Two female LHS students were tased yesterday by SRO Billy Mullis during lunchroom fight. They’re reportedly both juniors.

Student-shot video of the incident is unfortunately too short to get a lot of context on the fight. According to an eyewitness, Officer Mullis yelled “break it up” twice before the clip begins, and the girl in purple was the only one tased.

LU contacted Officer Mullis and LHS Principal Culberson for a statement on the incident. If they add anything to this, it’ll be posted on LU Facebook and shared here next Monday.     

As of 10 PM on Friday May 24th, neither Officer Mullis nor LHS principal Culberson have responded to LU e-mails. However, LPD chief Benjie Clift and School Superintendent Raines have both made comments to local media saying the tasing was justified. Check LU Facebook or Monday’s Daily Update for more details.

WQCH Radio, 05/23/13: “LAFAYETTE HIGH SCHOOL’S GRAD RATE FOR 2012 IS 74.67 PERCENT. THAT’S BETTER THAN THE STATE AVERAGE AND IMPROVED BY 2.7-PERCENT FROM THE YEAR BEFORE.

“RIDGELAND HIGH WAS BELOW THE STATE AVERAGE, WITH A GRAD RATE OF 65.45 PERCENT. THAT IMPROVED BY JUST OVER 1-PERCENT FROM THE YEAR BEFORE. ..THE GRAD RATE AT RINGGOLD HIGH IS 83 PERCENT, AND CHATTOOGA HIGH SCHOOL’S RATE IS ALMOST 90 PERCENT.

“THIS IS THE SECOND YEAR THAT GEORGIA GRADUATION RATES HAVE BEEN CALCULATED BY A MORE RIGOROUS METHOD. THE PREVIOUS METHOD GAVE WHAT STATE OFFICIALS NOW SAY WAS AN ‘INFLATED’ VIEW OF GRADUATION RATES.”

Chickamauga and Trion have the highest graduation rates in all of Georgia:

“Eight school systems posted graduation rates above 90 percent. Chickamauga City Schools and its 112 graduates had the highest rate of 99.1 percent, followed closely by Trion City Schools with its 89 graduates and rate of 98.9 percent. On the other end, three school systems were among those with graduation rates below 50 percent. They were Randolph County with 49.3 percent; Talbot County with 45.5 percent; and Twiggs County with 45.3 percent.

Trion and Chickamauga can poach good athletes/students from the surrounding communities and dump underperformers back into the county systems that surround them… They have some inherent advantages the county-wide systems don’t have; “public schools” with some of the advantages private schools have when it comes to selectivity and exclusivity.

Press release from GA Department of Education touts a 2% rise in graduation state-wide, from 67.4% to 69.7%. Improvement is good, but it still means three out of every ten kids who enter 9th grade never finish school. Georgia now spends $9,253 per student per year.   

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Flood damage: Chattooga County estimates thirty homes were damaged in their community during last weekend’s flooding. Most of them were trailers parked on a campground where people were living.

So far there are no reports of damage in Walker County, although it seems a few homes were flooded over the weekend south of LaFayette. No official statements will be made until the flood reaches Chickamauga.   

Commissioner Heiskell wants to create a new court system in Walker County to handle codes enforcement. She claims the county can’t enforce codes because it requires a court order, and the traditional courts aren’t fast enough to suit her.

If we can’t enforce codes, why do we have a codes enforcement department? She says there’s one guy, but in 2011 the codes department budget was over $400,000. Where’s all that money going, and what does the codes department do NOW besides erect campaign signs and drive around all day?

Another article says Heiskell wants State Judge Billy Mullinax to appoint retired State Judge Donnie Peppers to the new court. Peppers stepped down in 2011 but has stayed on the county payroll for reasons not yet made clear by Peppers or Heiskell. (Mullinax represented Peppers in his 2007 DUI; a mugshot from that incident was included in the TFP report and shared here for posterity.)

Walker County’s codes were implemented several decades ago when Commissioner Heiskell was the County Administrator; she played a role in their composition and in pushing voters to approve them. She also created Walker County Police, the agency responsible for enforcing the apparently unenforcible laws. So in essence, Bebe will create a court whose budget is set by her so a judge paid by her can make rulings about her laws, for her police department to enforce.

In England the queen just waves at people..   

Saturday night or early Sunday, thieves broke into fourteen storage units at LaFayette Rentals on North Main. Those are the storage barns next to Restaurant Enterprises.

Same thing happened on the same night in Catoosa. Might be a link y’think?   

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Heavy rains over the last two days have closed roads in Chattooga County (Walker County apparently doesn’t officially ever close roads) and put Walker County Schools on a two-hour delay. Trion officially received 4″ of rainfall between 8 AM and 4 PM; LaFayette got over 3 inches for the day, and Rock Spring measured about 1 1/2. Some unofficially measured eight or nine inches on their home rain gauges.   

Walker County was briefly under a “State of Emergency” on Sunday afternoon. Two families were evacuated during that time. So far there are no official reports of any homes damaged, only downed fences, drowned pastures, and washed-out driveways.   

In Chattooga County, a rescue worker was sucked through a culvert while trying to help residents evacuate near West Halls Valley Rd. He came out the other side and was rescued, taken to Redmond Hospital in Rome, and is believed to be OK. Thank God he didn’t get stuck. A total of five families were evacuated from the West Halls Valley Rd. area in Chattooga, which is where the worst flooding in our area was seen.   

The photo above is from the Halls Valley Road / Lee School Road area in Walker County. Check LU Facebook for more flood photos.

Music on the Square in downtown LaFayette was held on Saturday before most of the heavy rains fell. The third-annual event appears to have been a success; no official word yet on attendance numbers. A complimentary (or possibly competing) event on Chattanooga Street seemed to be lightly attended.   

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Around 8:30 AM Wednesday a single-wide house trailer on Baker Hill caught fire. Neighbors reported loud booms or bangs, and several neighborhoods in south LaFayette briefly lost power.

A total of 22 Walker County and Walker State Prison firefighters responded to the blaze, but trailer fires are difficult to extinguish and the nearest hydrant was some 2,500 feet away. (Baker Hill is a political/geographical oddity, as it lies outside LaFayette city limits but can only be accessed by driving through town.)

When it was all said and done the home was a complete loss. A family of FOURTEEN people, including nine children all under the age of 10, was left homeless. The Snyders lost nearly everything (they likely didn’t have much to start with), and had no insurance.

The family has been temporarily put up in “a local home” by the Red Cross. They’ve been given some temporary help through Ledford Pharmacy, which is the suggested place to go if you’d also like to help the family out.           

This morning LaFayette Middle School will be involved in an emergency drill. The drill could involve evacuating the school, and plans at one point also involved shutting down the LaFayette bypass. Not sure if that’s still included in the drill.

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Here’s a look at the latest news from LaFayette and Walker County:

Walker Co Schools is preparing for the transition to new Saddle Ridge School by terminating teachers. Last Friday administrators called selected teachers into their offices during school hours, read them a script prepared by school attorneys, and then sent them back to finish the school day. Those who heard the spiel will be unemployed come July.

Teachers weren’t dismissed in front of students, but were dismissed during school hours when kids were still at school to limit anyone reacting negatively. Because good teachers don’t get pissed and cause a scene when their students might see it.

Some have asked why we’re firing teachers while building a new school. The simple answer? SPLOST and ELOST sales taxes are both restricted to construction, building, purchasing property. We can build schools, replace roofs, buy school busses, buy police cars – but not pay power bills or salaries. So stop voting for sales tax renewal, it doesn’t accomplish anything.

Not sure whose situation is worse, the teachers soon to be out of work or the remaining teachers facing larger and larger classroom head count next fall.

So far cuts include five teachers at LaFayette Middle, five at Naomi, three at Fairyland, one at LHS, and two cuts plus one retirement without replacement at Chattanooga Valley Elementary. That’s seventeen teaching positions cut at just five schools. Those totals are not complete, just the ones LU has been made aware of. A full count may never be publicly announced – there’s still been no public confirmation of the teacher firing bloodbath covered here last year.     

An accident Sunday morning on South Chattanooga Street or Hwy. 337 involved 19 year old Jared Marsh. Marsh, who was by himself, hit a tree. He suffered a broken collarbone and head injuries, was sent to Erlanger.

WQCH Radio, 05/14/13: “LAFAYETTE POLICE SAY MARSH APPARENTLY FELL ASLEEP AT THE WHEEL IN THE 11-HUNDRED BLOCK OF CHATTANOOGA STREET. THERE WERE NO SKID MARKS FROM BRAKING, AND THE JEEP CHEROKEE IMPACTED A TREE IN THE FRONT YARD OF A RESIDENCE.

“POLICE SAID FAMILY MEMBERS TOLD THEM MONDAY THAT JARED WAS IN A MEDICALLY-INDUCED COMA. THEY GOT THE CALL AT AROUND 6:40 SUNDAY MORNING.”       

Hutcheson’s latest loan, backed up by Walker and Catoosa, will come from Erlanger hospital. That brings the total amount owed to Erlanger (before interest) to $20.55 million. The half-million emergency loan was needed to finish setting up new computer systems.   

All together, Hutcheson has over $70 million in debt and growing.

Hutcheson will never be fixed until the hospital gets out from under that massive debt. In this piece, Commissioner Heiskell says Walker County will not back a needed $35 million bond to help the troubled facility pay down debt, because the amount is higher than we can risk.

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