About Pickens County progress. (Jasper, Ga.) 1899-current | View Entire Issue (June 2, 2022)
THURSDAY. JUNE 2. 2022 PICKENS COUNTY PROGRESS PAGE 9A Letters tot/iA Editor To the Editor: I’ve been enjoying the Pickens County Progress for nearly two years now. It is so newsy about Pickens County. Thanks for such a newsy newspaper. I’m sure you’re simply a “looked forward to” group of people each week. Keep up the good job. Faye Blackwell (Editor’s Note: Thank you. It s nice to hear a word of thanks for our staff’s ef forts each week.) To The Editor: “...A very, very big risk for a place far, far away...” (speaking of Ukraine). The world—of which we’re a small part in land area and population but have played a larger role—is so compli cated, has so many problems that we should just...what, back away from it, retreat be hind walls? I was bom in 1944, when Americans had already found out that backing away didn't work. As many Americans tried to retreat from the rest of the world in the 1930s (history tells me), Vladimir Putin’s ideological ancestors (“democracy—reject it; I, the strongman, will decide”) were making plans, not to re treat from the world but to dominate more of it. Peoples of democracies (and some others also attacked by fas cists) spent years, centered on 1939-1945, coping with an unerasable trait of some humans: to force others to live as they demand, not as the rest of us wish to live; and to force “less worthy” others to disappear. That trait continues to as sert itself, as anti-democratic ideology takes control of some places violently, of oth ers more quietly. In a Europe freed of Soviet Union domi nation, Hungary now copies 1930s Germany in its nation alism and central control of once-democratic institutions. And some openly anti-demo cratic Americans just cele brated it by holding their Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in Hun gary, with Hungary’s author itarian President Viktor Orban as a featured speaker. As some Americans reject elections—unless their Party wins them—and threaten to overturn “by any means nec essary” any elections they don’t win, the democracy about which we’ve bragged since 1787 is at a crossroads. We can turn down the road bulldozed by authoritarians and yield to the threats, with unknown consequences. Or we can continue on the famil iar road and trust the neigh bors who’ve volunteered to run our elections, carrying out increasingly contorted rules to the best of their nor mal human abilities. The trust of each other that we once took for granted could slip away. That would suit some whose grasp for raw power—and all that goes with it—is their only satisfac tion. If we can be made to scream at each other, they hope we’ll turn to a “strong man” for “order.” We almost did. G. David Robinson To the Editor: Jasper has, unfortunately, a very high profile eye-sore which the city leadership has chosen to ignore. One would think that the mayor, city manager, or her assistant and the city council would ad dress this eye-sore, especially since they have been made aware of this issue on several occasions. The eye-sore is the tall, rusting, ill-maintained sign in front of Cherokee Closeouts at the comer of Pioneer Road and Burnt Mountain Road facing City Hall. No uglier and dilapidated sign exists in the city. With the recent focus on making the business district attractive and desirable, this sign remains a boil on the face of the city. Hundreds of visitors, tourists, and residents drive past this sign on a daily basis. They city leadership should investigate the ownership of this sign, and make an effort as to identifying the respon sibility of the maintenance of such a high-profile, and prob ably permanent, fixture to the Jasper profile. Obviously, the city leadership of neighbor ing cities such as Canton, Ball Ground, Ellijay, East El- lijay or even Blue Ridge would never allow this em barrassment to continue. Cer tainly in Atlanta, but, hopefully, Jasper has a higher standard. I respectfully request our elected and salaried leader ship take this continuing issue seriously and resolve to correct and improve this black-eye on our community. Thank you. Steven B. Daniel Letters welcomed - No letter more than 450 words; Send to news@pickensprogress.com or Pickens Progress 94 N. Main, Jasper, Ga. 30143; All letters must have a full name that will be published, and contact info. (Email Address or Phone Number), which will not be published. TRADITION TREE SERVICE Jasper, GA Generations of Tree Care • Free Estimates • Fully Insured • Tree Removal • Tree Pruning •Brush Chipping with our new chipper traditiontreeservice80@gmail.com D Georgia Arborist Association Member Josh Bail C: 678-848-1751 H: 706-253-0122 South Cherokee/Jasper Driver Improvement Clinic, Inc. #2102 1623 East Church Street • Jasper, Georgia 30143 NEW DRIVER EDUCATION (30/6 Joshua’s Law) DEFENSIVE DRIVING (6 Hour Course) DUI-RISK REDUCTION (20 Hour Course) Registration/Assessments Monday & Thursdays 11 am to 7pm All Classes meet Georgia State Requirements CLASSES FORMING NOW www.SouthCherokee.com 706-692-1632 or 770-928-3679 The Sheriff’s Beat From the Pickens Sheriff’s Office In addition to the above activity from the Uniform Patrol Division, Court Serv ice Deputies reported the following statistics for the past week: Persons Scanned at Front Door: 781 Weapons Found: 6 Courts Held: 10 Arrests Made in the Courthouse: 2 Civil Papers Received: 65 Civil Papers Served: 40 In the Adult Detention Center: Total Jail population: 69 Total male inmates: 57 Total female inmates: 12 Sex Offenders: There are currently 66 sex offenders registered with the Pickens Sheriff’s Office. Suspicious activity at a home A woman called for a deputy to come to her house to do a report. She said when she was not at home she saw a man ring her doorbell from her Ring camera system. When no one answered the door he walked around to the back of her house. He opened the door to her camper and looked inside but did not go into the camper. When the woman got home she saw the man in the cul- de-sac walking around, she asked him what he was doing. The man told her he had a friend that lived in that house before, he did not realize his friend had moved. The man never went into the house or the camper and it appeared nothing was stolen. Man attempting to catch rooster found to have war rants A deputy was called to an abandoned house by a neigh bor. The neighbor said he saw a man in a white truck trying to catch a rooster that is at the abandoned house. The neighbor told the man that one of the other neighbors was feeding and caring for the rooster. The man got back in his truck and left. The neighbor got his tag number and called for a deputy to come out. The deputy ran the tag number and it came back to a man that had an active warrant out of Pickens County. The deputy went to the address of the man driving the white truck and he was placed under arrest for his warrant. Open containers in vehicle Deputies were called about a truck that was failing to maintain its lane and peo ple were concerned the driver may be intoxicated. A deputy and a trooper pulled the car over, the driver had one hand on the steering wheel and it looked like he had his other hand under the seat. The man got out of the vehicle and the deputy asked if he could check the truck, the man said he could and the deputy found four empty beer cans and one that was not opened. The man said he had not been drinking and driving. The man agreed to do a field sobriety test and he passed. The beer cans were all thrown away. Hit and run with one car A deputy was called about a truck that was wrecked but no one was with the truck. The deputy got to the truck and it indeed had been wrecked and both airbags had deployed. There was no one with the truck or in the area. The deputy ran the tag and tried several times to call the owner, but no one would answer the phone. Stolen chickens A woman called a deputy to her home because she had some chickens stolen. The woman told the deputy she had some free-range chick ens roaming around her property. The woman said some time during the previous night someone had stolen three of her chickens. The woman said her dommer “Dominique”chicken, a red hen, and a grey hen were all missing, but she did not know who would have taken the chickens. Littering at Good Samari tan Drive A deputy was called be cause someone left a tan loveseat out in front of the gate at the local thrift store. Furniture is not to be dropped off and left during off-hours. The person was concerned the loveseat would be a road hazard and someone might hit it. The loveseat was not in the way of traffic at that time. The Pickens Sheriff’s Of fice responds to many calls for service every day. The following incidents are a few deputies respond to each day. False name given A deputy pulled a car over because it had a taillight out. When the deputy got to the window to speak to the driver, she said she did not know the light was out and she didn’t have her license with her. The deputy asked her for her name and birth date so he could check her license on the computer in his car. After he put in the informa tion a picture popped up that did not look like the woman driving the car. The deputy asked her about it and she told him she had given him the wrong name and birth date because she knew her license had been suspended. She gave him the correct information and she was driving on a sus pended license. Man walking in the road way under the influence Two deputies were called out to the area where a man was walking in and out of the roadway. When the deputies got to the man they could smell a strong odor of alco hol coming from him. The deputies asked him how much he had to drink, he told them he had only drank one beer. The man said he would do a field sobriety test, but after the deputies started the test the man was having some difficulties with the test. The man told the deputies he changed his mind and did not want to continue with the test. He was heavily intoxi cated and was a danger to himself because he kept try ing to walk where there was traffic. He was arrested for the county ordinance of public intoxication. Faulty headlight leads to arrest on outstanding charges A deputy was patrolling the area and saw a car with a headlight out, so he pulled the car over. When the deputy got up to the window of the car he could see a woman was driving and there was a man in the pas senger seat. The woman told the deputy she knew she had a headlight out and her tag was expired but she was working on getting it up to date. The deputy got licenses from both of the people in the car, the woman had a warrant out of another county and the male passen ger had a suspended license. While the deputy was talking to both of the people in the car he could smell a strong odor of marijuana. The deputy searched the car and found a grinder and a very small amount of mari juana (less than 1 oz). The woman was taken into cus tody for her outstanding war rant and someone else came to pick up the car and the passenger. Woman arrested over tres passing harassing cus tomers at store A deputy was called out to the Tate four-way, to the Valero because a woman that had criminally trespassed once before was standing outside the door and harass ing customers as they left the gas station. The deputy tried to speak to the woman but she was flailing her arms and saying things that made no sense. The deputy was able to positively identify the woman and she had crimi nally trespassed from that gas station previously. The woman was taken to jail be cause she was not allowed to be on that property. During this past week, the Pickens Sheriff’s Office responded to or initiated 1,846 calls for service. These numbers are taken from the report provided directly from the 911 Center where all calls are logged as they are perfonned. Below is a breakdown of all dispatched calls by the call type for each incident. Accidents 16 Suicide Threats / Attempts 5 Domestics 11 Theft / Burglary Related 9 Forgery / Fraud 2 Traffic Stops 49 Citations Issued N/A Animal Investigations 2 Suspicious Persons/Activity 31 Alarm Calls 8 Stranded Motorists 9 Street Hazards 5 Vandalism 5 Abandoned Vehicles 3 Extra Patrol - neighborhoods, businesses, residences 1,483. In addition to these, other calls include search warrants, civil service, 911 hang-up calls, assaults, disorderly persons, missing persons, assistance with medical calls, natural death investiga tions, demented persons, funeral escorts, harassment, trespass- ing, and many more. Breakdown of Charges for those Arrested: 9 individuals were booked into the Adult Detention Center on charges from the Pickens Sheriff's Office. Out of these, the following charges were taken by PSO deputies (note: some individuals have multiple charges|: Bond Violation 1 Theft by Deception 1 Probation Violation 1 Simple Assault/Family Violence 1 Public Intoxication 1 Failure to Appear 1 DUI 1 Criminal Damage to Property 2nd degree 1 Criminal Trespass 1 Driving with Suspended License 1 Sheriff office offers an anonymous tip app, Tip 411, More information about both programs can be found at https://pick- ensgasheriff.com/programs. tip 411 GRISHAM, POOLE & CARLILE, PC Criminal Defense I Family Law "You can't go back and change the beginning, but you can start where you are and change the ending." ~ C.S. Lewis 21 COURT STREET JASPER, GEORGIA 678.880.9360 Experienced. Established. Effective.
