The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA)  announced Sunday that federal Economic injury Disaster Loans (EIDLs) are available in Alabama  for small businesses, small agricultural cooperatives, small businesses engaged in aquaculture, and most private nonprofit organizations with economic losses due to the drought conditions that began October 24, 2023.  The loans are available to residents of Cherokee and DeKalb County and to residents in Chattooga, Dade, Floyd, Polk and Walker Counties in Georgia.

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Election Day is tomorrow, Tuesday, November 7th.  Polls will be open in Trion, Summerville and Menlo from 7 AM until 7 PM.

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Last week, WZQZ News reported that an inmate at Hays State Prison was booked on felony murder charges in Chattooga County.  Jequaski Rashad Whitehead, age 34,  a native of Doughtery County, Georgia is accused of stabbing his cellmate to death with a homemade knife.  Whitehead was booked on the assault and murder charge by Department of Corrections officers on Tuesday morning of last week.  Whitehead has served several sentences in Georgia prisons since 2008.

Chattooga County is seeing an increase in the amount of sales tax that is being collected, due in part to the rising cost of goods and services.  While inflation is driving the sales tax collections up, Georgia does not collect sales taxes on groceries.  Chattooga County tax rate of 7% is lower than 87% of Georgia’s 159 counties and lower than 55% of counties nationally.  No municipalities collect any additional sales tax in the county.  Up until recently, Chattooga County collected around $2.4 million in sales tax each year.  This year, the county will top $3 million in sales tax collections.  That represents about 4.4% increase over last year.

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On Sunday afternoon, firefighters and the Georgia Forestry Service responded to a fire on Evans Road, located off Highway 100 in Summerville.  Evans Road is located about 7 miles southeast of Summerville and runs between Highway 100 and Starling Mill Road.  It is not clear at this time what caused the fire, but dry conditions are causing the fire to spread.  Today, Chattooga County Commissioner Blake Elsberry issued a burn warning due to the extremely dry conditions.  No burn permits are being issued at this time by the Georgia Forestry Service for any reason and residents should abstain from burning outdoors.

Here is the latest arrest report from the Chattooga County Sheriff’s Office for Sunday, November 5, 2023:

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