Chattooga County Sheriff Mark Schrader has provided new details about Tuesday’s daylong search for a New York fugitive, including how the suspect came to Chattooga County, the involvement of federal investigators and the telephone conversation that ultimately led to his surrender.
A New York man wanted on child pornography charges was taken into custody Tuesday evening following an hours-long manhunt in the Gore community of Chattooga County.
The Chattooga County Sheriff’s Office, FBI and other law enforcement agencies are continuing an active search Tuesday afternoon for a New York man wanted on a federal warrant involving a crime against a child.
Authorities are searching for Tavion Young, who was last seen in the Gore community near Wahatchee Trail, off Mitchell Road.
Young is described as approximately six feet tall and weighing around 200 pounds. He was last seen wearing red pajama-style pants.
A heavy law enforcement presence has been reported in the Gore and Mitchell Road area as officers continue searching for the suspect.
In an update Tuesday afternoon, the Sheriff’s Office said investigators have no evidence that Young has left the area.
“At this point we have no evidence that he has left the area. We are still in the area searching,” the update stated.
Residents in the Gore community and surrounding areas are urged to remain alert and avoid approaching anyone believed to be the suspect.
Anyone who sees Young or someone matching his description should call 911 immediately.
The search remains active, and WZQZ will provide additional information as it becomes available.
With another major road construction project set to begin on Taylor’s Ridge, it’s a reminder that keeping roads open and passable across the mountain has been a challenge for generations. In fact, long before the Georgia Department of Transportation existed, Chattooga County residents were required to help maintain the roads themselves.
The Federal Trade Commission and 20 states have filed a federal lawsuit against Dollar General, accusing the discount retailer of repeatedly charging customers more at checkout than the prices displayed on store shelves, price tags and advertisements.
A major Georgia Department of Transportation project planned for U.S. 27 over Taylor’s Ridge is intended to address a problem that has challenged highway crews for decades — an unstable mountainside where groundwater, steep slopes and the underlying geology have repeatedly contributed to movement of the roadway.
WZQZ News previously reported on the upcoming Taylor Ridge project, but a closer look at Georgia DOT records shows the work is considerably more than routine highway maintenance.
The project is officially designated PI No. 0015413, “SR 1/U.S. 27 at Taylors Ridge – Phase II.” GDOT classifies the work as slope repair and reconstruction/rehabilitation along approximately 0.21 mile of U.S. 27 in Chattooga County.
The reason for the project becomes clearer when looking at the history and geology of Taylor Ridge.
Government geological studies of the U.S. 27 cut through Taylor Ridge document layers of shale, sandstone and other rock, along with groundwater moving through the formations. In fact, drainage of the mountainside has been an issue for more than six decades. A Georgia geological study documented 83 horizontal drainage wells drilled into the rock above U.S. 27 specifically to divert groundwater away from the highway fill. Those wells were between 39 and 147 feet deep, and their discharge increased substantially following periods of heavy rainfall.
That groundwater is important because water moving through a steep road cut can contribute to weakening and movement of soil and rock surrounding the highway.
The problems aren’t new. By 2019, the north side of U.S. 27 on Taylor Ridge had again experienced significant movement. At the time, Georgia DOT said it was evaluating a permanent solution after a portion of the northbound roadway dropped several inches in a short period. Temporary paving, warning devices and lane restrictions were used while engineers studied a longer-lasting repair.
The state subsequently completed an earlier stabilization project. GDOT’s records show PI No. 0015412, described as slide stabilization on U.S. 27/SR 1 at Taylor Ridge, was awarded for approximately $1.59 million, with an April 2021 completion date.
The upcoming work is Phase II of the effort.
And GDOT considers the project significant from a transportation-resiliency standpoint. In the department’s Resilience Improvement Plan, the Taylor Ridge project received Class 3 ratings for criticality, vulnerability and risk and was placed in the plan’s first-priority category.
The scope and cost also illustrate that this isn’t simply another resurfacing job. GDOT’s current Statewide Transportation Improvement Program lists the total project cost at approximately $9.85 million, including about $8.75 million for construction, $500,000 for right-of-way and $100,000 for utilities. The project maintains the existing two-lane configuration rather than widening U.S. 27.
The project has now moved another major step toward construction. GDOT included PI 0015413 in its September 18, 2026 construction letting, identifying the U.S. 27 project in Chattooga County as approximately 0.208 mile long.
Taken together, the records show why so much work has been required at Taylor Ridge over the years: U.S. 27 crosses a steep mountainside with complex rock formations and documented groundwater movement, and portions of the highway have a history of settling and sliding. The Phase II project is designed as a slope repair rather than another temporary paving fix.
U.S. 27 over Taylor Ridge is one of Chattooga County’s most important transportation links, carrying traffic between Summerville and Rome and serving commuters, commercial vehicles and emergency traffic every day.
WZQZ News will continue following the project as Georgia DOT moves from bidding into construction and more information becomes available about the work schedule and traffic impacts.
For people living in Chattooga County today, flipping a light switch or making a telephone call is so ordinary that little thought is given to either one.
But a little more than a century ago, both represented technologies that were beginning to fundamentally change everyday life.
There was a time when darkness meant lighting an oil lamp, when many homes drew their water from wells, and when making a long-distance telephone call in Chattooga County meant traveling into Summerville and going inside a local store.
The arrival of electricity and the telephone didn’t happen everywhere at once. The technologies spread gradually through mills, businesses and towns before becoming commonplace in homes throughout the county.
And when it came to electricity, Trion was among the first places in Chattooga County to enter the electrical age.
Here is the latest arrest report from the Chattooga County Sheriff’s Office for Monday, July 13, 2026:
The Chattooga County Coroner’s Office is warning residents about a scam targeting grieving families following the death of a loved one.
In a public alert, Coroner Jeremy A. McElhaney said scammers are posing as funeral home employees after monitoring online obituaries. The scammers then contact family members and demand immediate payment, falsely claiming to represent the funeral home handling funeral arrangements.
McElhaney urged anyone receiving such a call not to provide any personal or financial information. Instead, he advises families to hang up and contact their funeral home directly using a trusted phone number to verify whether the call is legitimate.
“I personally know the owner/operators of all three Chattooga County funeral homes and can assure you that is not the way they conduct business,” McElhaney said.
Residents are encouraged to share the warning to help prevent others from becoming victims of the scam.
A 20-year-old man is facing multiple felony charges after a Chattooga County Sheriff’s deputy reportedly discovered marijuana packaged for sale and a firearm during a traffic stop late last month.
