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National Day of Prayer May 4 Page 2B Thursday, May 4, 2023 | Volume 136 Number 3 | Jasper, Georgia | 22 pages, 2 sections | Published Weekly Jasper city hall swindled out of $150,000 in elaborate e-mail/ wire transfer scam Criminals intercepted e-mails, posed as Cherokee water authority employees and had payment diverted By Angela Reinhardt Staff Writer areinhardt@pickensprogress.com Friday the Progress filed an open records re quest with the Jasper Police Department for a re port regarding the city of Jasper being the victim of a scam. According to the report provided by Jasper Police, the city lost $150,000 in an in volved email and wire transfer scam. This was not the usual random e-mail seeking funds or a fake message. In this case, someone hacked either a city hall e-mail or that of the Cherokee Water & Sewer Authority and then used specific information regarding legitimate in voices and water agreements to have Jasper’s payment diverted to their account. The city’s finance director told officers that on March 31 an email sent from the city to the Cherokee County Water & Sewer Authority (CC- SWSA) ‘‘was interrupted by someone, and ad vised that the Cherokee Water Authority no longer took checks as payments and advised a routing and account number to wire the funds to.” The city of Jasper is a member of CCWSA and did make a recent agreement to pay $150,000 to purchase additional water at a wholesale rate. The city wired the $150,000 payment to a bank with a Seventh Avenue, New York, NY ad dress. Within a few days after the $150,000 was sent, the police report states someone with CCWSA contacted the city because they had not received their payment. The Jasper Police would not comment on the case beyond providing the incident report. The Progress contacted Jasper City Assistant Manager Kim Goldener for more details about the scam, as well as protocols they have in place for large payments such as these. Goldener explained the city had been emailing back and forth with CCWSA to increase their daily capacity before CCWSA implemented a higher fee schedule. CCWSA emailed the city a legitimate invoice for the $150,000, which they required to be paid prior to April 1. “After the invoice was sent to us, we received another email from the same group of folks at CCWSA indicating that instead of a check for payment, they were moving to a system of wire transfers for payment,” Goldener said. The Progress asked the See Scam on 11A Carroll County schools veteran finalist for supt. job here Dr. Travis Thomas was cho sen by the board of education from a crowded field to lead the school district. By Dan Pool Editor dpool@pickensprogress.com In a brief meeting with no ticeable enthusiasm from the board, Dr. Travis Thomas, a 25 year veteran of the Carroll County school system, was named the sole finalist for su perintendent here Monday. There is a 14-day public comment period underway be fore Thomas will be officially hired. During board comments, Steve Lowe said he hopes Thomas’ hiring as the top person in the system will end a long standing “crisis in leadership,” adding there has been a lot of turnover in board members and superintendents in recent years. Lowe said the board has heard from students and teach ers and they aim to bring stabil ity to the school system. “We need professional and ethical leadership,” Lowe said. “We have vetted him well. I be lieve he is that man.” Board member Joe Wiging- ton said he looks forward to see ing new things coming to the system and he thanked Thomas for coming here. Thomas, who attended the meeting, made some remarks in cluding that first impressions mean a lot and he first visited here several years ago when one of his sons was playing high school tennis and came here for a match. Thomas said he was immediately impressed by the high school facilities. Among other attractive ele ments here he cited is the single high school which creates auto matic alignment and unity in a community. “I am excited to work with the stakeholders of Pickens County to keep moving things forward,” he said. Following the meeting Thomas shook hands and introduced himself to top See Supt. on 11A Doggy Diva, and a bunch of friends enjoy a day to Bark in the Park photo/Eli Galligan Sparkles the Diva (@sparklesthe- The fun day was sponsored by diva), who has more than 81,000 Partners of Pickens Pets Inc, and TikTok followers, brought some of featured local businesses and local her diva presence to the Bark in the dog advocacy groups. Park Saturday. With live music, a bouncy house, With perfect weather in the morn- and a variety of fun games it truly ing, both four-footed and human at- was an event the entire family en- tendees were out in big numbers joyed. filling up Lee Newton Park. See more photos on Page l oB. Survey shows Roper Park most popular; Walking trails most desired feature MOST POPULAR PARKS IN PICKENS Lee Newton Park Jasper City Park Roper Park Poris Wigmgton Park Talking Rock City Park Nelson City Parks Talking Rock Nature Preserve Purnt Mtn. Preserve Eagles Rest 23 (38.3%) 3 (5%) | 10 (16%) | 5(8.3%) 4 (6.7%) An online survey conducted by the Progress last week asked which parks here people used. It also found that additional basic walking trails were what most people want to see added. More than one park could be se lected. Look for future surveys tied to local news on our Facebook and Instagram pages. By Angela Reinhardt Staff Writer areinhardt@pickensprogress.com A survey of Progress readers re cently conducted online about parks in Pickens County found that Roper and Lee Newton parks are the most widely used, and that the most desired enhancements are walking trails, pic nic tables and playground equipment. The multi-question survey saw over 60 responses, with several peo ple offering lengthy input about changes and improvements they would like to see. In a separate, shorter poll on Instagram that asked if people use parks in Pickens County at all, 64 percent said yes with 34 per cent responding no. Among respondents in the longer survey, nearly 62 percent said they use Roper Park; 55 percent use Lee Newton Park; and 48 percent visit Jasper City Park (known locally as “The Duck Pond); 38 percent use Talking Rock City Park, nearly 17 percent use the Talking Rock Nature Preserve; 10 percent use Doris Wig- ington; and a marginal number who use Burnt Mountain Preserve hiking trails and Eagles Rest Park on Oglethorpe S eeParkson8A Colorful visitors spotted at Bent Tree bird feeder Page 3A Home & Garden Burn Ban in effect for N. Ga. Details on Page 5A Obituaries 9A • Carolyn Beck • Trevor Buchanan • Rebekah Buchanan • Russell Burger • Rita Miller • Bonnie Satterfield • Susan Shealey • Ray Strickland • Jessie Suggs Jr. • Agayla Young Contact Us 94 North Main Street Jasper, Ga. 30143 706-253-2457 pickensprogress.com $1.00 per copy ||||llllllllll||llllllllll|||| 8 I) 4 8 7 9 0 8 1 6 3 ® o