Unofficial results posted for Primary

Library’s virtual service demands skyrocket during pandemic

Angela Reinhardt / Photo

Pickens Library Branch Manager Emma Ingle, wearing a custom Sequoyah Regional Library System face mask, gets book orders ready for pickup through their new contactless “Sidewalk Service.”

It couldn’t be called a stream of people by any stretch, but during the brief window I was at the Pickens County Library last week, two people picked up books curbside and two others returned books they had likely had since branches closed in March. 

The building itself is still closed to patrons, but the local library and all branches in the Sequoyah Regional Library System have started to offer services as part of their phased reopening. Book checkouts are now being performed through a contact-free sidewalk service, and book returns are all done through the drop box. 

By Beau Evans

Staff Writer

Capitol Beat News Service

Supporters of the extremist “Boogaloo” movement were present at a protest Sunday in Athens amid ongoing demonstrations throughout Georgia against police brutality and racial injustice, according to Athens authorities.

  State authorities warned Tuesday extremist groups and out-of-state agitators have infiltrated crowds during protests from Atlanta to Savannah since last Friday that at times devolved into scenes of property damage and confrontations with police, who in turn have fired tear gas cannisters and made hundreds of arrests.

  Boogaloo supporters mark the first extremist group to be publicly identified by law enforcement officials in Georgia after days of intense protesting, including on Sunday night in Athens during which 32 people were arrested.

  Their presence was noted in a memo sent by Athens-Clarke County Police Chief Cleveland Spruill, who called the Boogaloo movement an “extremist organization” that aims in part “to instigate race wars across America.”

New Chief Magistrate Alan Morris is sworn in by Probate Judge David Lindsey, as Morris' son Luke holds the Bible.

   Alan Morris was sworn in as the new Chief Magistrate of Pickens County Friday before a gallery of properly-masked and distanced family, friends and judicial circuit employees.

    Speaking at the ceremony, Superior Court Judge Brenda Weaver said she has known Morris for the 19 years he has worked in some capacity in the courts, beginning as a probation officer and then for the public defender’s office.

Last week the cloudy morning gave way to a beautiful day, and the opening bell rang out to 26 vendors with a wide variety of plants, vegetable,s and homemade goods. 7:30 a.m. - noon  in the park & ride at Lee Newton Park.

By Jenny Fellenbaum

As my alarm went off at 4:50 a.m. Saturday morning, there’s a little part of me that groans. Why do I do this? I pull out of my drive with my little trailer in tow, and pull into the park & ride lot a little early this time, 5:50. I was excited. 

Normally we would have had seven weeks of the Jasper Farmers Market behind us, but this was just our second market of 2020. Plus, I get to hang out with some of the best, talented, hardest working people I know. And I’ve definitely missed them!