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THURSDAY. SEPTEMBER 8. 2022 PICKENS COUNTY PROGRESS PAGE 11A
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Dragon Drive
Smugglers
events when COVID-19 shut
down everything,” Schulman
said. “It allowed us to con
tinue communicating with
started coming down.”
Craig said prior to Sun
day’s rain, the event had gone
very smooth with around 500
Jeeps on the Night Ride
Thursday; a large crowd in
downtown Jasper Friday and
a solid day of trails and ven
dor sales Saturday.
“Overall, it was a great
event,” he said.
Craig said even with the
heavy rains and slick trails,
Commis
sioners
stmcted. Stipulations also in
clude that any improvements
to the property require a 120-
foot contiguous buffer to sur
rounding parcels; that the
special use permit only ap
plies to the existing structure
and will not exceed the build
ing footprint by 15 feet; and
that the hours of operation
will be limited to between 8
a.m. to 8 p.m.
Tippens said he conducted
extensive research prior to
their vote.
“There was a lot of study
that went into this,” he said.
“We reviewed the record. I
watched the video of the
planning and zoning board
multiple times - more times
than I care to admit. This I
believe is the best compro
mise between existing land
owners and Mr. Gibbs so he
can do what he wants to on
his property while also pre
serving the privacy and
wishes of surrounding prop
erty owners.”
The Gibbs Gardens facil
ity on Flower Lane in Pick
ens County will only be
accessible through the main
entrance of Gibbs Gardens,
which is located in Cherokee
County.
Pickens Commissioner
Josh Tatum recused himself
on the vote because Mr.
Gibbs is a customer at the
nursery where he works.
One member of the public
asked why the planning com
mission did not make a rec
ommendation at their
meeting. Commissioner
Stancil said there was no in
dication “as to why or how. I
wouldn’t be able to speculate
on that one.”
In other planning and zon
ing business, a different re
quest from Mike Zeigler of
Big Canoe Holdings to re
zone a two-acre parcel from
Neighborhood Commercial
to Highway Business was de
nied. The application indi
cated the property would be
used for a climate-controlled
storage unit and boat/RV
storage facility.
There were several mem
bers of the public at the Pick
ens Planning Commission
the public our plans while at
the same time keeping every
one safe. With COVID proto
cols shifting we are
not to mention walking
through the muddy Home-
base, the only injury reported
was a participant in the
Bounty Hill extreme obstacle
race may have broken a fin
ger.
Craig said Monday that
they hadn’t been able to total
everything up, nor did he
have a full list of people to
thank ready, but he wanted to
let the whole community
hearing to oppose the re
quest, as well as a list of 160
Big Canoe residents in oppo
sition that was presented. The
planning commission voted
3-2 to approve the request.
At the commissioners’
meeting, Tatum motioned to
deny the request, which was
seconded by commissioner
Tippens.
Tatum voted to deny the
request because “most the
property bordering it is either
[Neighborhood Commercial]
or [Rural Residential], not
[Highway Business]...It
doesn’t meet the develop
ment patterns to preserve
rural character or scenic
views, environmentally sen
sitive resources, or to limit
grading and clearing. So,
under primary land uses
Highway Business is not sup
posed to be permitted there.”
Former fire marshal seeks
answers for Talking Rock’s
ISO debacle
While not on the agenda,
during the public comments
section former Pickens Fire
Marshal Curtis Clark asked if
the county has plans to help
address the skyrocketing ISO
rate in Talking Rock where
he lives.
Recently, the ISO rating
there shot up to a 10, the
highest on the rating scale
which means there is no rec-
beginning to do more hybrid
PIOHs that feature a live
meeting and an online com
ponent. Virtual PIOHs have
been great because it allows
people who are not able to at
tend on that one night in per-
know that on behalf of the
Sheriff’s Foundation, they
greatly appreciate the com
munity being supportive of
this event.
He particularly wanted to
thank Adam Richards of
A&T Towing who put in an
extraordinary number of
hours setting up and had
worked tirelessly helping
vendors exit the wet Home-
base field and was still work
ing on Monday afternoon.
He also gave a special
thanks to the First Mountain
City Offroad Club who
ognized fire protection. ISO
ratings directly affect insur
ance premiums.
“This is going to cause a
very large increase in prop
erty owners’ insurance, espe
cially businesses,” Clark
said.
He asked that even though
the issue is technically Talk
ing Rock’s issue, if the
county is looking at a short
term solution “until it can be
corrected by upgrading the
fire department, or seeing
about taking over or absorb
ing into other fire districts so
the citizens that live in that
district are not suffering the
financial loss that is not of
their making. I know it’s
Talking Rock’s issue, but it’s
affecting people outside the
city limits.”
Stancil told Clark he met
with Pickens Fire Chief Tim
Prather, Pickens Director of
Public Safety Sloan Elrod,
and the Talking Rock mayor
last week “and spent a con
siderable amount of time
going through the informa
tion that was received from
ISO...it is a volunteer fire
station and in order to be
classified as such needs to
have a certain number of vol
unteers and they fell below.”
He said Prather “took the
reins to work on the short
term solution of getting those
volunteers in place to get it
son to still get all of the infor
mation and give us feedback
on the project.”
For questions or concerns
contact Andrew Bryant at
678-802-1108 or email
abryant@dot.ga.gov.
manned the trails and saw
that all vehicles were able to
get out after conditions dete
riorated.
And he thanked Forsyth
County Sheriff’s Office for
sending around 50 volunteers
who took care of parking and
more.
Craig said, “We know we
have a mess at Homebase
and on trails areas. We will
be working on them as soon
as possible.”
More event pics on
pages 5-7A.
back to where it’s considered
active,” and that the county
will then get in touch with
ISO to see if they will re
evaluate the station.
Clark asked about a previ
ous SPLOST that included
money to build a county fire
station in Talking Rock.
“I was wondering if that
money has been used else
where or if it still exists in the
budget dedicated to the con
struction of that fire station?”
he asked.
Stancil said Talking Rock
fire station funds were “under
a previous SPLOST, and
after they didn’t receive re
sponse from Talking Rock...
they used the funds on other
fire stations.. .We’ll be look
ing as we try to prepare for a
future SPLOST at ways to
improve on facilities, but that
particular opportunity that
was a couple years old was
unfortunately not capitalized
on.”
Other news from
commissioners:
•The board authorized the
chair to hire attorney Ken
Jerrard to represent the Pick
ens County Clerk of Court
for pending litigation. “We
do have a pending litigation
that involves multiple offices
within the county, so to have
our county attorney represent
each side could potentially
lead to a conflict.”
•Commissioners granted a
request from Dan Pool on be
half of Edge Pool Properties
to rezone 29.66 acres of a
larger parcel off Shyers Ford
Road from Agricultural to
Suburban Residential. The
property is currently inacces
sible by any county or private
road. The purpose of the re
quest is to sell 29.66 acres of
the property to adjacent prop
erty owners in exchange for
permanent access to the re
maining 19.75 acres.
•The county has received
a $2,000 Health Promotion
and Well-Being grant from
the Association of County
Commissioners of Georgia.
Pickens was one of 20 Geor
gia counties to receive this
grant. The grant will go to
wards promotion of health
and wellness programs for
county employees.
drop they were supposed to
land at Cherokee County, and
the offload crew was in the
woods with the aircraft
seats,” he recalled. “Once
they landed, they were to
kick off the dope, get the
seats and take off again. They
had a radio where they com
municated with the plane,
and the plane (pilot) said
we're so many minutes out
from landing. And in so
many minutes, the plane
landed and the offload crew
ran out onto the runway with
the seats - and it wasn't their
plane.
“So they ran back into the
woods and called the plane
on the radio, and said some
thing ain't right, go to plan B.
The only thing was, they did
n't have a plan B. So they fly
up around Amicalola Falls
and start circling, trying to
figure out what plan B was.”
No Plan B
Cagle said it wasn't the
first time the smugglers'
plans had ran afoul.
“That particular group of
people that were involved
had had bad luck in the past
with loads (of drugs),” he
said. “One time we watched
them take off from the airport
in Cherokee County - which
at that time was very isolated
- and they were supposed to
fly down to Mantequilla, Co
lumbia, and pick up some.
The Columbians actually
seized their aircraft from
them, and just let them go.”
Gilmer Sheriff Stanley
notified the GBI after John
ston called him to report the
canister. He had no idea how
close to home the smuggling
operation was about to get.
“So they fly up (High
way) 52, and one of the guys
that was involved was Clay
Stanley, who was the [Gilmer
sheriff at that timej's son,”
said Cagle. “Clay lived out
Roy Road, and so they
thought let's drop it near
Clay's house or out that way
somewhere.”
Since the area was heavily
forested, Cagle was asked if
smugglers might have been
able to retrieve it if the cows
hadn't discovered it first?
“It's hard to say that it
would have gone completely
under our radar, because
most of it was dropped on
private land. Eventually
somebody - not necessarily
the ones involved - would
have found it, because there
were so many more canisters
strewed around that area. We
developed a search pattern.
We'd go in one direction, find
a canister, and then we'd find
another one. We actually
flew the area in which we
were finding them and found
some of them from the air.
“It was difficult terrain,
especially when you find 50
pounds of cocaine (in one
canister) and have to carry it
out. I think it was a total of
543 pounds that we found.”
The Dalton-Jasper
connection
Law enforcement author
ities weren't the only ones
looking for the drugs, and it
helped lead to other arrests.
“(The smugglers) threw it
out the night before or in the
early morning hours before
daylight,” said Cagle. “One
of the offload crew folks (in
the airplane) was a private
pilot - not the pilot of the
plane that went south. After
they kicked out the cocaine,
they flew to Dalton and
landed. The pilot on the of
fload crew rented a small air
craft, and after the first
canister was found we were
out there and that small plane
was circling, trying to find it.
Then the small plane
came to the Pickens airport
and lands. We had alerted the
local airports, and that plane
was obviously looking for it.
I got a call from Pickens air
port that said a plane just
landed fitting that descrip
tion. I came down there and
that's when we made the first
arrest of that guy - Dan
Ayers.”
Although UPI reported
Ayers as the pilot during the
drop - he was fitted with a
flak jacket at his first court
appearance because authori
ties feared he might be taken
out by his fellow drug traf
fickers - Cagle said that was
incorrect.
Cagle explained their con
cerns, “I was the one that
took him (to court), and we
just didn't know what would
happen. There was another
guy from Gilmer involved,
Eddie Holt; he was con
victed, and another guy
called Bud Cochran. Now
Bud was an older guy who
had served a lot of federal
time, and it was actually his
connection. He was the guy
that had the dope connection,
so he was sorta the leader.
“There was another guy
from Habersham County
who was actually a pilot,
Melvin Stevens, and he fled
but was captured years later
and ended up going to prison.
There was an airline pilot out
of North Carolina and I don't
recall his name, but he and
Melvin are the ones that flew
the load. They went to trial
with several others and were
convicted and sentenced. At
the time, it was the biggest
cocaine seizure in Georgia.
Everybody was convicted.”
National Guard
activated
UPI reported that news of
the drop caused widespread
curiosity and people search
ing the woods, so much so
that Gov. George Busbee
called out the Georgia Na
tional Guard. Some U.S.
Customs agents were armed
with machine guns and shot
guns because they were con
cerned smugglers might
show up trying to find their
lost load, UPI reported.
Cagle remembered, “We
had to secure the whole area,
we were concerned once we
started finding the canisters.
We didn't want anybody just
searching for a canister and
then finding it and carrying it
off. We had to have a pres
ence in the area until we were
satisfied we found it all.”
The search ended after a
little over a week. “We've
gone several miles on both
sides of our known drop
zone,” said Roy Harris, the
GBI's agent-in-charge of the
search. “So we're pretty con
fident we've covered things
well.”
Cagle said the trafficking
case was the first one brought
under the Organized Crime
Drug Enforcement Task
Force that the federal govern
ment had begun, partially in
response to tons of cocaine
being trafficked out of South
America.
“It was kind of a unique
case because it involved the
sheriffs son,” he continued.
“It was a long investigation,
and we did some covert
things during the investiga
tion that helped up there. We
tried the case in Atlanta for
about a month.”
Cagle said authorities
were startled by the size of
the drug haul, and its loca
tion. He noted the Peach
State was becoming a desti
nation for massive drug ship
ments after Florida was on
the lookout for hauls.
“None of us ever thought
we'd be carrying pounds and
pounds of cocaine out of the
woods in Ellijay on our
backs,” he revealed. “We
would find the stuff and just
be amazed, never thinking
anything like that would hap
pen here. But air smuggling
back then was very popular
in south and north Georgia.
They would land airplanes on
some of those straight two-
lane roads in south Georgia.
A Lockheed Loadstar was
seized at the Pickens airport
back then, and a DC-3 was
seized at the Blairsville air
port with a load. So it was
very common for that stuff to
be happening at that time.
“One of the things we
joked about at the time, be
cause back in the '70s and
'80s there was still white
liquor being made in this area
- we said it had gone from
white liquor to white pow
der.”
The UPI also reported a
bear died of an overdose after
getting into one of the canis
ters.
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JeepFest
Photo/Angela Reinhardt
Commissioners recognized Ellie Moody for 10 years of service in Pickens County ac
countability courts, and Katrina Roper for 10 years of service in the Pickens County Sher
iff’s Office. Roper, not pictured, was working at JeepFest at the time of the commissioners’
meeting. Shown are (l-r) Commissioner Josh Tippens, Moody, Commissioners Kris Stancil
and Josh Tatum.