Newspaper Page Text
Continued From 1A
THURSDAY. JUNE 2. 2022 PICKENS COUNTY PROGRESS PAGE 13A
De Vault
about De Vault, whom she
called “creepy,” but also said
she did not know of any inci
dents at the school.
The Progress contacted
school founder Rebecca
Hampton, who confirmed
DeVault worked there for one
month on Thursdays as a his
tory teacher. Hampton met
DeVault at McDonald’s in
Jasper and they struck up a
conversation about their en
deavors. Hampton found out
DeVault was in the ministry
and also a missionary from
Woodstock First Baptist
Church, as well as a teacher
who taught in the middle
east.
“As someone with a
school my ears perked up,”
she said. “He had all the
qualifications and had a great
personality and seemed like a
wonderful person.”
DeVault came on board
and Hampton said “the boys
absolutely loved him” as a
teacher, but that after a few
weeks a couple of the female
students told her they were
uncomfortable with him.
Hampton said she immedi
ately took him out of the
classroom and moved him to
the board of directors, which
met twice a year. She said
during his time as a teacher
he was never alone with any
student, and noted that the fa
cility is small with more than
one adult in a space at a time.
“He was on the board but
I think he only went to one
meeting,” she said. “After we
caught wind that something
was coming down the road,
and this was before he was
arrested, we took him off that
board immediately. He was
never around kids alone as a
teacher, and the board never
was around kids. Thank God
he wasn’t there any longer
than he was. We haven’t had
associations with him in three
years or so.”
An employee with Big
Canoe Realty confirmed that
he was terminated immedi
ately when charges were
brought against him.
Deputy Chief Assistant
District Attorney Katie Grop-
per of the Special Victims
Unit, who prosecuted the
case on behalf of the state,
said, “Walt DeVault presents
as charming and charismatic
and was easily able to gain
the trust of others. The fami
lies in this case trusted him
with their most precious
gifts, their daughters. He
used his position of trust to
do sexually inappropriate
things to a little girl in Chero
kee County. When he lost his
access to her, he sought out
other little girls and began the
process all over again.”
The press release states
that at the sentencing hear
ing, the victim and her father
provided victim impact state
ments to the court. “I have
experienced nightmares and
post-traumatic stress,” the
victim said in a prepared
statement read during the
hearing. “I cannot look at,
smell, or hear certain things
without getting scared and
having anxiety. This has af
fected my daily life and has
not only affected me but also
my entire family....I now
view all older men as creepy,
and I am scared of what they
will do.”
At trial, two other wit
nesses came forward and de
scribed similar incidents that
occurred with children in an
other jurisdiction outside of
Cherokee County.
There have been no inci
dents known in Pickens
County, and local law en
forcement did not have any
files on DeVault.
DeVault was sentenced to
40 years with the first 15
years to be served in confine
ment in the state penitentiary
and the remainder to be
served on probation. Upon
his release from prison, De-
Vault can have no contact
with the victims or her family
members, is banished from
Cherokee County, and must
adhere to sex offender special
conditions.
“The victim in this case
said that when she disclosed
this abuse, she felt like a
weight was lifted because
someone finally knew. It’s
heartbreaking to think of the
anxiety and pain this child
has endured, all because of
the sick behavior of a man
she once adored,” said Dis
trict Attorney Shannon Wal
lace. “Through this sentence,
this defendant will likely
spend the remainder of his
life in prison, ensuring that
no other little girls will suffer
as this victim has suffered.”
This case was investigated
by Cherokee Sheriff’s Office
and prosecuted by Deputy
Chief ADA Katie Gropper of
the Special Victims Unit, Of
fice of the District Attorney.
Continued From 1A
Ultralight
to Fire Chief Tim Prather, it
only took a few minutes to
extricate the pilot. A helicop
ter was requested and landed
on the runway to transport
the patient to a trauma center.
The cause of the crash is
unknown at this time. It is
also unknown whether the
aircraft was attempting to
land or takeoff.
“One of my guys who got
up early this morning saw
him take off and saw him fly
ing around for about 30 min
utes or so before the crash,”
Chief Prather said.
Continued From 1A
Primary
publican Hershel Walker held
off five other candidates in
the race for U. S. Senate.
Walker garnered 4,796 votes,
or 64 percent locally, and will
face incumbent Democrat
Raphael Wamock in Novem
ber. Wamock, who was un
challenged, polled 490 votes
in Pickens. In the lieutenant
governor's field of five can
didates, Republican Burt
Jones easily won with 59 per
cent of the local vote.
Against three other candi
dates, incumbent Republican
Georgia Secretary of State
Brad Raffensperger also won
out with 53 percent of the
local vote. Incumbent Repub
lican Attorney General Chris
Carr totaled 71 percent of the
Pickens vote against John
Gordon.
With 100 percent of the
Pickens precincts reporting,
8,229 out of 23,740 regis
tered voters cast ballots in the
primary for an overall turn
out of 34.66 percent.
Continued From 1A
Bathroom
and to start from the ground
up was not an easy one for
the committee because of the
additional cost and time asso
ciated with this work. Ulti
mately, the committee
determined that the existing
building would need such ex
tensive structural work to
provide the functionality and
the longevity needed for pub
lic restrooms, that we weren’t
far from building a new
building anyways.”
The new plans shown at
the meeting included a four-
stall bathroom building with
all four opening directly to
the outside. The building
shown in a sketch presented
at the meeting as stucco, but
will be a brick fapade with
wood accents to “blend in
with other buildings down
town,” said Goldener.
The city council voted
unanimously (Jim Looney,
John Foust Jr., Sonny Proctor
and Kirk Raffield - council
member Anne Sneve was ab
sent.) to approve an expendi
ture of $49,000 for CPL to
handle the planning and pa
perwork involving bids and
another roughly $10,000 for
soil and other tests, includ
ing assessing how to handle a
tunnel that may have run
from the small building back
to the former Jasper Banking
Company.
In the followup e-mail
Goldener explained, “the
planning, design, and engi
neering (architectural, struc
tural, mechanical, electrical,
plumbing, and fire protection
engineering) of the new
building, as well as the civil
engineering and landscape
design (is included in the
price). This work will gener
ate the construction docu
ments required for obtaining
permits and to go out for bid.
This dollar amount is
$49,050.”
There are also the due dili
gence items of geotechnical
testing/soil boring, additional
survey work, etc., which are
estimated at $9,075.
The funds can come from
either SPLOST dollars or a
grant for “transformational”
downtown projects, the city
hopes to receive.
New Fire Truck
The council voted to sign
the paperwork to purchase a
new fire truck for $643,000
payable upon delivery - a de
livery that may not come for
the next two years.
City Manager Sonia
Jammes told the council that
upon hiring new fire chief
John Sherrer III, they recog
nized the need to add a new
fire truck may be hampered
by long delivery times across
the nation. Jammes said they
are looking at a possible 27
months delay.
She said they can lock in
a price now before expected
increases. “The prices are not
going down, they are only in
creasing,” she told council.
She said they believe they
will increase four percent in
June and the company ex
pects to raise prices again in
October, both of those hikes
will be avoided with the
signed contract.
The council voted unani
mously for this and will hold
$30,000 each month in
SPLOST funds between now
and delivery to pay for the
new fire truck.
The truck they are buying
will be identical to the city’s
2018 model which helps with
training as the equipment on
both trucks is the same.
NOTHING HELPS
DRIVE
GEORGIA’S ECONOMY
QUITE LIKE
ACTUAL
RIVERS
THAT’S WHY WE’RE INVESTING $1M WITH THE TECHNICAL COLLEGE SYSTEM OF GEORGIA
TO IMPROVE AND EXPAND ACCESS TO COMM ERCIAL DRIVER’S LICENSE TRAINING.
^^Technical College
1I8»- System of Georgia
COMPANY