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The Progress
Editorial
July 20,2023
Local matters when it comes to
trusted information
I recently heard a discussion with a
great point about the tech world’s rush to
have artificial intelligence think for us in
more and more industries and applica
tions - from writing term papers to spot
ting faces in crowds. What if the efforts
put into making computers smarter were
at least partially focused on making peo
ple smarter, happier or more productive,
both with education and mental health
services?
While that is a larger societal concern
on AI, one particular concern we have on
AI is its ability to generate a report on
something that happened here or any
where. Where is the AI reporter and
where did it source its information?
Likely from the Pickens Progress or any
small newspaper. Some larger news or
ganizations (with tech departments who
can do this sort of stuff) block AI from
scanning their stories. Creative/fiction
writers (recently a Star Wars fan/writer),
plus visual artists and graphics people
have made efforts to protect their mate
rial or simply quit online publishing
aware that chatbots are stealing their stuff
willy-nilly.
With both AI and social media, there
has to be recompense for the content cre
ators (whether reporters, a graphic de
signer or someone writing about Luke
Skywalker) who provide the initial
sources.
In Pickens County, whether it was the
wire scam transfer story involving city
hall or a court trial story, they get widely
discussed online. But without our
Progress staff putting the facts out there
in the first place, there would be either no
or very incomplete information.
We are not saying someone else could
n’t do it, but to have professional re
porters doing it week in and week out
requires an organization that pays em
ployees and for this we charge $1 an
issue.
Often when we post a thumbnail of the
weekly front page, with a link to the on
line edition, we get complaints about
having to pay the $1 from people who
believe they should be able to read the
story for free. That’s not fair to us who
pay (no where near enough) our staff to
gather the information and to sit at the
board meetings and conduct interviews.
It can be a very exciting and fun job, but
for it to be done right, it’s a job.
No one takes food off Ingles shelves
and spreads it around for free and we ask
people to treat information the same way.
While some critics may be glad to see in
dependent news organizations suffer, ask
yourself when was the last time you saw
a reporter from Facebook gathering facts
at a local fire or who provide the airport
finance information to an online discus
sion?
Local matters when it comes to gath
ering news. And for that we do ask $1 an
issue - less than is spent on most any
thing these days.
Identify family
heirlooms while
someone around knows
By Dan Pool
Editor
dpool@pickensprogress.com
Myself and my family are getting
down to the nitty gritty of cleaning out
the house where my aunt, Bobbie Edge,
lived before going into assisted living
several years ago and then passing away
in January.
Some of the items there, couches,
dressers, even an old spinning wheel she
had bought as an antique are pure logis
tical challenges. Sell, thrift store or
dumpster?
But the hard calls are things like the
strange-fish-wall-hanging-tapestry-thing.
I am sure it is a wall hanging as it hung
on the wall of my aunt’s den. It is, ac
cording to one artist friend, a traditional
“rag rug.” According to family lore it was
made by Ermie Edge, former Progress
editor (my grandmother), some time in
the 1920s, possibly with a group of other
ladies as a social event. Both my grand
mother and Bobbie painted so it’s not a
stretch to see unusual art in the house.
This particular piece is made of different
colored cloths pulled through burlap,
which at least one website describes as a
style of rag rug in the 1920s-1940s.
The challenge is we’re not exactly
sure what the wall hanging is? Who made
it? And what, if anything, the design
means?
If you (or your descendants) don’t
know what they have, it’s hard to know
what to do with it. We’re keeping it -
What is it and who made it? The chance
to know is likely lost. Don’t let it happen to
you with things in your older relatives’
homes.
how can you part with a possible hand
made family heirloom more than 100
years old?
My aunt surely knew its history - why
else did she have it framed and dis
played? But none of us today recall it and
it’s not documented. It would have taken
about five minutes to write down the de
tails on a card and tape it on the backside
of the frame.
Most people have wills for their pos
sessions but if the next generation misses
the story behind them, much is lost as is
our case now. Take this as a suggestion -
anything important, with a story, valuable
or not, spend a few minutes documenting
it while there is someone still around who
knows.
(USPS 431-820)
Published by Pickens County Progress, Inc.
94 North Main Street, Jasper, GA 30143
(706) 253-2457
www.pickensprogressonline.com
DAN POOL
Publisher/Editor
Published each Thursday at Jasper, Pickens County, Georgia.
Entered at the Post Office at Jasper, Georgia 30143
as Mail Matter of Second Class.
POSTMASTER: Send address changes to
PICKENS COUNTY PROGRESS, 94 N. Main St., Jasper, GA 30143.
One Year Subscription: $41.17 for residents of Pickens County
or the cities of Ball Ground, Fairmount, and Ranger;
$52.30 for all other Georgia residents; $62.32 out of state residents.
Your view?
Tell us your thoughts with a
letter to the editor. E-mail to
news@pickensprogress.c
om See letter submission
guidelines on the Letters to
the Editor page or call us
706-253-2457.
Spot an error,
let our editor know.
dpool@
pickensprogress.com
706-253-2457
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What to do with another budget surplus
behind looming debate in statehouse
By Dave Williams
Bureau Chief
Capitol Beat News Service
ATLANTA - Georgia tax
payers could be in for a third
round of income tax cuts next
year now that the state is re
porting another hefty budget
surplus.
But a progressive-leaning
think tank that keeps a close
eye on Georgia fiscal policies
is arguing the tax rebates
Gov. Brian Kemp and his fel
low Republicans in the Gen
eral Assembly adopted
during the last two legislative
sessions came at the expense
of critical government serv
ices that have been under
funded since the Great
Recession more than a
decade ago.
The state completed fiscal
2023 at the end of last month
with a surplus estimated at
nearly $4.8 billion, not as
much black ink as the $6.6
billion surplus at the end of
the previous year but still
hefty and far above the rev
enue estimate the Georgia
Department of Revenue put
out in January.
Kemp and lawmakers
used the last two budget sur
pluses to fund state income
tax cuts of $ 1 billion last year
and $1.6 billion in 2021. That
translated into tax rebates of
$250 for single taxpayers in
each of the last two years and
$500 for married taxpayers
filing jointly.
Those rebates are the re
sult of conservative budget
ing by the governor, said
state Sen. Blake Tillery, R-
Vidalia, chairman of the Sen
ate Appropriations
Committee.
“We’re elected to be good
stewards of other people’s
money,” he said. “That’s why
we are where we are.”
But Danny Kanso, senior
fiscal analyst for the Georgia
Budget and Policy Institute,
said the fiscal 2023 surplus
represents part of a three-year
pattern of flat spending that is
failing to meet the needs of
Georgians in such vital areas
as health care and public ed
ucation.
“Despite the massive
amount of cash on hand, our
leaders continue to stand by
as conditions worsen across
state government, with
record employee turnover
WEATHER
By William Dilbeck
HI
LOW
RAIN
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11
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60
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July
12
85
69
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July
13
87
71
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July
14
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71
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July
15
85
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July
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83
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and understaffing in critical
areas such as human serv
ices,” Kanso said. “In the ab
sence of a strategy to deploy
these funds, a decade-plus of
austerity still looms over
state agencies and core func
tions of government.”
Case in point: When
Kemp signed the $32.4 bil
lion fiscal 2024 state budget
in May, he vetoed nine
spending line items and in
structed state agencies to ig
nore an astounding 134
others. Among the casualties
was a pay raise of $6 an hour
the General Assembly had
earmarked for direct care
workers serving Georgians
with intellectual and develop
mental disabilities.
The governor and law
makers also slashed the Uni
versity System of Georgia’s
budget by $66 million, draw
ing fire from system Chan
cellor and former Gov. Sonny
Perdue.
On the other hand, the
spending plan also included
pay raises of $4,000 to
$6,000 for law enforcement
officers and $2,000 increases
for other state workers,
teachers, and university sys
tem employees.
The budget fully funds
Georgia’s Quality Basic Ed
ucation (QBE) k-12 student
funding formula with a
record $13.1 billion in state
dollars and covers 100% of
tuition for Georgia’s HOPE
scholars for the first time
since 2011.
But Kemp said he’s reluc
tant to commit the unexpect
edly large surplus to
recurring spending on gov
ernment services because of
the uncertain nature of tax
revenues.
Up to a point, Tillery
agreed.
“I’m always going to be
leery of adding to base budg
ets when revenues are unpre
dictable,” he said. “We’ve
got a piggybank right now,
but we can’t make next
year’s budget with that. We
have to make it on what’s
going to come in.”
However, Tillery said
some new spending may be
in order.
“Some one-time expenses
we need to invest in, particu
larly infrastructure,” he said.
“We don’t have as many
[state] workers anymore. We
may have to do some things
from a capital [spending]
standpoint.”
The exact size of the sur
plus at this point is unknown.
The state will release a more
complete accounting this fall
that details actual spending
and total tax collections, in
cluding other sources of rev
enue that have not yet been
reported.
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