Three Chattooga County residents died in two separate accidents, both in other counties, on Friday.

Friday morning, brothers Mason Greene, 12, and Zach Greene, 6, of Summerville (Gore Community), were killed after the SUV their mother was driving crashed into a tractor-trailer at the intersection of GA 136 and U.S. 411 in Murray County.

A memorial fund has been set up by Gordon County to help the family.  The father of the boys, Marshall Greene, is a Gordon County firefighter.

Marshall Greene's wife, underwent surgery at Erlanger and is listed in stable condition.

Donations may be made at Northside Bank in Calhoun, (corner of Hwy, 53E and Lovers Lane Rd.) to the Zach & Mason Greene Memorial Fund, s/o Marshall Greene.

Aaron Michael Dooley, of Summerville, was killed Friday afternoon when his vehicle, which was traveling northbound on Highway 27 in Walker County, crossed over into the southbound lane and hit another vehicle. 

 Funeral services for 30-year-old Dooley are at 2 p.m. Monday, Jan. 7, at the J.D. Hill Memorial Chapel of Earle Rainwater Funeral Home. A Memorial Scholarship Fund at United Community Bank has been set up in honor of Dooley.

Gordon County Sheriff Deputies responded on Friday to a report of a theft of a wheelchair in the Sugar Valley community. After completing the report from the wheelchair-bound victim, deputies located a witness who`d observed a suspicious person in the neighborhood. The deputies then went to a second home in the area and discovered a large amount of stolen property was located, including bicycles, a riding lawnmower, electronic sound equipment, power tools, a gasoline generator, and the wheelchair. As a result Tommy Lee Holt Jr. 23, of Sugar Valley was arrested and charged with Burglary in the 1st Degree involving Hall Memorial Church, Burglary in the 1st Degree involving a private home on Fairview Road, and an assortment of misdemeanor theft charges.

An AT&T main trunk line that serves Chattooga 911 is still down. According to Chattooga County EMA Director Eddie Henderson says  AT&T is aware of the problem and working to correct it  The line went down sometime Saturday.  Right now calls are being routed through the Summerville Police Department. If you have a Trion exchange you need to call 706-857-3400 to get in touch with Chattooga 911.

A little more than three months ago camera crews filled the Floyd County Jail as a group of at-risk teens that had been in trouble for things ranging from drugs to theft to violence came face to face with the reality of their choices.

The program has been done many times at the Floyd County Sheriff’s Office, however, this time cameras from the the A&E Grammy-nominated show “Beyond Scared Straight” were following the deputies and participating inmates as they gave the teens a dose of reality and showed them the consequences of their life choices.

The first episode of two will air on A&E featuring the Turning Point program at the Sheriff’s Office on Thursday, Jan. 10, at 10 p.m.

Deputies volunteer their time and participating inmates get nothing more than the satisfaction of possibly helping put an at-risk teen on the right path and helping them avoid the mistakes that they themselves have made.

For more information about the Floyd County Sheriff’s Office programs, including the Turning Point program, visit www.FloydSheriff.com or call 706-291-4111.

A Summerville woman is in the Floyd County Jail. Christina Michelle Taylor of a Greenhill Memorial Gardens, Summerville, address was booked into the Floyd County Jail on Friday. According to the docket, 24-year-old Taylor, was arrested by Chattooga County authorities and is on a hold for Chattooga County.

Chattooga County 4-H member Matt Hicks has been offered and has accepted a leadership counselor position for this summer for the University of Georgia Extension Service Camping Programs. Only 15 college students, juniors or seniors, are offered the elite positions.

In this position, Hicks will be leading more than 80, first or second year, college students who are camp counselors.

Hicks is the first Chattooga County student ever offered a position of this caliber, according to Extension Office director Rebecca Thomas. He is a senior at Georgia Tech and a Master 4-H'er.

Thomas says that students selected for this position are "the cream of the crop in maturity, integrity, and ability to motivate.  

Thomas said Hicks had to apply for the position and undergo several interviews to see if he would be able to handle the work load and have the ability to discipline other counselors and make ethical decisions. Thomas said Hicks will be an inspiration to the thousand of young people he will come into contact with in his position.

Hicks has been a 4-H counselor for the past two years. His first summer was spent at Camp Fortson in Atlanta, and last year he was at Rock Eagle.  

Thomas said, " I have had thousands of 4-H'ers who I have worked with over the past 18 years and Matt is one of the best!.

She said sometimes she wonders if she makes a difference, but today she is a happy "second" mama. Though all the experiences 4-H offers, each one offers those teachable moments that build on one another to teach decision making skills and good judgement.

 Today, Hicks will receive a box to open that will reveal what position, of 15, he will be leading this summer.

AM1180 congratulates Matt Hicks on his exciting position.

A Lafayette woman reported that her wallet may have been stolen while she was at the checkout line at Walmart in Trion on January 3. According to the woman she was in the self checkout line and there was a white male and white female with a child behind her acting strangely. She said she put her wallet down to scan the items she was purchasing and found that her wallet was missing when she got home. She returned to the store to see if her wallet had been turned but but it had not. Inside the wallet, she said she had $700 in cash, all $20 bills along with identification and credit cards.

A recent audit has found Georgia's Department of Agriculture failed to use E-Verify to check whether new employees were eligible to work, which state law has required of public employers since 2007.

Federal officials say the department did not register to use the database until April 2012. E-Verify is used to make sure new hires are eligible to work in the United States.

The requirement targeting illegal immigrants initially took effect while Agriculture Commissioner Tommy Irvin was in office. He was succeeded by Commissioner Gary Black in 2011.

Department spokeswoman Mary Kathryn Yearta says the department's personnel office was not using the system as required. She said all new hires are now being checked.

Disclosure reports filed this week show state lawmakers have taken advantage of free football tickets over 30 times since August.

WXIA-TV Friday reported the Georgia World Congress Center Authority has distributed $9,630 worth of free football tickets to state lawmakers since August.

The television station reports Democratic Reps. Virgil Fludd, of Tyrone, and Rahn Mayo, of Decatur, have each received free tickets three times since August.

Georgia World Congress Center Authority representatives say the gifts to state lawmakers is a longstanding practice, and is not tied to the Falcons asking for a new stadium. The plan calls for the new stadium to be financed in part by state hotel-motel tax revenue. The proposal to build a new stadium also calls for the demolition of the 20-year-old Georgia Dome.