2016
05.27

LU will be on break the entire week of Memorial Day.
The next Update will be on Monday June 6th.

Wednesday night a domestic argument on Cordell Ave. turned into a shooting and a police standoff.

Cordell Ave Shooting May 25 2016

According to officers, Roxanne P. Hurley got into an argument with a man in her home off Corinth Rd. and shot him in the leg. She let emergency crews get him out of the trailer and take him to a hospital, but when officers came for her she locked herself inside the home with guns and wouldn’t come out.

Deputies blocked off Cordell Ave. and attempted to talk her out of the house. The SWAT Team was called, and six hours later, after firing teargas through the windows, officers went inside and got her out. The 57-year-old was, fortunately and surprisingly, not seriously injured.

She now faces every charge they can come up with.   Tiny Facebook  Tiny Facebook  Tiny Facebook  Tiny Facebook  Tiny Facebook  Tiny Facebook

Defeated commissioner candidate Mike Peardon has signed the petition to get Perry Lamb’s name on this November’s ballot.

Peardon Signature on Perry Lamb Petition

Peardon says he’s throwing his support behind Lamb’s campaign, and encourages his own supporters to do the same.

Perry Lamb needs 1,640 signatures from registered voters by early July to qualify for the commissioner race as an independent. He has well over 1,000 signatures collected and has added more daily for weeks.

Even if you plan to vote for Whitfield, you should consider giving Lamb some support with a signature. Lamb on the ballot means we have another candidate to face Bebe in case something happens to Whitfield.

And if you happen to change your mind about Whitfield before November, it won’t be bad to have another option to pick from other than Bebe..

Perry Lamb Signature Drive / Down Home Days

Lamb will be at the Rossville library tonight 6-8, at the Fort O. VFW car show on Saturday beginning at 9 AM, and at the Memorial Day BBQ in Hinkle on Monday from 11 to 3.

He’s also going to be at Freedom Festival in LaFayette on July 4th.

You can meet him and sign the qualification petition at any of those events. If it’s more convenient for you, go sign his petition at Talespinners Outdoors, Stu’s Barbershop, or QTM Jeep Parts in Chickamauga.   Tiny Facebook

On May 20th, Randy “Babo” Barfield Jr. slipped away from a county prisoner work crew in Rock Spring and disappeared.

Randy Barfield

Five days later the Sheriff’s Office notified the public and media of their “trusty” prisoner’s escape, and asked for help in finding him – offering a generous $200 reward.
(Were they waiting on him to come back?)

Barfield was arrested back in March for burglary and trespassing.

If you know him, see if he’ll outbid the Sheriff and give you more than $200 to NOT tell them where he is.   Tiny Facebook

David Lee Townsend II

David Lee Townsend, who allegedly stabbed a Daughtery Street man on May 9th, turned himself in to police on May 17th.

He’s accused of assault, burglary, and several unrelated charges in Chattanooga. The 29-year-old denies being a member of a Chattanooga gang, despite having the gang’s name tattooed on his arm.   Tiny Facebook

In Tuesday’s election, Senator Mullis won across the four counties of his district with 67% of the vote – in line with the 69% he claimed in the last two primaries where he had a challenger.

Jeff Mullis 2015 / Bob Andres AJC

However, he didn’t win every single voting precinct. He swept Dade, Catoosa, and even Chattooga where his opponent lives and works. However, in three areas of Walker County – LaFayette, Armuchee, and Center Post – he got less than half the vote.

Three precincts out of 39 where his name was on the ballot said no to giving Jeff The Hutt a ninth two-year term, and no to his continued insistence that their input doesn’t matter.

It’s not much, and he won anyway, but it is something. Good job, yall. You voted like it means something – at least in that race.   Tiny Facebook

Another wreck Thursday night at Twin Cedars and Hwy 27, the second this month. Per the driver of one vehicle involved, the blue car pulled out of Twin Cedars onto 27 in front of the white car; neither driver was seriously injured.

Twin Cedars Rd Wreck / May 26 2016

The dangers of this intersection were highlighted in a news report several days ago. Leaders in Catoosa County (where the intersection technically is) and state officials (along with Senator Mullis) are still going around about who should pay for a light to be put in there.

A year ago a motorcyclist was killed in the same place; one of the vehicles involved this time landed almost on top of a memorial cross left on the right of way.

Twin Cedars Rd Wreck / May 26 2016 Twin Cedars Rd Wreck / May 26 2016

    “Numerous accidents, including a fatality last June, have occurred there, and traffic studies have proven the need for a traffic signal, officials say.
    “..For officials, it’s not a question of ‘if,’ but ‘when,’ a traffic signal be installed.”
    “..According to Jeff Long, District 1 Catoosa County commissioner and Walker County roads superintendent, placing the traffic signal is a priority for Catoosa County and has been for the past 4½ years. Long said state Sen. Jeff Mullis of Chickamauga wants a traffic signal installed there.”

Taking four and a half years to do anything, and still nothing has been done, isn’t much of a “priority.”

But remember, Senator Mullis was gonna put up a light on 193 for Gilbert Elementary at one point too after a kid died on her way to school, and that was something like 11 years ago.   Tiny Facebook

Georgia has joined ten other states, including Texas, Alabama, and Tennessee, in filing a lawsuit to block federal directives ordering public schools to allow students to choose which gender restrooms they can use.

State School Superintendent Richard Woods says the decision should be up to individual schools and school districts, not the state or federal government, and indicates that the state will legally support any school district that runs into problems due to rejecting the mandate.

Gov. Deal had even stronger words about the new demands from the federal level, but we’ll see if he continues to take the same position when push comes to shove and rejecting the federal rules also means rejecting federal money. In past situations like that one involving funding, Deal has caved like a $3 table.   Tiny Facebook  Tiny Facebook

LPD at First Volunteer Bank May 26 2016

Some excitement around 4 Thursday afternoon at First Volunteer Bank on 136 by Walmart. At least six police cruisers chasing after and pulling over a white Chevy pickup.

LPD at First Volunteer Bank May 26 2016 LPD at First Volunteer Bank May 26 2016

No details what was going on.   Tiny Facebook

How much clothing does one girl need, and how big was her purse?

    WQCH Radio, 05/21/16: “20 YEAR OLD MARIAH LEIGH-ANNE SCOTT WAS ARRESTED BY LAFAYETTE POLICE ON SUNDAY AFTERNOON, AFTER BEING DETAINED BY WALMART EMPLOYEES. 31 ITEMS OF CLOTHING FROM THAT STORE WERE FOUND IN HER POCKETBOOK, PLUS ANOTHER 20 CLOTHING ITEMS FROM BEALL’S AND GOODY’S. IT WAS ENOUGH MERCHANDISE TO MAKE THE SHOPLIFTING CHARGE A FELONY.”   Tiny Facebook

Voters in Chickamauga have approved a ballot measure freeing up city school money to tear down and replace two of the oldest buildings on the Gordon Lee campus.

Gordon Lee School Campus

Chickamauga funds will join state money to build a new facility available only to students inside Chickamauga, outside students who pay tuition, and athletically gifted kids from outside the city who somehow go there free of charge.

Chickamauga voters also approved alcohol by the drink in city restaurants.   Tiny Facebook

Quentin Jones went to jail earlier this month for attacking a woman in her sleep.

Per reports, he was staying at her house and tried to choke her in the middle of the night.

Plus: Walker County arrests, May 12-18.

Marijuana, DUI, family violence, meth, probation violation, shoplifting, and more – all your crime favorites are here.   Tiny Facebook  Tiny Facebook

29 years ago, Timothy Tyrone Foster was sentenced to die in the Georgia electric chair for killing a woman.

Monday the US Supreme Court overturned his conviction and ordered the man get a new trial, due to prosecutors in the mid-80’s intentionally kicking blacks off the jury.

The nation’s highest court ruled 7-1 in his favor.   Tiny Facebook

Back Alley Productions - Importance of Being Earnest Zombie Apocalypse

“The Importance of Being Earnest in the Face of the Zombie Apocalypse” premieres tonight at Mars Theater.

The Back Alley Productions play will run Friday-Sunday for the next three weekends.   Tiny Facebook

Tristan Young was born with spina bifida and hydrocephalus, medical conditions that have prevented him from riding a bicycle.

Tristan Young / Walker County Messenger

Until this month anyway, when the 7-year-old was presented with a customized hand-powered bike.

The Rock Spring boy’s new ride was purchased with donations quietly collected on his behalf through Talespinners Outdoors.   Tiny Facebook

After hundreds of millions spent by Atlanta and Georgia, plus tens of millions in tax break promisess, the NFL has agreed to have Super Bowl LIII played in the new Atlanta football stadium in 2019.

Mercedes Benz Stadium Atlanta Mockup Art

During that game (and most other activities held there) the stadium’s seats will be filled with wealthy fans and Georgia VIPs, with no room left for the common people who have paid for its costs, for events that produce little measurable economic benefit to the state’s economy and small businesses.

But Home Depot millionaire Arthur Blank is thrilled, and that’s really all that matters.

As with the Olympics, a big event like the Super Bowl brings people to town – but chases off people who normally stay, work, and live in the same area. The overall economic benefit is way way overstated and barely worth the disruption to people’s everyday lives.

San Francisco learned that the hard way during this year’s Super Bowl there.

(Plus the state is throwing enough road money into the area around that field to repave every single road in Walker, Dade, Catoosa, and Chattooga two or three times over.)

Not to mention the impact on the region of increased crime associated with major sporting events…   Tiny Facebook

After state testing is done, school students in many classes fill their days during the last weeks of school with trips, films, field days, and other filler activities.

One high school senior from Fulton County asks why the state can’t move testing back to give more time for teaching and less for movies.   Tiny Facebook

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