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PAGE 6A PICKENS COUNTY PROGRESS THURSDAY. AUGUST 18. 2022
National news unites Pickens GOP
despite local squabbles over ballots
By Larry Cavender
Contributing Writer
In what was expected to
be a family squabble among
members of the Pickens Re
publican Party at the group's
Tuesday, August 9 meeting,
instead evolved into a unity
rally.
There has been some dis
sension among the rank and
file of the local GOP regard
ing Chairman Chris Mora's
decision to file suit against
the Pickens County Elec
tions Board, as well as a con
troversial comment
purportedly made at the
group's June meeting by
State Rep. Rick Jasperse.
However, despite their
differences, two breaking
news stories which occurred
in the two days prior to the
meeting seemed to galvanize
the local GOP.
The featured speaker was
Congressman Barry Louder-
milk, who in his address to
the party faithful, touched on
those two events: the un
precedented FBI raid upon
former President Donald
Trump's Mar-a-lago home
on August 8, and the passage
of the "Inflation Reduction
Act" by the US Senate on
August 7.
Loudermilk, a long-time
congressman who serves
Georgia's 11th Congres
sional District, will represent
Pickens County in Congress
beginning next January if he
is reelected. Because of re
districting, Pickens has been
moved to the 11th District
which in the past has in
cluded portions of Cobb and
Cherokee Counties.
The Mar-a-Lago raid was
foremost in the minds of the
GOP members and of that
raid Loudermilk asked,
"Why send 30 armed FBI
agents to seize boxes of doc
uments intended to be placed
in a museum? The National
Archives is not the place
where classified material is
stored." The congressman
said the raid was a "travesty"
and noted, "I don't recognize
what happened at Mar-a-
Lago," and added that the
raid reminded him of what
might happen in a third-
world country or even in
Nazi Germany. He also said
that fortunately the FBI raid
While speaking to the local GOP, 11th District Congressman Barry Loudermilk
called the FBI’s raid on Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago home a "travesty." If reelected,
Loudermilk will become Pickens County’s representative in Congress because of the
redistricting that now places Pickens in the 11th District.
occurred when the former
President was out of town,
and that may have averted an
armed confrontation be
tween FBI agents and the
Secret Service who are
sworn to protect the former
President.
Loudermilk further
stated, "We need to see the
warrant," and said the De
partment of Justice is "either
lying or they abused their
power. I'm not afraid of what
they might have found, but
what they might plant."
A little-known provision
of the "Inflation Reduction
Act" also raised the ire of
many of the Republicans.
The provision would author
ize funding to hire an addi
tional 87,000 IRS agents
which, including current
agents, would double the
total number of agents to ap
proximately 165,000. Loud
ermilk noted that this
number would be more than
the State Department, the
FBI, and the Border Patrol
employees, combined. The
Congressman warned, "The
IRS won't be knocking on
Trump's door; they'll be
knocking on your door!"
Pickens County resident
Bill Cagle interjected that he
had heard reports that the
Knights of Columbus
help widow with move
Georgia sets new records for
investment, j ob growth
By Dave Williams
Bureau Chief
Capitol Beat News Service
ATLANTA - New invest
ment in Georgia topped
$21.2 billion during the last
fiscal year, with 358 projects
creating 51,132 jobs, Gov.
Brian Kemp announced
Wednesday.
The investment and jobs
figures surpassed the state’s
previous records by 94% and
53%, respectively.
“We are proud companies
continue to recognize the ad
vantages of Georgia’s busi
ness-friendly environment,
superior logistics network,
[and] top-ranked workforce
training program,” Kemp
said during a ceremony in
side the Georgia Capitol.
The two biggest economic
development projects in
Georgia history played a big
role in the success of fiscal
2022. Electric-vehicle manu
facturer Rivian, Hyundai
Motor Group and 10 other
automotive projects were re
sponsible for nearly 16,000
of the new jobs.
With neither Rivian nor
Hyundai located in the 10-
county Atlanta region, 85%
of the investments in the last
fiscal year occurred in other
parts of the Peach State.
Other sectors besides auto
manufacturing that saw big
investment and job gains
were advanced manufactur
ing - including EV industry
suppliers - bioscience and fi
nancial technology.
Foreign direct investment
accounted for more than $8
billion. The top five sources
were South Korea, Germany,
Japan, France, and the
Netherlands.
“No matter where your
business is headquartered,
when you decide to grow in
Georgia, you become a Geor
gia company,” state Commis
sioner of Economic
Development Pat Wilson
said. “Georgia’s record-
breaking numbers are the re
sult of years of dedication to
prioritizing the creation of
high-quality jobs in every
comer of the state.”
This story is available
through a news partnership
with Capitol Beat News Serv
ice, a project of the Georgia
Press Educational Founda
tion.
o
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A widow who served the public for over 27
years was recently assisted in a move by the
Knights of Columbus.
Having no funds and no transportation, it was
appropriate that the Knights of Columbus ( Council
14348, Our Lady of the Mountains) reward her
service by relocating her possessions to a new en
vironment.
The Knights of Columbus, some of whom are
shown here during the move, are based on charity,
unity, fraternity and patriotism. The Knights are al
ways seeking ways to become more involved in
Pickens County based on these fundamentals.
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IRS was stockpiling a large
stash of weapons and ammu
nition, and Loudermilk said
he had heard that, too, and
that he could see absolutely
no reason for a tax collection
agency to be doing that.
Another unifying theme
was the group's dislike of the
liberal policies of gubernato
rial hopeful Stacy Adams
and Senator Raphael
Warnock. All of those pres
ent were encouraged to dou
ble-down on their efforts to
re-elect Governor Brian
Kemp and to elect Herschel
Walker to the Senate.
As for the local squab
bles, Mora explained that he
only wanted to open the
records of the local May pri
mary elections for reasons of
transparency and that he was
only following the advice of
the county attorney in filing
the suit. He further stated
that the suit was not meant as
an attack on the local elec
tion board or Pickens Elec
tions Coordinator Stacey
Godfrey. In fact, he encour
aged the local GOP members
to attend the next Pickens
Elections Board meeting to
show their support.
Concerning his alleged
controversial statement,
Representative Rick
Jasperse said his comment
was taken out of context,
that he had never been en
couraged by the Governor or
Secretary of State "to put his
foot on the hand recount of
the Pickens County Ballot."
Jasperse distributed a printed
statement to those present to
clarify what had been said
which included the complete
quote: "I kind of thought of,
you know, 'cause we could
see the two parties we're
going to look at: the Gover
nor's race and Secretary of
State's race: both of them
calling me and saying, 'Hey,
you need to put your foot on
this.' [pause...] Absolutely
not."
It appeared that most all
of those in the standing-
room-only crowd were satis
fied with the explanations
given by the local GOP lead
ers.
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