Postal Service Investigators have recovered about 2,500 pieces of missing mail and are in the process of sending it out now. .. Sam Montalvo, Public Information Officer with the southeastern division of the Office of the Postal Inspector General, said a former Ft Payne postal worker, is under investigation for taking the mail. Montalvo would not release the name of the employee – he did, however, state the person in question has resigned, adding that the case will be presented to a federal prosecutor, to decide exactly what charges should be filed  most likely, Federal Mail Theft. The Ft Payne Postmaster says customers began calling the post office around mid-August to report missing mail in the area, with the target appearing to be mostly birthday and/or anniversary cards.WEIS

The City of LaFayette City Council heard from angry citizens at a special called meeting Thursday evening at City Hall.  The residents are angry at the city for removing items from the graves of loved ones at the LaFayette City Cemetery. The meeting was the result of the mayor and city council ordering a cleaning of the city cemetery after city workers complained that it was hard to mow around the graves with objects, such as benches, crosses and mementos left by family members.  The mayor and city council ordered the cleaning, but the city workers removed everything, including flowers from graves. Thursday evening’s meeting in LaFayette saw angry citizens demanding to know why this happened.  City officials told residents that mistakes had been made but also cautioned family members to look at the back of their cemetery deed which states the cemetery policies….policies that have been in place for thirty years. (Information from Walker County Messenger, WQCH and WTVC)

Issued by The National Weather Service
Atlanta, GA
Fri., Nov. 20, 2009

… POTENTIAL FOR HEAVY RAIN SATURDAY NIGHT AND SUNDAY ACROSS NORTH AND CENTRAL GEORGIA…

AN UPPER LOW WAS INTENSIFYING ACROSS SOUTH TEXAS THIS EVENING… WITH AN ASSOCIATED SURFACE LOW ALONG THE UPPER TEXAS COAST. THE UPPER LOW WILL CONTINUE TO STRENGTHEN AND MOVE EAST- NORTHEAST THROUGH SUNDAY… AFFECTING GEORGIA SATURDAY NIGHT AND SUNDAY. RAINFALL WITH THIS SYSTEM ACROSS NORTH AND CENTRAL GEORGIA IS EXPECTED TO BE MOSTLY AROUND ONE INCH. HOWEVER… THERE IS THE POTENTIAL FOR UP TO TWO INCHES OF RAIN… LOCALLY MORE… ESPECIALLY ACROSS CENTRAL GEORGIA… AS THIS SYSTEM TRACKS NORTHEAST EARLY SUNDAY.

WITH TOTALLY SATURATED GROUND ACROSS NORTH AND CENTRAL GEORGIA FROM REPEATED HEAVY RAINFALL IN RECENT WEEKS… EVEN THE PROJECTED RAINFALL AMOUNTS COULD RESULT IN MINOR FLOODING. THERE REMAIN UNCERTAINTIES REGARDING THE INTENSITY AND TRACK OF THIS SYSTEM. IF RAINFALL IS GREATER THAN CURRENTLY EXPECTED… FLOODING PROBLEMS COULD BECOME MORE OF A CONCERN AND A FLOOD WATCH MAY NEED TO BE ISSUED.

An area resident has found something to be thankful for this Thanksgiving season. 

Kenn Stephens told AM 1180 that his wife lost her cell phone near the Shop Rite in LaFayette recently.  The family called the missing cell phone and according to Stephens a young man answered it.  They asked that he please leave the phone at the store for them and have the store call them on the phone. 

The young man did as he was aksed.  Stephens said "quite the honest man.  Didn’t ask for a reward or anything else….."

Stephens said he wanted to express his thanks to whoever the young man was for returning the phone and doing the right thing.

The Chattooga County mowing crews have mowed the sides of the roads in the county.. If your road did not get mowed please call the Commissioners office at 706-857-0736.

The Walker County Sheriff’s Department is reporting the arrest of a Trion resident last week on drug charges:

Marvin Ray Johnson , of Kinzy Street, Trion, Schedule II drugs, hydrocodone

Aaron Matthew Dunagan, who was released from prison after appealing a conviction in connection with a 2004 wreck that left Candice Bendek severely disabled, will be re-tried in Floyd County Superior Court sometime in early April 2010.

Dunagan was convicted in 2006 of reckless driving, serious injury by reckless driving and failure to obey a traffic control device in connection with a Feb. 17, 2004, crash that temporarily left Bendek in a coma.

The Georgia Supreme Court reversed the Superior Court’s conviction of Dunagan in May 2008, and the state Court of Appeals vacated its previous judgment that evidence about the safety of the intersection was correctly excluded from testimony when Dunagan was tried.

According to the most recent opinion issued by the Court of Appeals, the trial court erred when it granted the prosecution’s motion to exclude evidence that the intersection at Burlington Drive and Ga. 53, where the wreck occurred, was dangerous.

“Because evidence that the intersection was inherently dangerous was Dunagan’s sole defense in refuting evidence of his criminal negligence, its exclusion was harmful error,” the opinion stated.

Changes were made to make the intersection safer.

Dunagan was originally sentenced to serve 10 years in prison, later reduced by two years.

He had been incarcerated at Wilcox State Prison on the charges from 2006 until May 2008 when Judge J. Bryant Durham Jr. granted a $25,000 appeal bond in Floyd County

ROME NEWS TRIBUNE

Chattooga County Commissioner Jason Winters campaigned last year on a promise to begin to implement Freeport Tax Exemption in Chattooga County.  Freeport is the term used that allows a reduction in inventory taxes and proponents of the idea say the benefit is to encourage businesses to keep inventory  – thus increasing business, jobs and ultimately the tax base.

Don Henderson with Mt. Vernon Mills told the Chattanooga Times Free – Press "without Freeport, local businesses are at a disadvantage compared to businesses in counties with the exemptions and to businesses in other states that don’t tax warehouse inventory."

"The better we can price our fabric, the better opportunities we have for getting those orders and getting those orders (is) critical to being able to run our plants and give people full work schedules"

Winters said that he believes the implementation of Freeport is working in Chattooga County.

CNN has identified Chattooga County as the "Halfway Destination between Michigan and Florida" in a story that tells travellers about destinations all over the United States.  The article points to several local businesses and tourist attractions including The Brass Lantern, Dillards Bed and Breakfast and Paradise Gardens.  Summerville joined Richmond, VA along with Reno, Nevada and Baker City, Oregon as "Halfway Destinations."

Here’s what CNN said about Summerville:

At the southern tail of the Appalachian Mountains, about 90 miles north of Atlanta, lies Chattooga County, Georgia — home to a world renowned artist, an attorney who inspired a TV series, and what may be a haunted house.

Almost every day, attorney Bobby Lee Cook can be found enjoying the food at The Brass Lantern in Summerville. Cook is said to be one of the inspirations behind 1980s TV defense lawyer Matlock, who was portrayed by Andy Griffith.

"They had to pick somebody I guess, so they picked this country hooligan," joked Cook. The Brass Lantern offers American cuisine "with a little French twist," he said. "It reminds me of country restaurants in the South of France."

Looking for a taste of Southern hospitality? Cook recommends Dillard’s B&B as a fine place to hang your hat during your visit.

Summerville also is the home of the late Howard Finster, a self-taught folk artist whose work was embraced in the 1980s by musicians such as REM and the Talking Heads. His home has been transformed into a fascinating and sometimes bizarre world he called Paradise Gardens.

Finster’s home celebrates a unique era of Appalachian culture that’s quickly fading, said Tommy Littleton, chairman of the nonprofit group that owns the gardens. The fame that Finster gained in the ’80s can be fleeting, he said, "but the niche he created and its influence now on two generations of artists means that the gardens really are a part of art history."

For three decades Finster used the four-acre property as a canvas, painting sidewalks and buildings and using "found materials" to decorate walls and various objects throughout the grounds.

He built "display houses" for all of his art, which included a huge collection of mosaics.

Finster’s work hangs in museums around the nation, including the Smithsonian and museums in San Francisco, California, and Baltimore, Maryland. Finster’s gardens are open only from Thursday through Saturday, so check the Web site for times.

More adventurous travelers might ask local residents to help them find the ruins of a destroyed country estate called Corpsewood Manor, where two men were murdered in 1982. A pair of killers was sentenced to life in prison for the notorious crime — which spawned rumors about devil worship and satanic rituals that continue to echo on the Internet.

For the Complete Story : http://www.cnn.com/2009/TRAVEL/11/19/halfway.destinations/index.html?section=cnn_latest