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Toddler okay after being run over
Relative sees vision of Grim Reaper
under car before accident
By Angela Reinhardt
Staff writer
areinhardt@pickensprogress.com
Just a couple of days after
two-year-old Shannon Williams
was run over by the family Sub
urban, he was back at home
doing all the things toddlers do:
riding his tricycle, whining, even
singing.
“He’s doing really, really
well,” said mother Heather
Williams, who, along with her
family, says Shannon’s survival
is nothing short of a miracle from
God. “He’s got scratches all over
him, but he’s walking. He’s not
fully walking, but he can take lit
tle steps and everything. He only
has a cut on his hip and five
stitches and that’s it. No broken
bones. No organ damage. This is
God’s work.”
Heather, her husband Mark
and her husband’s family live to
gether and run the Freewill Wor
ship Center church from the
basement of their Jasper home.
Heather said numerous family
members and friends saw visions
leading up to the accident, and
that this is the second time her
youngest son’s life has been
saved by the grace of God.
The accident happened
around 1:30 p.m. on April 2
when Heather was leaving to go
deposit her husband’s check. She
said her husband, Mark, was
standing nearby with their two
other sons, and she had just seen
Shannon playing in the fenced-in
backyard.
“I slowly took off, and the
next thing I know, my back tire
came off the ground, but my
front tire didn’t,” she said. “I
think he got in between the two
tires with his wagon, which was
dented up too.”
Heather, thinking she had run
over a toy, got out of the vehicle,
“but then I saw my husband run
ning towards me saying I just ran
over our child. He was scream
ing his head off,” she said. “I was
freaking out. I saw blood and
started freaking out, I just hit my
knees and said, God, please don’t
let my kid die.”
Shannon’s father Mark and
family friend Dan Stefanovich
rushed the young boy to Pied
mont Mountainside Medical
Center.
Stefanovich was in the garage
and heard Mark scream. “He was
coming around the building in a
terror with him in his arms, blood
all on the side of his shirt and I
could see Shannon’s hipbone
through his skin,” Stefanovich
said. “There was a trail of blood
from the stairs. I tend to look at
the facts, and I looked at the sit
uation and just melted when we
got to the hospital,” he said.
After a brief stay at Piedmont,
Shannon was Life Flighted to
Egleston Children’s Hospital in
Atlanta.
“I went back to the house, and
officers came back and gave a
play-by-play of what was going
on in the chopper,” Stefanovich
said. “They’re like, unbelievably
he’s doing just fine, but that was
n’t what I saw. On the standpoint
of any faith that I was missing
before, I’ve got it now. If you had
See Williams, Page 16A
IT’S A MIRACLE HE’S
ALIVE
The Williams family at their
home in Jasper. Pictured are
Heather and Mark Williams,
with their sons Shannon (red
shirt), Ethan and Julian. The
family lives with Mark's parents
where they help run the Freewill
Worship Center church, which is
relocating to Hwv 515 and Hid
den Creek Road intersection this
weekend. Shannon, age two, sus
tained only minor injuries after
being run over with the family
Suburban last week.
flavor list
"New Orleans Style'
Gotta Gitta Sno-Cone
Christie Pool / Photo
Thanks to some great local businesses, Jasper Elemen
tary students enjoyed a cool, sweet treat last week, following a day of CRCT testing. Gitta Sno-Ball
brought their traveling “New Orleans style shaved ice ” truck to the JES campus, where students de
lighted in the flavorful treats after a long morning of testing.
JES teachers and students would like to say a big “thank you” to the following businesses who
made the day possible: New Beginnings, Hometown Home Health, Brian Pinson State Farm, North-
West Salon, Gary> Klaric Integrated Financial Advisory’, H&G Landscaping, Bill Lawrence Alfa In
surance, Boswell Insurance, Meg’s Country Cooking, Julee’s Restaurant, Kay Hendricks - Math
Coordinator at JES, and the JES PTO/ Matt Ledford.
JES Students picturedfrom left are: Lauren Pitkins, Seth White, Mykenzie Weaver, Thomas Pinson,
Valerie Maple, Ellie Pool and Chase Goss.
Angela Reinhardt / Photo
Store manager at Pig needs
seizure alert dog for son
By Jeff Warren
Staff writer
jwarren@pickensprogress.com
If you shop at Jasper's Piggly
Wiggly, you probably know store
manager, Wade Calvert. Two
events scheduled soon for Cal
houn, where Calvert lives, are set
to benefit Calvert's son Hunter,
who suffers from a brain condi
tion.
A benefit meal, auction and
cake walk (with music and a
dragster car) happens Saturday
evening, April 21, at the Old
Oostanaula School Community
Club. That is at 1595 Oostanaula
Bend Road, southwest, in Cal
houn. And a benefit motorcycle
run is scheduled Saturday, May
12, from Tabernacle of Praise
Church at 301 Chatsworth High
way 225, northeast, in Calhoun.
Rider registration rolls from 8 to
9:30 a.m. with the road rumble
rolling off at 10 o'clock.
Calvert's son, Hunter, suffers
from encephalomalacia. The con
dition exists where damaged
brain tissue, lost in a stroke or
stroke-like episode, prevents nor
mal electrical firing between
healthy brain cells nearby. Tissue
damage in Hunter's frontal and
temporal lobes blocks electrical
connectivity between normal
brain cells in the same regions.
Seizures have resulted.
"They believe that from birth
to somewhere around eight years
old, that he'd either had a stroke
or a blood clot in his brain, caus
ing this," Wade Calvert said.
No outward sign showed until
11 -year-old Himter was in middle
school. The day after running a
cross country race. Hunter expe
rienced a seizure before dawn
and one at evening. The follow
ing day, while under study at
Egleston Children's Hospital in
Atlanta, Hunter suffered a grand
See Calvert, Page 16A
Hunter Calvert, with working
dog, Bow, at Canine Partners
for Life in Pennsylvania, to see
about getting a seizure alert dog
for the 11 -year-old. Hunter suf
fers from seizures and needs
such a dog to warn him when a
seizure is about to happen.
What’s it like to wear a badge?
Citizens Academy offers peek
into law enforcement operations
By Angela Reinhardt
Staff writer
areinhardt@pickensprogress.com
Wearing protective ear and
eye gear, two dozen citizens
peered over a steep embankment
at the Pickens County Sheriff’s
firing range for a demonstration
most civilians never get to see.
In the field directly below, of
ficers performed a meticulously
trained demo of a daylight bank
robbery, punctuated with explo
sions simulating pipe bombs and
showers of bullets.
“What we are simulating here
is a brazen bank robbery. We
have a downed officer,” said
Pickens County Sheriff’s Capt.
Frank Reynolds. “He’s shot, he’s
been wounded, so we have to go
in there and get rid of the bad
guys, save our officer and get out
of the area.”
After the demonstration, citi
zens were instructed on gun
safety and were then divided into
two groups and given the oppor
tunity to shoot both a fully auto
matic M-16 and a Glock Model
22 handgun.
This exhilarating lesson was
one of the final days of an inten
sive six-week Citizen’s Academy
training course, the first of its
kind offered by the local law
See Academy on Page 16A Sheriff’s officers assist citizens as they fire fully-automatic M-16s.
Angela Reinhardt / Photo
Athletics Hall of Fame
created at Pickens High
By Kyle D. Rasco
PHS Athletic Director
I am excited to announce that
PHS is starting an organization
that is long overdue in Pickens
County: the Pickens High School
Athletics Hall of Fame. The PHS
Athletics Hall of Fame has been
organized as a way of maintain
ing the rich heritage and tradition
of successful athletic programs at
Pickens High School. In addi
tion, it will serve as a means of
recognizing and honoring the
athletes, coaches and individuals
who made significant contribu
tions to the athletic programs at
Pickens High.
The PHS Athletics Hall of
Fame is meant to acknowledge
the contributions and accom
plishments of individuals who
are worthy of recognition and
who have stood as examples for
others to emulate. I am currently
in the process of forming the
Hall of Fame Committee that
will vote on the nominations
made by our community.
Who is eligible for the PHS
Athletics Hall of Fame? Individ
uals and teams may be nomi
nated from three categories. The
nominee, if an alumnus, must be
five years removed from Pickens
High School. An exception to
See Hall of Fame, Page 16A
Obituaries ■ Page 12A
Brian Russell
Freddie DeFoor
Randall Hampton
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