Get your county tax bill yet?

This year’s bill (months late mostly because of the school board) contains a sizable property tax increase for the crooked Development Authority plus (for those outside cities) a higher fire fee.

LU warned about the former; the latter was unexpected – but with Bebe Heiskell still in charge, why is anyone actually surprised?

Bebe didn’t do this one by herself. You can also thank the board of the Development Authority and Heiskell’s garbage barge full of advisors. They shirked their responsibilities to the county’s citizens and enabled Heiskell to do whatever she wanted – which is why she hand-picked most of them for their positions in the first place.

She was also enabled to do this by three sitting state legislators who have so far refused to give the county a board of commissioners and end the sole commissioner dictatorship system that gives Heiskell unchecked power.

(Why do they mail the Walker County tax bills through a post office in Ringgold?)   

Thursday night, while Hutcheson’s CEO was making up lies to explain his social media tirades and counting his money, Hutcheson’s remaining employees – lied to, underpaid, and stolen from – gathered for one last shift and one last meal together.   

Hunter Vest, 21, arrested for allegedly stealing out of three storage buildings on South Main. Police say he victimized the same man before, and video proves his involvement in a break in early last Sunday morning.

It’s suggested that Mr. Vest is targeting a former… employer.   

Yesterday GE announced it will abandon plans to sell its appliances unit (including Roper) to Swedish Electrolux.

GE’s deal with Electrolux faced strong opposition from the government, which sued to block the merger. That case is currently in court but will be closed with the merger’s abandonment.

What does this mean for Roper? For now, it means nothing changes.

GE said it is still seeking a buyer for the appliance division, so in a few months or years we could do this same thing all over again.   

Hutcheson Medical Center is no more.

Last minute efforts to keep the hospital open, with a modified $4.75 million offer from Prime Healthcare, was not successful. The facility’s state license will be valid for ten days after close, which means a deal to reopen it could still come in during the next week and a half.

(Arrangements to sell Parkside Nursing Home are still in place, that facility remains open and will probably be handed over to new owners soon barring interference from Erlanger.)

Friday afternoon Hutcheson’s signage had been covered over and many of the closed hospital’s lower level doors and windows were boarded up to keep out thieves and vandals.

What was the ex-hospital’s soon-to-be ex-CEO doing? Claiming to Chattanooga media that his Facebook was “apparently hacked” and the “hacker” was responsible for his profane, threatening conversation with a former hospital employee.

Funny he was hacked and the only thing the “hacker” did was message someone who had been chatting with Hayes’ wife moments earlier. It’s like he’d rather lie than breathe. (His profile, and his wife’s, are no longer accessible.)         

Final arrangements for Jenna Kendrick have been set for Monday.

Visitation will be at Covenant Life Church in Chickamauga (across from Food Lion) from 3 to 7, followed by a service beginning at 7.

Saddle Ridge students held a private memorial at the school Friday for their classmate. The 8th grader died early last Monday morning for reasons yet unknown.     

LaFayette’s annual Christmas parade was last night. The parade was noticeably shorter/faster than in previous years but was more organized, to a degree, due to new rules implemented by the city.

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The Christmas season model train exhibit at Chattooga Academy is back up and running, and the light display at Joe Stock next door has been active since Thanksgiving. (All free.)

The Reindeer Run was held in town this morning.       

Last week Hutcheson’s failed and soon-to-be-former CEO sent an e-mail to all his remaining employees, saying what he should have said a year ago: the hospital cannot be saved.

He did not, however, admit to his own responsibility in the matter, instead blaming the hospital’s financial collapse on Regions Bank and Erlanger – two entities that were enlisted to bail the hospital out when it got into trouble years ago under a -different- bad CEO.

He specifically thanked Bebe Heiskell and Don Oliver for their “heroic” efforts to save Hutcheson (efforts that have put the county in debt by tens of millions for no net benefit) and made no mention of Catoosa or Dade, which hospital leaders still resent for not backing more loans as Walker did.

But wait!

Yesterday Hayes (or somebody using his name) sent a memo saying the hospital WILL be saved during a last-minute court hearing in Atlanta set for 4 PM today.

That hearing will be to consider the latest offer – $7.2 million – from Prime Healthcare, which has also committed to spending tens of millions more to rehab the hospital after completing a deal.

The deal, however, still depends on approval from Regions Bank, which likely won’t take it in favor of a shutdown/foreclosure which it feels would be more profitable for the bank’s debts.

Most remaining Hutcheson employees are tired of false promises and false hope from leadership (Hayes specifically) and just want to move on to their new jobs and lives.

A handful of remaining loyal staffers went to a Catoosa commissioner meeting last night hoping to push that board into doing something about the closure, but Hutcheson wasn’t on the meeting agenda and Catoosa’s leaders say they’ve been left out of the loop on the recent deal – likely on purpose.

Employees (mostly administrators) took their year-old SaveHutcheson.com signs and banners even though that Web site no longer exists – because they were instructed to by some lady on Facebook who claims to speak for the CEO.

Hutcheson’s actual web site at hutcheson.org is also down. The hospital itself will most likely be gone by this time tomorrow.       

What kind of man IS Hutcheson CEO Farrell Hayes?

Last night he showed some of his true colors on Facebook.   

Joseph Travis Whittemore, 33, arrested Tuesday morning for firing a gun inside his house on South Cherokee while under the influence and threatening to kill himself.

He faces charges of endangerment and marijuana possession; his wife and mother-in-law were in the home but sustained no physical injuries.   

What kind of man is Hutcheson CEO Farrell Hayes?

He may have revealed more of his true character than he wanted, Wednesday night in an exchange on social media.

The discussion began Tuesday in a semi-public Facebook group for former and current Hutcheson employees. Hutcheson’s onetime Emergency Services Coordinator, Scott Lewis, shared his thoughts – and the thoughts of many others – about the hospital’s leadership:

Nearly a day later Farrell Hayes’ wife Susan (also an employee of the hospital) responded. Lewis replied to her, others chimed in, and the thread started to take on a life of its own:

Around that time Farrell Hayes himself friended and messaged Scott Lewis on Facebook to continue the discussion in private.

As one might expect from an educated, highly-paid hospital executive, Hayes carefully and considerately explained each of Mr. Lewis’ concerns in a thoughtful manner, produced evidence in his defense, and explained his position to everyone’s satisfaction.

No, actually he didn’t do that at all.

According to screenshots Scott Lewis provided to LU, Hayes accused Mr. Lewis of making threats, called him a woman beater and a filthy name, then suggested they fight inside Hayes’ hospital office:

The middle-school locker room mentality of that conversation neither deserves or needs much additional commentary. It could, however, explain quite a bit about how Hutcheson has reached its current state of disarray.

Hayes and Hutcheson’s lawyers will appear in an Atlanta courtroom one last time today in a final effort to get a buyout deal approved before it shuts down, probably forever, on Friday morning.

Hopefully if some miracle deal IS agreed on, it won’t include a role for Farrell Hayes.

Irrelevant parts of the initial Facebook group discussion were removed for ease of understanding. Content of the message session between Hayes and Lewis was not modified.

Early yesterday morning LaFayette officers were called to a home on Fernwood Drive to investigate the death of a 13-year-old girl.

Jenna Kendrick, an 8th grader at Saddle Ridge Middle, passed away sometime during the night on Sunday or Monday. The exact time and reason for her death are not yet known. Foul play is not suspected, but the GBI was called in to complete the investigation as required by state law when a child dies.

Saddle Ridge, which notified fellow students of the death by letter on Monday, offers counseling for affected students and staff. A GoFundMe page was set up by the school to help pay for final expenses.

Thoughts and prayers of the entire community go out to the girl’s family.     

Sheriff Wilson says further investigation into the Denson murder in Naomi of a week ago indicates Christy Denson was shot in her bedroom and left there, not killed elsewhere and moved into the bedroom as first thought.

Per Wilson, Christy’s husband Steven attempted to clean up the crime scene during the days his wife’s remains sat in their home, causing detectives to assume she was moved.

Denson has allegedly admitted to shooting his wife but claims the shooting was an accident.

People who worked with Christy at United Synthetic aren’t painting a very nice picture of how Steven treated her, especially in the weeks leading up to her killing.     

Didn’t go Black Friday shopping?

Your money (or some taxpayer’s money anyway) went shopping without you.

This SUV with a Walker County-issued government plate was spotted at Toys R Us in Chattanooga around 3 Friday morning, taking up two handicap parking spots with no handicap tag.

At first it was thought to be a county owned vehicle since Walker County has issued white Explorers to several high level employees, but a closer examination of the tag shows it’s a city vehicle. It’s not immediately clear which city in Walker owns the truck, but it’s suggested to be a take-home vehicle for a Chickamauga schools employee.

Regardless of who the vehicle was issued to, there’s no legitimate reason for a city or county vehicle from Walker to be in Chattanooga at 3 in the morning.