Newspaper Page Text
Thursday, January 26, 2023 | Volume 135 Number 41 | Jasper, Georgia | 22 pages, 2 sections | Published Weekly | $1.00
Massive Hwy. 53 project lurches forward
date of September
2024, but that could
change if more time is
needed to acquire
[right-of-ways]. We are
planning to hold an
other Public Informa
tion Open House either
this spring or summer.”
This project has
been on the books for at
least two decades, with
former city leaders , ^ GDOT map of a portion of the planned routeM|
questioning at points it . . .. ~ rT . , ,,, . . ;
•1 ,, . work leading from Highway 515 into Jasper.
it would ever come to J r
By Angela Reinhardt
Staff Writer
areinhardt@pickensprogress.com
According to Georgia Depart
ment of Transportation officials, a
massive Highway 53 project that has
languished for decades will go to bid
September 2024, with right-of-way
acquisitions now underway.
The project will bring big
changes to the section of Highway
53 between Highway 515 and down
town Jasper, including widening and
the addition of two lanes, to four
total, as well as one-way sections in
another area.
GDOT approved the location and
design for the project in July 2022.
“Right-of-way acquisition re
cently got underway for the project,”
GDOT District 6 Communication
Officer Joe Schulman confirmed
with the Progress this week. “Cur
rently, the project has a scheduled let
fruition. GDOT records
show that preliminary engineering
was performed in 1992, then again
in 2014 and 2017. A public hearing
was held in 2007 and another in
2014, the latter of which drew nearly
60 attendees.
Here is a more detailed descrip
tion of the project, as provided by
GDOT:
“This project is the widening and
reconstruction of SR 53 Business
(BU) in the city of Jasper. The proj
ect begins at the intersection of SR
515 and SR 53 BU and continues to
the intersection of East Spring Street
and Burnt Mountain Road.
The total project length is approx
imately 2.6 miles, including a one
way pair section.
The project consists of widening
SR 53 BU from two-lanes to four
11-foot lanes with a 16-foot raised
median and urban shoulders from
the intersection of SR 515 to the in
tersection of Summit Street (near El
See Road Work on 11A
GBI looks at
two separate
child deaths
One brings
charges;
Other a tragic
accident
Book-in photo/Pickens
Sheriff’s Department
Cameron Dean Mathews
By Angela Reinhardt
Staff Writer
areinhardt@piekensprogress.com
The Georgia Bureau of
Investigation is investigating
the deaths of two young chil
dren in separate incidents in
Pickens County. Criminal
charges have been brought in
one case, with no charges an
ticipated in the second case.
Jasper man charged with
child cruelty
Cameron Dean Mathews,
a 31-year-old Jasper man, is
facing several charges re
lated to the death of a child
in late November. Those
charges were brought by the
Georgia Bureau of Investiga
tion at the end of December,
with a preliminary court
hearing scheduled for this
week.
According to Jasper po
lice reports, at approximately
9:56 a.m. on Monday, Nov.
28, officers were dispatched
to a home on Dogwood Av
enue off South Main Street
in reference to a full arrest
medical call. Dispatch ad
vised that CPR was in
progress. When responders
arrived at the scene four
minutes later, “the child was
obviously deceased upon our
arrival...”
The report shows that the
deceased female child, who
was 14 months old, had a
bluish-purplish discoloration
of the skin when officers ar
rived at the scene. Pickens
County Coroner Mark God
frey arrived shortly after first
responders and pronounced
the child deceased.
Because the incident in
volved the death of a young
child, the GBI was requested
and responded to the scene.
The GBI has since taken
over investigation. They
were contacted for comment
but did not respond by press
time. It is unclear at this time
what led to charges being
brought against Mathews on
December 24, 2022.
Mathews, who according
to Jasper Asst. Police Chief
Mike Davis is the boyfriend
of the child’s mother, has
been charged with two
counts of Child Cruelty in
the First Degree and two
counts of Battery - Family
Violence. Bond was set for
$30,000 for one count of
See Child Deaths on 11A
Deja Pew - Commission chair says Whitestone landfill
doing all that is asked, but “the reality is it produces an odor”
hours
Monday - Friday
8 a.m. - 5 p.m.
Saturday & Sunday
Closed
Brick
Concrete .
Cared Asphalt Ln
Grass Clippings
JV'HITESTONE'VALLEY
''LANDFILL
A CONSTRUCTION & DEMOLITION FACILITY
WASTES ACCEPTED AT THIS FACILITY:
- s ^~- asbestos glass
gpinir
photo/Angela Reinhardt
The landfill in Whitestone is running a tight operation, but the county
is still getting citizen complaints according to discussion at last week’s board
of commissioners work session.
OTHER BUSINESS:
Commissioners hear
of staffing woes due to
hiring challenges, illness
By Dan Pool
Editor
dpool@pickensprogress.com
After a year of continual progress,
cooperation and going beyond what is
required according to county officials,
the Whitestone Construction and
Demolition landfill was again the sub
ject of citizen complaints over odor.
At the commissioners’ work ses
sion Thursday, Curtis Clark, a former
county fire marshal, spoke during
public comments saying he lived five
miles away from the landfill on Old
Whitestone Road and the smell is bad.
Clark said the odor reaches the four-
lane and the aroma doesn’t give a pos
itive image of the community.
The landfill is permitted and gov
erned by the state EPD for inert ma
terials and construction debris. They
have locally reached an agreement
with the county giving them some ad
ditional leverage over the company.
After threats of closing them down
a year ago, Commission Chair Kris
Stancil said Whitestone operators
have done everything that was asked,
gone well beyond what is required
and been very cooperative in general.
He said they have been covering
waste there twice as often as required.
But Stancil told those at the meet
ing there have been multiple conver
sations over this topic and Clark’s was
not the first new complaint.
The commission chair pointed the
finger at legally accepted sheetrock
for causing the odor this year. While
it may seem odd, Stancil said,
sheetrock produces a bad smell when
the weather is cold and wet. A brief
Google search showed sheetrock,
made from gypsum, contains sulfur
compounds which caused smell prob
lems at other landfills across the
country.
“[The company] is way more co
operative but the reality is they are
creating an odor,” Stancil said.
Stancil said the smell is not as bad
as last year, when county officials ac
cused the operation of taking unper
mitted household waste. This year the
site is maintaining tight standards but
the smell is spreading to new home-
owners with winds blowing in a dif
ferent direction this winter.
“There is less smell but it is in a
different direction,” Stancil said. “The
property as a whole is better than ever
before.”
No immediate actions were dis
cussed with Stancil noting they were
bringing in a consultant to look at the
operation and they are discussing an
odor mitigation device.
In other business:
•Several department heads, rang
ing from the planning and develop
ment office to the recycling center to
the animal shelter, reported both
slower business and also employees
out with flu or Covid, plus a general
See County Meeting on 11A
DNR’s “Operation Viper” leads to numerous
charges for venomous snake trafficking
Ga. DNR Press release
SOCIAL CIRCLE - On
January 12, 2023, the Geor
gia Department of Natural
Resources Law Enforcement
Division (DNR LED) and
Florida Fish and Wildlife
Conservation Commission
(FWC) filed charges against
eight individuals, for the il
legal trafficking of ven
omous and prohibited exotic
snakes.
The DNR LED has been
receiving intelligence re
ports and complaints indicat
ing that a black market
existed for the sale and pur
chase of illegal and highly
dangerous venomous rep
tiles in Georgia. In 2021,
Georgia DNR LED and
FWC initiated a long-term
investigation with under
cover investigators to deter
mine the extent of this illegal
activity.
The illegal sale, purchase
and transporting of these
regulated animals pose a sig
nificant public safety threat
and threatens the long-term
well-being of state wildlife
populations. If these illegal
and dangerous nonnative
species were to escape, there
is a possibility they could
live and breed in the wild.
Over the course of the
multi-state investigation,
nearly 200 snakes, consist-
Ga. DNR/photos
One of the eight suspects charged by the Ga. DNR law
enforcement division for “a robust” black market ven
omous snake business.
An Indian cobra, one of more 200 snakes, consisting
of 24 species from seven different regions of the globe,
were purchased from or sold to wildlife traffickers by un
dercover investigators.
ing of 24 species from seven
different regions of the
globe, were purchased from
or sold to wildlife traffickers
by undercover investigators.
Some of those species in
clude the inland taipan,
bushmaster, rhinoceros
viper, African bush viper,
Gaboon viper, green mamba,
eyelash viper, multiple
species of spitting cobra, for
est cobra, puff adder and
saw-scaled vipers.
Several of these snakes
are listed in the top 10 dead
liest in the world and no
anti-venom for the treatment
of snake bites for several of
the species is available in
Georgia.
This lengthy investiga
tion developed suspects both
in and out of Georgia and
Florida. Investigators real-
See Snakes on 11A
PHS Sports
Nettes and
Dragons both
have strong
weeks
Page 1B
Mad Tatter
holds pet food
drive for local
non-profit
Page 3A
Grow your own food
Prepare your
garden now
with early
soil test
Page 7A
Obituaries 8A
• Christopher Addison
• Betty Aiken
• Dorothy Heath
• Stephen Honea Jr.
• Robert Forrester
• Margie Mullins
• Elizabeth Pittard
Contact Us
94 North Main Street
Jasper, Ga. 30143
706-253-2457
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