The trial of Van Allen Caffee, accused in the shooting death of a Toccoa man, is set for Monday, but there might be yet another delay.

Along with the departure of assistant district attorney Rick Bridgeman who was prosecuting the case, went much of the preparation.

The case was turned over to Mountain Judicial Circuit District Attorney Mike Crawford who told Judge Ernest Woods III Thursday he might not be ready by Monday.

Crawford said he is waiting for two key pieces of evidence from New York State authorities that would confirm that Caffee was a convicted felon in New York at the time he allegedly committed the murder last year.

If those pieces of evidence do not arrive by Monday morning, Crawford plans to motion for a continuance until December.

That idea is not sitting well with Caffee or his attorney, Allyn Stockton.

Stockton asked Judge Woods not to delay the trial any longer claiming the evidence in question has no real bearing on the murder charge itself.

Judge Woods said he would wait until Monday morning at 9 a.m. to find out if the DA has what he needs to go forward with the trial next week.

Caffee and his nephew, 31-year old Raheem Shands, are accused of the July 2006 murder of 57-year old James Robert Lewis of Toccoa.

Authorities say Roberts was bound, shot in the head and his body dumped on a remote road near Black Mountain Road.

In April, Shands plead guilty to voluntary manslaughter and kidnapping and agreed to testify against Caffee.

The trial had been scheduled for June but was delayed when Bridgeman said he was still waiting for other evidence.

Stockton said his client is tired of delays and wants the trial to begin.

Another aspect of the courthouse restoration is in the planning stages.

Once the work is finished, the Courthouse Restoration Authority plans to hold a big celebration/open house at which time the cornerstone will be opened, according to Authority member Dale Mosely.

"When we finish the Courthouse restoration we will have a big celebration to rededicate it and we will also open the cornerstone. That will probably be sometime next year. That’s what we’re hoping for," Mosely said.

Put in place in 1907, the cornerstone is believed to contain a number of interesting and maybe valuable artifacts.

Moseley says she knows what is in there, but is keeping mum until the big day.

"What we’re going to do is take all the items out and put them in the Historical Society’s museum for a year so people can see what was in it. Then, we’ll bring them back and put them back in the cornerstone for another 100 years," she said.

However, the Authority does have a plan in place so everyone can see them. Work on the faithful restoration of the historic building is moving along, but slower than expected. Still, Mosely says they hope to have the building complete by the end of 2008.

An ever-growing volume of patients has resulted in an ever-growing volume of phone calls to and from the Toccoa Clinic – and that has the clinic’s administration scrambling to solve the problem.

For the past several years, patients have been complaining about the difficulty in reaching a department or a physician.

Now, Clinic administrator David Cronic says they are looking at different ways of expanding the phone system and making some other changes so patients can get through.

"We’re being overwhelmed with the number of calls coming in and we realize that we do not have the adequate technology to even allow the calls to come into the system. The staff is overworked with the number and complexity of the calls coming in. So, we are evaluating new technology and looking at where we need to add staff. We’re also looking at instituting an electronic health record," Cronic explained.

That health record would be on computer. Instead of nurses calling out or to other departments for the information they need, it would be transmitted automatically over the Internet.

Cronic said that alone would take a huge load off the overburdened phone system.

Over the past several years, the patient load at the Toccoa Clinic has grown to unexpected levels.

"Since 2001, our growth has steadily grown between 3% - 6% a year. We continue to grow as well in the number of services we provide. We are almost in a sense overwhelmed with the amount of need in the community. It’s amazing but people do travel to the Toccoa Clinic from outside of Stephens County for medical services," he said.

Cronic did not give a timetable for the phone expansion, but did say they are currently looking at a number of different systems.

If you get hungry at tonight’s Indians football game, it may be a bit easier to go get your hotdog.

An additional sidewalk has been added at the reservation. It goes from the home side grandstand down the hill leading to the concession stand.

In addition, the fence and the ticket booth near the handicapped parking area are being moved out to create more room.

High school principal David Friend tells WNEG that he decided to make the change after attending the Stephens – Habersham game and noticing the crush of people near the concession area.

The deal was sealed when his sister-in-law complained about the difficulty in buying a snack.

Much of the cost of the project was donated, said Friend. Morgan Concrete and several other individuals made contributions that reduced amount of money the school has to spend on the project.

You might want to tune in to Georgia Public Television tonight because our own Currahee Military Museum will feature.

And Stephens County Historical Society president Brenda Carlan will be interviewed.

The museum is part of a GPTV special on historic military sites across the state. It is airing as a sidebar program to Ken Burns’ upcoming documentary, "The War," which debuts Sunday night.

Tonight’s airing of, "Remembering World War II: A Georgia Traveler Special" is at 9p.m.

If you miss tonight, you can catch it again tomorrow evening at 7 p.m., Sunday night at 10:30 p.m. and again next Wednesday evening at 7 p.m.

Today is National POW-MIA Remembrance Day – a day that calls all Americans to ensure America remembers its responsibility to stand behind those who serve our nation and do everything possible to account for those who do not return.

In 1979, resolutions were passed in the congress and the first national ceremony was held at the National Cathedral, Washington, and DC.

Today, a Pentagon ceremony for National POW/MIA Remembrance Day will be held in Washington. The ceremony will feature troops from each of the military services.

President George W. Bush is expected to issue a proclamation commemorating the observances and reminding the nation of those Americans who have sacrificed so much for their country.

Observances of National POW/MIA Remembrance Day are held being held across the country on military installations, ships at sea, state capitols, schools, and veterans' facilities.

This observance is one of six days throughout the year that congress has mandated the flying of the national league of families' POW/MIA flag.

The others are Armed Forces Day, Memorial Day, Flag Day, Independence Day, and Veterans Day.

The flag is to be flown at major military installations, national cemeteries, all post offices, VA medical facilities, the World War II Memorial, Korean War Veterans Memorial, the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, the official offices of the Secretaries of State, Defense and Veterans Affairs, the Director of the Selective Service System, and at the White House.

For our Jewish neighbors, tonight begins the holiest of Jewish holidays, Yom Kippur.

Known as the Day of Atonement, this is the day Jews ask for forgiveness for any sins committed the previous year. The 25-hour period is marked with fasting, special prayers, and refraining from working.

For many orthodox Jews, honoring Yom Kippur might also include not wearing lotion or leather shoes.

Yom Kippur ends the 10-day period know as the high holy days. It is customary to wear white on Yom Kippur, to symbolize purity and the promise of forgiven sins.

Someone threw a rock through the window at the dollar tree store on big a road, but it appears nothing was taken.

Police found the front window shattered and a rock inside the building around 7 a.m. Monday.

When the manager arrived, she told police that it could not find anything missing.

Police continue to investigate.

A Toccoa resident complained to police that his neighbor’s dog was acting aggressive. The Greenwood Drive man told police that a Rottweiler ran at him and his son.

Police officers found the dog chained in the front yard. They explained to the dog’s owner that he could be cited if the dog was not restrained properly.

The Toccoa City Commission is currently working on toughening and expanding the current animal control ordinance to better curb the problem of dogs at large.

If passed, owners who let their dogs run the streets could be subject to stiff fines, including the loss of the dog.

A South Carolina woman is being charged with shopping lifting after police found a pair of pants in her purse.

Samantha Aldrich, of Pickens, SC was charged with shoplifting at the Bealls Outlet on Big A Road.

Store security reported she allegedly cut the tags off a pair of Dickies pants. He told police he had videotaped her removing the tags, but could not find the pants.

When the officer asked Aldrich for her identification, he saw a pair of new Dickies pants in folded up in her purse. The pants were returned to the store.

R & B legend Bobby Byrd has died.

Byrd, best known as James Brown’s sideman, died yesterday in Loganville. He was originally from Toccoa and has two sisters who still live here.

Byrd was the leader of a group called The Famous Flames, of which James Brown was a member and eventually, the front man. With Brown and Byrd, The Famous Flames recorded such hits as, "Please, Please, Please" and "Try Me." They appeared in venues such as the Apollo Theatre in New York and the Royal Theater in Baltimore, MD.

Bill Rice, a well-known local radio personality, remembers Byrd as "everyday people" who never forgot where he came from.

"He never let all his fame cause him to forget where he started from," he remembered. "He was always a down-home person. He left this small community to follow what was an impossible dream. He was known all over the world and still he would come home. That's the main thing about Bobby, he never changed," he said.

Rice played with Byrd in a band called "The Drops of Joy," then continued to promote Byrd’s music on various radio programs in Toccoa, including here on WNEG. He says the success of The Famous Flames served as an inspiration to young musicians in Toccoa.

"He was always an inspiration to kids in Toccoa. Pick up an instrument, pick up a microphone and the sky was the limit. He set that standard, he set that mark that everybody who played a little music around here came to realize that anything is possible," he said.

Funeral services for Bobby Byrd will be held Saturday at noon at the Ray of Hope Christian Church in Decatur. Bobby Byrd was 73.

Yet another exciting discovery at the old county courthouse.

This week workers were removing old paint from the walls of a first-floor office when they discovered a 74-year old mural.

"I saw that the paint was hard to get off in that one spot and after working on it for about 15 - 20 minutes I got an image of a pine tree and figured it was probably a mural," worker Dundee Andrews said.

Work stopped immediately and the Courthouse Restoration Authority was contacted.

Restoration Authority Board member Jack Stovall says they plan to restore the painting and preserve it for the future.

They will also restore the original fireplace that was uncovered underneath the painting in what was once the county clerk’s office.

"This was a clerk's office. Spearman Garner was in here then. Then after Garner, Otto Roberts was in here in 1953," Stovall recalled.

The painting is signed by W.C. Caudell and dated 1933. Stovall said Caudell was a local house painter who was well known in the community.

"We're sure that Mr. Caudell is the relative of Dwayne Caudell of Caudell Flooring. He was Dwayne's uncle. We're going to get in touch with the family to see if we can find out more about him," explained Stovall.

Since workers began peeling away the layers of time inside the courthouse, they have made a number of discoveries including at least six original fireplaces as well as the location of a pot-bellied stove used to heat the courtroom.

An Atlanta-based development group has big plans for acreage on Hayes Street now occupied by a mobile home park.

Tonight, the Toccoa Planning Commission is considering an application from "Toccoa Partners Limited" to rezone the area in order to build an upscale town home community.

In their application to the commission, the group outlined a plan to build 14 buildings with a total of 120 units with a proposed density of 15 units per acre.

Their application included photos of the kind of homes they intend to build.

Toccoa Partners member Darrel Whiting said in the application that the location is ideal for an upscale intown community that would be close to parks, downtown, and other local services.

Whiting said it would also improve and promote the general welfare of the area. Currently, the mobile home park consists of 32 older singlewides and three houses.

Whiting pointed out that many of those singlewides are in disrepair and uninhabitable.

State Senator Nancy Schafer is calling for tougher legislation against dog fighting.

"I hate to say it, but Georgia has been irresponsible in not focusing a light on the underground world of despicable dog-fighting," Schaefer asserted. "The cruel and gruesome revelation of the dog-fighting ring was brought to the world’s attention recently due to the Falcon’s quarterback, Michael Vick. Georgia needs to pass strong anti-dog-fighting laws including making it illegal to be a spectator at a dogfight," she concluded.

During the last general assembly, an anti-dog fighting bill was passed in the senate but died in a house committee.

Schaefer said she voted for the bill and is hoping it will come up again in the 2008 session.

"I expect it to come up again and this time I expect it to pass and be even stronger," she said.

Thanks to a kind of local baby boom, Stephens County Hospital will be adding some equipment to the second floor.

On Monday, the hospital authority voted to spend almost $38,000 for a new fetal monitor, and special wiring for 4 rooms on the 2^nd floor.

This will allow ob patients who are not necessarily giving birth, but still need monitoring to be housed on the second floor.

Hospital administrator Ed Gambrell says the hospital has seen almost 700 births this year, the largest number ever.

Therefore, beds in the OB department are often filled with moms in labor and not available for moms simply needing extra monitoring.

The new equipment will allow them to be housed on the 2^nd floor but monitored by the ob nurses downstairs.

The Toccoa Clinic is the recipient of the Georgia Rural Health Associations’ "Outstanding Rural Health Practice" award for 2007.

The Georgia Rural Health Association in Athens presented Clinic Administrator David Cronic the award recently.

The GRHA recognized Toccoa Clinic for its community-oriented rural health care practice that has improved direct access to health care services.

"It really comes back to the number of doctors in the clinic that are willing to take those students for three to six weeks. Generally at any given time in the year, we probably have at least two medical students that are visiting here at the Toccoa clinic for their clinical training and rotations," Cronic said.

Toccoa Clinic was also recognized for the information it provides rural people through innovative and comprehensive approaches.

According to Cronic, the Toccoa Clinic is the fulfillment of a dream by two past local doctors.

In 1938, Dr. Green wrote a letter to Dr. Forester of Stephens County Hospital outlining what the medical community would look like in Stephens County in the future.

"He said in that letter that Toccoa would have an adequate hospital that was of adequate size, but was well equipped. He predicted it would be staffed with trained professionals who were recognized for their excellence and their work in medical care. He also said there would be interns that would get their medical training here before they went out to pursue their medical career," noted Cronic.

Since it opened in 1946, the Toccoa Clinic has served more than one million patients.

A Toccoa man told police two cars parked on his pond street property had been stolen. The vehicles are described as a 1987 Pontiac Grand AM and a 1991 Buick LeSabre. Both the cars were white. The victim told police he was storing the vehicles for a friend and did not belong to him. He said he did not know the VIN numbers for each vehicle but would get them from the owner.

A customer at Los Amigos Restaurant on Big A Road told police that when she left the restaurant and returned to her vehicle she discovered her purse was missing. The purse contained personal items valued at $135.

Stephens County Sheriff’s deputies are looking into a home invasion in Eastanollee. The victim said he discovered a tool belt and tools had been stolen from the back porch of his Buena Vista Dr. home. He also discovered electrical wiring from the pole to the house had been cut. Extra patrols have been assigned to the area.

Toccoa Police are searching for a man who allegedly damaged a vehicle. It happened in the Toccoa Wal-mart parking lot. The victim said she saw her ex-boyfriend leaving Wal-mart as she was entering. After finishing her shopping, she returned to her vehicle to find a large 13-inch long scratch on the side of her car. The victim believes her ex-boyfriend vandalized her car because of pending legal action against him, and gave police his name and description.

High expectations and positive reinforcement are keys to raising graduation rates at Stephens County High School. That’s according to high school principal David Friend.

Last year, the gradation rate at the high school was 66 percent – below the state-mandated minimum.

Friend says the high school staff is working to identify students who may be at risk for dropping out and trying to support them before it reaches that point.

"We've got several different things working. One is a positive atmosphere so kids want to come to school. You've got to have academic rigor and high standards, and you’ve got to have the expectation that students are going to meet those standards," Friend pointed out.

He says if a student wants to drop out, that student and his parent must meet with Friend first.

Raising the graduation rate is imperative for the kids and their futures, but it is also imperative for the school system.

State guidelines that mandate graduation rates are rising explains Stephens County school system spokeswoman, Sherri Whiten.

"Another indicator for Annual Yearly Progress (AYP) is the graduation rate," explained Whiten. "High schools in Georgia have to have a graduation rate of 70% this year or higher to make AYP. For schools that don't meet that percentage, there will be two second looks - a multi-year average, and then a safe harbor calculation that will look for an improvement rate. This past year, the graduation rate for Stephens County High School was 66.1%," she said.

Whiten points out that the high school exceeded the standards in math and English, but still struggles to reach the graduation rate standard.

Toccoa Police are investigating a rash of break-ins at businesses on West Currahee St. All of them happened over last weekend.

In the first two incidents, thieves hit the Toccoa Pawn Shop and Stan’s Service Station. At the pawn shop, they broke into the coke machines and took about $10 in change. At Stan’s, another soda machine was broken into and about $30 in change taken.

On Sunday, the owner of a barbershop on West Currahee told police when he returned to his shop Sunday morning, he noticed someone had taken about 50 of the CD’s he had for sale. He said also taken were two basketball jerseys he had on the wall.

Officers took pictures, fingerprints, and blood samples. All of the cases were turned over to detectives, but so far no arrests have been made.

The arrest of a paroled burglar has lead to a significant drop in the crime rate in Lavonia. Last week, authorities arrested 42-year old Adam Lamar Burrell, aka Andy Burrell and charged him with burglarizing Fanello Industries on at least two separate occasions.

Lavonia Police Chief Randy Shirley said Burrell had returned to Lavonia in February and that’s when an unusually high number of burglaries started being reported.

Now that Burrell is back behind bars, the burglaries have virtually stopped.

"We're almost where we should be should be with no burglaries or thefts being reported," Chief Shirley explained. "I have to also attribute that to my officers and their high-visibility patrols in those areas of the city. We've also instituted some new procedures in dealing with individuals who are out after midnight," he said.

After that arrest last week, a Stephens County man was also arrested after being caught on the Fanello property in a restricted area.

A police chase into Stephens County lead to the man’s arrest who said he was only there to apply for a job. Chief Shirley said the man’s story checked out.

"We did follow up after his arrest and did find out that he was indeed there to apply for a job. We anticipate that we will reduce the charges from criminal trespass to a warning. We won't dismiss it because he was in an area where he should not have been," Chief Shirley said.

Connected to last week’s burglary arrest was the recent bust of two men who police say were carrying 65 rocks of crack cocaine. The men were allegedly driving Burrell’s truck. According to chief Shirley, since Burrell’s arrest, drug crimes have also dropped.

"We haven’t' made any drug arrests in several of the high-crime drug areas. You don't see individuals out on the street. We may not have stopped them completely from selling drugs, but we certainly stopped them in those areas," he said.

Meantime, Chief Shirley said Lavonia Police would continue their stepped up patrols in the high-crime neighborhoods.

Patients and staff at Stephens County Hospital only have to wait about three more weeks for phase one of the hospital’s construction project to be finished.

"It’s more than a face lift. It's really a renovation project," Hospital Administrator Ed Gambrell said. "We've gutted the area from floor to ceiling and are rebuilding. So, everything will be brand-new and state-of-the-art, including the air system. We're putting in new head walls, the unit at the head of a patient bed, so everything will be brand new in it," he concluded.

Phase 1, which began in January, saw an overhaul to the second and third floors near the cafeteria end of the hospital. This phase is the longest because of the air conditioning work that had to be done.

Gambrell says the entire $5.3 million project will be completed by June or July.

Phase 2 and phase three, encompassing the rest of the hospital will not take as long as the first phase has, he says.

Time is running out for parents of special needs children to apply for a scholarship for their child.

It has called the Special Education Needs Scholarship and is being offered by the Georgia Department of Education.

The Department of Education is extending the sign up period to September 21. Ava White is a special education teacher who is starting her own school for special needs students in Gainesville.

White says many parents are not aware of the scholarship. According to White, the scholarship can give parents of special needs children more educational choices.

"A lot of times, kids might need a smaller student-teacher ratio than they’ve got or they might need a service that their school is not able to provide. So, this new law which grants money for special needs students to go to private school, gives their parents choices they might not have had to get an education," White said.

There are a number of special education programs at private schools in Northeast Georgia, including the Ava White School in Gainesville and Lighthouse Christian Academy in Clarkesville.

Only Georgia and Florida are offering the needs scholarship, which white calls groundbreaking.

Parents can sign up for the scholarship by going to the Georgia Department of Education Web site.

To be eligible for the scholarship, students must have been enrolled in a special education program last year.

Patients in Northeast Georgia now have the option of hyperbaric treatment for non-healing wounds. Northeast Georgia Medical Center’s Wound Healing Center now offers the treatment.

Non-healing wounds can be a serious problem for many people, including the elderly and people with mobility impairments and chronic medical conditions.

Leigh Pascucelli, operations manager for the Wound Healing Center says the chamber has been in operation for about a week.

"We've only been using it for a week today. It usually takes about 20 treatments before you'll see a significant change in a patient, but other centers in our network that have been using a hyperbaric chamber to treat patients have seen great results," she said.

Many people live with painful wounds for months with no improvement. The hyperbaric treatment helps promote wound healing by increasing levels of blood oxygen. During the treatment, the patient lies in a hyperbaric chamber for 90 minutes to two hours.

The treatment has been shown to be effective for diabetes-related ulcers, radiation burns, facial injuries, and other chronic non-healing wounds.

Agents with the Georgia Bureau of Investigation hope to learn in the coming weeks whether remains found in a Carnesville creek last spring belong to a missing Gwinnett County woman.

The bones of a woman were found in May by people clearing beaver dams in a creek on Akin Road off Highway 320 in Carnesville.

Franklin County authorities and GBI agents spent the next two weeks dredging the creek hoping to find more bones, but were unsuccessful.

What was found, including clothing, was put on national missing persons database. In Gwinnett County, Lilburn authorities saw the clothing and believe they might belong to a woman who disappeared over three years ago.

According to GBI investigator in charge John Heinen, they are still waiting to hear from the FBI Crime Lab in Washington, DC for a positive ID.

"Within a month of discovering the remains, we sent them off to the FBI Crime Lab in Quantico, VA

Investigators recovered several articles of clothing including a sweater, pants, and sneakers, which were put out on a national crime database.

Heinen said Lilburn authorities say they are similar to what the Lilburn woman was wearing the night she went missing.

"There are similarities, but right now we can’t say anything definite until we get back the FBI results," he said.

41-year old Leslie Adams disappeared in October of 2005 shortly after obtaining a restraining order against her ex-boyfriend.

Voters in some 20 communities around Georgia are going to the polls today for a special election.

In Rabun County, Clayton voters are deciding whether to allow the Sunday sale of liquor by the drink.

The special election proposes a referendum, which asks if Clayton citizens want to allow city government to permit and regulate Sunday sales of alcoholic beverages.

Clayton’s electorate is comprised of 1, 135 persons who will answer yes or no to the question on the ballot. If passed, Clayton businesses earning at least 50% of their gross income from either food sales or overnight lodging could sell alcoholic beverages by the drink from 12:30pm until midnight Sundays.

Some people say the sale of alcoholic drinks another day of the week could lead to a higher crime rate, while others say the city would generate more revenue if the referendum passes.

Here in Stephens County, voters will go to the polls in November to vote on a proposed special local option sales tax. Toccoa residents will also be electing four city commissioners.

The Stephens County Hospital Authority has two new members, but only one can truly be called new.

Authority members elected Stan Roberts and Elliot Caudell to the board in their monthly meeting Monday.

Roberts is the general manager of Hayes Buick car dealership and says he is excited to be serving on the board.

On the other end of the spectrum, Caudell, a local businessperson, was voted to his 6^th term on the Authority. He has served in this position for 30 years and says he is "humbled" to be voted for once more. He remembers when the budget was $8 million and now it stands at $900 million.

In his time on the Authority, Caudell says he has seen great changes in the technology available and an increase the talent of the medical staff. An authority member serves for 6 years each term.

A Hartwell couple is charged with prescription forgery in Stephens County. It happened last week at the CVS Pharmacy on Big A Road in Toccoa.

According to Toccoa Police Captain Butch Newkirk, a suspect identified as Jason Powell Kelley of Haven Drive in Hartwell called in a prescription for 90 Loritabs and 90 tabs of Zanax.

Pharmacists became suspicious and notified Toccoa police. Newkirk said the pharmacist told officers physicians do not usually call in prescriptions that large for those drugs.

Kelley was arrested at the scene. Also arrested was Tracy Sloan also of Haven Drive in Hartwell.

Both are charged with obtaining a controlled substance by forgery.

Fall festivals and Christmas lights dominated the conversation at the Martin City Council meeting Monday.

The council considered a list of needs the Martin Woman’s Club presented in preparation for the upcoming fall festival, which included plans for electrical needs and sprucing up the area the festival is held in.

The club told council members they would provide an electrician to stay at the festival to address any electrical needs the participating booths needed.

Council members asked that all the electrical setups be returned to their original arrangement, so they would be ready for the Christmas lights to be installed in early December. The Martin Fall Festival is scheduled for October 27.

Police are reviewing a surveillance tape of a suspect who allegedly tried to steal a wine cooler from the Fernside Package Store.

The owner of the store told police he spotted the suspect trying to leave the store and confronted him.

The suspect denied trying to steal anything and left, but not without the owner getting his tag number.

According to the storeowner, the same individual allegedly stole a Smirnoff cooler at an earlier date.

So far, police have not made an arrest.

A Toccoa woman was arrested after she tried to leave Quality Foods with over $160 in merchandise.

The store’s loss control officer stopped the suspect after he said he watched her put items in several plastic bags then leaves the store.

She reportedly told the officer she had been sick and did not realize what she had done. The merchandise was returned to the store and the suspect arrested and charged with theft by shoplifting. Her name has not been released.

Sheriff’s deputies are investigating a burglary at a home on Cooper Valley Road in Martin. The victim told deputies five guns and a ring were missing. Two of the guns are described as 22-caliber rifles, two are muzzleloaders, and one is a Ruger 357-handgun.

The ring is described as an emerald cut diamond in a yellow gold setting. That investigation is continuing.

Home prices are rising in Stephens County, while neighboring counties are seeing a drop in prices. Even with that drop, prices here for a single family home are still a bargain.

The average price of a single family home in Stephens County this year rose to $140,467, according to the Norton native intelligence market watch. That is up 12% from $124,363 in 2006.

Houses in Habersham County are averaging $162,000 – down from $175,000 last year.

In Rabun County, the price of a single-family home averages $243,000 – a drop from $287,000 a year ago.

Homes in White County are averaging $199,000 from $244,000 in 2006 – the biggest drop in prices in northeast Georgia.

Expect to see prison work crews out and about Toccoa City streets. Toccoa has entered into a contract with the state prison system to have about 10 prisoners clean up blighted areas.

City Manager Billy Morse said the contract is part of the goals for 2007 city commissioners outlined in January.

"Basically we have paid for a guard and we get ten inmates from the Whitworth facility in Hart County. They come to Toccoa everyday and work on public rights of way. We’ve had them in the cemetery doing some work there. Now, they’re starting to work on City rights of way cutting grass, picking up litter, that sort of thing," Morse explained.

Under the agreement, Toccoa pays the state about $35,000 a year for the work crews. Morse said to hire 10-fulltime city maintenance workers would cost about ten times that.

"You’re talking well over $300,000. Probably closer to $400,000 if we had to hire ten employees and work them like this inmate program. So obviously it’s saving the City about $300,000 a year," he said.

The contract is for one year, but Morse said the City expects to renew it every year.

Motorists who make use of State Route145 into Franklin County will have to find an alternate route later this month.

The Georgia Department of Transportation is closing the bridge over the North Fork of the Broad River on SR145 on September 25.

Crews will be replacing the current bridge with a new one, a process that will take about a year.

"We are replacing the bridge on State Route 145 over the North Fork of the Broad River but to do that we must close the bridge. Site work is underway at the bridge now. The bridge will close Tuesday, September 25^th if weather allows," explained DOT Communications Officer Teri Pope. "The bridge will be closed and the detour will be in place for 300 days or June 20, 2008. We hope the work can be completed faster if weather permits."     

The detour routes will be marked with signs.

Motorists can get to their homes and businesses on State Route 145 but must approach their destination from the side of the bridge their destination is on because the bridge will be completely closed.

"We reviewed several options for reconstructing these bridges.  The fastest and most economical way to replace them is a complete closure. We know it will inconvenience you and we apologize up front but once we will be able to do the work twice as fast by closing the bridges," said Pope.

After the State Route 145 Bridge is rebuild work will begin on the State Route 51 Bridge over the Middle Fork of the Broad River. Both bridges are in the same project and the completion date for this $5.3 million bridge replacement project is December 31, 2008.

Georgia DOT urges travelers to call 511 for updated information about road/lane closure or construction project. Both bridges are in the same project and the completion date for this $5.3 million bridge replacement project is December 31, 2008.

No word yet on whether charges will be filed against a driver who hit a school bus. It happened Friday afternoon on Rock Creek Road.

Troopers with the Georgia State Patrol said the bus was stopped with its red lights flashing and stop sign out when a vehicle coming from the opposite direction struck the bus’s left front fender.

The driver told police she applied her brakes and skidded. Her vehicle then crossed the yellow line and hit the bus.

"It was a minor accident and none of the students were hurt," noted School System spokeswoman Sheri Whiten. "The students were loaded onto a different bus and were taken home in no time," Whiten said.

The bus was carrying high school and middle school students at the time. On Wednesday, all Stephens County school students who ride the bus will participate in an evacuation drill, which is slated for all the buses in the system.

Supreme Court Judge James Cornwell may face charges in connection with an accident early last week in Rabun County. The Georgia State Patrol’s accident investigation team is still looking into the wreck.

And according to Sgt. Tommy Waldrop, commander of the Toccoa Post, no further information will be released until that investigation is complete.

The wreck happened about 3:30a.m. September 11th.

According to reports, Judge Cornwell was traveling south on U.S. 441 when he lost control of his SUV and left the road. The vehicle rolled several times before hitting a tree and catching fire.

Cornwell reportedly suffered minor injuries, but refused medical treatment, called someone to pick him up and went home. Investigators are trying to determine why the Cornwell chose to leave the scene and not return.

SEPTEMBER "COLLEGE SAVINGS" MONTH
September 17, 2007

For the fifth consecutive year, Governor Sonny Perdue has declared September as College Savings Month in Georgia, urging families to plan and save for their children’s education and take advantage of Georgia ’s 529 College Savings Plan.

The savings plan allows for tax-free withdrawals for qualified higher education expenses such as tuition, room and board, books, fees and required equipment.

The Georgia 529 College Savings Plan has enjoyed rapid growth since its launch in 2002, and this year, surpassed $500 million in account assets.

Money Magazine also recently rated Georgia ’s 529 Plan as one of the best in the nation, citing its low expenses and tax advantages for contributions.

In early 2007, Governor Perdue signed HB225 – legislation that makes all contributors to the Georgia 529 College Savings Plan eligible for the state income tax deduction.

Previously, only a contributor who claimed the beneficiary as a dependent could take advantage of the state tax deduction.

The law also removes the previous income restriction, enabling all Georgia tax payers to take full advantage of the tax break – regardless of their income.

Until now, to qualify for the state tax deduction Georgia 529 account owners had to have an adjusted gross income of $100,000 or less for joint filers or $50,000 or less for single filers.

First-time claims for unemployment insurance dropped last month.

The Georgia Department of Labor said that 34,340 laid-off workers filed first-time claims for unemployment insurance benefits in August.

That’s down 23.7 percent from July. The decrease in claims came mostly in manufacturing industries, as employees affected by seasonal layoffs in July returned to work in August. 

While initial claims were down from July to August, they were up 1.4 percent from August 2006 when 33,852 were filed. 

Stephens County School Board Chair Jerry Steele, says the Board is still deciding how best to fill outgoing Board member James Thomas’ seat. He said finding the right candidate is most important.

Thomas announced his resignation Monday, saying he is moving out of the district he represents and therefore, according to board policy, must resign.

He has served District 2 Post 1 for five years.

Thomas said he is proud of the work the BOE has done in the last several years.

"I’m just ticked to death with what’s been accomplished over the past five years and I’d like to think I had a small part in that," he said.

He went on to say that despite cuts in state funding, the BOE has continued to focus on raising the level of achievement from Stephens County students. He points to rising test scores as tangible proof of this.

Board chair, Steele says the person chosen to fill Thomas’ seat will serve out the rest of his term, which is the rest of this year and then three more years.

Anyone who is interested in the job can contact the Stephens County School Superintendent’s office or talk to a school board member. The candidate would have to live in District 2.

It’s happening again.

What’s known as the Nigerian Scam has hit another Stephens County citizen. A local woman lost $1200 after believing she had won a lottery she had not entered, according to Stephens County Sheriff Chief Deputy Mike Crozier.

Crozier is warning citizens again not to fall for this type of trick "These letters are bogus," Crozier said. "If you didn’t join the lottery or buy a ticket for the lottery, I guarantee you won’t be winning the lottery," he said.

In this latest scam, the victim receives a letter in the mail saying he has won some kind of lottery; usually in Europe or the U.K.

In the latest version, a check is enclosed with the letter, with an explanation that the check is to help pay the taxes on the winnings.

The victim is instructed to cash the check and wire the money to the alleged lottery office, where the taxes will be paid and the windfall will be sent to him.

Instead of receiving their lottery winnings, however, the victim loses when the phony check comes back a week later as insufficient, and the victim is now responsible for that amount.

"If you get one of these letters, you can notify your local law enforcement or shred it. Be careful, be cautious and please, don’t send money anywhere," Crozier said.

He goes on to caution people not to simply throw these kinds of letters away because a thief could go through the trash and steal ones identity.

This type of scam is also known as a 419 Scam, which refers to the article of the Nigerian criminal code, which deals with fraud.

It was a short but positive financial report once again for the City of Toccoa.

In his monthly review, Toccoa City Finance Director Emory Stephens told commissioners cash flows for the summer are down.

"The cash balance operating funds are $1,284,000 as of August 31st. It has dropped some over the last month," Stephens said.

Stephens also pointed out that the City made some significant purchases over the summer, including new police vehicles as well as an order change to the downtown streetscape renovation project.

Still, Stephens said he has a good feeling about the state of Toccoa's finances.

"I'm pretty optimistic about it. I do think that it's unlikely we'll show any gain over the fiscal period in the operating cash. We may show some decline, but we will reduce our debt load by $2 million and we are expecting to pay cash for our capital expenditures this year," he said.

And once again, the Golf Fund found itself in the red after a brief spate of revenue. Stephens attributed that to the extremely hot weather in August.

Hundreds of native Toccoans are returning this weekend for the fourth Toccoa High School alumni reunion, which gets underway tonight.

Organizers are expecting about 300 people to gather at a reception at the Elks Lodge this evening and to stay throughout the weekend for other events.

Peggy Pelfrey, the treasurer of the Alumni Association and a 1950 graduate, says folks will be coming from all over the country, some even as far away as California.

There will be a hospitality table set up at the Mitchell Allen Room of the Toccoa Historic Society’s Military Museum.

An all-graduate celebration rather than just a single class year reunion is held every other year.

Pelfrey was in the first class to go all the way through the Toccoa High School building that was on Pond Street.

She says she remembers a successful football season, since weightlifter Paul Anderson was a member of the team.