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Special Olympics puts smiles on competitors, volunteers
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Effingham County coach Phillip Richards talks with a couple of Special Olympics competitors before signaling the start of a race Friday at The Corral. - photo by Mark Lastinger/staff
Mark Lastinger
Updated: Mar 26, 2018, 4:12 PM
Published: Mar 26, 2018, 4:16 PM

GUYTON — It didn’t matter how far the tennis ball went. Every throw drew applause and high fives from the crowd.

Similar scenarios unfolded during other events during the Special Olympics at The Corral on Friday. The athletes’ perseverance and determination were rewarded with golden smiles and other methods of affirmation, not golden medals.

“I think it was a great experience for all the kids and it makes them really happy,” said Francie Gaskin, an Effingham County sophomore. “They all want to come out as winners and it shows how we all can be one community and make everybody happy if we just get together and do something fun.”

About 250 Effingham County Schools students participated in ball tosses, races, tests of soccer skills and other events.

Gaskin was one of several high school students who assisted the athletes. A lot of coaches and teachers helped, too.

“This is my first year of working it but I love it,” she said between tennis ball throws. “My mom is a physical therapist and she has been doing it for a while. I love all the kids.”

See the March 28 edition of the Effingham Herald for more details.
Effingham Step-Grandmother Gets Life for Crocker Children Murders
Crocker Case
Elwyn Crocker Jr. and Mary Crocker were discovered buried behind their family’s home in Effingham County in 2018.
Updated: Sep 16, 2025, 6:41 PM
Published: Sep 16, 2025, 6:42 PM

GUYTON, Ga. — The step-grandmother of two Effingham County children whose bodies were found buried in the family’s backyard has pleaded guilty and was sentenced Tuesday to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

Kim Wright admitted to multiple charges, including two counts of malice murder, aggravated sexual battery, cruelty to children, concealing a death and false imprisonment.

The case drew national attention in December 2018, when investigators acting on a tip discovered the bodies of 14-year-old Mary Crocker and her brother, Elwyn Crocker Jr., who had disappeared two years earlier at age 14. Authorities later revealed the children suffered severe abuse, including beatings, confinement and neglect.

Wright is the fourth of five defendants in the case to plead guilty. Her son, Mark Anthony Wright; her daughter, Candice Crocker; and Candice’s boyfriend, Roy Prater, are all serving life without parole. The children’s father, Elwyn Crocker Sr., is the only suspect who has not entered a plea.