Much damage was done yesterday morning around Adairsville by what appears to have been a tornado. There are reports of flipped cars and damaged buildings (thankfully no deaths) in an area stretching between Rome and Calhoun. Residents of Gordon County are dealing with widespread power outages that could last for days.

Here in Walker County the worst damage (which is hardly “damage” when compared to Adairsville and Gordon County) is a few downed trees and minor flooding, as captured on the video below:

Money meant to repair broken locks at Hays Prison was instead used to build fencing. Now parts ripped from the fence (or left over from building it) are used to make weapons, which inmates use to kill each other and injure guards as they slip in and out of cells that cannot be locked.

Hutcheson leaders stress the importance of paying down their high-interest debt to Medicare, while insisting that the debt wasn’t incurred through fraud. The hospital will also have to begin paying back the Erlanger loan in April.

Georgia Department of Corrections leaders in Atlanta got a visit this week from Jeff Mullis and other state legislators covering Chattooga County (plus Chattooga’s commissioner) regarding the hazardous conditions at Hays Prison. They were told things are being changed and will get better, but of course they were told that…

Former Chattooga Rep. Barbara Reece said a few days ago she knew for a fact that they weren’t putting any guards in most of the prison towers… The prison leaders are going to say whatever necessary to make the politicians go away, and the elected leaders will say whatever necessary to make the people leave them alone. Don’t be placated. If anything actually changes there, it’ll be reported. Until then, continue to expect the worst.

Specific comments from the delegates will be shared online later today, and should be here in the next Update.

Workers have been spotted at the old Papa John’s building on North Main between CVS and Hardee’s.

The building was purchased out of foreclosure back in December by Michael Sloane of Mallie, Kentucky. Mr. Sloane owns a company called Lark Foods, which is some kind of grocery/convenience store. However, a store doesn’t seem like a good fit for that small building.

Lark Foods/Sloane ALSO own a small restaurant in Kentucky called Plaza Dairy Cheer, which features burgers, dogs, and milkshakes. It’s not much of a stretch to think maybe they’re planning a new restaurant (maybe like that one) here in LaFayette.

However, several in the community say some kind of payday loan business has applied for a business license at that address. Hopefully that won’t be the kind of operation using the facility; another poor-people-robbery loan outfit is just what LaFayette doesn’t need.

Two guards were stabbed early Sunday morning at Hays State Prison, the local ticking time bomb.

Prison sources say the incident happened around 1 AM. One officer was stabbed in his shoulder from the rear, another was stabbed in the leg helping the first man. A third employee was beaten with a broom.

The inmates involved had their faces covered during the attack, but have been identified and transferred to the Hi-Max prison in Jacksonville. Hays’ SWAT team reclaimed that section of the prison and began extensive cell searches.

This is the fourth serious incident of violence at Hays in the last six weeks; two inmates were murdered behind bars on separate days in December, and another inmate was stabbed to death in the prison a week ago Friday. Special Cobra teams from Atlanta came, and went, but nothing really changed; It’s hard to do much in a prison with huge staff turnover, corrupt employees enabling inmates, broken door locks, and the state’s most violent men crammed in together.

This report about the dangerous conditions at Hays Prison was written and published before the stabbing. (It actually ran in Sunday’s paper, set in ink just as the stabbing occurred.) Reporters at the Times Free Press have either heard from the same prison employees who contacted LU, or heard from other employees saying the same things.

Employees at Hays who know they could lose their jobs for talking to the media, who normally wouldn’t go against the rules, are reaching out to LU and other media outlets because they’re at their wits’ ends. Insiders see nothing will ever be done until media attention drives the community to demand a change.

If the state doesn’t make changes – real changes like making repairs, increasing funding, and moving some inmates to other facilities – the prison is a ticking time bomb, not just for inmates and employees (as seen all too clearly this weekend) but also for the surrounding community. It’s only a matter of time before a mass riot leads to an escape.

Residents within a few hours’ walk of the prison should talk to their children and other family members about what to do if inmates do break out of Hays, and equip themselves as necessary if the unimaginable becomes reality.

Wednesday night after closing the Murphy USA gas station in front of Walmart was robbed. Thieves broke out a window, carried out some cigarettes, and cut down most of the security cameras. They missed a camera so images of the burglars should be coming soon; the items they stole were worth less than the cameras and window they destroyed.

The same two men had been caught shoplifting at Walmart earlier in the day (one tried to steal fishing lures) but had fled. After breaking into the Murphy station, at least one of the men returned to Walmart AGAIN and was arrested after being recognized by store employees.

WQCH Radio, 01/25/13: “TWO MEN WERE ARRESTED FOR A BURGLARY AT THE MURPHY GAS STATION AT WALMART IN LAFAYETTE. IT HAPPENED BETWEEN 3 AND 5 AM THURSDAY, ACCORDING TO CAPTAIN STACEY MEEKS. THE SUSPECTS STOLE SEVERAL OUTSIDE SECURITY CAMERAS, THEN BROKE OUT A WINDOW AND SNATCHED CIGARETTES FROM INSIDE THE BUSINESS. TOTAL DOLLAR AMOUNT WAS AROUND $2,100. THE TWO MEN MISSED ONE SECURITY CAMERA, HOWEVER, AND IT RECORDED THE ENTIRE INCIDENT.

“22 YEAR OLD JUSTIN ALLEN SIMMONS RETURNED TO THE WALMART LOT LATER IN THE DAY – AND WAS SPOTTED BY MURPHY EMPLOYEES. POLICE ARRESTED HIM THERE. LATER, THEY FOUND 31 YEAR OLD JEROME ACE DEERING AT THE PEAR-PINE MOBILE HOME PARK. BOTH MEN ARE CHARGED WITH FELONY BURGLARY.”

Late Friday night a bomb threat was phoned in to the Walmart. So far there’s been nothing linking the incidents together, but it’s certainly possible the threat was made in retaliation for the arrests.

Unedited video from Thursday afternoon’s Walker County Commissioner meeting. Come back next week for analysis and commentary on the video.

This fall LHS Ramblers football will be coached by Chad Fisher, recently of Gordon Central. He’s spent the last seven years with GC in Calhoun and has a 28-34 (.452) record there. Last year his team went 8-3, their best season under his leadership.

WQCH Radio, 01/23/12: “LHS PRINCIPAL MIKE CULBERSON GAVE US THE NEWS BY PHONE, AS THE TWO WERE LOOKING AT HOUSES FOR THE NEW COACH ON WEDNESDAY.

“FISHER’S WIFE IS CECILIA, AND THE COUPLE HAVE 2 CHILDREN IN 3rd GRADE AND ANOTHER IN 7th GRADE. FISHER SAID HE’D LIKE TO SEE ALL OF HIS CHILDREN GRADUATE AT LAFAYETTE HIGH, MEANING HE INTENDS TO BUILD THE FOOTBALL PROGRAM HERE ‘OVER THE LONG-HAUL’.”

LHS’ outgoing coach Tab Gable just had a 1-9 season, but his career record is actually better than Fisher’s – or was until he got to LaFayette. Will the new coach whip LHS into shape, or will the community chew him up and spit him out like so many before?

For the second time in six months, Walker County Animal Shelter has been closed/quarantined due to a parvo outbreak.

Parvo generally affects puppies and is almost always fatal. The illness spreads through feces but can live in contaminated ground for long periods of time, so once an outbreak starts it’s difficult to completely eradicate. Hopefully this second quarantine (the first was in July) will solve the problem.