Friends, relatives and Coweta County employees joined county commissioners at Coweta County Prison April 6 to remember Jimmy Scogin, the only known county employee to be killed in the line of duty in nearly 100 years.

James Hugh "Jimmy" Scogin was a Coweta County Public Works employee for more than 18 years, helping build many roads and buildings across the county, said county Public Information Officer Patricia Palmer. He was a certified corrections officer, a firearms instructor and a heavy equipment foreman. 

“Jimmy was gravely injured in April of 2007 while supervising a crew working on a road to the Central Library,” Palmer said. ”He died two months later from his injuries. He is the only known Coweta County employee to be killed in the line of duty in almost 90 years.”

The Coweta County Commission voted to name the firing range at Coweta County Prison in honor and memory of Jimmy's efforts in establishing the range, his skill with a firearm, his role in training other corrections officers and his contributions to our county, said Palmer.

Palmer said the permanent home of the firing range is uncertain now. It needs expanding and it is almost certain to be impacted by the widening of the Highway 34 bypass.

“Because of this uncertainty, a plaque mounted on a boulder was dedicated in a temporary home at the Coweta County Prison in memory of Scogin,” Palmer explained. ”The boulder is one that was removed by Scogin during the building of the Hunter Recreation Complex. When the new Firing Range is complete, the plaque will be moved there."

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