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Common Sense
The Progress
Editorial
April 29,2021
From the Staff
Should the public trust county
audits ever again?
The dust may be close to settling with
the financial misdeeds un-covered in the
magistrate court that went back at least
two years. A 25-year employee of county
government, Allen Wigington, pled
guilty to numerous counts of improper
use of the county credit card.
The former chief magistrate’s guilty
plea makes it easier and simpler to call
for action by county government without
any concerns about influencing a jury or
condemning Wigington before his day in
court.
So, let us state clearly, it’s well past
time for the county to look at what hap
pened in Wigington’s crimes and be sure
their house is in order. Have a crooked
employee fool us once, shame on him,
but if you don’t take actions to install
safeguards then shame on us.
With his admission, there is no disput
ing that the former elected judicial offi
cial regularly took the county credit card
onAmazon.com shopping sprees. As the
investigation documents piled up, it was
found that Wigington charged everything
from hotel nights to mattresses to casual
clothing to the county.
The open records request of the mag
istrate’s credit card bill shows this wasn’t
a devious, ingenious crime. In some
cases Wigington used false receipts to
hide misdeeds but in others, he made few
attempts to hide the purchases. The
amount and frequency of purchases at
Amazon alone should have thrown up
red flags galore. On many months, the
magistrate court’s total credit card spend
ing was half of all county credit card
spending, roughly $4,000 a month on
Wigington’s card out of around $8,000
total for the all county departments.
It stood out. Did no one notice until
the warrants were taken?
Taxpayers have expressed disappoint
ment in Wigington, who was a fixture in
county politics for the past quarter cen
tury and was mostly well-respected.
They have also expressed anger over a
government employee living large
($40,000 a year or so) buying their elec
tronic ear wax removers out of our tax
money. People across the nation are al
ready scornful of government at any
level and cases like this stoke the fire.
Up until now, the people who have
been surprisingly silent are the folks over
at the county admin, building where
those credit card charges were paid every
month - the people who kept writing the
checks for the illegal spending.
There has yet to be any statement from
county government that they were ap
palled. Maybe they were holding off until
the case was settled?
But surely now our county commis
sioners and finance team over there will
set the record straight. How did the exor
bitant spending go un-noticed, un-re-
ported, un-checked and un-stopped for
the two years that the GBI and sheriff’s
investigators found the constant im
proper use of the county credit card?
And do we have something set up to
prevent it from happening again?
Keep in mind that the commission
chair when this occurred is no longer in
office and the chief financial officer in
charge during that time is set to retire. So,
our new commission chair can flip the
page, but first, the public has the right for
some answers.
We have questioned in this space be
fore and restate it now, is the yearly
county audit performed by an independ
ent outside firm of any value? It sure let
a whopper of a fish off in this case. Why
should the public ever trust an audit of
Pickens County government again?
The cost of an independent auditor to
answer some of these questions on behalf
of the county government will be expen
sive. But public confidence that our gov
ernment is intent to stopping these abuses
of power is priceless.
Tell us your thoughts with a letter to the editor. E-mail to news@pickensprogress.com
See letter submission guidelines on the Letters to the Editor page or call us 706-253-2457.
Ponderings of a Simple Man
Py Caleb Smith
OTHER VOICES
Call me if you need
International Man
of Misery
I have many talents. Now
that may not be the humblest
way to start an article, but
facts are facts.
Who else can discover,
without fail, the location of a
yellowjacket nest simply by
sitting down in the yard?
Who else can build a $300
dog house using only $1,000
worth of lumber and $200
worth of nails, or start a mid
sized forest fire with nothing
more than a poorly insulated
battery cable?
No matter how you slice
it, I am a man of many tal
ents. Chief among them,
however, is my ability to be
miserable.
No matter the occasion,
no matter the location, I guar
antee you I can be miserable
there. At a wedding to cele
brate the start of the happy
couples’ life? Miserable.
Graduation party? I’ll be
grumbling about having to
pay for parking. A relaxing
afternoon on the beach, water
lapping at my toes as I sit in
sparkling white sand? I’ll be
complaining about the noisy
teenagers a hundred yards
away.
Even amusement parks
aren’t immune to my partic
ular talent. I take ‘Happiest
place on earth’ as a personal
challenge. It honestly wasn’t
that hard. Come on, $12 dol
lars for a turkey leg? The
only time you should spend
$12 dollars on a turkey leg is
if it comes wrapped in two $5
bills.
My special skillset also
applies internationally. When
I got the opportunity to visit
Europe a few years back, I
carried with me a toothbrush,
some clothes, and a healthy
dose of misery. Ireland and
Scotland received it pretty
well. The perpetually foggy
and drizzly weather there
lends itself to some pretty
miserable conditions, and I
came away having learned a
lot about how to improve my
misery skills.
England and France
weren’t quite as welcoming,
but that could have just been
my constant query of ‘Hey,
you guys remember when we
saved your butts during
WWII? Good times.” Sur
prisingly that didn’t go over
well and I quickly moved on.
It wasn’t until I finally
ended my trip in Russia that
I tndy felt at home. Not only
did my determination to be
miserable help me fit in, I
was quickly made an hon
orary citizen. They appreciate
misery in Russia, it’s practi
cally a natural pastime. The
Russians enjoy a good mis
ery as only a people raised on
a diet of fermented cabbage
and sub-zero temperatures
can.
For weeks I traveled ex
otic locations, visiting sites of
incredible historical signifi
cance and beauty. I tasted
foods I had never dreamt of,
spoke with people from all
walks of life.
But all things must come
to an end, and the day came
when I had to pack up to
head home.
And not a minute too
soon. It had been a miserable
trip.
[Caleb Smith is a long
time, award-winning, colum
nist for the Progress.]
By Mary Migliaro
Last year a dear
friend lost her husband sud
denly to a massive heart at
tack. They had been married
for nearly 30 years. Natu
rally, she was thrown into im
mense shock and grief. I
reached out to her by text
first to offer my condolences,
then called and left voice
mail as well. The last part of
my voice mail was, “If you
need anything, just call me.”
In addition to the mes
sages, I also sent a sympathy
card writing some personal
recollections of her husband
and again, included the
phrase, “If you need any
thing, just call me.”
On reflection, I realized I
had done what so many peo
ple do who just want to help
someone who is grieving. We
are often ill-prepared to con
sider something to do for the
person other than the tradi
tional taking food over to
their house. We don’t know
exactly what to do but we tell
the grieving person to let us
know what we can do.
Back in the day, friends
would cook or bake food and
drop it by the person’s home.
With COVID, that was a
nonstarter, and I realized that
also puts a burden on the per
son because they now must
store the food and worry
about returning the container
to you when the food is gone.
I also got to thinking later
that she might be like I am.
As a very independent per
son, I very much dislike hav
ing to ask anyone for help
and realized that perhaps I
had just put the burden on her
instead of taking some initia
tive on my own.
I began looking for ways
to help that required no ac
tion on her part but would let
her know that I honored the
memory of her husband and
provide her some solace in
her grief.
In researching some ap
propriate things to do, I
found several things to con
sider. One was giving a dona-
tion to the American Heart
Association since he had died
from a heart attack.
I also knew what church
they went to and thought
about a donation to that
church to be used for their
food pantry where he had
volunteered for years. Feed
ing America is a nonprofit
that provides resources to
food pantries across the US
to support their work in mak
ing sure Americans do not go
hungry. That would include
the food pantry at his church
as well.
Sending a gift card for a
food delivery service allows
the recipient the ability to
choose what food they get
and when as well as have it
delivered to the home at the
time of their choosing.
There are companies that
provide memorial opportuni
ties that I also considered.
One is called The Trees Re
member. Trees are planted
through programs established
by, and under the supervision
of, the U.S. Forest Service.
Donors can choose the na
tional forest that most closely
aligns with the person being
honored. A memorial tree is
an enduring symbol that will
grow stronger year after year.
The loved one receives a card
expressing your condolences
anything
with materials to identify
where the tree has been
planted.
The International Star
Registry allows you to honor
a friend, family member,
loved one, or colleague by
having a star named in his or
her memory. The star name
package includes a 12” x 16”
star certificate with the name
of the star and telescopic co
ordinates, a sky chart with
the star’s location indicated
and circled, and a booklet
about astronomy.
There are many more
types of memorials for con
sideration but the most im
portant thing anyone can do
when a friend loses a loved
one is just to be there and let
them know you are thinking
about them and available.
[Mary Migliaro, M.Ed. is
an educator and parent men
tor. She may be contacted at
maiymigliaro@aol.com.]
WEATHER
By
William
Dilbeck
HI
LOW
RAIN
April
20
70
42
.00
April
21
50
28
.00
April
22
56
31
.00
April
23
62
33
.19
April
24
63
49
1.02
April
25
64
45
.00
April
26
72
54
.00
(USPS 431-820)
Published by Pickens County Progress, Inc.
94 North Main Street, Jasper, GA 30143
(706) 253-2457
www.pickensprogressonline.com
DAN POOL
Publisher/Editor
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