About Pickens County progress. (Jasper, Ga.) 1899-current | View Entire Issue (June 13, 2024)
Page 10A Pickens County Progress June 13, 2024 “It went up like the world was on fire,” said the Pickens Fire Chief of this Big Canoe rental home. Continued from 1A Good Vibes percussion, and May Ada plays flute and synthesizer. She can play other brass and wind instruments, as well. While they are part of a seven-piece ensemble, they are also an instrumental duo. They call themselves Coffee and Tea. Andy’s fa vorite music to perform is jazz classics, while Mary Ada’s favorite is classical and baroque; she prefers composers such as Mo zart, Quantz and Telemann. When it comes to listening to music, Andy claims all styles, world music, and Mary Ada enjoys easy lis tening and acoustic guitar. They play locally at the Bent Tree Tavern, Achasta Country Club, Old Mule- house, Woodbridge Inn, Pendley Creek Brewery, and lots of private events. “I enjoy performing for people,” Andy said. “I like to watch their expressions and reactions to the music. I also want to continue to work on my skills. Musi cians are craftsmen and I want to polish my craft.” She is a yin to his yang, bringing harmony to his melody. Mary Ada sees mu sic just a bit differently than Andy. “I prefer being back ground music, creating an interesting diversion. I delight in sharing the lan guage of music with others, with other musicians and with the audience. I enjoy the camaraderie of perform ing. Flute is often part of a group; it’s an ensemble in strument, and when I run out of people to play with, then that is when I will stop making music,” Mary Ada said. The only reason Andy will cease playing the piano keys is because of physical limitations, but he doesn’t anticipate that happening for a long time. During this lifetime of performing, some lessons were learned. Early on Mary Ada and Andy were playing an outdoor wedding in a pasture. Andy was play ing on someone else’s key board and was unfamiliar with all the knobs, buttons, and technology. He had just finished playing the proces sional. The bride and groom were exchanging their vows and a big gust of wind, more of a squall than a zephyr swooped across the pasture. The music stand crashed on the keyboard and pre programmed songs started wailing from the amplifi er. The vows were halted and guests, wedding party, and officiant all watched as Andy frantically tried to stop the music. Silence only arrived after he unplugged the cord. “It’s 30 or so years lat er, and I have never played another outdoor wedding. When I play outdoor gigs, I only play on my keyboard,” Andy said. Both Mary Ada and Andy feel very privileged to have had the opportunity to share music with thousands of people, including their students. Music has also provided domestic and in ternational travel experienc es for them as they toured. Continued from 1A Fire “It’s a home from the 70s built from cedar and it just went up like the world was on fire,” Prather said. “It was fully involved when crews arrived. There was nothing that could be done.” Prather said the house was one of around 40 like it built on steep terrain in the area. The fire traveled into the woods, both up and down the hillside. “It got about lour feet from a home up the hill,” he said. “It was close.” The fire traveled be tween 50-100 feet down the hill, from Prather’s guessti mate looking in the dark. The homeowners, who do not live in Pickens Coun ty, were alerted to a smoke detector going off in the home and called the Big Ca noe front desk. Big Canoe Fire Department responded to that call. Just seconds lat er a neighbor called 911. Prather said a renter was at the home earlier in the day, but no one was there at the time of the fire. Property owners arrived on the scene during the blaze. The fire was contained quickly, and crews were able to prevent it from spreading farther into the woods or onto other struc tures. Fire crews remained on the scene for over three- and-a-half hours to be sure it was completely suppressed. The fire is considered unintentional and acciden tal. According to county tax records, the home belongs to Reid and Etienne Penny of Marietta. Pickens Fire & Rescue and Big Canoe Volunteer Fire Department responded. “It was a joint effort to contain the fire quickly,” Prather said. Continued from 1A DA Wood oldest cases usually have some extenuating circum stance like bench warrants still being out for defen dants. Cases that don’t have bench warrants are either not arraigned or are open and waiting to go to trial. Both Jordan and Wood said the pandemic is in large part to blame for ex acerbating the backlog and noted that case backlog is a problem across the country. Courts were forced to close their doors and did not hold in-person trials for over a year during the pandemic. “It really slowed things down,” Wood said. “There always has been and always will be a backlog in corut and criminal cases. If you went to any county, any ju dicial circuit in this state you would see a backlog.” The Pickens system does have a few specific chal lenges with cases. Judge Sosebee, for example, can not hear cases that existed when she was DA. After Judge Worcester’s passing, his cases needed to be han dled by either one of the other two judges in the cir cuit -Superior Judge Brenda Weaver or Superior Judge Mary Elizabeth Priest. Judge Weaver also cannot hear cases where relatives, who are three prominent lawyers in the county, are lawyers in the case. Wood said the DA’s of fice, under the new admin istration, is taking the chal lenge head-on. “I’m excited about it,” he said. “It’s been a good op portunity for us. We’ve dealt with the [case] calendars in all three counties. I’m fired up about doing it. Our judg es are fired up about doing it. Our clerks are. The sher iff. Law enforcement agen cies... Every one stepped up to the plate and really start ed trying to address these.” Many of the older back log cases are where defen dants are not in jail or are out on bail. Cases that in volve a defendant currently incarcerated or cases with more serious charges have priority, he said. When asked if there is concern about cases aging and witnesses and defen dants’ memory of the event fading, or an expert witness or law enforcement officer involved in the case moving away, Wood said it’s not ide al but all they can do is work to get through the load. “Delay is not good for the state’s case, no,” he said. “Cases getting age creates challenges...but this is a good example of us trying to get things moving.. .and ad dress this. It would be easier not to address it. It’s harder to put these on a calendar and bring these 100 cases in the courtroom.. .but I think it’s a good thing.” He said his job is to find the best resolution, whatev er the case is, from a DUI to a more serious murder or child molestation case. “There are times when that means jury trial,” he said. “There are times when that means working out a plea deal.” Looking ahead Wood said Sosebee, his predecessor, set a high bar in the circuit, and he looks forward to taking the case load on, continuing in those footsteps, and maintaining what he says is a solid cir cuit. “Judge Sosebee was such a good DA,” he said. “She was a mentor to me. I learned a lot from her and we tried cases together... But we have a good DA’s office. I hear from visiting attorneys out of town that pick up cases in [the circuit] and they’re just blown away by how respectful our corut system is...from the offic es up front to the bailiff to the staff to the way the DA treats opposing council to judges... We’re just lucky to have a good court system.” His goal is simple “My goal is just to do the best I can,” Wood said. “I’m never going to be perfect. In this line of work, there’s no way I can make everyone happy, but I realized a long time ago if I do my best and do what I think is right that’s about all I can really do — and build on the good things the DA’s office has done in years past.” South Cherokee/Jasper Driver Improvement Clinic, Inc. #2102 1623 East Church Street • Jasper, Georgia 30143 NEW DRIVER EDUCATION (30/6 Joshua’s Law) DEFENSIVE DRIVING (6 Hour Course) DUI-RISK REDUCTION (20 Hour Course) Registration/Assessments Tuesdays & Thursdays 11 am to 7pm All Classes meet Georgia State Requirements CLASSES FORMING NOW www.SouthCherokee.com 706-692-1632 or 770-928-3679 K&B 254 Bent Tree Drive • Jasper Climate Controlled Non-Climate Controlled RV, Boat & Trailer Parking 404-216-0935 or 404-216-0954 i)lc&yi^7Tjou£t, 8c 'Jayi 29 N. Main Street Jasper, GA • 706-692-6526 • SNS • Manicure • Acrylic • Pedicure • Gel Color • Massage • Hair • Facial Continued from 1A Planning al Year Missionary School seeking to locate two build ings on 14.7 acres at 11178 Henderson Mountain Road. They needed a conditional use for the buildings and training facility use. Missionary School Pres ident Johnny Condrey said their operations attract young people in the “gap years” between high school and college. He cited statis tics that show many young people leave the church alto gether during this time. The ministry website globalyear. org lists a current Fairmount address and states that Con drey has over 30 years of church work. They plan to bring “care fully vetted” young peo ple to their school for two weeks of training and then send them abroad to do mis sion work. From the discussion at the meeting, it was hard to gauge how many youths would pass through the camp in a year. The classes are usually 10 at a time. The camp will also offer a cabin for ministers/missionaries who need a break. No members of the pub lic spoke regarding this business. The commission recommended the training center’s conditional use. Like all planning commis sion decisions, they give recommendations to the board of commissioners who make the final decision. • Next up was the Hol ly’s Family Trust with a small request to rezone two acres of their 21.7 acres near Cove Road from agricultur al to residential so an elderly family member could move there, where other family members live. This had been tabled last month with the commission making an un precedented move to have members visit the area after a spokesperson of another nearby family trust com plained about damage from erosion on their property. The one-month period did not resolve the conflict, with Thelma Cagle, repre senting the Daniels Fami ly Trust back to renew her calls for stiffer erosion en forcement as their property is being “washed away.” A spokesman for the Coury family assured the commission they weren’t cutting many trees and would plant more than they removed. They also stressed they aren’t doing much grading and will follow all requirements. The commission ap proved the rezoning with some extra provisions re garding following ordinanc es and the pledge to plant trees. The county staff made clear the objections of the Daniels’ family will mean “extra eyes” on erosion compliance at this site, ac cording to Planning Direc tor Charles Reese. “I can’t speak for the past,” said Reese, who be gan work here last month. “But going forward the county will be very respon sible.” It was noted that the county inspects erosion here but the state EPD can also inspect and if they find problems the county has not addressed, both the offend ing developer and county can be fined - and the coun ty’s fine may be more than the developer’s. • Also returning for an other crack at rezoning was Jasper Property Ventures asking to rezone 100 acres off Mockingbird Lane (a small road off Highway 53 west of Jasper). This time they received a recommen dation to move ahead with a development originally pre sented as having 29 home sites for high-end homes emphasizing a back-to-na- ture style, expected to cost between $2 million to $3 million each. Developer Peter Vasquez said they had taken “every single recommendation” from the commission in February and addressed it. While the project got a favorable nod Monday there were several questions and stipulations involving the intersection of Mocking bird Lane and Highway 53 which must meet Ga. DOT standards and ensuring the road to the entrance of the potential gated community and its second emergency access road meet code. From the discussion, the developers have a deal to acquire additional property along Mockingbird Lane and will widen and pave it. However, nearby property owners questioned whether they had all they needed for a decel-lane off Highway 53 and to create both a suitable road and secondary emer gency entrance. • New for the commis sion was a request to rezone 19.8 acres off Allred Mill Road from Agriculture to Residential for a four-lot subdivision and it appeared doomed from the start. An engineer representing owner Abass Al-Saeedi was immediately questioned by Commission Chair Clay ton Preble about timber ing already conducted and whether they had followed regulations. The engineer explained they had met the technical requirements, but Preble told him it sounded like “splitting hairs,” as far as he was concerned it was “a clearcut.” Before the commission denied recommending re zoning, several area resi dents added to complaints about the clearcutting, which as Ryker Lowe said, “put an eyesore in the mid dle of an idyllic section of the county.” Nancy Maddox, an at torney representing adja cent property owners Kevin and Nicole Crowe, said the character of this area is a “traditional, rural Pickens County” and this proposed subdivision with homes grouped together and near the road would be a det riment to all surrounding properties. Commission member Ja son Mayfield also joined in addressing the erosion and clearcutting by holding up a photo of it and asking the engineer to explain further. Before the vote, Preble again referenced the timber ing, pressing the engineer on how many stumps remained on the cleared slopes. Preble said there had to be “hun dreds” which the engineer said he could not refute as he had not counted. The commission then voted to deny the recom mendation with members Mayfield, Pat Holmes, Har old Hensley, Kevin Ward, and Karen Benson all voting to deny. Member Jim Fowl er abstained, explaining lat er that he had a prior long time business experience with a neighboring property owner. • After all the excitement, property owner Matt Kinzer got approval in less than five minutes to rezone 2.8 acres of Wren Road to residential so it can be cut off from a larger tract and sell it with the house on it. Kinzer said he and his wife were mov ing but wanted to keep the other 14 acres here to main tain a connection to Pickens County.
