Newspaper Page Text
June 20, 2024
Pickens County Progress
Page 5A
Letters
tot/uz Editor
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Vietnam Traveling
Memorial Wall in
Ellijay June 19-24
The Vietnam Traveling Memorial Wall will be
back in Ellijay, June 19-24, at the Lions Club
Fairgrounds, 1729 S. Main St. The site will be open
24/7 with security provided and also grief coun
selors. The American Legion Riders are escorting
the Wall from Chatsworth and should arrive at the
fairgrounds on June 19 around 11:30 a.m. (Con
tributed photo)
By Mark Millican
Brian Shedd was “on duty” at the fairgrounds the last
time the Vietnam Traveling Memorial Wall came to Ellijay
in 2018.
“This gentleman had come up in a wheelchair,” said
Shedd, the director of the American Legion Riders of Post
82. “We’11 take folks out that need help, so I pushed him out
in his wheelchair. We went to where he wanted to go and
he got some etchings of his friends on The Wall. We came
back and got under the pavilion and were talking, and he
said, ‘Yeah, I was supposed to go up to Washington (D.C.)
last year with five of my buddies that was going to go to The
Wall.’ He said about two weeks before they were supposed
to leave he had a massive heart attack and it messed with
everything he had planned.”
The chair-bound Vietnam veteran explained that when
veins were taken from his legs for the bypass operation he
lost his mobility.
“He said, ‘If y’all hadn’t brought The Wall here, I’d of
never got to see it because I don’t think I’ll ever be in enough
shape again to go up there,”’ Shedd continued. “About two
weeks later, I was thumbing through the newspaper and
came across his obituary. He had passed away, but got to see
the one thing he wanted to see before he left here. It really
is humbling, because there are four people on The Wall that
he served with that got killed over there. That was the whole
reason for him wanting to go.”
Fred McGill, also a member of Post 82 and a two-tour
veteran of Vietnam, said the Riders will provide around-the-
clock security for those who desire to come later in the day
or anytime through the night.
“We’ll actually have someone there with a computer that
can tell visitors what panel and what line the person is on
that they’re looking for,” he said. “We’ll also have grief
counselors there to talk to people and to pray with them, if
they need that.”
The traveling wall first came to Ellijay in 2014. McGill
was asked what hosting it in Gilmer County has meant to
him.
“It’s great having it here, but it’s touching too,” he re
plied.
McGill said the pace of the procession from Chatsworth
to Ellijay will not be fast, and he expects the riders and the
wall to get to the fairgrounds between 11:30 and 11:45 a.m.
on June 19.
In addition to the activity
from the Uniform Patrol Di
vision, Court Service Dep
uties reported the following
statistics for the past week:
Persons Scanned at
Front Door: 1,314
Weapons Found: 6
Courts Held: 13
Arrests Made in the Court
house: 4
Civil Papers Received: 46
Civil Papers Served: 31
In the Adult Detention
Center:
Total Jail population: 91
Total male inmates: 67
Total female inmates: 24
Sex Offenders:
There are currently 70 sex
offenders registered with the
Pickens Sheriff’s Office.
psq(§
REPbRT
The Pickens Sheriff’s
Office responds to many
calls for service every day.
The following incidents are
a few deputies respond to
each day.
No seatbelt
A deputy was on pa
trol when he saw someone
driving without a seatbelt.
The deputy pulled the car
over and spoke to the driv
er. When the deputy ran the
information on the driver,
it came back that he had a
warrant out of another coun
ty. The driver was arrested
and turned over to the other
county.
Reckless driving
Multiple calls were made
to deputies about a reckless
driver who was driving a
motorcycle. Deputies went
out several times and had a
few people with videos of
the motorcycle driving at
really high speeds. Deputies
were finally able to locate
the driver and he admitted
to driving at speeds over
100 mph.
Trespassing
A property owner called
for a deputy to report his
neighbor riding horses on
his property. The property
owner said it is an ongoing
problem and that he almost
hit a horse with a rider with
his side by side. Deputies
spoke to the neighbor and
he said it was his wife that
was almost hit with the side
by side and she left the area
when the property owner
told her to go. The neighbor
also said his wife was over
there to talk to the property
owner about his dogs killing
his chickens. The neighbor
said they would not be back
on the property.
Traffic stop
A deputy was on patrol
when he spotted a car with
an expired registration. The
deputy was behind the car
and it stopped in the middle
of the roadway. The deputy
had to use a siren and horn
to get the driver to move to
the side of the road. Then
the deputy discovered the
driver had a suspended li
cense. The driver seemed
to be under the influence of
something, and the deputy
could smell a strong odor
of marijuana. The deputy
asked the driver if he had
smoked marijuana, and the
driver said he had smoked
some an hour or two earlier.
The Sheriff’s Beat
From the Pickens Sheriff’s Office
Criminal trespass
A deputy was called to
a business to speak with a
manager. The manager told
the deputy they had recently
fired an employee for being
discourteous to customers
and other employees. The
fired employee had made
a comment that he would
“take you out” referring to
the manager. The manager
requested the fired employ
ee be criminally trespassed
from the area.
Traffic stop
A deputy was on patrol
when he saw a car with a
headlight out. When the
deputy pulled the car over
he discovered the car did not
have insurance. The driver
attempted to get insurance
on the car but was unable
to. The car was impounded
and the driver had someone
come to pick him up.
Wanted person found
Deputies went to an
address because they had
information that a wanted
person was staying there.
The deputies also had infor
mation that the person may
have a firearm. When depu
ties got to the address they
announced themselves and
the wanted person finally
came out of a back room.
When the deputies searched
the area where the wanted
person had been staying,
they found methamphet-
amine.
Civil dispute
A woman hired a man
from a website she found
to repair her lawnmower.
The woman said the man
met with her at her house
and gave her a quote. She
paid the man but he never
returned to do the repairs in
over a week. A deputy made
contact with the man and he
said he’d be there in a cou
ple of days and has yet to
return.
Domestic dispute
Deputies were called to a
home for a disorderly wom
an. When deputies arrived
the husband told deputies
his wife was being disor
derly towards him. The hus
band said his wife is on new
medication and it makes her
act angry towards him. The
wife told deputies the same
thing. The couple had only
argued and the husband said
his father-in-law was on his
way to pick him up so they
would separate for the night.
Dog left in a hot car
Deputies were called to
a car that had a dog inside
with the windows partial
ly opened and it was over
85 degrees outside. When
deputies arrived the dog was
lying on the front floorboard
of the car with a dry bowl
and the dog was panting
really hard. The windows
were cracked but it was still
extremely hot inside the car,
the deputy opened the un
locked door and was able
to give the dog some water.
The dog was skittish and re
ally thin, the dog got out of
the car and then went back
into the car to drink more
water. Deputies were at the
car for more than 25 min
utes when a man came up
and said he owned the car
and the dog. The man said
he and his family were en
joying an outing and figured
the dog would be ok with
the windows cracked and a
bowl of water. The deputy
explained how high the tem
perature can get inside the
car when it’s that hot out
side. The deputy asked the
man why he didn’t leave the
dog at home, the man said
they lived in a tent and fig
ured it would be better if the
dog came with them. An
imal control requested the
dog be brought to them for
further investigation.
Provide input for accreditation
The Pickens Sheriff’s Of
fice is currently in the
process of obtaining na
tional accreditation from the
Commission on Accredita
tion for Law Enforcement
Agencies (CALEA).
Part of this process is to
receive input from the com
munity about our agency.
CALEA has provided access
to a Public Comment Portal
to allow for commendations
or concerns regarding the
Sheriff’s Office service to
the citizens of Pickens
County.
SCAN ME
Dining this past week, the Pickens Sheriff’s Office
responded to or initiated 503 calls for service. These
numbers are taken from the report provided directly
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 18
Suicide Threats / Attempts 5
Domestics 14
Theft / Burglary Related 8
Forgery / Fraud 0
Traffic Stops 197
Citations Issued 26
Animal Investigations 9
Suspicious Persons/Activities 13
Alarm Calls 12
Stranded Motorists 13
Street Hazards 5
Vandalism 3
Abandoned Vehicles 1
Extra Patrol - neighborhoods, businesses, residenc
es: 4. In addition to these, other calls include search
warrants, civil service, 911 hang-up calls, assaults,
disorderly persons, missing persons, assistance with
medical calls, natural death investigations, demented
persons, funeral escorts, harassment, trespassing, and
many more.
20 individuals were booked into the Adult Detention
Center on charges from the Pickens Sheriff’s Office. Out
of these, the following charges were taken by PSO depu
ties (note: some individuals have multiple charges):
Driving without a valid license - 2
Bond violation - 2
Driving with license suspended/revoked - 6
DUI Drugs -1
DUI-1
County ordinance - disorderly -1
Theft by taking (FEL) -1
Help court violation -1
Hold for another county - 2
Purpose/possession of controlled substance - 2
Possession of a scheduled II controlled substance - 2
Drug-related object (1st and 2nd offense) -1
Superior Court Bench Warrant -1
Obstruction of LEO -1
Possession of a weapon during crime/ attempt crime
-1
Possession of methamphetamine w/intent -1
Probation violation (FEL) -1
Assault/ battery: Terrorist threats/ intimidation -1
Simple battery - family violence -1
GRISHAM, POOLE
<fc CARLILE, PC
Criminal Defense | 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.
