Newspaper Page Text
THURSDAY. FEBRUARY 16. 2023 PICKENS COUNTY PROGRESS PAGE 11A
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Shooting Grenade
happened that would justify
shooting the unarmed vic
tim,” Cagle said.
While much of Hood
Road is in the city of Jasper,
the home is on a portion of
that is in unincorporated
Pickens County.
The GBI’s bomb team is
trained to safely detonate
these items.
“If people find old explo
sives don’t touch it,” Cagle
said. “We can come take a
look at it and get GBI [explo
sion ordnance disposal] team
to if need be.”
Continued From 1A
Range
However, as discussed,
there is no way for the county
to create a permanent rule
that the 300-yard range can’t
be re-opened, and, as some
planning commission mem
bers and opposing neighbors
argued, they were skeptical
that with a change in club of
ficers the 300-yard range
might reopen.
Two different club mem
bers said the range offers a
wonderful opportunity for
wholesome family outings.
One member said his daugh
ter has developed an interest
in math and physics from her
experience with long-range
shooting.
After much discussion
and imposing some addi
tional limitations - such as no
shooting on Christmas or
Easter at the new range - the
commission voted to recom
mend rezoning four-to-one
(Karen Benson, Jim Fowler,
Kevin Ward and Pat Holmes
in favor; Harold Hensley op
posed) and for the condi
tional use three-to-two
(Fowler, Benson, Ward as
pro; Holmes and Hensley as
con).
While the potential im
provement in firearm noise
might seem to please the
neighbors, large property
owners nearby cried foul,
saying they oppose any new
range as the club has been a
nuisance and they don’t have
faith the other range will re
main closed, although all
negative speakers did com
pliment Griffin with bringing
the new integrity he spoke of
to the organization.
Lamar Cantrell, whose
family owns a large farm
nearby where family mem
bers have homes, noted his
father bought their 130-acre
property in 1976, pre-dating
the club, and there has been
constant noise and other
problems with the range.
“We will be out working
our fields, hoeing our com
and get showered with shot
gun shot,” he said. While the
falling pellets won’t wound
anyone, Cantrell said they
put lead, which the EPA con
siders a toxic substance, into
their soil.
He said there was one
case where the county mar
shal shut down a portion of
the range for previously ex
panding on improperly zoned
property. And in another
case, an internet video shows
a youth at the club firing a
high-powered rifle in a reck
less manner.
Griffin responded that
while true, those violations
pre-date the current officers
and they worked “to nip in
the bud” any behavior like
that.
Responding to a question,
Griffin said no one is paid to
monitor the surveillance
cameras but they have a vol
unteer who keeps tabs on
what is happening at the
range and all officers can
look in any time on their
phone. The club has desig
nated safety officers and pro
tocols but no paid employees.
Neighbor Ron Coleman
told the commission that the
noise there is “adverse to the
adjacent properties. It sounds
like a war zone one ridge top
over.”
And retired Jasper Police
Chief Harold Cantrell
(Lamar’s father), said he had
been there 47 years and with
no sound ordinance there is
little recourse for the noisy
range. He pointed out the
planning commission often
frets about the noise from
wedding venues but “a wed
ding venue can’t make more
noise than the Pickens
County Sportsman Club.”
He added, “I wish you
could keep all the noise on
your own property.”
Responding to some con
cerns, Griffin and other offi
cers pledged that their
membership is capped at 450
and even with the new range
there will be no increase in
shooters. They are never
open to the general public.
County Attorney Phil
Landrum several times re
minded commission mem
bers they are not authorized
to impose any restrictions on
property not brought before
them, thus they could not cre
ate codes or conditions or
force the club to shut down
the other range in exchange
for permitting this one.
The recommendations
will next go to the board of
commissioners to become of
ficial.
The planning commission
chair Clayton Preble thanked
all for their civil and courte
ous discussion.
photo/Dan Pool
KPBpresident Vered Kleinberger removes trash, other than the cigarettes, from a disposal container downtown. It’s
the other stuffpushed into them which usually catches fire, creating an awful smell.
Butts
said the program was imme
diately successful. In areas
where KPB volunteers previ
ously picked up numerous
butts, once the containers ar
rived there were virtually no
butts on the ground.
According to Keep Amer
ica Beautiful, cigarette butts
are the most commonly lit
tered item, comprising nearly
20 percent of all litter. The
2021 report estimates that 9.7
billion cigarette butts are lit
tered in the United States
each year, and four billion of
these are in waterways, ac
cording to an article on Na
tional Library of Medicine
website.
Kleinberger said it is en
couraging to see people dis
pose of them properly given
an option. “We made it easy
and they do it,” she said.
Prior to adding three contain
ers to the plaza where Stegall
Street connects to South
Main, they would pick up
hundreds of butts from
downtown events; after the
containers arrived just two or
three are found.
Under the grant, twice a
year KPB must empty all 32
containers, package and ship
the butts to TerraCycle in
Santa Fe, NM. The company
breaks the old butts down,
melts the plastic into balls
suitable for making picnic ta
bles and other items, com
posting tobacco scraps and
recycling the paper.
Kleinberger estimates
with a full-year having all 32
containers in action, they will
easily surpass 5,000 cigarette
butts recycled.
Things got strange
though, when the big wind
storm of January hit. KPB
volunteers noticed several of
the lids of their containers
had blown off, even though
they had been secured with
screws and wouldn’t possibly
release without breaking the
plastic.
They found that odd and
also odd was several other
lids had been opened and
then re-attached improperly -
not lining up straight.
“I gave the benefit of the
doubt,” said Kleinberger.
“Why would someone be
opening the containers? So
we found some of the screws
and put them back together.”
On several the screws had
disappeared entirely, so they
made a temporary fix with
tape.
Then two days later, they
noticed a few containers had
been opened again with the
tape messed up. “So we knew
it had clearly had to be some
one messing with them,” she
said. “We switched to hex
bolts where you had to have
a tool to open them.”
The loss of a few dis
carded cigarette butts isn’t a
problem but the improper re
assemble allows the tops to
blow away in heavy winds
and it requires KPB have
someone regularly check that
the containers are still intact
- adding another duty to vol
unteers.
Kleinberger said they had
a couple of discussions about
why someone would mess
with them. She says the in
sides of the containers are as
nasty as you would imagine.
“Oh man, it’s like a
cesspool in there,” she said.
“You open it up and it will
knock you down.”
A theory from one KPB
volunteer is someone is
cracking them open to get
partially-smoked cigarettes.
Kleinberger said they don’t
know this for sure, but it’s the
only reason they can fathom.
“I feel sorry for someone
if that is what is happening,”
she said.
Georgia’s education funding formula:
It’s complicated
By Rebecca Grapevine
Staff Reporter
Capitol Beat News Service
ATLANTA - The General
Assembly is unlikely to
change Georgia’s education
funding formula this session,
legislators have told Capitol
Beat.
A state Senate study com
mittee chaired by Sen. Mike
Dugan, R-Carrollton, met
several times last fall to con
sider changes to the state’s
complicated education fund
ing method, which was estab
lished in 1985. The formula
provides funds to local
school districts based on how
many students are enrolled,
using a host of additional fac
tors to determine amounts.
After listening to testi
mony from educators, ex-
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perts and others from across
the state, Dugan said he has
identified four priority areas
he’d like to see updated in the
funding formula. The for
mula should be changed to
provide for more school
counselors and psycholo
gists, add funding for tech
nology and create a
mechanism to provide addi
tional funding for schools
serving students living in
poverty, he said.
Dugan said legislators
will likely introduce bills
aimed at these areas later this
session, but he does not ex
pect the General Assembly to
fully debate or vote on the
bills until 2024.
“I’d rather not be haphaz
ard with something that af
fects the lives of so many,”
Dugan said. “Once it hits, it’s
going to suck a lot of air out
of the room.”
Apian to create a “poverty
index” or “opportunity
weight” to help school dis
tricts address the additional
challenges of educating stu
dents in poverty has drawn
support from across the polit
ical spectrum. But it’s not yet
clear what shape Georgia’s
opportunity weight will take.
“The poverty weight is a
compelling necessity,” said
state Sen. Nan Orrock, D- At
lanta, who was the sole De
mocrat on the Senate study
committee. “We heard testi
mony from a number of
sources ... that we are in a
big minority [among states]
in not having that opportunity
funding.”
Orrock noted that with a
record budget surplus, there
is plenty of funding for the
state’s education system.
“Georgia already devotes
money to trying to improve
outcomes for students who
live in poverty, but it isn’t as
direct or clear as it might be,”
said Kyle Wingfield, presi
dent of the Georgia Public
Policy Foundation, a think
tank that advocates free-mar-
ket approaches to public pol
icy. “It would be a good idea
for the state, under a student-
centered budgeting reform, to
fund low-income students in
a direct way.”
"But absent a broader re
form, lawmakers may be
asked simply to increase
funding overall without
much of a plan or explana
tion for how that is going to
improve outcomes for those
students.”
“We appreciate that the
conversation has begun,”
said Lisa Morgan, president
of the Georgia Association of
Educators. “The discussions
of the resources needed by
our students living in
poverty, the need for more
school counselors, psycholo
gists and social workers [and]
the relief educators need
from administrative tasks ...
. must continue and move us
toward actions to address
these needs.”
One bill would, if passed,
address the poverty weight
this session. House Bill 3,
sponsored by Rep. Sandra
Scott, D-Rex, would provide
an additional 25% in funding
for each student living in
poverty.
“In our opinion, it’s surgi
cal and good stewardship,
said David Schaeffer, vice
president at the left-leaning
Georgia Budget and Policy
Institute. The bill has also
drawn the support of the
Georgia Youth Justice Coali
tion, a group of high school
and college students from
across the state.
However, it’s unlikely that
the Democratic-sponsored
bill will gamer sufficient sup
port to pass in a Republican-
controlled legislature.
Another funding chal
lenge school districts will
soon face is a dramatic in
crease in the cost of em
ployee health insurance.
That’s because the State
Health Benefit Plan (SHBP)
has increased the cost of
health insurance for each em
ployee from $945 to $1,580
per month, about a 67% in
crease.
The state will pick up that
tab for certified school em
ployees, including teachers,
administrators, counselors
and media specialists. But
local districts themselves typ
ically cover that cost for non-
certified, or classified, em
ployees, including
custodians, bus drivers and
school nutrition workers.
There are about 96,000 such
workers across Georgia.
The dramatic increase,
which is set to start in 2024,
would pose a heavy burden
for local school districts,
Schaeffer said.
To help them cope with
the increase, the state House
of Representatives’ budget
proposal includes a three-
year phase-in, in which the
state would help cover the in
crease for the first three
years.
There are some bright
spots for teachers and stu
dents coming out of this
year’s budget. The state is
fully funding the existing ed
ucation formula.
“That’s good news,”
Schaeffer said, noting the full
funding will help schools
maintain their buildings and
attract and retain teachers.
The fiscal 2024 budget
also includes $27 million to
provide one counselor for
every 450 students. However,
that would still mean Georgia
has a lower-than-recom-
mended student-to-counselor
ratio. The proposed budget
also includes an additional
$5.9 million for student
transportation costs and $23
million in bond funding to
buy school buses.
Gov. Brian Kemp has also
proposed $2,000 pay raises
for state employees, includ
ing teachers, which is likely
to be approved. The increase
would take effect in Septem
ber and comes after a $2,000
raise last year.
This story is available
through a news partnership
with Capitol Beat News Serv
ice, a project of the Georgia
Press Educational Founda
tion.