Newspaper Page Text
Thursday, February 16, 2023 | Volume 135 Number 44 | Jasper, Georgia | 20 pages, 2 sections | Published Weekly | $1.00
Old grenade found by couple
walking on their property
Photo/Pickens Sheriff’s Office
This hand grenade, estimated to
be at least 50 years old, was found
in an ammo can on an east Pickens
County property.
GBI detonates
ancient explosive
By Angela Reinhardt
Staff Writer
areinhardt@pickensprogress.com
A Pickens couple stumbled across
a decades-old hand grenade on their
property that was later detonated by
the GBI.
“This appeared to be a pre-Viet
nam era grenade,” said Pickens
Sheriff CID Commander John
Cagle.
According to sheriff reports, the
couple was walking on their Marble
Hill property where an old home
place once stood. Cagle said there
was a house and bam there at one
time, but the structures burned down
many years ago.
“They found a dark ammo con
tainer can and threw it onto the trail
they were walking,” the Thursday,
Feb. 9 incident report states. “Today
they retrieved the can and carried it
to their home.”
The man opened the ammo can
with a piece of wood and found a
flag and green hand grenade inside.
After realizing what the device was,
“he carried the container and the
grenade to the tree line of the prop
erty and called law enforcement.”
A sheriff’s detective arrived and
photographed the grenade. The local
agency contacted the GBI’s explo
sive technician who visited the
scene. Cagle said the GBI x-rayed
the hand grenade to see if it was still
active, which it was.
“The hand grenade was detonated
by the technician and the area was
cleared of any shrapnel or remains,”
according to reports.
The bomb tech set a charge next
to the grenade and detonated it,
which caused the grenade to ex
plode.
Cagle said specially trained tech
nicians are called in for cases such as
these, where old dynamite and other
explosives are found. Old explosives
are especially dangerous, and people
who find them should contact law
enforcement for safe disposal.
“They explode just like the day
they were made, but older things de
grade and become more dangerous
to detonate,” he said. “They become
very, very explosive and very unsta
ble. Old dynamite is extremely dan
gerous. ’ See Grenade on119A
Woman
shoots
boyfriend
during
heated
argument
By Angela Reinhardt
Staff Writer
areinhardt@pickensprogress.com
A domestic dispute in a
home on Hood Road ended
with a woman shooting her
boyfriend, who remains hos
pitalized as of press time.
According to sheriff’s re
ports, deputies were dis
patched to a person shot call
on Monday, Feb. 6 at 5:41
p.m. Robert Thomas
Downes, 56, was found with
a single gunshot wound to
the hip. He was airlifted to a
metro Atlanta hospital.
Following investigation,
Lotonia Harris, 63, was ar
rested for Aggravated As
sault and Possession of
Weapon During Crime. Her
bond was set at $75,000 and
she was released on bond
from the Pickens Adult De
tention Center the following
day.
Pickens Sheriff’s CID
Commander John Cagle said
the investigation found noth
ing that justified the shoot
ing.
“Based on our investiga
tion, even though their argu
ment was heated, nothing
See Shooting on 11A
Planning commission gives nod to sportsmen
for gun range change on Old Jones Mt. Road
Second Hand Smokes:
KPB cigarette disposal containers making big
dent in litter, but someone pilfering the discards
Photo/Dan Pool
KPB President Vered Kleinberger opens one of the cigarette disposal containers at the plaza on Stegall Street in
Jasper. Inset, KPB projects recycling 5,000 cigarette butts this year with 32 containers in action.
By Dan Pool
Editor
dpool@pickensprogress.com
Keep Pickens Beautiful, through a
$2,500 grant, installed 34 cigarette
disposal containers, allowing them to
recycle 3,500 cigarette butts in the
past six months.
The first 10 containers were in
stalled in 2020 with 24 more added
last year through a Keep America
Beautiful Cigarette Litter Prevention
Program. Two of the plastic containers
have since disappeared.
Most of the KPB containers bear
ing their logo are spread around down
town Jasper, with others at the Imerys
plants in Marble Hill and Whitestone,
one at the convenience store on the
corner of Highway 53 and Hill City
Road. [Note there are other cigarette
containers, made of metal, found
around downtown, not belonging to
KPB.]
KPB President Vered Kleinberger
See Butts on 11A
“It’s like living
next to a war
zone, ”say
neighbors
By Dan Pool
Editor
dpool@pickensprogress.com
In a meeting more techni
cal than heated but with
clearly diverging views, the
county planning commission
gave a nod of approval to a
change at the Pickens
County Sportsman’s Club
gun range on Old Jones
Mountain East road Monday
night.
Presented by club presi
dent Steve Griffin, the 450-
member organization has
asked the county to rezone
some of the property they
currently own from Agricul
tural to Highway Business in
order to add a 500-yard rifle
range, which they say are
“few and far between” and
popular with hunters and
sport shooters, as well as law
enforcement training. The
club owns several different
tracts on Jones Mountain to
taling around 170 acres and
are a mix of Ag and High
way Business zonings;
Highway Business being the
most appropriate for a gun
range, according to informa
tion at the meeting.
Also recommended was
an accompanying condi
tional use permit. Both the
permit and rezoning will
have to be finalized by the
board of commissioners.
Griffin acknowledged in
his presentation the club has
not always been a good
neighbor. However, he em
phasized with new leader
ship they have tightened up
by-laws, added surveillance
cameras so they can review
everything that goes on at
the 12 different ranges on
their property. And they are
striving to be good neigh
bors and operate with in
tegrity.
He pointed out they work
closely with law enforce
ment agencies, including the
Pickens Sheriff’s office who
has a shooting range adja
cent to the sportsman’s club.
Right now there are deputies
from Gilmer County plan
ning to use the sportsman’s
range for training.
He also offered that if the
500-yard range is approved,
they would voluntarily stop
using a 300-yard range on
their property. The new loca
tion for the rifle range
should greatly improve the
noise problems, he said.
As he explained, the 300-
yard range is exposed on a
ridge so that sounds travel,
but the proposed 500-yard
range will be in a valley with
the shooting station below
ground-level, reducing
noise. They will also restrict
some of the larger firearms
allowed there, prohibiting
entirely any type of explo
sives or tracer rounds.
Griffin said they hope the
new range will “improve,
not enflame” the noise situ
ation.
See Range on 11A
Pickens County Sportsman’s Club /
New Range
Range
A Pickens County Sportman’s Club map showing their
proposed 500-yard gun range and the 300-yard range they
pledged to close. The club president told the planning com
mission this will improve, not enflame the noise level for
neighbors.
Business
Unique local
history on
display at
new antique
store
Page 3A
Business
Bad Donkey
brings art
& energy to
Main Street
Page 12A
Crossword
Do you really
know this
county? Try
the Pickens
Puzzler
Page 6A
Obituaries 10A
• Glen Brendel
• Theresa Condon
• Jannie Conners
• Cliff Daniell
• Harold Head Jr.
• Rebecca Laughlin
• Joni Mosley
• Willie Mae Mullinax
• Debra Torgerson
Contact Us
94 North Main Street
Jasper, Ga. 30143
706-253-2457
pickensprogress.com
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