On Tuesday of this week, Summerville Police responded to a call from a homeowner on Martin Street.  When a responding officer arrived and spoke with the complainant, the homeowner told the officer that he had found an abandoned firearm on his property.  The homeowner showed the officer where he had found the Remington .22 rifle located near the treeline on his property.  The officer ran the numbers on the gun through the statewide data base and determined that the gun was not stolen.  The officer allowed the gun to remain with the homeowner and filed a report about the incident.

Here is the latest arrest report from the Chattooga County Sheriff’s Office for Thursday, September 5, 2024:

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A twenty-year-old Northwest Georgia man has been charged with second-degree murder after a four-year-old found a gun that was left unattended.  The Paulding County Sheriff’s Office released a statement saying EMTs were called to Hiram, Georgia, last Friday about a child who had fallen, but when they arrived, they discovered the child had been shot in the head.

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The recent death of a Blue Ridge man who wrecked on an ATV while riding at a hunting club in rural Chattooga County highlights the growing number of ATV fatalities and injuries in Georgia and across the nation.  According to recent numbers from the Consumer Product Safety Commission, there were 498 ATV-related deaths across the nation in 2023.

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Crashes on Georgia roads killed 19 people over the Labor Day weekend, and a 20th person drowned in Lake Lanier, according to state officials. The drowning was reported over the three-day weekend, according to the Georgia Department of Natural Resources. A 46-year-old Vinings man drowned Saturday afternoon on Lake Lanier after he went underwater while swimming to his boat, officials said. Investigators believe Hasani Kamau Widemond was trying to swim from the shore to his boat. He was found in about 25 feet of water, the DNR said. The number of deaths reported over the Labor Day weekend was down from 2023, when 21 died in crashes and three others drowned.

AJC

Throughout National Recovery Month in September of 2024, the Georgia Recovers Bus will make 63 stops in communities across Georgia.

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Animal Advocates of Chattooga County urge pet owners to microchip your pets.  They say that microchips increase the safety of your pet and the chances of being reunited with your pet should they be lost.  One in three family pets are lost but when dogs are microchipped, they are twice as likely to be returned.  Cats are twenty-times more likely to be returned if they are microchipped.  The average cost to have a microchip implanted by a veterinarian is around $45, which is a one–time fee and often includes registration in a pet recovery database. If your pet was adopted from a shelter or purchased from a breeder, your pet may already have a microchip.  The Summerville Veterinary Clinic offers microchip services.  You can contact them at 706-857-2918.  You can follow Animal Advocates of Chattooga County on their Facebook Page to learn more about pet care and keep up with pet-related events.

At the request of the Bartow County Sheriff’s Office, GBI agents are investigating an officer involved shooting in Bartow County, GA. James Lee Rourks, age 42, of Adairsville, GA, was shot and injured in the incident. No officers were injured in the incident.

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The rebirth of the Tooga Theater in downtown Summerville will be the focus of the next Chattooga Chamber Meeting to be held later this month. 

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