Early Thursday morning an intoxicated driver led police on a high-speed chase from Noble through town to Bi-Lo where he crashed. Authorities say the chase reached speeds in excess of 100MPH while blowing through town.

Suspect, who hasn’t yet been named, was arrested on Cherokee Street. He was under the influence of alcohol and non-prescription drugs.   

All week local media outlets have been pushing a story sent by the Commissioner’s Office regarding a lawsuit filed by former State Court Judge Bruce Roberts.

Per all those reports the county won the case, but the legal decision actually went both ways: Roberts’ claim that he was underpaid by the county has been rejected, but the county’s counter-suit against Roberts for dismissing traffic tickets was deemed a “frivolous claim,” and the county has to pay back a portion of the ex-judge’s legal fees.

Here’s the actual decision. Read IT instead of the filtered press-release-based “news” reports.

Report from the Times Free Press also omits some of the facts, but adds this little gem: “Heiskell, in turn, sued Roberts, claiming he caused emotional distress to Sheriff Steve Wilson when he dismissed about 60 traffic cases after losing his re-election.”

So the county and commissioner sued the ex-judge for kicking out traffic tickets, which was his right as a judge, because it made the Sheriff upset? And this is the ONLY thing Steve Wilson has ever gotten upset about? Beyond weird.

All this thing did was cost the county a lot of money. Would have been cheaper to have just settled with Roberts and give him $20k or so than pay county lawyers AND Roberts’ lawyers to fight this in court for two years. (Of course it’s not the Commissioner’s money, it’s yours and mine.)

Judge Roberts is now commuting from Villanow to Atlanta every day because he was basically run out of public service in Walker County by the Commissioner and Sheriff, in favor of noted local drunk Billy Mullinax; Mullinax is now refunding illegal court fees charged to dozens of people since he took office – a practice Roberts didn’t engage in.   

State Rep. John Deffenbaugh says the issue of sole commissioner government SHOULD be “up to the people” to decide, but also states he personally prefers a sole commissioner to a commission – especially if the sole commissioner supports HIM.

He refuses to say here if he’ll actually listen to the 1,800 or so people who have signed LU’s petition asking legislators for a vote on the matter. His November opponent, Tom McMahan, said he’ll try to get it on the ballot if elected.

The House District 1 election is only for western Walker and all of Dade. Not all of us can vote, but those who can should be paying attention to this.

(The Sole Commissioner Vote Petition is one month old today. Do your part and sign.)     

Early last Friday morning Sunnyside Church on Roundpond Rd. was intentionally set ablaze. The building remains standing but is considered a total loss due to heavy damage inside. Sunnyside’s congregation will meet at LHS on Sunday mornings until further notice.

Shortly after the fire was discovered, deputies arrested 21-year-old Brandon Dale Harris, age 21, on charges related to the intentional blaze. Per authorities, Harris wrecked a stolen truck, broke into the church, set four fires inside, and fled on a bicycle. He was apprehended near the high school and transported to Hutcheson for injuries related to the wreck.       

LaFayette dodged another storm-related bullet earlier this week when a weather system with tornadic looking activity and large hail passed over the area doing minimal damage. Video below shows hail falling in Catlett:

Losses in Walker County are limited to downed trees and hail-dinged cars, while our neighbors around Ringgold saw homes damaged once again by an EF1 tornado. There were no major injuries in Northwest Georgia, but the weekend’s storm will probably be considered the worst to pass over Catoosa County since a tornado killed eight in April 2011.       

After a year of delays due to county budget shenanigans, LaFayette library renovations are on the cusp of completion.

The temporary library in Food Lion will close November 10th. Employees will move everything to the newified old place on Duke Street and reopen there on Monday November 24th.     

Retired LPD officer Rudelle Greene passed away in Mississippi last weekend. Greene, who served the city for decades, was 85. Services will be held in Leland, MS where he lived (near family) after retirement.

Per the 1940 census he grew up on Cove Rd. which is now Culberson Ave. Greene’s father Lowell donated land for the Lowell Greene Rec. Center back when the city didn’t allow non-whites to use the main recreation department. Rudelle was one of the city’s first black cops after desegregation.

Rudelle Greene spent roughly 40 years with LaFayette PD; the photo above shows him with other officers in 1975.   

Walker County Sheriff’s Office says whoever left oil and tacks in the road to disrupt Ironman bike competition Sunday will face criminal charges.

Finding them, however, will not be easy.   

Open up those wallets folks, we’ve got a fire fighter in need.

Carrie Carter, wife of Walker County volunteer fireman Tracey Carter, passed away Sunday. The family is in need of financial assistance both for Ms. Carter’s final arrangements and for a stack of medical bills left from her ten year battle with cancer. (She had no life insurance.)

Anyone interested in helping can give online via GoFundMe, or directly to the fire department, designated for the Carter family. WCES says donations will be accepted at the office (107 Alex Drive Chickamauga off Hwy. 136) or the Fairview station (207 Jenkins Road Rossville) where Tracey serves.

As of 4 PM Wednesday, $570 has been contributed online. The family owes $1,900 just for a downpayment on Carrie’s funeral services. (A report on this situation is scheduled to run on Channel 3 news today at 5 PM.)         

Sunday thousands of Ironman Chattanooga bicyclists raced through Walker County. The event put Walker on a world stage, seen and visited by thousands of athletes, their families, support teams, fans, and curious onlookers who spent money in the county and may be convinced to return and spend more later on. The event also disrupted traffic and inconvenienced residents for an entire day while consuming law enforcement and emergency response resources, with little immediate benefit.

The race was temporarily disrupted by multiple incidents of “sabotage.” Per various reports, nails or similar sharp objects were left in the roadway on West Cove and Hog Jowl Road, taking out at least thirty bike tires. Vandals also spread out oil in two locations on Cove Road, near South Cedar Rd. (shown below) and Tatum Rd.

It’s unclear if the disruptions were done by locals angry about the bicycle invasion or by someone involved in (or following) the race. Ironman officials said “sabotage” is (for some reason) common during these events.           

(Click to advance gallery – mouseover for captions.)

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During Thursday’s business meeting, Commissioner Heiskell approved her 2015 county budget, $3 million higher than the county’s last formal (2012) budget.

Two newspaper articles have been released since, and both contain errors or omit major details – but they also contain information not previously known: the budget has $1 million for something the Commissioner refuses to explain, and she still hasn’t legally adopted a real budget for fiscal year 2014, which ends tomorrow.

Times Free Press mistakenly says the budget is only an 18% increase. That might be what the Commissioner said, but (as discussed here previously more than once) it’s 69% over the previous year for the portion set by the general government.

Here’s the interesting part of THAT link: “Compared to last year’s budget, these are the biggest increases in Walker County spending: A $1 million increase for something listed on the budget as ‘other financial services.’ Heiskell has not been clear on what specifically that money goes toward. ..”

The local paper glosses over all that and claims all the increases are due to state laws, but adds a new fact about the 2014 budget:

“The operating budget for 2014 has been amended to reflect changes in revenue and expenditures. Such adjustments are normal, as the state requires balanced budgets. Public hearings on the amended, and final, budget for 2014 and its adoption are now scheduled for Oct. 9.”

So we won’t have a real budget for fiscal 2014 (Which runs October 1, 2013 through September 30, 2014) until nine days into the next fiscal year. Complying with the letter – but absolutely NOT the intention – of state law. That’s Our Bebe!™   

“God bless ya. I hope you can pay your taxes. I hope I can too.” –Commissioner Heiskell, who makes $105,000 a year, after raising property taxes 69%

When you have one person in charge, funding priorities match that person’s priorities.

If the sole commissioner doesn’t like libraries or public transit, and wants her own farm to play with, guess what happens? Exactly.

Time to end Sole Commissioner in Walker County. Join the 1,450 who have already signed LU’s petition online; volunteers going door to door in subdivisions all over the county have collected a few hundred more and have barely gotten started.       

As LU reported earlier this week, 16-year-old runaway Brittany Clift was located Tuesday and taken into custody after trying to hide from police. LPD credits “social media” for helping find her and convincing her to contact her family.

Clift was taken into police custody and appeared Wednesday before a juvenile court judge, due to having run away three times in the last year.

The judge did nothing, advising Clift not to run away again, and returned her to the care of her mother. Clift then went on social media to brag about eating ice cream and sleeping with a boy while police were beating the bushes to find her and half the town was worried she had died.   

Last night the Ramblers were defeated by Northwest Whitfield, 20 to 41. LHS falls to 2-2 for the season, Bruins are now 3-1. That’s a tough score, but somewhat better than the one posted by Channel 9 at halftime:

Next week is a road game vs. undefeated (4-0) Southeast Whitfield.         

Duke St. man arrested, charged with statutory rape and sending inappropriate images to an underage girl. He’s 21, she’s now 15 but was 14 at the time of their contact. He faces a total of four charges for the incident(s).   

A high-profile county employee has responded to tax meeting videos and the LU sole commissioner petition with a comment on Facebook: