Toccoa City Commissioners passed three measures Monday night that clears the way for a 400-plus acre development. Toccoa Falls Estates will feature almost 200 single-family homes on acreage owned by Toccoa Falls College.

Last night, land use planner Dennis Gehringer described the development to city commissioners.

The group that owns the land, Toccoa Falls Estates, LLC, requested the acreage be annexed into the city and zoned "suburban residential." Gehringer said the planned development would be a revenue stream both for the college and for the city.

"We went about looking at how that could be done that would retain the autonomy of the college campus area and would preserve the natural features of this site and the rest of the college land and would be a development that could access City utilities and services. The end result is we've come up with a project, which we believe would generate economic development for the City and for the region," Gehringer noted.

The city, Gehringer said will see revenue increases in gas and water, as well as taxes. Gehringer estimated city property tax revenue to increase by $127-thousand dollars, with state and school taxes increasing about $400,000 a year.

After the vote, Gehringer said the trust would move forward with the next step in the process.

"We have the property now part of the City of Toccoa in a suburban residential zoning district. We have been in the process of preparing the engineering plans - of how the streets are laid out, how the utilities are laid out, and creating the lots. Those plans need to be put into a final design state and submitted for City approval. Hopefully, in the next 30-60 days," he said.

Plans are for the development to built in four phases. Lot sizes will be between one to six acres. Gehringer said this will be a controlled development with covenants and design guidelines for homes, but homes will not be in the high price ranges of developments such as the Currahee club.

The Gateway Industrial Park in Hart County has a new multi-million dollar tenant moving in. A ceremonial groundbreaking was held yesterday for Fenner-Dunlop, a British-owned manufacturer of conveyor belt fabric.

Hart County Administrator Jon Caime says the company chose this area to build a facility because of our history in textiles.

"They need folks that have that expertise because the inside of a conveyor belt is fabric. This is going to be a state of the art facility. They are getting a bunch of new manufacturing equipment. They have some looms that are made in Italy that are one of a kind. They have some other equipment that is coming from Switzerland that is also one of a kind. So, they will be able to make up to a 110-inch conveyor belt material. Then, they will coat it at this facility, too," Caime said.

Fenner-Dunlop expects to break ground in the next few weeks on a 300,000 square foot facility at a cost of about $50-million dollars. Initially, they will employ about 140 people and expect to be up and running by April 2008.

This is the second large industry to locate in Gateway. Caime says interest in the park has been extremely high and there is only one more large parcel available.

"It's been so strong that we've only got one more large site left. We have some smaller sites. I was the manager of the utility installation in the park and I like to tell folks that about the time we were hooking the pipes up to the building for T-I, that is the time they were flushing the toilets. That's how quickly it moved. We didn't even have a 'For Sale' sign out front," Caime explained.

Recently, Hart County purchased an additional 120 acres to expand the current industrial park.

A third candidate has come forward intending to make a run for the 10^th congressional seat.

He is Republican and political consultant Bill Greene from Buford.

Greene is founder and president of rightmarch.com, an online conservative organization. Greene is also president of Strategic Internet Campaign Management, Inc., an online political consulting firm.

Greene was formerly VP Internet marketing & development at Conservativehq.com, Inc., a conservative online activism, and fundraising company. Greene formally announced his candidacy at press conference in Commerce this morning.

His candidacy brings to the three the number of candidates who have come forward so far to fill the seat left vacant by the passing of congressional representative Charlie Norwood.

State senators Ralph Hudgens and Bill Whitehead have also announced their intention to run. The election is slated for June 19, but so far, the secretary of state’s office has not announced when qualifying will take place.  

Time is running out if you want to take advantage of the new homestead exemptions this year. The deadline to sign up is March 1; according to County Tax Assessor Sue Anderson.

"If they want to get it this year, they need to get in here. If they have a question about whether they are receiving the senior exemption, they can call us and we'll be glad to look it up," Anderson said.

One is the senior exemption for those who are age 65 or older and also the low-income exemption for seniors age 62 and older who make less than $10,000 a year. In both cases, Stephens County Tax Assessor Sue Anderson says you might not need to apply for those exemptions first.

Some other exemptions apply to widows of veterans and widows of servicemen or safety personnel killed in the line of duty.

County commissioners are calling this past weekend’s retreat at Unicoi State Park very productive.

Commissioners and county staff met with department heads to go over existing issues and make plans for fiscal 2008.

One of the issues in their "look ahead" file was possibly doing a SPLOST V. County administrator Darrell Hampton said another SPLOST is still in the preliminary talking stages.

"Phyliss and I will be sitting down with Billy (Morse) and Emory (Stephens) here pretty quick and chat with them about their discussions with their commission. We also talked about the timeline for setting projects and how we go about preparing or having projects to put on a ballot for citizens to consider," Hampton explained.

Meantime, the county must come up with some sort of financing to finish two remaining SPLOST IV projects – the new county jail and the restoration of the old county courthouse. Both projects have come in over budget due to inflation and the rising cost of materials, and the county must come up with an extra $4 to $5 million extra dollars. Hampton said they were still not able to nail down an exact amount to finance.

"We've got some general ideas about where we think we are in terms of how much of a balance there will be, but we do not have an exact amount, nor do we have a financing source. We talked about it some and looked at additional options. Obviously, we'd like to get the most attractive financing and interest rate so we're looking to see what we can do to give commissioners as many good alternatives as possible," noted Hampton.

Other projects discussed at the retreat included creating several new county positions, as well as discussion of other ongoing projects.

Unless they enter pleas beforehand, the trial for accused murderers Van Allen Caffee and Raheem Shands is scheduled for the week of April 9. 38-year old Caffee and his nephew, 31-year old Shands are charged with the execution-style killing of 57-year old James Robert Lewis last July.

The murder is believed to have stemmed from an ongoing argument between Lewis, Caffe, and Shands over rent. Caffee and Shands were indicted last October for murder, two counts of felony murder, kidnapping with bodily injury, aggravated assault, possession of a firearm or knife during the commission of a felony, and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon.

The indictment alleges that on the night of July 23, the pair kidnapped Lewis from his home on Rose Lane, bound him, drove him in his truck to a remote location off Black Mountain Road, and shot him in the head. Both Shands and Caffee are being held without bond.

Another murder suspect is also expected to go on trial in April. 46-year old Roger Gary Jackson is charged with murder in the shooting death of 39-year old Wayne Calvin Wilson, Jr. It happened the night of December 5 at a trailer on Red Rock Road.

Wilson died from a gunshot wound to the chest. Jackson is scheduled to go on trial the week of April 11 unless he makes a plea before then.

Meantime, another notable case could come up for trial in April unless pleas are entered beforehand. That’s the case of former Toccoa firefighter Stacy Palmer.

Palmer was indicted a year ago on 24 counts of counts of sexual exploitation of children. According to GBI prosecutor Steve Blackwell, in January 2004, Palmer had in his possession nine digital images of children engaged in various sex acts.

Blackwell also claims that in April and July 2005, a GBI investigation further discovered palmer had in his possession 15 computer videos of child pornography. Details of the gbi investigation and what lead to the discovery of the photos and videos in palmer’s possession have not been released.

About two-dozen downtown business and property owners attended a training session last week designed to teach them what needs to be done to their buildings in order for downtown Toccoa to be designated a historic district.

Chip Wright is a preservation planner with the Georgia Historic Association. He cited cities across the south that have become historic sites and reaped the economic benefits as a result.

"For example Madison, for example Dahlonega, for example Savannah, for example Charleston. Each of these historic centers have gone through the same set of hurdles. The advantage that you folks have over these towns and cities is that you get to learn from the mistakes they made. Toccoa can be better than Dahlonega. Toccoa can be better than Madison because you don't have to go through the same pitfalls that Madison did because you know ahead of time the pitfalls that they experienced," explained Chip Wright, Georgia Historic Preservation Association

Wright said renovating the facades of the downtown buildings and following through with the design plan the City has for Doyle Street would help boost tourism.

"The result of places like Dahlonega is the number of tourist dollars that they bring in every year. It's just amazing. I said earlier that everybody brags about being the gateway to the Appalachian Mountains. Well there's not better gateway to the Appalachian mountains and the history that those mountains hold than Toccoa, Georgia," Wright said.

Another area discussed was the availability of grants for business and property owners to renovate their storefronts. Wright said downtown business owners have available to them grants and other kinds of help from the state.

"When it comes to economic and making businesses work, you've got to make them viable. The beautification projects like this, the funding that's available to you, the advice and the assistance that you can get for free in a lot of cases, that in many places contractors would charge you thousands of dollars for, you just can't beat," he concluded.

Wright will continue to be available to business owner’s downtown to help them with any kinds of renovation help they might need. Recently, representatives with the state funding agencies told City Planning Commission director Connie Tabor that they’re impressed with the progress being made downtown. They said they believe Toccoa’s revitalization program will be a good investment for their grant monies.

Former Toccoa Fire chief Rodney Burdette is settling into his new duties as EMA director for Oconee County, South Carolina. Because the fields are related, Burdette said the transition was easier than expected.

"In all the agencies, it's a lot about managing emergencies. I've worked with the Georgia Mutual Aid Group. It's an emergency management organization. We dealt with a lot of multi-agencies and multi-jurisdictional agencies where we responded to a lot of different types of things. The GMA group worked directly with GEMA, the Georgia Emergency Management Agency and we helped with the response and protection of the G8 Summit that was in Savannah in 2004," Burdette explained.

Next week, Burdette will take part in his first meeting with the Oconee County Homeland Security Task Force. Burdette says he enjoys coordinating several agencies to help them do their jobs better. Oconee County, SC is three times the size of Stephens County and includes a nuclear plant and three lakes.

Parents of rising eighth graders, it’s time to get your student prepared to register for high school. Registration for next ninth grade for the 2007-2008 school year is coming up March 8.

Beginning today, eighth grade students will be able to visit the high school, receive registration information, and take a tour. Students will also be taking home registration information for their parents to review before the March 8 registration day. If parents have questions or need to get more information, they can contact the high school guidance department.

Governor Sonny Perdue has introduced the All Georgia Serves constitutional amendment, which would expand the number of state social organizations able to use state funds to care for our most vulnerable citizens. 

The amendment would remove any uncertainty about the ability of faith-based organizations to accept state funds for providing social services.

That, Perdue said, would allow the best human services providers to serve Georgia’s neediest families and children.  Perdue said there should be no barrier to a church or other faith-based organization to keep them from accepting state funds to help Georgians.

The legislation is being introduced by state senator bill heath, one of governor Perdue’s senate floor leaders. Georgia’s Constitution currently provides that, "No money shall ever be taken from the public treasury, directly or indirectly, in aid of any church, sect, cult, or religious denomination or of any sectarian institution." 

The All Georgia Serves amendment, Perdue said, would bring the Georgia Constitution in line with the U. S. Constitution. 

Two more cases of copper theft. A Toccoa man called police when he noticed all of the copper tubing ripped out from under a house he owns on Franklin Street.

David Moon of DeFoor Road told officers the metal VIN number tag had also been removed from a car parked in the yard.

And Acree Davis told police someone took out the air conditioner and its copper tubing from a house it owns across from the funeral home. It happened at a house on Pond Street that once housed the Stephens County Historical Society.

All of the air conditioning wires were cut and the units stolen. Both incidents have been turned over to investigators.

Another U-haul trailer has gone missing from Larry’s service center on South Big A Road. The owner called police last Tuesday to report the theft. The trailer had a California tag number 4a7525. This is the second trailer stolen from the service station in as many weeks. Two weeks ago, a U-haul trailer with Florida tags was taken.

A Toccoa woman told police someone stole her son’s bicycle back in January, but she didn’t file a police report. Last week, the victim told officers she saw her son’s bike chained to a pole at home on Morgan Street. Officers tried to make contact with the resident at the address, but no one was there. Police are still investigating.

About $400 in cash was taken from Classic Express in Toccoa. Police have made no arrests and the investigation is continuing.

Governor Sonny Perdue has issued a Writ of Election for the 10^th Congressional District seat, which was vacated last week when Congressman Charlie Norwood passed away. The special election will be held on June 19, which is the next special election date set forth in Georgia law that would also allow for county-wide, municipal, and/or SPLOST elections on the same day. 

County Registrar Theresa Kelley says she is not sure yet when qualifying will begin.

"The Secretary of State’s office will send all of that out. I don’t know how long qualifying will be –whether it will be three days or a full week. Once qualifying is over, then we have to order ballots and get all that stuff done and then we’ll have the special election on June 19^t" Kelley said.

Secretary of State Karen Handel has agreed to set the qualifying date to be after the general assembly session concludes, allowing any state legislators who may run to fulfill their duties in the General Assembly while giving candidates an adequate amount of time to campaign. 

As with any election, there will be time to register to vote if you haven’t already done so, according to Kelley.

"There’s a cut off date to register to vote before special elections and that’s usually 30 days before the election. June 19 is a scheduled special election date for this calendar year. We’ll have advance voting a week before the election and absentee voting 45 days before the election, explained Kelley.

If there were a runoff following the June 19 election, it would occur four weeks later, on July 17.

It now appears that some kind of toxin may be responsible for the deaths of six head of cattle at the farm of Roger Caudell. Agents with the Department of Agriculture were at the farm early Thursday morning according to Caudell’s son, Elliott.

"People who have been in the business a long time thinks it could have been some type of nitrogen poisoning or they got hold of something that went through them. They said it very seldom ever happens. He said somebody in South Carolina had it happen and he lost six or eight," Caudell said.

A farmhand found the dead cows late Wednesday afternoon in the back pasture off Highway 123.

Elliott Caudell said at first, it was thought the cattle might have been shot because the front gate to the pasture appeared tampered with.

"What was so deceiving was that the gate chain had been tinkered with, but when you get down there and see them all scattered about like that you thing, ‘Gosh, somebody shot ‘em,’ so we didn’t know until we turned them over and we couldn’t find any bullet holes," he said.

Agriculture department agents think the cattle may have died from a type of plant poison called, Prussic. Prussic acid poisoning can occur when livestock are pastured on sorghum-type plants, including grain sorghum, forage sorghum, and other sorghum-type plants.

Banks County Extension agent Bob Waldorf, who raises cattle, said it could also be nitrate poisoning. Waldorf tells WNEG last summer’s drought caused some hay crops to have a high nitrate content, which is also toxic to cattle.  He said after testing some bales in Banks County, he advised some farmers not to use their hay.  While either condition is rare, you can have your pasture and hay tested by the Stephens county extension office.

The Currahee Artists Guild launches its 2007 season tonight with its annual, "Meet the Artists" show in Thacker Hall on Doyle Street. About 30 local artists will be on hand this weekend to show their work and meet with visitors.

"We have everything from people who do pastel to oil and acrylic to photography. We have artists do murals. Even some teenagers are going to be in the show. We’ll have some jewelry makers and potters, as well," Guild representative Gail Watson said.

In the show, there will be artwork available for purchase such as, original artwork, prints, note cards, photographs, jewelry, and unframed art. A reception tonight kicks off the two-day event and Watson says the public is invited.

"It’s open for everyone. We want everyone to attend. We’ll have live music and refreshments. All the artists will be here. That’s the whole idea behind Meet the Artists is to get to finally to meet the artists," explained Watson.

Tonight’s reception will be held from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. On Saturday, the show will run from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Admission is free.

A Franklin County man is behind bars charged with burglary in Stephens County. Stephens County Sheriff Gene Sorrells says 37-year old Thomas John Tracy of Banks Academy Road in Carnesville was arrested yesterday.

Sorrells says Tracy allegedly broke into a storage area at home under construction on Rock Creek Road off Highway 123 and stole all of the tools. Tracy is charged with burglary and theft by deception. He is being held in the Stephens county jail without bond on an unrelated probation warrant. All of the tools were recovered and returned to the owner.

A blockage in the outgoing line of a manhole is believed to be responsible for a sanitary sewer spill near the headwaters of a tributary to Walton Creek lift station. It happened about 4 p.m. Thursday.

Water/wastewater director Don Dye said the City received a call from a citizen about an overflowing manhole at the back of their property. Water crews had the overflow stopped by 7p.m. by clearing the blockage with city sewer jet truck.

Dye said grease and other debris in the water main likely caused the blockage. About 2,500 gallons of untreated water had flowed into Walton creek, which is a tributary to Lake Louise, the Tugalo River and Lake Hartwell.

It could be some months before the subway at the Jeanette jamieson intersection re-opens.

That’s according to the owner, Nancy Dobbs. The subway and shell gas station on the corner of 123 and the 17-bypass have been closed for weeks. Dobbs says she’s been receiving many phone calls asking about it.

"It looks like a crime scene with all the yellow tape up so we do appreciate the calls that we’ve gotten from our customers and friends just calling to make sure that we’re ok," Dodd explained. "Of course, we are fine and we will be fine. I’m just sad that this happened to the people that owned that complex," she said.

According to Dobbs, the owners of the building got into financial trouble and had to close, which cut off the utilities to the Subway – forcing them to close temporarily. However, Dobbs says once that’s sorted out, they plan to re-open their store.

"We’ll re-open probably in just a few months. I might not even be that long. I really don’t know for sure. We have two other stores in Toccoa so all the folks that were working in that location we were able to use in the other stores. Right now none of my employees lost their jobs as a result of that," Dodd said.

Dobb’s other shops are on Big A Road and at the Super Wal-mart.

A bad wreck on Highway 17 left both drivers hospitalized. It happened about 10 a.m. at the curve near the Oggs Branch bridge.

"The Mitsubishi was traveling north toward Toccoa. The tractor-trailer was traveling south. What appears to have happened was that the Mitsubishi crossed the center line and struck the log truck," explained Georgia State Patrol senior trooper Robert Haley.

The log truck left the road and flipped – landing upside down in a ditch. Rescuers had to use the Jaws of Life to free the driver, who has been identified as 35-year old Dewey Allen Mull. The driver of the Mitsubishi is identified as 21-year old Jimmy Lee Vincent of Toccoa.

Helicopters landed at Grace Baptist Church and life-flighted both victims to area hospitals.  Their conditions are unknown. No word on whether the driver of the Mitsubishi will be charged.

The Georgia Department of Agriculture has been called in to find out what killed six cows found in a pasture yesterday afternoon. It happened in the pasture on Highway 123 belonging to Roger Caudell. His son, Elliott said the cows had only been dead a few hours when they were discovered.

"My son, Steven, called and said the guy that works for us had come down here and the chain had been messed with on the gate. We knew somebody had been in. He saw one cow lying down and thought maybe it was calving or something. Then he looked around and he saw six. They were all dead," explained Elliott Caudell.

Animal control officers and Stephens County Sheriff’s investigators were on the scene until sunset photographing tire tracks, as well the dead cows. Representatives with the Agriculture Department were back this morning.

"We just have never seen anything like it and daddy has been in this business 60 years. One had a small calf and we cannot catch it. Two or three others were fixing to have a calf. I’ve never seen anything like it. It’s just cruel to the first degree," he said.

Elliott Caudell is offering a $1,000 reward for information that may lead to finding out exactly how they died or if anyone may have seen anything. A vet will be brought in to do a necropsy.

If the vet determines the cattle did not die of natural causes, then whoever killed them could be charged with felony animal cruelty, which carries a fine of $10,000 and up to 10 years in prison.

For the past several months, e-911 personnel have been calling every person in Stephens County to confirm their address and telephone number. The calls are to part of the process to make sure that Windstream and Bell South have the correct information in their database.

That database is part of the new e-911 system that lets dispatchers know where your home is located when you call with an emergency. Most of the calls have been completed, but there are still a number of unconfirmed addresses.

So the County requests that if citizens receive such a call or message on your answering machine, please take the time to call back in order to confirm your information.

"We’re just reminding citizens that if they get that call on their answering machine or whatever, that’s the reason for the call. We want people to know that we’re not calling them for frivolous reasons, but it’s to make sure that we protect the integrity of that system so that we can effectively deliver the service," County administrator Darrell Hampton explained.

Meantime, the issue of too many private drives continues to be worked on, according to Hampton.  On Monday, Hampton told a joint session of commissioners that many of the hundreds of private drives could soon be eliminated.

"We’ve got people calling saying, ‘I’d rather give it up and have a street address.’ What we’re going to go back and look at is the standard we have. Is it too literal? Is it too strict? Are there ways to address that that still have an effective use of private drives, but we don’t have so many private drives that it’s confusing. We’ve heard from a couple of public safety providers that even if we dispatch to the change that there are still too many private drives out there," Hampton said.

The County has contracted with former Habersham EMA director Barry Church to look into the private drive situation and make recommendations. E-911 mapping added an additional 1,700 roads to Stephens County – most of those are private drives.

Thousands of Fruit of the Loom employees, including former Rabun Apparel employees have had their personal information, including social security numbers and addresses posted on a Web site on the Internet.

Former employees say they stumbled upon the list while surfing the Internet. About 1,006 former employees from the recently closed Rabun Apparel plant had their names, social security numbers and employee id numbers posted at an Internet site since January 15^th 2007.

The Web site is apparently no longer available, but employees remain worried about identity theft.

"It’s been on it since January, so people have had plenty of chances to get a copy of it, if they wanted it," said one concerned employee whose name was on the list and asked not to be identified. Three employees have filed reports with the sheriff’s office regarding the publication of identity information.

The Rabun County Sheriff’s office says more employees are expected to file reports and it’s not clear yet whether posting the information was any clear violation of the law. However, investigators say employees should check their credit history carefully for unauthorized credit applications or uses.

According to John Shivel for Fruit of the Loom Corporate Communications, a security consulting firm has been hired to look into the information release, and a toll-free hotline will is in service, to provide more information. That number is 1-800-588-9839.

Shivel said the information release took place at an outside consulting firm, and they believe it was accidental, and not the result of a hacker.

The Web site where the information was found had ended in the code, "fol_covert_log.txt" leading some to suspect the information had been obtained illicitly.  Shivel says an investigation into the situation is underway, but did not provide details as to what law enforcement agencies might be involved. Besides Rabun Apparel, the affected plants were in Jamestown, KY; Leesburg, AL; Williamston, NC; and Vidalia, LA. 

Now that the canopies are down, downtown business and property owners will begin the task of renovating and fixing their buildings’ facades. According to the Downtown Development Authority, building faces will have to meet certain guidelines in order for the downtown area to be designated an historic district.

Downtown business and property owners have been asking the city to provide those guidelines so they can get started. City Planning Commission director Connie Tabor says they’ll receive those guidelines at a meeting later this afternoon. Preservation planner, Chip Wright will conduct the training and will answer questions. Discussions will cover the cash advantages in protecting the downtown buildings. Information on the façade grant program will be provided as well.

Tabor tells WNEG that the project architect for downtown Toccoa said the downtown building exteriors are in much better shape than he anticipated and he believes there is a great historic stock of buildings on Doyle Street.

Also, representatives with the state funding agencies tell tabor they’re very impressed with the progress being made downtown. They said they believe Toccoa's revitalization program will be a good investment for their grant monies. Tonight’s meeting starts at 5:30p.m. in the commission meeting room of City Hall, and is expected to last an hour.

U.S. Senator Saxby Chambliss took his message of hope for the peach care program to state senators this week in Atlanta.

Georgia’s State Children's Health Insurance Program (S-CHIP), is a partnership between the state and federal government to provide a comprehensive health care program for uninsured children. The program will stop taking new enrollees in mid-March because of a lack of federal funding.

Speaking to the state senate on Tuesday, Chambliss outlined his efforts and that of fellow Georgia Senator Johnny Isakson to attach emergency funding to a continuing resolution.

State Representative Jeanette Jamieson said this week that Texas, New Jersey and two other states received $1billion more in SCHIP funding than they needed. Chambliss wants to redistribute their leftover money to those states that need it, like Georgia.

"So what we’ve done is take part of their money that they’re not using and put it together with about $100-million dollars in funding that we will provide to offset the shortfall for the remainder of this year," Chambliss explained.

The problem came, Chambliss said, when the U.S. House of representatives did not want the amendment to come up for consideration in the senate, so Senator Harry Reed offered a compromise.

"What he proposed was this. If you will not call your amendment up on the continuing resolution, we will work very diligently with your staff, the finance committee staff on both sides of the hall to come up with a fix. So, hopefully by the time we get back next week we’re going to have some sort of compromise that we’re going to be able to say we’ll take care of this shortfall," he said.

The State has reserved its share of the funds needed, but the program has a $131 million federal funding shortfall for federal FY2007.

Right now, some 250,000 children in Georgia depend on Peach Care coverage. Chambliss said the problem is more children enrolled over the past three years than congress expected.

"You lived up to your end of it, we lived up to our end of it. The problem that occurred was the fact that between 2005 and 2007 we had 70,000 children added to the Peach Care roll. Now, that’s created this problem, but folks that’s a good problem to have because that means we’ve got 70,000 additional Georgians who do have health insurance coverage who would not have it otherwise," Chambliss noted.

Chambliss said, though, that he could not promise there would be money available before the March 11^th deadline when the program will no longer accept new enrollees.

A Georgia man is facing charges of sexual misconduct in Clemson. Clemson university police arrested 18-year old Jason Michael Gregory of Cumming yesterday.

Clemson University reports Gregory was visiting students in a dorm on the Clemson campus when the incident happened, although authorities are not saying exactly what that incident was.

The unidentified victim was also said to be a visitor on campus.

She was taken to Oconee memorial hospital for examination and her condition is not known.

Meantime, Gregory was arraigned yesterday on one count of felony criminal sexual misconduct in the third degree. He was released on a $10,000 bond.

Stephens County deputies are looking for a suspect in connection with a burglary at a home on Brookhaven Circle. Deputies discovered the home had been entered through a basement window and some tools were taken. The victim told deputies the house is being renovated and workers leave their tools. Taken was a Pass-Lode impulse framing nail gun with case valued at $600. Also taken was a demolition hammer model number 93853. The victim said other, newer items in the house were not taken. Deputies have the name of a possible suspect and are continuing to investigate.

Wal-mart reported two cases of shoplifting last week. In the first, a Toccoa woman was charged with shoplifting after store security claimed to have caught her with over $100 in merchandise that was not paid for. She has identified as 40-year old Nicky Lynn Holbrook of Morgan Street. In the second, a Martin woman was arrested for taking an undetermined amount of merchandise. She is identified as 46-year old Londa Griffin of Black Horse Run.

Here is another food related re-call from Georgia’s Agriculture Commissioner Tommy Irvin.

Vita Specialty Foods Inc. of Martinsburg, West Virginia, is voluntarily recalling several of its specialty sauces because their labels do not disclose that the products contain a flavor ingredient derived from milk .People who have an allergy or severe sensitivity to milk run the risk of serious or life-threatening allergic reaction if they consume these products.

They are:

Scorned Woman Wicked Wing Sauce, the 18oz size;

Jim Beam Hot Wing Sauce in the 5oz jar

Jim Beam Hot Wing Sauce in the 13 oz jar

Jim Beam Gourmet Foods Hot Wing Sauce in the one gallon jar

Budweiser Barbecue Sauce in the 19oz, 77 oz, one gallon and five gallon jars

Budweiser Basting Sauce in the 14 oz, 71 oz, one gallon and five gallon jars.

Irvin says anyone with a milk allergy who has any of these sauces should destroy them or return them for a full refund.

There will be money to continue working on the widening of Highway 17. That’s according to State Representative Jeanette Jamieson who spoke to a joint session of the city and county commission Monday night.

"This is the status of Highway 17 and the Bypass," Jamieson began. "And when I tell you, I’m telling you that that’s how it is. I know that there’s all kind of rumor and there’s all this kind of business going on, but take me at my word, if you would. The contract for construction of the 17 Bypass is due to be let in late March or early April," she said.

Jamieson told commissioners of the three Stephens County projects, the widening of Highway 17, widening the 17-Bypass, and the construction of the Bypass Extension to South Carolina, the first two were the most important. As for any idea that money to widen the Bypass could be moved to buy up right of way on Highway 17 - Jamieson said if we tried it, we’d lose it.

"If for some idiotic reason we were to say to the DOT ‘Wait a minute and let us use that $13 or $15-million on Highway 17,’ 17 would never see that money. That’s because 17’s right of way has not been purchased. So, we cannot use that money on Highway 17 and it is not right-of-way money. Therefore, we can’t use it to purchase right of way. What would happen would be, it would be put back on the shelf and some other community in the 10^th Congressional District would get our Bypass construction funds," she concluded.

According to Jamieson, money to purchase the right of way on Highway 17 would continue to come in for the time being, but once that’s done, we will need actual construction money. She said since the Georgia Department of Transportation (GDOT) announced project cutbacks, she and State Senator Nancy Schaefer have been working in Atlanta to keep the transportation money flowing.

"There will continue to be DOT monies. There has already been at least three meetings at the DOT office in Atlanta working toward keeping our project on the front burner," Jamieson said.

In December, the GDOT announced it had run out of money and said they were either delaying or eliminating most projects.

The Ninth District Opportunity will hold a surplus food giveaway tomorrow at the Franklin County Community Services Center on Highway 145 in Carnesville. Any Franklin County household whose gross income is below 130% of the poverty level is eligible to receive food.

You must, however, have a completed permission form from the Ninth District Opportunity office or a handwritten permission note with the your name and the name of the authorized person to pick up the food.

The note should also indicate how many people live in the house, your address, monthly household income, your signature, and date.

You can get more information by calling the Ninth District office in Carnesville at 706-384-3495. On Friday, Stephens County residents will be able to pick up free food at Glad Tidings Assembly of God on Collier Road beginning at 9a.m.

U.S. Senators Saxby Chambliss and Johnny Isakson will meet next month with a delegation from Toccoa-Stephens County to discuss appropriating some $10-million dollars to build a sewer system in the county.

Local engineer Buddy Lawson, who chairs the Stephens County Development Authority’s infrastructure committee said about 80% of the money required will be funded by outside sources, such as state and federal grants.

Speaking to a joint session of city and county commissioners Monday night, Lawson said a plan was submitted to Congress last November. Chambliss and Isakson plan to submit an appropriations request for the balance of the monies to the Department of the Interior in April.

Work on the sewer system will be done in phases and Lawson said the funding would likely be administered in phases as well. Those phases include:

The threat of severe weather in Georgia has postponed a planned statewide tornado drill today.

As we told you yesterday, this is Severe Weather Awareness Week in Georgia.

Today’s statewide drill was to be the highlight of the week, which is designed to help Georgians develop a safety plan for themselves and their families in the event of a natural disaster. The statewide drill is now set to take place on Friday.

A manager at the Royal Foods on Highway 106 told Stephens County Sheriff’s deputies a man pumped $125 worth of diesel fuel and left without paying. It happened last Thursday. The worker said she was not able to give authorities a description of the suspect or their vehicle.

A break down lead to a car theft. The victim told deputies her car broke down on Sweet Gum Road recently. She left the vehicle parked on the side of the road and when she returned the next morning to pick it up, it was gone.

Sheriff’s deputies are looking for the person who stole a motorcycle. It happened last week in Martin. The victim told deputies his bike was taken from his shop on Suttles Road. It’s described as silver and black with the word, "ouch" scratched into the top of the gas tank. The value of the bike is estimated at $7,000.

It’s free to use the computers at the library. Apparently, the person broke into someone’s house to send an email didn’t know that. A man on Continental Drive in Toccoa told deputies someone broke into his home and used his computer. He said when he came home, he found the sliding glass door was open. That’s when he noticed an instant message window was open on his computer, with the profile of the user. A phone number was also in the message. Deputies called the number and it returned to a relative of the suspect. She gave deputies another number to call and deputies continue to search for that suspect.

With their theme of "Toccoa Rocks," city and county officials gathered this morning for the official signing that makes Toccoa-Stephens County a Signature Community.

That means for the next two to three years, Toccoa-Stephens County will receive hundreds of thousands of dollars in technical and grant support to help revitalize the community.

Toccoa Mayor David Austin presented Department of Community Affairs commissioner Mike Beatty with a piece of the canopies secured to a plaque as a memento of the occasion.

In addition, the WNEG "Toccoa Rocks" rap promo was played during a slide show depicting the canopy removal and Toccoa Rocks celebration.

In his speech this morning, Beatty said the growth and change of any community requires leadership and a sense of responsibility.

Some of the initiatives Toccoa-Stephens County proposes to use the grant money for include:

Toccoa was one of 12 communities in the state chosen this year as a signature community.

Georgia’s technical schools are losing $7.1 million dollars in state funding and that could mean layoffs and program cutbacks. State funding is based on enrollment and enrollment has been down in recent years. That’s not the case for North Georgia Tech’s campuses, according to president Dr. Ruth Nichols.

"Since the Currahee Campus opened in July 2005, we have had a 36% increase in enrollment," noted Dr. Nichols. "Overall, this quarter the college is at a 6.1% increase over the same quarter last year. That's pretty much the response of the entire North Georgia Tech family really, really spending a lot extra time recruiting, marketing, in public relations and all that kind of stuff," she said.

Ron Jackson, acting Commissioner of the Technical School System, said he have to fire teachers if the system does not receive more funding. On average, each school would have to lay off four full-time staffers, he said.

Dr. Nichols says despite the lack of funding, she is not making any kind of knee-jerk decisions on cutbacks yet.

"I'll tell you what my approach is to it. We're going to assume that the $7.1 million is the worst-case scenario. As you are well aware, we have tremendous, positive support from our legislatures up here. We're all confident that somehow they're going to put that money back into the budget," Dr. Nichols explained.

North Georgia Tech, particularly the Currahee Campus in Toccoa is already stretched to the limit according to Nichols.

When the campus first opened, the school did not receive the funds to hire new full-time teachers.

Nichols said they are currently using teachers from the other two campuses and have hired part-time teachers.

Even though we’re expecting temperatures in the 70s by Thursday, this is Severe Weather Awareness Week in Georgia.

This week, the Georgia Emergency Management Agency (GEMA), along with local EMA’s, is encouraging Georgians to practice emergency preparedness and response procedures in the event of a disaster or weather emergency.

Stephens County Interim EMA director Becky Wall says it’s a good idea for families to have several emergency plans in place.

"What we need families to do is to sit down and think about if you were separated by disaster, how would you get back in touch? Do you have a place to meet? Are there a local and an out-of-state contacts? As far ad in-home preparations, an emergency kit with canned food, water, medical supplies you may need, batteries, special things for the elderly, children or a sick individual in your family are needed for three days," Wall said.

Wall says plans should be drawn up in the event of thunderstorms, lightening, floods, and severe winter weather. Another type of severe weather common to our area is tornados. Tomorrow, GEMA will conduct a statewide tornado drill.

"Schools, businesses, private citizens, anyone with the NOAA weather radios can listen for the test tones. This Wednesday, they will conducting a tornado drill. It's also a good time to practice your family disaster or tornado plan, if you have one. If you don't have one, it's a good time to sit down with your family and develop one," noted Wall.

Now if you need help formulating a family emergency plan, wall says you can call her office or stop by to pick up information on how to set up and practice emergency drills with your family.

Stephens County Sheriff’s investigators are looking into a rash of air conditioner thefts. All of them happened the night of February 13 at businesses in Eastanollee and were reported the next day.

The first two happened on Desoto private drive in Eastanollee.

In the first, ray nix an electrical contractor told deputies his air conditioning unit had been stolen and all of the copper tubing had been cut and ripped out. Deputies photographed footprints and tire tracks at the scene.

In the next, Dickie and Paul Dean of MMA, Inc. – also on Desoto Private Drive – called deputies the same day to report their air conditioning unit had been damaged and the motor taken.

In addition, the unit was disconnected from the power supply and the copper tubing removed.

Deputies also took photographs of that scene.

In a third instance that same night, Marion Murry of Ultra Southland Caskets on Youman’s Private Drive in Eastanollee told deputies his air conditioner had been damaged with parts stolen.

Again, all of the copper tubing was removed. Deputies took more photographs of the scene.

All of the information was turned over to investigators.

The owner of some pit bull puppies on Suttles Road told police he saw a person in a white Chevy Caprice Drive make off with two of his puppies.

It happened last Thursday. He told Toccoa police the suspect drive up to his house and get out.

When he went to check on his pit bull puppies in the barn he found three of his four pups missing.

He found one puppy in the bushes, but he said the suspect took the other two. They are described as two four-week old pit bull puppies. One is brown and black; the other is black and white. Total value of the puppies is $1,200.

A man found sleeping in his vehicle is now sleeping behind bars. Toccoa Police officers found the man asleep in his car at Water Works Lake Park on Black Mountain Road.

A check of the man’s driver’s license found he was wanted in Hall County. Police arrested Paul Alexander Hallett of Hartwell on outstanding warrant charges. He was taken to Stephens County jail to await transfer to Hall County. His car was impounded.

Another counterfeit check, but with a stupid criminal twist. A man came into the Raceway last week and cashed a check in the amount of $1,839.

Clerks told police that since the suspect had cashed checks there before, they had no reason to believe anything was wrong until the check was returned as counterfeit.

The suspect, however, left a copy of drivers license and gave the clerk at the Raceway a fingerprint. All of the evidence was turned over to Toccoa Police detectives.

Another state senator has thrown his hat into the race for 10^th Congressional District. Yesterday, State Senator Jim Whitehead, Republican from the 24^th District, announced he would run for the seat left vacant by the passing of Congressman Charlie Norwood. The 24^th District includes Columbia, Glascock, Lincoln, McDuffie, Wilkes, and parts of Elbert and Warren counties.

While the special election is officially non-partisan, Whitehead said he would run and serve as a Republican.   

At a press conference yesterday, Whitehead said he is running to continue the legacy of conservative leadership offered by Norwood.  He said the issues of stopping illegal immigration, stopping wasteful spending to provide some real tax relief to Georgians, and supporting quality educational opportunities, are vital to our children and grandchildren’s futures. 

In the Senate, Whitehead is chair of the Public Safety and Homeland Security Committee, vice chair of the Transportation Committee and a member of the State and Local Government Operations, Economic Development, as well as the Natural Resources and the Environment Committees.  

The date for the special election is expected to be set by Governor Sonny Perdue before Friday. 

U.S. Senators Saxby Chambliss and Johnny Isakson have introduced a measure they hope will fix the current funding shortfall for the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) known in Georgia as "Peach Care for Kids" (PCK).

Yesterday, they introduced their own measure that would redistribute federal funds from states that have not used it all.

The Chambliss-Isakson measure would redistribute FY2005 and FY2006 funds from states that have an excess of more than 200 percent in federal children’s health insurance funds. They hope that would cover the estimated $745 million-dollar shortfall for the 14 states in need for the remainder of FY2007. 

If the money is not used, it will be returned to the federal treasury.  Under this measure, Georgia would receive an estimated $131 million to prevent a funding shortfall for FY2007.

Two weeks ago, Georgia Department of Community Health commissioner Dr. Rhonda Meows informed the Board of Community Health that PCK would no longer accept new enrollees to the program as of March 11, because of a lack of funding.

The state has reserved its share of the funds needed; however, the program has a $131 million federal funding shortfall for federal FY2007.

State Senator Nancy Schaefer’s Sonogram Bill has passed in the Senate Health and Human Services Committee and now goes to the Senate Rules Committee for consideration. SB 66 will require a woman seeking an abortion to first undergo an ultrasound.

She will then be given the opportunity to view the images of her unborn baby before going through with the abortion. In her weekly newsletter, Schaefer said she hopes the bill will save the lives of unborn children. Schaefer cited the testimony of a woman who adopted twin girls.

She told how the birthmother had changed her mind about an abortion after viewing the ultrasound. However, an Emory University physician who represents the Georgia Obstetrical and Gynecological Society, argued against the bill, saying it mandates a medically unnecessary procedure. She also raised concerns about the cost, which women seeking an abortion would have to pay.

SB66 will carry an amendment that women who have been raped or the victim of incest not be made to have an ultrasound.

The Department of Natural Resources will now move forward with implementing at least four of five projects around Lake Hartwell with money the state is receiving from a PCB lawsuit settlement. Last Thursday, the DNR held a public hearing at the Currahee Campus of North Georgia Tech to get input from citizens in Stephens, Franklin, and Hart Counties about the 5 proposed projects.

DNR fisheries biologist Anthony Raburn told those in attendance that the success of the projects depends on inter-county cooperation.

"The implementation of these projects depends on partnerships," noted Raburn. "We have endeavored to partner with the counties in which these projects are proposed. And the counties have expressed interest in these projects and a willingness to invest resources to make these things happen in order to benefit their constituents," he concluded.

Two of the five projects will be in Stephens County and are receiving wide support from citizens.

Raburn outlined the DNR’s plan for the Lake Yonah tailrace.

"We would propose to build a very similar fishing trail as we would do at the Hartwell tailrace. There would be a concrete path, lights, a parking area - all the things that would make that a very safe environment for anglers to fish. It's a very difficult area for shoreline anglers to fish and so this would provide safe access to a very popular fishing location," Raburn explained.

The other project involves building a fishing trail along the perimeter of the Bruce Creek peninsula. However, Raburn said the project does not involve building a bigger boat ramp.

"In regard to the boat ramp issue, it's a small parking lot and there really wasn't any interest from the County officials that we've been talking to of expanding that parking lot or the boat ramp. There are large boat ramps nearby, Poplar Springs and what we are proposing at Tugalo State Park. So, we really didn't feel it was necessary to expand the boat ramp. What I failed to mention in my presentation it what was expressed by the County at Bruce Creek was to install a courtesy dock. That would help anglers to offload and on load their boats," he said.

The other three projects include building a mega boat ramp at Tugalo State Park in Franklin County and Gum Branch in Hartwell.

Of the five projects outlined last week, only the proposed mega ramp at Gum Branch drew controversy with many citizens living in the area opposed to the project because of the extra traffic and development it could bring.

Georgia is receiving $3.7 million of an $11-million dollar settlement from a federal lawsuit against a South Carolina company. Good’s Furniture storeowner Bill Good attended the meeting and asked if the $3.7 million will be divided equally between the three counties.

"The cash settlement in terms of the way we divide $3.7 million up and will it be into thirds, the answer would be, 'no.' What we have worked out with your county officials are projects that are palatable to them and as they reflect their community's interest. So, we're looking at five projects and right now we don't even know what the cost of these projects will be," Raburn said.

The next step will be to present the public input to the settlement board for consideration.

Once approved, engineering and cost studies will be done, which Raburn said would likely take place this summer.

City and county commissioners will hold a joint session tonight at Gate Cottage. The meeting will also be attended by members of the Stephens County Development Authority and the Board of Education.

Among the items up for discussion will be the implementation of the Signature Community program. According to County commission chair Ken Peeples, the City of Toccoa will receive the bulk of the grant funding from that program.

"The only part of the Signature Program Stephens County will benefit from is a $10,000 grant to do a study on quality growth, which will be done by the Georgia Mountain RDC," Peeples said.

Another topic high on both commission’s lists is the problem of too many e-911 private drives. The new e-911 maps that need to be printed are stalled because of complaints from the city and county residents over the abundance of roads designated private drives, which is also causing confusion for safety and law enforcement personnel.

Recently, Stephens County hired a consultant, former Habersham County EMA director Barry Church to look at the situation.

"We’ve hired him to look at how we can make corrections on the private drive issue. Once he’s done with that, he will look at any other issues he feels we need to address. Other than that, we mainly want him to look at the private drive situation for us," explained Peeples.

Peeples says until they get Church’s recommendations, the County will not move forward with searching for a new e-911 director.

Other topics tonight include discussion of a SPLOST V, and a report from the Development Authority’s infrastructure committee. Tonight’s meeting takes place at 6 p.m. and is open to the public.

It’s an historic time for Toccoa and it appears to be passing with little fanfare. The last of the canopies are expected to be gone by tomorrow – leaving all of downtown almost as it once was. Now, the City is turning its attention to the next phase of the renovation - removing the mall area itself.

City Planning Commission director Connie Tabor said last week, that architects are now working on what the new Doyle Street will look like.

"We will have two-way traffic with parallel parking. That is being designed now by our architects, Robert & Co. Once that's been completed, then that will bid to contractors. We will accept the bid of the lowest qualified bidder and we'll move forward with construction of that phase of the project," Tabor said.

Next week, the City will meet with downtown business and property owners to go over the new design and discuss funding for building façade renovation.

Stephens County is becoming a more popular area for business and real estate investment, but still lags behind other northeast Georgia counties. That’s according to the Norton Agency’s Native Intelligence Opportunity Index. The index is an annual measure of growth, values, and investment potential.

The firm’s research division combines total real estate sales, loan values, land prices, zoning, environment, vacancies, and land potential in a formula to determine the index score. Counties with scores over 60 points show the most promise. 

At the top of the list were Jackson and Dawson counties which each had scores of 85. Next were Barrow, Forsyth, Lumpkin, and Rabun Counties with scores of 75. Banks, North Gwinnett, Towns, Union and White Counties scored right at 60. And Stephens County came in last with a score of 55.

However, that is way up from an initial score of 27 in 1998, meaning more and more investors and industries are re-discovering Stephens County and its opportunities for development. Between 1998 and 2005, Stephens County stayed in the low to mid 30’s. In 2006, Stephens County had an index score of 49.

Hurt earned dual undergraduate degrees from the University of Georgia and the Medical College of Georgia.  He completed the family nurse practitioner graduate program at North GA College & State University. Hurt’s clinical experience includes family practice, obstetrics/gynecology, pediatrics and emergencies.

Walhalla’s Mayor and City Council plan to meet this week with a land trust group now that citizens in the Oconee County town came out against developing some 439 acres.

At a public meeting last week, dozens of citizens told the Council they were against selling the land known as the "water plant property" to developers and overwhelmingly urged leaders to conserve it.

A spokesman for conservation groups, Greenville lawyer and former Oconeean Frank Holliman, said history would treat the mayor and council well if they kept land of natural beauty from development.

Also, loudly applauded was a Pickens County utility official, Thomas Watson, when he suggested Walhalla could bottle water from the reservoir and sell it and make enough to eliminate all city taxes.  City councilman Ron Mattox said the City is being deliberative and won’t rush a decision.                                                           

A number of new Homestead exemptions from school and property taxes passed in November and property owners can now take advantage of them. However, you only have until March first to apply if you want the exemption for 2007.

One is the Senior Exemption for those who are age 65 or older and also the Low-Income exemption for seniors age 62 and older who make less than $10,000 a year. In both cases, Stephens County Tax Assessor Sue Anderson says you might not need to apply for those exemptions first.

"If they’re already receiving that exemption, this will just automatically roll over into it and they’ll get the new amount, which is $25,000 off the assessed value in addition to what they’re already receiving," Anderson said.

Two other homestead exemptions apply to widows of veterans. In the first, widows of veterans are now eligible to carry their homestead exemption with them.

"The previous exemption allowed for the widow to receive the exemption if she remained in the same house. Now the exemption allows her to get the exemption her husband was receiving wherever she lives," explained Anderson.

However, widows must sign up for that exemption. Another exemption is for widows of service members killed in action. They can apply for an exemption if they have not remarried. Anderson says with regard to the exemption for the disabled, there’s no age limit.

"There’s no age limit or income limit. They just need to be 100% disabled. If they’ll call our office, we’ll be glad to tell them what to bring," she said.

Anderson tells WNEG there are a number of other exemptions also available and now is the time to call her office to see if any apply to you.

"If they want to get it this year, they need to get in here. Or if they have a question such as whether they are receiving the senior exemption, if they’ll just call us we’ll be happy to help them," Anderson said.

The number for the Tax Assessor’s office is 706-886-7435. A staff member will happy to help you with your questions or application.

Now that Congressman Charlie Norwood has been laid to rest, attention is turning to who will fill his seat in Washington, DC. One state senator has already announced his intention to run for the 10^th Congressional seat.

Republican Senator Ralph Hudgens, from the 47^th district has thrown his hat into the ring.

This is not the first time, however, that Hudgens has made a run for the post.

In 1995, he ran against Norwood, but lost in the primary run-off by a just over 500 votes. Hudgens supported Norwood and his work on Capitol Hill throughout his term in office and tells WNEG that if elected, he will continue his work.

In addition, while he may not have Norwood’s expertise in the healthcare industry, Hudgens says he will bring other experience to the office.

"I have started several very successful small businesses. I understand business and have a 100% rating by the NFIB. I’ve got a 100% from the Chamber of Commerce," Hudgens noted. "I’m very, very in touch with agricultural issues because I worked 18 years for Shell Chemical in the AG-CHEM division. I also had chicken houses, I raised hogs, and I have raised peanuts in South Georgia. I understand the farm issues. Also for the last four years, I’ve been chairman of the State Insurance Committee, so I understand insurance issues," he concluded.

According to hedges, there are others interested in running for the seat, but so far; he is the only one that has made his intentions public. Qualifying for the special election will take place in about two weeks, after governor sonny Perdue sends the secretary of state a writ of election.

Keeping your child healthy is important.

That is why the Toccoa-Stephens County Boys and Girls Club on Whitman Street is sponsoring a health fair tomorrow from 10 a.m. until noon. Director Mary rice says the free screenings are for children of all ages and will cover a number of areas.

"We will have participants from the District 2 Health Department, who will be providing a dentist who will be doing free dental screenings," Rice explained. "We will also have the folks from AmeriGroup come in and do some fingerprinting for children. Parents can have those on file in the event their child goes missing, which we hope they don’t, but they will have that documentation on file," she said.

Other screenings include checks for vision and diabetes.

Recently, the state and federally funded pediatric health care program, peach care announced it will be out of funds by mid-march and will stop taking new enrollees as of march 11^th.

That has many parents concerned. Rice says representatives from peach care will also be at the health fair tomorrow.

"There have been questions about their coverage such as, whether or not they can switch to another carrier, or whether they will be dropped. Any questions regarding the coverage that Peach Care or Well Care offers. There will be representatives from both agencies here tomorrow to answer their questions," Rice said.

Door prizes and gifts will be available for those who participate. Anyone with questions may call the rice at 706-886-3771 between 10:30 a.m. and 6:30 p.m.

Toccoa police are looking for a stolen u-haul trailer. He trailer was taken from Larry’s Service Center on S. Big A Road sometime Tuesday.

A worker at the station told police the trailer was there at 8 a.m. Tuesday, but then went missing.

It is described as an orange and white u-haul with a Florida tag number 6ci-679.

A woman on Wood Street told police a PlayStation and five video games were stolen from her home.

The victim told police that when she returned home Wednesday morning after being gone overnight, the items were gone. Police took down the name of a possible suspect, but have not made any arrests.

Another counterfeit bill has turned up at a local bank. This time it is a fake $20 tellers at First Citizens’ Bank on South Big A ROAD discovered that.

An employee from the bamboo house restaurant brought the bill into the bank for a deposit.

The Georgia department of labor says 62,002 laid-off workers filed first-time claims for unemployment insurance benefits in January. That’s up 53 percent from December.

Initial claims were also up from 53,680 filed in January 2006 for an over-the-year increase of 15.5 percent.

The labor department says the increase in claims is primarily the result of a slowing of the housing market, which led to layoffs in related manufacturing industries, such as carpet and wood products.

Those were in addition to the normal seasonal layoffs in retail trade and business services.

Initial claims are considered a leading economic indicator, because they measure newly laid-off workers.

Just a reminder that an important public hearing takes place tonight regarding how much money Stephens County will get from a multi-million dollar PCB lawsuit settlement. The Georgia Department of Natural Resources, Wildlife Resources Division wants to hear from you about how they will spend over $3-million dollars in settlement money.

Part of that money will go to Stephens County, and tonight, the DNR is expected to announce how much the county will receive. According to the settlement, the $3.6 million dollars must be spent on the Georgia side of Lake Hartwell for projects that create opportunities for the general public to fish and enhance recreational activities around the lake.

Right now, the DNR plans to make improvements in access to the Yonah Dam tailrace so people can fish all year round. Special piers and ramps to a small island in the middle of the tailrace would be built for anglers and would be handicap accessible. Right now, people fish along the banks of the river.

Another proposed project would be to expand the 43-acre Bruce Creek boat ramp and park. A boat dock and fishing pier would be built, along with more areas for picnicking. Tonight’s hearing takes place at 7 p.m. at North Georgia Tech’s Currahee Campus on Highway 17.

A public memorial service will be held this afternoon for U.S. Representative Charlie Norwood.

The service takes place at 2 p.m. at First Baptist Church of Augusta in Martinez, GA.

Norwood passed away Tuesday after battling lung cancer and a long battle with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis. Norwood had represented the 10^th Congressional District since 1995 and was re-elected in November by a landslide.

At the same time, he was diagnosed with non-small cell lung cancer – a result of immune-suppressant drugs he was taking as the result of a lung transplant. Last week, Norwood announced he had ended further cancer treatment and was returning home.

It’s the same old scam, but it’s back with some very professional looking packaging. The Stephens County Sheriff’s office reports over the past several weeks, people have been receiving very official looking letters and checks.

"Several residents have come to us with letters and checks advising that they're either getting refunds from companies across the country or they're getting a check that if they cash the check, keep some of the money and that would be a handling fee for them to receive their prize money, and the letter I'm looking at now says $50,000," explained Stephens County Sheriff Chief Deputy Mike Crozier.

The letters typically tell the recipient that they’ve won the Reader’s Digest or Publisher’s Clearing House sweepstakes. Some letters say the check is rebate money, even though the person never sent in for a rebate.

Another type of letter says the money is to help pay for surgery for a sick child in Nigeria.

"These checks are all counterfeit. They do have a good bank name, they do have a good company name, but they are counterfeit and they have absolutely no value. If you do cash them, and send them a certain amount of money, not only are you out the amount of the check, you're out the money you sent them and your bank would require you to repay them the total amount of the check," Crozier said.

Authorities say scam artists buy mailing lists from Internet companies and that’s how they get your name and address. In one instance, a Martin woman received three letters and checks. Two were delivered via UPS and a third came via Fed Ex Express.

"This one came Federal Express," Crozier said pointing to a letter and check on his desk. "So, the people perpetrating this are spending some money trying to get you to believe they're legitimate and get that money from you. In one case, the check was for over $2,000. The idea was for the recipient to keep $500 for cashing the check for them. Then, they were to buy a money gram or a Western Union wire transfer and send them the balance to a location in Nigeria supposedly to help a sick child have surgery. Again, that would be a total loss all the way around for you," Crozier said.

Still, some who receive these phony checks are not convinced. Crozier said in one instance, an elderly man in his late 80s has received numerous letters with checks and each time, refuses to believe they are not real and tries to cash them.

"They tell him they’re coming to his house with balloons, TV cameras, and a limousine to pick him up to take him to receive his check," Crozier said. "I’ve actually called the number in the letter and the girl who answered assured me it was all legit, but it’s not. It’s a scam," he said.

If you receive any kind of letter with a check for thousands of dollars – do not try to cash it, but do turn it over to either the Toccoa Police or the Stephens County Sheriff’s Department.

Stephens County investigators are looking into a burglary at a business in Eastanollee. It happened Monday at the Barbeque Shack on Highway 17. Owner Herman Hart told Stephens County Sheriff’s deputies an employee found the door to the office had been forced open.

A blank business check and a half-gallon of Crown Royal whiskey had been taken. In the restaurant, all of the change from the cash register had been cleaned out along with change in a container under the counter -totaling about $200.

Hart gave deputies the name of a possible suspect he believes could be responsible because of an earlier incident in Franklin County involving the suspect and his residence.

Stephens County commissioners have put off making any decision on whether to fund the "Keep Toccoa-Stephens County Beautiful" (KTSCB) program. In a letter to commissioners, KTSCB executive director Mona Painter told the commission the non-profit program needs $8,000 immediately if it is to continue running.

Painter said despite a diligent search, she has not been able to find any kind of grant funding. The State suspended funding such programs about three years ago. Painter said there was only $800 left in her budget and extra money is needed to put on two upcoming annual events.

One is the Great American Clean-Up held in March. The other is Earth Fest at Henderson Falls Park, which is normally held on the last Saturday of April.

On Tuesday, commissioners agreed that since the City of Toccoa also helps fund the program, they needed to discuss the matter with them before making a decision. Another problem, according to commissioner Rex Anderson is that there is no extra money in the current fiscal budget.

"My concern is it's not in the budget and we don't have any extra money and I know that they need money right now. In my opinion, I agree with Kenneth that they need to meet with the City and see what they recommend from their side; if they want to come up with some money or if they want to do it in the next fiscal year. There's too many unanswered questions at the present time and we don't know what the real answer is," noted Anderson.

Painter told commissioners if she loses funding, it would mean that the KTSCB board would have to re-apply for certification with the state group, Keep Georgia Beautiful.

The January term of the Stephens County Grand Jury has indicted a Toccoa man on four counts regarding an incident in October of last year.

Rocky Randall Garrett is charged with aggravated assault on a police officer, possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony, possession of a firearm by a convicted felon and obstruction of an officer.

Garrett is charged with pointing an SKS assault rifle at probation officer Tim Housley during the execution of a search warrant.

The Grand Jury has handed down a true bill against Virgil Neal Griffin. He is charged with theft by receiving stolen property and felony fleeing or attempting to elude a police officer.

The incident is reported to have occurred on Highway 106 on August 22^nd of last year. Griffin is alleged to have been in the possession of a 2001 Harley Davidson, which was listed as .The suspect is then alleged fled from a police officer when signaled to stop. The true bill indicated that griffin fled the scene and was driving at 30 miles an hour over the posted 55MPH speed limit during the chase.

Chet Nathaniel Scott was indicted by the Grand Jury and charged with one count of cruelty to children. Scott is alleged to have struck a 4 year old child repeatedly with a studded belt. The incident reportedly occurred at Falls Park Apartments in November of last year.

It’s the same as last month, the City of Toccoa continues to hold its own, but it not gaining any ground financially. In his report this week to commissioners, City finance director Emory Stephens said the forecast for the next several years is unchanged, unless the City takes steps to re-invest in itself.

"In a year or two or three down the road, we're going to be in exactly the same position as we are now," noted City finance director Emory Stephens. "We're not making any gains. We are struggling to pay our bills, and we have no money left over to plow back into investment and expanding our utility systems. And I think that is what has to be done if we're ever going to get back to a position of prosperity," Stephens concluded.

But plowing revenue back into the various funds would be difficult since the City is just able to pay its bills as it is and there is never any money left over. However, Stephens says it’s the only way to grow the budget – even it means more belt-tightening.

"Either way you look at it, it's painful. You either have to increase your revenues by raising taxes or you have to cut expenses or cut something out. Nobody wants to do either. That's we have avoided it year after year. However, unless we do invest money to say, gain customers, we're never going to enjoy the prosperity that we ought to," Stephens said.

Stephens predicted that for this fiscal year, Toccoa will end the year with about $750,000 in the bank.

New 2007 day passes for use at Lake Hartwell and other U.S. Army Corps of Engineers recreation areas are now available. Annual passes may be purchased at the Hartwell project office and are valid for 12 months.

This year’s annual passes are hangtags desi