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Thursday, February 6, 2020
Volume 132 Number 42
Jasper, Georgia
Local News Published Weekly
Few details emerge after
chief magistrate arrested
By Dan Pool
Editor
dpool@pickensprogress.com
Few details have emerged
following the arrest of Chief
Magistrate Allen Wigington
last Wednesday on financial
charges.
A 25-year employee of
county government, Wiging
ton is charged with improp
erly using the county-issued
credit card for hotel night
stays on three occasions.
He is further charged
with writing checks during
April of 2019 from the mag
istrate’s account to reim
burse the Blaine Lodge for
money he had improperly
taken from them as their
treasurer, according to infor
mation released through the
Pickens Sheriff’s Office and
GBI.
A January 29 press re
lease from the Pickens Sher
iff’s Office stated, “The
sheriff’s office began a re
view of financial documents
for Pickens County in mid-
December 2019. During the
review of these documents,
questionable spending activ
ity on the Pickens County
credit card issued to Chief
Magistrate Judge Allen Wig
ington was identified. After
an initial review, Sheriff
Craig reached out to the Ap
palachian Judicial Circuit
District Attorney’s office to
discuss the findings. Follow
ing this, the Georgia Bureau
of Investigation was re
quested to assist with further
investigation. Investigators
Pickens Sheriff / Photo
Allen Wigington
book-in photo
further learned of an addi
tional situation involving a
local nonprofit organization,
where Wigington served as
the treasurer. In this case, it
was found that Wigington
had taken funds from the
nonprofit organization to pay
personal debts. It was deter
mined that Wigington then
attempted to remedy this ac
tion by taking hinds from the
magistrate office to reim
burse the nonprofit organiza
tion.”
The warrants released at
the same time charge Wig
ington with three counts of
depositing checks drawn on
the account of the magistrate
court into the account of the
Blaine Lodge.
The warrants list three
different checks from the
magistrate court in the
amounts of $923, $848 and
$317 as having been de
posited into the lodge’s ac
count. The warrants state the
date of the offense was be
tween April 12 and April 13
of 2019 for all three checks
which have the sequential
numbers of 002839, 002840
and 002841.
Comparing the dates of
the alleged illegal financial
card charges to Wigington’s
very active Facebook ac
count shows three hotel
room transactions made on
the county credit card corre
spond with Wigington’s
multi-day family vacations.
But the warrants only show
single nights were billed to
card, while it appeared the
vacations lasted several days
in each instance.
According to the warrant
information released, the
charge amounts were:
See Wigington on 2A
Hang-up calls put Pickens 911 on edge
Photo/Mark Millican
Senior Communication Officer Connie Willingham keeps an eye on one of her screens
in the Pickens 911 Center. Also on duty Monday morning were SCOs Casey Pickett, su
pervisor Christy Fisher and Maura Heath, RN.
By Mark Millican
Progress contributor
What time is the parade?
Is there school tomor
row?
Can you send someone
out to give me a hand?
All the questions are
common “misuse reasons”
for calling Pickens 911
emergency services, accord
ing to Operations Chief
Kristy Easterwood.
But her “favorite” call?
“How do I cook a
turkey?” she said with a
smile during an interview
Monday. “We get people
calling 911 for all kinds of
stuff like that.”
Easterwood, along with
county Fire & Rescue Chief
Sloan Elrod, spoke to the
Pickens Progress about some
of the reasons local residents
call 911 - and the calls that
most concern them.
Elrod said most 911 calls
are what the system was cre
ated to handle, true emergen
cies. However, he added,
“We have certain residents
that call a little more than
normal ... some that call on
a regular basis.”
Elrod said ambulances
are not necessarily dis
patched on every call.
“Depending on how it’s
called in, is what responds,”
he pointed out. “If it’s some
body that needs assistance
(getting) back in the resi
dence, that may not be a full
blown med unit. That could
be just a responder with one
person to help them get in
side the residence. So it de
pends on what the different
call is.”
In 2019, there were
20,162 calls to 911, Easter
wood reported. Of those,
4,266 of them - folly 21 per
cent - were “hang-up calls”
that heighten concern and
even apprehension among
her staff. “We don’t know
what happened” in such
cases, she said, mentioning it
could be a caller dealing
with an emergency medical
issue or just a child playing
with a phone.
“If somebody calls and
just hangs up, (but) we’re
able to get a location, then
See 911 on 2A
Preachers ask community to pray for Pickens
Dr. Alveda
King to speak
at Feb. 26
event
By Angela Reinhardt
Staff writer
areinhardt@pickensprogress.com
Responding to the recent
upheaval in local govern
ment leadership, high-profile
arrests, and other social is
sues, the Pickens County
Ministerial Association will
hold a community breakfast
at the end of February to
pray for the county moving
into what many believe will
See Prayer on 2A
Per the request of the Pickens County Ministerial Association, Jasper City Council declared February 26 Municipal
Day of Prayer in light of events they say have shaken the community and brought turmoil and unrest. The city pre
sented members of the ministerial association with the signed proclamation. (L - R) Gerald Faulkner, city council
members John Foust and Sonny Proctor, Jeremy Bryan, council member Kirk Raffield, Max Caylor, Greg Meadows,
Pickens County Ministerial Association President Ralph Barker, Jasper Mayor Steve Lawrence, Ben Mock, council
members Anne Sneve and Jim Looney, and Pickens Commission Chair Rob Jones.
Historic Woodbridge Inn sells
The historic Wood-
bridge Inn, which went on
the market last year, has
sold. The closing was held
last week. No other details
about the buyer or buying
price could be confirmed
before press time.
The restaurant and inn
were run by the Rueffert
family for decades until
ownership transferred to a
Pennsylvania investor in
2018, at which time an
other local family ran the
restaurant. The Wood-
bridge Inn was one of the
original fine-dining desti
nations in the north Geor
gia region. The inn’s
closing was also a blow to
travelers who sought
more upscale lodging in
downtown Jasper.
FFA excels in showmanship
Max Caylor / Photo
Pickens High FFA students brought home many awards
from this year’s livestock show. Forty-one students partici
pated in Saturday’s events. See pages 4-5B for more pho
tos.
Inside:
Reeves
announces
for tax
commissioner
Page 8A
Special events
discussed at
Jasper council
Page 11A
Junior High
teacher arrested
Page 6B
Obituaries - 9A
• Anthony Chastain
• Cris Criswell Jr.
• David Turner
• John Miller
• Shirley Leslie
• Stella Korowotny
Index
Editorial 4A
Letters to the Editor . 5A
Kids 3B
Church 8B
People 9B
Legals 10-11B
Classifieds 12-13B
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