Missing teen Brittany Clift has been safely located by LPD.

Per law enforcement sources she had been hiding out at a friend’s home since disappearing last Thursday. When approached by detectives Tuesday morning the 16-year-old fled on foot into the woods, but was taken into custody later in the day after calling her mother for a ride home.

Clift is in YDC, will appear before a judge today due to having run away three times during the last year. The friend whose house she was in cooperated with police; that teen’s parents were not home during the week due to a medical situation.

Whatever “help” her behavior was crying out for, hopefully now she’ll get it.   

During tax increase meetings, the Commissioner’s office admitted she has no legal control over a five-person board: it’s all done at the state level by legislators like Jeff Mullis.

Up until now, Mullis, Steve Tarvin, and John Deffenbaugh have refused to consider the idea or let the voters have a say in the board vs. commissioner issue, instead listening to the Commissioner and her wishes. (As sole commissioner, she of course doesn’t want to share power.)

That may soon change; LU’s Sole Commissioner Vote Petition has reached 1,400 signatures plus hundreds more who have signed the paper petition offline. If enough sign, local legislators will have no choice but to listen or be voted out along with Heiskell in 2016.

[The offline petition is now available to sign seven days a week 6 AM to 9 PM at Catlett Grocery on Round Pond Rd. Stop in and put down your name if you haven’t signed the online petition, and be sure to tell Bill thanks for standing up for change in Walker County.]

Also note from the video, Mr. Brooks (who wears a variety of job hats, including Walker Transit director, Development Authority director, and video camera operator for business meetings) says the Commissioner can’t have meetings at night when people could actually participate because she would have to pay overtime.

They have no problem with “overtime” during the Commissioner’s weekly UCTV Hee-Haw Dumpster Fire TV show, and had no problem making county employees work overtime earlier this month setting up and working the County Fair, or last fall when everybody with a county job worked overtime for weeks setting up the failed Civil War reenactment.     

Eyewitnesses report a minor accident Monday at the county fire station in Chickamauga: an ambulance drove through the station’s garage door.

No pics of the wreck but here’s the station Tuesday with the door covered up.   

27-year-old Rossville man died Sunday after helping his brother escape a trailer fire. Fire is thought to have been an accident.   

Walker Co Chamber of Commerce director Stephanie Snodgrass has resigned after five years, taking a position down in Dunwoody.

Snodgrass left on her own but was considered a liability to the Chamber by many of its members, and was blamed for the Chamber’s controversial position supporting SPLOST renewal last year against the wishes of some leaders.

The search for her replacement has begun, hopefully it will be someone who can make the supposedly non-political business organization as non-political as it’s supposed to be.   

Walker County arrests for September 15-21.   

Many government records are technically available to the public, but have to be individually requested and paid for. There’s been no central place to find open records for Walker County – until now. A new site collects records, documents, and other data for Walker and its cities for the public to review.

Site includes recent financial reports for Walker County and the county’s charter. The handful of documents available now will grow over time.

A similar site operated by the Chattanooga Times Free-Press shows salary information for county leaders and employees, but the data is from 2010.   

An LHS student found a surprise in their lunch last Friday.

Photo sent in by the student, so you can take this with a grain of salt and consider it “unverified” but likely.

This appears to be pre-packaged food, so the bug probably came in already sealed inside.   

Recently adopted rules cap the amount of money lobbyists can spend on GA state legislators – EXCEPT for conventions and educational trips.

So, many state legislators spent their summer going on pricey all-expenses-paid vacations disguised as conventions.

Article mentions several specific legislators but certainly not all. So far it’s unclear if any from the local delegation attended any of these events.   

Since Walker County tax increases were announced several weeks ago, LU has gotten a growing number of reports from people who have been blocked, completely blocked, from the Commissioner’s social media page for asking simple questions.

It’s not JUST the commissioner – Gov. Deal and others have done the same thing, both on campaign pages and official government office social media profiles. But Heiskell’s page is unique because it’s a personal profile used to distribute official information like press releases and meeting videos. The page, which is apparently run by county employees and not the computer illiterate commissioner herself, mixes personal comments, campaign material, and official county information. But many in the county can’t even see it because they’re blocked for daring to ask questions.

Can we trust leaders who aren’t willing to publicly answer basic, appropriate questions in public? What are they afraid of?

LU challenges you to test all your local leaders, from US Congress to Governor, state legislators, candidates for state legislature, county commissioner, mayors, and city councilors. School board members and candidates too.. Ask those hard questions on social media, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and see how they answer, if they answer at all, or if they block you for asking something.   

LaFayette DDA is already planning its Christmas banners…   

Why did GE decide to unload its well-known appliance business? There’s more money to be made in other industries, but the main reason may be the instability of consumer spending.

Selling to businesses and governments is a more predictable, consistent business than selling directly to families and homebuilders. Regardless of who owns it, GE Appliances (and Roper) will never be economically stable.

The business makes money, but there’s so much fluctuation. Some years will be profitable, some very profitable, and some years will be losers. That’s fine in the long run but for a business focused on quarterly earnings reports and stock price, it’s not where they want to be.   

What does Rodney Summerford of Sand Mountain do with his spare time and while on vacation? He walks down the road wearing a robe, carrying a wooden cross on his back.

Summerford recently trekked through Summerville.   

Greg Hecht is running for GA Attorney General. He says the current occupant of that office, Sam Olens, has failed to protect children and isn’t doing enough to fight corruption in state government.   

BlueBird Corp, the school bus manufacturer that left LaFayette four years ago, is being sold to new owners and will eventually be spun off into a publicly traded business.

This is relevant to LaFayette because some who work at the company’s remaining site in Fort Valley, GA. still have ties to this area, and BlueBird’s future is linked to the future of Georgia’s economy.   

Augusta GA fire fighter battles flesh-eating bacteria after rescuing a woman from rushing water while off duty.

His prognosis is good, but damage to his leg is permanent.   

New solar power facility being built in Lyerly expected to go online soon. Site has 6,000 solar panels; juice generated will be sold to Georgia Power.   

New state law requiring food stamp cards to have photos of their owners is expected to cost the state $7.7 million.

The cost of the change may cost more than the added security saves in fraud reduction during the next few years, but it would help ensure benefits are going to those who actually need them instead of someone who definitely does not.   

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