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^Reporter
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July 6, 2011
PAGE 7A
Meet Trey Piper, volunteer firefighter in Smarr
Trey Piper of Culloden is a volunteer firefighter for Monroe County
at its Smarr station. He lost 108 pounds when he went to military
police school. (Photo/Laura Corley)
BY LAURA CORLEY
Serving the public is nothing
new to a young Culloden man,
who has been actively doing so for
the past three years.
Trey Piper, 20, is currently a vol
unteer firefighter at station 10 in
Smarr. He is the son of Terri
Roquemore and the late Terril
Piper.
“I’ve always enjoyed helping peo
ple.” Piper said.
In February 2008, Piper signed
with the National Guard and that
summer, he attended nine weeks
of basic training in Ft.
Leonardwood,,Mo. It was during
this time that Piper began to lose
weight for the military.
After he graduated from Military
Police School in August 2009,
Piper lost a total of 108 pounds.
“It’s one of my biggest accom
plishments.” said Piper, who is
now a Junior Noncommissioned
officer.
After police school, Piper real
ized it was not what he wanted to
do. It was then that he decided to
test the waters of firefighting. His
step father, Ken Mathews, worked
for Fulton and Monroe counties
and is currently fire captain of
Fort Valley. Piper says he got
hands-on experience in the career
as an eight year old.
“I was used as a [pretend] victim
in my step-father’s classes. I
learned a lot from that,” Piper
said.
Piper completed his certification
to be a firefighter in February
2010. He says one of the most
scarring things he has experienced
thus far was having to remove a
charred body from a car earlier
this year.
He is currently in ENT school at
Central Georgia Technical College
and hopes that the qualification
will allow him to better serve the
public.
Piper said his fellow firefighters
are like brothers. Bobby Duncan
and A. J. Rollins taught him every
thing he needs to know about fire
fighting including how to drive the
truck and pump water.
His plans are to become a full
time firefighter in Fulton County
while still living in Monroe
County and volunteering part
time. After he completes his ENT
education, Piper plans to pursue a
career in personal training to sup
plement his firefighting career.
Weeks
continued from the front
Judge Tommy Wilson listens to assistant district attorney Mark
Daniel as Weeks’ attorney Holly Hogue, left, and prosector
Lauren Love, right, look on. (Photo/Will Davis)
2006 claim that her dad had raped her.
But Love said the girl was only 17 at the
time and didn’t understand what it
meant.
The younger sibling said she decided to
come forward with her accusation of a
lone incident of abuse after hearing her
mother and half-sister talking about it in
the car.
But Weeks’ attorney Holly Hogue of
Macon said the girls were coached by
Weeks’ ex-wife, noting the girls used sim
ilar language, saying their father
“touched them in the wrong place” and
using words like “uncomfortable” and
“awkward” that were uncommon to chil
dren.
For his part, Weeks took the unusual
step of testifying in his defense on
Thursday. Wearing his light blue fire
fighter shirt and black tie, Weeks assert
ed his innocence. Hogue introduced a let
ter to Weeks from DFACS in 2006 that
cleared him of the older daughter’s origi
nal accusation due to lack of evidence.
And while the younger daughter
claimed she was molested between
Thanksgiving and Christmas of 2007,
Weeks offered a detailed calendar he
keeps of his daily schedule which showed
she didn’t visit him during that time.
Love responded that no one would write
on their calendar that he molested his
child that day.
As his testimony wrapped up, Weeks
asked the jury to give him his dignity
back.
“In my public service I have always
tried to act with honor,” said Weeks.
“This has taken my pride, my honor, and
my reputation. I have never touched my
daughters in any way inappropriately.”
Hogue said prosecutors pushed the case
forward without digging beneath the sur
face to see if the allegations were true.
And Weeks said on Jan. 3, 2009 his old
est daughter was asking if she could
move back in with him, one day after she
made her accusation to the sheriff’s
office. She apologized and agreed to live
by his rules, but he said
it didn’t last.
Weeks said his oldest
daughter has had some
behavioral issues. Her
mother, his first wife,
died in a car wreck they
were in when she was
just 10. Weeks’ second
wife filed for divorce in
2004 and Weeks soon
remarried his current
wife. The current wife,
Ticha Weeks, testified
that she and her daugh
ter, Rhianna Roller, live
with Weeks, something
she would never allow if
she thought Weeks had
molested his daughter.
Weeks said he tried to
get counseling to help for their relation
ships in a blended family, and he made
his oldest daughter sign contract agree
ments committing to live under his rules
of the house. But he said she continued
to miss her 10 p.m. curfew and wrecked
the family car while trying to leave the
driveway, and eventually left the home to
live with her boyfriend.
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