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THURSDAY. FEBRUARY 16. 2023 PICKENS COUNTY PROGRESS PAGE 5A
Letters
tat/a Editor
To the Editor:
Are the citizens of Pickens
County really expected to
stay silent and not object to
this so called Flock camera
system that is illegally watch
ing our every move? I for one
will not stay silent about it.
Surveillance without rea
sonable cause, is unconstitu
tional, illegal, and is
immoral. Do you really want
to live with knowing that a
local gestapo is tracking our
every movement?
I refuse to live with it.
Flow has Donnie Craig been
allowed to get away with this,
and how has he gone
unchecked? The Pickens
County Sheriff’s Department
is out of control. I will take it
upon myself to contact the
American Civil Liberties
Union, and the US Depart
ment of Justice, and I will
fight to correct this disgusting
distortion of our human
rights.
Rick Byrd
To the Editor:
Who knew the rides have
been changed that now, when
a police officer is shot in the
line of duty, all other law en
forcement officers are re
quired to gather together and
draw straws to see which gets
to shoot back?
Note to stupid people,
when there are 40 cops on
scene and somebody shoots
one, expect 39 officers to re
turn fire until the threat is
fully and completely ended.
Drew Dickey
To the Editor:
Contractors and busi
nesses need to be careful of
scams out there.
One is people calling for a
job. They are persistent and
sometimes will call for sev
eral months asking if you
have any work yet. If you do
hire them, take a photo of
their license immediately and
tag number so you will have
information on this person.
They may show up and
with in the first hour disap
pear and you may find equip
ment gone as well. Please
don’t let your guard down.
Especially when you have
equipment available around
you.
Even a missing tool or
small drill or sander can be a
real challenge. Not to men
tion your more expensive
equipment. Thank you and
share with everyone so we
make them aware of these
and other devious scams in
our town.
God bless you all
Kathleen Rios
To the Editor:
Back in 19701 served as a
S2 Intelligence Officer, re
sponsible for finding the
enemy. I didn’t want the job
because being the S2 was
lesser than S3, Operations,
Training and Plans - the gen
eral manager of the organiza
tion. Yet I rapidly found out
that my boss, Colonel
“Barbed Wire” Bob
Kingston, was the most qual
ified commander in the 1st
Dav. Div. And he told me he
didn’t tolerate “slow learn
ers.” “Find the enemy.”
I hit the ground running as
we say. I had five sources for
gathering intelligence - what
I called “sniffer bird” to high
detected ammonia concentra
tions on the ground (human
or animals), SLAR (side
looking airborne radar),
POWs, US Army Rangers,
and another source. The “an
other source” is the reason
I’m writing this. You see, I
had a clearance above Top
Secret and today, I can’t tell
you about it. If I divulge any
information about it, my ca
reer was over - general court
martial and jail.
This is serious business
even now 53 years later. So
the last president, last vice
president and current presi
dent violated security regula
tions and they walk free.
Even the current president
has been given a pass - con
sidered he spent the weekend
at his beach house before the
FBI searched it. The pass
(you ask) is the beach house
was, or could have been, ster
ilized before the FBI
searched. Go figure.
In as much as the presi
dent is the commander-in-
chief of the armed forces, his
performance is governed by
the same rules as the armed
forces he commands. Hope
fully, (hope is just that) the
information discovered is old
and has been de-classified.
But this is serious. No, it’s
very serious. One last ques
tion: Do the people doing the
searches have the proper
clearance to view classified
documents found or is this
just another compromise?
Robert Reitz
Letters Welcomed
“Letters to the Editor” is an impor
tant public forum in the community
and the Progress welcomes and en
courages these letters. Letters ad
dressing issues will be accepted but
not those expressing a personal
grievance directed toward another in
dividual. Letters OVER 400 WORDS
in length will not be considered for
publication. All letters must have a full
name with address, e-mail and phone
number given where the author can
be reached to verify information.
The contact information is never
published.
Letters may be e-mailed to
news@pickensprogress.com. Call
706-253-2457 to discuss this further.
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In addition to the activity
from the Uniform Patrol Di
vision, Court Service
Deputies reported the fol
lowing statistics for the past
week:
Persons Scanned at
Front Door: 1,353
Weapons Found: 8
Courts Held: 13
Arrests Made in
the Courthouse: 3
Civil Papers Received: 52
Civil Papers Served: 59
In the Adult Detention
Center:
Total Jail population: 69
Total male inmates: 59
Total female inmates: 10
Sex Offenders:
There are currently 76 sex of
fenders registered with the
Pickens Sheriff’s Office.
PS<
REPORT
The Pickens Sheriff’s
Office responds to many
calls for service every day.
The following incidents
are a few deputies respond
to each day.
No registration and
suspended license
A deputy was on patrol
when he was alerted by the
FLOCK camera system of a
car with no registration. The
deputy pulled the car over
and explained why he
stopped the driver. The driver
gave his information to the
deputy and when the deputy
ran it through the system it
came back the driver had a
suspended license. The driver
was arrested for the sus
pended license.
DUI arrest
A deputy was on patrol
when he was alerted by the
FLOCK camera system of a
car with no registration.
When the deputy began
speaking with the driver he
noticed the driver was slow
to respond and his speech
was slurred.
The deputy could see an
open beer bottle in the floor
board on the passenger side.
The deputy asked the driver
if he had been drinking and
the driver said yes. A field so
briety test was done and the
driver did not pass. The
driver was arrested for DUI.
Chickens killed
A woman called for a
deputy because she had five
chickens killed and two
chickens were missing. The
woman told the deputy she
saw on her camera system a
white dog walking around
her property, but she did not
know who the dog belonged
to.
The woman told the
deputy that she has had prob
lems with her neighbors and
their dogs in the past. The
woman said she would send
pictures from her camera to
the deputy, but has not done
it yet.
Theft of a
catalytic converter
A business owner arrived
at work on a Monday and no
ticed the catalytic converter
had been stolen from one of
his box trucks. The business
owner said he had no idea
who would have stolen the
catalytic converter.
All the workers had left at
5:30 p.m. on Friday and no
one should have been at the
business over the weekend.
Drugs found in a car
Deputies were on patrol
when they saw a car driving
with the license plate covered
up by something.
They pulled the car over
and spoke to the driver, she
said she did not know the li
cense plate was covered up
and got out of the car to go
The Sheriff’s Beat
From the Pickens Sheriff’s Office
look. It was a pair of blue
jeans sticking out of the trunk
that covered the license plate.
The deputies ran the driver’s
information and she had sev
eral suspensions on her li
cense and a warrant out of
Gilmer County.
As the deputies were
doing an inventory of her car
before it was impounded,
they found methampheta-
mine and a clear pipe com
monly used to smoke
methamphetamine.
Woman resisted arrest
Deputies received an
anonymous phone call about
a wanted person being at a
house. When the deputies got
to the house the wanted per
son was sitting in the passen
ger seat of the car holding a
child. The deputies explained
the woman had an active
warrant and she was going to
be arrested.
The deputies asked the
woman to give the child to
the other person in the car,
and she did, however the
woman decided she wanted
to resist getting out of the car.
The woman scooted back in
the car as far as she could and
braced her feet on the dash
board refusing to get out of
the car. Deputies were able to
pull her out of the car. Now
she was lying on the ground
with her hands underneath
her preventing her hands
from being put into hand
cuffs.
Deputies finally got her
hands out from under her and
put handcuffs on her. When
they got to the patrol car the
woman braced her legs
against the opening of the car
door in an attempt to keep
from being put in the car.
Deputies got her in the back
of the patrol car and made
sure the woman was not hurt,
and she went to jail.
Stolen items from the
front yard
A woman called for a
deputy to report several items
stolen from her front yard,
her front porch, and an out
building. The woman said
she noticed a lot of things had
been stolen from her porch.
The deputy could see several
things on her porch and front
yard.
The deputy asked if the
woman knew who may have
stolen the items or if she had
any camera footage of any
one on her porch. The
woman said she saw two
women on her porch earlier
in the month.
The woman said they
were going through her
things and she asked what
they were doing, and one of
them told her they were look
ing for a cat that had run
away.
Domestic dispute at
a business
A business called to report
a domestic dispute but the
people had left already. The
man left in a truck and the
woman left in a Jeep. When
the deputy found the truck he
pulled it over and the jeep
pulled in behind the truck.
The man said the woman
wanted the truck and tried to
get the keys but he did not
give her the keys, the woman
told the same story.
The man said he was tak
ing the truck home to wash it
then he would give it over to
the woman. The woman
agreed to that arrangement.
Both people said there was
nothing physical between
them and no crime had been
committed.
During this past week, the Pickens Sheriff’s Office
responded to or initiated 3,361 calls for service.
These numbers are taken from the report provided di
rectly from the 911 Center where all calls are logged
as they are performed. Below is a breakdown of all
dispatched calls by the call type for each incident.
Accidents 28
Suicide Threats / Attempts 7
Domestics 34
Theft / Burglary Related 44
Forgery / Fraud 5
Traffic Stops 354
Citations Issued 26
Animal Investigations 13
Suspicious Persons/Activities 28
Alarm Calls 30
Stranded Motorists 11
Street Hazards 24
Vandalism 9
Abandoned Vehicles 2
Extra Patrol - neighborhoods, businesses, resi
dences 2,387. In addition to these, other calls include
search warrants, civil service, 911 hang-up calls, as
saults, disorderly persons, missing persons, assistance
with medical calls, natural death investigations, de
mented persons, funeral escorts, harassment, trespass
ing, and many more.
24 Individuals were booked into the Adult Deten
tion Center on charges from the Pickens Sheriff’s
Office. Out of these, the following charges were
taken by PSO deputies (note: some individuals have
multiple charges):
Give false name/ info to police - 1
Entering auto w/ intent to commit a crime - 1
Driving without a valid license - 2
Driving w/ License suspended/ revoked - 4
DUI-4
Probation Violation Felony - 4
Hold for another county - 2
Failure to appear MISD - 1
Accountability Court Violation - 2
Poss. by a convicted felon or first offender - 1
Aggravated Assault Family Violence - 1
Possession of a weapon during crime/
attempt crime -1
Obstruction of Law Enforcement Officer - 1
Battery - family violence (1st offense) - 1
Assault/battery: Terrorist threats/
intimidation -1
Failure to appear for MISD- 1
Possession of methamphetamine - 1
Drug-related object (1st and 2md offense) - 1
Battery -1
Theft by deception felony - 1
Forgery 3rd degree -1
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