“Well-behaved women seldom make history.”
— Laurel Thatcher Ulrich
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The Progress
Editorial
June 6, 2024
Teamwork will make our
dream work on parks
There are many sayings about teamwork
in sports, such as “teamwork makes the
dream work,” “there is no I in team,” and
“talent wins games, but teamwork wins
championships.”
Even those who possess great natural
skills are thought to fail if “they are not a
team player.”
The simple concept of working together
is instilled by coaches from the youngest
recreation teams through the Atlanta Fal
cons.
When the Braves are rolling, Coach Bri
an Snitker will comment on how “the team”
is functioning well - pitching, hitting, and
defense all taking care of business. Hope
fully, we’ll see that later this season but it’s
looking a bit rocky right now.
Somehow this concept hasn’t translated
to the state of recreation in Pickens County.
There is no team, just different bodies locat
ed in the same community.
As the city of Jasper and the county are
both (independently) looking to expand,
re-design, or at least clean up their park fa
cilities, it seems obvious a little cooperation
would be best for everyone’s game plan.
The county is planning to install pickle-
ball coruts and fund a new pool next year.
The city has just opened new mountain bike
trails and is looking for ideas on what to do
at the city park (duck pond), an area often
criticized but with a ton of potential - ball-
fields, a wooded area, paved trails, the pond.
Talking Rock boasts nice trails, a creek,
and great hanging out/picnic spots. Nelson
has ballfields, playgrounds, and trails. There
is also a private mountain biking trail.
This doesn’t even consider the numerous
gyms/fields/playgrounds located on school
campuses, which for reasons hard to fathom
are not routinely figured into overall recre
ation plans. We would remind all parties that
these all were funded through our citizens’
tax dollars. (Editor’s Note: We know the
vast majority were funded by sales tax, but
it’s managed by our taxpayer-funded bodies,
so close enough - it’s from the public cof
fers.)
You would think the cities and county
would jump through hoops to work together
simply to stretch park budgets. If the county
is funding a pool, then the cities can fund
something else. And if you have baseball
fields at the city park, there might be room
for new soccer fields at Roper Park.
As far as we know there is no set-in-stone
rule that different governments can’t com
bine forces on recreation, maybe even make
it a permanent deal as in consolidation. Yet,
teamwork never seems to happen. In fact,
at a meeting with the county’s recreation
board last fall, some of those members were
incredulous about the lack of joint discus
sion on locating one larger set of pickleball
coruts for all to enjoy.
Ultimately to people out enjoying a pic
nic under a pavilion, kids playing ball or on
a swing set, or someone walking around a
track after knee surgery, it doesn’t matter
one bit if the park has a county logo, a city’s
logo, or the school’s at the gate.
To get the ball rolling we’d like to ask
why the cities and county do not have joint
recreation meetings? Even if they aren’t
combining, they can still be publicly coop
erating. Surely a good sit-down discussion
(with the public invited) would help move
this ball towards the goal line. To spark
some new ideas about renovating what we
have and, hopefully, planning and funding
some improvements for all residents of this
county.
In the words of our undisputed Georgia
sports authority, our leaders need to “Sur
round yourself with people who have the
same goals and the same mindset. Together,
you can accomplish anything.” Coach Kirby
Smart.
Agree or disagree? Give us your thoughts with a letter to the editor. 400 words or less,
senttoarticles@pickensprogress.com.Westrivetoincludevoicesfromallourcommunity.
Random Thoughts Along the Way
The Speed of Light
By John Feight
We sat in silence for a
while and then he asked his
After painting murals in
the St. Albans VA Medical
Center in Queens, NY I went
outside to wait for a taxi.
When I reached the area
for taxis I sat down on a park
bench. A homeless man ap
proached me and asked if he
could sit next to me. I said of
coruse...so he did.
first question. How many
points are there to the star
under the Statue of Liberty?
I had no clue.. .1 guessed 13
and was wrong...so he en
lightened me. My mother,
the history teacher, would
have loved this encounter.
His answer was seven.
Thanks to Google there
are a few interesting facts
about our Lady of Freedom:
• The Statue of Liberty’s
pedestal sits atop the remains
of Fort Wood, originally one
link in a chain of defenses
protecting New York City.
The fort was built between
1808 and 1811 in the shape
of an eleven-pointed star.
• The Statue of Liberty is
151 feet tall;
• Frederic-Auguste Bar
tholdi almost made the statue
in Egypt;
• The Statue of Liberty is
coated in copper;
• The Statue of Liberty
was once a lighthouse.
Okay, back to my con
versation with the homeless
man.
His next question was
“Do you know what is faster
than the speed of light?”
Of coruse, I again had
no clue. His answer, ”A
thought.”
Four months later I was
painting in Los Angles and
went to dinner. After dinner
I walked out of the restau
rant and discovered a man
playing a violin. I went over
to him to drop some money
in his hat. He stopped play
ing, thanked me and asked
me, “What is faster than the
speed of light?”
I knew the answer and
told him. We both laughed.
There must be a homeless
network out there that con
nects that community.
I still wonder what it
means. Do you?
John Feight is an Ameri
can artist and founder of the
Foundation for Flospital Art.
He lives in Big Canoe.
’riigwss
(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.
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Old School By Dwight Henderson
Other Voices
Foothills sewage decision has risks for county
By Dan Loy
Pickens County is con
sidering discussions with
Utilities Inc. per the re
cent story in the Progress.
The topic is potential sew
age service for the Foot
hills commercial area,
which remains unresolved
over several years now.
I wrote previously on
this topic. Why do I write
on this topic again? I have
40 years of past work in
the water and sewage treat
ment business that includes,
plant operations, equipment
sales and maintenance. I
previously suggested the
Foothills commercial area
owner retain the services of
a qualified engineer to in
vestigate the problems and
recommend upgrades and
or improvements to get ad
ditional reasonable lifecycle
performance from the septic
system they already have in
place. These types of sys
tems are usually reliable for
decades and it’s likely this
system hasn’t been proper
ly maintained. The solution
may be fairly simple and not
involve needing to extend
the Big Canoe sewage pro
vider’s system outside their
gates. There are multiple
companies that design, man
ufacture and service onsite
sewage treatment systems
like the one at Foothills.
There is nothing complicat
ed about identifying what
the current problems are.
It is understandable that
the Foothills shopping center
needs reliable sewage treat
ment. If the county gets in
volved in the solution it may
bring good results but it will
likely also bring substantial
high density development. It
is not uncommon for devel
opers that want to build new
projects outside of the tradi
tional sewage service area to
include the cost of building
the required infrastructure
and treatment systems. This
is how Big Canoe and the
Foothills shopping center
were originally permitted.
Why can’t that approach
continue to work now?
Why does the county
have to become involved in
a privately owned utility?
This applies to the shopping
center, Big Canoe and Util
ities Inc. In addition to the
question of what is the prob
lem at Foothills, it would
be appropriate to know the
business plan of the pro
posal? The new connec
tion if approved will not be
cost free. And the pumping
of sewage to the treatment
plant in Big Canoe will have
Correction
In last week’s election
coverage, Josh Tatum
was incorrectly listed as
the west district commis
sioner. He is in fact the
east district commissioner.
costs too. Who will pay
them? Who will own the
pump station and maintain
it? The actual sewage treat
ment will also have an ongo
ing cost. Who will pay that?
If Utilities Inc., promises to
cover all these costs it will
be based on getting a large
number of new customers
connected to the system.
The current agreement
between Big Canoe and
Utilities Inc. was covered
in several past articles in the
Progress. Some casual re
search finds that some prop
erty owners in Big Canoe are
not happy about the agree
ment and have posted details
and discussion points as to
their objections and reasons
for opposing online. Being
serviced by a private water
and sewer utility has pros
and cons. Please recall the
original Big Canoe develop
er was the first utility owner/
operator and not everyone
was happy with them either.
Let’s be clear. One rea
son the current connection
between Foothills and Big
Canoe is being proposed is
for development of the sur
rounding property. Anyone
that doesn’t see this is not
being realistic. The treat
ment plant in Big Canoe
can treat significantly more
flow per day and use the
same staff resources. This
was previously noted in the
Progress. This creates better
economic efficiency for the
plant owner, Utilities Inc.
This is a privately owned
utility seeking to make a
profit. Expanding the num
ber of connections is the eas
iest way to accomplish this.
Looking at the qPub-
lic.net website for Pick
ens property records it’s
easy to spot nearby par
cels that would be ideal to
use an option for sewage
to then seek rezoning for
intensive development.
County Commissioner
Josh Tatum ran on a plat
form that included keeping
Pickens County from be
coming another high densi
ty extension of all the other
towns and cities north of At
lanta. Chairman Stancil and
Commissioner Tippens have
stated viewpoints in line
with that same reasoning.
The Utilities Inc. busi
ness is an investor-owned
company originally fund
ed by venture capital. That
company was Hydro Star
and HS Holdings. They
owned the majority of Util
ities Inc. until they sold
their ownership to Corix
Infrastructure in 2012. Then
Corix just merged with
Southwest Water Company.
The new company is called
Nexus Water Group, head
quartered in Sugarland, TX.
They operate utility com
panies in 20 states and 2
Canadian provinces. They
state on their website they
service 1.3 million custom
ers. Our county government
structure will be no match
against the resources this
large corporation can bring
to promote new connections.
Our elected county offi
cials need to examine this
Foothills situation very care
fully. We have seen what
access to municipal sewers
has resulted in for the city
of Jasper. Do we want that
kind of rapid growth and
high density development
in eastern Pickens County?
WEATHER
By William Dilbeck
HI
LOW
RAIN
May
28
79
57
.00
May
29
78
55
.00
May
30
76
51
.00
May
31
74
62
.00
June
01
72
60
.00
June
02
74
63
.25
June
03
81
65
.00
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