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THURSDAY. JUNE 30. 2022 PICKENS COUNTY PROGRESS PAGE 11A
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Chesapeake & Ohio Canal
National Historical Park
CANAL AND TOWPATH ARE DEDICA
JUSTICE WILLIAM O. DOUGLAS
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cyclists, rollerbladers, horses,
dog walkers, and is mostly
wheelchair accessible.
The Silver Comet starts at
the Mavell Road Trailhead in
Smyrna and ends at the Geor
gia/Alabama state line near
Cedartown and the Esom Hill
Trailhead. At the Georgia/Al
abama state line, the Silver
Comet Trail connects to the
3 3-mile long Chief Ladiga
Trail. Both the Silver Comet
and Chief Ladiga are fully
paved rail-trails built on
abandoned railroad lines.
The combined Silver
Comet and Chief Ladiga trail
length is estimated to be 94.5
paved miles from Smyrna,
Georgia to Anniston, Ala
bama.
Kathy is pictured next to the New River Trail near
Galax, Virginia. Beautiful scenery like this awaits bikers
and hikers along the estimated 2,100 miles of Rails to Trails
paths throughout the United States.
Refuel
from that vantage as it was
from the outside. A formida
ble array of buttons, switches
and screens surrounded me
on all sides. The rear cockpit,
I was told, is for the pilot,
and the front cockpit for the
co-pilot and gunner.
Sadeghian and a second
pilot were in from McEntyre
Joint National Guard Base in
Columbia, S.C. on a scouting
trip that afternoon, Thursday,
June 23. The mission was to
scope out our local airport to
see if it could work as a stag
ing area for Camp Frank D.
Merrell, a Ranger training fa
cility in Dahlonega, Ga. The
scouting trip was for poten
tially recurring training ses
sions.
“If the terrain here works
for us and there aren’t a lot of
hazards, we’re thinking
about conducting a big train
ing event there and this
would be our staging area,”
said Taylor Sexton, Chief
Warrant Officer 2 with the
Army National Guard.
“We’re coming out to check
out the facilities, check out
the fuelers.”
Speedy refueling capabil
ities are one of their needs.
“If we have 16 aircraft
here would we be able to get
it all done?” Saxon said.
“We’re also looking to see if
we can fit. There seems to be
a lot of traffic here, and we
don’t ever want to be in any
one’s way.”
The pilots refueled at
noon and again at 2 p.m. that
day, and after the scouting
trip was complete were back
to South Carolina.
Thomason said the air
port’s single-point high-pres
sure hose can refuel at a rate
of 185 gallons a minute, and
that “This year the airport
has refueled 35 military air
craft, and is on track to refuel
60-plus this year.”
See also airport authority
hold quarterly meeting
Page12B
Good
Vibes
We started this around 30
years ago on the Silver
Comet Trail outside of At
lanta. We would ride sections
of the Silver Comet Trail sev
eral times a year and would
also make a couple of trips
each year to the Virginia
Creeper Trail in Damascus,
Virginia.
About 15 years ago, some
friends invited us to ride the
Katy Trail in Missouri which
is the longest Rails to Trails
in the U.S. at 240 miles.
Since then, we have ridden
about 20 other trails, some of
them multiple times. Our
longest ride to date has been
on the Greater Allegheny
Passage Trail which starts in
Pittsburg and joins with the
Chesapeake and Ohio Canal
Trail in Cumberland, Mary
land and continues to Wash
ington, D. C for a total of 350
miles.
While some of our trips
have been multiday trips of
long distances, a lot of our
riding has been day trips of
30 miles or less. Most of our
bike riding has been in the
southeast, although we would
like to expand and see if we
can ride a trail in each state.
Currently, it is estimated
that there are over 2,100
Rails to Trails in the U.S.,
don't think we can make
Kathy and Tom pictured on their longest ride so far on
the Greater Allegheny Passage Trail which starts in Pitts
burg and joins with the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal Trail
in Cumberland, Maryland and continues to Washington,
DC for a total of350 miles.
them all, but would like to
try.
One other thing to note is
that we have done most of
these trails on a tandem
bike.”
He continued: “In 2008
the Silver Comet Trail in At
lanta joined with the Chief
Ladiga Trail in Alabama to
form the second longest
paved Rail to Trail in the
country at 94 miles. A bike
rider can now get on the trail
in Smyrna and ride a paved
bike trail all the way to An
niston, Alabama. Plans are
under way to connect the Sil
ver Comet to the Atlanta
Beltline which will add about
30 more miles to the trail.
There is also a Rails to Trails
Facebook group where peo
ple post pictures and reviews
about trails all over the coun
try.
For anyone interested in
pursuing this hobby, here s
some information regarding
The Silver Comet Trail
The Silver Comet is a
paved pedestrian rail-trail lo
cated 13 miles northwest of
Atlanta, Georgia. It is 61.5
miles long, free of charge,
and travels through Cobb,
Paulding, and Polk counties.
This quiet, non-motorized
trail is for walkers, hikers, bi-
POSTCARDS FOR SALE
$1.00 EACH
Pickens County Chamber of Commerce & Visitor Center
500 Veterans Memorial Blvd. Jasper, GA 30143
July 4th
tunes.
Bingo will be held at the
Pickens County Chamber of
Commerce from 2-6 p.m.
Guitarist/vocalist Eric
Reinhardt will perform folk,
rock and soul tunes begin
ning at 3 p.m.
From 4-6 p.m., the High
Country Band will play
country standards and a rock
n’ roll. Members are Jimmy
Hollingshead, Steve Black-
well, Rodney Browder, and
Johnny Shipman.
Headliner Cove Creek
will perform from 7-10 p.m.
Members are Marty Rob
bins, Daryl Williams,
Michael Tippens, Corey Bar
nett, and Mike West.
The raffle drawing will be
held at 10 p.m. Prizes are a
$1,000 gift card and a $500
gift card. Tickets will be sold
at the park every night of the
fair.
Fireworks will be
launched at 10:05 p.m.
On Saturday, July 3 at 6
p.m. Anthony Hill and Sons
of the South will perform at
Lee Newton Park.
Sidebumers Barbeque
will be on festival grounds
on July 4. Concessions will
also be available at the fair.
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asper,
georgia
Wastewater
Because the process of en
gineering and design, obtain
ing the permits, securing
funding, and then construc
tion of major system expan
sions can take several years
to complete, it is critical to
start the process early on.
May 2022 recorded an aver
age daily flow of 628,000
gallons, and our most current
six-month rolling average for
daily flows is 710,000 gal
lons.
In anticipation of this sit
uation, the city started the
plant expansion process sev
eral years ago. While we are
having to secure additional
financing from USD A Rural
Development, we have al
ready gone through the per
mitting process with EPD,
completed the construction
bid process, and we antici
pate starting construction
hopefully within the next 90
- 120 days.
After the most recent
story regarding the skyrock
eting bids ran our editor was
contacted by two different
people in the real-estate/de
velopment business asking
similar versions of the ques
tion, “What does this
mean?” So, how do we
stand at this time? Can the
city provide sewage for all
the projects now in the
pipeline? Is there any dis
cussion at what point you
might be forced to say,
“Sorry, no more capacity
available? "
The city has operated
under a system of temporary
moratoriums focused on lim
iting residential development
rezonings since 2021. With
the current moratorium set to
expire in July 2022, it is pos
sible that it will be extended
until Goodwyn Mills Ca-
wood has completed their
evaluation of our utility sys
tems and development
processes.
The reasons for the mora
torium, and its possible ex
tension, is the current
capacity of the plant as dis
cussed above and the fact
that the city has approved
commercial and residential
projects which are in various
stages of development. De
velopment rezonings for the
last year have noted that the
city is beginning to reach its
treatment capacities.
However, the city is ex
ploring its options for solu
tions, and believes that it can
work with EPD to achieve
temporary solutions that will
allow a bridge until the time
of plant expansion comple
tion.
Even if funding is se
curedfor the wastewater ex
pansion, construction will
be well over a year, possibly
two years. Does the city an
ticipate wastewater capacity
will be reached during that
time? Is there any guidance
you can offer those in real
estate/construction regard
ing permitting?
This is one of the areas
Goodwyn Mills Cawood is
focusing on for the city, par
ticularly in terms of what in
terim measures could be put
into place until construction
is complete. The city has a
great relationship with EPD,
excellent engineers, and has
contracted for further guid
ance by GMC.
The moratorium has tem
porarily slowed the rate of
growth, but at the same time
it allows the city to continue
to grow through the previ
ously approved projects. The
city recognizes that we have
a large challenge, but the city
is fortunate to have this chal
lenge in that it means we live
in a vibrant and growing area
which benefits everyone. As
we work through this
process, the city will publicly
communicate our progress in
solving this situation.
The city has applied for
more funding from GEFA
after bids came in over dou
ble what was anticipated. Is
there a plan B if this addi
tional funding is not ap
proved? Will the city try to
secure funding from an
other source if not ap
proved? What source would
that be, if so?
Our original plant expan
sion project was funded
through USDA Rural Devel
opment with a portion of the
project funding coming
through as grant money and
the other portion coming
through as a low interest
loan. With bids coming in
significantly higher than an
ticipated, we have immedi
ately submitted a new
application for the additional
funding needed through
USDA, and by taking expe
dited action as to the applica
tion the city anticipates that it
will have locked in a very
low interest rate [around 1.5
percent] for the additional
funding.
At this point we do not
know whether there will be
additional grant money avail
able through the USDA’s
new funding package. His
torically, USDA funds addi
tional requests for the same
project as loan funding only;
however, they have advised
that they will evaluate
whether additional grant
funding may be available for
our project.
At the [June 6, 2022]
council meeting, council
voted to reallocate the city’s
[American Rescue Plan Act]
funding to infrastructure
projects, which means it is
available to be used with the
USDA project.
The city received approx
imately $742,000 in 2021 in
the first tranche [portion] and
is scheduled to receive our
second tranche in approxi
mately the same dollar
amount in the next few
months.
Should USDA Rural De
velopment not be able to ap
prove additional funding for
the project, the city will pur
sue other funding opportuni
ties, GEFA being one of
them. The city will also ex
plore whether there are any
state grants available.
The city has contracted
with Goodwyn Mills Ca
wood to develop a Utility
Master Plan to look at long
and shorter-term needs and
goals for the city. In terms of
the shorter-term goals, has
anything been worked out in
the last two months since the
city contracted with them? If
not yet, when do you expect
to have their input regarding
short-term plans?
The city met with Good
wyn Mills Cawood in mid-
May to discuss our concerns
and what we were looking to
gain from the master plan
ning.
We have provided GMC
several years’ worth of his
torical data that they are eval
uating, and we have a follow
up meeting scheduled with
GMC this week. They origi
nally anticipated that the en
tire process would take
between 4 to 6 months, with
the potential for guidance on
short-term plans throughout
the process.
How does collecting and
treating leachate from other
areas impact the city’s
wastewater capacity? Has
the city reduced these collec
tions recently? If so, by how
much and why?
The city still accepts
leachate for treatment. We
average around 15,000 gal
lons a day. While this is a
small percentage of what we
treat in a day’s time, we do
track this flow closely and
are prepared to discontinue
the process of accepting the
flows if we need to.
The city has a series of
storage ponds on the plant
site that can be used for flow
equalization if needed. This
means that we have the abil
ity to divert some of the in
coming flows into the ponds
for storage until a day with
lower flows occurs that will
allow us to discharge some of
the stored water.
Finally, the city has said
in a pinch they can get water
from the county or Chero
kee County. We’re assuming
no such emergency options
exists for sewage?
The city does have the
ability to purchase water
from our neighboring sys
tems through meters at sys
tem interconnections. There
are no system interconnec
tions in place for wastewater
transfers.
Free old copies of
the Progress
are available on
Thursdays and Fri
days from our Main
Street office. First
come, first serve.
706-253-2457
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