Newspaper Page Text
COPYRIGHT-THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER
Community
remembers
9/11
tragedy
Page 20A
Series on
black
history in
Pickens
debuts
Page 4A
15,2011 • VOLUME 124 NUMBER 20
Recognitions
from monthly
school board
meeting
Page 15A
JASPER, GEORGIA • 500
If you
would like
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call 706-253-2457
or fill out a form at
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Abbott
pleads
not guilty
to murder
By Dan Pool
Editor
dpool@pickensprogress.com
Ben Thomas Abbott pled not guilty to mur
dering his wife’s parents in February of this
year, during a routine arraignment in Pickens
Superior Court last week.
The state has filed notice they intend to seek
the death penalty for Abbott, who is charged
with murdering Raymond and Cythina Camp
bell with a shotgun at their home on Long
Swamp Church Road. According to the testi
mony of a GBI agent during a February pre
trial hearing, Abbott confessed to killing his
in-laws, hoping to make the slayings look like
a robbery, so he could collect on life insurance
polices. He told the GBI agent that he, his wife
and their four children were going to lose their
home.
Last week, the
court also addressed the
“unified appeal check
list.” This 40-page list of
conditions applies to all
capital cases in Georgia.
District Attorney
Joe Hendricks said the
unified appeal checklist is
standard procedure to re
mind both the prosecu
tion and defense of
potential issues with cap
ital cases.
Hendricks called the arraignment and first
proceeding under the capital procedures to be
typical for this type of case.
“It was exactly as you would expect under
these circumstances,” he said.
Next, the prosecution will provide its case
files to the defense imder discovery procedures.
Abbott, an Ellijay resident at the time of the
slayings, is being represented by Jerry Ward
from the Georgia Capital Defender office.
Following discovery, the defense will have
60 days to file motions. The motions will prob
ably be heard in January.
Sarah Alexander, Staff reporter for Dragons' Lair News / Photo
Mr. and Miss PHS Court named
Every year, the Pickens High School seniors
choose among themselves ten young men and ten
young women to represent the school. This year
the Mr. and Miss PHS court (1-r) Sam Crawford,
Katie Tippens, Mason Mullins, Tiffany Stone,
Brooke Smith, Griff Montgomery, Bryce Odom,
Aries Johnson, Mindi Mullins, Wesley Easter-
wood, Levi Wood, Amber Hester, Sawyer Hen
derson, Emma Fox, Austin Murphy, Megan
Dixon, Spencer Jones, Carly Culverhouse, Jake
Ledbetter, Jesslyn Chastain. Mr and Miss Pickens
High are Jake Ledbetter and Emma Fox. See
complete story on Page 12A.
Former assistant superintendent hired
as Pickens schools director of operations
From the September
school board meeting
By Dan Pool
Editor
dpool@pickensprogress.com
At their regular meeting Sept. 8,
the school board voted to hire Rick
Little as the new director of opera
tions. Little, a former principal and as
sistant superintendent for the Pickens
school system, will replace Lloyd
Shaddix.
Shaddix is set to retire within the
month. Superintendent Ben Desper
noted in a follow-up interview that the
contract offered is considered pending
until Little is released from his current
contract with the Bartow County
school system. Little currently per
forms a job very similar to the director
of operations for that larger county.
The contract offered to Little
comes with the same compensation
Shaddix received: $93,000 per year.
Little was formerly a principal at
both the elementary and middle
school levels in Pickens County. As
assistant superintendent, he was re
sponsible for the construction of Pick
ens High School. Little took early
retirement from the Pickens school
system and then went back to work for
the Bartow County school system.
While the construction of Pickens
High did not go smoothly for a variety
of reasons, Little has since handled
many large building projects in Bar
tow County. He oversaw the construc
tion of both the $16 million Pine Log
Elementary and the $65 million Cass
High School.
Pickens School Superintendent
Ben Desper said in the interview after
the board meeting that he worked for
three years in the same Bartow school
system with Little. Desper said he
knew and respected Little’s work in
Bartow County.
“He did a great job in Bartow
County the three years I worked with
him,” Desper said. Desper said the
construction projects completed under
Little in Bartow County were model
operations.
Desper said he picked Little as his
recommendation for the post due to
his experience. There were other good
candidates who had some of the skills
necessary for an operations director, a
job title that includes construction,
maintenance and transportation in this
county. Little’s advantage was his ex
perience with education and educa
tional funding, the superintendent
said.
“He will be a big asset,” Desper
said. “I’m glad to get someone with
his experience.”
Little will not face any immediate
construction needs here, as no new
campuses are on the drawing board.
But Little will step into a situation
where parents continue to object to
bus stop changes implemented this
school year.
At their Thursday meeting, the
board heard from one parent who
cited concerns over new bus routes
with centralized stops. But another
dozen See School on Page 18A
Harry Doss enters
race for D.A.
Hiking trails to open at Burnt Mountain Preserve
By Angela Reinhardt
Staff writer
areinhardt@pickensprogress.com
Former Appalachian Judicial Circuit
Superior Court Judge Harold Doss re
cently announced his candidacy for
district attorney in the same circuit to
run in the August 2012 Republican pri
mary.
Doss says he is entering the race be
cause of what he sees as gross incom
petency, bullying and a poor work
ethic from current DA Joe Hendricks.
Doss, who resigned as judge in
2008, following 12 charges of ethical
misconduct
by him sent
down from
the Judicial
Qualifications
Commission,
has been a
practicing at
torney in Blue
Ridge for 38
years and
served as su
perior court
judge here for
Harry Doss just under four
years before
resigning.
“I want to bring integrity and com
petence and a work ethic to the office
of the district attorney,” Doss said. “I
want to do the job for people, and I
want to do it fairly as under the law
and under the constitution of our coun
try and our state.”
During an interview to discuss his
candidacy, Doss lambasted Hendricks’
work as DA.
When asked about the charges of
misconduct brought against him by the
JQC in late 2009, Doss said, “I denied
them then, and I deny them now.”
“I do not think any of the charges
were legitimate,” he added, “but we
were under investigation for nine or 10
months, and it was very disruptive.
The manner in which the JQC con
ducted the investigation and the
charges were spurious and false. Under
the laws of the state of Georgia, that
kind of investigation is supposed to be
confidential. It was anything but confi
dential.”
Doss said he ultimately resigned
“for the good of the court,” which he
said was severely disrupted during the
JQC investigations. He also said attor
neys’ fees became too much for his
family.“I regretted having to do it, but
I didn’t have any viable alternative,”
he said.
Doss lives in Blue Ridge with his
wife Lynn. He graduated from Walter
F. George School of Law with a “basic
law degree” in 1969. He was then on
active duty until 1972 with the Army.
After the Army, he attended George
Washington University where he ob
tained a Master of Law degree.
Doss has served in the Army Re
serve for over 31 years, with five years
of active duty during the Persian Gulf
War. Doss considers himself “first and
foremost a loyal soldier.”
Doss and his wife have six children
from the ages of 10 to 39.
Public invited to Sept.
23 Grand Opening
By Angela Reinhardt
Staff writer
areinhardt@pickensprogress.com
The public is invited to attend the
grand opening celebration for three new
hiking trails at the Burnt Mountain Pre
serve, all recently completed by the
Mountain Stewards.
Next Friday, Sept. 23, at 10 a.m. the
county will hold its grand opening cel
ebration at the trailhead kiosk, located
on the right side of Hwy 136 East
headed toward the Dawson County line.
The kiosk is located just before the first
overlook.
The three new trails range from easy
to strenuous. The Crest Trail is a 0.3-
mile loop on the upper portion of the
Preserve. The Preserve Trail is one mile
long and rated moderate. It begins at the
parking lot and loops through the upper
portion of the western section of the
Preserve. The Champion Creek Trail is
2 miles long and, because of an 800-
foot elevation drop, the trail is rated
strenuous.
Mountain Stewards President Don
Wells said the Steward construction
crew of “nine old men” began work on
the trails in October/November of 2010
and worked through summer of this
year, taking a few months off in the
spring for other projects.
The Mountain Stewards completed
all work free of charge. Estimating for
labor, materials and in-kind work, the
value of the trails is approximately
$15,000.
The three new trails are located on
850-plus acres owned by Pickens
County government, a tract perma
nently protected by a conservation ease
ment through the Mountain
Conservation Trust of Georgia. Were
county government ever to sell the land,
it would remain permanently protected
from development.
The Mountain Stewards are a
501 (c)3 non-profit formed in 2003 to
preserve, maintain and develop open
spaces in the Southern Appalachian
Mountains. Learn more about the Stew
ards by visiting www.mountainstew-
ards.org.
You can also see an aerial view of
the new trails by clicking “Mountain
Trails” and then “Burnt Mountain Pre
serve.”
Above, members of the Moun
tain Stewards trail crew at a
bridge they constructed in the
Burnt Mountain Preserve. The
Stewards have recently completed
three new hiking trails on the
county-owned property.
Obituaries - Page 17A
Bessie Mae Hamby Kathy Bell
Beuna Hales MaryMarran
Eugenia Gibson Rev. DJ Free
Helen Coleman Warren McDaniel
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