LaFayette 14 year olds Savannah Jackson and Tanner Van Pelt stole a parent’s car and ran away from home. They haven’t been seen since Tuesday morning.

UPDATE: The missing teenagers have been located. Unverified reports they were found in Mississippi.

The two are thought to be driving a black 1996 Chevy Blazer, GA tag BNR 2023, with a US Mail sticker on the back window. If you see this vehicle or either of the teens, call Walker County Sheriff’s Office at 706 638 1909.       

Walker Co. Schools has a proposed schedule for the next school year. Class would start on August 13th and end on May 15th. Fall break goes down to two days, and a new three day “winter break” is added in February around President’s Day.

Schedule expands teaching days and cuts out a few teacher furlough days, but funding still has to be approved by the school board.   

 
LaFayette resident Holbert Ryan Pell was arrested up in Dade County for possession of marijuana.

Pell was pulled over by Trenton PD because his tag light was out. Officers discovered pot in his possession and booked him into Dade County jail.   
 

After Tuesday night’s election defeat, Neal Florence described opponent Steve Tarvin as “a good guy” and says he (Florence) will not run for state office again. Tarvin will be up for reelection in May.   

Yesterday residents of House District 2, stretching over parts of Walker, Whitfield, and Catoosa, finally settled who will represent them in Atlanta: Chickamauga businessman Steve Tarvin.

Tarvin defeated former LaFayette mayor Neal Florence by a margin of only 277 votes out of the 3,500 or so cast.

Even though both candidates live in Walker County, Neal Florence received nearly twice as many Walker votes as Tarvin, winning every precinct except Tarvin’s Chickamauga. But Tarvin more than made up for his defeat in Walker by dominating in Whitfield and Catoosa.

The reasons for Tarvin’s dominance outside Walker County aren’t clear. It could be connections from the textile industry or just simply a better job of building name recognition in outlying areas. Either way, sometime this week Steve Tarvin will be sworn in as Representative Tarvin (R-Chickamauga) and serve in that role for at least the next three weeks.

This all starts over again once the legislative session ends in March.                 

Tuesday morning fire claimed another unoccupied, unpowered house. This one burned around 7 AM on Wheeler Rd. north of town.   

A planned holiday for Walker County Schools – February 17, President’s Day – will now be used as a make-up day for last week’s snow cancellations.   

Per WQCH, Susie’s Sunset Cafe is no more. The business is being remodeled and renamed by the Shell family, which now owns a majority of property in downtown LaFayette. The eatery will eventually reopen as “Charlie’s Cafe” in honor of Charles “CC” Shell.

(The demise of Susie’s likely leaves Bi-Lo with a surplus of frozen Tyson chicken tenders and canned green beans.)

In other local restaurant news, The Chow House in Catlett is back open under new owners.     

Last month this publication featured a Q&A session between three candidates vying to replace Jay Neal as Representative for Georgia House District 2: Doug Woodruff, Steve Tarvin, and Neal Florence. At the time Tarvin did not respond to questions and was excluded.

Tarvin and Florence were the top finishers on January 7th, but a runoff election was required since neither received over 50% of votes cast. That runoff will be held this Tuesday, February 4th.

Candidate Tarvin never received his initial Q&A questions because they were sent to an older, unchecked e-mail address. He requested a second chance and was sent the same Q&A as before, which Woodruff and Florence had already answered. After about two weeks he sent in the responses given below.

Tarvin’s answers (along with Florence’s earlier replies) are shared here so voters can go to the polls Tuesday with the most information possible. But while reading, keep in mind Tarvin had the benefit of more time to answer and could read the answers provided by his opponents before submitting his own. (Woodruff answers are not included since Woodruff is not a candidate for the runoff.)

LU: What is your full name, and what name do you generally go by?

Florence: Harold Neal Florence Jr

Tarvin: Thomas Stephen Tarvin “Steve”

LU: What is your age?

Florence: 62 yrs.

Tarvin: 62

LU: What is your home address?

Florence: Inside the city of LaFayette

Tarvin: [redacted] W 12th St Chickamauga, Ga

LU: How can voters contact you or stay in touch with your campaign? (Please include info like e-mail, phone, Facebook, Twitter, Web site, etc. if applicable.)

Florence: Neal@NealFlorence.com
www.NealFlorence.com
www.Facebook.com/NealforGA
cell 423-595-0839

Tarvin: Email: steve@stevetarvin.com
Cell phone: 423-605-7328
FaceBook: Steve Tarvin
Twitter @stevetarvin
Website: www.stevetarvin.com

LU: How long have you lived in the area, and have you lived anywhere else?

Florence: LaFayette, GA since 1977 and before that Trion GA

Tarvin: 62 years
Never lived anywhere else

Florence was born in Cedartown before moving to Trion.

LU: Starting as early as you want, what kind of education do you have?

Florence: High School: MaCallie School in Chattanooga TN graduated 1969, College: Graduated University of GA with BS in Chemistry 1973, and BS in Pharmacy 1976

Tarvin: 1st -12th Grade
High School Graduate

Explosion and power outage in LaFayette late last night was a city transformer on Warthen St. going out.

At least it wasn’t another house fire…   

Commissioner Heiskell continues to show her dishonesty in posts about last week’s snow situation:

Not sure about the 11 trucks claim, but the photo attached isn’t from Walker County – it’s taken from a news report about weather in Michigan.   

In the week since Atlanta and much of the state were thrown into chaos by less than 2 inches of snow, many have called for better emergency planning at the state level. Some demand more funding for snow removal, which could be costly, while others insist the state should take control over emergency response at the county level.

Meanwhile Gov. Deal is launching a investigation into what went wrong at GDOT and GEMA. So far, much of the blame for being unprepared has fallen on GEMA director Charley English, who didn’t mobilize state emergency equipment in a timely manner. Deal has hinted that English is responsible for the problems, and he’s the person most likely to be removed of his job for all this if anyone is.

Dalton Mayor David Pennington, also running for governor, said the governor “failed miserably” to “protect the people” of Georgia.

The biggest HEROES of last week, at least in the Atlanta area, are people on social media who mobilized to help those trapped on the roads and find shelter, food, and supplies for thousands who couldn’t get home.   

Tomorrow is the final runoff vote for House District 2 special election, choosing between Steve Tarvin or Neal Florence to replace Jay Neal as State Representative. Polls will be open from 7 AM to 7 PM. You are NOT required to have voted in the January HD2 election to participate in the runoff. Voter Info.

An updated candidate Q&A with responses from Mr. Tarvin will be shared here tonight.

Power outage on the south side of town Friday evening was caused by a house fire on Highway 27 between South Main and Shattuck Industrial.

Channel 3 reports the home was destroyed; still no word on what started the blaze. Check LU Facebook today for the latest information.     

Lingering road issues from Tuesday’s snow resulted in class being canceled through Friday in most local schools. Meanwhile, discussion heats up on Times Free Press Facebook about school policies regarding snowy roads and early dismissal.

How does an inch of snow in the South result in day-long traffic jams and kids stuck in busses or huddled together overnight at school? Here’s some perspective from Birmingham, and here’s some analysis (from a commuter stuck in traffic) of what went wrong in Atlanta on Tuesday.

Politico argues that the whole mess could have been avoided if everyone in Atlanta lived in the city instead of the suburbs, and the state had more mass transit. Probable House District 1 candidate Tom McMahan is arguing the same thing in his Facebook group: the state should build more mass transit, trains, busses, etc. and then when it snows we can all just pack into our city or county or state vehicles and not worry about road conditions.

EXCEPT all that mass transit would have shut down exactly like the school busses. If Georgia dug up its roads and put in mass-transit trains and electric busses and unicorn-powered public taxis, everybody would have been stuck at work until Friday and the kids would be eating cold beans at school because nobody would have a car to pick them up.                     

Hutcheson leaders bizarrely accuse Erlanger of doing more than $20 million in damage during two years it managed the Fort O. medical facility. Seems they intend to not repay Erlanger loans and also get MORE cash from the Chattanooga nonprofit hospital in a counter-claim lawsuit.

If Hutcheson loses the case it will either be sold to pay back loans, or Walker and Catoosa residents will eat the $20 million owed to Erlanger (plus another $40+ million owed to Regions Bank) through higher property taxes. (Options to sell the hospital last year, rejected out of concern for losing control, are in hindsight looking better and better.)

Friday Hutcheson announced an operating profit of $182,044 in December. That doesn’t include what the hospital lost to interest accumulating on its massive debts.

Hutcheson Health Foundation, the hospital’s nonprofit fundraising arm, recently contributed $420,000 to purchase new equipment for a GI lab.

That’ll look sweet sitting out front in the parking lot during an auction after Erlanger wins their lawsuit in 2018.