LaFayette City Council will meet at City Hall, 7:30 tonight.

Today’s News:

Saturday night around 10:30 a man walking along the LaFayette bypass was apparently hit by a car and killed. Eyewitnesses reported seeing a body under a sheet for a long while afterwards as GSP investigated the accident.

News reports name the victim as 29-year-old Shawn Bryan. The driver isn’t likely to be charged since Mr. Bryan was in the middle of the highway after dark when he was hit.       

This is the third traffic fatality in Walker County in about eight days.

Victim from the previous fatality from an accident in Catlett last Friday has been identified as mother-of-three Tandi Wilson, age 23. Another minor accident Saturday on Hwy. 27 at the Catoosa/Walker line in front of Fieldstone Farms thankfully had no fatalities; people involved in that two-vehicle crash were able to walk away afterwards.   

A downtown logo contest sponsored by LaFayette Downtown Development Authority received 44 entries, but only two of the submissions were actual logos – the rest are slogans. Contest winner will get $50 and “bragging rights.”

The LU contest for a city logo, which offered a prize of $0, got five or six entries. The LU contest winner is below:

(Other entries here.)

“Overall, [DDA Director] Williams is happy with the public participation in the effort. ‘A professional firm, for this kind of thing, would be very, very expensive,’ he said. ‘Some cities spend $50,000 to $75,000.'”

Which is why LU said they wouldn’t get much response. Nobody who can do a real logo wants to do one for an insulting fifty dollars. They could have made the prize $500 and actually gotten some participation.         

Despite hours of discussions between the county hospital authority and Erlanger, no lease agreement for Hutcheson hospital has been reached. The counties set a deadline for midnight Tuesday, but Erlanger refuses to sign anything unless the counties agree to refinance Hutcheson debt regardless of a deal.   

Meanwhile, Hutcheson employees were being given the following memo:

“Friends of Hutcheson” encourage hospital staff to reject any deal with an outside party (including Erlanger) and contact the counties to demand they refinance the hospital’s debt. Again.

This position matches that of hospital leaders and was likely put together by them. Hutcheson executives did the same thing last time a lease arrangement was being discussed in 2011; employee protests then pushed Bebe to take the Erlanger deal, which has added to the facility’s debt load.

Hopefully Hutcheson employees will see through this fear-mongering letter and support a long-term arrangement that will return the hospital to financial stability while freeing its county owners from taking on more debt responsibility.   

GSP’s report on the accident that killed Josh Jackson last weekend has been released. Accident investigation is inconclusive since the vehicle burned, but suggests it happened because of distracted driving or a tire failure, combined with speeding. Jackson and Caitlin Keith were not wearing seatbelts.   

The fireman who drove Walker County’s $600,000+ “quint” truck into a pole last Sunday is Rodney Johnson, a Walker Co. Fire/Rescue employee since 2006. Johnson is an experienced driver, well regarded by others in the fire fighting community. Local article expands on the accident investigation and the community reaction to accident photos posted on LU.   

Have you visited LaFayette swimming pool this year?

Today’s news:

Walker County Emergency Services released a statement about Sunday’s accident involving the $600,000+ “quad” fire truck. The comment, signed by Fire Chief Randy Camp, is lengthy. For purposes of brevity, here’s an excerpt of what Camp had to say:

“..The initial investigation shows that no one had malicious intent to damage the fire truck. However, that doesn’t excuse what has happened. The person driving has been re-assigned while the department fully investigates this incident. ..even if this unit is currently out of service, the area it serves is not without coverage. We do have reserve apparatus .. and the crews are operating normally.

“..Our personnel work 24-hour shifts and by law the department is required to give them time to eat. Because they do run calls during the typical meal times, this can sometime be a tough thing to do. Yes, we could have a policy that the crew load up in a smaller vehicle if they have to leave the station to eat. However, if they catch a call while out in the smaller vehicle, they would have to return to the station to switch into the larger apparatus before heading out on the call. Because of the delay this would cause, we allow our personnel to drive their assigned apparatus at all times. ..Most shifts bring in food for their meals and cook at the station. ..our policy is in place because we feel it is in the best interest of the citizens for our personnel to be ready to respond from anywhere, at any time.

“..we take our role as fiscal conservators of your tax money VERY seriously. Because we are all tax payers ourselves, we look for the best and most economic ways possible to run this organization. We appreciate the concern our citizens have shown and value the trust you place in us each and every day.”

The clarification and transparency on this is appreciated – definitely not the standard attitude we see from Walker County government. (Randy Camp is a good guy. He deserves a better boss.)   

Unfortunately this explanation probably wouldn’t have been seen without the fire truck accident being discussed on LU Facebook and here on the blog. LU has been slammed for questioning the accident, but asking questions about what happened is the only way to make local officials admit what went on.

Accident on Chamberlain Rd. around 3 PM Saturday took the life of 17-year-old Josh Jackson. Also in the vehicle were Kaitlin/Caitlin Keith (with Josh in photo) and Austin Goodman, both 16. Keith and Goodman were both sent to Erlanger, Goodman was released with minor injuries and Keith (at last update) was still hospitalized.       

(Photo obtained from Debbi’s Flowers via Facebook.)

Congratulations to all the class of 2013 who graduated Friday night at Jack King Stadium.     

A “housewarming party” in Chattooga County ended with several charges of statutory rape involving 14-year-olds.

This is not OK under any circumstance. NEVER, EVER OK.   

GA Department of Corrections prisoners have been working on the LaFayette Library renovation project for a year now, being thanked for their service through hot meals brought in once a week by volunteers. According to library staff, the number of prisoners involved in recent weeks has grown beyond what volunteers and “Friends of the Library” can feed.

Shop-Rite stepped up and started hamburgers buns and raw patties for the prisoners, but to save money project leaders decided the best way to prepare it was to have one of the trustees prepare meals on a grill on-site. So if you drive by the under-construction library on a Thursday and see a prisoner cooking hotdogs on a grill, don’t freak out.

But if you see one of them throwing wire spools over the fence, or drinking a beer, you can call 911. Hopefully that won’t happen again.   

Paramedics tell ABC News the man trapped in Ellison’s Cave on Memorial Day lost a “grotesque amount” of blood and sustained a “substantial” trauma.

Several have asked about costs related to the massive recovery effort. Essentially, any community that sent a rescue crew in covers that crew’s expenses. Many of the rescuers were volunteers, the ones being paid were paid through their respective county/state/city fire/rescue teams. Things like meals and supplies were covered by Walker County. Any medical expenses encountered by the rescued man are his own responsibility.   

Hutcheson Medical Center announces a $421,000 operating profit for the month of April, and says the hospital is $757,000 ahead for the year – as long as you don’t count debt payments, which are still eating the place alive.

On one hand they’re making cheery announcements like this one about financial health. On the other hand they’re going back to the counties again and again for loans because they can’t make payroll. It’s all in how you spin it.