Newspaper Page Text
Thursday, April 28, 2022 | Volume 135 Number 2 | Jasper, Georgia | 26 pages, 2 sections | Published Weekly | $1.00
PHS looking strong
in spring sports
Former school superintendent
charged with financial crimes
Co-owners of gun range file $1M
lawsuit against Wilson, wife
By Angela Reinhardt
Staff Writer
areinhardt@pickensprogress.com
Carlton Wilson, who has
previously served as the su
perintendent of Pickens
schools and as an assistant
magistrate judge, turned
himself in to Pickens Sheriff
investigators Thursday, April
21, accused of financial
crimes.
Wilson has been charged
with one count of Theft by
Deception and six counts of
Theft by Taking, all felony
charges. A civil lawsuit has
also been filed against Wil
son and his wife Cindy Wil
son for stealing from
Appalachian Gun Range,
Inc., which they co-own
with two other individuals.
The Progress contacted
Wilson, but he said he has
been advised by his attorney
Scott Poole not to comment
publicly at this time.
The six Theft by Taking
charges relate to Wilson al
legedly selling a piece of
land that was donated for use
of the Boy Scouts organiza
tion in Hill City and transfer
ring the money to a personal
account. The Pickens Sher
iff’s affidavit states the
money was used for ‘‘Wil
son’s personal use facilitat
ing his participation in
online gambling activities,”
and to pay gambling debts.
Wilson was closely affili
ated with the Hill City Boy
Scouts non-profit “Scouts of
Hill City, Inc.,” according to
the affidavit, which also
states that the person who
donated the property made it
clear it was solely to benefit
the Boy Scouts of America.
All Boy Scout troops associ
ated with that Scouts of Hill
City non-profit had dis
banded or merged into an
other troop by 2016.
“In August 2021, some
six years after Scouts of Hill
City Inc. BSA Troop 288
disbanded, Carlton Wilson
and Austin Wilson opened a
checking account in the
name of the Scouts of Hill
City Inc. at Community
Bank of Pickens County list
ing the only signatory as
Carlton Wilson,” the affi
davit states.
The 10 acres is located
off Bull Gap Road. Wilson
Pickens Sheriff’s Office
Carlton Wilson
book-in photo.
split it into two five-acre
tracts and sold each for
$14,000 , then deposited a
total of $26,520 from these
sales into the Community
Bank of Pickens County ac
count on September 9, 2021,
according to the sheriff’s of
fice. Then between Septem
ber 9 and December 1 of
2021 Wilson allegedly trans
ferred $26,450 from the non
profit’s checking account to
his personal checking or
credit accounts, or to himself
directly by cashing checks
made to Carlton Wilson. The
$26,450 was transferred to
Wilson in six separate trans
actions that ranged between
$900 and $9,000, documents
show.
The Theft by Deception
charge relates to Wilson ille
gally obtaining payroll
checks from Pickens
County’s shared sick leave
bank after he ran out of his
own sick leave, “by using
deceitful means and failing
to report that he was able to
work at Appalachian Gun
Range.”
Waterfall
robbery
conspirator
sentenced
Pickens Sheriff’s Office
Tiffany Keown
By Angela Reinhardt
Staff Writer
areinhardt@pickensprogress.com
The teenage female who or
ganized an armed robbery at a
waterfall in Pickens County
was sentenced in court last
week, with her charges reduced
significantly as the result of a
negotiated plea.
Tiffany Nicole Keown, 19,
was indicted along with three
other co-defendants and faced
charges of armed robbery, en
tering an automobile, and theft
by taking for an incident that
occurred on August 15, 2021.
Keown, who has family in
Pickens but who lives out of
the county, arranged to meet a
male friend at Wendy’s in
Jasper to pay back money she
borrowed from him at one
See Keown on 12A
What is east and what is west?
By Alex Goble
Staff Writer
agoble@pickensprogress.com
It’s tempting to say
that Highway 515
marks the dividing line
between Pickens
County’s east and west
sides. But, for our polit
ical divisions, that sim
ple answer is
unfortunately not very
accurate.
The official com
mission districts divid
ing line may seem
strange geographically.
Since the political divi
sions between east and
west are based on pop
ulation, the line doesn’t
necessarily follow
highways or straight
lines.
The state’s Legisla
tive Redistricting Of
fice divides cities and
counties in a way that
balances population as
closely as possible. Ac
cording to Georgia
House Representative
Rick Jasperse, when the
division along the cur
rent line was made the
population split was
within 250, a very close
number.
The current separa
tion in Pickens County
basically follows High
way 53 up from the
south to where it meets
Highway 515 and gen
erally follows Highway
See Districts on 12A
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The dividing line between east and west commission districts.
With races on both sides underway, voters may want to
check and be sure they know which district they reside in.
Wilson is co-owner of the
gun range and was giving gun
safety lessons while receiving
those payroll checks from the
county sick leave bank, accord
ing to sheriff’s documents. Wil
son allegedly took five separate
payments that originated from
the sick leave bank totaling
$6,340.54 between December
2021 and January 2022. The af
fidavit also states that Wilson
used the money to pay for on
line gambling activities or gam
bling debts.
The warrant states that Wil
son had been injured in a car ac
cident during his employment
See Wilson on 12A
Church
Si^
National Day of
Prayer May 5th
Page 2B
Entertainment
Commission hopefuls give similar messages
on need to control growth during GOP forum
Dan Pool / Photo
Commission candidates: (l-r) Rick Tucker, Josh Tippens, David Shouse, Robert Watson, Brian Cleghorn, Dave Garner and Josh Tatum
at the forum last week.
By Dan Pool
Editor
dpool@pickensprogress.com
The candidates seeking
both the east and west end
commission seats met at a
GOP hosted forum April 20,
with all expressing support
for controlling growth so
Pickens doesn’t become a
typical metro county.
The program had candi
dates in one large group, re
sponding to questions from
party officials. As GOP chair
Chris Mora explained, re
gardless of whether it’s east
or west end, the role of a
commissioner is the same, so
it made sense to have one
event for all.
For the west side seat
candidates are Rick Tucker,
Josh Tippens, David Shouse,
Robert Watson, and Brian
Cleghorn. This is a race for a
full four-year term. The seat
was previously held by Jerry
Barnes who chose to not run
for re-election.
For the east seat the can
didates are Dave Gamer and
Josh Tatum. This is techni
cally a non-partisan race to
fill a two-year portion of
Becky Denney’s term. Den
ney resigned last year.
With a lot of new faces
among candidates and a lot
of people new to the com
munity attending the GOP
forum, the room was filled
with an estimated 60 people
watching plus more viewing
online streams of the
evening.
All candidates remained
cordial during the debate. A
selection of responses can be
found on the continued page.
See Forum on 13A
Gospel Song Fest
sweet success of
melodies
Page 8A
Meeting
Tim Prather sworn
in as county’s
new fire chief
Page 5A
Obituaries - 9A
• Carolyn Swann
• Dale Luna
• Pauline Mullins
• Susie Young
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