Bojangles is now open.

The store opened this morning at 5; customers began lining up well before 4 AM.     

Lawyers for General Electric and Electrolux appear before a judge in Washington DC this morning to make the case for their proposed merger.

The $3.3 billion buyout deal (which would include Roper in LaFayette) is opposed by the US Department of Justice, which says the deal will reduce competition and raise appliance prices.

High-profile court case is expected to last until Thanksgiving.   

Former Hays Prison employee Jessica Taylor Nabors, who was arrested last year for sexing up a prisoner, has gotten away with a slap on the wrist: A $500 fine and one year probation.

Other guards at Hays say the 19-year-old let her inmate friend (a convicted murderer) into an insecure room without permission, but the Chattooga Sheriff’s Office and DA Franklin didn’t charge her for that risky behavior.   

Friday night the Ramblers finished their 2015 football season with another blowout loss, falling 41-0 to Ridgeland at home.

This 1-9 season, followed by two straight years of going 2-8, could put coach Chad Fisher’s job on the line.

Will the school give him another year to redeem himself or will his third embarrassingly bad season at LaFayette be the last?

LaFayette hasn’t kept any coaches more than three seasons since Eric Edwards (2000-2004), and Edwards got the team to at least .500 three of his five years.   

The 2016 local primary election will be held on May 24th – a little less than 200 days from now.

That vote will potentially be the most impactful election in some fifteen years, because it will determine who leads Walker County through the rest of this troubled decade and (hopefully) into a better situation. Incumbent sole-commissioner Bebe Heiskell, who has absolutely destroyed the county financially, is weaker than she’s been since taking office – making the position ripe for a challenger to take her job away.

Despite the obvious opportunity of this vote, and the heated discussion about it in public, there’s been some.. reluctance.. for anyone to step forward as a candidate, at least until the last few weeks – and even now there’s hardly a flood of names.

A full YEAR before the July 2012 primary vote, challenger Paul Shaw stepped up as a candidate with a fully-formed campaign and Web site. You’d expect for 2016 we would have seen the same thing from people interested in the Commissioner’s job, but there were doubts until late summer if anyone would even run at all.

Finally two people have made formal announcements of their plans: corrections officer Lonnie Henderson of LaFayette and business owner Shannon Whitfield of Chickamauga.

Hutcheson will cease to exist on December 4th.

Per Hutcheson sources, CEO Farrell Hayes said Wednesday in a “town hall” meeting of employees that there had been NO court order to close the hospital – despite multiple accounts of one being issued. Hayes also claimed the hospital’s leaders were in negotiations with a hospital operator out of California to buy the facility intact.

The next day, those same employees found out they won’t have jobs for Christmas and Farrell Hayes stopped answering his phone.

One insider says Regions Bank blocked a sale proposal, probably because it won’t bring in enough money to pay Region’s share of Hutcheson debt.

Parkside Nursing Home will, by all accounts, still be sold and remain open with the same employees.

Walker County’s fire chief Randy Camp says he’s worried where ambulances will take patients after Hutcheson closes.

Simple. They’ll go to the quality hospitals they end up at now, only without a pointless billable stop at Hutcheson on the way.       

Walker County Schools ESPLOST tax was renewed by 73.3% of voters who bothered showing up at the polls Tuesday.

A total of 1,326 people cast a vote early and on election day – something like 1% of the county’s total population.

That didn’t stop Walker School Superintendent Damon Raines from declaring it a decision by the “majority of taxpayers”:

Catoosa Walker News Facebook, 11/03/15: “‘You always want a larger percentage and this shows a majority of taxpayers think we are doing a good job — being transparent with the money collected and how it is being spend,’ Walker County schools superintendent Damon Raines said. ‘The board and I are pleased that this passed and will fund necessary projects for the next five years.'”

Transparent in how money is collected and “spend” but not in actual votes on the tax. Almost nobody in Walker County even KNEW there was an election on November 3rd – outside of teachers anyway, who were notified by their respective schools.

The complacent local media didn’t help by describing the county-wide election as a “municipal vote” which would be only for those living inside cities. Several cities were having municipal votes at the same time (not LaFayette) but the ESPLOST election was for ALL of Walker because it involves taxes ALL of Walker will pay.

Now, thanks to a tiny portion of the county’s population, everyone who shops in Walker will pay a tax to primarily fund ballfields and gymnasiums until at least 2022.     

Missing/runaway Catoosa 14-year-old Adriana Elmore was found safe and sound in a Gatlinburg shopping mall, less than 48 hours after slipping away from her Ringgold/Rocky Face home Sunday night.

Authorities believe she hitchhiked from the Rocky Face area into Dalton, then to Cleveland TN and on to Gatlinburg where she was finally taken into custody and returned home.     

Today is an election day in Walker County, with only one issue on the ballot county-wide: renewal of a 1% sales tax, the ESPLOST, for schools.

Essentially, it’s continuing an existing tax for school construction, property purchases, and repairs for the Walker and Chickamauga school systems.

Previously discussed projects to be funded include a new high school at Saddle Ridge, new buildings for Gordon Lee, and many athletic improvements that seem unnecessary.

From the sample ballot:

1% Educational Sales and Use Tax
(Vote for One)

Shall a one percent sales and use tax be imposed in Walker County for a period of time not to exceed 20 calendar quarters and for the raising of not more than $32,500,000, (a) approximately $28,080,000 (86.4%) of which shall be received by the Walker County School District for the purposes of: (i) acquisition, construction, and equipping of auxiliary gymnasiums at LaFayette and Ridgeland High Schools; (ii) construction of new roofs for educational and central services buildings and/or facilities; (iii) acquisition and upgrading of technology and computers, text books, and e-books, including expansion of the technology plan to improve student-to-device ratio; (iv) acquisition and equipping of school buses; (v) paving and repairing of parking lots and driveways for educational and central services buildings and/or facilities; (vi) acquisition, construction, and equipping of a new high school; (vii) acquisition and equipping of safety and security equipment for educational and central services buildings and/or facilities, including a potential stop light at the entrance of Saddle Ridge Elementary and Middle School; (viii) construction, renovation, improvements, and equipping of the Career Technical & Agriculture Education (CTAE) labs at LaFayette and Ridgeland High Schools; (ix) acquisition, construction, and equipping of a multi-use athletic facility at Ridgeland High School; (x) acquisition, construction, and equipping of a football field at the LaFayette High School; (xi) renovations, additions, improvements, and equipping of existing educational buildings, properties, and facilities of the school district, including additions, improvements, constructing, and equipping central services facilities; (xii) acquisition of any property, both real and personal, and equipment necessary in connection with the above described capital outlay projects, including energy management systems, heating and air conditioning systems, lighting, and similar equipment; and (xiii) acquisition of real property for future schools, facilities, administrative offices, support services, and other purposes of the Walker County School District; and (b) approximately $4,420,000 (13.6%) of which shall be received by the Board of Education of the City of Chickamauga for the purposes of: (i) acquisition, construction, and equipping of new educational buildings and facilities; (ii) acquisition and installation of system-wide security and safety equipment; (iii) acquisition, installation, and upgrading of system-wide technology and equipment, including computers, text books, and e-books; (iv) renovations, improvements, and equipping of existing educational buildings, properties, and facilities; (v) acquisition of any property, both real and personal, and equipment necessary in connection with the above described capital outlay projects, including energy management systems, heating and air conditioning systems, lighting, and similar equipment; and (vi) acquisition of real property for future schools, facilities, administrative offices, support services, and other purposes of the City of Chickamauga School System?

If imposition of the tax is approved by the voters, such vote shall also constitute approval of (i) the issuance of general obligation debt of the Walker County School District in the principal amount of $18,000,000 for the purpose of financing the costs of the capital outlay projects of the Walker County School District described above and (ii) the issuance of general obligation debt of the City of Chickamauga in the principal amount of $2,900,000 for the purpose of financing the costs of the capital outlay projects of the Chickamauga School System described above.

YES/NO

Notice that the most specific projects are for sports, while the vague ones are more related to core education, and only a stop light for Saddle Ridge school is described as “potential” – meaning it’s probably included simply to get votes and isn’t likely to be done.

WQCH Radio, 08/24/15: “SUPERINTENDENT DAMON RAINES SAID THE CURRENT PENNY SALES TAX FOR EDUCATION HAS ANOTHER YEAR TO RUN. AND IF APPROVED BY THE VOTERS, IT WOULD CONTINUE FOR ANOTHER FIVE YEARS, STARTING IN 2017.

“THE TAX FOR CAPITAL PROJECTS WOULD BE SHARED BY THE WALKER COUNTY AND CHICKAMAUGA CITY SCHOOL SYSTEMS. RAINES SAID IT WOULD RAISE AN ESTIMATED 28-MILLION DOLLARS FOR WALKER COUNTY, AND SOMETHING OVER 4-MILLION FOR CHICKAMAUGA CITY SCHOOLS.

“SUPERINTENDENT RAINES SAID PROJECTS FOR WALKER COUNTY COULD INCLUDE A THIRD HIGH SCHOOL, TO BE BUILT ON THE SADDLE RIDGE CAMPUS AT ROCK SPRING. OTHER IDEAS INCLUDE THE EXPANSION OF VOCATIONAL PROGRAMS AT LAFAYETTE AND RIDGELAND HIGH. THE SO-CALLED ‘CAREER PATHWAYS’ PROGRAMS MIGHT INCLUDE AGRICULTURE EDUCATION, OR ‘MECHATRONICS’, WHICH INCLUDES THE STUDY OF ROBOTICS FOR MANUFACTURING.

“RAINES EMPHASIZED THAT THE VOTE, WHICH WILL TAKE PLACE ON NOVEMBER 3rd IN WALKER COUNTY, WILL NOT BE A NEW TAX BUT A CONTINUATION OF THE PENNY ‘E-SPLOST’ SALES TAX THAT IS ALREADY IN PLACE.”

They’re holding the vote two years before the tax expires so they can ask you to vote for it AGAIN next November if it’s defeated today. Not that a defeat is likely; We last voted for this in April 2011 and it won by an overwhelming majority because nobody’s willing to vote against anything described as being for children, even if the actual value of what it buys is somewhat mixed.

Polls will be open today until 7 PM.     

14-year-old girl missing from Buttercup Lane in Ringgold – on the Whitfield County side of Taylor’s Ridge.

Adriana Jordan Elmore, who family members say has Asperger Syndrome and struggles to communicate, may have went off on her own into the woods sometime between 11 Sunday night and early Monday morning.

She was apparently spotted in Dalton early Monday morning and may be heading to Murray County.

She’s now been spotted in Cleveland, TN.     

Wednesday night Hutcheson’s board said recent reports of deteriorating quality inside the almost-closed hospital are false, and Walker County attorney Don “LSD” Oliver claimed a state inspector gave it a “clean bill of health.”

(One hospital insider who spoke to LU on conditions of anonymity said an inspector told them personally that conditions are fine and reports of quality problems are “false.” But another employee said the inspector is always sunny in person, then lays out the bad news in a report typed up later on. Most recent reports on the state hospital inspector’s Web site are from 2013. So who knows.)

Lawyer/trustee Ron Glass said the problems are all generated by media reports. Then CEO Hayes said they don’t have any financial numbers for the last month, and the board worked on plans to transfer county-owned property to the hospital’s board in preparing for an upcoming property liquidation. Because of the quality!

Reflecting on that quality and financial stability, Friday in court a judge ordered Hutcheson’s remaining services, including the ER and cancer center, closed within the next month due to lack of funds.

Hutcheson’s building on Battlefield Parkway will remain open for now. Parkside Nursing Home will also remain open, but the judge gave permission for the facility to be auctioned off; so far they have at least two bids on that property in the $7-million range.

Walker County has agreed to buy the closed Chickamauga Family Practice building for $350,000 and hopefully lease it to Memorial Hospital.

Coming Soon to Hutcheson?

Various parties are picking over the bones, assets like Parkside or the outpatient clinics that might have some remaining value, but there’s no clear direction or really much interest in the main hospital.

The community takes no pleasure in the death of what was, years ago, a decent hospital. But this has been inevitable for about two years.

Everything done to prop Hutcheson up and keep it going since Erlanger was pushed out has been a waste, only delaying the unavoidable fate while racking up debt and enriching leaders whose visions for the place stopped at their own wallets.

The hospital DID somehow manage to pay its remaining employees on Friday, but likely for the last time.     

Be on the lookout for Jonathan Buie Williams. He’s from Calhoun and has family in Ohio, but was last seen on Hwy. 151 in LaFayette. He’s wanted for aggravated child molestation.

If you see Williams call the Sheriff’s Office or 911.   

Around 7 Wednesday morning a woman was struck by a vehicle in the dark trying to cross a parking lot at Roper.

Per reports, Lindsay Eleam was hit by a truck driven by Justin Goodridge. Goodridge was going slow but didn’t see her in time to stop.

Eleam sustained minor injuries. It’s rumored she was pregnant.