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Thursday, February 13, 2020
Volume 132 Number 43
Jasper, Georgia
Local News Published Weekly
Chief
magistrate
Wigington
resigns
Investigation
of financial
fraud expands
By Dan Pool
Editor
dpool@pickensprogress.com
The investigation of fi
nancial fraud by Allen Wig
ington, the former chief
magistrate judge, has ex
panded to include all ac
counts under his control in
the court and will extend
back at least a decade, ac
cording to Pickens Sheriff
Donnie Craig.
The investigation has
also grown to include inves
tigators from the Georgia
Attorney General’s office, in
addition to sheriff investiga
tors and the GBI, who made
the initial arrest on January
29.
Wigington, who has sub
mitted his resignation to the
governor to be effective
April 30, is accused of three
counts of unauthorized use
of financial transaction card
for his use of a county credit
card issued to him; six
counts of theft by taking
which includes checks writ
ten from the magistrate ac
count to the Blaine Lodge to
cover money investigators
say he stole from the non
profit where he was treas
urer; and one count of
violation of oath of office.
Craig said the investiga
tion will use forensic audits
and look at a broad array of
accounts and practices of the
court under Wigington, who
has been the chief magistrate
for a decade and employed
by the county for almost 25
years.
“I anticipate we will go
back over the whole
See Investigation on 2A
House fire claims life
of west Pickens woman
TTT'fl
m
Angela Reinhardt / Photo
Little remains of this Derby Lane home after a fatal weekend fire, which has been ruled accidental. A 66-year-
old was killed in the blaze; two other residents of the home escaped.
By Angela Reinhardt
Staff writer
areinhardt@pickensprogress.com
An early morning blaze at a Derby
Lane home on Sunday, February 9
tragically took the life of 66-year-old
Katheryn Patrice Singer Avery. Avery
owned the home and lived there with
two other women who escaped. The
fire has been nded accidental by the
Georgia Insurance and Safety Fire
Commissioner’s office.
Avery is the 12th victim to perish
in a Georgia fire in 2020, according to
the state.
Very little was left of the structure
the Monday after the blaze. A small
section of the walls still stood, but the
majority of the two-story, wood
framed home had burned and col
lapsed. The block basement under a
portion of the home remained.
The emergency call came in
around 4:25 a.m. that morning by one
of the other two residents who lived in
the west Pickens house. According to
Pickens Fire & EMS Director Sloan
Elrod, the women, who identified
themselves to emergency personnel as
friends of the homeowner, heard
smoke alarms go off.
Elrod said as the women began to
escape, the room where the home-
owner passed away was already fully
involved in flames. While neither of
the other residents suffered major in
juries, one of them had hair that was
“badly singed,” Elrod said.
According to the Georgia Insur
ance and Safety Fire Commissioner,
emergency personnel discovered
Avery’s body in the basement of the
home.
“The 2,000 square-foot, single
story home was nearly destroyed by
the blaze. Most of the top floor had
collapsed into the basement by the
time extinguishment efforts began,”
said state Fire Commissioner John F.
King. “Though it cannot be directly
linked to starting the fire, careless
smoking while in use of oxygen is
likely to have played a role in the
cause.
Elrod said one of the residents
called 911 “once they got their sense
about them” after the escape, which
created a delay.
One of the women managed to
grab a pocket book and a cell phone to
call 911 as they fled the burning home.
There has been no final determina
tion of cause at this time. The body of
the deceased was turned over to the
GBI Crime Lab, where an autopsy
will be performed.
The two surviving residents were
assisted by Red Cross, which pro
vided lodging in the days immediately
following the incident.
The house sits on over 12 acres
along with a bam and detached
garage, neither of which were dam
aged.
Investigators with the state Insur
ance and Safety Fire Commissioner’s
Office are assisting the Pickens
County Fire Department with this in
vestigation.
Para-pros requested to
combat “reading crisis”
Elementary principal says
32% leaving 1st grade at-risk
By Angela Reinhardt
Staff writer
areinhardt@pickensprogress.com
At a called meeting of school adminis
tration and the school board, Hill City Ele
mentary School Principal Jennifer Halko
opened her presentation with a slide she
called “shocking.” The slide referred to a
“reading crisis” among students.
Halko’s presentation followed presenta
tions from middle, junior high, and high
school principals who discussed last year’s
College and Career Readiness Performance
Index (CCRPI) scores and plans to improve
those scores in the coming years.
“Our test scores look okay,” said Halko,
who spoke on behalf of all Pickens’ ele
mentary principals at the meeting. “They’re
pretty much right there with the state. How
ever, when you really start looking into it,
our test scores, as are the states, are hover
ing around that 50 percent proficient and
above.”
She explained that those scores demon
strate that “about 50 percent of our stu
dents, Pickens County and statewide, are
not proficient. We’re pleased to be right
there with the state, but we want more for
our students.”
Halko specifically discussed reading
and early literacy and how they impact stu
dents’ performance.
“Early reading literacy is the key for
success in all content areas,” she said.
“ELA, math, See Para-pros on 2A
Damon Howell / Photo
Not all of the weekend’s snow scenes were as bad as this accident on Burnt Mtn.
Road, which happened Saturday morning. See pages 6-7A for other photos.
“Love-Lock” overlook
Damon Howell / Photo
For our Valentine’s edition we found a few people have
locked in their love by placing padlocks at the Hwy. 136
overlook to symbolize their relationships.
Some of the locks have names inscribed, such as the
blue one, “Pat & Kecia—Making memories all over the
world. ”
By Blake Moss
Intern reporter
The 15 padlocks attached
to the chain link fence above
the first of the overlooks on
Highway 136 on Burnt
Mountain aren't there for se
curity reasons - unless you
count the romantic commit
ments of those who attached
them.
With Valentine’s Day ap
proaching, you may be
wondering what padlocks on
public structures have to do
with romance, here’s a little
background: it started on the
Pont Des Arts bridge in
Paris, or as it has come to be
called in English, "The
Love-Lock Bridge." In the
early 2000s couples began
locking padlocks around the
bars of the historic bridge
with their names inscribed
on them and tossing the key
into the See Locks on 2A
Inside:
Esports team
wins state
championship
for second
year Page ib
Musician/
photographer
arrested for
child
molestation ioA
Don’t fall for
injured
grandkids
scam ioB
Stay involved
whether you
are 25 or 95 4 a
Obituaries - 3A
• Claudia Cooper
• Harvey Satterfield
• Jane Tippens
• Lucy VanDoran
• Shirley Cantrell
• Thomas Beasley
Index
Editorial
4A
Letters to the Editor
5A
Kids
3B
People
4B
Church
5B
Legals
6-7B
Classifieds
8-9B
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