Newspaper Page Text
Thursday, August 18, 2022 | Volume 135 Number 18 | Jasper, Georgia | 20 pages, 2 sections | Published Weekly | $1-00
80-pound tortoise reunited with owner
“He’s my special
boy, ” owner says
of “Turbo ”
Angela Reinhardt
Staff Writer
areinhardt@pickensprogress.com
“He’s got such a big, loving per
sonality,” said owner Kristi Senneff,
who was devastated after her 80-
pound tortoise went missing from
her back yard last week. “He’s my
special boy and we want him back
home.”
After a big social media push,
Senneff was reunited with Turbo
Tuesday, August 16.
“Three guys, I believe they were
in construction and driving down
Main Street, they saw him and fol
lowed him to Roper Funeral home,”
she said. “One of those guys called
his friend and his friend saw it
posted on Facebook and called me.
My heart is full once again.”
Senneff said “Turbo” - an exotic
African spurred tortoise (or sulcata
tortoise) - was stolen from her Jasper
house on Mineral Springs Road
North sometime on Sunday, August
14. Every night she checks a live
video feed from a camera inside
Turbo’s shed to be sure he’s okay.
That Sunday around 9:30 p.m. he
wasn’t there. See Tortoise on 11A
Photo provided by Kristi Senneff
This big fella, an African spurred tortoise, found his way back home
after disappearing from his back yard in Jasper. His owner believes he
was stolen.
Fun & Games
Test your skills
with our new
Pickens
Puzzler
crossword
Asphalt
patching
underway
on Cove Road
Two week project
shouldn’t affect
traffic too much
By Dan Pool
Editor
dpool@pickensprogress.com
Paving crews began
deep-patching Cove Road
Monday and are expected to
be there two weeks repairing
numerous potholes along the
route.
Commission Chair Kris
Stancil said the road will re
main open with flaggers
closing single lanes, short
sections at the time. He said
this shouldn’t create substan
tial hold-ups.
On day one, people were
waiting only a few minutes
to be motioned around but
that could change when the
work moves to the more
curvy section of the thor
oughfare which is heavily
used for Big Canoe/Bent
Tree residents to reach
Jasper.
Stancil said the sales-tax-
funded project will start at
the Steve Tate Highway end
of the road and work toward
Jasper on one lane. They will
then return from Jasper to
the Steve Tate Highway end
repairing spots in the other
lane.
The county has been
doing their best to cold patch
potholes for the past several
years, “but it seems like as
soon as we would get one
patched another sprung up,”
Stancil said. With the current
hot patches, the bad spot is
milled down to the base, giv-
See Cove on 11A
Hwy. 53 repairs necessary after tar truck overturns
Photo/Pickens Fire
A tanker carrying tar overturned and created massive delays on Highway 53 East near the Tate House.
By Angela Reinhardt
Staff Writer
areinhardt@pickensprogress.com
Last Wednesday a tanker truck filled with tar overturned
near the Tate House mansion on Highway 53 East. Hot tar
leaked out of the truck onto the road, snarling traffic in that
area for hours.
The incident occurred at approximately 7:45 a.m. the
morning of Wednesday, Aug. 10. According to Georgia
State Patrol reports, Allen K. Smith, 51, Ellijay, was driving
too fast for conditions and travelled off the roadway onto
the south shoulder. The truck struck several trees and a
metal fence before it overturned.
After it overturned tar spilled out into the road and a
hazmat team was called in for cleanup. According to Pick
ens Fire & Rescue, the tar “created a hazardous material
incident where the run-off was contained” and which re
quired “significant clean up.”
Smith was found trapped inside the cab of the vehicle.
It took emergency workers 25 minutes to extract him.
Smith was seriously injured and transported to a trauma
center for his injuries.
Office managers Cindy Lupi and Konda Brown at the
Tate House said crews did an excellent job clearing the
scene.
“We were so impressed with the clean-up that day,” Lupi
said. “It was taken care of by 5 p.m. and traffic started mov
ing again.”
Despite what they said were efficient clean-up measures,
Highway 53 in front of the Tate House had been dug up be
cause a pipe underneath the road was damaged. At press
time Tuesday, repairs were expected to be completed that
day with resurfacing to follow. The Tate House has been in
discussions with the Georgia Department of Transportation
during repairs.
At this point, the managers said they have been lucky
and their events have not been interfered with.
“We’ve got our fingers crossed they can get it completed
early this week,” Lupi said. “We See Tanker on 11A
Page 3A
Competition
cheer gets set
for upcoming
season
Page 8B
Gibbs Gardens expansion not recommended
Emotions high, divisions deep
at planning commission hearing
photo/Larry Cavender
In what might be the largest number of people to ever attend a planning commission
meeting, the crowd lined the walls sometimes two-deep Monday.
LOST
negotiations
break down
between
county and
Jasper
By Christie Pool
Staff Writer
christie@pickensprogress.com
Facing an impasse, offi
cials with Pickens County
and the city of Jasper agreed
on Monday, August 15th to
go into mediation to con
tinue their negotiations for
the distribution of the one
percent Local Option Sales
Tax funds. An agreement
must be struck by early De
cember or the tax will cease
as of January 1.
A planned third public
meeting was scheduled on
Tuesday, August 16th but a
notice went out that the
meeting was cancelled.
“The biggest reason we
canceled is because we are
no where near close on the
(distribution) numbers,” said
Pickens Commission Chair
Kris Stancil. “If neither are
willing to budge from either
side it’s just time to move on
to the next phase.”
See LOST on 11A
By Larry Cavender
Contributing Writer
As they filed into the
Pickens Room at the Pickens
Administration Building
Monday night, local resi
dents could sense tension in
the air. Planning commission
public hearings are usually
rather routine affairs, but it
soon became apparent that
this night's proceedings
would be anything but rou
tine.
One indication was the
large number of citizens in
attendance. Several minutes
before the meeting started,
all seats were taken and
standing-room-only was an
understatement as people
lined up against the walls of
the meeting room, some
times two-deep. It is esti
mated that well over 100
people were in attendance
and the actual number might
closer to 150.
Commission chair Clay
ton Preble, shortly after con
vening the meeting, advised
those present of the rides of
order and said that although
"people might have differing
opinions," he urged everyone
to be civil to one another. To
the credit of those present,
except for a few vocal out
bursts, the proceedings re
mained civil throughout the
evening.
The first item on the
agenda was a request sub
mitted by Mike Zeigler of
Big Canoe Holdings for the
rezoning of a two acre parcel
of land on the Steve Tate
Highway from neighborhood
commercial to highway busi
ness. The purpose of the re
quest was for a proposed cli
mate-controlled storage unit
and boat/RV storage facility
but Zeigler at one point indi-
See GIBBS on 11A
Taxes
Assessors
office
preparing
tax digest
Page 8A
Obituaries - 7A
• David Wells
• Paul Lubke
• Thomas Bugg
• Sharyne Ray
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