Walker County’s government doesn’t have enough extra money to buy a nice lunch, but the Sheriff’s Office, along with Commissioner Heiskell and the Development Authority, intend to set up a new sheriff office near Ridgeland.

Months ago a group of concerned Rossville residents got together, seeking to work on their community and cut back crime. That’s good. They unfortunately invited Steve Wilson and Bruce Coker, who are partially responsible for the unchecked crime in their community, to those meetings – and suddenly the whole effort turned into a push to build Bruce Coker a new office.

Coker found a location for the office, in Ridgeland Business Park off Wilson Road, and arranged for the county to use it rent free. (WQCH reports rent will only be free for the first year.)

Utilities, and the costs of remodeling and furnishing the satellite sheriff office, will still have to be taken care of; initial plans called for community fundraising to cover those costs, with known thief Bruce Coker handling the money.

Latching onto the plan and claiming it as her own, Commissioner Heiskell said on UCTV she’d pay for remodeling out of some previously unknown county fund, so Coker’s fundraising wouldn’t be needed after all.

Commissioner candidate Shannon Whitfield tried to top Heiskell, saying he’ll fund ANOTHER unneeded satellite office in Rock Spring once HE takes office, with God knows what money – launching an election year competition between Heiskell and Whitfield to see who can commit the most tax dollars into unneeded satellite sheriff offices we don’t have officers to staff. (Maybe they’ll build all those empty offices adjacent to Bebe’s expensive empty community centers.)

The stated goal of all this is to solve crime in that part of the county, but there won’t be any new officers to throw at the problem – and pulling deputies out of their cars and into an office seems like the opposite of what’s needed.

What IS needed to fix the north end crime problem (besides better leadership in law enforcement) is more officers on patrol. Spending tax funds we don’t have on a building, that could go instead to pay an extra deputy, makes no sense.

That’s our Walker County.   

Here’s Bebe’s latest election ad.

This is how she chooses to waste her pile of campaign cash.

Let’s Keep Bebe… ..in a cell.   

More reasons for LU to remain anonymous…

(The threat was prompted by a recent LU Facebook post about an arrest, taken verbatim from WQCH and police reports.)

“When you tear out a man’s tongue, you are not proving him a liar, you’re only telling the world that you fear what he might say.” -George R.R. Martin, A Clash of Kings   

The LaFayette Mountain Lion has been spotted again, twice in two days, in town near a school.

Wednesday morning North LaFayette principal Sandra Morrison saw what she thought to be a mountain lion in front of the school in the drop-off lane.

State wildlife officials visited the school Thursday morning to check out the report, but once again found no hard evidence of the animal – and school security cameras weren’t pointing to the area where Morrison said the animal was.

They also checked out the bypass where an LHS teacher said he saw two big cats a few days before – and they found nothing there to report, either. The DNR says they’re taking complaints seriously, but they can’t verify any of the accounts.

Later on Thursday the animal was spotted again, out a window of the same school. A teacher says she and at least one student saw a big cat on the school grounds Thursday, heading down Indiana Street.

She attempted to get a picture out the window but it was gone by the time she got to a camera. (The photo above is NOT local.)

There have also been unverified reports of a big cat being seen off Hwy. 151 in Naomi near the 136/Taylor’s Ridge split.

(LU will send a free t-shirt to anybody who gets a verifiable local photo of the animal and sends it in, so we can settle this matter for good.)       

Why does LU support the campaign of Perry Lamb to become the next commissioner?

Because he gets it. He gets that the people in charge now, and some who want to be later, aren’t listening to us – because they’re too focused on pleasing the people who support their campaigns, taking care of the powerful who take care of them instead of the most vulnerable who actually need help the most.

This is some unscripted video from a meet n greet event back in early June.   

Cop called to check out loose dogs gets charged by a dog, dog owner berates cop for defending himself, and the owner still gets the dog back?

WQCH Radio, 08/03/16: “AN IRATE DOG OWNER GAVE POLICE A ‘PIECE OF HIS MIND’ MONDAY, THEN WENT TO JAIL.

“A NEIGHBOR CALLED TO COMPLAIN THAT THREATENING DOGS WERE LOOSE IN THE THURMAN STREET AREA. TWO DOGS CHARGED THE RESPONDING OFFICER, AND HE TASED ONE OF THE ANIMALS TO AVOID BEING BITTEN.

“THE OWNER WAS IRATE WITH THE OFFICER FOR TASING HIS DOG, AND CONTINUED THE VERBAL ASSAULT AFTER SEVERAL ATTEMPTS TO CALM HIM DOWN. 26 YEAR OLD DUSTIN RICHARD PEEK WAS CHARGED WITH DISORDERLY CONDUCT, AND A FOLLOW-UP WILL BE CONDUCTED TO MAKE SURE THE DOGS ARE CONFINED TO HIS PROPERTY.”

The animal’s owner says his dog got loose in the middle of the night and was too small to be a threat to the officer. But he’s lucky the animal was only tased instead of shot.

Photos of the tased animal with barbs still embedded were shared by the family on LU’s Facebook post about the arrest.   

School started back yesterday for Walker County students.

Today’s heat index is approaching 100° but summer activities are done, the pool is closed for the year, kids are stuck indoors during the day and expected to be in bed well before the sun goes down at night.

Kindergarten teacher Mark McCormack did not return to class at Chattanooga Valley Elementary.

Superintendent Raines says McCormack, who’s being investigated by the GBI and Homeland Security for reasons not yet clear, officially resigned his job on July 20th.

McCormack took leave from teaching shortly before the school year ended and was not expected to return. The GBI won’t say why he’s under investigation, but Sheriff Wilson told media he was accused of inappropriate picture taking and inappropriate touching of students in 2010 and 2015 – but they never found enough to charge him with at the time.

So far he’s not been charged with whatever the GBI and Homeland Security suspect him of, either – but his teaching career is over.     

This morning an accident in Catlett briefly trapped an elderly couple inside their vehicle.

The wreck on Colbert Hollow Rd, off Hwy 95, was caused by a small dog distracting the driver. The couple was successfully extracted by emergency crews with no serious injuries reported. The dog ran off and hasn’t been found.

[Another great photo from underrated Walker Messenger reporter Josh OBryant.]     

Summerville PD says the woman who crashed into the CVS there Sunday morning may have done so intentionally.

43-year-old Ginger Self of Covington claimed her truck “told her” to drive into the front of the building.

She reportedly suffers from a mental condition and missed several doses of her medication before the incident, which disrupted business at the Summerville pharmacy over the weekend. The store has now fully reopened.   

“I am use to hard work and long hours. Unlike my two opponents, my career has not been limited to a desk job. I have actually done the type of jobs I would be overseeing. For example, I’ve worked in a road department repairing roads and bridges and in a water and sewer department.

“I want to be a hands-on commissioner who can manage from personal experience for the benefit of all the people. During my petition drive, I learned a lot about what Walker County residents want from their county government. My goal is to see their will is done.” -Perry Lamb   

On May 2nd, the Hospital Authority of Catoosa, Dade, and Walker – owner of Hutcheson’s debts and its few remaining assets – reached a tentative settlement with Erlanger. During that meeting they agreed to pay the Chattanooga hospital a legal settlement including $8.5 million from Walker County.

Now the Authority has decided its own meeting was held improperly, meaning everything decided that day – especially the settlement – didn’t happen.

Four of the five authority members who voted to reject the May meeting are from Walker County, including hardcore Bebe backers Bill Cooke and John Culpepper. Most of those members were intentionally skipping meetings in May, apparently to avoid a settlement agreement.

Culpepper has admitted the board’s goal is to avoid throwing Commissioner Heiskell “under the bus” – but their delays put everyone ELSE under a bus; Every day this thing continues results in more money owed by the county, in interest and legal fees.

Erlanger’s lawyer says Walker County could make payments on the settlement, a small amount at a time like a car payment or house payment, if we can ever actually settle it. Unfortunately that won’t happen while Bebe remains in office.   

One of Walker County’s three commissioner candidates took more money than the law allows. Another filled out their report wrong, and a third took money from a dead man.

On top of that, Bebe broke accounting rules by having hers filled out by the county’s “independent” auditor.

Here’s LU’s breakdown of recent campaign finance reports.   

Sunday morning in Summerville…

Per reports, a woman from Covington was flying down 27 and failed to navigate the intersection at CVS, cutting through two parking lots and slamming into the drug store.   

Walker County’s three candidates for commissioner have filed their required financial reports for the second quarter of the year. Examining those reports reveals details about each candidate (and their supporters) that voters should be aware of.

SHANNON WHITFIELD

During the April-June quarter, Team Whitfield took in $12,950 and spent $13,603 campaigning.

A total of $2,150 was donated to Whitfield from donors or businesses outside Walker – all located in Tennessee. Those donors include a Chattanooga insurance agent, a Chattanooga accountant, and a civil engineering firm executive from Hendersonville, TN. All three work for companies that do business with governments, and all three are probably hoping for a piece of Walker County’s budget after Whitfield takes office.