Amicalola Garden Club says Victory Gardens are not a thing of the past anymore due to COVID-19

Governor Kemp Announces Business Categories that May Reopen

On Monday afternoon, Georgia Governor Brian Kemp announced that the State of Georgia would begin reopening certain business categories in a phased in approach beginning Friday, April 24th through Monday, April 27th. Each grouping of businesses will be required to follow additional guidelines, which may change over the coming days. 

Jasper Fire Facebook / Photo

Times are stressful, but there was no shortage of clowing around with this group from the Jasper Fire Department.

Last week, the Jasper Fire Department and North Georgia Fire Safety Clowns took their annual show on the road to spread some joy during these stressful shelter-in-place times. 

Each year the North Georgia Fire Safety Clowns visit schools in the community, but were not able to in 2020 with campuses being closed since March 13. Instead, “Stumbles,” “Sparkles,” “Hot Pockets,” & “Stewie” hopped in the JFD Fire Truck for a “Rolling Clown Show,” which travelled around Jasper and through neighborhoods. 

 By Dave Williams
Bureau Chief
Capitol Beat News Service
    ATLANTA - President Donald Trump said Wednesday he disagrees with Gov. Brian Kemp’s decision to let some Georgia businesses open late this week and early next week despite the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.
   Kemp announced Monday he would let “close-contact” businesses including barbershops and hair salons reopen on Friday. Dine-in restaurants and movie theaters will be allowed to reopen on Monday.
The state board that regulates barbershops and hair salons released guidelines Tuesday to govern the reopening of those businesses, requiring employees to wear masks and thoroughly clean their premises. Guidelines for restaurants are expected later this week.

With Governor Brian Kemp re-opening some business categories and relaxing restrictions this week, local officials were scrambling Monday and Tuesday to see how that would apply here.

During a Monday Zoom conference of area public safety officials, Jasper Mayor Steve Lawrence, Commission Chair Rob Jones and Sheriff Donnie Craig all commented how they would need to watch what came out of Atlanta and be ready to react.

The city and county issued a joint statement Tuesday, which re-hashed much of the governor’s statement and applied some aspects of it to the local situation. That statement can be found in its entirety on Page 3A.

On Monday Commissioner Jones expressed concern that the governor’s opening later this week appears to coincide with previous information showing that is also when the surge is expected in north Georgia.

“Hopefully they will let us know more [out of Atlanta],” Jones said. “We don’t know what these numbers will do. I believe when we start testing, the numbers will go up. It’s putting us in a catch 22 -- danged if you do, danged if you don’t [in regards to re-opening].”

In a Q & A with Piedmont Mountainside Denise Ray (see article on continued page), she noted, “Our current modeling shows the regional COVID peak to be between the end of April and early May. This model can change quickly if individuals do not follow recommendations surrounding shelter in place or forego social distancing precautions.”