Arrest Report - Monday - April 15, 2024

Here is the latest arrest report from the Chattooga County Sheriff’s Office for Monday, April 15, 2024:

Good Faith Grant Act On Governor's Desk

Georgia is one of only two states that does not have a needs-based scholarship program for secondary education.  Right now, almost 42% of Georgia’s college students report that they get no financial support from their parents.  Some of those students don’t qualify for the HOPE scholarship, but still find the cost of their education to be a challenge.  A bill passed by the Georgia General Assembly would establish a grant program to help some of those students.

Additionally, a study by the University of Georgia found that students from higher-income families get the majority of grants and scholarships, even though the median family income for students in 17 colleges in Georgia is less than $40,000.  More than 30 percent of students with family income higher than $120,000 received the Zell Miller Scholarship for at least one semester, compared to less than 10 percent of students with family income less than $30,000.

Dubbed the “Good Faith Grant Act”, the bipartisan measure will create a comprehensive needs-based scholarship program for Georgia students that qualify for college admissions, but might not qualify for the Hope Scholarship.

To be eligible for a Good Faith Program Grant, students must be incoming freshmen seeking a degree at a Georgia post-secondary institution after completing an accredited public, private, or home secondary school program with at least a 2.0 cumulative grade point average.

Students must demonstrate financial need, apply for federal student aid via the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA), and qualify for in-state tuition.

Governor Kemp is expected to sign the legislation.

Local Volunteers Recognized By Summerville City Council

Summerville Main Street volunteers working on Easter decorations

Held in April every year, National Volunteer Month is a time to celebrate and recognize the contributions of volunteers. It is an opportunity to join the impact of volunteerism and encourage more people to get involved in their communities. The Summerville City Council recognized a group of volunteers at the last city council meeting.  Summerville Mayor Harry Harvey introduced the Summerville Main Street volunteers and mentioned their contributions to making the downtown area an attractive place for residents and visitors alike.  Summerville Main Street Director Susan Locklear said that the volunteers put in over 3,100 hours of labor in 2023.  Summerville Main Street is also launching a Junior Main Street Program for youths from 7th to 12th grade.

Deadline For AgGeorgia Farm Credit Grant Is Today

AgGeorgia Farm Credit has designated $10,000 to help local farmers markets promote their markets in 2024.  The grant application period ends today and all applications must be submitted before the end of the day.  To be eligible for the grant, markets must be in the AgGeorgia service area, which includes Chattooga County.  Other requirements are that the market must be open at least eight days in a two-month period and have a minimum of five vendors.  Last year, two local markets in Chattooga County received grants. For more information, or to apply – click HERE

Today Is Tax Day

Today is the deadline to file your 2023 Federal income taxes.  Also, it is the deadline to file your 2023 Georgia income tax return.  According to the IRS, around 68% of taxpayers have already filed their tax returns, but for those who have procrastinated, you have until 11:59 PM tonight to file.  If you just aren’t ready and cannot file your taxes today, you can file Form 4868 to get an automatic six-month extension to file.  This is only a filing extension.  If you owe taxes, you will still need to send a payment to the IRS before midnight tonight in order to avoid penalties and interest.   If you are expecting money back from the government – the IRS says the average tax refund this year is around $3,000.

Optimist Club Hosts Senior Luncheon At CHS

The Summerville-Trion Optimist Club hosted a CTAE Senior Luncheon Friday, April 12th at the Ag Center. Students from both Chattooga High School and Trion High School were in attendance, and the Club (and additional volunteers) prepared a hot-dog lunch for them. Joe Reed donated the hot-dogs, Walmart donated the buns and condiments and sent Sandy Blangin to help & represent the store, the Chamber donated the dinnerware supplies, and Club members Barbara Reece, Johnny Crawford and Earle Rainwater donated extras like desserts and fixings. It was a fun time for fellowship and recognition of the students who completed pathways at both schools. Congratulations, Seniors!!

Chattooga Senior Places Fifth In National Welding Competition

A Chattooga High School Senior placed in a national welding competition over the weekend. Kentucky Welding Institute hosted its fifth annual weld competition for high school seniors across the country. More than 130 seniors from 11 states traveled to Fleming County to compete for prizes and meet future employers. Missouri’s Kyle Bruns took the top prize, as well as a $14,000 scholarship. Alexandria Courtney from Kentucky finished second. She earned $12,000 in scholarships as well.  Chattooga High School Senior Griffen Heaps came in fifth place and earned a $1,000 scholarship at the event that was held on Saturday.

Man Gives False Name To Police

A thirty-four-year-old man is accused of giving a false name to Summerville Police Officers in an attempt to avoid arrest.  According to police Jarvis Drion Caldwell was stopped by police and found to be in possession of an open container of alcohol and a misdemeanor amount of marijuana.  Caldwell told officers that his name was Brandon Byers.  He then told officers that his name was Brandon Conners.  Police discovered that Caldwell had a warrant for his arrest in neighboring Floyd County.  In October of last year, Caldwell was arrested in Floyd County on charges of hit and run and probation violation.

Health Inspections First Half Of April 2024

There were no health inspections to report for the first half of April from the Chattooga County Environmental Health Department.  Should you ever have any complaint with any food service or tourist accommodation that operates in Chattooga County, you may register that complaint by calling the Chattooga County Environmental Health Department at 706-857-3377.

Sheriff's Office Investigating Death At Gore Area Motel

The Chattooga County Sheriff’s Office is investigating a death that was reported on Saturday evening at The Summerville Motel on Highway 27 in the Gore Community.  Investigators were called to the scene after a person was found deceased in one of the motel rooms.  Chattooga County Sheriff Mark Schrader confirmed to WZQZ News on Sunday evening that investigators are looking into the possibility that the death was caused by an overdose.  The sheriff also confirmed that the deceased person was a male.  WZQZ News will have more information as it is released from the Chattooga County Sheriff’s Office.

Arrest Report - Sunday - April 14, 2024

Here is the latest arrest report from the Chattooga County Sheriff’s Office for Sunday, April 14, 2024:

Chattooga Young Farmers BBQ Lunch Coming Up

The annual Chattooga Young Farmers Association BBQ lunch sale is coming up on Wednesday, April 24th.  The lunch consists of a BBQ sandwich, chips and a dessert.  Pickup will be at the Chattooga County Ag Center located on Middle School Road off Highway 100 in Summerville from 11 AM until 1 PM.  Delivery is available to local businesses or schools that purchase at least five lunches.  The cost is $7 each.  You can purchase from any Chattooga County Young Farmer or use the Google form below to order:

GHC Dental Hygiene Class Participates In Hinman Dental Meeting

This year, as a co-curricular activity, pre-dental hygiene students, along with the Georgia Highlands College (GHC) Dental Hygiene Class of 2025, participated in the annual Hinman Dental Meeting in Atlanta. Each spring, the Hinman Dental Society, a non-profit organization based in Atlanta, sponsors the Thomas P. Hinman Dental Meeting at the Georgia World Congress Center. 

Students attended continuing education classes on delivering quality oral health care to enhance their classroom learning at GHC. Pre-dental hygiene students had the opportunity to attend classes at no cost and to interact with current GHC dental hygiene students and faculty.

In addition, meeting organizers provided a space where current dental hygiene students, pre-dental hygiene students, GHC faculty and alumni gathered to discuss the courses attended, the GHC dental hygiene program and careers in dentistry.

Each year, Hinman awards a $1,000 scholarship to a first-year dental hygiene student at GHC based on merit and need. Mary Kathryn Broadway is the 2024 recipient of the scholarship.

In its history, the Hinman Dental Society has given over $11 million toward dental education and scholarships.

The dental hygiene department at GHC plans to expand participation further next year, allowing more students to engage in learning activities alongside working dental professionals as they participate in co-curricular learning opportunities and develop the skills needed to become life-long learners.

The meetings, which began in 1912, were developed to provide high-quality education to dental professionals. Following the Hinman motto, “Devotion to detail is the secret to success” has led to amazing successes.

What began with 40 dentists has grown into an international event, with over 13,000 dental professionals attending the 110th annual meeting in 2023. This year’s meeting theme was The Gateway to Systemic Health: It Starts with a Smile.

The three-day event offers hundreds of continuing education courses and access to representatives of over 300 dental-related services and businesses in the grand exhibit hall.

The Hinman Society is dedicated to advancing oral health, systemic health and dental education on many levels. Excess revenue generated by the event is invested and then given back to dental education in the form of scholarships and donations to institutions which further formal dental education.

Reading Readiness Dashboard Announced

The Georgia Department of Education has created a Reading Readiness Dashboard to allow easy, transparent access to literacy data at the state, district, and school levels, State School Superintendent Richard Woods announced today. The dashboard will ultimately support the efforts of educators, communities, and the state to increase the percentage of students reading on grade level.

Through the Reading Readiness Dashboard, Georgians will be able to easily access information on the percentage of students reading below, on, and above grade level for every school, district, and Regional Educational Service Agency (RESA) region in the state. The tool, which is designed to be both user-friendly and information-rich, also allows users to sort by student subgroups or directly compare school, district, or regional data with state averages.

“Our aim is to provide unparalleled public access to literacy results,” Superintendent Woods said. “We are committed to ensuring every student in Georgia can learn to read, and ultimately read to learn – and that goal is only furthered by the greater transparency and accountability around our results offered by the Reading Readiness Dashboard. The dashboard provides a common source of information on our progress as we join together to improve literacy outcomes for every child.”

The Reading Readiness Dashboard will provide information on the percentage of students reading below, on, and above grade level along with the more detailed State Literacy Metric that sorts performance into Below Grade Level, Grade Level, Grade Level Plus, and Above Grade Level. Users can also filter the data by grade level and student subgroups – including gender, race/ethnicity, students with disabilities, English Learners, and migrant students.

All data is drawn from the Georgia Milestones Reading Status indicator, which is based on the Lexile scores associated with students’ performance on a subset of questions on the English Language Arts (ELA) assessment.

Chattooga Historical Society Meeting Today

The historic Summerville Cemetery will be the focus of today’s quarterly meeting of the Chattooga County Historical Society.  The meeting will be held at 2 PM at the Summerville Depot on East Washington Street.  The program will feature a brief update from the City of Summerville about the cemetery and then there will be a virtual “walk through” of the cemetery, highlighting some of the interesting people from the last 175 years who are buried at the cemetery.  The historical society’s meetings are free and open to the public and the public is invited to attend.

Drug Task Force Makes Several Arrests

During the past several weeks, Agents with the Lookout Mountain Judicial Circuit Drug Task Force have made several arrests and seized large amounts of illicit narcotics in the judicial circuit. Agents have confiscated several pounds of Methamphetamine, over an ounce of powder Fentanyl, hundreds of Fentanyl pills, powder Cocaine, Heroin, pounds of Marijuana, and hundreds of THC vape cartridges. The following subjects were arrested:

Kayleigh Yates – Possession of Fentanyl

Francis Bryant – Possession of Fentanyl

Katelyn Cox – Trafficking Methamphetamine

Sean King – Trafficking Methamphetamine

Stanley Lewis – Trafficking Fentanyl, Possession of Methamphetamine, Possession of Marijuana with intent to distribute, Possession of Over an Ounce of Marijuana, Possession of Firearm by Convicted Felon

Shanna Brown – Trafficking Fentanyl, Possession of Methamphetamine, Possession of Marijuana with intent to distribute, Possession of Over an Ounce of Marijuana

Jonathan Woodard – Trafficking Methamphetamine

James Woods – Trafficking Methamphetamine

David Goodman – Trafficking Methamphetamine

John Lee Petitt – Trafficking Methamphetamine, Possession of Methamphetamine with intent to Distribute, Possession of Methamphetamine

Anthony Griggs – Trafficking Fentanyl

Ethan Crider – Trafficking Methamphetamine, Possession of Methamphetamine with intent to Distribute, Possession of Methamphetamine

Jamison Armstrong – Trafficking Methamphetamine, Possession of Methamphetamine with

intent to Distribute, Possession of Methamphetamine

Kara Mayes – Trafficking Methamphetamine, Possession of Methamphetamine with intent to Distribute, Possession of Methamphetamine

Amber Bryant – Trafficking Methamphetamine, Possession of Methamphetamine with intent to Distribute, Possession of Methamphetamine

Pasqual London – Trafficking Methamphetamine, Possession of Methamphetamine with intent to Distribute, Possession of Methamphetamine

Angela Turpeinen – Possession of Methamphetamine with intent to Distribute

Crystal Randall – Trafficking Methamphetamine

Several other subjects were arrested in the past month for various different charges and warrants. The Lookout Mountain Drug Task Force was assisted by several agencies; The Walker County Sheriff Office, Chattooga County Sheriff Office, Dade County Sheriff Office, Trion Police Department, Lafayette Police Department, The Department of Community Supervision, Summerville Police Department, and Rossville Police Department.

The Lookout Mountain Drug Task Force is a multi-jurisdictional task force made up of the Walker County Sheriff Office, Chattooga County Sheriff Office, Dade County Sheriff Office, Lafayette Police Department, and Trion Police Department.