Serious damage has been reported today in Adairsville due to storms but no details are available yet.
The Bartow County Sheriff's Office has said there is major tornado damage in Adairsville. "There are accidents, injuries and building entrapments. All available assistance is enroute to the area. If persons do not have to be in this area, we are urging them to stay away for emergency assistance to be able to get through. More information will be released later."
The roof of an apartment complex on Legion Street in Adairsville has been damaged and there are scattered trees down.
Georgia Power reports outages fairly light overall. 6,200 statewide, w/ 5,000 of those in NW Ga. (4,200 in Adairsville tornado area).
Listed on the January 30 Arrest Report at the Chattooga County Jail are:
Jonathan Michael Kerley, Trion — Failure to appear
Logan Greeley Martin, Gaylesville, Ala., — Failure to Maintain a Single Lane; DUI/ Alcohol
Don Riley Treadaway, Trion — Parole Violation
James Ronald Harris, Summerville — Violation of Family Violence Order
Asuncion Sanchez-Arcos, Trion — Failure to Maintain a Single Lane; Driving without License/ Expired License
When you can't lock a prison cell, it's difficult to keep the prisoner's inside.
That's pretty much common sense and exactly what a former Hays State Employee who maintains close ties to the prison told AM1180 on Monday.
The money was allocated to repair the locks, but those funds reportedly were used for inside fencing. That's what many of the inmates use to make shanks, or homemade knives, according to our source. Shanks that have been used to stab other inmates and most recently two guards who work at the prison. In the most recent case, it is thought that metal strapping from the fence was used to make the shank which was unusually long and deadly. The two guards attacked early Sunday morning received serious wounds according to unconfirmed sources. Again, the Department of Corrections has released very little information and no information to the local media. Shanks are usually short, easier to hide and easier to make.
Due to the lock situation, AM1180 has been told that corrections officers are told not to go inside a building alone if there are inmates on the floor. It seems that many inmates, if the lock doesn't work on their cell, can come and go from their cells, within the dormitories, creating a dangerous and deadly situation.
This apparently is what happened early Sunday morning when one guard entered a dormitory area, and there was either one or more inmates out of their cells, or they came out of their cells. AM 1180 was told one officer was attacked, and another officer came to his rescue, resulting in the second being stabbed. Again, their injuries were life threatening.
This also is apparently what happened when an inmate was strangled to death by other inmates in his cell -non-working locks.
The former employee says Hays, which initially was supposed to be a medium security prison and is now maximum security, was not built to house inmates as dangerous as those being housed there. He said modifications must be made to the prison. He said maximum security inmates are supposed to be locked inside their cells at night with no access to the dormitory area. He said at 1 AM Sunday morning, inmates shouldn't have been out of their cells for any reason.
The job of any prison is to protect the public and the inmates. Hays reportedly is losing that battle and must change it's practices, according to the former employee. He added that he hopes prison officials are able to get things under control for the safety of the community.
Other unconfirmed sources say Hays is extremely understaffed and many of the staff there is "young and inexperienced." The Department of Corrections lists staring pay at just more than $24,000 with maximum page grade at just more than $42,000.
The web site lists 10 correctional officers available at Hays right now, more than any other prison on the list. There reportedly are several people in training for previously listed jobs at the Department of Corrections training facility at the former Tift College Campus in Forsyth.
On Monday of this week Chattooga County Commissioner Jason Winters and State Senators Jeff Mullis and Chuck Hufsetler along with Representative Eddie Lumsden met with Department of Corrections officials who say that they are making "massive changes" at the prison in Chattooga County. According to information obtained by AM 1180 from that meeting, the D.O.C. has sent in engineering crews to assess the situation at Hays Prison. Also, D.O.C. Commissioner Brian Owens says that the state agency is stepping up hiring plans to ge the prison better-staffed quickly.
Information concerning the stabbing of two correctional officers stabbed at Hays Correctional Institute, or the identities of the two men, have yet to be released by the Georgia Department of Corrections as of this morning.
AM1180 spoke with DOC Northern Field Operations Manager Rick Jacobs on Tuesday. He assured us that information will be issued in a press release by the Department of Corrections sometime today. He told AM1180 that he will personally phone us with that information.
Sources indicate that both officers suffered non-life-threatening injuries and both were taken to a nearby hospital.
AM1180 sources indicate the incident tool place at the Pennville prison around 1 a.m. Sunday morning when a corrections officer and a sergeant were stabbed during an altercation involving an inmate According to sources, the incident occurred outside the dormitory when a corrections officer was attacked by at least one inmate with a home made knife, or "shank". AM 1180 has learned that the officers were stabbed with an "extraordinarily long" shank. Another corrections officer came to the defense of the officer being stabbed and was also stabbed in the altercation.
The situation at Hays State Prison is growing increasingly dangerous. Over the past month, four inmates have died – three of those deaths have been homicides according to the DOC. The fourth death was reportedly an inmate that had chronic health issues. The DOC has been very limited in the amount of information that they release to the public, local law enforcement and the media.
In its third acquisition in as many months, Mohawk Industries agreed Monday to buy the Belgium panel board maker Spano Invest NV for $168 million.
The European foray comes just a month after Mohawk closed on its biggest deal ever — the $1.5 billion purchase of the Italian tile maker, the Marazzi Group.
Mohawk, the world's biggest floorcovering company, said buying the chip and melamine board producer in Belgium will help supply its growing laminate floor business, including the pending $150 million purchase of Pergo that Mohawk announced three months ago.
Investors and rating agencies greeted the latest acquisition favorably on Monday, pushing up Mohawk's stock by 30 cents a share to $102.77. Monday's closing price for Mohawk surpassed the company's previous stock peak reached in May 2007.
Shares of Mohawk have doubled in the past 14 months as the housing has rebounded and Mohawk has broadened its carpet business into more hard surface flooring.
Mohawk is second in carpet shipments to the Dalton, Ga.-based Shaw Industries, but Mohawk is the world's biggest floorcovering company with growing sales in both hard and soft surfaces.
A Menlo boy says he was sexually threatened by another boy on the school bus. According to the Chattooga County Sheriff's Department, the boys mother filed a complaint with the Sheriff's Department on January 24. The report indicates that the boy was threatened on the school bus and the boy who threatened him made threats of a sexual nature. The boy who was threatened told officers that he had previously had problems with the same boy and reports had been made to Summerville Middle School, which is attended by both children. The school resource officer was notified of the incident, according to the report. The complainant and his mother were told that anymore incidents of this type should be reported to the Sheriff's Department.
A Lafayette man was arrested in Chattooga County on January 23 and charged with felony possession of marijuana. According to the report, a Chattooga County Sheriff's deputy made a traffic stop on Highway 27 at Gore-Subligna Road. Upon approaching the vehicle of Tony Fay Dooley, of Bell Road, Lafayette, the officer reportedly smelled suspected marijuana inside the vehicle. Upon running Dooley's license it came back that he was on felony probation. Dooley gave the officer consent to search the vehicle then admitted that he had about two ounces of marijuana in his jacket pocket. He was charged with felony possession of marijuana and taken to the Chattooga County Jail.
A Summerville man was arrested in the McDonald's parking lot charged with possesson of methamphetamine January 26th. According to the Sheriff's Department report, a deputy stopped a vehicle just before 7 p.m. after he observed a headlight out on the vehicle. Anthony Brooks, of First Avenue, Summerville, was a passenger in the vehicle. The report indicates that Deputy Caine Railey smelled alcohol inside the vehicle. Both the driver and Brooks said they hadn't been drinking. There was an open beer can on the floorboard in front of Brooks, according to the report. Brooks told Railey the can was old and not even cold. Railey told Brooks to hand him the can, which Railey reported, felt cold. Railey then said he went to the passenger side of the vehicle and saw where the floor was wet. The report says, Brooks admitted to trying to hide the can of beer from the officer. When backup arrived, officers tried to put handcuffs on 38-year-old Brooks, but Brooks repotedly tried to pull away from officers. Railey reportedly turned him around and placed him against the patrol car in order to place him against the patrol car to handcuff him. Brooks reportedly continued to resist. During the incident a clear plastic bag of white powder, believed to be methamphetamine, was found in Brook's wallet, along with a straw containing suspected methamphetamine residue. The report says that Brooks told officer he did use methamphetamine but he didn't want the officers to find the methamphetamine. He was charged with possession of methamphetamine, a felony, and taken to the Chattooga County Jail.
Listed on the January 29 Arrest Report at the Chattooga County Jail are:
Cynthia Gay Cooper, Summerville — VGCSA/ Manufacturing Methamphetamine; VGCSA/ Possession of Methamphetamine; VGCSA/ Possession of Marijuana
Paul Andrew Cooper, Summerville — VGCSA/ Manufacturing Methamphetamine; VGCSA/ Possession of Methamphetamine
Eli Zechariah Kruzih, Summerville — Willful Obstruction of Law Enforcement Officers
Danny R. Ogles, Trion — Possession of Less Than One Ounce of Marijuana; VGCSA/ Possession of Methamphetamine
Susan Michelle Ponder, Gaylesville, Ala. — DUI/ Drugs; Speeing