Middle of last week, signs for House District 2 candidate Neal Florence finally came in and started popping up like mushrooms. This one, unfortunately, could cause an accident:

Property owners have a right to display political signs, but should there be a limit on signs that obstruct views of oncoming traffic?

City codes department will get right on this one. (No.)

(Corner of Oak and Villanow at Dari Dip, Saturday.)     

Donations made at local Bi-Lo stores will not go to The Care Mission in LaFayette as advertised. Due to new company rules, cash and food collected at LaFayette, Rossville, and Mission Ridge Bi-Lo locations “for LaFayette Care Mission” will instead go to the Chattanooga Food Bank.

Excerpt from an e-mail sent out by The Care Mission:

“As you all know for the past 7 years the Walker County Bi-Lo Stores (Lafayette, Mission Ridge and Rossville) have given the food and/or funds raised during their Summer and Holiday Fight Hunger Drives to the Care Mission. With the merger of Winn-Dixie, these stores will now donate directly to the Chattanooga Area Food Bank.

“I have just spoken with the Chattanooga Area Food Bank’s representive and was told that the donations from these stores would be included in the food bank’s inventory with all other donations. The Care Mission, or any other food pantry/closet that is partnered with the food bank, can then purchase these donations at their normal 19 cents per lb. rate.

“These local store managers believed that the donations would be going directly to the Care Mission to be used for Walker County families, so they had posted as much on their signs. We have asked that the Care Mission’s name be removed from these signs since we don’t want anyone misled. ..”

That means food and money taken up in Walker County for a LaFayette charity will instead be trucked to Chattanooga, where the organization it was intended for will have to pay to get it back. Money taken at Bi-Lo registers intended for the Mission will also go to the Food Bank.

It’d be one thing if they said everything donated until this point would go to The Care Mission and the rest would go to the Food Bank, but people were giving stuff specifically TO the mission which will be diverted elsewhere – donations collected under false pretenses. If this was a private individual collecting for one charity and giving the collection to something else, they could be arrested for theft by deception.

Bi-Lo customers (especially those who made donations expected to help at the Mission) should contact the company and demand everything collected under the Care Mission name, through last week, be distributed where it was supposed to go. Bi-Lo executives should also be made to know how much continuing support for this LaFayette charity would be appreciated by customers in the future.   

Video from last Monday shows a Georgia State Patrol officer speeding without lights or siren down Hwy. 27 after tailgating another driver, en route to LaFayette Arby’s:

This isn’t an exceptionally bad example of cops speeding, but we’ve seen a lot worse – and it highlights how all too often the people called to enforce rules don’t follow the rules themselves. If police want the law (and law enforcement officers) to be taken seriously, they need to start with themselves and their own actions.   

Driver of the Jeep Wrangler that slammed into a Walker County Ambulance Tuesday night has been charged with driving too fast and failing to stay in his lane.

Everyone involved in the accident is OK, but the ambo itself may be totaled by insurance.   

Several failures led to the shooting death of Ronald Westbrook during Thanksgiving week. His sleeping wife didn’t hear a door buzzer, a deputy failed to see Westbrook’s bracelet describing his condition or realize he was lost, and Westbrook’s reaction to the shooter’s instructions all resulted in his demise.

Responsibility for Westbrook’s death still lays with the guy who actually pulled the trigger.   

Erlanger’s rejected $3.5 million bid to lease Hutcheson was $2 million a year less than the counties needed to keep the place going. That’s why Catoosa County leaders began speaking of the hospital in past tense (“was” “were” etc.) and rejected another proposal to refinance Hutcheson debts. Dade County leaders did the same.

But here in Walker County, Commissioner Heiskell (going against economic reality and common sense) says we will continue to support Hutcheson financially “on a case by case basis.”

Heiskell also says the hospital’s latest plan to make itself profitable will work, even though that plan has yet to be revealed publicly and Catoosa County refuses to buy into it.

Raise Taxes + Open Checkbook + ?? = Profit!

Not like it’s HER money or anything.     

Former Rossville business owner (and regular LU commenter) Les Coffey has been banned from Walker, Catoosa, Chattooga, and Dade for seven years as part of an agreement settling criminal charges filed against him.

Coffey attempted to turn the old Peerless Mill into a business incubator but was sued and arrested multiple times after he became vocal about disagreements with Rossville city government.

Les pled “no contest” to the polticially-motivated charges remaining against him (most charges, including accusations of terrorist threats, were dropped) which isn’t a guilty plea, it’s just an agreement not to fight. He said it would have cost over $40,000 in legal fees to fight four separate court battles vs. paying a smaller fine and agreeing to banishment.

“He said his punishment is a result of his bickering with government officials, rather than the cost of committing the crimes. ‘Why would you want to banish someone from the [judicial] circuit?’ he said Tuesday. ‘You’ve got murderers and rapists and career criminals. Why would you want to banish someone who didn’t plead guilty?'”

Coffey’s legal battles, destruction of several businesses, loss of the Peerless property, and health issues left him without the means to continue fighting against lawyers being paid with tax dollars.

..so let that be a warning to you if you’ve ever considered doing business here.   

A month ago when Matthew Webb shot Audrey Mayo in the leg during a drug-enhanced “hunting accident” they considered themselves just friends. Now, as a result of the shooting, they’re a couple.

(You should probably hold off on buying any wedding presents for this pair.)   

LaFayette Christmas parade, originally scheduled for Friday night, has been postponed due to weather forecast. The parade will now be this Thursday at 6 PM. “Photos with Santa” event scheduled for after parade is likewise moved to Thursday night. Other activities around town scheduled for weeks or months in advance have been moved or canceled on short notice due to expected parade disruptions.   

As mentioned previously, recent thefts of copper lines from HVAC units in West LaFayette cost the Pit Stop money and left a church congregation out in the cold. Thieves have not yet been arrested but LPD says all recent activity was done by the same people.   

Walker County continues wasting time and money trying to punish former State Court Judge Bruce Roberts, who successfully sued the county (and Commissioner) for underpaying him.   

18-year-old Cassidy Gardner of Summerville died last Monday in Cartersville, thanks to the actions of a drunk driver. She was a 2013 graduate of Trion High School.

Cartersville Patch, 12/04/13: “Georgia State Patrol spokesman Gordy Wright said Joseph Lee Wooten, 31, of Adairsville, who was arrested in connection with the crash, was charged with three violations of the Georgia Controlled Substance Act, including misdemeanor possession of marijuana and two related to prescription drugs.”   

Whitfield County man who stabbed a Villanow resident to death in April has been found guilty and sentenced to life in prison.   

Fort O. teenager Dalton McConathy, shot during an apparent robbery attempt last month, wasn’t quite the misunderstood peaceful child family and friends have made him out to be; new information hints that he was cruel, violent, and possibly dangerous.   

Two Dalton PD officers have been suspended for cursing at a bus load of unruly school students. The bus driver called police saying the children were out of control and she couldn’t drive because of their behavior.

Article does NOT mention that the driver herself has been fired for calling officers to the bus.   

Mohawk is converting two yarn plants in Dalton and Rome into BFC mills, saving 230 existing positions and bringing in an additional 420 jobs.   

Back in January, two cops from Macon decided to steal a tractor while on duty. They discussed the crime in text messages, were captured on video from a nearby business, and the Kubota had a GPS tracking device.

An investigation led to confessions of multiple equipment thefts, drug use, and other abuses of power by the officers and two other police friends. But thanks to a plea deal, neither man will spend more than a few years in jail.

..and when they get out, they’ll be fully qualified to work for Rossville PD.   

Mother in Conyers GA arrested for having her 5-year-old slip through a dog door to unlock a home, which she then robbed.

Apparently that was easier than changing out of pajamas.   

Last Sunday (12/1) Dalton police seized $190k of meth and arrested two people involved in a drug ring with ties to Murray and Cherokee County.   

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