Another report on Lori Baker’s alleged theft from Housing Authority residents. This article clarifies the exact value of what she allegedly stole – $11,720 in jewelry – and says which theft led to her outing.

Baker, Jewelry Chest, LPD, and the Housing Authority are all refusing to answer further questions about the case, at least for now.

Pro tip: Don’t unload your stolen goods locally. And don’t sell them all at the same place repeatedly until you’re caught.   

Walker Co. Schools will have a “public forum” tonight at LaFayette High School to discuss the district’s “strategic plan and pending system designation decision” regarding becoming a charter.

Public meeting starts at 6, followed by a School Board meeting at 7.

If you’re interested in public education in the county, you should try to attend both.   

Normally LU reminds readers not to blame the city for problems with county roads, or the county for problems with city roads, etc. but now it seems the county IS responsible for lack of paving in LaFayette. Feel free to blame Bebe for this one:

WQCH Radio, 05/17/15: “THE CITY OF LAFAYETTE’S STREET PAVING SCHEDULE HAS FALLEN BEHIND ORIGINAL PLANS.

“CITY MANAGER DAVID HAMILTON SAID THE REASON HAS BEEN A HOLD-UP IN THE AVAILABILITY OF WALKER COUNTY DUMP TRUCKS, WHICH THE CITY HAS BEEN USING TO HAUL ASPHALT. ‘THEY’VE BEEN BUSY ON COUNTY PROJECTS, SO WE’RE WAITING UNTIL THEY’RE AVAILABLE’, HAMILTON SAID.

“FOSTER MILL DRIVE IS NEXT ON THE RE-PAVING LIST AND HAMILTON SAID WORK SHOULD BEGIN THERE, IN JUNE.”

You want your road paved? Too Bad. Bebe has the county’s dump trucks AND a private contractor all booked up hauling dirt for her friend’s projects on Lookout Mountain, and those might not be done until fall.

The city needs to bite the bullet and pay a contractor or the work might never be done.   

Times Free Press, 05/16/15: “Hutcheson is accused of not paying its employees’ insurance premiums. Of all the industries out there that would appreciate the value of paying its insurance tab, hospitals would have to be at the top of the list.

“This is either total incompetence or an accounting shell-game to make the ends meet. There seems to be very little middle ground.”   

LHS class of 2015 took the field last night at 8 to graduate.

[Photo from LHS Band Facebook.]

Congrats to this year’s seniors.

(Apparently Ridgeland graduated in Chattanooga Thursday night and managed not to send anybody to the hospital this year.)   

LaFayette Housing Authority employee Lori Baker arrested Thursday on five counts of theft. Baker is allegedly responsible for thefts of some $12,000 in jewelry and cash from multiple Foster Circle apartments.

Baker is (or was) LHA’s Resident Coordinator; theft victims say 46-year-old is responsible for inspections and has master keys to every public housing apartment in town.

Per her arrest warrant, Baker swiped money plus renters’ “wedding rings, necklaces, earrings and lockets” beginning in February, selling them to a local jewelry store until she was caught in May.

(Residents say there’s security video of her selling some of the stolen items, but no video has been released to the public as this is being published.)

So far the only thefts uncovered have been at Foster Circle – residents of other LHA apartments advised to inventory their valuables just in case.

Good job with this one, LPD.         

Courtroom victory involving child sex abuse.

Aaron Eugene Long pled guilty on May 13th to four counts of statutory rape, involving four girls ages 14 and 15. He was scheduled for trial next week on three counts of statutory, three counts of molestation, and several charges of child pornography. He was also arrested, initially, for enticing a child over the Internet.

Instead of facing a jury on those charges, he took a plea deal that will put him in jail for at least ten years with a total sentence lasting four decades.

Long, then 21, was first arrested last fall when the parents of one victim found out what was going on. Other incidents from last Spring with other girls were then uncovered. The case against him was, at least in part, based on his online bragging to the victim – some of which is seen above.

A little reminder for others out there… Stay away from young girls.

And a reminder for parents to stay on top of what your kids are doing with Facebook, other social media, and their phones.     

Commissioner Heiskell canceled the second of 21 scheduled community meetings, set for last Thursday in West Armuchee, due to “a problem with the notifications.”

Seems like few people outside of Chickamauga got postcards about the meetings – so is the problem so many people not informed, or is the problem non-Chickamauga people coming to the meetings anyway due to finding out about them online?

(She also canceled this week’s Thursday business meeting. Maybe Heiskell is “sick” again?)

Attendance at the Villanow meeting on Monday was light, based on this photo, but it’s not known for sure who came or what questions they asked.

Heiskell canceled at LEAST a third of her 2013 meetings, maybe more, when citizens started asking hard questions then didn’t have any meetings in 2014, and LU predicted a week ago she’d do the same thing this year.

Here’s the schedule, as originally shared. Next meeting is still set for Monday in Naomi.   

Channel 9 followed up on LU’s weekend post about the county’s new trolley, and got Commissioner Heiskell to admit the thing cost us $25,000. She says, as usual, it’s for tourism, despite no evidence that any local government “tourism” spending in history has benefitted Walker County.

(Dr. Todd Gaddis of First Baptist defends the wasteful purchase, inserting himself into a political matter that he probably should stay far, far away from.)

Bebe normally uses Walker Transit busses for events at her farm, paying Transit drivers to haul tourists back and forth for her money losing events. Presumably county employees will still be paid to drive this thing, and she WON’T worry about them making overtime to do it.

It’s only money, right? Certainly not Bebe’s OWN money…   

Hutcheson leaders thank the hospital’s loyal employees, those who have stuck by and tried to “Save” the hospital against the efforts of better leadership, by screwing them on insurance.

Federal officials say HMC hasn’t paid for employee insurance coverage since September, to the tune of $1.4 million, and hasn’t been processing employees’ insurance claims. That means Hutcheson employees don’t have health insurance, even though they’ve been paying for it. (If you work for Hutcheson, don’t get sick.)

CEO Farrell Hayes blames Erlanger, his standard defense. Of course Hayes is still collecting his salary, to the tune of $20,000+ a month, and probably has a functional insurance plan.

In other Hutcheson news, a judge has ruled the hospital cannot withhold a number of documents from Erlanger in the hospitals’ lawsuits against each other.

Hutcheson will be gone by fall. There’s no legitimate way to get beyond this, and the illegitimate ways are unraveling.   

IronMan returns to Chattanooga this weekend, bringing its bicycle event back to Walker County.

Sunday’s bike race will be shorter than the one from last fall, but will still tie up several major highways in the area Saturday morning in Lookout Mountain, Kensington, and Chickamauga.

IronMan organizers say no Walker roads will be closed, but drivers should “expect delays” on 193, 136, and 341 between 5 AM and 1 PM.

Hopefully we won’t see vandalism again during this race. Also hope we don’t see this crap again from participants.

Are you excited for the race or outraged? Seems like there’s not much middle ground.   

Another arrest at Pear Pine Trailer Park, this one centered on drugs.

WQCH Radio, 05/07/15: “THE DRUG TASK FORCE ARRESTED THREE PEOPLE ON METH POSSESSION AND OTHER CHARGES ON MONDAY, IN LAFAYETTE.

“IT STARTED WITH A ‘PROBATION VISIT’ AT PEAR PINE TRAILER PARK WHERE 36 YEAR OLD MATTHEW LAMAR CRAWFORD WAS FOUND TO BE IN POSSESSION. HE WAS CHARGED WITH PROBATION VIOLATION AND POSSESSION OF METH.

Matthew Crawford, Lee Antonio Clements, Brittney Clements

“AT HIS RESIDENCE, OFFICERS FOUND 38 YEAR OLD LEE ANTONIO CLEMENTS, WITH ‘BAGGIES’ OFTEN USE TO HOLD DRUGS IN HIS POSSESSION.

“THEY FOLLOWED UP WITH A SEARCH WARRANT AT CLEMENTS’ RESIDENCE, JUST OUTSIDE THE CITY LIMITS FROM PEAR-PINE ON OVIE DRIVE. THERE, THEY FOUND METH, MARIJUANA AND A 12-INCH SAWED-OFF SHOTGUN.

“HE WAS ARRESTED, ALONG WITH 27 YEAR OLD BRITTNEY MAE CLEMENTS, ON CHARGES OF POSSESSION OF METH, MARIJUANA AND THE ILLEGAL WEAPON. MR. CLEMENTS WAS ALSO CHARGED WITH PROBATION VIOLATION IN THE CASE, ACCORDING TO TASK FORCE COMMANDER, PAT DOYLE.”

Sources close to the suspects say children were located in one of the homes and were taken by DFCS as a result of the investigation.

Again, it’s one thing to do drugs or have drug activity at the house, and another thing entirely worse to involve kids.   

Last fall Commissioner Heiskell raised your taxes, saying the county had no money and no other options. Since then she’s been spending money like it’s got no end.

What’s her latest unnecessary, silly purchase? Get ready..

A tax-powered magic trolley in the Neighborhood of Make-Believe, or possibly the Neighborhood of Senility, at Mountain Cove Farms.   

Somebody’s Saturday was ruined by a moment of unplanned off-road driving.

Accident happened about 11:45 AM at the Walmart/27 intersection, in front of Tae Kwon Do.   

Twelve THOUSAND dollars in property was stolen from multiple public housing apartments on Foster Circle during the last few weeks; residents discovered missing property over the weekend.

At this point, the question should be asked: Why does LaFayette still have a police department? What are they doing?   

Over the weekend Sean Patrick Walker – wanted by local police for several weeks after a domestic violence incident that led to a standoff against an empty house – turned himself in to the Sheriff’s Department.

Despite being on the run since April 19th, Walker was immediately released back into the wild. Which seems like another failure of law enforcement or the courts.   

Hutcheson leaders claim the hospital made a profit of $250,000 during March, and now has about $1 million on hand.

Legal papers filed by the hospital weeks ago said they only had $100,000 in cash available at the end of February – how does $100k plus $250k equal $1 million?

Chattanooga Times Free Press, 04/03/15: “At the beginning of December, according to those documents, the hospital’s available balance was at $660,000. By the end of February, it was at $100,000.”

Somebody can’t do math. Or they’re hiding something.   

LaFayette native Joshua Fowler has pled guilty to beating his grandmother to death last year in her Chickamauga home. He faces a mandatory “life” sentence, which means at least thirty years in prison.

The evidence against Fowler, including blood inside his vehicle and on his clothing, was overwhelming. Thirty years in prison is the best he could have hoped for, and a lot less than he deserves for the brutal murder.