Chattanooga Man Banned From Lookout Mountain Judicial Circuit As Part Of Sentence

A forty-year-old Chattanooga, Tennessee man will be banned from Dade, Walker, Catoosa and Chattooga Counties upon his release from prison as part of a sentence handed down by Lookout Mountain Judicial Circuit Superior Court Judge Chris Arnt.  According to a report released by the Lookout Mountain District Attorney’s Office yesterday, Ruben Santos was convicted of breaking into the home of an acquaintance in Catoosa County and performing lewd acts with her undergarments.   The victim in the case said that Santos had tried to kindle a romantic relationship with her prior to the incident.  Santos was sentenced to twenty years with the first fifteen to be served in prison.  In addition to being banned from Northwest Georgia and prison time, Santos will be required to register as a sex offender upon his release from prison.  See the full report from the Lookout Mountain District Attorney’s office below:

On Tuesday, March 26, 2024, a Catoosa County jury convicted Ruben Santos, a 40-year-old man from Chattanooga, of Burglary in the First Degree. Evidence presented over the course of a two-day trial showed that Santos was a long-time family friend of the victim, a 25-year-old woman.

Santos befriended the victim when they were coworkers and also became a friend of the victim’s father. Santos repeatedly expressed interest in engaging in a romantic relationship with the victim over the course of several years but was rejected. Santos became more brash in his attempts to kindle a relationship with the victim, to the point where the victim avoided being at the home she shared with her parents when Santos would visit.

In July 2023, Santos, unbeknownst to the family of the victim, stole a housekey from the victim’s mother. After the housekey went missing, the victim and her family noticed items missing from the residence. After returning home from work in the evenings, the victim noticed that items of clothing in her bedroom were out of place. The victim became suspicious that someone was entering the family home while she and her parents were at work during the day, and she installed a surveillance camera in her bedroom.

The day following the installation of the camera, as soon as the victim arrived at work, the camera system alerted her that motion was detected in her bedroom. The victim accessed the camera feed and observed Santos entering her bedroom and rummaging through her laundry hamper and selecting multiple pairs of underwear. Santos placed the underwear on his face and in his mouth. Santos then laid on the victim’s bed and began to masturbate using the victim’s underwear. Before leaving the bedroom, Santos placed two pairs of the victim’s underwear in his pocket.

At the trial, presided over by Superior Court Judge Chris Arnt, the victim provided emotional testimony as to how Santos had destroyed her sense of security in her own home. The jury was able to view the videos depicting Santos’ conduct in the victim’s bedroom. Santos was sentenced to twenty years with the first fifteen years to be served in the Georgia Department of Corrections. Santos will be banished from the Lookout Mountain Judicial Circuit on release and will be required to comply with sex offender conditions of probation.

The State of Georgia was represented by Assistant District Attorney Deanna Reisman. Victim Advocate Shelby Bradshaw assisted the victim through difficult and highly emotional testimony throughout the course of the prosecution.

The case was investigated by Catoosa County Sheriff’s Office Detective Josh Moore. “The home should be a sanctuary from the outside world,” said District Attorney Clayton M. Fuller. “This creeper violated that sanctity in the most vile of ways, and ADA Reisman and her team have found him a new home to spend time in—prison.”

City Manager Cites Family Emergency As Reason For Abrupt Resignation

WZQZ News reported on Tuesday that Summerville City Manager Andrea Surratt had announced her resignation at Monday night’s meeting of the Summerville City Council.  Surratt, who has served in the position for less than eighteen months, cited a family emergency as the reason for her resignation.

WZQZ News obtained a copy of the resignation letter that was submitted by Surratt and addressed to Summerville Mayor Harry Harvey and the Summerville City Council.  In the letter, Surratt said that an “ongoing family emergency” prompted her to leave her job.  Surratt told the mayor and council members that she could “no longer fulfill the duties” of her contract because of the situation.

Surratt’s letter said that she would be leaving in 90 days from the date of her letter – which was delivered to Mayor Harvey last week on May 8th.

You can see a copy of the letter from the city manager to the mayor below:

Georgia Chamber Agrees With Kemps Data Center Tax Break Veto

Governor Brian Kemp recently vetoed a bill that would have rescinded tax credits for certain types of data center projects in Georgia.

In his veto message, the governor wrote that the timing of the measure would have left companies planning to set up data centers in Georgia — such as Microsoft in Rome — in the lurch.

The Georgia Chamber of Commerce backed the veto, according to President Chris Clarke who was in Rome Monday as of the Georgia Chamber’s New Economy Tour.

“It’s not our position to say whether or not you shouldn’t incentivize a company or not, but you can’t change the rules in the middle of the game,” Clarke said. “We have $22 billion worth of data center projects are under construction in Georgia today. Many of them have used that tax credit to secure their financing, or it has been a part of that. So, we just said let’s let the companies in the process finish the process. I think the governor saw the same thing. Businesses want stability. They want to know what is going to happen, and I appreciate the governor for vetoing that bill and giving us an opportunity to continue that dialogue and that discussion.”

According to Clarke, data centers are there because of artificial intelligence and the importance of data in our daily lives.

There are tons of AI jobs coming to Georgia, future employees just have to be prepared for them.

Clarke added a recent survey showed 58 percent of Georgia businesses are already investing in AI robotics.

Braves Tickets For Blood Donation During June

How would you like to get free Atlanta Braves tickets just for donating blood to the American Red Cross? The Red Cross will benefit from the 16^th annual Atlanta Braves All-American Blood Drive in June. Blood drives will be held throughout that month according to Carla Maton, Executive Director of the Northwest Georgia chapter.

She adds that she and her family plan to attend a blood drive near Truist Park on June 4^th and snag some Braves tickets of their own. Information about upcoming blood drives is available at www.redcrossblood.org.

In addition to tickets, blood donors will also snag Braves t-shirts and hats, says Maton.

Blood drives are currently on hold at the American Red Cross of Northwest Georgia’s chapter office in Rome due to renovations and will resume in July.

Young Farmer Onion Pickup Today & Tomorrow

Each year, Chattooga Young Farmers have a Vidalia Onion fundraiser.  Orders are taken earlier in the year for the Georgia-grown onions.  Chattooga County Young Farmers headed down to Georgia’s onion country yesterday to pick up the onions and they will be distributed today and tomorrow to those who placed orders.

Vidalia onions are available for a limited time each year between April through early September. As America’s favorite sweet onion, many look forward to this time of year. The pack date is determined by soil and weather conditions during the growing season, contributing to high quality Vidalia onions. The Vidalia Onion Advisory Panel voted to recommend April 17th as the 2024 pack date – or the earliest Vidalia onions could be sold to grocery outlets, restaurants and other distributors.

If you ordered onions for this year’s Young Farmer fundraiser, you may pick them up at the Chattooga County Ag Center today from 2 PM – 6 PM.  Tomorrow, the onions will be available at Pine Ridge Outdoor Supply in Lyerly from 2- 5 PM.  The onion distribution will be at the Pine Ridge Hay Shed on Thursday.

Red Lobster Closing Locations Nationwide

Red Lobster has announced that they are closing many locations nationwide as the company looks to avoid bankruptcy.   Three Red Lobster locations in Georgia were on the list and were closed as of Monday of this week. 

Woman Charged With DUI For Drugs

A thirty-one-year-old woman was charged with DUI for drugs after deputies noticed her vehicle without a tag in the drive through at the Summerville McDonald’s.

According to a report released yesterday, two deputies were patrolling together on May 8th and stopped for a coffee at McDonald’s.  While in the drive through, they noticed that the car in front of them did not have a tag and that the driver showed signs of impairment.

The deputies followed the vehicle after leaving McDonald’s and performed a traffic stop.  The driver gave the deputies a Florida drivers license and while speaking to the deputies, caused more suspicion that she was under the influence of drugs.  After a field sobriety test, deputies arrested the woman.  The woman became combative with deputies as they attempted to place her in the patrol car.  According to the report, the woman was placing her foot between the car door causing the door to hit her foot when deputies attempted to close it.  Finally, one deputy went to the other side of the vehicle and pulled the woman across the back seat of the patrol car while the other deputy pushed her into place.

Once at the jail, deputies asked the woman if she had any drugs on her person. At that point, the woman reportedly bared her breasts to the male deputies and said “I ain’t got nothin’ on me….see!”.

Shelby Ellarae Williams was charged with DUI for drugs, expired tag, failure to change address on drivers license, failure to maintain a single lane and a seat belt violation.  She was additionally charged with obstruction of law enforcement officers.

Shooting In Spring Creek Area On Tuesday Night

One person was shot in a domestic altercation in the Spring Creek area on Tuesday night.  Chattooga County Sheriff Mark Schrader confirmed to WZQZ News that the person who was shot is in stable condition.  More details will be released and the investigation continues into the shooting incident. WZQZ will have more updates as they become available.

Chattooga Scrimmage Game Rescheduled

Due to expected bad weather on Friday, the Chattooga High School Football scrimmage game at SE Whitfield has been moved to Thursday May 16th at 7:30 PM.

Summerville City Manager Announces Resignation

Summerville City Manager Andrea Surratt announced her resignation at Monday night’s Summerville City Council meeting.  Surratt has only been on the job for eighteen months. 

Surratt, a native of North Carolina, had worked most recently as city manager of Sandy Springs, Georgia in metro Atlanta before being hired, first as interim city manager, and then as city manager, by the Summerville City Council.

Surratt came to Sandy Springs from a job as city manager in Bozeman, Montana where she worked for two years from 2017-2019.  She was then employed by Sandy Springs from 2019 until taking the job with the City of Summerville. Surratt had cited “personal reasons” as the reason for terminating her contract with Sandy Springs.

According to a letter presented at Monday night’s council meeting, Surratt is citing “personal reasons” as her reasons for resigning from the Summerville City Council.

Arrest Report - Tuesday - May 14, 2024

Here is the latest arrest report from the Chattooga County Sheriff’s Office for Tuesday, May 14, 2024:

Summerville Man Killed In Florida Crash

A thirty-one-year-old Chattooga County man was killed in a crash at a Florida bike rally days before his wedding, according to his fiancé. Rodney Grizzle of Summerville, was at the Thunder Beach Motorcycle Rally in Panama City Beach on May 4 when he and his fiancé, Mai Smith, were involved in an accident.

Grizzle and Smith were set to be married on May 11. According to his obituary, Grizzle was a “devoted father” to one son. He was buried on Friday, the day before he was supposed to get married.

WSB in Atlanta reports that Florida authorities said it’s unclear if the crash involved just Griffith’s motorcycle or if another vehicle was involved and left the scene. Police are asking anyone who witnessed the crash to come forward.

Thunder Beach is a four-day event for motorcyclists and fans. This year, two people, including Grizzle, were killed at the event.

The crash is still under investigation.

WSB contributed to this report

Governor Allows Google Tax Break Despite General Assembly's Wishes

Last week, Georgia Governor Brian Kemp vetoed a two-year pause in a sales tax exemption the state gives for building and equipping computer data centers, after an intensive lobbying effort to preserve the tax break.

Kemp’s veto shows how hard it is to root out established tax breaks, said lawmakers and national experts.

“Any time you create a carve-out in your tax code, you then create a self-interested lobby around it,” said Greg LeRoy, the executive director of Good Jobs First, a liberal-leaning group long skeptical of economic development incentives.

The Republican governor wrote that he was vetoing House Bill 1192 because businesses had already made plans for data centers using the exemption and that the “abrupt” July 1 freeze would undermine “the investments made by high-technology data center operators, customers, and other stakeholders in reliance on the recent extension, and inhibiting important infrastructure and job development.”

GNN/AP Contributed to this report

Former Floyd Sheriff's Sgt. Pleads Guilty To Theft

A former Floyd County Sheriff’s Sergeant pleaded guilty to theft charges yesterday in superior court.

The Rome News Tribune reported that Cody James Waters, who had been in charge of Floyd County’s anti-drug CHAMP program in local schools, had stolen nearly $7,000 in funds for the program.  The thefts reportedly began during the pandemic.

Waters was arrested on the theft charges in March of 2022 after an investigation by the Georgia Bureau of Investigation.  The GBI stepped in to take over the investigation at the request of Floyd County Sheriff Dave Roberson.

Yesterday, the twenty-six-year-old Waters, pleaded guilty to two counts of theft by taking and making false statements and violation of the oath of office.

Waters was sentenced to serve three years in prison and seventeen years on probation.  He must all repay the stolen funds and perform 400 hours of community service upon his release from prison.

Rome News Tribune

State Tax Revenues Down In April

The Georgia Department of Revenue reported late last week that Georgia’s net tax collections for April were down 1.2% compared to the year before.  Tax collections were down in most sectors including individual income tax, sales and use tax and corporate income tax.  Notable exceptions were motor fuel taxes and motor vehicle tag and title fees.  Fuel taxes increased by just over $3 million and tags and titles also showed an increase of just over $3 million – up almost 8% over the previous year.   Net tax collections for April totaled $3.96 billion.

See the complete report from the Georgia Department of Revenue below:

The State of Georgia’s net tax collections in April totaled $3.96 billion, for a decrease of $225.7 million or 5.4 percent compared to FY 2023, when net tax collections approached $4.19 billion for the month.

Year-to-date, net tax revenue totaled $27.45 billion, for a decrease of $341.3 million or 1.2 percent compared to the same ten-month period in FY 2023, a period during which the state’s motor fuel excise tax was suspended until January 10, 2023. Net of motor fuel tax changes, collection revenues for the ten months ended April 30 were down 4.6 percent from fiscal year 2023.

The changes within the following tax categories help to further explain April’s overall net tax revenue decrease:

Individual Income Tax: Individual Income Tax collections totaled roughly $1.97 billion, for a decrease of $171.3 million or 8 percent compared to last year when Individual Tax collections totaled nearly $2.14 billion.

The following notable components within Individual Income Tax combine for the net decrease:

• Individual Income Tax refunds issued (net of voided checks) were up $195.3 million or 31.4 percent
• Individual Withholding payments were up $60.1 million or 4.8 percent over the previous fiscal year
• Individual Income Tax Return payments declined by $142.1 million or 11.5 percent from last year
• All other Individual Tax categories, including Estimated payments, were up a combined $106 million

Sales and Use Tax: Gross Sales and Use Tax collections totaled almost $1.58 billion in April, for a decrease of $6.2 million or 0.4 percent compared to April 2023. Net Sales and Use Tax decreased by $24.6 million or 3 percent, compared to last year, when net sales tax totaled $823.4 million. The adjusted Sales Tax distribution to local governments totaled $765 million, for an increase of $8.6 million or 1.1 percent, while Sales Tax refunds increased by roughly $9.8 million or 179.6 percent compared to FY 2023.

Corporate Income Tax: Corporate Income Tax collections for the month totaled $748.1 million, which was an increase of roughly $3.7 million or 0.5 percent compared to FY 2023.

The following notable components within Corporate Income Tax make up the net increase:

• Corporate Income Tax refunds issued (net of voids) were down $18.5 million or 32.9 percent from FY 2023
• Corporate Income Tax Return payments decreased by $17.4 million or 5.7 percent from last fiscal year
• All other Corporate Tax types, including Corporate Estimated payments, were up a combined $2.6 million

Motor Fuel Taxes: Motor Fuel Tax collections for the month of April increased by $3.1 million or 1.6 percent compared to FY 2023.

Motor Vehicle – Tag & Title Fees: Motor Vehicle Tag & Title Fees increased by $3.2 million or 9.3 percent for the month, while Title Ad Valorem Tax (TAVT) collections declined by nearly $6.2 million or 7.8 percent from last year.

Primary Election One Week From Today

The 2024 General Primary Election will be held one week from today on Tuesday, May 21, 2024.  Early voting continues through Friday of this week at the Chattooga County Registrars Office on Commerce Street in Summerville.  Next week, voters will need to go to their local precincts to vote.  Chattooga County Probate Judge and Election Superintendent Gary Woods said on Monday, “Voters who are uncertain which location is their assigned polling location are encouraged to visit the My Voter Page (mvp.sos.ga.gov) or call the Registrars Office (706-857-0739) prior to going to vote on May 21st”.  Voters can find a list of the polling places, by precinct, in Chattooga County below:

Gas Prices Fall Over The Past Week In Georgia

Gas prices decreased at the pump compared to a week ago. Georgians are paying an average price of $3.41 per gallon for regular unleaded gasoline (subject to change overnight). Monday’s state average was 5 cents less than a week ago, 1 cent less than a month ago, and 15 cents more than this time last year. It costs drivers an average price of $51.15 to fill a 15-gallon tank of regular gasoline. Georgians are now paying over $2.00 more to fill up at the pump compared to a year ago.

“Crude oil continues to trend under $80 a barrel, and demand appears to have slowed down, contributing to lower pump prices,” said Montrae Waiters, AAA-The Auto Club Group spokeswoman. “AAA is set to reveal, on May 14^th, how busy the roads in Georgia will be during the Memorial Day weekend. So stay tuned!”

The most expensive Georgia metro markets – are Hinesville-Fort Stewart ($3.51), Savannah ($3.50), and Brunswick ($3.43).

The least expensive Georgia metro markets – are Dalton ($3.29), Rome ($3.28), and Catoosa-Dade-Walker ($3.27).

Area gas price averages – Chattooga ($3.31), Walker ($3.27), Floyd ($3.27), Gordon ($3.38), DeKalb, AL ($3.13), Cherokee, AL ($3.15).

Alledged Gang Member Arrested

A teen arrested in late March in connection with the thefts of firearms and other items from vehicles, primarily in the Lindale area of Floyd County, is facing additional charges including participation in a criminal street gang.

According to Floyd County Jail records:

17-year-old Eric Christian Byars Jr. of Silver Creek is a member of the Brothers 4 Life gang and was in possession of three stolen firearms that were taken from vehicles back on March 5.

Possessing stolen property and firearms is a characteristic of B4L, according to the report.

Byars is also charged with possession of a firearm by a person under the age of 18.

A second purported B4L member, 17-year-old Gregory Geemar Charles North Jr., was also recently arrested on similar charges.

WRGA

Senator Ossoff Continues To Pressure U.S.P.S. To Fix Mail Problems In Georgia

Senator Jon Ossoff is continuing to pressure the Postal Service to fix mail processing delays.

Ossoff is going after  the United States Postal Service over delays in mail delivery from a new distribution center in Palmetto, Georgia. Ossoff has asked Postmaster General Louis DeJoy to address on-time mail delivery in metro Atlanta within a week.

The delays are attributed to a Postal Service restructuring plan that aims to improve financial self-sufficiency and competitiveness with private shippers. Plans to expand the new system nationwide have been paused while issues at the Palmetto and Richmond distribution centers are resolved.

Ossoff emphasized the need for immediate improvement in USPS delivery performance in Georgia.

GNN