Renaissance Festival and Shakespeare Come To Downtown Summerville

Summerville Main Street and the Chattooga County Chamber of Commerce team up to present Shakespeare at its finest, as they welcome the Rome Shakespeare Festival to Chattooga County. Magic and enchantment will fill East Washington Street, the Summerville Depot area, and the Dandee Denson Auditorium, as actors from Georgia and Tennessee visit downtown Summerville for the Mini Renaissance Festival and performances by the Rome Shakespeare Festival.

About Rome Shakespeare Festival

Rome Shakespeare Festival is a professional theatre company, headquartered in Rome, Georgia. Serving the community of Rome with performances on The Town Green, and surrounding counties with performances and Core- Curriculum educational workshops, Rome Shakespeare Festival is committed to artistic integrity and excellence.  Performances carry with them teaching artists who conduct curriculum-based, hands-on workshops on school sites. Artistic Director, Gail Deschamps is the former Artistic Director of Florida Shakespeare Festival and GMT Productions, and is a recipient of an Individual Artist Grant from the Georgia Council for the Arts. She is also a past Artist in Education with the State of Georgia. Gail has been recognized with grants and awards for her plays and musicals, most notably her musical adaptation and direction of Shakespeare’s Two Gentlemen of Verona which received rave reviews, including Washington DC’s Shakespeare Quarterly, and Lewis and Clark which toured across the eastern United States to theatres, colleges, and universities. 

The Rome Shakespeare Festival will kick off the events and activities by visiting with Trion 5^th grade students on Friday, November 6 to present a curriculum based writing workshop. This is one of several stops on the Rome Shakespeare Festival’s Georgia tour scheduled for November 4-9.

 Saturday, November 7, Summerville Main Street will host a Mini-Renaissance Festival, as the North Georgia Cruisers host their Annual Cruise-In. The Renaissance festival is scheduled for 10:00 a.m. -3:oo p.m. and will be located along East Washington Street, inside and outside of the Depot and through the railroad turntable. The event will go on a scheduled, rain or shine. The Cruise –In will be held at Dowdy Park from 11:00 a.m. -3:00 p.m. These events are free to the public. East Washington Street through the intersection of Veteran’s Memorial Drive/University Street will be closed beginning at 8:00 am – 4:30 pm for vendor set-up, festival events, and take-down. Customers wishing to have access to Suzie – Q’s, Depot Antiques and Cook’s Scrape Metal may ingress and egress throughout Economy Street. Parking in front of these businesses will strictly be for customer use only. Festival patrons may park in downtown and surrounding areas.

Actors from the Rome Shakespeare Festival will treat locals and train guests alike to 2 mini –performances at the Summerville Train Depot.  Characters from A Midsummer Night’s Dream will greet train passengers and festival attendees in full costume. Complete Renaissance festival maps and performance schedules will be available on festival site. The event will conclude with a traditional “Pub Sing” performed on the back deck of the Summerville Depot at 3:00 p.m. Jefferson’s and Willow Tree Grill will give a 10 percent discount off any entrée Saturday to patrons dining in Renaissance Festival attire!

 Later in the evening, the Rome Shakespeare Festival will give a full performance of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Shakespeare’s timeless fantasy. It is a bewitching blend of lyrical poetry and side-splitting comedy. Four courtly lovers and a troupe of amateur actors get mixed up in an enchanted forest where the Fairy King and Queen are embroiled in a magical marital squabble. The 8:00 pm performance will be held at the Dandee Denson Shrine Auditorium in Downtown Summerville and is a fund raiser for the Dandee Denson Auditorium renovation fund. Guests attending will have a choice of VIP seating and dinner tickets at $50, or general admission seating for $15. With the VIP seating, guests will be provided with dinner prior to the play, and seating will be onstage for the entire performance.  VIP seating is a real treat for true theatre fans, as they will have the opportunity to become part of the play! These tickets are limited and must be purchased in advance through the Chattooga County Chamber of Commerce.  Doors will open for general admission at 7:30 pm. with general admission tickets available at the door.

Elizabeth Vann Sharp, age 38 of Rome, was arrested after she allegedly used someone else’s debit card to make $3,703.99 worth of purchases.

Reports said that Sharp used the 67 year-old victim’s SunTrust card between October 9th and 20th to make numerous purchases.

Sharp is charged with felony financial exploitation of an elderly person and sixteen counts of felony financial transaction card fraud.

Police said that Sharp used the card not only in Floyd, but in Gwinnett County as well.

(Coosa Valley News)

Joseph Lydell Edgeworth – VGCSA/Possession of Meth with Intent to Distribute and VGCSA/Possession of Meth Parole Violation

Joshua Aaron Holbrook – Public Intoxication

Thomas Lee Holmes – Probation Violation Superior Court O/C Child Molestation/Aggravated Sexual Battery

Robert Maxwell Shirley – Possession of Marijuana (less than one ounce) and Possession of Drug-related Objects

Gwenetta Jean Brock – Suspended/Cancelled Registration and Driving without License on Person

Currently there are 49 inmates housed in the Chattooga County Jail / 22 housed at the Polk County Jail / 38 housed at the Bartow County Jail / and two housed at the Rome Youth Detention Center for a total inmate count of 111

A Floyd County Sheriff’s Deputy arrested 42 year-old Patrick Lamar King, of Rome, this week after he allegedly made contact with a woman who had a protective order against him.

Warrants stated that King made contact with the woman at her home back on September 5, 2015.

King is charged with felony aggravated stalking charge, felony probation violation, felony possession of a firearm by a convicted felon and possession of a firearm during the commission of a crime.

(Coosa Valley News)

A routine traffic stop on Morrison Campground Road resulted in the arrest of three people on felony drug charges.

Reports said that a Floyd County police officer pulled over Lashandie Ann Minter, 34 of Rome, for a tag light violation. During the stop the officer discovered digital scales with suspected methamphetamine reside.

Two passengers in the vehicle, Halyn Thomas Pasley, 24 of Lindale, and Jesse Lee Medlock, 20 of Rome, were also arrested on numerous charges.

Minter is charged with a tag light violation, felony possession of methamphetamine – also a

misdemeanor possession of drug related objects charge.

Pasley and Medlock were each charged with felony possession of methamphetamine and   misdemeanor possession of drug related objects.

Pasley is additionally charged with felony possession of xanax.

(Coosa Valley News)

An alert Chattooga County Sheriff’s Deputy brought in a subject who had an active warrant, after he pulled the man over for a traffic violation.   

As Deputy Nick Robinson was on routine patrol on Highway 48, he observed a van that had no working tail lights; he then pulled the vehicle over near Lyerly Street.

The man told Deputy Robinson that a fuse must have blown and asked if he could fix it, and after receiving permission to do so, the man replaced the fuse, correcting the problem.

After the deputy asked to see the man’s driver’s license, he was told by the subject that his license had been suspended; when asked the man gave his name, Jonathan Strickland, and a date of birth. 

Deputy Robinson recognized the name as being that of a man with an active warrant; after confirming that the subject and the man with the warrant were one in the same, the deputy called for backup.

Following a consent search of the van, Strickland was placed under arrest without incident, and the vehicle was then turned over to the passenger in the van.

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A Chattooga County Sheriff’s Deputy was recently dispatched to a Back Penn Road address, to what was referred to as a “dispute between neighbors”.

According to the incident report, the female complainant stated that the home belonged to her mother, and the next door neighbor had come onto the property, and piled leaves in the driveway; the leaves, she said, had originally been against a chain link fence.

She added that there had been several other incidents in the past with the same neighbor.

The deputy then advised the woman of the Magistrate Court procedures.

There’s an old saying that goes “Tall fences make good neighbors”.

Truth is indeed stranger than fiction.

According to an incident report at the Chattooga County Sheriff’s Office, on Monday of this week, a deputy was dispatched to a location on Gilreath Mill Road, at Cloudland, after 9-1-1 received a call from a man stating that someone entered his home armed with a knife – and had afterwards fled into the woods.

Upon the deputy’s arrival the complainant told him that a white male, wearing a blonde wig had come into his camper, and started a fight.

He went on to tell the deputy they fought for (quote) “four hours” and that the man wanted to take copper wire from inside the camper and that’s why they were fighting.

The complainant later said there were TWO men trying to get the copper wire and they had both run into the woods – wearing army clothes and wigs (Don’t ask, don’t tell).

EMS was called to the scene to treat the complainant after officers noticed that he had a cut on his hand.

A search of the property turned up no sign of the “suspects”, and neighbors reported they’d seen no one else on the property but had heard the complainant yelling and cussing, adding that at one point he had come over and asked to use the phone.

According to the report the complainant did NOT appear to have been involved in any “four hour long” fight however he DID appear to be under the influence of a substance at the time of the incident. 

Anthony Trammell was then placed under arrest and charged with false report of a crime – prior to being transported to the Chattooga County Jail.

All lanes of traffic were re-opened around 4:30, following a three vehicle accident involving a school bus in Floyd County on Wednesday afternoon.

There were children on the bus, but fortunately none were reported as being injured.

The other two vehicles were a mini-van and an SUV.  Early reports indicate that those in the SUV were transported for treatment by EMS.

The accident took place around 3:45.

We’ll have additional information as it becomes available.

(WRGA)