About Pickens County progress. (Jasper, Ga.) 1899-current | View Entire Issue (June 20, 2024)
June 20, 2024 Pickens County Progress Page 5A Letters tot/uz Editor No letters for June 20th No letters were received this week. It is rare, proba bly only once or twice a year that we don’t have someone chiming in on something. If you have a topic, (strongly preferred local subject, shoot us an e-mail to news@pickensprogress. com. 400 words maximum limit. Must have a name and valid e-mail or phone num ber for us to verify the send er. Contact information will not be published unless it is requested that we do so. Letters welcomed - No letter more than 450 words; Send to news@pickensprogress.com or Pickens Progress 94 N. Main, Jasper, Ga. 30143; All letters must have a full name that will be published, and contact info. (Email Address or Phone Number), which will not be published. 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.
