As we step into 2014, here’s a look back at the most interesting, controversial, or discussed news stories from The LaFayette Underground during 2013:

COACH FISHER AT LHS

In January, LaFayette High School appointed Chad Fisher to lead its football program. Fisher, replacing coach Tab Gable who left abruptly the previous year, came from Gordon Central down in Calhoun. His Ramblers started the season rough, losing their first seven games, but won two of the last three – including the team’s first win over Ridgeland in a decade.

NORM HODGE ARRESTED FOR SEX WITH STUDENT

Norm Hodge, former LaFayette councilman and LHS golf coach/social studies teacher, was arrested in February for having sex with a 17-year-old student. The girl was not underage, but state law prohibits physical relations between authority figures and those under their control, including teachers and students.

Nine months later Hodge pled guilty to having sex with the girl on at least two occasions during 2012. The ex-educator could have faced 25 years in prison and a $100,000 fine, but was sentenced to only five years probation and $2,850 in fines and court fees.

He also ended his career as a teacher, his reputation, and his marriage – but his behavior indicates none of those was much of a priority in the first place.

CITY GOVERNMENT IN FLUX

Frank Etheridge, LaFayette City Manager for less than eighteen months, was abruptly fired by the City Council in late March. Specific reasons for his forced resignation were never provided, with his management style and financial mismanagement whispered as the primary causes.

Former council member Max Morrison was named Interim City Manager during a meeting in May. Morrison agreed to serve in the role temporarily, without pay, until a permanent replacement is found. As of New Years Morrison still holds the job, trying to balance city duties with a full-time job at Flex-A-Bed.

Around the same time as Morrison’s appointment, long-term mayor Neal Florence announced plans to retire after 23 years in office. His decision to vacate the mayor’s chair led to a heated November election in which councilman Andy Arnold was chosen as the next mayor over businessman Mike Lovelady.

Ben Bradford was easily reelected to the council, while a three-way race between Robert Wardlaw, Beacher Garmany, and Glenn Gunnels resulted in a December runoff vote. Garmany was the eventual victor for that election. Garmany, Arnold, and Bradford will be sworn in Thursday January 2nd.

Hope everyone had a great Christmas last week. Let’s all look forward to the new year as a time of opportunity instead of another cycle of the same.

LU Daily Updates will return for 2014 on Friday.

It’s illegal in Georgia to fine someone for a dismissed criminal charge, but it happens regularly.

Investigative reports from Chattanooga Times Free Press uncovered tens of thousands of dollars in illegal fees or fines charged in Chattooga County courts – and now the same paper has found evidence of the same bulls-t in Walker County under the watchful eye of State Court Judge Billy Mullinax.

Judge Mullinax (and Judge Peppers before him) both broke the law with these fines, which go to pad the county’s budget. Judge Bruce Roberts refused to do it, which is why Sheriff Wilson and Commissioner Heiskell both moved heaven and earth to get him out of office.

Mullinax is a sitting judge and a former practicing attorney, so it’s hard to argue he doesn’t know the law. Which is worse, a judge who doesn’t know what’s right and wrong, or one who does know and does wrong anyway? Either way, he should be removed from his position or resign with his tail between his legs.

Unfortunately he’s not likely to even get a reprimand: A state committee overseeing judges has dismissed ethical complaints against the Chattooga County judge who accepted glorified bribes to dismiss cases. They said his actions were an “oversight” or just mistakes, and then invited him to speak with other judges about it at a conference. (Bet they didn’t charge him any “court fees” for this dismissal, either.)

Thus dies the last shred of judicial integrity in the state of Georgia.     

As of last Monday, only six people in Whitfield County had early voted in the House District 2 election to replace Jay Neal. In Walker County, 242 had voted at the elections office as of Friday afternoon.

The elections office will be open today until 4:30, and then again this Thursday and Friday 8:30 to 4:30. The actual vote will be held next Tuesday.

LU Q&A questions for House District 2 candidates have been sent out, with a deadline of Thursday. Answers to those detailed questions will be shared over the weekend so LaFayette residents and all District 2 voters can go to the polls armed with information.     

Merry Christmas from everyone at the Underground!

LU will be taking the remainder of Christmas week off; light posts as needed on social media during the week and a Daily Update next Monday, December 30th. A recap of 2013 and a Q&A with candidates for House District 2 are both in the pipeline, so check back soon.

LaFayette is pretty much done for the year; public Holiday celebrations are mostly over and many people have left town or doing activities with family. The only public Christmas activity this week we know of is a Christmas Eve service at First Methodist, 9 PM Tuesday night.

Pregnant women planning to deliver at Hutcheson will have to give birth by New Years Eve or plan to welcome their new bundle of joy somewhere else.

Meanwhile, Channel 9 verifies only 12 of HMC’s Women’s Center employees are offered transfers while 25 will become unemployed in January.   

Hutcheson’s new plan to turn around, still not fully released to the public, involves shutting down the hospital’s most respected unit and collecting commission on people who sign up for federal insurance at the door.

(Has anyone considered maybe they haven’t released the big new plan because there isn’t one?)

Linked article mentions some of the same issues LU brought up last week: lack of transparency from hospital leaders, deteriorating reputation, and firing employees for the Women’s Center shutdown before closure was approved by the Hospital Authority.   

Friday morning Walker County law enforcement and SWAT were involved in an armed standoff outside a Walker Valley Rd. home in Flintstone. Per news reports, Bobby McConathy fired a weapon indoors while intoxicated, and possibly held an adult daughter hostage or prevented her from leaving the house during part of the standoff.

Walker County deputies and SWAT arrived around 5 AM, finally dislodging McConathy from the home five hours later using teargas. He was charged with five counts of reckless endangerment and five counts of simple battery, plus false imprisonment and possession of a firearm by a felon.

McConathy’s son Dalton was killed last month in Catoosa County during an apparent burglary attempt. (Charges in that case were never filed and may never be.) Many have defended McConathy’s erratic actions last week due to his grief over Dalton’s death, and while that may be the reason behind it, that’s not an excuse.

Grief aside, there’s never justification for behaving that way. Defending actions that led to a police standoff come from a wrong attitude; the kind of attitude that contributes to character issues that could have resulted in Dalton McConathy being shot in the first place.     

LaFayette native Dimitri Miles, age 21, was arrested Sunday in Troy, Alabama, accused of murder.

Local TV in Alabama reports a police search of Mr. Miles’ home recovered a likely murder weapon, along with marijuana and digital scales for weighing same. PD in Troy say he confessed to the crime, for what that’s worth.

Dimitri was originally from Alabama but moved to LaFayette when coach Perry Swindoll (also from Alabama) took over the Ramblers. He was a football star at LHS, named Best of Preps in his junior year (2009), and later joined the Troy Trojans – but did not play college ball this season due to academic ineligibility. He was arrested this October in Cobb County GA for marijuana possession.

Since the murder arrest, Miles has been formally kicked off the Troy football team, expelled from the school, and his name has been scrubbed from Troy University’s Web site.     

Last night Hutcheson confirmed what LU first began reporting on Social Media late Monday: The struggling hospital’s respected Women’s Center (OBGYN/Labor & Delivery/NICU) will close down by the end of the year.

Per hospital leaders, the center was losing $2 million a year due to decreasing numbers of births each month. 37 jobs will be impacted, but it’s not yet clear how many of those 37 will be working in other areas of HMC and how many will end up unemployed.

But not to worry: babies will still be born. Somewhere else.

“As there are four hospitals with labor and delivery service in the region, [Interim CEO Farrell] Hayes said the community will not experience a gap in delivery and neonatal service.”

Couldn’t the same be said about anything Hutcheson provides now? People can always go somewhere else, and they will as long as HMC’s terrible reputation for care, billing, and service continues to decline.             

More on Hutcheson announcement from LU

Early voting for House District 2 election (Steve Tarvin, Doug Woodruff, Neal Florence competing to replace Jay Neal in Atlanta) is now open.

Registered voters living in District 2 can vote 8:30 AM to 4:30 PM at the Courthouse Elections Office, this week through Friday, next Monday (23rd), next Friday (27th), Monday Dec. 30th, and Thurs-Fri January 2nd and 3rd. (The schedule is chopped all to bits because of Christmas, New Years, and county furlough days. This is why we don’t normally vote in December.)

The actual election will be held Tuesday January 7th. LU Q&A’s with all three candidates are forthcoming.   

(Article updated Dec. 19th)

Monday afternoon a reliable source within Hutcheson notified LU that the hospital’s board was preparing to shut down its well-regarded Women’s Center as part of a secret cost cutting plan.

Tuesday night many, many Hutcheson employees began sharing news that they had been notified by the hospital of job cuts or transfers pointing to the closure of HMC’s OBGYN, Labor/Delivery, and NICU centers by December 31st.

According to several affected workers, some (mostly younger) employees in the Women’s Center were offered other positions at HMC, primarily in the overstaffed, underused pediatric wing which will stay open. Those who were not offered transfers will receive severance or unemployment, while employees who elect to decline transfer will be dismissed without benefits. It’s also rumored that laid-off employees with prior medical bills being paid through their paychecks will lose accumulated vacation time.

All Hutcheson employees (but apparently not members of the public) are invited to two “town hall” meetings Thursday and Friday where future plans for the dying hospital and its remaining employees will be laid out. So far it’s not clear if the “town hall” will be a discussion or a lecture.

Hutcheson’s finances aren’t public knowledge so it’s possible the Women’s Center was contributing to the hospital’s growing losses, but most who worked there were under the impression that it was profitable. And regardless of the bottom line, Hutcheson Women’s Center was one of the few areas at HMC with a decent reputation for quality and friendliness. Without the OBGYN unit, community support for what remains of Hutcheson will be harder to find.

Now employees and the surrounding community are left wondering what the logic is behind this apparently forthcoming decision, and what kinds of pharmaceuticals members of Hutcheson’s five boards might be taking before meetings. We’ll probably never find out, as all business is conducted illegally in closed “executive sessions” and Hutcheson’s boards are notoriously hesitant to explain the thought process behind anything.

Which is how leaders behave when they’re not accountable to voters.