Pickens County has experienced an increase in Emergency calls, says EMS Director Sloan Elrod. Giving his report at the February Commissioner’s Meeting, Elrod outlined the increases over the past four years. With the exception of 2011 and the first two months of this year, the calls have increased annually by approximately a thousand. Why?

Elrod reports that in 2008, the county responded to 3935 calls; in 2009, 4707 calls, and in 2010, 5368 calls. In 2011, the county responded to 5429 and, so far in 2012, Elrod said that the county has responded to 85 calls ahead of last year at this time.

“We had a run of 826 calls (in 2012 so far) as of this morning,”

he said.

When asked what contributed to the substantial increases in calls, Elrod said he did not know. Commissioner Jones, however, offered some insight.

“You also got to remember between 2008 and today,”

the commissioner said,

“not only the population, but the stress levels have gone up in the county on account of the way the economy has been ramping up.”

During this time, Pickens has seen a certain increase in population. For instance, according to the U.S. Census Bureau, the Pickens population in 2008 was 29,531. In the 2009 it rose only marginally to 29,542. However, in 2010, the county experienced a decrease in population, when it dropped to 29,431 and in 2011 barely ticked up to 29,436.

Jones’ other suggestion, that stress levels have increased over the last four years due to the recessional economy, seems to be substantiated in the unemployment rate for these years. According to the U.S. Department of Labor, Georgia’s February 2008 unemployment rate was 5.3 percent. In 2009 for the same month, it skyrocketed to 8.8 percent and then jumped up to hit highest point of the four year period to 10.3 percent in February 2010. Although, the unemployment was at its highest of this period in 2010, it only ticked down a notch to 10.2 percent for the same month. Closer to home, the unemployment numbers are bit more staggering. In February of 2008, the Pickens Unemployment Rate was 4.9 percent, but surged to 10.1 percent in 2009 for the same month. Since 2009, the county’s unemployment rate has hovered above 10 percent, where it was 10.6 in February 2010 and 10.7 in 2011 for the same month.

Following the meeting, FYN asked Elrod if the increases were possibly due to the recent popularity of certain drugs, particularly SPICE and Bath Salts. Elrod could not confirm this, but said that he has seen several SPICE related calls lately. He said both drugs are difficult to test in the field because no immediate test is available. With certain drugs, the user’s pupils dilate. However, any dilation in the eyes is nearly indiscernible with SPICE and Salts users. Also, another challenge is the legality of SPICE and Salts. However, legislation passed the state senate last week, defining SPICE, also known as “synthetic marijuana” as a dangerous drug. However, these drugs still seem to be a concern for local communities.