Newspaper Page Text
Pickens
County
Thursday, June 20,2024 | Volume 137 Number 10 | Jasper, Georgia | 18 pages 2 sections | Published Weekly | $1.50
New textbooks, custodial services among
big-ticket items for schools’ 2025 budget
meeting.
By Angela Reinhardt
Staff Writer
areinhardt@pickensprogress.com
Pickens County School System’s
proposed 2025 budget is up 11.4
percent over last year, with some of
the biggest-ticket changes including
a new textbook curriculum and ma
terials, a move to in-house janitorial
services, and increases to insurance
and retirement.
The proposed budget is up about
$6.4 million over the 2024 budget.
The school system held the first of
two budget hearings on Thursday,
June 13. A second budget hearing
will be July 11 before the regular
board meeting with the final budget
to be considered for approval at the
Biggest textbook adoption in
several years
For FY 2025, proposed text
book and curriculum changes total
$766,000. This is the largest new
textbook adoption the system has
had since around 2018 and includes
changes to the kindergarten English
Language Arts [ELA] curriculum,
as well as updates to kindergarten
through 12th-grade science and so
cial studies materials.
“This could be a textbook, work
book, or digital component that goes
along with curriculum,” Pickens
schools Chief Finance Officer Amy
Smith said at the meeting.
Regarding new ELA require
ments for kindergarten through 5th
grade, Smith said, “...we needed
to go ahead and push this out this
coming year instead of the next year
so that we are compliant with the
[Department of Education] require
ments for those areas.”
This will mean new books and
materials for the approximately
2,000 local students in those grade
levels.
Pickens Superintendent Travis
Thomas referred to new state leg
islation regarding early literacy.
A statewide committee convened
about the curriculum changes, then
the Pickens district gathered input
from administrators, teachers, and
academic coaches to vet the list the
state gave the local system.
“That was new,” said Thomas.
“Typically, textbook adoption is
something that is locally controlled,
but with this English Language Arts
legislation and the change with stan
dards, that’s the first time that a state
steering committee had vetted, and
the local board of education chose
from that state list.”
Thomas said having a uniform
method of teaching reading was
likely part of the reasoning behind
that change.
“There are a lot of different the
ories out there about the best way
to teach kids how to read,” he said.
“I think maybe that was part of it...
There was too much variance in the
early literacy grades.”
Board member Tommy Gartrell
See School budget Page 8A
E32 l =
Karen Attaway piecing together the fabric of life
“The process of making
a quilt makes
me happy,”
says local fiber arts
teacher
By Lynn Kaiser Conrad
Contributing Writer
Life is comprised of pat
terns, textures, and myriad
fabrics quilted together.
Some lives are like crazy
quilts, others are patch-
work, but all lives are
pieced together with var
ious fabrics to create our
collages and stories. We are
the summation of all the
parts and pieces connected
by the threads we sew and
the knots we tie.
Karen Attaway of Pick
ens County has been sew
ing since she was young,
even before she started
school. Her grandmother
was a tailor in New Orleans
and her mother was a seam
stress, and these influential
women impacted Karen’s
interests.
Karen has been involved
in the fiber arts her entire
life yet was only introduced
to quilting in 2020.
She is proficient in spin
ning, tatting, and crochet
ing as well.
To celebrate a friend’s
birthday in 2020, Karen and
her quilting friend went on
a “shop hop,” where Kar
en found herself in various
quilting shops. With her
friend’s encouragement,
and because Karen was ex
pecting her first grandchild,
she ventured into quilting.
“I have taught in one
shape or form since my
See Good Vibes Page 8A
‘7 love to see the fiber arts passed along,”
says Karen Attaway, shown with an intricate
piece quilt.
Talking Rock to hire first city manager
“We are growing so substantially it warrants a change”
Talking Rock Mayor James Bryant, Jr., center, discusses hiring a new
city manager with members of the town council. The council also discussed
adding a footbridge across Talking Rock Creek in town. From left: Council
members Lynda Cagle and Tony Hawf; town attorney Seth Stroud, Bryant,
clerk Leah Warlick and former clerk Dawn Carver, and council member Jason
Little. Also in attendance council member Caleb Gay, sitting farther to right.
Kids
charged for
throwing
rocks at
passing cars
“They were throw
ing bowling ball
size rocks,’’driver
said. “It could have
been fatal.”
Staff Reports
Three juveniles were ar
rested June 8th for throwing
rocks at passing vehicles
along Jones Mountain Road.
The boys have been charged
with criminal trespass dam
age to property.
At least two vehicles
were hit by the rocks thrown
by the boys, according to
a report from the Pickens
County Sheriff’s Office. The
car driven by Charles Walls
and his wife Susan had more
than $5,000 worth of dam
age, Walls told the Progress.
“We were riding down
Jones Mountain Road, me
and my wife, on a beautiful
afternoon,” Mr. Walls said.
“We’re just going down the
road and all of a sudden,
we heard this loud bang. I
swerved and said, ‘What did
I just hit?’ I got to the bot
tom of the hill and looked
See Rocks on Page 8 A
July 4th
schedule
announced
Staff Reports
The Jasper Lions Club is
gearing up for another Inde
pendence Day Celebration,
with a parade and fair dates
announced. (See parade reg
istration form, Page 6A.)
The parade down Main
Street will kick off at 11 a.m.
on Thursday, July 4, with
fireworks at 10 p.m. that eve
ning. Performers are sched
uled throughout the day on
July 4 at Lee Newton Park.
The fair, with rides from
Peachtree Rides, will be at
Lee Newton Park Wednes
day, July 3 through Saturday,
July 6.
The Jasper Lions have
organized the Independence
Day Celebration for 85 years
only missing during WWII
and the COVID pandemic.
By Christie Pool
Staff Writer
christie@pickensprogress.com
Talking Rock is accept
ing resumes for a city man
ager, a new position for the
small town that previously
only employed a part-time
city clerk.
At their regular monthly
meeting Thursday, mem
bers of the Talking Rock
City Council unanimous
ly voted to approve the
40-hour-a-week position
after Mayor James Bryant
Jr. said the responsibilities
for the town’s part-time city
clerk have outgrown the
position. The current city
clerk, Leah Warlick, will
be stepping down from the
job to spend more time with
her family.
“We have confirmed
that this responsibility as
the town clerk is extremely
busy and it has grown over
the last couple of years,”
Bryant said. “We are grow
ing so substantially it war
rants this change. It will be
a full 40-horn per week po
sition.”
Bryant said he couldn’t
“emphasize enough how
many people care about the
town of Talking Rock and
what a family environment
the community” boasts. The
mayor said the previous
town clerk, Dawn Carver,
left the job a while back
but kept coming in to assist.
“She keeps showing up to
help out. I think she is an
absolute rock star.”
The mayor said the po
sition will comprise all
types of town administra
tive work, including grant
writing, building permits,
and a host of other respon
sibilities.
“I’m super excited about
moving forward with this,”
he said.
Council tables decision on
wedding venue
Council members tabled
a request by Christopher
and Whitney Bennett to
rezone a five-acre section
of their property off Fisher
Creek Road from residen
tial agriculture to a com
mercial limited business
district. The change would
allow the property to be
used as a wedding venue
and event center.
Neighbor Marshall Mul
lins spoke against the zon
ing change at the public
hearing, saying the proper
ty already has water runoff
issues. Mullins said he and
the Bennetts are currently
involved in a lawsuit con
cerning their properties.
Former Talking Rock May
or Cheryl Sams also spoke
against the rezoning, citing
the size and condition of
Fisher Creek Road.
“If you meet another
car, it’s hard because one
car has to pull over,” Sams
said. “The people who will
KPB to offer
recycling for
old televisions
Saturday
Page 7A
State
Government
Expanding
solar farms
will face more
scrutiny
Page 3A
Comedy
Tater Patch
to host
June 22
stand-up
benefit
Page 2A
Obituaries
7A
• Janie Vann
• Mildred Wilson
$1.50 per copy
Local Matters
See Talking Rock Page 8A
