Dr. Shaw has publicly challenged Bebe to a debate with this ad appearing in local papers. Will the Queen accept, refuse, or simply ignore him? The deadline is Friday.

Shaw says he’s paid $500 to use the Civic Center next week and plans to have a discussion with the community whether Heiskell shows up or not. (Check the LU Local Calendar for all upcoming political events and activities, including this one.)

The Steve Wilson campaign has released a radio ad. Doesn’t seem like much to brag about after sixteen years.. We didn’t know the Sheriff’s Office wasn’t accredited – seems like four terms would be plenty of time to get that done already if it was really going to happen.

Let’s compare his accomplishments via this ad to his failures.

He implemented CHAMPS. Because the state Sheriff Association ended DARE so that’s pretty much.. the direction to go in. School resource officers – the only one WCSO provides is at Ridgeland. He promises better dispatch, but all the dispatch upgrades are being handled by Walker County gov’t not the Sheriff’s Office.

During the same time period he also ignored complaints about Tri-State Crematory for two years, let Sam Parker kill his wife after she asked Wilson directly for help, he knowingly let a deputy “date” a 14 year old girl and then did nothing except push the officer to resign when her dad complained about their sexual contact.. He let an officer pepperspray a handcuffed female in the back of a squad car and didn’t investigate the complaint. He let a former high-ranking department employee terrorize a neighborhood without an arrest. He turned a lot of murders into “suicides” and lowered the crime rate by not investigating quite a few reported crimes.

He certainly listens and responds to our needs. Just ask Gerry Cook or Theresa Parker how well he responds. Well maybe we can’t ask Theresa..

If you want to vote -or early vote- in Walker County but don’t have a ride, Walker Transit will provide you with a free trip to the Courthouse. 706-375-0803 for information. (We understand they don’t even care who you vote for.)

Early voting begins today all over Georgia. Our unofficial Facebook poll shows residents are more than twice as likely to early vote than vote normally on July 31st, but poll participants are more politically aware and active than the typical Walker County citizen.

Vote early if you need to, but we strongly encourage you to wait until the election is closer. Some information and discussions in the pipeline might very well change your mind, and after voting it’s too late to take your vote back.

Check back here later today this week for a rundown of candidate profiles and quotes from mainstream media.

LaFayette City Council meeting tonight at 7:30. Looks like little will be discussed, but you never know. Here’s the agenda, PDF file. Apparently SunRae Water didn’t bother rescheduling their cancelled appearance from last month’s meeting.

The Shaw campaign reports an unusually high number of campaign signs blowing over, falling down, being broken, or otherwise disappearing in mysterious ways as we head into early voting. What do you think – is this an accident or vandalism?

WQCH Radio, 07/05/12:

“A HUGE DEBIT CARD SCAM HIT LAFAYETTE AND NORTHWEST GEORGIA LAST THANKSGIVING, AND NOW, INVESTIGATORS SAY IT ORIGINATED OVERSEAS.

“LAFAYETTE POLICE CHIEF BENJIE CLIFT SAID INVESTIGATORS THINK A LOCAL EMPLOYEE PROBABLY ACCESSED A ‘COMPANY COMPUTER’ AT WORK, FOR PERSONAL USE. THE COMPUTER WAS APPARENTLY INFECTED WITH A VIRUS THAT RETRIEVED THE DEBIT CARD INFORMATION AND SENT IT OUT TO THE CRIMINALS, OVER THE INTERNET.

“MORE THAN 500 CUSTOMERS FROM SEVERAL AREA BANKS WERE AFFECTED, AND TENS-OF-THOUSANDS OF DOLLARS VANISHED FROM THEIR COLLECTIVE ACCOUNTS. MOST WERE REIMBURSED FOR THE LOSS BY THEIR BANKING INSTITUTION. THE FBI WAS THE LEAD AGENCY IN THE INTERNATIONAL INVESTIGATION.”

They’re being very careful not to say where the “local employee” worked – so what company would have enough credit card numbers on ONE computer at the same time to allow 500+ people’s cards to be stolen?

The same one we’ve said since day one.

LU broke this story on Facebook, and it was initially dismissed as a Facebook rumor. Once it became too big to ignore, law enforcement said it was a card clearing house, not done locally, and definitely not possibly Walmart.

LU Facebook, 11/23/11:

“Check with your bank for unauthorized charges to debit or credit cards in the last few weeks. A local bank confirms cards from ‘almost every’ local bank have been compromised, possibly through a hacked computer system at LaFayette Walmart.”

Turns out we weren’t wrong, at all. And it only took seven months..

LU Blog: Takesgiving Day

Last week Walker County mayors delivered updates on their respective cities. In LaFayette we have new leaders, golf, the airport, street renovations downtown, and a couple of positive changes in the small business community.

The only new info in this about LaFayette is the change at Syntec. Seems like nobody ever mentions Syntec but good to hear they’re doing well.

The TSPLOST sales tax is committed to ten specific projects in Walker County, valued at $34 million. Of that, only one worth $1.7 million, is for the 30728 ZIP code. The rest is for Chickamauga. $20 million is dedicated to the Wilson Rd. extension to nowhere. It also promises FORTY THOUSAND jobs, all in construction, and none local.

Meanwhile, Citizens for Transportation Mobility, a group dedicated to passing the TSPLOST sales tax, has yet to file state required reports about campaign finances. This org is spending tens of thousands of dollars to “sell” you on a tax you don’t need, but they haven’t said where the money is coming from and probably won’t until after the vote.

But apparently it all complies with state law:

“Part of the reason we have campaign disclosure laws at all is so that the public can be informed about who is donating to any particular campaign. The sources of campaign funding are part of how voters form opinions about candidates. But in Georgia, since early voting starts on July 9 and ballot committees are not required to disclose donations received or spent until the July 15th (at the earliest) a good number of voters will not be able to get that information until after they have voted. Citizens for Transportation Mobility did not write the disclosure laws, and they are adhering to them.”

An Anti-TSPLOST group is filing an open records request trying to figure out if the Secretary of State discussed controversial ballot language with any of the groups dedicated to pushing the measure through.

Happy Independence Day!

America was founded by dissatisfied people who had enough of the status quo, who fought against the old ways and governments where some men had more rights than others. On Independence Day not only do we celebrate our right to stand up and speak, to disagree with each other on occasion, and to demand equal treatment, we celebrate the ones who did those things even when they weren’t supposed to as they rebelled and built a new nation from the ground up.

Also: Thoughts on America this July 4th from the Peach Pundit.

If you haven’t gotten your fireworks fix yet, there will be small shows tonight at Sloppy Floyd State Park near Summerville and in Cloudland Canyon towards Trenton. Here’s some info about the one at Sloppy Floyd.

40 people attended last year, this says, so you can avoid the crowds and it only costs $5.

The city’s new fire and police chiefs have new ideas for their respective departments. Fire Chief Busby hopes to lower the fire insurance rating to save us all money, while Police Chief Clift plans to send more cops to visit schools and hold community events in the projects.

Walker County Schools’ new boss is a former toy store manager, a Star Wars fan, a high school basketball star, and until last week worked for Catoosa schools. His wife still works for that system, and they live in Catoosa off Three Notch Rd.

If you plan to vote in local elections this summer, today is the last day you can get registered. Early voting starts next Monday. Also FYI, this week the city will permanently return to the once-per-week garbage pickup schedule.

A small forest fire on the Walker/Gordon Co line near Pinhoti Trail on Chestnut Mountain has been verified by a Forest Service employee. Hot as it is, imagine trying to fight a difficult-to-reach fire miles into the remote woods on the side of a mountain. Folks putting their butts on the line to keep the world from burning down.

As-of 11 PM last night the fire was contained, and officials expected to have it extinguished early Monday. Chestnut Mountain is behind Mountain Top Boys Home off GA. 136 between Villanow and Calhoun.

Temperatures have exceeded 100° every day since the middle of last week. Unofficial reports of 107° to 110° in Walker County Saturday, breaking daily and all-time records.

Have you checked on the older people you know, to make sure they’re OK in the heat? Everybody indoors with A/C or at least a fan? A person or animal can very easily die in heat like this, so be diligent and don’t assume everybody’s OK if you haven’t checked. If you need a fan, or are willing to get somebody one (or a window unit) please let us know here.

Will SunRae begin bottling water in Kensington the first week of July as promised? If you still believe that, Bebe has some Arizona swampland to sell you on your way to vote.