Newspaper Page Text
Index
News 2, 3, 5, 7,13,14
Obituaries 3
Opinion 4
Calendar 10
Sheriff's Report 11
Legals 11
Around the County 12
Sports 15
Inside
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The Oglethorpe Echo
Volume 149, Number 26
March 30, 2023 ■ Oglethorpe County, Georgia
$1
EMILY DOZIER/THE OGLETHORPE ECHO
Jacob Dake (right) and mother Rhonda Pilgrim are returning to a new normal after Dake’s motorcycle accident on High
way 78 last September. Despite extensive injuries, Dake is on pace to graduate from OCHS in May.
JACK CASEY/THE OGLETHORPE ECHO
An OCHS football player has a "JD" sticker on the back of his helmet
to honor fellow student Jacob Dake during a football game last fall.
Back on
his feet
Dake is on the road
to recovery six months
after traffic accident
Officials
find body
of missing
woman
Sheriff, deputies
locate burnt vehicle
on Black Snake Road
By Brooke Stewart
The Oglethorpe Echo
The Oglethorpe County Sheriff’s Office and
a Georgia State Patrol aviation unit found the
body of a missing Gwinnett County woman in
a vehicle that had been set on fire off of Black
Snake Road on Friday morning.
Oglethorpe County Sheriff David Gabriel
and his deputies were searching in the Lake
Oglethorpe area Thursday night through Fri
day morning for Lawrenceville’s Rubi Mal
donado Nava, who was allegedly abduct
ed by the father of her child, Jahir Sagahon,
also of Lawrenceville, according to police re
ports.
Gabriel said law enforcement officials
from Gwinnett County requested the aid of
Oglethorpe County and other neighboring
counties in their search in what Sgt. Saman
tha Mathe said, ’’(was an) ongoing investiga
tion.”
Oglethorpe County officers and others
searched various areas, until evidence was
found in the countryside on Black Snake
Road, according to police reports.
A witness had seen an individual match
ing Sagahon’s description off of Old Edwards
Road, Gabriel said.
“So we went over to that area and, you
See BODY, Page 2
Woman found dead in Oglethorpe County
A twit vehicle was discovered by law enforcement on Black Snake Road The body of Rubi
Maldonado was found inside of it.
♦
Body Found
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BROOKE STEWART/THE OGLETHORPE ECHO
By Ryland Goede
The Oglethorpe Echo
Jacob Dake is grateful for support from
the community after an accident last fall
changed his life.
“Fm just glad I can be a part of a com
munity like this,” he said.
Last Sept. 15, Rhonda Pilgrim, Dake’s
mother, heard about a wreck from Dake’s
friends, who had called to let her know
that his bright green motorcycle had been
on the side of Highway 78.
She said she knew it was her son be
cause he’s the only one in Oglethorpe
County with that motorcycle.
Pilgrim grabbed Dake’s father, Steve
Dake, and rushed to the scene. They were
caught in traffic, so by the time they ar
rived, Dake was on the way to Piedmont
Athens Regional Medical Center.
“When I saw the site, I thought when
I got to the hospital he was going to be
dead,” Pilgrim said.
EMTs told the family that they were
surprised Dake remained conscious be
cause he had lost so much blood.
“His sister, Sadie Dake, got to see him
being wheeled up to the ER,” Pilgrim
said. “She saw how he looked. She’ll nev
er forget that sight.”
Pilgrim said the emergency workers
treated the scene as a fatality because they
didn’t think he would make it to the hos
pital.
“I think (a higher power) was there that
day cause (Jacob) almost didn’t make it,”
she said.
Dake was later airlifted to a hospital in
Macon and has gone through more than
15 surgeries. They include: a broken pel
vis, broken femur, fractured vertebrae,
fractured jaw, crushed shoulder, fractured
See DAKE, Page 15
Experts: Trap, don’t shoot, feral swine
Corral-like structures can help eradicate entire herds
By Morgan Quinn
and Jack Rhodes
The Oglethorpe Echo
Kendall Strickland has known
about feral swine since 2015. Yet,
it wasn’t until connecting with local
communities through his business,
Strickland Pride Produce, that he un
derstood their devastating effect on
local farmers and landowners.
“I know people all over the coun
ty and communities, and I have quite
a bit of insight into the hogs; I deal
with them on my property as well,”
Strickland said. “There are a lot of
’em.”
After years of listening and ob
serving, Strickland believes trapping
services are one of the only effec
tive ways to control the swine from
creating more damage in places like
Oglethorpe County.
“If you just shoot one or two at a
time, you’re not really getting ahead
of the problem in any type of way,”
he said.
Feral hogs are indeed in
See SWINE, Page 6
Feral hog trapping
Landowners in Oglethorpe
County can contact the Ga
Soil & Water Conservation
Commission to help connect
them with trapping services
(706-552-4479). They can also
contact Matt Ondovchick
(matthew.p.ondovchik@
usda.gov) with USDA Wildlife
Services.
SUBMITTED PHOTO
Large corral-style traps have been identified as the most
effective tool to manage the population of feral swine in
Oglethorpe County, as opposed to other methods of shoot
ing and hunting the animals.