Local brothers die in wreck

    Hiwassee Dam – Two local teenage brothers died last week following a single-car accident.
    “They were good boys who grew up directly across from the school, so they’d been around the entire time they’d been alive,” Hiwassee Dam High School Principal Daniel McNabb said. “A lot of close friends, and the family is well-known. It’s just a tragic loss, losing both of them.”
    Austin Hawkins, 18, and Avery Hawkins, 16, were pronounced dead at the scene after a truck driven by 20-year-old Matthew Henry Bateman of Turtletown Tenn., crashed into a telephone pole, according to the N.C. Highway Patrol.
    The trio were traveling on N.C. 294 around 10 p.m. Thursday when Bateman lost control of his 1999 Toyota Tacoma. The Highway Patrol reported that the truck traveled across lanes several times before leaving the roadway, striking a fence and several trees before colliding with the pole.
    Officials found the truck upside down about 3 miles from the Tennessee line, according to Hiwassee Dam Fire Chief Chad McNabb, and the cause of the accident remains under investigation. As of the Cherokee Scout’s press time Tuesday, Bateman remains hospitalized with serious injuries.
    “He had great potential, was willing to learn and wanted to get better at everything he’d done with ball, and you don’t find a lot of kids like that,” Eagles baseball coach Jerry Kilpatrick said of Avery. “He was a good boy, and no matter what I asked him to do, whether it be to pick up trash or to run on the bases or whatever, he’d always say, ‘Grandpa, I’ll do it.’
    “Truly, I’m going to miss him. He was learning, he was growing and he was just a joy to be around.”
    “Once you got to know him, he was a great kid. He would do anything that you’d ask of him,” Hiwassee Dam CTE teacher Jamie Godfrey said of Austin, who was in multiple classes.
    “Last year he had really come so far, and he had so much potential. He had the potential to do anything, and it was just cut short.”
    An account has been established at United Community Bank to accept donations for funeral expenses. Those who want to help are asked to deposit money into the Hawkins Brothers Memorial Fund at any local branch.