In last night’s basketball action the Chattooga Indians took on the Sonoraville Phoenix. The JV boys and girls beat their opposing Snoraville teams. The JV Boys won with a score of 49 to 33 and the JV Girls beat Sonoraville with a score of 40 to 31. The Varsity Indian’s girls fell to Sonoraville with a score of 55 to 41 but the Chattooga Indian Varsity boys dominated the court with a huge win of 88 to 37 over the Phoenix team. The next Indian home game will be on Monday night against Rockmart.
The lead investigator for a ghost hunting team said it may take two weeks for results from its recent investigation of Chickamauga Battlefield.
“We have over 20 hours of video and 30 hours of audio to go through with a fine-tooth comb,” said Rick Howard, president of Ghosts and History of Southeastern Tennessee Inc. (GHOST).
The team spent about five hours Saturday night and early Sunday morning looking for ghosts at the historic battlefield, where one of the Civil War’s bloodiest battles was fought. About 4,000 soldiers died.
“We concentrated on the Snodgrass Hill area, the (Snodgrass) cabin, the field next to the cabin and Old Vittetoe Road, where there has been reported sightings of Green Eyes,” Howard said.
Green Eyes is reportedly a ghost that roams the battlefield. The legend has many
variations, including the tale of a soldier whose head was shot off by a cannon.
CLICK HERE for more on the legend of Green Eyes.
The GHOST team also studied Wilder Tower, including the so-called “White Lady” that some claim to have spotted in that area.
The group was equipped with eight to 10 high-powered infrared video cameras and about a dozen audio recorders, as well as several other high-tech devices.
Howard said the investigation started about 9 p.m. Saturday and ended shortly after 2 a.m. Sunday.
In November GHOST Inc. investigated the historic Marsh House in LaFayette. The house was occupied by Union troops during the Civil War. Horses were ridden through the downstairs hall, some of the floor boards were soaked in blood, and bullets were shot through the walls. GHOST concluded the house has paranormal activity. For more about GHOST Inc., visit the group’s website at ghosttn.com.
Local writer on the ghost hunt
Local writer Mary Catherine Duhon accompanied the GHOST team.
CLICK HERE to read the full account of Mary Catherine Duhon’s ghost-hunting adventure.
“When I was asked to come along with GHOST to investigate the Chickamauga Battlefield I was very excited to be included as an observer since I have been in love with the battlefield since I was a child,” said Duhon, 31, of LaFayette.
“Chickamauga is a Cherokee word meaning "river of death" and considering that it got its name before the Civil War took place, it occurred to me that this particular national park possessed more history than most were privy to.
“I learned that several other ghost hunters were interested in investigating the park but were turned down in favor of GHOST Inc., who had to gain permission by submitting an application to Washington, D.C., due to the fact that it is a federal park run by the government.”
To launch external video player, click here
Duhon said she was excited and a little nervous. She said she did have some reservations and wondered, given her artistic imagination, if she “would go screaming off into the hills.”
“You see, I prefer to be undecided when it comes to things of a paranormal nature. It helps me stay grounded in my writing and it also helps me sleep at night!
“I was struck instantly by the easy-going comradery of the group, who I found easy to approach with my curious questions as to how they came to be interested in ghosts and the paranormal,” she said.
Duhon said the group split into four teams that rotated between Snodgrass Cabin, the area below it and around the cannons, Old Vittetoe Road, and Wilder Tower.
“We were not allowed to go inside the cabin or the tower. However a camera was set up pointing inside the cabin. The first location I visited was Wilder Tower. We arrived in a van that had GHOST Inc. emblazoned on the side of it in dark letters. One member came armed with a video camera and another with an audio recorder for picking up EVPs,” she said.
EVP refers to electronic voice phenomenon.
One of the members sat down and turned on her audio voice recorder and began to speak to any and all possible spirits, Duhon said.
“She made the statement that she would be asking questions and though we may not hear anything within our range of decibels level, we may pick up something on the EVP. She began to ask questions such as, ‘Is anyone here?’ ‘Did you fight for the Union army or for the Confederates?’ ‘We mean you no harm,’” she said.
“I was amazed by how unafraid that I was. I have been to this battlefield numerous times in the daylight and had experienced so many positive things here that I found being here in the dark exhilarating,” she said.
Duhon said she did not see any paranormal activity, but some people drinking at the battlefield approached the group.
“In the end our trusty park ranger had to be called in and the car full of people left almost immediately. So one of the members saw a ghostly white figure and all I saw was drunk people,” she said candidly.
Duhon and the group ventured onto Old Vittetoe Road, where the team searched for Green Eyes, which is said to be visible on Old Vittetoe Road.
“Most of the locals know the story of Green Eyes and as a local myself I was surprised to learn from Rick that the story goes back even farther than the War Between the States. Its actually an old Indian legend,” she said.
Duhon and the group ventured to Snodgrass Cabin and the field below the cabin, where fighting took place and also served as a training ground for soldiers during World War I.
After a freezing night of ghost hunting, Duhon said, “Overall I would say that my first ghost hunting experience was a positive one and a learning experience both from a historic perspective and from a scientific perspective. They were professional and friendly and I could find no fault with GHOST Inc. for their thoroughness to detail and objective approach to all things that go bump in the night. I’ll be waiting with bated breath to learn what they uncovered!”
-Walker County Messenger
State Rep. Barbara Massey Reece, D-Menlo, is among the Georgia women legislators marking Cervical Cancer Awareness Month in January.
The legislators have joined a coalition of women’s health and advocacy organizations in the United States and Europe in a new, united effort to prevent cervical cancer worldwide.
“We’ve all shared the hope of curing cancer," Reece said. "Thanks to recent breakthroughs, we now have the means to eliminate cervical cancer with widespread education and immunization. There is cause now for new hope for women here in Georgia and around the world.”
The Pearl of Wisdom Campaign to Prevent Cervical Cancer will raise awareness of cervical cancer, encourage women to take advantage of the means that are now available to prevent it, and work to make sure that these methods are accessible to girls and women around the globe – particularly to the underserved populations that have much higher rates of cervical cancer. A central focus of the campaign is the promotion of the Pearl of Wisdom as the global symbol of cervical cancer prevention, designed to help all groups involved unite behind a core set of messages.
Georgia women legislators are presenting the recommendations of the Final Report of the 2006 Georgia Cervical Cancer Elimination Task Force to the Women’s Caucus to announce the Pearl of Wisdom Campaign and highlight the needs here in Georgia for broader education, screening, treatment, and immunization. Legislation to accomplish these goals is under consideration by the Women’s Caucus.
-Rome News Tribune
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Banjos will be a pickin’ in Baghdad today as a group of troops joins in with other bluegrass musicians to lend a helping hand.
Click to see the Bluegrass Is My Second Language Web site.
“We will be playing as a part of the now nationwide Marathon Jam to raise money for our brothers and sisters in arms,” said Lt. Col. Greg Rawlings, who is stationed at the Victory Base Complex in Iraq.
The proceeds of the jam will go to the Fisher House, an organization that provides a place to stay for families of patients receiving care at major military and VA centers. There are Fisher Houses scattered throughout the country.
“This is a very tangible way to support service members. The beauty of the Marathon Jam raising money for the Fisher house is it is completely apolitical,” said Rawlings.
The "Baghdad Bad Boys" bluegrass jam band at the base is an outlet for service members at the base.
“We play for a couple of hours. During that time we go back to North Carolina or where ever we are from through the music and fellowship,” said Rawlings.
While it’s always fun — you still gotta play good.
“Punches aren’t generally pulled in this group,” he said. “If you hit a clunker, folks will let you know about it.”
Rawlings, a Berry graduate, said his mother-in-law Frankie Nobles and brother-in-law Randy Nobles still live in Rome.
When he got to Ft. Bragg, in Fayetteville N.C., in the summer of 2006, he started picking up the old style Southern rhythm — he’d heard the tunes before but never joined in.
“I think that Mr. (Harry) Musselwhite, my voice teacher at Berry, would have scalped me if I’d broken loose with Blue Moon of Kentucky,” said Rawlings.
With a significant time difference between the U.S. and Iraq, the band is going to play two sets, including the one in the evening — where they will actually be performing at the same time as the other players.
“We will play for six hours in the morning, one in the morning and the second in the evening,” said Rawlings.
Rome News Tribune
Georgia homeowners got some good and bad news in a property tax bill that passed the state House of Representatives on Friday.
The bill would fund a property tax break worth an average of $200 to $300 per household this year. But after that, the break could very well be history, meaning local governments will have to look at either raising taxes or slash spending to make up for the lost state cash.
The House voted 117-55 to find $428 million to pay for the Homeowner Tax Relief Grant. Gov. Sonny Perdue slashed the money from his fiscal year 2009 budget proposal to help close the state’s $2.2 billion shortfall.
Floyd County’s House delegation voted in favor of the measure, which would restore about $4 million to local coffers.
Rome and Floyd County governments already have sent out tax bills. Homeowners would be slapped with an additional bill if the state fails to deliver the money. The state Senate must still pass the measure.
State Sen. Preston Smith, R-Rome, said he favors funding this year’s tax credit, which was granted on 2008 tax bills, although it means finding cuts elsewhere in the state budget. He’s also ready for a change to the automatic allocation.
“I’m bothered that the counties don’t seem to pass that savings directly to the homeowners,” he said. “This went into effect in 1999, but in the interim, tax bills have continued to go up.”
Floyd County Tax Commissioner Kevin Payne has said the credit covers the first $220 of property taxes for each primary residence in the city of Rome and the first $240 for homesteads in the unincorporated part of the county.
That works out to about $1.7 million in revenue for Floyd County; $1.9 million for county schools; and $1.1 million for Rome and its school system.
State lawmakers will have to find more budget cuts to pay for the tax break, and they haven’t identified yet where the money will come from.
The state-funded relief would only continue if Georgia revenue grows by 3 percent plus the rate of inflation. In the near term that’s unlikely in the recession-ravaged state.
Democrats had championed a constitutional amendment to lock in the tax break. But the bill’s sponsor, state Rep. Larry O’Neal, R-Bonaire, argued it was never meant to be an entitlement, stressing that funding the break this year keeps a promise the state made to pay.
The tax relief grants are provided to local governments and passed along to homeowners as a tax credit.
Rome News Tribune
A cell phone tax is being proposed by Chattooga County Commissioner Jason Winters to help fund the Enhanced 9-1-1 system.State law allows counties to tax cell phone and regular land lines. Currently a $1.50 tax is placed on land lines. However, the growing number of people using cell phones and doing away with their land lines has Commissioner’s Winters looking at the proposal.The new cell phone charge would put an additional $1.50 on each customer’s bill each month for each cell line.The proposed resolution states: “. . . Be it resolved by the governing authority of Chattooga County, Georgia, that a wireless enhanced 9-1-1 charge be imposed upon each wireless communications connection subscribed to by subscribers whose place of primary use is within the geographic area served by Chattooga County or that would be served by Chattooga County for the purpose of its emergency 9-1-1 system at the rate of $1.50 per month per wireless connection provided to each telephone subscriber.”The charge would not take place until after April 1 if approved by Commissioner Winters.The Summerville News
AM 1180 Chattooga County Radio has been reporting about the large number of inmates being housed at the Chattooga County Jail. According to a 1984 Federal Court Order, the county sheriff’s department is not to house over 47 inmates in the jail.
Sheriff John Everett spoke with AM 1180 Chattooga County Radio about the issue and pointed out that right now he has 35 inmates that are awaiting transfer to a Georgia State Prison. Everett said that he is hoping that the state will be able to find room for these prisoners soon. Everett said that he has talked with the Department of Corrections and that they are currently scrambling to find room to house these inmates.
Representative Barbara Massey Reece told AM 1180 Chattooga County Radio that she had put in the word to the Department of Corrections about the large number of state prison inmates that were needing to be transferred out of the jail.
Sheriff Everett also pointed out that since 2006 the budget for housing prisoners outside the county has been cut. Currently the county has around $380,000 budgeted to house inmates outside the county. Everett said that if he had to house every inmate over the required 47 it could cost the county close to $900,000.00 for this year alone.
Chattooga County Commissioner Jason Winters told AM 1180 Chattooga County radio that even though he does not want to have to build a new jail at this time, the county should begin to make preliminary plans to deal with the inmate housing problem.
House Bill 147 passed the Georgia House of Representatives today. This bill guarantees that local governments will get the Homestead Tax Relief Grant promised by the Governor and the legislature for 2008.
Chattooga County Tax Commissioner Kathy Brown told AM 1180 Chattooga County Radio that instead of getting the tax relief in one lump sum as originally promised, the county will receive two partial payments.
Representative Barbara Massey Reece told AM 1180 Chattooga County Radio that she did vote for the bill, but that the bill falls short of making sure the tax relief grant is a permanent fixture in state law. Reece said that the way the current bill is written it is more of a reassurance to local governments that they will receive the 2008 tax relief but doesn’t really change the questionable future of the Homestead Tax Relief Grant.
According to Tax Commissioner Brown, had the house failed to pass the bill she would have been forced to bill out an additional $750,000 in 2008 property taxes to Chattooga County homeowners.
Despite the budget crunch that Georgia’s public schools are facing in the upcoming year, a stae senator from South Georgia is introducing legislation next week that would provide Georgia parents with a "Universal Voucher" for use at private schools.
State Senator Eric Johnson, a Republican from Savannah, is set to enter his bill next week. Johnson has been a long time supporter of the school voucher idea.
State Representative Barbara Massey Reece, a Democrat from Menlo, told AM 1180 Chattooga County Radio that this would not be a good year for the proponents of voucher programs to introduce legislation that would take money away from an already cash-strapped public school system. Representative Reece said that she would oppose any voucher bills that might make it to the state house.