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THURSDAY. DECEMBER 1.2022 PICKENS COUNTY PROGRESS PAGE 11A
Continued From 1A
2022 Speed Study
SCHOOL
SPEED LIMIT
VIOLATIONS
MAXIMUM SPEED
Hill City ES
45-55 MPH
271
75-80 MPH
Tate ES
25-35 MPH
SSG
60-65 MPH
Harmony ES
25-35 MPH
245
50-55 MPH
Pickens Jr. HS
35 MPH
204
55-60 MPH
Pickens HS
45-55 MPH
330
70-75 MPH
Previous RedSpeed studies found speeding in school zones was even
worse than sheriff officials thought it would be.
Cameras
lanta. Craig wants it made plain that
this will all be checked by real,
local law enforcement officers. “No
one is going to get a ticket from a
computer,” he said.
The ticket can be fought in
court, just like any other ticket. The
fine will be $75 for a first offense
and $125 for any later offenses.
These are considered “civil” tickets
and won’t result in points on a li
cense or hikes in insurance. Under
state statue, proceeds from tickets
by automated systems must go di
rectly back into local law enforce
ment budgets, which will fund the
Flock cameras among other things.
While Craig and Hall said it
would seem slowing people down
in school zones would be a solid
goal, they noted there are several
criticisms of the program they
wanted to address:
• It is not a speed trap. Only
drivers going 11 miles per hour or
more over the posted limit will be
ticketed. The use of the system at
the school zone will be well marked
and there will be a period of warn
ings before it goes fully live.
• There are proven results from
other counties. Craig said reports
showed that is has been very affec
tive in Roswell and Alpharetta,
lowering speeds in school zones by
50 percent in Roswell after a year.
The Progress previously reported
that Fairmount has begun using a
similar system and saw a sharp de
crease in speeding in front of the
school there on Highway 53.
• The tickets will come by mail
from an Atlanta address. The sher
iff’s office will show examples of
the tickets to make it clear what
they will look like before the sys
tem goes live so there won’t be con
fusion with scams.
• People will have an opportu
nity to see the video of their vehicle
and speed online when the ticket ar
rives. If they question it, they can
go to the local courts. Look for in
formation on how to pay or chal
lenge on the tickets.
• Thirty-five percent of the rev
enue generated will go to Red-
Speed, but they will maintain the
entire system and handle all ticket
mailings. Craig said he has a very
specific contract with them and
could cancel at any time if the orig
inal stipulations - at least 11 miles
an hour over, only in school zones
and during school times, video evi
dence of all offenses - are not fol
lowed.
Flock cameras another tool to
solve crimes
Pickens County has joined more
than 1,500 areas in the U.S. that are
using Flock cameras to record pass
ing license plate and vehicle infor
mation.
From October 30 through No
vember 28, the 11 cameras spread
around main travel corridors enter
ing the county scanned 715,427 li
cense plates. All the plates are then
checked against a list of categories
such as owners that have outstand
ing warrant, known sex offenders,
expired tags and other offenses.
During the preview, Craig showed
how his phone had alerted him that
someone had just entered Pickens
County driving a car with a stolen
license tag. The system sends the
alert to officers who will know the
description and where the car was
when the plate was scanned. It
takes about 12 seconds after a vehi
cle passes for the system to check
on any outstanding violations.
Officers can also search for ve
hicles, either by referencing vehi
cles registered to a person or
searching descriptions of “gray car
[of a certain model] with bumper
stickers or white truck with ladder
racks.” Craig noted this system has
led to two very quick high profile
arrests, one was a shooting where
the Pickens investigators used
Flock cameras in neighboring coun
ties to locate the suspect (as they
knew his vehicle tag number) in
less than an hour. Another case was
a robbery where once they had a ve
hicle description they could trace
the suspect’s path and determine
their whereabouts.
A third case was a person with
dementia who had drove off in
someone’s car and was located in
less than 20 minutes.
The system is designed to only
scan the vehicle, not a driver or oc-
cupant/driver’s face.
Craig described their intended
use as similar to a security system
for the county. They don’t want to
list where all the cameras are, but
he said they will know if someone
shows up from another area with an
outstanding warrant or in a stolen
car.
“I think people will find that if
they want to bring trouble, this isn’t
the place,” he said. “If we get a re
port on someone violent fleeing a
metro county, we’ll know if they
come here in their vehicle.”
Chief Deputy Jeff Hall described
it as a “one more tool for our toolkit
to help solve crimes.”
He said this will also help
tremendously in chases. Hall envi
sions further uses to “stretch man
power” when the cameras can be
linked with other technology and
tied back to the 911 dispatch and
the sheriff’s administrative office.
Hall said the use of GPS tech
nology is making the old zone sys
tem of patrols obsolete, as now
dispatch can look at real time loca
tion information of officers in as
signing calls.
With the Flock system, Pickens
can tie into all counties that also
have it, giving them a lot of cover
age to find vehicles.
Responding to potential critics,
Craig said he knows people who
have a fear of “Big Brother is
watching but in reality you give up
more privacy on your cell phone
everyday than we can ever do with
these cameras.”
Hall said the public is accus
tomed to seeing grainy photos of
suspects from security cameras. He
said this is similar except it’s easier
to figure out an identity with a car
tag than a photo no one recognizes.
“Some folks may not be happy
with this, but it is a tremendous tool
to solve crime,” he said.
Continued From 1A
Andrews, secondfrom right, with (L-R) Rebecca James,
Joyce Wright, Adcin Sinacore, and Elissa James, neighbors
who painted her memory board.
Sentencing
Case was sentenced on
Nov. 18 to two life sentences
plus 169 years to serve in
prison, plus 12 months’ pro
bation following that sen
tence.
Sentencing of the defen
dant occurred immediately
following the reading of the
jury's verdict. Appalachian
Judicial Circuit District At
torney Alison Sosebee said
on certain offenses there
must be a split sentence,
which means serve time fol
lowed by probationary pe
riod, “Hence the one year of
probation to satisfy state
guidelines for sentencing.”
“The facts and the cir
cumstances in this case are
appallingly tragic,” Sosebee
added. “The sentence im
posed was appropriate given
the nature of the charges on
which the defendant was
convicted. Hopefully, this
will begin to provide closure
to our victim in this case. We
would like to thank the Pick
ens County Sheriffs Office
and the Georgia Bureau of
Investigation for not only
their investigation into this
matter but for their assistance
in the prosecution of this
case as well. Additionally,
we would like the thank the
jurors for their time and for
their careful consideration in
their deliberations of this
case.”
A Pickens Grand Jury in
dicted Case in September
2022. The trial was forced to
halt in August after a medical
issue arose with the senior
judge. A new judge was as
signed to the case and a new
jury pool selected and the
case was restarted.
The new trial began Tues
day, Nov. 8. Judge Tami Col
ston from the Rome Judicial
Circuit heard the case.
for Christmas; irises, yellow
bells, hastas and other flow
ers in her yard; a rendering
of her son Mickey’s garden;
and other things that slowly
revealed themselves to her as
she looked over the painting.
“It’s a memory board,”
friend and longtime neighbor
Joyce Wright told me.
“Peggy’s had such a good
life and has done so much,
and been through a lot re
cently with her son and hus
band passing, we wanted to
do something for her.”
Andrews worked in a va
riety of rolls at Tate Elemen
tary over the years, a
veritable staple of the school
and community. She eventu
ally retired from education
and served on the Pickens
County Board of Education.
Mr. Andrews served on the
school board for 20 years at
one point and also coached
basketball at Tate Elemen
tary.
“Between my husband
and me we have 60 years in
education,” Andrews said be
fore asking me if the article
could be about her friends’
artwork and not about her.
The idea for the memory
board came after Andrews
approached her friend Joyce
about painting flowers on an
old window from Tate Ele
mentary School. Her son saw
it in a dumpster during reno
vations to the lunch room
and knew she would want it.
Joyce gathered together a
few other artistically-in
clined neighbors on their
quiet street near the railroad
tracks and got to work. They
met to coordinate the design
and decide who would paint
which sections. Instead of
painting the window panes,
they painted a canvas and
hung it behind the old frame,
which creates a kind of vista
for Andrews’ memories.
“When Rebecca painted
the wildflowers I thought,
this is going to be a folk
painting,” Wright said. “It’ll
be in that style.”
Three months later it was
finished, ready to be un
veiled. A few other neighbors
attended that morning.
“I just can’t believe this,”
Andrews, teary-eyed again,
said. “It’s so sweet of them.
This neighborhood, it’s like a
little family.”
Continued From 1A
Voting
quickly to early vote.
Advance voting will be
taking place at Pickens
County Community Center
on Camp Road at Roper Park
from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. until
Friday, Dec. 2. Election Day
is Tuesday, Dec. 6 at each
voters assigned precinct.
For any questions the
Elections and Registration
office can be reached at 706-
253-8781.
Piedmont Mountainside Hospital finalizes Community
Health Needs Assessment, begins implementation
Piedmont hospitals, in
cluding Piedmont Mountain
side, have completed their
respective Community
Health Needs Assessments
(CHNAs), which is part of
their regulatory responsibil
ity as part of a not-for-profit
health system, and began im
plementation on Nov. 15 of
new strategies to improve the
overall health of the commu
nities they serve.
Piedmont’s Community
Benefit team performed in
terviews throughout Georgia
with more than 200 stake
holders, who provided in
sight into the particular
health needs in their respec
tive communities.
“Piedmont exists to serve
its communities and the
Community Health Needs
Assessment helps us to see
the areas in which our re
sources can make a positive
difference in the lives of
community members who
are most in need,” said Pied
mont Vice President of Ex
ternal Affairs Thomas
Worthy. “Piedmont empow
ers Georgians by helping
them to reach their full po
tential and by being more re
sponsive to the needs of our
communities we are helping
the citizens of Georgia to live
healthier, fuller lives.”
Among the priorities that
Piedmont Mountainside’s
board of directors have rati
fied are:
Ensure access to afford
able and appropriate health
and dental care
We will work to ensure
that all community members
have access to affordable
health, mental and dental
care, regardless of income.
This includes partnerships
with community-based or
ganizations, as well as inter
nal programming to increase
access to services.
Promote healthy behav
iors to reduce preventable in
stances of chronic conditions
We will actively promote
healthy behaviors and en
courage community mem
bers to stop risky behaviors,
such as smoking. This in
cludes widespread health ed
ucation and programming.
Promote mental well-being
We will work with the com
munity to decrease substance
abuse and addiction, as well
as promote mental wellbeing
for all community members,
with a particular focus on
children and youth.
“As a member of the
Pickens/Gilmer counties area
for 18 years, Piedmont
Mountainside’s goal is to
protect the health of our
community members,
whether or not they visit us
inside the walls of our hospi
tal,” said Piedmont Moun
tainside CEO Denise Ray.
“We will engage with the
community to promote early
prevention, detection, treat
ment and risk-reduction in
these key areas with the goal
of improving our commu
nity’s overall health.”
A CHNA is a measure
ment of the relative health or
well-being of a given com
munity. It's both the activity
and the end-product of iden
tifying and prioritizing
unmet community health
needs, which is performed
by:
Gathering and analyzing
data;
Soliciting the feedback of
the community and key
stakeholders; and,
Evaluating Piedmont’s
past work and future oppor
tunities.
Through this assessment,
Piedmont is better informed
to understand local health
challenges, identify health
trends in our communities,
determine gaps in the current
health delivery system and
craft a plan to address those
gaps and the identified health
needs.
This is the fourth Pied
mont CHNA, with the others
having been conducted in
2013, 2016 and 2019. The
current Piedmont CHNA will
serve as a foundation for de
veloping our community
benefit strategies and further
strengthening our commu
nity work.
ESTATE SALE
Shop for Christmas gifts.
Local Antique & Jewelry Store
New and Vintage Jewelry as well as
Vintage Home Items and Antiques.
1000s of items!
Look on estatesales.net for pictures
Dec. 1,2 & 3,9am-4pm each day
Location: Hinton Community Center
9261 Hwy 53 Jasper Ga.
Elect
Herschel
Walker
PAID FOR BY CITIZENS FOR RICKJASPERSE