A Walker County man was stabbed to death in Whitfield County and a suspect is in custody.

 According to reports, 28-year-old Ricky Grice, Jr. was slumped in the front seat of his Dodge pickup truck at a house when sheriff's deputies arrived. 22-year-old Jonathan Durden reportedly was standing nearby in a driveway with blood on his hand, holding a knife. The call came in at 2:30 a.m. Tuesday morning. 

Whitfield County Sheriff Scott Chitwood says his investigators believe the victim, Grice, had driven to Durden's house early Tuesday morning to pick up a woman who was staying there that reportedly wanted to leave. Durden is alleged to have become angry, walked over to the truck and stabbed Grice several times through the open truck window.  

 Grice was pronounced dead at Hamilton Medical Center; and Durden is in the Whitfield County Jail, charged with his murder.

The woman, 22-year-old Alexa Blubaugh, of Rocky Face, was also charged with possession of meth and possession of tools for the commission of a crime.  

Neighbors at Flinstone are giving conflicting accounts of the fatal shooting of neighborhood dog last week.

The dog's owner, William Stahl, says the dog was shot while still in his yard.

But Daniel Phillips said the dog had jumped  Stahl's  fence and was in his yard, acting aggressively.

The Walker County Sheriff's Department is still investigating the case, but 53-year-old Phillips was arrested Friday charged with cruelty to animals. He was released quickly on bond.  

The City of Summerville has set its Independence Day celebration for June 29, the Saturday before the Fourth of July. The event will be held at the recreation department starting at 5 p.m. with the fireworks at dark. 

The Summerville City Council Monday night rejected the bids submitted for sewer work on Scoggins and Ramey streets in it's regular monthly meeting Monday night.

The lowest bid of $520,000 was $120,000 more than the city had budgeted for the work. City Manager Russell Thompson has been authorized to seek new bids for the project.

The city also agreed to submit a request for funding to add more gas customers. Farms with a total of four chicken houses in Floyd County are interested in converting to gas. A few months ago the city added five farms in the Texas Valley area with chicken houses to the gas system.  

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/

In area high school sports this week:

The Trion Bulldogs will take on the Chattooga Indians in Soccer at 4:30 today at Chattooga. Chattooga goes up against Dade County at home Today in tennis. The Indian's track team travels to  Adairsville and the baseball teams tackles Dade County.

Chattooga takes on Trion in Tennis at 4 p.m. on Wednesday at Trion.

Trion's JV baseball team takes on Coosa at 5 p.m. Wednesday at Coosa and will go up against Darlington at 10 a.m.

 On Thursday,  the Indian's Tennis team goes to Dade County. Indian baseball is at Coosa with the Indian's Soccer Team at Dade County.

Friday has Indian baseball going to Cedartown.

Saturday, Trion's JV baseball team will be at Darlington at 11 a.m.

Lafayette High School will host a wheelchair basketball game on Saturday to benefit student Austin Whitten who was injured in a swimming accident last summer.

The Chattanooga Lady Mocs, playing in wheelchairs, will face off with athletes from Atlanta's Shepherd Center.

Austin remains in a wheelchair since injuring his neck in a swimming accident last summer. Proceeds from the game will help build the Whitten family a carport at their home and with physical therapy treatments for Austin.

The game starts at 1:30 Saturday at Lafayette High School. Tickets are $5 with children under 5 admitted free.  

The Bartow County Sheriff’s Department is asking for the public’s help in locating a man they say has been missing since Thursday.

Officers say Richard “Blake” Cowart disappeared Thursday morning according to his girlfriend, who said  she hasn’t seen him since they went to sleep about 10 pm last Wednesday April 3rd.

Deputies and other law enforcement personnel searched for Cowart in the area of Hardin Bridge Road in Kingston Thursday night but found no trace of him in the surrounding woods or along the Etowah River. Family members told police Cowart uses recreational drugs and could be having hallucinations since he hadn’t slept for several days before his disappearance. Cowart’s girlfriend said she knew only of him using ‘spice’ or synthetic marijuana. Cowart left his cell phone and jacket at his home.

Anyone with information about Cowart can call the Bartow Sheriff’s Office at 770-382-5050.

Luckily no one was seriously hurt when an SUV rammed into two vehicles and a storefront on Broad St. Sunday afternoon.

According to Rome Police, a Jeep Liberty, driven by 30-year-old Rhunda Hayes of Rome began swerving while drivingeastbound on Broad St.

The vehicle struck two parked cars before colliding with the front window of Riverside Gourmet and Bussey’s Florist at 250 Broad St. Medical personnel on the scene said that the wreck was the result of a seizure suffered by Hayes.

He was transported to the hospital to be checked out but was soon released. Police issued no citations in the accident. 

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.