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BIGFOOT STOMP
Molena event draws visitors from near and far.
See page 1B
PIKE COUNTY
JOURNAL REPORTER
ONE DOLLAR
www.pikecountygeorgia.com
WEDNESDAY, JULY 19, 2023
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PIKE'S PEEK
Artists
needed
July 21
at PCES
Local artists are
needed to help inspire
Pike County Elemen
tary School students
through messages
painted at the school.
Volunteers are encour
aged to email LeeM@
Pike.kl2.ga.us if they
are available to
help starting at
8 a.m.
Friday,
July 21.
“En
couraging
words can
change a
child’s
entire
day,” said
fifth grade
teacher
Meghan Lee.
“Help us inspire them
through the messages
they see!”
The PCES project
will start with painting
the restrooms with the
following themes, Bee
Kind, Sports, Leader
ship, Super Hero and
more.
SPECIAL PHOTOS
To help share encourag
ing messages with Pike
County Elementary School
studetns all year long,
email LeeM@pike.k12.
ga.us and show up at 8
a.m. Friday, July 21.
Family loses home, pets in house fire
A local family lost every
thing after a fire consumed
their home at 4178 Highway
109 in Molena.
Around 5:30 p.m. Pike
County Fire Department
personnel responded to the
fully involved structure fire.
“According to the resi
dents, no one was home at
the time except the fam
ily pets, two dogs and two
cats. The neighbor saw the
house engulfed and mes
saged the resident who was
on her way home,” said
PCFD public information
officer Anita Neath. “Unfor
tunately, the animals did not
survive.”
PCFD was supported
by mutual aid from Upson
County firefighters and
Meriwether County Fire
Department.
Brittany and Donny
Ryder were the residents of
the home. Brittany works at
Honeywood Farms in Lamar
County and the farmer’s
market and restaurant are
accepting donations to help
them.
“We are taking donations
instead of cash tips for the
rest of this week to help out
this sweet family. Any gift
cards or money that any
one wants to donate will be
given to them to help out
during such a tragic time.
Thank you for everyone
who has already showed
them so much love and
let’s continue to lift them in
prayer,” said Honeywood’s
social media post.
Pike County’s Baylynn
Strader recently took their
pregnancy announcement
photos.
“This couple is something
out of a story book. Their
love is infections and as
bright as the sun. Spending
time with them makes you
see the joy and beauty that
is in this world,” she said.
See FIRE page 2A
SPECIAL PHOTOS
Above right, Pike County’s Rick Rickerson gets a hug from Riley Buchanan after he and his wife Carla gave the family a hand
icap-accessible van. Above left, Becca Buchanan and her daughter Riley’s lives were changed forever when Becca got into a
car wreck in Pike on the way home from work and was paralyzed. Rick, a retired fire chief, was at the scene of the wreck and
helped save her life but he didn’t stop there. He and Carla helped change their lives by giving them a van and paving a driveway
for Becca’s motorized wheelchair six years later. They had been saving for a boat but decided to buy the van instead. The story
went viral and a local couple donated a boat to Rick and Carla.
Locals’ story spurs acts of kindness
BY RACHEL McDANIEL
news@pikecountygeorgia.com
Sometimes, heroic actions
are overlooked but that has
not been the case for Pike
County resident and retired
Griffin fire chief Rick Rick
erson. As a civilian, he saved
a woman from dying in a car
wreck near the intersection
of Highway 109 and McCard
Lake Road in 2017. He wasn’t
honored for his actions but
instead jailed for not mov
ing his vehicle immediately
when a Georgia State Patrol
officer demanded he leave
the side of Rebecca ‘Becca’
Buchanan who was struggling
to breathe. Rickerson said he
was clearing the blood from
her airway so she wouldn’t
suffocate and refused. The
truck was moved by a by
stander but Rickerson had to
watch the lifeflight helicopter
lift off with Becca inside from
the back of a patrol car as he
was arrested for obstruction
of an officer.
His heroics were appreci
ated by more than just Becca
and her family when Atlanta
TV stations aired photos and
911 calls from the rescue as
well as Rick taking roses to
Becca when he was released
from jail. The DA’s office
dropped the charges against
Rick shortly afterward.
“He saved my life,” said
Becca. “And I’ll tell you one
reward he has is my friend
ship forever.”
Rick said the only reward
he needed was to see smiles
on her face and her daughter
who was 5 years old at the
time of the wreck. The crash
paralyzed Becca and she was
left in a wheelchair.
Rick and his wife Carla
continued to be a positive
presence in their life, visiting
her in the hospital and then
celebrating Becca’s and her
daughter’s birthdays and the
anniversary of the wreck and
even holidays.
Last summer, the couple
was discussing buying a
pontoon boat using the
money they had saved up
but decided instead to buy
a wheelchair accessible van
for Becca and her family. Not
having an accessible vehicle
meant Becca was unable to
go to her daughter’s basket
ball games and other impor
tant events. The Rickersons
also arranged for other good
Samaritans - including Gralon
Head of Quality Paving in
Barnesville - to pave her
driveway so she could safely
get from her home to the road
after they found out she had
fallen out of her wheelchair
trying to leave the house.
The story was covered for
TV news by Brendan Keefe
and then it went viral as more
than 55 million people across
the globe watched a TikTok
video about the life saving
and life changing acts of the
Rickersons.
“I’ve gotten messages from
people all over the world who
say they have been inspired
by this story,” said Rick. “So
many have reached out to say
they were encouraged by this
and that’s what life’s all about
- encouraging others.”
This June, Rick, Carla and
Becca were invited by 11
Alive’s Brendan Keefe to a re
ception at the Hyatt in Atlanta
for an awards program where
Brendan had been nominated
for an Emmy award for his
coverage of the handicap
accessible van donation.
The Rickersons got Becca a
hotel room and drove her to
the event and when Brendan
won the Emmy for cover
ing the story, he gave the
Emmy to Becca. He gave the
Rickersons the Emmy he had
earned in 2019 for covering
the original story.
The Rickersons finally got
their boat when Tim and Tara
Kenney of Concord gave them
one. The boat had its maiden
voyage this Father’s Day as
Rick’s son Josh Rickerson
took him to West Point Lake.
Carla and Rick Rickerson celebrate with Becca Bu
chanan as she was given an Emmy award by TV jour
nalist Brendan Keefe. Becca was rescued by Rick Rick
erson after flipping several times near the intersection
of Highway 109 and McCard Lake Road in 2017.
Pike County’s Rick Rickerson and his dog Panda enjoy
riding on the boat that was given to his family. It was
donated to the Rickersons by Tim and Tara Kenney.
Wreck
claims
life
One person was
killed Sunday after
noon in a one-vehicle
roll over crash on
Highway 41 at New
Hope Road in Pike
County near the Lamar
County line.
Kadarius Blackmon,
23 of Lamar County,
was the only occupant
of the vehicle and he
was deceased at the
scene.
“It was a single
vehicle wreck and it
appears he went off
the roadway, overcor
rected and the vehicle
rolled over,” said Pike
County Sheriff’s Office
investigator Maj. David
Neal.
Maj. Neal also noted
that the wreck is still
under investigation by
Pike’s traffic investiga
tors.
First responders
were dispatched to the
scene of the wreck at
around 4:45 p.m. on
July 16.
See WRECK page 2A
GOVID
monitor
updates
to end
With COV1D no lon
ger a significant health
threat here in Pike
County, the Journal
Reporter will suspend
updating the COV1D-19
Monitor at pikecounty-
georgia.com and in the
print edition.
The newspaper
has provided updated
statistics for Pike and
surrounding
counties since
March 2020.
There
have
been four'
deaths
attributed
to COV1D
in the first
half of 2023
and confirmed
cases have dwindled
to single digits for a
majority of the year so
far. Should ill effects
from the pandemic
increase for the com
munity, the Journal
Reporter will resume
updates.
