After another cold night, today’s weather should be pretty nice – mostly sunny and around 40°.

Walker County Schools WILL be open today, but all schools will start two hours later than normal. Catoosa, Chattooga, and Chickamauga schools will also operate with a 2-hour delay. All four schools in Dade County will open at 10 AM.

With warmer temperatures the risk of a natural gas shortage dissipates, so Roper will also be open today beginning with second shift.     

(Photo above of Sittons Gulch Trail at Cloudland Canyon.)

Perhaps because of the cold weather, or possibly because nobody cared, fewer than 3,000 people total voted in yesterday’s special election to choose a new Representative for Georgia House District 2. Most of the voters who did show up were, like the candidates themselves, from Walker County. LaFayette’s 695 votes cast is almost greater than the total votes from Whitfield AND Catoosa combined. (695 votes from over 4,000 registered voters is still however pretty terrible.)

Each candidate won the vote in his own respective “home” territory; Florence in LaFayette, Tarvin with Chickamauga, and Woodruff in Rock Spring. Overall Tarvin won six of eleven precincts, including a clean sweep of Whitfield County. He also won overall, with 38.15% of the vote.

But that doesn’t settle things. Not hardly. Since no candidate got more than 50%, a runoff vote will be held on February 4th between Tarvin and Florence. Meanwhile, District 2 will be without representation in the State House when the session begins next Monday.

Even then, the seat won’t be decided for long. Since these candidates are just completing Jay Neal’s half-finished term, the winner and potential challengers go before voters AGAIN in late May.           

Shaw is exiting the throw rug business, making the company’s Ringgold plant redundant. however, that facility won’t close – it’ll be converted over to produce vinyl tile in 2015.

Linked article says most of the 200 employees (many of whom live in this part of Walker County) will be offered jobs at other Shaw plants, but some working there say it looks more like unemployment.   

WQCH Radio, 01/07/14: “LAFAYETTE POLICE MADE A COUPLE OF DRUG ARRESTS IN THE PAST WEEK.

“ON JANUARY 3rd A VEHICLE WAS SPOTTED WITHOUT A TAG, TRAVELING MAIN STREET AROUND 9 PM. THE OFFICER SMELLED MARIJUANA, AND A SEARCH REVEALED THE DRUG HIDDEN INSIDE THE CAR AND IN A BACKPACK ON THE BACK SEAT. BAGGIES AND DIGITAL SCALES WERE ALSO RECOVERED FROM THE VEHICLE.

“20 YEAR OLD ETHAN KYLE MILLER OF A ROCK SPRING ADDRESS, WAS ARRESTED. WHEN SEARCHED AT THE COUNTY JAIL, MORE MARIJUANA WAS FOUND ON HIS PERSON. HE WAS CHARGED WITH POSSESSION AND POSSESSION WITH INTENT TO DISTRIBUTE.

“IN ANOTHER TRAFFIC STOP ON DECEMBER 30th, POLICE ARRESTED 38 YEAR OLD TRENA MAE BURTON. THE STOP WAS INITIATED BECAUSE OF A HEADLIGHT VIOLATION, BUT BURTON WAS ALSO CHARGED WITH POSSESSION OF METH AND SUSPENDED LICENSE.”   

During 2013, The Care Mission in LaFayette distributed 340 tons of food, feeding nearly twenty THOUSAND people.   

Here’s how we roll (or sled) in Walker County:

This month Mars Theater is showing classic films every Saturday night as part of a makeshift “film festival.” Last Saturday’s showing was “Charade” from 1963. This Saturday the theater will run 1950’s “DOA” starring Edmond O’Brien.

“Little Shop of Horrors,” “Night of the Living Dead,” and “His Girl Friday” finish out the month.   

Thanks to a questionable clothing choice, Walker County government briefly reaches new levels of transparency:

That’s the only form of “transparency” in any sense we’ll ever get from Bebe. She’s beginning to resemble the Cheshire Cat..   

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