Newspaper Page Text
THURSDAY. JUNE 16. 2022 PICKENS COUNTY PROGRESS PAGE 7B
Nelson residents provide
answers for community
parks
By Larry Cavender
Contributing Writer
In what could be lauded as
a most commendable exer
cise in civic governance, the
Nelson City Council has
sought answers from con
stituents. At the council's
Monday, June 13 meeting,
the people's voices were
heard concerning the state of
the city's parks.
The large majority of the
meeting time was devoted to
hearing a teleconference call
from a representative of Root
Design, a landscape and ar
chitecture firm. The company
had been contracted by the
city to conduct a Comprehen
sive Parks Master Plan Sur
vey.
According to the
spokesperson, the response
rate was good for a survey of
this type. Approximately 500
survey forms were mailed in
March, and 66 were returned
for a 13 percent response
rate. The survey consisted of
19 questions, which covered
a number of items from
length of residency, specific
parks visited and how often
visited, favored activities and
amenities, and suggestions as
to how the parks could be im
proved.
Demographically, the sur
vey found that the most siz
able group to use the parks to
be within the 26 - 64 age
group (33 percent), followed
by 0 - 12, (31 percent), and
65 years of age and older (18
percent). The age groups
from 13 - 18 and 19 - 25
years of age consisted of less
than 20 percent of the total.
Understandably, park
usage closely followed the
demographics, with the soft
surface trail the most used
amenity followed by the
city's largest park, ball field
park (City of Nelson Park).
The kiddie park, located on
Blue Ridge Avenue, came in
a close third. Walking was
overwhelmingly the most en
joyable activity of the resi
dents with picnicking a
distant second.
Those surveyed also pro
vided "comments" to suggest
improvements to the parks,
and as could be expected,
those suggestions also
closely followed the demo
graphic findings. Both soft-
surface and paved trails were
the leaders in the "additional
amenities" section. Addi
tional activities favored most
were comhole and pickleball
courts. Much needed shade
shelters and trees were also
often mentioned.
Favorite things mentioned
about the Nelson parks in
cluded walking trails, safe
places to gather, the quiet
spaces and the parks not
being crowded. The least fa
vorite things were not
enough shade, no picnic shel
ters or places for parties, and
not enough upkeep.
The Nelson city govern
ment plans to incorporate the
survey findings in their Com
prehensive Parks Master
Plan.
There were other business
items on the agenda in addi
tion to parks, including the
fiscal year 2023 budget and
the comprehensive improve
ment plan, a request for bid
openings for trail resurfacing,
and an irrigation project for
Kennesaw Avenue. In his re
port to the council, Lt.
Downey of the Cherokee
County Sheriffs Department
reported that the sheriffs of
fice made absolutely zero
calls during the past month
with the exception of the
usual minor traffic violations.
In addition to the above ac
tivity from the Uniform Pa
trol Division, Court Service
Deputies reported the fol
lowing statistics for the past
week:
Persons Scanned at
Front Door: 1,119
Weapons Found: 17
Courts Held: 9
Arrests Made in
the Courthouse: 2
Civil Papers Received: 30
Civil Papers Served: 16
In the Adult Detention
Center:
Total Jail population: 69
Total male inmates: 59
Total female inmates: 10
Sex Offenders:
There are currently 65 sex
offenders registered with the
Pickens Sheriff’s Office.
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REPbRT
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.
Passenger flees during traf
fic stop
A deputy was on patrol
when he checked a license
plate that returned to the
owner possibly having an ac
tive warrant for his arrest.
Once the car pulled over,
a man opened the back pas
senger door and ran from the
car into the woods.
The driver did in fact
have a warrant for his arrest
but his female front passen
ger did not have a warrant.
The deputy asked both the
driver and the woman who
the man was that jumped out
of the car, they both said they
didn’t know him, they were
just giving him a ride.
They thought they knew
his first name but was not
sure. Deputies did search for
the man that ran but did not
find him.
Suspicious person posed as
Cherokee County deputy
A woman called deputies
because a man, driving a
black Charger, came to her
front door and told her he
was Deputy Charles with
Cherokee County and he was
looking for an armed and
dangerous person. The
woman said he got in his car
and left. The woman said
there were no markings on
the Charger. Deputies
looked for the car and called
Cherokee County Sheriff’s
Office. The deputies never
found the black Charger, and
CCSO said they did not have
a Deputy Charles working
for them.
Deputies have extra pa
trols in that area.
Found driver’s license
A woman flagged down a
deputy that was patrolling
the area. The woman had
Please be advised the
Work Session and
Regular Meeting
for the Pickens County Board of
Commissioners
for June 16, 2022 has been cancelled.
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The Sheriff’s Beat
From the Pickens Sheriff’s Office
found a GA driver’s license
and she wanted to make sure
it got back to its rightful
owner. The
deputy was able to make
contact with the person that
the license belonged to, he
was out of town working but
said he would come pick up
his license at the sheriff’s of
fice.
Unlicensed driver had sev
eral warrants
A deputy stopped a vehi
cle and discovered the
woman driver had a sus
pended license. She said she
knew her license was sus
pended, but she was helping
out a friend.
When the deputy checked
all the information on the
woman, not only was her li
cense suspended but she
also had warrants out of two
different counties. She was
arrested.
Stolen car and stolen lum
ber
A man called deputies to
his home because he said his
car had been stolen. When
the deputies got there the
man told him that when he
got up that morning his car
was gone.
The man told the deputies
that no one other than his
wife had keys to the car. The
man said he also had about
30 2x4s stolen too. The man
told deputies he had no idea
who would have stolen his
things.
Woman with warrants ar
rested
A deputy was patrolling
an area when he saw a
woman walking. He recog
nized the woman and knew
she had warrants for her ar
rest.
The deputy pulled over
and spoke to the woman and
was able to positively iden
tify the woman and placed
her under arrest.
Business owner spots sus
picious person on camera
A business owner called
deputies because he could
see his fence was pushed up.
When the business owner
watched his cameras he saw
a male going into three of his
trailers in the middle of the
night. Deputies were able to
review the camera footage
and got a description of the
male. Nothing was taken out
of the trailers.
Tractor trailer in a field
A homeowner called for a
deputy because he needed to
have a report written. The
homeowner told the deputy
he had seen some tire tracks
going in his hay field, and
then he got a call from some
one saying they saw head
lights in the field.
The homeowner went to
the hayfield and saw a tractor
trailer stuck in his field. The
homeowner needed the re
port to have the truck
driver/business pay for any
damages. The deputy spoke
to the truck driver, he said he
missed his turn and his GPS
system told him to turn
around. He started to turn
around in a driveway but de
cided it would be easier to
use the field than try to back
out of a driveway. The truck
got stuck but the truck driver
was able to get the truck out
of the field.
Homeowner claims piano
swapped
A homeowner called for a
deputy because he thought
someone had been in his
house. The homeowner told
the deputy that every time he
leaves his house someone
comes in and swaps things
around. The homeowner
said his piano had been
switched with a different
piano and his kitchen table
had been swapped out as
well.
The homeowner said he
did not have a camera system
and no one else had keys to
the house. The homeowner
said he was worried someone
was going to come back and
mess with his tool box be
cause that’s what he heard on
the baby monitor. There was
no evidence of a break in and
there was no baby monitor in
the house.
Unattended Fire
Fire personnel made a re
port with deputies due to a
fire being left unattended.
Fire Personnel told deputies
that this had been a trash fire
someone left and it had
spread and burned about a
quarter of an acre. Fire per
sonnel wanted a report made
because this was the third
time a fire had been left un
attended.
During this past week, the Pickens Sheriff’s Office responded
to or initiated 2,062 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
10
Suicide Threats / Attempts
2
Domestics
21
Theft / Burglary Related
6
Forgery / Fraud
4
Traffic Stops
71
Citations Issued
12
Animal Investigations
13
Suspicious Persons/Activity
36
Alarm Calls
8
Stranded Motorists
8
Street Hazards
9
Vandalism
4
Abandoned Vehicles
2
Extra Patrol - neighborhoods, businesses, residences 1,593.
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:
10 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 |:
Driving Under the Influence
i
Driving While Suspended
i
Aggravated Assault
i
Battery (Family Violence)
2
Kidnapping
1
Possession of Illegal Drugs
1
Theft by Taking
1
Simple Assault (Family Violence)
1
Obstruction of Law Enforcement
1
Crossing Guard line with Drugs
1
Probation Violation
2
Court Order
1
Parole Violation
1
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