Beloved mayor of 15 years and wife die in crash with impaired driver, Georgia cops say

The city of Emerson, Georgia, is a better place because of Mayor Al Pallone, friends and colleagues said.

Pallone and his wife were killed in a multi-vehicle car crash involving an impaired driver on Dec. 10, authorities said.

He will remembered as a man who “really, really loved his city,” City Council member and Mayor Pro Tem Vincent Wiley told McClatchy News.

Pallone was driving a Hyundai Santa Fe at around 4 p.m. in northern Georgia’s Cherokee County when a Chevrolet pickup truck traveling in the opposite direction lost control, crossed the center line and struck the Hyundai, according to a news release from the Cherokee County Sheriff’s Office. The Hyundai then flipped and struck a GMC Savanna van. The driver of the pickup also struck a Mazda 3, according to the sheriff’s office.

Pallone, 65, and his wife, Camillia Pallone, 69, who was traveling as a passenger in the Hyundai, both died at the scene, according to the sheriff’s office.

Deputies arrested the driver of the Chevrolet pickup truck, William Bryan Abernathy, 50, the sheriff’s office said. He faces charges of driving under the influence, reckless driving, first-degree vehicular homicide and serious injury by vehicle.

The drivers of the Mazda 3 and the GMC Savanna were taken to a hospital with injuries that were considered non life-threatening. Abernathy was also injured and taken to a hospital, according to the sheriff’s office..

A ‘staple of the Emerson community’

Residents of Emerson, a city of around 1,500 people about 40 miles northwest of Atlanta, mourned the death of Pallone, who served as mayor for 15 years, and his wife, who they said was also a devoted community leader.

“Al and Millie have been a staple of the Emerson community for over 40 years,” Emerson City Manager Kevin McBurnett wrote in a statement on Facebook. “... In addition to working together, Al and I had become good friends and I will miss him. To his family, thank you for sharing him with us. The City of Emerson is a better place because of him.”

Before he was elected mayor, Al Pallone served on the Emerson City Council for 23 years, Wiley said. Originally from the northeast of the U.S., he moved to Georgia to study at the Georgia Institute of Technology, met his “Georgia peach” and settled down in Emerson.

An engineer by trade, Pallone worked for the aerospace company Lockheed Martin for years before retiring, Wiley said.

“I will remember the mayor for being a very kind-hearted person,” Wiley said. “He had a quiet demeanor, but he was very effective in his work.”

During his tenure, the city built a 1,300-acre mixed-use sports development that has become a destination for travel sports teams, Wiley said.

‘Drunk drivers need to stay off the road’

Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp wrote on Twitter that he and his family were “heartbroken” over the loss of the mayor and his wife.

“They will be deeply missed by their loved ones and the community that they served so well,” Kemp wrote.

Besides many mourning city residents, Al and Camillia also leave behind three children, Wiley said.

“It’s tough for the children because they not only lost one parent, they lost both of them at the same time,” he said. “It’s not only devastated this small community, but imagine how these children feel.

“Drunk drivers need to stay off the road,” he said.

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