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Thursday, August 4, 2022 | Volume 135 Number 16 | Jasper, Georgia | 22 pages, 2 sections | Published Weekly | $1.00 Hate mail left in driveways rattles residents By Alex Goble Staff Writer agoble@pickensprogress.com A concerned resident reached out to the Progress this week about anti-Semitic flyers tossed on the driveways of homes in a west Pick ens subdivision. The two flyers are crowded with pictures, text and Bible verses with headings such as “Every Single Aspect of the Pornography and Hook-Up culture is Jewish,” and “Every Single Aspect of Gun Control is Jewish.” They incorporate penta grams, influential leaders with the Star of David Photoshopped on their heads, drawings of demons, and rants typed in extremely small text. The resident believes that all 43 homes in the subdivision received sandwich bags containing the flyers with rice placed inside to keep the bags from blowing away. A report was made to the sheriff’s office be cause the attempt was “pretty advanced,” said the resident who filed the report. “It wasn’t just kids spray painting a symbol or something.” “It was very sad, to have it land on my drive way, and my neighbors were very upset about it as well,” she said. “I feel really good that our community doesn’t want to tolerate this kind of stuff. We have a nice town, but people should be made aware of this kind of garbage if it’s out there.” The sheriff’s office received the report and looked over the flyers. “It does not appear they broke any law, but it put them on our radar,” said Pickens Sheriff Donnie Craig. Plastic sandwich bags filled with anti-Semitic fliers were left along the street at homes in a west Pickens subdivision. Pickens man sentenced to life plus 45 for sexually abusing step daughter Roger Penn Barlow book-in photo By Angela Reinhardt Staff Writer areinhardt@pickensprogress.com Roger Penn Barlow was sentenced to life plus 45 years in a Pickens court this week for raping and sexually abusing his step daughter re peatedly over the course of several years. Liberty May, the step daughter who was between the ages of 4 and 17 when the abuse occurred, provided an impact statement that was read the day of the sentenc ing, Monday, Aug. 1. May also provided the statement to the Progress, and said she wants her experience to help other victims in the future. “I’m very open and proud because I want to be a voice for people that haven’t found theirs yet,” she told the Progress. A Pickens jury recently found Barlow, 50, guilty of rape, and multiple counts of incest and child molestation. In the courtroom, May was surrounded by family includ ing her mom, her boyfriend, and her cousin who she calls her big sister. After Judge Keith Galligan sentenced Barlow and the hearing closed, the family embraced outside the courtroom. One of the family members cried as she hugged May, and an other was overheard telling her how proud she was of her. Barlow was in an orange See Sentencing on11A Financing secured for crucial wastewater expansion Jasper considers buying into Cherokee Water & Sewer Authority Stegall section to close while Gennett Drive reopens By Angela Reinhardt Staff Writer areinhardt@pickensprogress.com At the August 1 meeting, Jasper City Council member Sonny Proctor announced that the city has secured funding for the wastewater treatment plant expansion project, which leaders have said is critical as the system is nearing permitted capac ity. Earlier this summer the city was blindsided when bids for the expansion came in at around $10 million more than was anticipated - over double the original projection. The expansion project will increase the city’s wastewater treatment capac ity from 780,000 gallons a day to 1.56 million gallons a day. The project has been in the works since 2016, with numerous holdups caused by the Environmen tal Protection Division and the pandemic. High bids were attributed to cost and availability of materials. The bid shocker sent city leaders scrambling to submit an application to the U.S.D.A. to obtain the additional funds, which has since been approved. In discussions after the council meeting, Jasper’s Assistant City Manager Kim Goldener clarified de tails of the original and new financing arrangements with the U.S.D.A. “The city was originally approved for $7,725 mil lion,” she said. “Of this amount, $4,748 million is loan funding and $2,977 million is grant funding. After bids came in signifi cantly higher, (the) U.S.D.A. approved the city for an additional $10,879 million. This is all loan, which we advised council of the possibility of at the June Jasper Council voted to permanently close a section of Stegall Drive between Main Street and Mark Whit field Street to motorists. The space has been used as a public space for outdoor entertainment and dining. 6, 2022 council meeting.” Goldener said the inter est rate on the loan will be no higher than 1.5 percent. The city is now entering into contracts with contrac tors Reeves Young and T. Stanco. Details about con struction start date was not available, but Goldener said the plant modification proj ect is expected to take 24 months. City considers joining Cherokee County Water & Sewer Authority City council is consider ing buying into the Chero kee County Water & Sewer See City Council on11A Empty mailboxes lead Marble Hill residents to seek congressional help By Dan Pool Editor dpool@pickensprogress.com Seeing empty mailboxes, packages left on the ground, wrong mail delivered and no one to offer a solution, some residents of Marble Hill are now hoping Rep. Andrew Clyde (9th District) can help. The mail problem first arose in the spring when a new contractor arrived to handle a portion of Marble Hill’s mail delivery. As sev eral residents have learned and explained to the Progress in different inter views, mail for Marble Hill is delivered out of the Jasper Post Office, not the Marble Hill Post Office (that is only for PO Box holders). But, the Marble Hill mail is not delivered by Jasper postal employees. It is deliv ered through an independent contractor, based in Philadelphia, PA who has used people from out of state to come here for some of the work. Marble Hill homeowner Sandy Harshbarger stated in an e-mail sent to the Progress, the Jasper Post master and the Congress man’s office Tuesday, “You continue to ignore my emails andUSPS does noth ing. I would complain again with USPS but those com plaints come right back to you where they are ignored. What will it take for this in competent company to be removed? It has been almost one year. Every single per son on this route has had complaints.” Local postal officials Mailbox door left open with package tied to the back overnight on a busy road didn’t sit well with homeowner Sandy Harsh barger, but often mail Itasn’t shown up at all. could not speak with the press, but some of the resi dents said they have learned that the contract holder is his own boss and thus not sub ject to control by any local postmaster. The communications di rector for Rep. Clyde sent the following statement Tuesday in response to a Progress inquiry on their ef forts to help: “Rep. Clyde is aware of the mail carrier is sues in Marble Hill, and his staff is diligently working with the Jasper Postmaster to help constituents receive mail in a timely manner.” - Madeline Huffman, spokesperson for Rep. Clyde. Jennifer Allen, who is among those not receiving regular mail at her Marble Hill home on Highway 53, was a postal employee for 32-and-a-half years in Ball Ground and explained that there had been problems in See Mail Woes on 11A + The Good Vibes Series with Deb Moss Barn quilts ’ long history inspires artist By Angela Reinhardt Staff Writer areinhardt@pickensprogress.com Pickens resident Deb Moss was inspired by bam quilts on a trip to Pennsylvania. Now, after just a year and a half at the craft, she’s made nearly 200 of the colorful, pastoral paintings with no signs of stopping. “I saw them going through the country up there visiting my son and thought, ‘Oh wow. One of these days I’m going to do that,”’ said Moss, who lights up while she talks about her work. Barn quilts have a long history, dating back at least to the Civil War, Moss told me as she toured me around her home art studio. “The wives would paint these and put them on bams waiting for their husbands to get back home, in remem brance of them,” she said. “But now they’re every where. Every state has bam quilt tours except for two - and I’m really hoping Pick ens County is going to get in on this.” For the uninitiated, a bam quilt is not made of fabric. It’s painted on large pieces of wood - usually square, but not always - then sealed so it can be hung outside in the elements (although it’s common now for people to Photos/Angela Reinhardt One of Deb Moss’barn quilts hung proudly in an an tique tobacco basket. This is one of her favorite pieces. Moss creates several quilts a display them in their homes or businesses). The patterns are what make them “quilts,” from the familiar starburst to pinwheels, to primitive stars and many others, including a chicken week in her home studio. quilt design Moss has in the works. A popular design is the cardinal, “because the cardinal is in remembrance of your loved one.” “The hardest part is get- See Good Vibes on 11A Back to School See photos from first day of school across Pickens County Pages 4-5B Pickens native Keith Ray named STPAL director of conservation Page 12A Obituaries - 10A • Arthur Kennedy • Brenda Pike • Carma Pacaj • Chester Guthrie Jr. • Frederick Hintze Jr. • Gene Aaron Jr. • George Slaton • Mary Carver • Richard Bryant • Russell Pendley •Simon Villanacci Jr. Contact Us 94 North Main Street Jasper, Ga. 30143 706-253-2457 pickensproaress.com Open for business during these hours: Mon-Thurs, 9-5, and Fri, 9-4:30 $1.00 per copy 4879 08163" o