Spring Officially Arrives Tonight

Yesterday was the last full day of winter and tomorrow will be the first full day of spring.  Spring officially arrives at 11:06 PM EST tonight.  The Spring Equinox refers to the time that the sun moves across the Earth’s equator, going from south to north.  That signals the first day of astronomical spring in the Northern Hemisphere and the first day of Fall south of the equator. As spring starts, the the length of daylight increases dramatically closest to the Spring Equinox. After that, days still get longer, but at an ever-decreasing rate. On the longest day of the year, the summer solstice, the day-to-day difference reaches zero.  The summer solstice will occur this year on Thursday, June 20th at 4:04 PM.

Trion Rec Spring Adult Volleyball

The Trion Rec Department is starting an Adult Co-Ed Volleyball League that will be playing during the Spring Season.  The rec department will take the first eight teams that sign up for the league.  Each roster can have a maximum of eight players.  Players must be eighteen years-old or older and there must be at least two females on the court at all times.  The cost per team is $250.  Four games are guaranteed, with 2 pool games and then a double elimination bracket.  Games will be played on Tuesdays and Thursdays with a start time around 6:30 PM.  You can message the Trion Recreation Department on their Facebook Page for more information, or call the Trion Rec at 706-734-2011.

Reminder About Early Release For Chattooga Students Tomorrow

Tomorrow, Wednesday March 20th, will be an early-release day for students in all Chattooga County Schools.  Parents are being encouraged to schedule teacher-parent conferences for tomorrow afternoon.  School throughout the county school system will release at 1:30 PM tomorrow.  This will put car riders and buses two hours earlier than normal.

El Salvador Man Arrested In Northwest Georgia On Felony Warrant

Last week, the Adairsville Police Department performed a traffic stop on a car with an expired tag.  The driver, identified as Horacio Bonilla-Garcia presented an I.D. card from El Salvador and said he didn’t have a valid drivers license.  After further investigation police determined that the suspect had an active warrant through immigration on charges of a violation pertaining to a prior deportation.  There was also an active felony warrant out of New York for strong-armed rape in addition to the deportation warrant.  The subject was booked into the Bartow County Jail and was awaiting extradition to New York.

Summerville Man Arrested For Playing Music Too Loud

Summerville Police responded to a call on Jones Street last week from neighbors who were complaining about a subject playing loud music.  Police  came out around 9:50 PM on Thursday and warned the man to turn his music down because he was disturbing the peace.  Officers were called back to the scene later that night and the subject became irritated with police after they asked him to turn the music down a second time.  Police said that the subject was also using foul language and yelling. Sixty-two-year-old Allen Laney Treadaway was arrested and charged with prohibited loud noises and disorderly conduct, and was booked into the Chattooga County Jail.

Chattooga In Top Fifty Counties With Highest Rate Of Strokes In Georgia

National data and media company Stacker has compiled a list of the top fifty counties in Georgia where stroke is most prevalent.  Chattooga County ranks number 49 on the list. 

Stacker used CDC data to list the counties in Georgia with the highest prevalence of stroke. Data is based on estimates compiled by the CDC, with the confidence range included for each county. Additional data on death rates between 2018 and 2020 for the two most common types of strokes, ischemic and hemorrhagic, are also included for each county. In cases of a tie, the ischemic and hemorrhagic stroke death rates are used as tiebreakers.

Randolph County in Southwest Georgia ranked the highest on the list for the county with the most stroke prevalence.  Chattooga County was the only county in Northwest Georgia to make the top-fifty list.

Read more about stroke and stroke prevention below:

For more than a century, strokes have been a leading cause of death among U.S. adults, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The sudden cerebrovascular event affects nearly 800,000 Americans annually and is also a leading cause of disability.

The tragedy of the nation’s stroke rate is amplified by the fact that most strokes are preventable. Four out of five strokes are preventable, according to the CDC.

Annual check-ins with a physician can help track risk factors including high cholesterol, diabetes, and obesity. Hypertension, or high blood pressure, is the leading cause of stroke, and it can be caused by overconsumption of salty foods, drinking alcohol, smoking, stress, and genetics. High blood pressure has less obvious symptoms, but people can regularly track their metrics using at-home blood pressure cuffs to know if they need to talk to their doctor sooner than scheduled. The American Heart Association has recommendations for which readings require medical intervention.

 

Two Attorneys Look To Replace Judge Graham

Who will replace retiring Lookout Mountain Judicial Circuit Superior Court Judge Kristina Cook Graham will be decided by the voters of the four-county circuit in May of this year, but one thing is for certain – Judge Graham’s replacement will also be a woman. 

Judge Graham, who was originally appointed to the position by Georgia Governor Zell Miller in 1992, has served the residents of Catoosa, Dade, Walker and Chattooga Counties for 32 years.  She announced that she would be retiring and will not be seeking reelection.

Two Northwest Georgia attorneys – Melissa Hise and Ann Fiddler – have qualified to replace Judge Graham.

Hise has been practicing law for 30 years in the State of Georgia, with the last eleven being at Palmour Law Firm in Summerville, Georgia.  She started her career at Watson & Dana in LaFayette and moved from there to serve as the law clerk for the Superior Court judges for the Lookout Mountain Judicial Circuit.

Fiddler has been practicing law in her father’s Rossville, Georgia law firm for fifteen years and is licensed to practice in both Tennessee and Georgia.  Fiddler says the majority of her work over the years has been in the Lookout Mountain Judicial Circuit.

The judge’s race is nonpartisan and will appear on the Republican and Democratic Primary Ballots on Primary Election Day – May 21, 2024.

GNTC Free Application Month

Georgia Northwestern Technical College is reminding the public that Free Application Month is happening through the end of March to help those who are seeking to enroll in the summer semester. Through March 31, GNTC will waive the $25 application fee for all incoming students. Applicants should enter the code MARCH24 (all capital letters) to waive the fee. The admissions deadline for the summer semester is April 22. Classes are scheduled to begin on May 13. GNTC’s call center is available Monday through Friday, 7:45 a.m. to 4:15 p.m., at 866-983-4682. For more information on applying for the summer semester, visit GNTC’s main webpage at www.gntc.edu and click “Apply Now.” For any questions about GNTC’s Free Application Month, contact the Office of Admissions at 866-983-4682 or via email at admissions@gntc.edu.

Arrest Report - Monday - March 18, 2024

Here is the latest arrest report from the Chattooga County Sheriff’s Office for Monday, March 18, 2024:

Edwards Sentenced To Prison

A thirty-two-year-old Chattooga County man was sentenced to prison in Chattooga County Superior Court for a violent attack on his spouse and his in-laws in May of 2022.  Judge Don Thompson handed down the sentence, along with a fine and probation after Kevin Seth Edwards was found guilty of attacking his wife, his wife’s mother and his wife’s stepfather.  Edwards, who has a history of arrests in Northwest Georgia and Northeast Alabama, has lived in both Cherokee County, Alabama and Chattooga County.  Following his arrest in May of 2022 in connection with the attack on family members, Edwards was arrested in Floyd County on burglary charges. Edwards will serve a sentence of five years in a Georgia State Prison and will also be facing ten years probation upon his release.

Summerville Council To Call For Special Election

The Summerville City Council will hold a called meeting this evening at Summerville City Hall.  The main purpose of the meeting is to call for a special election to fill the unexpired term of City Councilman David Ford who passed away earlier this month.

Mr. Ford had served as a Summerville City Councilman since 2011 and was a retired Summerville Firefighter.

At the last regular city council meeting, held earlier this month, Summerville City Attorney Albert Palmour said that the date of the election would be May 21st, which would coincide with the May General Primary Election being held the same day.

Tonight’s meeting will solidify that date with a resolution from the council.  Also, Mayor Harry Harvey is expected to read and publish a proclamation honoring Councilman Ford for his years of service to the citizens of Summerville.

You can see a complete agenda for tonight’s meeting below:

Trion School Awning Put On Hold

An awning that was proposed at Trion Schools has been put on hold due to the fact that no contractors are willing to take on the job.  Trion School Supt. Dr. Phil Williams said that in the post-Covid economy, many smaller contractors who would have been willing to complete the job have gone out of business and larger contractors are either to far backed up to take on the project or are not interested in such a small job.

Back in December of last year, Dr. Williams told WZQZ News, “The school building was built almost twenty-eight years ago and Dr. Williams says that they were looking at a way to spruce up the entrance of the building.  The new awning being proposed will not only add to the aesthetics of the building, it will allow for quicker drop-off and pickup times for parents transporting their children to and from the school”.

Dr. Williams said that the only contractor willing to bid on the job couldn’t have it completed over the summer months in time for school to start back next fall.

Trion Schools are now looking to combine the awning project with other projects in order to attract more bidders and rebid the planned awning in the future.

DOT Road Work Today In Northwest Georgia

Commuters who drive to downtown Rome or to Adairsville today need to be aware of roadwork that has been announced by the Georgia Department of Transportation.  Roadwork on Highway 140 will close one lane of northbound traffic on Highway 140.  This is part of the widening project that is going on between I-75 and Highway 53 on Highway 140.  According to the DOT, commuters can expect delays starting at 9 AM this morning.  The delays will take place daily between 9 AM and 4 PM through Thursday of this week.   Also, commuters traveling to Rome today need to be aware that work will be going on starting at 9 AM on Martha Berry Highway near Walgreens.  The work on Martha Berry Highway will take place from 9 AM until 4 PM each day this week through Friday.

AtriumHealth Floyd Trauma Summit

The Atrium Health Floyd EMS Trauma Summit will take place on April 12 from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. at The Forum River Center.

This free summit offers EMS members from across the state the opportunity to advance their skills and knowledge in the care of trauma patients. Participants can also network with fellow attendees, exchange ideas and stay up to date on the latest advancements in trauma care.

The keynote speaker will be Dr. Jeff Jarvis, medical director and chief medical officer of Metropolitan Area EMS Authority, Fort Worth, Texas.

The event will also feature the Georgia EMS Association’s trauma skills procedure lab beginning at 7:30 a.m. The lab features rotating stations where participants can learn more about treating a variety of injuries.

A pre-hospital trauma life support (PHTLS) refresher will also take place on April 11 at the Courtyard by Marriott Rome Riverwalk from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Discounted hotel rooms are available for those who wish to attend the PHTLS refresher and the conference the next day. Please contact Hillary.Renner@atriumhealth.org for more details.

“This is a great opportunity for EMS professionals, nursing and physicians to come together and learn how we can better serve the trauma needs of our region and state,” said Bud Owens, executive director of Atrium Health Floyd EMS.

The event will also feature the Georgia EMS Association trauma skills procedure lab, which will require a small fee. It is open to EMS, first responders, nurses and other staff who work with trauma patients. Participants can receive continuing medical education credits. To register for the summit and the skills lab, click on the following link: https://forms.office.com/r/HSV822rAWk

Summerville Man Arrested In Tennessee

A thirty-two-year-old Chattooga County man was arrested in Hamilton County, Tennessee last week and is facing charges of assaulting police officers.  Reports indicate that Matthew Steven Webb of a Forestry Trail Road address in Summerville was arrested and charged with criminal trespass.  Additionally, Webb is facing charges of resisting arrest and obstruction of a legal process along with charges of assaulting a law enforcement officer.  Webb was arrested by Red Bank City Police and booked into the Hamilton County, Tennessee jail on March 9th.

Summerville Sets Date For Independence Celebration

The City of Summerville will once again this year host their annual “Celebrate Independence” festivities.  For the past several years, the city has used the Chattooga County Ag Building off Highway 100 as the site for the celebration which features food vendors, live music and family activities.  This past week, the Summerville City Council set the date for this year’s celebration.  The Fourth of July will fall on a Thursday this year, and the City of Summerville will host their Celebrate Independence celebration on Wednesday, July 3rd.  More details about the event will be released in the upcoming weeks.

Moore Facing Challengers In Primary & General Election

Controversial State Senator Colton Moore, a Republican from Dade County, is facing primary opposition and will have a Democratic challenger in November.  Moore was banned from the property of the Georgia House of Representatives last week after making remarks about former House Speaker David Ralston on the floor of the state senate.

Republican leaders in the senate apologized for Moore’s remarks.  The Democratic minority leader in the Georgia House, joined with the Speaker of the House in condemning Moore’s rhetoric and seconding the Speaker’s motion to ban Moore from House property.   Moore claimed that Ralston was “one of the most corrupt leaders of our time” during proceedings last week at the Georgia General Assembly meant to honor the late lawmaker’s legacy.

Moore is no stranger to being shunned by his own party.  Last year, the Senate Republican Caucus ousted Moore, making his chances of seeing any legislation passed very slim.

A Republican has stepped up to run against Moore.  Angela Pence, a resident of Chickamauga has qualified to run against Moore.  Little is known about Pence and her social media and website information appear to have only been created recently.

In November, Chattooga County resident Bart Bryant will face off with Moore.  Bryant, a Democrat from Cloudland, announced his intentions to challenge Moore last year.

Moore represents the 53rd Senate District which includes Chattooga and surrounding counties.

There's Hope For The Hungry at South Summerville Baptist Church Wednesday March 20th

There’s Hope For The Hungry will be at the South Summerville Baptist Church on Wednesday March 20th from 10:00 a.m. until 1:00 p,m.  You must be present to pick up food.

Arrest Report - Sunday - March 17, 2024

Here is the latest arrest report from the Chattooga County Sheriff’s Office for Sunday, March 17, 2024:

Summerville City Council Special Called Meeting

The City of Summerville will hold a called meeting coming up tomorrow at 6 PM at Summerville City Hall.  The purpose of the meeting is to call for a special election to fill the position of City Councilman after the passing of former Councilman David Ford.  The public is invited to attend.