Pickens County progress. (Jasper, Ga.) 1899-current, September 22, 2022, Image 1

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Newspaper Page TextThursday, September 22, 2022 | Volume 135 Number 23 | Jasper, Georgia | 18 pages, 2 sections | Published Weekly | $1.00 Jasper listed as top contender for outdoor reality show from popular star Perrow Park plans, Trick or Treat times, Christmas parade date change discussed by Jasper Council By Angela Reinhardt Staff Writer areinhardt@pickensprogress.com World-renowned survivalist Bear Grylls could bring a production to Jasper after council voted to approve filming at their meeting Thursday, Sept. 15. Grylls became well known for his series Man vs. Wild, and is also part of numerous other survival televi sion series including Running Wild with Bear Grylls and The Island with Bear Gry’lls. Jasper City Manager Sonia Jammes said the city was selected as first on a short list of three potential filming locations. ‘‘It’s going to be a new adventure game show type of hybrid series,” she said. “Out of all the areas they looked at they fell in love with the location off of Cove Road right past the mine system, north on the prop erty near the waterfall.” The property is owned by the Is Bear Grylls coming to town? Jasper is a top choice for a new show. Above, the cover of a Grylls book. Downtown Development Authority of Jasper. Crews would be on site for four weeks for preparation, from October 10 through November 15, 2022. The filming crew would be on site from November 6 through November 18. For pre-production there would be 30 members of the crew in town, and for filming there would be approxi mately 60 cast and crew members. Following council’s approval, city attorney David Syfan recom mended the city enact a film produc tion ordinance that would give council “the opportunity to be proac tive and set up requirements” and have a process in place for potential requests from the production compa nies. “This is the second time within a year-and-a-half we’ve had a film production company come to the city, which I think is a good trend and will be wonderful if we get more and more, but as you get more,” he said the companies sometimes make requests for law enforcement for things like crowd control; requests for street closures; need for trash pickup; fire department requests; and others. The ordinance would formalize insurance, street closures, use of fire or police departments, etc. “Hopefully we’ll have more and more and more people and compa nies coming to film in Jasper,” he said. The city manager said an ordi nance will be brought to council for adoption in the future. Architectural firm selected for Perrow Park project City council voted to accept the bid from Goodwin Mills Cawood to be the architectural firm for the Per row Park project. The project will bring a park, amphitheater, and other amenities to the comer of Spring and Main streets. Jasper Assistant City Manager Kim Goldener presented council with the recommendation of the scoring committee, which evaluated bids from the six firms that submit- See Council Meeting on 8A City of Jasper clears small sanitary sewer overflow along E. Church Street City asks residents to watch what they are putting down the drain By Alex Goble Staff Writer agoble@pickensprogress.com A grease blockage was found and cleared in the san itary sewer main along East Street where it meets the san itary sewer main along East Church Street on Thursday, September 15. According to Assistant City Manager Kim Goldener, the city had received some odor complaints during Jeep- Fest, but when checked, the smell had dissipated and no visible signs of a problem could be found. After a second odor com plaint last week, again with out visible signs, the city started jetting the main line along East Street and hit blockages. To solve the problem, the mains were completely jetted and excavation was started to cut a window into the main to enable the use of a camera. After a visual check no addi tional issues were found and the line was added to a pre ventative maintenance schedule. The city would like to re mind residents that anything that shouldn’t go down the sink shouldn’t go down the toilet and that blockages can happen more easily than many are aware. Sharptop Distilling brings spirit tradition to Main Street i il V Above, owner Jason Hutson mans the bar at Sharptop Distilling Company on Main Street during a busy night. The new distillery is open for special events and tasting groups by appointment only while the facility is complet ing work. At right, the handmade copper still with an electric heat source and an array of gauges and controls. Staff Reports Back in the day Pickens County had no shortage of moonshine coming from our creeks and hollows, all very hush, hush - at least offi cially. But the times have changed and with it attitudes towards distilled spirits. Jasper is now on the verge of having these spirits being produced right on Main Street and it will be completely legal. In addi tion to moonshines that cap ture the local heritage, the operators of Sharptop Dis tilling Company will offer bourbon, brandy, gin and other spirits from a modem handcrafted copper still. The new Sharptop Dis tilling Company is in the final phases of completing their production facility in the Edge Building on Main Street and is already selling bourbon and a special mm at private tastings and dur ing special openings for downtown events. Husband and wife own ers Jason Hutson and Jackie See Spirits on 8A photo/Max Caylor Paola Villalobos Patino was named Pickens High School’s 2022 Homecoming Queen during the annual Homecoming ceremony on Friday, September 16th dur ing the football game. She was escorted by her father Arturo Villalobos. More from Homecoming on Page IB. West end Town Hall brings government to the people By Larry Cavender Contributing Writer While campaigning for the west end commissioner's seat, Josh Tippens pledged "to bring the government to the people." One of his strategies for accomplishing this was to schedule "town hall" meetings in the west end to enable the residents he represents to better con nect with their government. On Tuesday, Sept. 13, the first west end town hall was held at the Hinton Commu nity Center. In opening comments, Tippens touched on a num ber of topics including the roles of the commission, taxes, services, growth, ethics, and transparency. He noted that the commission had just recently agreed to roll back the tax millage rate for the sixth consecutive year. Even with the roll back, the commission antic ipates approximately $1.5 million in additional revenue for 2023, and Tippens talked about how that extra revenue would be utilized. Foremost is the intention to "provide a substantial increase to living wages for our public safety workers...to bring us in line with surrounding counties." Ongoing negotiations be tween the county and local municipalities over Local Option Sales Tax allocations was also discussed, and Tip- pens said that the commis sion believes Pickens County has been at a disad vantage and that previous al locations favored the city of Jasper. The negotiations are In an effort "to bring the government closer to the people," west end commis sioner Josh Tippens hosted the first ever west end com missioner’s town hall meet ing last week. headed to "mediation" and if the differences are not re solved, LOST will expire. See West End on 8A Event LUa cove, mnnhwg, thLb tuui/uuo in, aun, hibtany, with, l—s,cwiB.wim««wMMa j^ ourTmSrEvcn < Jplprrj Aid £J1! OVJl 1 to us by Tracy Hensley of tile Pickens Freedom Cruisers! r A'dl/TUBB YCJA OJJD VJI Brought to us by Michelle Tidwell of iTHlNK Fina ncial! > Brounht to us by Ava Rogers of vtm 'The CROC" 1490 AM *102.7 FM! JJUL3 'J’U IJiSia Y' Brought to us hy Kevin o oea or Escape ana Evade! SI LJ 'J 2, iAAIlLSi -PA DD■SStUlS&l! Satundap,, September*, 24, 2022 From 2PM-7PM at Lee Newton Park in Jasper, GA Registration is OPEN for shows anti contests at www.carefotpicKens.comt CARES Food Pantry turns 25 and their anniversary party is gonna be fun Page 9A Entertainment Flute Choir opens Casual Classics series on September 26th Page 6A County meeting sees expansion of marshal duties; Don Grant promoted to fire chief Page 10A Obituaries - 7 A Alma Little Barbara McGeehen Betty Spencer Edwin McCallister Eva Essary Gracelyn Donovan Grady Howard Mark Mulkey Marvin Chadwick Susan Turnbull Troy Burrows Victor Head William Umbaugh 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 o

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Pickens County progress. (Jasper, Ga.) 1899-current, September 22, 2022, Image 1