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THURSDAY. MARCH 2. 2023 PICKENS COUNTY PROGRESS PAGE 3A
Love, patience, creativity, and open-mindedness
keys to keeping it fresh at Honeysuckle Florist
Search underway for
schools superintendent
Honeysuckle Florist shop on South Main Street is filled
with a variety of gifts ranging from ceramics and kitchen
ware to their line of candles, Honeysuckle Torch Company.
“When people think flowers, I want them to think Hon
eysuckle, ” says shop owner Brian Rittenberry.
By Kevin Rauda
Contributing Writer
In the morning, Brian and
Megan Rittenberry fire up
the music in the shop, take
flowers out of the cooler and
begin the orders of the day.
Honeysuckle Florist,
South Main Street, has been
operating for 23 years in
Jasper. Brian and Megan
have been running it since
October 1st, 2022.
“Love, patience, creativ
ity, and open-mindedness”
they answered when asked
what they had learned run
ning the shop.
Brian brings out a tie-dye
rose and spins the flower in
between his palms. The
petals unfurl and he says,
“it’s breathtaking.”
The Rittenberrys explain
they purchased the shop to
serve their community. Brian
tells the story of how, after
posting a picture of an event
online where Honeysuckle
partnered with Innovative
Risk Services to donate tie-
dye roses to a local daycare,
the roses were, “flying out
the door by the dozens.”
“Let’s go shopping,”
Brian says when customers
walk into their florist shop.
He shows them to the cool
ers, they pick out their flow
ers and he designs a custom
arrangement. “We want to
show love to our community.
When people think flowers, I
want them to think Honey
suckle.”
This year Honeysuckle
Florist will be donating flow
ers for the Long Table
fundraiser which will raise
money for North Georgia
F amily Partners, a chapter of
Prevent Child Abuse Geor
gia. “Since we're covering
the flowers for the event, we
can really get creative and do
something awesome and
spectacular for them,” said
Brian.
Megan says that they are
constantly keeping up to date
with what’s new. “They bring
us their Pinterest board and
ask us, can you do this?”
When they’re not watching
YouTube videos seeking in
spiration, they are working
on bringing new additions to
the shop.
The shop is filled with a
variety of gifts ranging from
ceramics and kitchenware to
their line of candles, Honey
suckle Torch Company.
Brian says they’re getting
ready to launch the Honey
suckle Husband’s Club, a
subscription service with
flower delivery.
“Rather than sending
somebody flowers, like on a
birthday, what if you could
send somebody that you love
flowers? Your mom, your
grandmother, your aunt, your
sister.” Brian continued, “Ba
sically we'll remember all the
important dates for them. So
they give us the birthday, the
anniversary.”
Honeysuckle will be
launching other services such
as flower socials, where
groups can pick out flowers
and arrange them while en
joying desserts and bever
ages. Later this year,
Honeysuckle’s cemetery
service will be launched, pro
viding flowers of your choice
which will be placed on your
loved one’s grave, and send
ing picture confirmation.
Brian and Megan are
eager to see what the year
brings. “I'm excited to see
what happens and how we
grow and how we do. I think
it's going to be awesome.”
We're really looking for
ward to being here for a long
time,” said Brian. “We want
to be deep-rooted and tied in
with the community. The
flower shop is a really awe
some way to do that. We can
love on people because they
have certainly loved on us for
a long time.”
Submitted by Pickens
County Board of Education
The Pickens County Board
of Education (BOE) has
begun its search for our
next superintendent in
earnest.
The Board has con
tracted with the Georgia
School Boards Association
(GSBA) to assist with the
search. GSBA has a vast
network of contacts in ed
ucation across the state of
Georgia and the Southeast
which will be leveraged in
the search.
They have worked with
the Board to develop an an
nouncement for the posi
tion which includes key
information about the Pick
ens County School District,
as well as our Pickens
County community.
The announcement also
describes the application
process in detail, along
with the qualifications for
the position as determined
by state law and local
board considerations. The
announcement has been
sent out to various contacts
across the state and is
posted on the GSBA web
site.
Applications will be re
ceived through Sunday,
March 19th.
Our Pickens County
School District is filled
with great staff and stu
dents who are excelling in
many areas.
The Pickens BOE is ex
cited about this opportunity
to find the next visionary
leader for our school dis
trict who will work with
the Board toward excel
lence in every area and dis
cipline of our school
system.
There will be other
press releases updating
progress as the search ad
vances. The announcement
for the superintendent
search can be found here:
https://gsba.com/wp-con-
tent/uploads/2021/07/Pick-
ens-County-Schools.pdf
Bryan Lawrence
Email: Bryan@faithturf.com
Two bills aimed at affordable housing draw
industry backing and smaller government criticism
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By Rebecca Grapevine
Staff Reporter
Capitol Beat News Service
ATLANTA - Georgia
Rep. Dale Washburn, R-
Macon, introduced two bills
last week aimed at solving
the Peach State’s affordable
housing shortfall.
The first, House Bill 517,
or the Georgia Homeowner
Opportunity Act, would pre
vent counties or municipali
ties from regulating a long
list of building design ele
ments, from the style of
porches to the number and
types of rooms. The bill
would not affect certain his
torical buildings.
A second bill, HB 514, the
Housing Regulation Trans
parency Act, would bar local
governments from indefi
nitely extending moratoriums
on new housing construction.
The City of Jasper has
been regularly extending a
residential rezoning morato
rium as they work to develop
new codes and to allow for
infrastructure expansion.
“These bills are intended
to lower housing costs, so
that our Georgians who
would like to buy a home
will have a better opportunity
on the path to financial free
dom and financial stability
and ... to creating some gen
erational wealth,” Washburn
said.
Washburn’s bills have
drawn the support of a newly
formed housing coalition.
“[The bills] will cut gov
ernment red tape, encourage
private sector innovation, and
increase access to safe, af
fordable housing for every
Georgian,” said Chris Clark,
CEO of the Georgia Cham
ber of Commerce, one of the
groups making up the coali
tion. The other members are
the Home Builders Associa
tion of Georgia, the Georgia
Association of Realtors and
Habitat for Humanity.
The measures have also
garnered support from some
Democrats. Rep. Debra
Bazemore, R-South Fulton,
and Rep. Marvin Lim, D-
Norcross, both signed on as
co-sponsors, indicating that
debates about affordable
housing and local govern
ment control do not always
break along party lines.
“I definitely believe in
local control in general, but
there are certainly issues and
times where we as a state
need to stand up ultimately
for the people and not just for
the governmental jurisdic
tion,” Lim told Capitol Beat.
But local government ad
vocates say the bills go too
far.
HB 517 bars local govern
ments from regulating design
elements and would stymy
local control and the power
of people’s votes, said Clint
Mueller, director of govern
ment affairs at the Associa
tion County Commissioners
of Georgia.
Local governments must
consider a number of infra
structure concerns - such as
roads, sewage, and schools -
when making decisions about
housing and therefore have a
direct interest in housing reg
ulation, Mueller said.
“A local government’s job
is to balance the wishes and
needs of the community,” he
said. “They are elected to
provide that balance in the
community ... and they are
able to respond to the needs
of their community with the
powers that they have.”
Mueller gave the example
of local governments that
regulate architectural fea
tures such as roofing materi
als or design to ensure local
homes can adequately with
stand local conditions, such
as high winds in coastal
areas.
The bill also provides no
guarantee that cost savings
from reduced regulation
would be passed on to the
consumer, Mueller said.
“Just because [builders]
have less regulations, that
doesn't mean they're going to
sell the house for less,”
Mueller said. “They're just
going to continue to do what
they've always done and
maximize the profit.. They’re
not altruistic.”
Mueller said targeted in
centives might work better.
He and local government ad
vocates suggest that the in
centive of relaxed design
standards should be balanced
by regulations requiring
builders to actually reduce
housing costs.
“If state resources, city re
sources, county resources are
going to be put into some
type of ... housing develop
ment, there needs to be some
assurance of affordability,”
agreed Jim Thornton, direc
tor of governmental relations
at the Georgia Municipal As
sociation.
Washburn pushed back on
that argument.
“I'm a former county
commissioner,” he said. “But
when you start going beyond
land use and telling people
how big a house they have to
build, what they have to build
it out of, how big a lot they
have to put it on, that is gov
ernment overreach and it in
trudes upon personal
choice.”
Democratic Rep. Spencer
Frye of Athens - who is a
real-estate developer - intro
duced a bill last week with a
different approach. HB 490 is
aimed at large institutional
investors who are snapping
up single-family homes and
then renting them out in At
lanta and across the state.
Frye’s bill would elimi
nate the tax benefit that al
lows rental-property owners
to reduce their tax liability by
about 3.6% of the cost of the
rental property annually. The
bill is aimed at large in
vestors, not mom-and-pop
operations, Frye said.
“They are allowed to use
a rental home as a deprecia
tion tax shelter,” he said.
“They're offsetting the rental
gains with their depreciation
tax shelter gains, and they
make profit on the apprecia
tion after they sell [the
houses] in five to 10 years.
“We need to cut the cor
porations out of the Ameri
can nightmare and turn it into
an American dream. By
changing the tax code to re
move the depreciation in
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