Meet the Dragons event Friday night at Dragon Stadium

Parks have more allotment under most recent figures

With just a few weeks until the deadline to get final ballot language to the Pickens County Elections Office, Pickens Commission Chair Rob Jones sat down to discuss the most up-to-date SPLOST numbers. 

A SPLOST question will appear on the November 2019 ballot, along with several key local races. By law, local leaders must provide voters with a general description of how SPLOST money will be spent (specific projects don’t have to be detailed in the ballot language, but projected SPLOST revenues must be separated into categories such as “Road, Street, Bridge Projects.”) Leaders can opt for a five-year SPLOST, with revenue projections of $30 million, or a six-year SPLOST, with revenue projections of $37 million. 

        See full story in this week's print or online editions 

Group to bring Yasmina Reza’s “Art” to Jasper this month

Purchase tickets through Cherokee Theater Company at cherokeetheatre.tix.com.

The Gaslight Players is a newly-formed theater troupe whose members have grown up in local theater. This July they wrapped up a sell-out run of “Smoke on the Mountain” in Canton, and are now gearing up for a production of “Art” at The Conservancy in Jasper. Here, founding member Eric Reinhardt talks about the group, their vision, and plans for the future. 

County signs give valuable insight into traffic speed and volume

These signs track drivers' speed around the county - and they show that motorists regularly go over the speed limit. 

If you think people fly on certain roads, you are probably right. The first batch of speed reports from Pickens County show on key problem roads the average speed is over the speed limit and the maximum speeds recorded are scary.

If you have seen the signs on area roads that display your speed and flash when you are exceeding the speed limit, the sign has seen you too. The county has been following a protocol since December of placing the signs in areas where people call to complain about speeding or where they believe there is a persistent problem.

       See this week's print or online editions for full story and chart of recorded speeds around the county. 

        Photo / Blake Moss

Gearing up for a great year -  Principal Chris Wallace  spoke to incoming freshman at Monday night’s open house at Pickens High School. Of the 1,373 students expected on the first day of class, 367 are freshman, 348 sophomores, 340 juniors and 318 seniors.  Students and parents came Monday evening to tour the high school and see what their class schedule would look like for the 2019-20 academic year. County schools are holding open houses all week in preparation for the first day on Tuesday, Aug. 6. Follow this link to find the 2019-2020 Back-to-School Guide for important information about your child's school and the system as a whole.