New Toccoa Police Substation dedicated in honor of Curtis Scott

The Toccoa-Stephens County Chamber of Commerce held a ribbon tying ceremony on Thursday for the Toccoa Police Curtis Scott Substation.

The Toccoa Police Curtis Scott Substation is located at 589 South Pond Street, in Toccoa.

According to Toccoa-Stephens County Chamber of Commerce President Julie Paysen a ribbon tying ceremony symbolizes a community coming around a local business or organization in support of the services it provides.

Toccoa Mayor Evan Hellenga told the large group that gathered about the history of the building that houses the new substation.

“Good morning and thank you for joining us as we dedicate this police substation. This building was originally the Hemphill Grocery building which stood on this corner for many years. In 2018, the City of Toccoa acquired this building, and when the City Commission saw the need for a police-substation, they realized this location would be ideal. With the assistance of the city’s public works department and the contribution of the housing authority this building was renovated to accommodate this need. Today we are proud to dedicate this building as the Curtis Scott Police Substation after the late Assistant Police Chief Mr. Curtis Scott,” he said.

Toccoa City Clerk Fredda Wheeler spoke about Curtis Scott’s character.

“I can think of no one—and I reiterate that—no one, who is more worthy for this building to be named in honor of than Curtis Scott. I’m overjoyed. But you all know as much as I do that if Curtis was here, he would not want us to do all this. Curtis was not a man about fanfare. He was solid to the core, he was consistent. I had the honor of working with Curtis for some years back, Curtis would come to my office, and we would do payroll. We would quickly get payroll taken care of and then we would take care of other business. I learned so much under Curtis. There are a lot of words that I can think of to describe Curtis. One is courteous,” she said.

Toccoa Police Chief Jimmy Mize says he is proud to dedicate the station to Scott.

“I just want to say that I am grateful to be the Chief here in a community where we can overcome and make our strides and be a productive community. I would like to say, real quick, that we do have a dedicated plaque inside on the wall. If many of you haven’t been able to see some of the pictures in there, family was gracious to give Ms. Fredda some of the pictures and we were able to blow them up and make them where we could put them on our wall. We have a dedicated plaque and it says ‘Dedicated to Assistant Chief Curtis Scott in recognition of 38 years of service to the citizens of Toccoa and the Toccoa Police Department from March 20, 1971 to June 30, 2009,’ so that will hang on our wall as long as we’re here,” he said.

Curtis Scott’s daughter Berthenia Scott tells WNEG News that she was surprised when she first heard the city was dedicating the substation to her father.

“When I was first told about it, it was just overwhelming. I know how much he loved his job and this city, and for them to do this is just awesome. It’s awesome. It shed a different light for me on life. He was a living example of how a person should be,” she said.

Again, the new Toccoa Police Curtis Scott Substation is located at 589 South Pond Street, in Toccoa.