A home appears to be a total loss after an early morning fire Friday. No one was injured in the home at 782 Chattanooga Valley Road in Flingstone. The cause is under investigation, according to the Walker County Fire Department. The elderly resident, Robert Jackson, was staying with his daughter, and no one had been living there recently.

Walker County Sommissioner Bebe Heiskell signed a resolution Thursday creating an Enterprise Zone in the area just North of the City of Lafayette.

According to Walker County's Economic Developer Larry Brooks, the Enterprize Zone is being created due to interest in the former Imperial Cup plant just North of Lafayette, and will also include the Unique Fabricating plant in Lafayette, which is looking to expand. Called North Highlands in the proposal, the area takes in the west side of Highway 27 from Reeds Road South, and continues along Gordon Pond Road to a Southern boundary of West McCarter road. The Enterprize Aone is a step toward the eventual goal of having the area declared an Opportunity Zone by the Georgia Department of Community Affairs. Brooks says that such a designation would create much larger incentives from the state, for new and expanding industries within the area. He said, for instance having an Opportunity Zone would double the present job tax, so employers in the zone could get up to $3500 per year per employee. Heiskell said the DCA board will meet in February and will either accept, or reject the resolution at that time. .

A new federal report says witnesses heard normal engine sounds and saw nothing else unusual as a small plane lifted from an airport in Calhoun moments before it crashed into trees, killing the pilot.

The preliminary report Thursday from the National Transportation Safety Board said the plane crashed into a tree about 50 feet above the ground and caught on fire.

Authorities identified the pilot killed as 73-year-old Roy Gardner Russom of Calhoun. He was the only person on board when the plane crashed around 2 p.m. on Dec. 18. The NTSB said the plane was an experimental, amateur-built Hummel H5.

Thursday's report is a preliminary one, and the investigation into what caused the crash is continuing.

The Chattooga County Republican Party announces a change in their regular monthly meeting date and location for 2013. The  first meeting of the new year will be held at the Chine Restaurant on Thursday, January 17, at 7 p.m. New Chattooga County Republican Party membership cards will be distributed to members for $25 at the meeting. Fore more information check out the Chattooga County Republican Party Facebook page.

A Summerville man reported on Thursday, Dec. 27, that a laptop computer and other items were stolen out of his camper on Mustang Drive. Jackie Jarrells said he law saw the items on December 26. Taken was a black Compaq laptop computer Jarrells had gotten from Aaron Rentals. Also stolen was a pink and gray MP3 player with a gray cord and pink earbuds. Jarrels told officers the items are worth $1850.

A state audit has found erroneous or incomplete information in the driver records system puts Georgia at risk of losing $30 million in federal highway funding.

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution Thursday reported numerous courts either don't report convictions involving traffic violations, drugs and stolen vehicles or are slow to report them.

The newspaper reports Georgia also allows license suspensions stemming from DUI offenses to be expunged from driver records if the charge doesn't result in a conviction – which is contrary to federal law. A federal law passed over the summer requires the state to resolve the issue by 2015.

The audit also revealed the Department of Driver Services does not have a clear policy on which employees can alter or delete information from driver records.

Listed on the December 28 Arrest Report at the Chattooga County Jail are:

Brandi Nicole Barr, Summerville — Probation Violation

Michael Duran Smith, Trion — Failure to Stop at a Stop Sign; Driving with a Suspended/Revoked License

Daniel Luke Furguson, Hays State Prison — Felony Murder

A shoplifting incident was reported at the Walmart in Trion on December 20. According to the report by the Chattooga County Sheriff's Office, Asset Protection Associate Johnnie Smith told deputies that he saw a woman put items into a buggy inside the store. He said when she noticed him looking at her, she put a pair of boots back and left the buggy in the aisle. Smith said there were five perfume gift sets and three holiday ribbons in the buggy. He said he left to see what would happen and watched the woman on the store monitor. He said he then saw the woman put the boots and other items in bags that she had with her, put the bags in another buggy and quickly leave the store. He said he went into the parking lot and saw the woman and a small female child put the bags into a dark mid-size car and leave. Smith got the tag number and showed the deputies the video of the theft. The woman has been banned from the store and will be arrested for criminal trespass if she returns, according to the report. The incident has been turned over to investigators. 

A Trion man was tased by Chattooga County Sheriff's deputies before being arrested last weekend. According to the report officers responded to the Wright Drive residence of 19-year-old Marcus Stamper and his girlfriend due to a reported domestic incident. Once officers arrived things got a little strange. First, Stamper refused to allow officers to speak with his girlfriend Stephanie Shireman, who was at a neighbors house. When officers went to the the neighbor's home to speak to the woman, Stamper reportedly became enraged, and refused to comply with the officer's commands. He then began to threatn officers and threatened to release his pitt bulldog on them, at one point unleashing the dog and trying to walk the dog towards officers. When Stamper's girlfriend told officers she wanted to leave the home she shared with the man, Stamper reportedly stood at the door of the vehicle and wouldn't let her leave. According to the report, he told her she wasn't going to leave and if she did he would follow her. When told to calm down and step away from the vehicle, Stamper is reported to have started yelling, while taking off his jacket and shirt, and cursing officers. He is reported to have charged officers a second time before he was tased and cuffed. Redmond EMS was dispatched to remove the taser probes from Stamper's back. Then Stamper refused to get inside the patrol vehicle and began kicking the side of the vehicle and kicked the door closed. Once he was inside the vehicle and while being taken to the Chattooga County jail, Stamper, according to the report, banged his head continuously against the bars and plexiglass divider between the front and rear seats. Stamper was charged with obstruction of law enforcement officers.

If you pull out in front of another vehicle on the roadway, make sure it's not a law enforcement vehicle, and definitely make sure, you're not under the influence of drugs. However, a 24-year-old Trion woman didn't heed that advice recently. According to a report filed by the Chattooga County Sheriff's Department Cpl. Kenneth Craig stopped a vehicle driven by Brandi Nicole Barr, of a Penn Street, Trion address, after she pulled out in front of his vehicle  as she turned off Halls Valley Road onto highway 27 almost causing an accident.  Upon speaking to Barr, it appeared that she was under the influence of drugs, according to the report, which indicated her speech was slurred and she was squinting her eyes. Barr told the deputy she had taken two Lorcet about an hour before driving and had taken several Xanex a few hours prior to taking the Lorcet. While searching the vehicle the deputy reportedly found several several empty prescription bottles, some of which belong to Barr, but three belonging to three other people. Barr was arrested for driving under the influence of drugs.