Cherokee County, Alabama will be the site for some wind turbines by the end of 2014.  Pioneer Green Energy plans to erect electricity producing wind turbines in Cherokee and Etowah Counties in Alabama, making them the only wind turbine locations of their kind in the state.  Alabama officials and news media travelled to New York State to see some of the wind turbines operated by Pioneer Energy.  The officials were told that the turbines have about a $7 million impact on the community each year.

While Alabama officials seem open to the wind turbines and discount any of the possible negative effects, officials in both Chattooga and Walker Counties in Georgia responded to the possibility of wind turbines on Lookout Mountain with county ordinances that effectively banned any of the structures when the issue was put forward a couple of years ago.  Both Chattooga County Commissioner Jason Winters and Walker County Commissioner Bebe Heiskel heard from concerned residents and tourist businesses on Lookout Mountain when wind turbines were suggested.   The residents feared that the wind turbines would take away from the aesthetics of the mountain and didn’t want the turbines located in their neighborhoods.

Motorists should expect the closure of the two right lanes of I-75 South at mile marker 312 in Gordon County Tuesday from 9 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. This double lane closure is necessary for Georgia State Patrol troopers to conduct a traffic investigation at this location.

The Paradise Garden Foundation announces that Finster Fest 2013 will be taking place this year at Dowdy Park on June 8-9, 2013 in Summerville, GA. 

Finster Fest 2013 will offer a wide spectrum of art, live entertainment, and fabulous food, all in a family friendly atmosphere. The festival began as a Howard Finster Day in Summerville in the early 1980’s. It is one of North Georgia’s most popular Folk Art and Music Festivals.  

Finster Fest 2013 will be host to performing acts such as The Kernel of Jackson Tennessee, The Bohannans of Chattanooga, Tennessee, and Soul Gravy from Saint Simons, Georgia.  The Art and Music Festival will showcase the unique talents of a wide array of artists at Dowdy Park in Downtown Summerville.  

The two-day festival will offer a shuttle bus ride to Paradise Garden for special tours, letting visitors see the many improvements of Paradise Garden including the Paradise Garden Museum.  This year's festival will be a celebration of the hard work that the Foundation has done to revive Howard Finster’s homeplace known worldwide.  According to C. Sutton Connelly, Chairman of the Finster Fest 2013, “the celebration will showcase a wide array of talented artists as well as introduce the “Man of Vision After-Show." 

 More information can be obtained on the Finster Fest website, http://www.finsterfest.com/

The  cost of gas continues to head southward and thanks to a disappointing federal jobs report last week, that trend is likely to continue for the foreseeable future.

The latest national data from AAA-South shows another steady drop for regular unleaded fuel since last week, going from $3.64 to $3.60 per gallon, while the Georgia average also fell four cents to $3.46. 

In Northwest Georgia prices have dropped slightly since last week in most places. Consumers can find regular unleaded fuel between $3.33 and $3.36 across the region in Cartersville, Dallas, Dalton, Calhoun, Hiram and Cedartown. 

In Chattooga County, gas prices are averaging $3.39 to $3.41 in Trion; and $3.43 to $3.54 in Summerville. 

Friday’s jobs report showed that Americans continue to leave the workforce, and there are now fewer people holding jobs than there have been since 1979. That negative data has led to analysts lowering their forecasts for higher  fuel prices throughout the spring.
 

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This month’s meeting of The Arc of Chattooga County is scheduled for Tuesday, April 8th at 6:30 pm. All parents, family members and caregivers of people dealing with developmental disabilities are invited to attend and join us in our effort to bring change in our community for them. The public as always is invited to attend.

A Rome man has been arrested and charged with Public Indecency for stripping naked at St. Mary’s Catholic School.  According to arrest reports, 20-year-old Charles Langlois of Cooper Dr. hopped the locked playground fence at St. Mary’s around 4 in afternoon Saturday. Police then say Langlois shed his clothes and laid naked on-top of the monkey bars. Luckily, it was Saturday and there were no children around to witness his alleged nude sunbathing. For the incident, Langlois is facing two misdemeanors; Criminal Trespass and Public Indecency.