AMERICUS, Ga. (WALB) – Two former Americus High School football stars will be inducted into the Georgia High School Hall of Fame later this year.

Kent Hill and Leonard Pope will be inducted into the Georgia High School Hall of Fame on Oct. 26.

Both Hill and Pope are the only pair of inductees from the same school. They played 27 years apart.

In 2016, Americus High School was named to the NFL’s High School Honor Roll.

Both Hill and Pope attended the ceremony and were presented with gold footballs which are now displayed at the school.

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Team British Columbia.

50° 7′ 19” N | -122° 57′ 15” E

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EWS Throwback

46° 28′ 37” N | 11° 46′ 16” E

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The first day was spent in Canazei, an iconic small town in central Italy where Georgia had raced an Enduro World Cup a few years before. A tram from downtown took them up to some rolling meadows at the base of the grand Dolomite Mountains. The views were impressive and the trail down was a great combination of rocky tech and fast loamy single track. All parts combined, it made for a great day in the Italian Alps and got everyone excited for the following day’s adventure and the potential of riding some scree chutes.

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As loose as it gets.

46° 32′ 16” N | 10° 08′ 11” E

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The next day was an early morning wake up after a night of intense storms, however the clouds were parting and the sun came beaming through. The goal of the day was to ride down some picture perfect scree chutes and get a taste for European freeriding! The mountains still held a decent amount of snow and the ridges that looked like a freerider’s dream would’ve only been snow free for a week by that time, making the ground quite packed down. Unfortunately this meant that the scree was not as playful as originally hoped but it was still well worth the hike up and these freeride athletes had a blast on the way down! The day of riding came to an end but with sights set on yet another adventure for the next day it was back in the car and on to the next town.

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The rolling Basecamp.

46° 54′ 19” N | 11° 05′ 51” E

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You might wonder what drives one to choose a 35yo vehicle for a roadtrip through the Alps and across countless mountain passes. And to be honest, there’s probably no rational reason for this. But at least this thing looks good, with a rooftop tent on top of it, right? The only issue was that the alternator of the old British Diva broke just 2 days before the start of the trip. Somehow Moritz managed to fit in a spare part from an old German tractor, just in time. And that’s all part of the experience, right?

Waking up with an incredible mountain view was truly hard to beat, with the morning sun dipping the scenery into a warm light after a night that was slightly colder than expected.

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No bears up here.

46° 42′ 10” N | 12° 20′ 58” E

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In comparison to the province of British Columbia, Italy is quite small yet the daily drives always took a bit longer than expected. Not because of the distance but due to how steep and windy the roads are in order to get around all the towering mountains where the towns are nestled into. After three impressively steep mountain passes and a whole lot of pulling over to let cars and motorcyclists overtake, the crew finally arrived in Sexten, Italy. Another quaint town and a great spot to start their next outing, this time on the enduro bikes!

A quick Gondola bump from town got them starting their pedal just about at 2000 meters. However the first 10 pedals were not sounding great for Kirsten’s bike, a seized idler pulley was throwing a spanner in the works of the mission. With no chain lube or grease around the logical next option was to use the tasty pesto that had been packed along to have with lunch. It worked flawlessly and so began the undulating traverse along Monte Elmo ridge.

It worked flawlessly and so began the undulating traverse along Monte Elmo ridge. The track lays on the Austria and Italy border. Along the way there were plenty of old bunkers and trenches from the war that could be spotted. The Canadian education system provides a brief overview of the long history of wars in Europe, but being able to see actual evidence really brought the textbook information to life.It was a fantastic time on the trail and the views of the grand Dolimite peaks across the valley were nothing short of impressive. A 20 km afternoon ride got the team to a secluded camp spot next to a small lake where they spent the night. The next day was more descending through tiny Italian villages nestled throughout the hills. Once at the cars it was on to the next town.

The track lies on the Austria and Italy border. Along the way there were plenty of old bunkers and trenches from the war that could be spotted. The Canadian education system provides a brief overview of the long history of wars in Europe, but being able to see actual artefacts really brought the textbook information to life. It was a fantastic time on the trail and the views of the grand Dolomite peaks across the valley were nothing short of impressive. A 20 km afternoon ride got the team to a secluded camp spot next to a small lake where they spent the night. The next day was all downhill, the track descended through the alpine, forests, and many small Italian villages.

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Big Hits & Cold Toes.

46° 58′ 02” N | 11° 00′ 25” E

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With Crankworx Innsbruck drawing near, there was time for a quick sunrise pedal the next day before making the drive over to Innsbruck.

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Grande Finale.

47° 16′ 09” N | 11° 24′ 15” E

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There would be no better way to cap off such a memorable week than with a good ol Whipoff on one of the most photographed, iconic jump that overlooks the Innsbruck valley and the Nordkette Range. It’s always an exciting time riding a new jump and the crowd being there to cheer the riders on as they figure out the jump makes it even better. The Whipoff goes on for roughly two hours as riders attempt to get their bike as sideways as possible and then back for a seamless landing. From practice to judged riding then to finals, the girls progressed effortlessly and were having a blast riding in trains with the other athletes. The last few whips were the deciding point letting Georgia take the win with Kirsten close behind in second.
One champagne shower later and it was off to find a real shower before heading back to camp.

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The Gear.

47° 16′ 09” N | 11° 24′ 15” E

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Both girls had their ABUS HiDrop helmets for the days in the bikepark, as well as ABUS Cliffhanger’s for the long pedaling day. Georgia rides a Devinci Chainsaw DH set up full 27.5” for bike park laps & the Crankworx Whipoff, her enduro set up is a mullet 170mm Chainsaw for pedaling. Kirsten’s Trek Slash Mullet is her tool of choice for the long climbs in the Dolomites, and her full 27.5” Trek Session for the jumps and park.

And Bruno? Bruno’s a 1989 Range Rover Classic. 2.4 TD VM, for those who want to know the details. First registered in Gorizia, Italy. Later sold to Firenze and Viterbo, where Moritz imported him to Austria in 2020. We would not say he’s never having issues, the transmission is leaking a bit, but all in all he runs smoothly for the almost 200k km on the clock.

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A Georgia Senate special committee investigating the professional conduct of Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis spent several hours Friday hearing testimony about the broad discretion district attorneys have over their budgets.

Republican state lawmakers trained their sights on DA discretionary spending after a Fulton Superior Court hearing revealed that Willis had hired a special prosecutor she was romantically involved with.

 In the Senate Special Committee on Investigations hearing, the majority of the focus was on rules and regulations for District Attorney offices throughout the state, including a DA’s ability to hire special prosecutors and the allocation of other budgetary expenses.

Committee Chairman Bill Cowsert, an Athens Republican, said  the hearing was intended to address concerns that county commissioners, the public, and others may have that Georgia DAs have too much control over how to run their offices. 

Cowsert said he is concerned about budgetary disparities between less populated counties and “wealthy counties” that can afford to provide significantly greater funding resources for their district attorneys.

“I hate to see us have smaller counties that feel like they don’t have enough personnel because their counties can’t supplement it or they’re not playing their politics well enough or are not on the right side of the blue or the red to be getting the federal grants coming down,” he said. 

The Senate committee’s hearing Friday was its first time meeting since May 23, when a former Fulton juvenile diversion program director alleged that Willis’ and DA staff improperly spent federal funds on gang prevention and empowerment programs. 

Willis’ Fulton Superior Court 2020 presidential election interference case is now on hold while the Georgia Court of Appeals reviews a motion filed by Trump and several co-defendants seeking to remove Willis from the case. Their argument is that Willis should be disqualified as a result of an undisclosed romantic relationship he had with Nathan Wade, who she hired as a special prosecutor to oversee a case. Wade was paid about $700,000 from the county as the case’s  lead prosecutor before he resigned this March under scandal. 

 Over the past few months, the committee has heard from expert witnesses ranging from a defense attorney who helped uncover the Willis romantic affair, high ranking Fulton County officials, and others. 

Willis remains at odds with Cowsert’s panel over whether she should be forced to comply with a subpoena to testify before the committee.

The special investigation committee’s next meeting is scheduled for Sept. 13.

On Friday, three current and former district attorneys testified about how state, local, and federal grants  trickle down to DAs offices. 

The statewide Prosecuting Attorneys’ Council of Georgia oversees how DAs allocate state money, as well as how they provide resources such as assigning independent prosecutors to assist DAs’ offices in handling specialized cases. 

It is not the council’s responsibility to discipline or remove district attorneys for misconduct, which is handled by a board of the State Bar of Georgia that determines whether a lawyer has violated a state’s professional conduct rules, the witnesses said Friday.

At Friday’s hearing, legislators wondered how they could help develop more ethical guidelines for district attorneys, including directing a controversial new prosecutors oversight commission to develop a code of conduct for local prosecutors

A majority of the state’s 50 district attorneys handle cases for several counties within a judicial circuit, operating on a shoestring budget compared to larger metropolitan areas, said T. Wright Barksdale III, district attorney for the Ocmulgee Judicial Circuit.

Wright said that county and judicial district types of cases differ greatly, and that while the county provides prosecutors with operating expenses, accountability for district attorneys takes place at the ballot box with the public deciding whether the money is being spent appropriately.

Fulton County’s district attorney’s office was recently criticized in an county audit, resulting in the DA’s attorneys arguing Willis as a constitutional officer has the authority to hire special prosecutors and case experts.

“The county can come in next year and say, ‘We don’t agree with that’ but the public needs to understand the county commissioners are giving large amounts of money to people that are spending it however, they have culpability and responsibility to make sure that what’s being spent is appropriate,” Wright said. 

Porter suggested that county officials could try to reduce funds they believe were misappropriated in the next budgetary cycle, which could further encourage DA’s  to follow county government regulations.

Porter said district attorneys have the same legal authority to control their budgets as other constitutional officers such as sheriffs, who are generally able to spend the state’s money as they see fit. The new prosecutor oversight commission will develop similar ethics conduct guidelines as the Judicial Qualifications Commission, the panel that oversees Georgia judges, Porter said. 

A prosecutor’s disciplinary panel also investigates complaints filed against district attorneys, including the current complaint already filed against Willis related to the 2020 case.  Willis has called the attacks from Trump and the GOP machine a “witch hunt” against her because she’s a Democrat and Black woman who stands up to Trump’s attempts to illegally overturn his loss in Georgia’s 2020 election.

Cowsert said  he’s concerned that Georgia doesn’t have universal consistent codes of conduct for prosecutors.

“What are the ethical guidelines? What are the fair expectations of our citizens?” Cowsert said. “The reason is because, as far as I can tell, they’re only bound by the disciplinary rules and ethical guidelines of the State Bar of Georgia that apply to all attorneys.”