Category: News

On March 21, at approximately 7 p.m., two Stephens County Sheriff’s Office patrol cars were involved in a crash in which they collided with each other.  According to a press release issued by Georgia State Patrol Post 7, deputies Sammy Feaster, 50, and Cody Bearden, 28, were “driving in a line on Prather Bridge Road when a 2009 Honda Accord […]

The Stephens County Board of Commissioners will meet at 6 p.m. today for a regularly scheduled meeting. The meeting will take place at the Historic Courthouse, 37 West Tugalo Street in Toccoa. On the agenda for the meeting is consideration of a Conditional Use Request to allow a tree nursery on a property currently zoned residential single on Rock Quarry […]

On March 21, the Democratic Committee of Stephens County donated an American Flag to Mary  Smith, director of the Mable Thomas Scott Senior Center.  Willis K. Crump, Committee First Vice Chair, stated, “After our county made such wonderful renovations to the center, our executive committee voted to purchase a new flag and donate it to the center. We hope having […]

Three recent graduates of the Basic Law Enforcement Training Course at the Georgia Public Safety Training Center in Athens are now certified peace officers and have joined the ranks of the Stephens County Sheriff’s Office.  In a social media announcement, Stephens County Sheriff Randy Shirley congratulated Deputy Aaron Chappelear, Deputy Nicholas Moavero and Deputy Joseph Tucker on their graduation. He […]

On Wednesday, March 13, Stephens County High School (SCHS) competed in the Georgia Technology Student Association (TSA) Electrathon at Lanier Raceway in Braselton.  Thirty-two high school teams from across the state competed to see who could complete the most laps on a single battery charge in two, hour-long races. SCHS entered two electric race cars, driven by students Luke Duncan […]

Recent fire extinguisher training for employees at a local manufacturing plant paid off at 2:06 a.m. last Friday when a fire broke out in a processing machine and traveled into the  ventilation ductwork and the air filtration system.  Plant personnel shut down power to the entire plant and used multiple dry chemical fire extinguishers to knock down visible flames on […]

The Toccoa City Commission will meet at 5 p.m. today for a regularly scheduled meeting. The meeting will take place at City Hall, 92 N. Alexander Street.  On the agenda is approval of the minutes from the March 11 City Commission meeting; included in the minutes is the city’s recap of the discussion regarding an agenda item consideration of the […]

Stephens County Elections Supervisor Bruce Carlisle reports that the state-mandated Risk Limiting Audit for elections with state or federal offices was conducted on Wednesday, March 20.   The Georgia Secretary of State’s office randomly selects the ballot batches to be audited by the actual rolling of the dice, which was done on Tuesday, March 19, at the State Capitol where the […]

Contributions by Georgia Recorder and Capitol Beat News Services Following five years of unsuccessful attempts by Georgia Republican lawmakers to expand the state’s school voucher program, Republican Senators on Wednesday cast enough votes to send the latest version of the controversial plan to Gov. Brian Kemp’s desk to be signed into law. On Wednesday, several Republican House Majority Caucus members […]

During the Stephens County Board of Education meeting on March 19, the board approved hiring Jennifer King as principal of Big A Elementary School. King will follow the leadership of Regina Bayles, who recently announced her retirement at the end of the 2023-2024 school year after 34 years of service. King has served the White County School System for 23 […]