bank whose people live and work in your community. We get to know you. We understand your individual needs. Whether you're building, buying, renovating, or refinancing your home, Donna can help. DONNA TORRES 678.895.7599 dtorres@renasant.com www.donnatorres-renasant.com NMLS#: 1204791 Ask about our single-close construction-permanent options for new construction or renovation! CIM/* ©2019 Renasant Bank. All loans or offers of credit are subject SEH* rUlt to credit and underwriting approval. 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