Local lawyer with a past criminal history busted this week for stealing from Fred’s.

WQCH Radio, 02/20/15: “A LAFAYETTE ATTORNEY HAS BEEN ARRESTED ON A SHOPLIFTING CHARGE.. AND WHEN TAKEN TO JAIL, IT WAS FOUND HE WAS CARRYING ENOUGH CASH TO MAKE THE PURCHASE.

“63 YEAR OLD WILLIAM DAVID HENTZ WAS TAKEN INTO CUSTODY AT THE LOCAL FRED’S DEPARTMENT STORE IN LAFAYETTE’S THRIFTY SHOPPING CENTER, THURSDAY EVENING.

“STORE PERSONNEL TOLD POLICE THEY OBSERVED HENTZ TAKE TWO KODAK 8-GIG FLASH DRIVES OUT OF THE PACKAGING. TOTAL VALUE: $21. THE PACKAGING WAS LATER LOCATED, HIDDEN BEHIND OTHER MERCHANDISE IN THE STORE.

“WHEN CONFRONTED BY POLICE, HENTZ TURNED-OVER THE FLASH DRIVES ON HIS PERSON. HE WAS CHARGED WITH THEFT BY TAKING, ACCORDING TO LOCAL JAIL RECORDS.”

Hentz, who by most accounts is a horrible lawyer, was previously arrested in 2001 for mishandling prescription drugs while working for the Fort O. K-Mart pharmacy. (Before that he ran an unsuccessful campaign to become District Attorney for Lookout Mtn Judicial Circuit.)

It’s not clear how his case worked out at the time but he lost his law license and had to reapply to the state bar in 2006.   

Frigid temperatures and (finally) ice and snow have disrupted schedules all over the region. School was canceled Friday in Walker and several adjacent counties, meaning kids were in school only one day of the four scheduled this week.

Cancelations and changes for the weekend:

Nissin canceled 3rd shift Friday, opening 1st on Saturday at 9 AM.
City Club canceled 9:30 Saturday yoga.
Sonic will open at 9 AM.
Queen City Bistro closed all day.

Roads aren’t good in many places, especially higher elevations. Be careful out there.       

That crazy “civil emergency message” sent to cell phones Thursday night wasn’t an invasion of commies or zombies, it was actually a mistake – surprise! – from the state.

Apparently the alert was supposed to be a winter storm warning for most of NWGA instead of a nuclear holocaust alert for two counties near Atlanta. the mistake was sent – twice – to mobile phones all over Northwest Georgia.   

The snowpocalypse of February 2015 finally canceled school in Walker County two days this week, one day after students were already on their way to class.

Wednesday morning a previously announced 2-hour delay for schools was turned into no school at all, after busses were out picking up kids. Drivers turned around, took the kids home, and marked down another snow day. (Class was canceled outright Tuesday.)

Due to high temperatures, school was delayed 2 hours again today in Walker, Dade, Chattooga, Chickamauga, and Catoosa. Catoosa County school leaders advised parents to keep their kids in the house until the bus arrives, and directed bus drivers to blow and hold longer than usual for students to come out.

Roper is also feeling the impact of cold weather, not in its bones but in its gas supply. The manufacturing giant closed most of its operations today and tomorrow due to “anticipated energy curtailments.” That means they expect natural gas suppliers to cut down their gas flow as residential usage soars, same as last year.         

All those times we were warned not to throw stuff out the bus windows..

WQCH Radio, 02/16/15: “A 17 YEAR OLD LAFAYETTE HIGH STUDENT WAS CHARGED AFTER HE ALLEGEDLY THREW AN OBJECT FROM A SCHOOL BUS WINDOW, BREAKING THE WINDSHIELD OF A PASSING SUV. IT HAPPENED ON SOUTH CHATTANOOGA STREET NEAR TRIANGLE PARK, ON FEBRUARY 5th, AT AROUND 4 IN THE AFTERNOON.

“A WOMAN CALLED-IN THE DAMAGE REPORT ON HER 2002 MERCURY SUV. SCHOOL RESOURCE OFFICER SKIPPER DUNN INTERVIEWED STUDENTS AND REVIEWED VIDEO FROM THE BUS, BEFORE MAKING THE ARREST.

“ZACHARY GAGE WHITE WAS CHARGED WITH RECKLESS CONDUCT AND CRIMINAL TRESPASS. THE LATTER CHARGE INDICATES ‘DAMAGE TO PROPERTY OF UNDER $500 IN VALUE,’ ACCORDING TO POLICE.”

It’s not clear where the “criminal trespass” charge comes from in this.   

WQCH Radio reports that Tax Commissioner Carolyn Walker’s car was side-swiped while parked at the tax office in a hit-and-run.

Sad for Ms. Walker but maybe she shouldn’t park in the highway every single day, as marked by the arrow above.

How many people have almost gotten into accidents pulling into Main St. from Farris St. because Walker’s white Buick blocks their vision?

Parking at the soon-to-be-former tax office is tight, but other employees who work there leave their vehicles at the Methodist Church nearby. Carolyn would do well to try the same.   

So what happened to the LU-initiated Sole Commissioner Vote petition?

Senator Mullis says the 1,800+ people who signed it online don’t count because nobody met with him in person. That will change soon, and then he can come up with another excuse to ignore it.

“‘I haven’t seen anybody Nov. 1,’ he said, referring to the date when the group’s leaders were supposedly going to present the petition. ‘I haven’t seen anybody Dec. 1. I haven’t seen anybody Jan. 1. The majority of the people in the county are not for it.'”

The petition was never promised for delivery on November 1, it was still open and signatures were being collected into mid-November.

The original plan was to present it before the Legislative session started, but that didn’t work out.. Mullis and his fellow legislators were e-mailed each time someone signed online, but that didn’t include the hundreds of offline signatures with addresses – totaling over 2,000 names.

Mullis, and Rep. Tarvin, and Rep. Deffenbaugh will be hearing from voters this week and will be given paper copies of the petition, one way or another. The excuse of people not wanting a vote is running out of gas.

Meanwhile Commissioner Heiskell says she doesn’t care about the petition and her life is “an adventure.”

Anybody’s life can be an “adventure” when you have truckloads of other people’s money to play with. Exactly the reason Walker County deserves a vote on the sole commissioner issue.   

Weather forecasts for late Sunday through Tuesday originally called for snow, up to six inches in the area. Those predictions were later downgraded to simply ice for most of Northwest Georgia, then ice and rain together, or mostly rain.

Monday’s weather was a bit of a letdown (if you WANTED snow), but Tuesday is shaping up to be a bit icy.

Before the forecast was downgraded, Governor Deal declared a state of emergency in Walker, Dade, Catoosa, Whitfield, and 11 other upper North Georgia counties, freeing state resources and money for snow removal.

Walker County still took its usual lackadaisical approach to road prep, with absolutely no activity observed at the road barn midday Sunday. Road trucks have been spotted out and about today, so hopefully the Commissioner won’t ask us to wait on sunshine to melt the ice as she did last year.

Being cautious, many government offices and businesses were closed today and several have announced cancellations or delays for tomorrow. Tuesday weather closures:

Walker County Schools / closed
Walker Transit / canceled
Trion City Schools / 2 hour delay
Chickamauga City Schools / closed
Chattooga Schools / 2 hour delay
GNTC, all campuses / open at 11 AM
GA Department of Labor / open at 11 AM
NGEMC offices / open at 10 AM

For the latest weather developments and closures, follow LU on Facebook or Twitter.                         

Early Saturday morning city fire crews were called to LaFayette Middle School where they found one of the school’s old mobile classroom trailers engulfed in flames.

Damage to the structure was not reported; it was fortunately no longer being used for teaching, having been replaced by classroom additions that opened in January.   

A beautiful 60º February Sunday in Walker was disrupted by several fires.

A Fire in Chickamuaga Sunday morning around 8:30 AM destroyed a home off hwy. 27 near Shaw Industries. Details of how the fire began aren’t clear, but the structure was a total loss. It wasn’t as bad as initially feared; rescuers were warned of a possible entrapment when first paged to the scene.

A brush fire near LaFayette High School was also reported; no details on that blaze available yet either.       

Sad arrest last week involving drugs:

WQCH Radio, 02/05/15: “THE DRUG TASK FORCE MADE A METH ARREST THIS WEEK, WHEN A REGULAR PROBATION VISIT TURNED UP A FORBIDDEN FIREARM.

“IT HAPPENED AT A RESIDENCE ON HIGHWAY 136 EAST OF LAFAYETTE. CONVICTED FELON SAMUAL [sic] ADAM KIMBROUGH, 25, GOT THE VISIT FROM HIS PROBATION OFFICER, WHO CALLED-IN THE TASK FORCE. IN THEIR SEARCH THEY FOUND METHAMPHETAMINE, A LOADED HIGH POWERED RIFLE AND OTHER CONTRABAND.

“KIMBROUGH WAS CHARGED WITH POSSESSION OF METH AND POSSESSION OF A FIREARM BY A CONVICTED FELON.”

Mr. Kimbrough, whose previous criminal convictions include burglary, terroristic threats, “mutiny in a penal institution,” battery, and passing bad checks, leaves behind a wife and two sons.   

A weekend ago, a woman moving into a King St. home arrived to find the house broken into and a heater stolen, before she was even finished unpacking.

Welcome to Linwood, guess the realtor didn’t warn you.

Also: latest local arrests, January 29-February 4.     

How many years has Hutcheson been bleeding cash, and how many years has Walker County been propping them up with loans?

Commissioner Heiskell tells reporters the county has no idea how our share of the hospital’s massive debt can be repaid, and she only started looking into the debts in January.

“‘I do understand that the hospital is doing really well and I really do hope that is true,’ Heiskell said.” Now that’s a proactive approach to $16 million in debt that will likely put the county into bankruptcy.

Apparently we expected the state to step in and cover everything if the hospital defaulted. Whups.

Bottom line: We’re screwed.   

Can you solve the middle math problem? (Instructions at the top.)

Homework sheet handed out this week to K students attending Gilbert.

The error wasn’t just made once on the sheet, but twice:

Page was pulled from a Carson-Dellosa “Common Core” math workbook, cheap filler homework worksheet. Looks like the book’s author(s), editor, publisher, the local curriculum buyer, and the classroom teacher missed something along the way here.

The book is “compliant” with Common Core standards, but the problem is likely not because of Common Core, but because of cheap books rushed into print to comply with changing guidelines.   

Tim Brumlow arrested AGAIN for stealing from relatives.

WQCH Radio, 02/04/15: “A 17 YEAR OLD YOUTH HAS BEEN CHARGED WITH FELONY THEFT FROM THE RELATIVES WITH WHOM HE WAS LIVING.

“POLICE SAY TIMOTHY LEVI BRUMLOW WAS CHARGED IN JANUARY AFTER A SAFE WENT MISSING FROM THE HOME OF HIS AUNT, LOCATED ON STILES ROAD IN SOUTH LAFAYETTE.

“THE SAFE AND IT’S JEWELRY CONTENTS WERE VALUED AT $1,500 ACCORDING TO THE POLICE REPORT. HE WAS PICKED UP FOLLOWING A TRAFFIC STOP THIS WEEK, AND FORMALLY CHARGED WITH TWO COUNTS OF FELONY THEFT BY TAKING.”

Brumlow was arrested in December for stealing a relative’s purse, now he’s stolen an aunt’s safe.

He’s gonna fast run out of family willing to let him sleep on the couch.