A deal has been reached between GE and Electrolux. Swedish company will buy GE’s appliance division (owner of Roper in LaFayette) for $3.3 billion.

The deal will not be complete until 2015 (leaders hint at June 2015), so there won’t be any changes through at least the rest of this year; Electrolux will license the GE name and continue applying it to current product lines after sale is finished.

Roper employees on Monday were handed out this letter, written by the CEO of GE’s Appliances and Lighting division. The letter’s second page tells employees their jobs will be preserved for a year once the deal is done. After that all cards are off the table.

Read More on LU: Roper (Re)sale

An additional article in USA Today adds little new information but does mention Roper in LaFayette as part of the deal and a place where GE has invested money in recent years.       

During 2013, Commissioner Heiskell moved $1.4 million out of the county’s general fund to the “special recreation” fund that runs Mountain Cove Farms. She’s long insisted the money wasn’t from taxes but rather from water lines the county sold to itself.

During last week’s tax meeting, Heiskell admitted under pressure that the water lines were built with tax dollars, meaning the $1.4 million indirectly came out of YOUR pocket for HER special project. (An additional $.9 million was moved into the same fund a year earlier, taking the Farm up to at least $2.3 million since 2012 just from the general fund.)

The next and final tax meeting will be tomorrow at 10 AM.   

The Commissioner says we have financial problems and need a tax increase, but wild inappropriate spending at Mountain Cove Farms hasn’t stopped. Not hardly.

Walker County spent at least $10,000 in the last month installing this new lighting at Mountain Cove Farms in preparation for the upcoming fair. This photo was taken over the weekend; fresh hay shows where electrical lines were run across the property.

More photos of this project and other expensive purchases from the farm, like commercial kitchen equipment, flatscreen TVs, a pool table, and leather furniture inside rental “cabins,” are in the slideshow below.   

(Click to advance gallery – mouseover for captions.)

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A trailer fire monday at Carriage Estates (across from Walmart) is being investigated. Man and dog escaped the blaze mostly unharmed.

The dog required a bit of oxygen from Walker County firefighters.     

Another fire: Around 7 Tuesday morning the (vacant?) Culberson Ave. home of alleged drug-smuggler (and confirmed Nazi) Mac Waters caught fire. Authorities describe the blaze as “suspicious.”   

Last month Family Dollar rejected Dollar General’s bid to buy it out, sticking with an earlier lower bid from Dollar Tree. Now DG has raised the amount offered, still hoping to sweep up the competitor.

This deal, as mentioned before, would cause stores to close and result in job cuts. A deal with Dollar Tree would have less overall impact.   

So far Walker County Animal Shelter has euthanized at least thirty of the cats taken from Chickamauga last week. More will likely die because of poor health and no space.   

LPD warns the community, once again, to lock vehicles at night. Latest car burglaries reported from Skyline Heights subdivision east of town.   

WQCH Radio, 09/09/14: “A BURGLARY SUSPECT SURPRISED A TEENAGE GIRL IN HER DAUGHERTY STREET HOME, ON THE EVENING OF SATURDAY, AUGUST 30th.

“LAFAYETTE POLICE ARRESTED 30 YEAR OLD CLIFFORD BRANDON RHINEHARDT ON A BURGLARY CHARGE, THE FOLLOWING WEEK.

“ACCORDING TO THE POLICE REPORT, THE TEEN WAS ALONE AT HOME WHEN RHINEHARDT SUDDENLY APPEARED AT HER BEDROOM DOOR. SHE RECOGNIZED HIM AS A FAMILY ACQUAINTANCE AND TOLD POLICE HE WAS WEARING SOCKS ON HIS HANDS. WHEN SHE ASKED WHY, HE SAID HE ‘HAD A RASH’.

“HE THEN ASKED TO USE THE RESTROOM, AND LEFT. WHEN THE GIRL’S PARENTS RETURNED THEY FOUND THAT PRESCRIPTION DRUGS HAD BEEN TAKEN FROM THE BATHROOM.

“THE BURGLARY SUSPECT IS A RESIDENT OF THORNTON STREET, IN LAFAYETTE.”

Another burglary, or just a puppet show gone wrong?   

GA Attorney General Olens’ office and the Georgia Ethics Committee have both been ordered to pay $10,000 in fines for the way an ethics case against Governor Deal was handled last year.

The judge said he understands it’s no punishment since the fines will come out of tax dollars but there’s nothing else you can really DO against a government entity breaking the law. Employees are, in most cases, immune to prosecution.

Ethics Committee director from the time the case was handled was suspended and now fired over the incident. She was hand picked by the governor, was accused of making the case go away to his benefit, and then released documents that could have incriminated Deal when push came to shove.   

In January long-time Walker Co Schools board member Susan Wells will leave the board to take a position at a nonprofit. Wells will be replaced by TEA Party champion Charles Wilson, running unopposed to replace her.   

Businesses continue to flee the area. Northwest Georgia Bank announces branches in Fort O and LaFayette (inside Walmart) will close by the end of the year.

That’s a pretty bad sign when the best way to serve your customers is shutting down.   

New pavement in the city burial ground was paid for with dedicated cemetery maintenance funds, not tax dollars.

Nice to see the cemetery getting some maintenance attention; It’s a burial ground but also a bit of a park. Residents or visitors can walk out there and enjoy the trees, check out the old stones, etc. along with those who come to mourn or visit those who have passed. It’s along a gateway to the city and should be kept presentable.

Definitely better than what we were doing five years ago.   

Watch out for snakes.

(3’+ rattler killed in Chickamauga by the Rector family.)   

Mac Wade of LaFayette arrested Sunday for prowling inside a neighbor’s house. Wade lives here but gave a relative’s Newnan, GA address when arrested.   

39-year-old Calvin Antonio Shelton arrested in late August for beating up a 60 year old man and breaking the windows out of his vehicle.

Way to go Antonio.   

Chick-fil-A founder Truett Cathy passed away Monday, age 93.

Regardless of your thoughts on his occasionally controversial political or religious positions, Cathy, his family, and their businesses have contributed greatly to the state both in job creation and charity.   

Governor candidate Jason Carter’s stated plan to boost education funding by going after “tax deadbeats” is unrealistic, and even if it worked would only help schools for a year or two. Once the money was gone (if it could even be obtained) what would he do?   

The Care Mission is in need of shopping bags and toothbrushes.

They could probably use your financial help and time as well.   

USA Today lists Chattooga County as the most affordable place to buy or rent a home in the country.

Which is good if you’re staying there or looking to move in. If you’re looking to sell or trying to rent out a home, not so much. (If Roper closes Walker County will be the most affordable place to live. People will be giving houses away just to get out of here.)   

GA Department of Agriculture inspects every gas pump in the state, and frequently finds pumps rigged to cheat customers buying fuel.

Have you ever been ripped off at the pump?   

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