Food is the theme for weekend events being held around Chattooga County.  Coming up tomorrow, the City of Summerville and Summerville Main Street will be hosting their annual Chili and Brunswick Stew Cook-off at the historic Summerville Depot.  The event features a top prize of $500 for the team with the best chili or Brunswick stew and offers attendees the opportunity to sample the stew and chili with the purchase of a $5 wristband.  Also tomorrow, the Chattooga Masonic Lodge will be having a Hobo Supper sale featuring down-home Southern food.  The pinto bean, cornbread and fried potato fundraiser is $8 a plate and will be happening at the lodge on Millican Street in Summerville.  Also tomorrow, the Subligna Community Center fundraiser will be taking place.  BBQ lunches will be served for $10 each and all of the proceeds go to the upkeep of the Subligna Community Center – the sight of the old Subligna School.  More details about all these events can be found on the Community Calendar page of this website.

Some people in small, rural communities like Chattooga County scoff at the idea of active gangs perpetrating crime in our area.   However, law enforcement says that not only is gang activity prevalent – it is also extremely dangerous.  The most active gang in North Georgia is the all-white Ghostface Gang.  Members of this gang are heavily involved in drug activity and have been involved in numerous violent crimes.  Two of the gang’s members were arrested this week in Floyd county in connection with a 2022 crime. Thirty-four-year-old Dustin Earl Cotton of Cedartown and forty-one-year-old Scotty Joel Venable of Rome supervised the crimes that were committed by two other gang members. One member held the victim while the other struck the victim in the body and head with a metal object. Cotton and Venable are charged with aggravated assault, participation in criminal street gang activity, false imprisonment, and battery. The Ghost Face Gangsters started inside Georgia’s prison system and spread into communities primarily in Georgia and the Southeast.

The summer travel season just came to an end and Georgians are already beginning to make travel plans for the year-end holidays.

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Here is the latest arrest report from the Chattooga County Sheriff’s Office for Thursday, September 12, 2024:

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The State of Georgia’s net tax collections during the month of August totaled nearly $2.34 billion, an increase of $54.3 million or 2.4 percent compared to August 2023 (FY 2024), when net tax collections totaled $2.28 billion.  Year to date, net tax revenue collections totaled $4.90 billion, for an increase of $120.6 million or 2.5 percent compared to FY 2024 when net tax collections totaled $4.78 billion after two months.

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A twenty-two-year-old Chattooga County man was arrested in Floyd County this week after reports indicate he made threats towards law enforcement during a traffic stop on Highway 27.  Georgia State Troopers stopped Hayden Christopher Ramey of Summerville for a broken windshield.  During the traffic stop, officers detected a strong odor of alcohol on his breath.  During the stop, Ramey proceeded to threaten troopers while making motions to strike them with his fist and handcuffs. A search of Ramey then resulted in troopers finding Clonazepam and Alprazolam in an unlabeled pill bottle under the driver’s seat. Ramey then proceeded to fight with officers as they placed him inside a patrol car. He is accused of placing a large dent and scratches on the side of the car. Ramey is charged simple assault, terroristic threats/acts, two counts possession of controlled substances, drugs not in original container, interference with government property, possession of marijuana, obstruction, DUI and a windshield violation.

A Georgia Northwestern Technical College (GNTC) student faces the future with an associate degree in Medical Assisting and a new smile. Jessica Motes completed the program at GNTC’s Floyd County Campus in Rome on July 9 and will graduate in December. Motes, a native of DeKalb County, Ala., and current resident of Chattooga County, took her credential test on July 25; she received a job offer during her externship and started work as a medical assistant at Harbin Clinic Family Medicine on July 29.

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A Northwest Georgia convicted felon, Jose Rivera,  has been sentenced to federal prison for the possession of a stolen firearm, which he discharged at a Cartersville police officer in 2022, and for the possession of a firearm as a convicted felon.

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