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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 Contact Us 94 North Main Street Jasper, Ga. 30143 706-253-2457 pickensprogress.com Open for business during these hours: Mon-Thurs, 9-5, and Fri, 9-4:30 $1.00 per copy NI»III|lllllllll||l 8 I) 4 8 7 9 0 8 1 6 3 ® o