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THURSDAY. MAY 18. 2023 PICKENS COUNTY PROGRESS PAGE 5A
Letters
fotfa Editor
To The Editor:
Just a short letter of thanks
to the people of Jasper and
Pickens County who came
out and supported our pan
cake breakfast and the fol
lowing motorcycle ride on
behalf of Refuge in Jesus,
Inc.
Your donation of time and
effort, your participation at
the breakfast and motorcycle
ride resulted in the net of
$6,000.00+ to help our ef
forts in trying to establish a
shelter in our community for
those in need.
A special set of kudos to
Richard and his staff at Fatz
Cafe and Nick and his staff
at Twin-V Motorcycles for
their tireless effort in helping
us to accomplish this.
Give these people your
support because they sup
ported our effort.
Sincerely,
Stephen M Lovell
To The Editor:
Mifepristone Flap
The FDA is responsible
for approving drugs that are
legal to use. Their main job
is to prevent the snake oil
folks from poisoning the rest
of us. They have a process to
follow for making that ap
proval.
20 years ago the FDA ap
proved the drug Mifepristone
process as a set of prescrip
tion drugs which can end an
early pregnancy. There is
now a case working up
through the federal courts
that claims that the FDA did
not follow their own rides for
approving those drugs and
that they should be removed
from the list of legally pre
scribed drugs.
I have no idea if that claim
is true or not. It seems to be a
tangled mess. A suspicious
person might conclude that
the claim is not about the
safety of the drug for a
mother to use but is about
preventing abortions at an
early stage of pregnancy.
My religious beliefs say
abortion is generally wrong
but there is a practical en
forcement issue that says it is
impossible to enforce anti
abortion laws until" the child
within can be seen from
without". In my way of look
ing at the problem, abortion
should be legal in the about
the first 5 months and illegal
after that.
I am on the middle ground
on the issue. In the case of
rape or a mothers survival I
do not think it should be
made illegal.
This drug Mifepristone
has been used around the
world for about 20 years and
there has been no outcry
about its harm to expecting
mothers.
So for me the claim that it
should be removed because
of some flaw in the FDA ap
proval process seems a little
stale.
Which brings me to my
main point. Our legal system
has been a failure in control
ling the illegal use of drugs.
We are flooded today with all
kinds of illegal drugs and you
can see that tons of these
chemicals are being used by
millions of citizens and hun
dreds of thousands die every
year from them. Crack,
meth, and fentanyl are every
where.
I can guarantee that if
Mifepristone is outlawed no
matter what the reason, there
will be an illegal supply
chain established immedi
ately and it will be used with
out the oversight of a medical
doctor.
Is that the outcome the
majority wants?
Gary Pichon
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Local Matters.
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iun
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: 963
Weapons Found: 17
Courts Held: 10
Arrests Made in
the Courthouse: 0
Civil Papers Received: 58
Civil Papers Served: 62
In the Adult Detention
Center:
Total Jail population: 72
Total male inmates: 62
Total female inmates: 10
Sex Offenders:
There are currently 73 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.
Possible scam
A woman came to the
sheriff’s office to report what
she believed was a scam.
The woman said a man had
left a voicemail telling her
she missed court in Atlanta.
The woman returned the
man’s call, and he told her
she needed to meet four con
ditions and send $500. He
then told her to go to Wal-
mart and call him back and
he would give her instruc
tions. Instead, the woman
drove to the sheriff’s office
because it made no sense to
her. The woman met with a
deputy and the deputy called
the man back, once the
deputy identified himself the
man immediately hung up
the phone. The woman did
not get scammed out of
money.
Damage to a truck
A man contacted a deputy
to report damage done to his
truck by another truck turn
ing donuts in a gravel area at
the rodeo. The man said he
was leaving the rodeo and
saw another truck spinning
around and throwing rocks
and mud. The man did not
know the person driving the
truck but could see it was a
young woman. The rocks and
mud hit his truck causing
about $3,000 worth of dam
age.
Harsh language used
A woman called for a
deputy to come to her home
for a domestic dispute that
had already happened. The
woman said the caretaker and
the caretaker’s daughter got
into a loud argument. The
caretaker’s daughter was so
loud and used profanity and
could be heard by a neighbor
several houses away. The
neighbor did not appreciate
the type of language the care
taker’s daughter was using.
After the caretaker left, the
caretaker’s daughter came
back into the house and used
profanity, and told the
woman she was, “an evil
devil worshiper.”
Civil dispute
A man came to the sher
iff’s office to report a theft.
The man said he bought all
the materials to build his new
house. The contractor did not
use all the materials and is
now selling the leftover ma
terials online at discounted
prices. The man feels like the
contractor is stealing by tak
ing the leftover items and
selling them.
Cruelty to animals
A deputy was called about
animals being left in a car.
The Sheriff’s Beat
From the Pickens Sheriff’s Office
The deputy saw one dog and
three cats inside a car with no
water and no food. The
deputy contacted animal con
trol and they took the ani
mals. The deputy spoke to
the owner of the car, she told
him she had been evicted
from her home so she has
been living in her car with the
animals, and leaves them
during the day so she can
work.
Identity fraud
A man returned from va
cation and had stacks of mail
in his mailbox. There were
several letters addressed to
his address but did not have
his name on them. One letter
informed him of his credit
being breached. The man im
mediately froze his accounts,
no one ever got any money
from him, but they did use
his credit score to open ac
counts.
Wanted person fled on
foot
Deputies located a wanted
person. The man had war
rants from Gilmer County.
While talking to the man, the
man decided to run on foot
away from the deputies.
They ran for several minutes
and the man stopped and laid
down on the ground. The
man was taken into custody.
Now, because he ran, he has
warrants for Pickens County
too.
Woman thinks she was
drugged
A woman called for a
deputy to write a report be
cause she failed a drug test.
She failed for kratom. She
did not remember taking
kratom, so she thinks some
one might have drugged her.
She wasn’t making a lot of
sense. She told the deputy
people come into her room
all the time while she is
asleep. She thinks her mother
is stealing her neurotin for
the past month. The woman’s
boyfriend found a cap on the
floor and he thinks it goes to
a bottle of kratom. The
woman wanted a report so
she can stay in a drug rehab.
Forgery
A man called and spoke to
a deputy about fraud. The
man said he and his husband
were separated but still live
in the same house. The man
said his soon-to-be ex-hus
band broke into his safe and
stole his checkbook, then
wrote a check for $2,000 and
one for $3,000 and cashed
them into his own bank ac
count. The man disputed the
checks and the money was
returned.
Stolen wallet
A woman called for a
deputy because she believes
her brother stole her wallet
from her home. The woman
said she thinks her brother
came into her house the night
before and stole her wallet
because he is mad at her. The
woman said her brother is
mad because she would not
let him move in with her
since he is homeless. There
was no sign of forced entry.
The woman thinks her
brother just walked in
through the kitchen door.
During this past week, the Pickens Sheriff’s Office
responded to or initiated 1,404 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 12
Suicide Threats / Attempts 1
Domestics 11
Theft / Burglary Related 17
Forgery / Fraud 3
Traffic Stops 91
Citations Issued 29
Animal Investigations 12
Suspicious Persons/Activities 18
Alarm Calls 17
Stranded Motorists 7
Street Hazards 3
Vandalism 3
Abandoned Vehicles 2
Extra Patrol - neighborhoods, businesses, resi
dences 984. 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.
1
1
16 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):
Battery family violence (Felony) -1
Battery family violence (1st offense) -
Interfering w/ 911 call -1
Simple Battery - family violence -1
Simple Assault - Family Violence -1
Criminal Trespass - Family Violence
Cruelty to Children 3rd Degree -1
DUI-2
Obstruction of LEO - 5
Poss. of Scheduled I Controlled Substance -1
Poss. of Scheduled II Controlled Substance -1
Poss. of Scheduled IV Controlled Substance -1
Superior Court Bench Warrant - 2
Driving with License Susp/Revoked - 3
Cruelty to Animals / MISD / -1
Probation Violation (Felony) -1
Help Court Violation -1
Trafficking Cocaine, Illegal drugs, Marijuana,
Methamphetamine - 2
Drug-related object 1st and 2nd Offense -1
Cruelty to Children - 3rd degree -1
Public Drunk -1
Counseling
Individual, Couples and Family Therapy
with Adults, Teens and Children
Robin W. Dunn M.S.
Licensed Professional Counselor
Over 30 years experience helping people live better
770-548-1966 • 505 Cove Rd. • Suite 3 • Jasper
www.robinwdunnlpc.com
GRISHAM, POOLE
& CARLILE, PC
Criminal Defense I Family Law
"You can't go back and change the beginning,
but you can start where you are and change
the ending." ~ C.S. Lewis
21 COURT STREET
JASPER, GEORGIA
678.880.9360
Experienced. Established. Effective.