Georgia Northwestern's 2012 Rick Perkins Award winner is an instructor at the Walker County campus in Rock Spring. Roy Peco, who directs the automotive technology program, received the award Tuesday in Rome. He has been an instructor at GNTC since 2006. He will now compete for the regional award within the technical college system.
Pecos also volunteers at the Walker County Animal Shelter, the Chickamauga Elementary POT, and the St, Gerard Church Men's Club.
The Summerville Recreation Department will host the GRPA District 5 Class B Midget Boys All-Star tournament starting Saturday, Feb. 16, at Chattooga High School. The tournament will last until Thursday, Feb. 24.
First round action Saturday starts at 11 a.m when Summerville takes on Rockmart. At 12:15 Murray County goes against Gordon County. And, at 1:30 p.m. Calhoun will face off against Gilmer County.
Other teams that will be in on the action are:
The 7-8 Boys All-Star team travels to Murray County on Friday, Feb. 15, to take on Gilmer County at 8:30 p.m. The Summerville 9-10 Boys All Star team will also play on Friday in Gordon County when they tip off against Gordon County at 6 p.m.
The 7-8 All -Stars travel to Dalton to take on the winner of Friday's matchup between Whitfield County and Rockmart at 3:30 p.m. the 9-10 Girls travel to Calhoun to play the Yellow Jackets at 10 a.m.
The 11-12 Girls All Stars will begin their tournament on Monday, Feb. 18, when they take on the winner of Friday's game between Murray County and Calhoun at 6 p.m.
Am1180 wishes all of the Summerville teams much success this weekend and on Monday.
A former Rome police officer fired in 2011 for having a relationship with a known felon was charged with drug possession and theft for stealing drugs from a local pharmacy, according to Rome Police and Floyd County Jail reports.
Ambar Monica Velasquez, 32, of 216 Park Ave., Lindale, is accused of stealing 500 Xanax pills from Rome Pharmacy, 501 E. Second Ave., on Jan. 28.
She is charged with felony possession of a schedule IV controlled substance and misdemeanor theft by taking.
Velasquez is on probation for another misdemeanor theft.
She was charged and convicted of theft after she failed to turn in her police uniforms and citation book.
A Flintstone teenager who was arrested in Fort Oglethorpe and charged with stealing a Catoosa County school bus said he did it because he was tired of walking, police said.
According to the Fort Oglethorpe Police Department:
Jonathan Cole Collins, 18, of Ga. 341 in Flintstone was arrested for theft on Feb. 5.
Collins remained in Catoosa County jail on Monday with a bond set at $5,000.
On Feb. 4, officers with the Fort Oglethorpe Police Department and deputies with the Walker County Sheriff’s Office were dealing with questions surrounding a school bus that had mysteriously disappeared from one elementary school and had shown up at another.
The bus, No. 77, was left on the lot of Battlefield Primary School at 2204 Ga. 2 (Battlefield Parkway) in Fort Oglethorpe by the driver about 4:30 p.m. on Feb. 1.
“The theft was discovered by the driver when she returned to the lot to retrieve it on Monday morning Feb. 4,” officer Mitchell Moore wrote in the report. “The loss was being reported to the shop manager at virtually the same time a Walker County Sheriff’s deputy was calling to report that the bus had been recovered.”
The bus was recovered on the lot of the Chattanooga Valley Elementary School, about eight miles away in Walker County.
It was also discovered that Collins had just been released from the Catoosa County jail on Friday, Feb. 1, after serving two weeks for a misdemeanor drug charge.
Listed on the February 13 Arrest Report at the Chattooga County Jail are:
Dennis Cain Ayers, Lyerly — Court Production Order
James Lamar Dover, Trion — Willful Obstruction of Law Enforcement Officers; Pointing/Aiming Gun at another; Discharging Firearm while under the influence of alcohol; Reckless Conduct causing harm to/ or endangering the safety of another
Donnie Lee Treadaway, Trion — Child Support
A Summerville man had told local authorities that his pre-paid Verizon Wireless cell phone account has been hacked and there's not much he can do about it.
The man said that over the weekend, he realized he hadn't received any phone calls or texts from work or family. He said he contacted his cell phone provider and found that all his security information and his phone number had been changed on February 7. According to the report, the man said he was told by the Verizon associate that several other accounts had been hacked in which someone had changed people's security information and phone numbers.
Because the account is pre-paid, is someone obtains your security information and then changes that information and phone number, that person can use the account for that month, under a different phone number. The incident was turned over to investigators.
Floyd Medical Center will commemorate American Heart Month by hosting a free Heart Health Screening Friday at FMC's Medical Arts Center in Rome. The screening is open to the public and will offer tests for blood glucose, blood pressure, body mass index, cholesterol and EKG. Information about hearth-healthy nutrition and medical consultations with a physician will also be available.
Participants will also be able to register for door prizes and will be able to try a variety of heart healthy snacks.
The screening is Friday, from 2-6 p.m. at Floyd Cardiac Rehabilitation, inside the Medical Arts Center at 304 Shorter Avenue, Suite 101.
Roughly 600,000 people die of heart disease each year. February has been designated as American Heart Month in an effort to educate Americans about the dangers of heart disease and how it can be prevented.
A Whitfield County man, accused of murdering his wife and her father last year, pleaded guilty on Tuesday. Adolph Ray "Sonny" Neal was sentenced to serve life in prison, without parole. Neal was on the run for a week after the May 2012 murders of 27-year-old Jessica Neal, and her father, 60-year-old Don Shedd. Neal's then 9-year-old daughter ran crying to neighbors after she discovered the body of her grandfather, Police later found Jessica Neal stabbed to death outside the home. Whitfield Sheriff Scott Chitwood called the murders "extremely violent homicides." Jessica Neal was reportedly wanting a divorce when the killings occurred.
