Walker County deputies killed a man last night outside a home near Fort Oglethorpe. Per reports, officers responded to a domestic violence call, found a man inside the home loading a gun, and shot him when he came out and refused to put it down. Officers were not injured.

The man killed has not been identified. Incident occurred at 25 Cochran Drive – off West Cloud Springs Rd. in Fort Oglethorpe, but with a Rossville address.

The GBI and Catoosa Sheriff’s Office are also involved. More as this develops.   

Wednesday night on UCTV, Commissioner Heiskell was asked about a casino coming to Walker County. Here’s her response:

Notice she hints she’s already discussed plans to locate one here with the state, Rossville doesn’t want one where she thinks it should go, if you object to a casino for religious reasons you probably go gamble somewhere out of town anyway, and “there’s plenty of room on the cove property…”

Once the state changes the law (only a matter of time now) and she gets her next term secured, they’ll stop talking about a casino in the hypothetical sense and start talking about it in the sense of one being built with tax dollars.

“I’d rather it go in Walker County… They’re gonna go somewhere and do it and we have to have some way to raise money besides property tax here. …There’s a lot of people who’d like to see this happen.”

But when the law changes, Walker County won’t get an MGM resort or a little Sands Casino in Rossville. We’ll get a con-man developer like Randy Baker or Mike Schieck to come do some crooked deal in the Cove that puts the county more in debt.

’cause that’s how we roll in Bebe Country.   

More familiar names in the arrest reports.

WQCH Radio, 09/26/15: “LAFAYETTE POLICE ARRESTED A MAN AND WOMAN AFTER RECEIVING REPORTS OF A ‘LOUD ARGUMENT’, IN THE AREA OF TRUMAN AND LINCOLN STREETS,TUESDAY AFTERNOON.

“WHEN THEY WERE LOCATED A FEW MINUTES LATER, POLICE FOUND THAT THE FEMALE WAS WANTED ON AN OUTSTANDING WARRANT FROM HENRY COUNTY GEORGIA.

“THE MALE WAS FOUND TO BE ON PROBATION AND A CONSENT SEARCH TURNED UP MARIJUANA AND A SYRINGE. 28 YEAR OLD JOSHUA GLENN MCDOWELL TOLD POLICE HE WOULD ‘TEST POSITIVE FOR METH, MARIJUANA AND PRESCRIPTION MEDICATION’. HE WAS CHARGED WITH POSSESSION, AND 29 YEAR OLD SABRINA RENEE BOLTON WAS DETAINED ON THE OUTSTANDING WARRANT.”

Ms. Bolton was arrested at Walmart back in June for shoplifting but slipped out the window of a patrol car and hid for a day in her mother’s shed. She’s since then apparently gotten out of jail, got herself in trouble in Henry County, and then came back up here to get in trouble for fighting with this man (allegedly) full of drugs.

Judicial reform in Georgia. It’s a regular revolving door.   

Sources within Hutcheson tell LU the hospital laid off at least 20 employees Thursday, mostly from support and mid-management positions.

Hardest hit departments were radiology and ICU. Parkside Nursing Home lost its nutrition and housekeeping supervisors. HMC’s supervisor of engineering was cut loose. The entire outpatient nursing department was shuttered, and another source says the hospital will no longer run an operating room at night for emergency room patients.

A lot of managers who DIDN’T get laid off are going to be covering jobs for those who were.

Also rumored to have been cut: Tammy Cole, director of the Hutcheson Foundation and the hospital’s recent PR contact. She’s the one who’s been sending e-mails for the CEO and press releases to the media.

But still no buyer for the hospital.

More layoffs are expected before October 1 when Hutcheson’s new financial year begins     

Police removed a student from a Walker County Schools bus Thursday morning after an unidentified 17 year old girl “became unruly” and threatened other bus riders. She was arrested after leaving the vehicle.

The bus was in the Chickamauga area carrying students from Ridgeland, Chattanooga Valley Middle, and a few elementary kids – all arrived at their respective schools a little late due to the disturbance.   

Preventing crime, or abusing the mentally ill?

WQCH Radio, 09/25/15: “A LOCAL HOMELESS MAN WAS CHARGED WITH LOITERING, AFTER POLICE GOT SEVERAL CONCERNED CALLS THAT HE WAS ‘LOOKING INTO PARKED CARS’ AT THE SONIC AND BI-LO PARKING LOTS IN LAFAYETTE.

“20 YEAR OLD STEVEN AUSTIN HULSEY WAS ‘COVERED IN BLOOD’ WHEN POLICE STOPPED HIM. HE SAID HE HAD BEEN BEATEN BY A COUPLE OF PEOPLE WHERE HE’D BEEN STAYING ON GLENN STREET.

“HE WAS CHARGED WITH LOITERING FOR ‘ACTING IN A MANNER NOT USUAL FOR LAW-ABIDING CITIZENS’. HE TOLD POLICE HE HAD RECENTLY MOVED TO LAFAYETTE FROM KENNESAW, AND HAS NO MONEY UNTIL HIS NEXT DISABILITY CHECK COMES IN.”

The mugshot is from Hulsey’s April 2013 arrest down in Marietta. He was charged with battery there. (Kennesaw and Marietta probably don’t want him back.)

Some argue that Mr. Hulsey is a mentally disabled man who needs care, not jail. But if LPD did nothing while he wandered around looking inside cars, people would be asking why they didn’t do anything to prevent yet another vehicle break-in.

Unfortunately, in Georgia, this IS how we care for mentally disabled or disturbed people now. The state closed most of its mental hospitals and replaced them with “community care” several years ago due to an order from the federal government.

“Community care” means we let troubled people wander around until they break a law and then they get to sleep in a cell for a night or two. Hulsey is already back out and will likely be doing the same thing again soon.   

The first hearing, of three, for the Bebe Heiskell/Development Authority property tax increase, was held today at noon and may still be going on as this is published.

A second meeting will be held tonight at 6, and a third next week also at noon. All three will be in the main courtroom on the top floor of the Courthouse.

Two short meetings to discuss and rubber-stamp the proposed 2016 county budget are slated for 11:30 today, both AM and PM. The PM meeting due to a mistake in the original announcement, which they legally have to follow.

You should try to attend every meeting possible, to let your elected leader know how you feel about what she’s doing to you. (Especially the night meeting because Bebe will be in an especially nice mood for that one.)

You participating and objecting won’t stop the train, but maybe Heiskell will lose a few seconds of sleep worried about it – assuming she’s got any shred of conscience left. (She certainly does not.)     

Even as the Sole Commissioner tightens her screws into every county taxpayer’s wallet, State Representative Steve Tarvin, commenting on LU Saturday, doubled down on his position against allowing a vote on sole commissioner government:

“While the number of Walker County Citizens wanting a Board of Commissioners is growing, the majority does not want that system at this time.”

Apparently he’s talked to every single person in the county? How do you know what the majority wants when you won’t let the majority vote? If nobody wants it, let us vote and prove it, and we’ll shut up.

That’s all we’re asking, as citizens and taxpayers: don’t make the change yourself, just put the issue on a ballot and find out what the majority actually wants instead of continually SAYING what you THINK the majority wants.

(In other news, we will no longer have voting for president, congress, governor, or state legislature because the people who already hold those offices know what the majority want and will from now on just pick their replacements based on that knowledge.)   

Hutcheson has gone through two bankruptcy trustees in the last two weeks.

Earlier this month Sandra Austin was appointed to supervise the dying hospital’s sale efforts. She quit within days and has now been replaced by bankruptcy/liquidation expert Ronald Glass.

As noted last week, the CEO swore in court they had a buyer who would make a $20 million offer within a week. That was three weeks ago this next Friday, and Hutcheson still hasn’t been bought.

Hutcheson employees are still working without health insurance, scraping together supplies, going without working equipment, waiting to be laid off, and worrying if their next paycheck will bounce.

Erlanger in Chattanooga, Hutcheson’s rejected ex-partner, is meanwhile doing so well financially that all its employees are getting an unexpected $400 bonus.   

As required by law, Commissioner Heiskell is holding three public meetings to announce a 1 mil tax increase (11%) for the benefit of her Development Authority.

Meetings will be in the main courtroom of the Courthouse, Wednesday at noon, Wednesday at 6 PM, and the NEXT Wednesday [9/30] at noon. There will also be a brief meeting about the proposed county budget for fiscal 2016 (which starts Oct. 1) before the Wednesday noon meeting.

As Heiskell said in 2010, she makes these decisions based on what she “knows” and not on what the people want, but you should still try to attend if possible so she knows how you feel about the way she’s screwing you, your neighbors, and your children.

Here’s the budget proposal. You’ll note that it’s very brief, despite being quite expensive, and Heiskell still won’t do a line-item budget deeper than department level. Basically the least amount of information allowed by law, per her usual.

Walker County Republicans voted back in March to have the Commissioner do a line-item budget but she cares as much about the Republican Party’s wishes as she cares about everybody else’s: not at all.   

Reviews of the second annual Walker County Fair are a bit mixed, but lean towards negative.

Several say they had a good time, or the kids liked it anyway, but the majority have complained about the long drive, the long walks required by the way it was laid out, dilapidated fair rides, filthy foul-mouth ride operators, shows that closed too early, and “all day” ride wristbands that expired halfway through the day.

The bottom line verdict: Lake Winnie is just as close, costs the same, and gives a much better experience.

What about the crowds? Some claimed the place was packed, and the county’s already started a rumor than 7,000 people attended on Friday. But based on the photos and the Walker County Messenger video above, the event was… underattended.     

Fort Oglethorpe police officer Cecil Kevin Shadwick, age 44, fired for an alleged sexual relationship with a teenager. They say he wasn’t just sleeping with a 16 year old, he was doing it while on duty.

Shadwick previously worked for Ringgold for a while, and apparently his supervisor there knew about the relationship and cut him loose, but never reported it – allowing him to continue his career in law enforcement.

People are surprised about this? The same thing happened in Walker, we had a deputy sleeping with a teenager and the Sheriff let him quit instead of firing him so it’d stay out of his employment record.

This is what dirty cops do, they turn a blind eye to bad behavior until it can’t be avoided, then let their friends resign so they can take up the same job and same bad behavior somewhere else in a community that has no idea.     

For months, GA Representative Steve Tarvin avoided answering questions about putting sole commissioner on the ballot. Now he responds in the form of a dismissive, excuse-filled TV commercial on UCTV:

[Commentary added by LU]

Tarvin admits here he personally prefers sole commissioner, then says he would have let the county vote IF we had all paid $20 to attend the Republican meeting in March and IF enough of us had shown up to that meeting to out-vote Bebe’s employees.

And he says the sole commissioner vote petition is invalid because we didn’t sign it by precinct with a voter list.

Is every person who signed the petition a voter? No. Is every person who signed a Walker County taxpayer? Almost certainly. Are more than 10 or 15 of the 2,045 people who signed it not voters? Probably not. It’s a good size percentage of Rep. Tarvin’s constituency who signed, and he’s saying they don’t count because a handful of the names on the list MIGHT not be voters.

Tarvin is up for reelection in May. Call him [423 605 7328] and let him know, again, how you feel on this issue – and how you’ll vote if he can’t act. Maybe he’ll listen this time.   

Drug task force finds 113 marijuana plants worth $135,000 growing on 11 sites in southwest Walker County. No arrests made, so far.   

Changes in city government.

WQCH Radio, 09/10/15: “LAFAYETTE’S DOWNTOWN DEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY DIRECTOR, MATTHEW WILLIAMS, WILL BE LEAVING THE JOB AT THE END OF THE MONTH. WILLIAMS HAS AN ILLNESS IN THE FAMILY – AND WILL BE MOVING TO THE PHOENIX AREA NEAR THE MAYO CLINIC, ARIZONA CAMPUS.

“WILLIAMS SAID HE HAS ENJOYED HIS TIME IN LAFAYETTE AND WILL BE ADVISING THE NEXT INTERIM OR FULL-TIME DDA DIRECTOR AS MUCH AS POSSIBLE.”

Williams has been in charge of the DDA since November 2012 and has often been described to LU as the nicest guy around. His job duties include community events like Movies in the Park, city social media accounts, historical research/preservation, business recruitment, and grant writing.

Good luck to him and his family in Arizona.   

17 days ago, on September 2nd, Hutcheson CEO Farrell Hayes told a federal judge the hospital had a buyer who would pay $20 million for HMC within a week. (A week is seven days.)

His sworn testimony led to the hospital’s bankruptcy protection being extended, and his well-paying job being preserved, again.

Times Free Press, 09/04/15: “A U.S. Trustee dropped his motion to dismiss Hutcheson’s bankruptcy case this afternoon.

“Martin Ochs, who had asked a judge to end the case last month, decided against the move after testimony Wednesday, when Hutcheson CEO Farrell Hayes said he is about a week away from receiving a formal offer for the hospital.”

WQCH Radio, 09/03/15: “A HUTCHESON ATTORNEY TOLD THE COURT THAT TEN COMPANIES ARE INTERESTED IN BUYING THE HOSPITAL AND FOUR MORE ARE INTERESTED IN BUYING THE NURSING HOME. THE OFFER EXPECTED NEXT WEEK, WOULD TOTAL 20-MILLION DOLLARS FOR BOTH THE HOSPITAL AND THE NURSING HOME.”

No buyers yet. Surprise!