About Pickens County progress. (Jasper, Ga.) 1899-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 15, 2011)
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 to subscribe call 706-253-2457 or fill out a form at \ — \ t. coll "«!»•>» • Ihrral* In \ »tul ri»TT». «•) r»prrt» \ m \ IT n „ . 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 www.PickensProgress.com www.facebook.com/PickensProgress www.Twitter.com/PickensProgress u The Progress is partly printed on recycled newsprint and is recyclable. 4 8 7 9 0 8 16 3
