Newspaper Page Text
“Love will find a way through paths where wolves fear to prey.”
-Lord Byron. Happy Valentine’s Day
• Opinions
• Community
Views
• Good Old
Common Sense
The Progress
Editorial
February 9,2023
From the Staff
Red light/Green light:
Thoughts on Pickens traffic woes
After three wrecks in front of Pickens
High School last month - which spurred
added safety precautions from school leaders
- and recent progress on GDOT’s big High
way 53 project, Pickens roads are on the
brain. These two specific areas are in definite
need of attention, but there are other down
right treacherous spots that should be ad
dressed as well.
First, the ongoing projects: The high
school intersection is dangerous for sure, es
pecially with a high concentration of new
drivers there. Georgia Department of Trans
portation’s study showed 40 crashes in a four-
year period. That’s an average of nearly one
a month. January saw three crashes during
morning drop-off times, all involving stu
dents, with two of those resulting in injuries.
We think GDOT’s proposed roundabout at
PHS is a solid solution. A recent Progress
poll found that most people (68 percent of the
111 respondents) agree that a roundabout is a
good idea - but the seemingly innocuous traf
fic circle produces a visceral reaction in some
people. They argue that teens (and adults)
won’t have any easier a time navigating a
“confusing” roundabout than they would
having to yield while attempting to turn left.
But it’s been proven time and again that
roundabouts reduce the number of crashes
and make the ones that do happen far less
dangerous because traffic is moving slower.
GDOT’s design is a single-lane round
about, but includes bypass and dedicated turn
lanes, which will all help keep traffic flow
ing.
We hope this project comes to fruition,
and in the meantime we applaud school lead
ers for trying to find a more immediate solu
tion. They have a deputy there in the
mornings and are working with GDOT to
change the traffic signal and add flashing yel
low signage.
GDOT’s big project from Highway 515
into downtown Jasper, slated to go to bid
next year, is also needed. This one is less
about safety than about alleviating the in
creasing congestion through that corridor. It
calls for widening and reconfiguring the road,
making it four lanes in one area and two one
way sections going into and leaving town.
We’re not looking forward to the hassle of 30
months of construction - at all - but for the
long term it’s good for the city.
Outside of those, we’d like to see those
dangerous Highway 515 intersections that
don’t have traffic lights addressed/assessed.
GDOT is what you might say looking at
it. Particularly they are assessing the Worley
Crossroads intersection which provides the
entrance for a new subdivision. But they are
also are looking at all the intersection there
which don’t have traffic signals.
Until they complete the study, there is no
way to predict what their recommendations
are but hopefully they will alleviate the dan
gerous situation of commuters trying to cross
the fourlane.
A former city leader said crossing that
busy divided-highway felt like being a scared
rabbit forced to jump into traffic, potentially
traversing four lanes and a median if you
need to get to the other side. It’s kind of like
playing Frogger the video game, but it’s real
life and you’re the frog who doesn’t want to
get squished.
A former law enforcement official said he
never shoots across all the lanes. He’ll turn
right when there is no traffic signal, go the
next intersection make a u-turn and then
come back to cross. That shows the dangers
when a former traffic patrol officer won’t
cross a road.
We know parents who won’t allow their
teen drivers to use any of these intersections
because of the perceived dangers.
As one current emergency worker ex
plained the problem on 515 is trying to judge
whether that car way up the road is going 65
or 95 mph.
Main Street/Church Street in Jasper
needs attention, too. Church Street lanes are
wonky and shift unexpectedly when they
cross Main Street, and there’s probably no
faster way to get cussed out by another driver
than attempting a left turn onto Main. We’re
not sure if left turns shouldn’t be nixed en
tirely, or if green arrows for left turns would
help, but it’s a problem spot for sure.
There are others, of course, but these are
some of the key problem areas for us. What
roads/intersections in Pickens do you think
need attention? Let us know in a survey we
will post on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram
this Wednesday.
Tell us your thoughts with a letter to the editor. E-mail to news@pickensprogress.com
See letter submission guidelines on the Letters to the Editor page or call us 706-253-2457.
Senior Moments
Questions I ponder
think they will say? “It’s re-
By Mary Migliaro
I’m a fairly curious person
and over the years have be
come pretty good at search
ing the Internet for answers
to questions and when I seek
to know more about things. It
turns out that we seniors are
naturally curious and proba
bly use technology more than
other generations simply be
cause we had so little of it
growing up.
According to Robert
Stokoe, director of the
Jumeirah English-Speaking
Schools in Dubai, United
Arab Emirates, “Three-year-
olds, on average, ask their
parents about 100 questions a
day, every day! However, cu
riosity seldom survives child
hood. Adult creativity is still
powerful, but there is just not
enough of it. It can be said
that the creative adult is the
curious child who survived. ”
Numerous research stud
ies have shown a strong cor
relation between curiosity
and strong physical and psy
chological health. That is en
couraging but I am drifting to
those types of questions we
don’t usually think about.
Lately, I have had some
strange questions that cross
my mind from time to time,
but I never seem to get an
swers. Perhaps this happens
to you as well. Here are some
of them I’m pondering.
• Some charitable non
profits tell me that just giving
$19 a month shows I care.
Does that mean if I give $18
a month, I don’t care?
• Do advertisers really be
lieve that if they beat me to
death with their ads, I’ll buy
their product?
• I always chuckle at a
restaurant when I overhear
someone asking their wait
ress if something on the
menu is good. What do they
ally terrible, just like most of
the food is here!” Not hardly!
• What do you say to
someone who asks you how
old you are and then says you
look great for your age? I
guess you just reply, “You
look good for your age, too!”
(Best tip here is never to ask
this question of a woman!)
When I was very young, I
would ask my mom things
like, “Why is the sky blue?”
She would tell me that the
sky was blue because God
made it that way. Then I
would ask, “Why did God
make the sky blue?” She
probably told me that it was
because it was such a happy
color. Invariably, I would
keep this conversation going
with more questions that I
can’t even remember. Now,
I’m just happy when the sky
IS blue!
If you find yourself pon
dering random questions like
me, I have found a cool re
source you can post your
questions to and perhaps get
some answers - answers.com/
is a site created by Wikipedia
and is the source of many
random questions arranged in
categories. Often, other curi
ous people will respond to
others’ questions. It’s worth a
try unless of course, you just
want to keep on pondering!
Mary Migliaro is a Senior
Golden Girl who contributes
regular Family Matters arti
cles and Senior Moment
columns. She may be reached
at maiymigliaro@aol.com.
(USPS 431-820)
Published by Pickens County Progress, Inc.
94 North Main Street, Jasper, GA 30143
(706) 253-2457
www.pickensprogressonline.com
DAN POOL
Publisher/Editor
Published each Thursday at Jasper, Pickens County, Georgia.
Entered at the Post Office at Jasper, Georgia 30143
as Mail Matter of Second Class.
POSTMASTER: Send address changes to
PICKENS COUNTY PROGRESS, 94 N. Main St., Jasper, GA 30143.
One Year Subscription: $41.17 for residents of Pickens County
or the cities of Ball Ground, Fairmount, and Ranger;
$52.30 for all other Georgia residents; $62.32 out of state residents.
#lbe H>d)ciol
Other Voices
The Curious and Somewhat Humorous Effects of
My Traumatic Brain Injury
By Chris Feldt
It has been about two
months since I suffered a
traumatic brain injury from a
freak automobile accident.
In the days immediately
following the accident, I
mostly grappled with the
pain from my missing and
abraded skin and the crack at
the back of my skull. I had
damaged the occipital plate
and had bleeding in the re
gion of the brain that nor
mally affects vision.
In short order I began
noticing minor issues that
had never affected me before.
My hearing, mainly on the
left side of my head, was dif
ferent. I could still hear other
people talking, but my own
sounds, my speaking voice,
my breathing, etc. seemed to
be about 30 percent louder.
This took some time to get
used to.
It also had the unintended
side effect of making me
want to speak less and listen
more.
However, the most aggra
vating effects have been with
my word recall. Prior to the
accident, and for my entire
life, I’ve had an easy facility
with language. I was reading
at the age of four and got a 36
on the reading comprehen
sion part of my ACT. This
was a gift I was bom with.
Imagine my frustration to
see an object and attempt to
verbalize what that object is
- but wrongly. Not majorly
wrong, always close, but in
correct, nonetheless.
For example, I was re
cently shopping with my girl
friend at a Goodwill store and
was headed to a bench to sit
at. I told her I would be wait
ing for her at the booth.
Booth and bench both are
places to sit, both have five
letters, both start and end
with the same letter. But it
was a bench.
The word that came out
was wrong. Close, but no
cougar. Cigar I mean. You
get the idea.
I also have lost words. In
another example, I was riding
as a passenger in my friend’s
truck.
I couldn’t pull out the
word for the engine compart
ment cover. The only words I
could find were dashboard
and windshield. Neither was
right. Hood. My friend called
it a hood and I remembered
it. So frustrating.
I have even called my
dogs by different names - by
mixing my Lab’s name with
my Doberman’s name and
vice-versa. I have caught my
self doing this again and
again. And it reminds me of
ordinary cognitive decline
among the elderly.
My mom started doing
this very same thing with my
brother and sister’s name in
her 40s. Like bench and
booth, they are Stephanie and
Stephen. Mind you in her
case, they are completely dif
ferent genders (Not quite the
same as both being places to
sit). Part of me wonders if I
haven’t aged prematurely be
cause of the accident. I’m 48
years old - the same age that
my mom started showing
signs of this - but prior to my
accident, I never struggled
with such issues.
The funniest example of
this involved a time I told my
mom a joke about
Alzheimer’s disease. (At 48,
I know that the disease isn’t
funny, my mindset was dif
ferent in my early 20s when I
told her the joke) She called
me one day to tell me that she
tried relaying the joke to her
friends in her retirement
community. Verbatim she
said, “My son Christopher
told me a funny joke about
Alzheimer's.” Her friends
asked “Well, what is it
Marie?” to which she aptly
responded, honestly, yet acci
dentally “I don’t remember.”
She had forgotten my joke
about Alzheimer's in her at
tempt to retell it.
Candidly, what happened
between her, and her friends
was much, much funnier than
my joke. Once again, sponta
neous humor and Mother Na
ture had bested me.
Note - Asa point of inter
est, in the process of writing
this I struggled to spell the
word humorous and finally
resolved to use spell-check to
find the correct spelling.
[Chris Feldt is a con
tributing writer for the
Progress, researcher, and
history buff. Fie moved with
his family to the county in
2018.
WEATHER
By William Dilbeck
HI LOW RAIN
Jan.
31
55
39
.35
Feb.
01
45
38
.15
Feb.
02
44
32
.93
Feb.
03
44
24
.00
Feb.
04
44
29
.00
Feb.
05
59
42
.00
Feb.
06
62
41
.00
Don't let the stairs
limit your mobility.
The AmeriGlide Rave 2 stair lift is
the ideal solution for anyone:
0 Who struggles with using the stairs
0 That is worried about risking a fall
0 Who wants to access all of their home
Call now to save on a Rave 2 stair lift!
01-888-499-4359
Flowers and chocolates are nice,
but, this year, get your Valentine
something they really need!!
•TIRES
MAINTENANCE
•OIL CHANGE
BRAKE REPAIR
AND MORE AT
820 South Main Street Jasper, GA 30143
1305 Old Philadelphia Road, Jasper GA 30143
706-253-5900