The new Habersham County Board of Education meeting room is in the old Clarkesville Elementary School gymnasium. (Jerry Neace/NowHabersham.com)
The Habersham County Board of Education christened its new boardroom Thursday afternoon. Members gathered for a work session, meeting for the first time in the newly renovated space.
The boardroom is inside the historic Clarkesville Elementary School gymnasium, now the Central Office Annex. Over the years, the building has been used for various purposes, from an alternative school to a storage facility.
The renovated Habersham County School System’s Central Office Annex is located on Holcomb Street, behind the Board of Education Administrative Offices in Clarkesville. (NowHabersham.com)Central Office Annex (NowHabersham.com)
“We are very excited about our new space,” said Habersham County Assistant School Superintendent Patrick Franklin.
According to Franklin, the school system had limited meeting spaces for large crowds without using an auditorium, depriving students of using that space. The old board meeting room would only seat 64 people and was “cramped” when full.
The new meeting room had 98 chairs set out for the work session. Franklin said they could “easily seat 130,” making it more comfortable for meetings.
“The public will be able to have a larger space,” he said.
School board members met for the first time in the newly renovated boardroom on Thursday, September 7, 2023. (Jerry Neace/NowHabersham.com)
Franklin recognized Facilities and Maintenance Director Denise Gunn and her team for the renovation project.
“I want to thank Ms. Gunn and her team as this was an in-house project that we did with contractors, and we handled it all as the Habersham County School System,” he said. “She did a wonderful job.”
Now Habersham asked Franklin how much the renovation cost, but he said he did not have those figures available at the work session. Friday after the meeting he responded that the total cost of the renovation was $343,412.
The Piedmont volleyball team dropped a pair of matches in tournament play on Friday, with both matches determined by a 3-0 decision. The Lions lost to Virginia Wesleyan and then Bridgewater despite nearly claiming a set against the Eagles.
Match 1: Virginia Wesleyan 3, Piedmont 0
The Lions were up against an undefeated Marlins team that made quick work in each of the three sets. Virginia Wesleyan did not allow Piedmont more than 14 points in a set claiming the match 25-14, 25-10, and 25-11.
Piedmont had six aces against the Marlins, with freshman Kaylee Ashcraft totaling five. Vanessa Manzo had all 12 assists for Piedmont.
Match 2: Bridgewater 3, Piedmont 0
It was a tight battle with the Eagles in the second match of the day as the Lions nearly took the first set. It took extra points, but it was Bridgewater who took the edge to claim the opening set 27-25.
In the second set, Bridgewater used that momentum to earn a 25-13 win and claimed the match with a 25-21 win.
Piedmont fell behind 16-11 in the opening set but charged ahead late to lead 23-21. The Lions were outscored 6-2 in the final points to drop the set 27-25.
The Lions threatened in the third set leading 17-16, but were unable to withstand the Eagles’ comeback.
Ashcraft led Piedmont with seven kills, while Vanessa Manzo had 21 assists.
Up next, Piedmont will conclude the Raleigh Invitational taking on Central College and Guilford College.
STANDOUT PERFORMANCES:
Kaylee Ashcraft posted five aces against the Marlins.
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE:
Virginia Wesleyan posted 43 kills to Piedmont’s 14 in the opening match of the day.
Remy the camel joins Shelley and Adam Tullis for a photo op at the Habersham County Fairgrounds on Wednesday, September 6, 2023. The theme of this year's Chattahoochee Mountain Fair is "It's Fair O'Clock Somewhere."(Jerry Neace/NowHabersham.com)
More. That’s the unofficial theme of this year’s Chattahoochee Mountain Fair as organizers work to deliver more rides, more entertainment, more vendors, more food, and more fun.
The fair opens Friday night at the Habersham County Fairgrounds in Clarkesville. The grounds were buzzing with activity on Wednesday as crews made final preparations to welcome visitors.
Except for its hiatus during the pandemic, the Chattahoochee Mountain Fair has been an annual staple in Northeast Georgia since 1975. Each year, it attracts tens of thousands of visitors to Habersham County. It’s Shelley Tullis’ job to put out the welcome mat.
As the fair’s general manager, Tullis is tasked with making sure everything and everyone is in place. She says the feedback from fairgoers over the last few years was that they “wanted more,” so the fair committee has worked hard this year to deliver.
Fairgoers can expect more rides geared toward teenagers and adults. That doesn’t mean there will be fewer kids’ rides this year — it just means there will be more rides, Tullis says.
Whereas last year’s fair only had about five or six food vendors, this year there will be twelve. (One had to cancel because of Hurricane Idalia).
Carnival rides being assembled for the Chattahoochee Mountain Fair opening this Friday. (Jerry Neace/NowHabersham.com)
More vendors will be set up inside and outside the Dewey H. Tench Pavilion. Over 60 vendors have signed up to sell their arts and crafts and hawk their wares.
Musical entertainment will cut across genres, with rock-n-roll, bluegrass, country, and gospel concerts scheduled at different times during the 9-day event.
Aside from music, there will be entertainers with animal shows and science experiments. Fairgoers will even get an opportunity to ride a camel.
Remy, one of the camels owned by Hog Diggity Dogs and More, joined Tullis and her husband, Adam, for Now Habersham’s photo shoot outside the fair’s rodeo ring. Inside the ring, Habersham County Road Department crews worked to replace worn-out fencing ahead of next week’s competition.
Habersham County Public Facilities Director Mike Bramlett walks beside the rubber tire loader as crews repair fencing at the rodeo arena. (Jerry Neace/NowHabersham.com)
This year’s Chattahoochee Mountain Fair Rodeo will be the biggest ever, with competitors vying for their share of an $18,000 purse. As they’ve done for years, local auto dealer Hayes Chevrolet of Baldwin is sponsoring the rodeo.
“The fair is coming together great,” says Chattahoochee Mountain Fair Board of Directors President Lowell Tench. With all of the extra attractions and vendors added in this year, he says, “I believe it is going to make for a more enjoyable outing for families in the area.”
Tullis says she’s grateful for the generous support they’ve received from sponsors. She set a lofty goal to raise the money needed to expand this year’s fair.
Chattahoochee Mountain Fair Board of Directors President Lowell Tench speaks with a fair employee during set-up. (Jerry Neace/NowHabersham.com)
“We exceeded our sponsorship goal, and we couldn’t have done it without all of our sponsors,” says Tullis.
The Chattahoochee Mountain Fair opens at 5 p.m. on Friday, September 8, and runs through Saturday, September 16. Rides open one hour after fairground gates open. Gate admission does not include tickets to ride.
Check here or on the fair’s website for nightly hours, prices, and discounts.
Gentlemen, get out your lederhosen. Ladies, get out your dirndl. Oktoberfest has begun. Helen’s 53rd annual Oktoberfest began Thursday, September 7, and will run through October 29.
It is the longest-running Oktoberfest in the United States.
The festival may have officially started on Thursday, but activities kick into high gear this weekend.
(Courtesy: Helen Chamber of Commerce)
The Oktoberfest Parade is set for noon on Saturday, September 9.
The parade will travel from the Helen Welcome Center on Edelweiss Strasse, north along the Chattahoochee River, and turn left onto Chattahoochee Street on its way to Main Street downtown.
The parade route ends at Yonah Street at Betty’s Country Store.
Immediately after the parade, the traditional tapping of the first keg will take place at the Fussen Biergarten at the Helen Festhalle on Edelweiss Strasse.
Keg tapping during Oktoberfest. (Courtesy: Helen Chamber of Commerce)
The Helen Chamber of Commerce bills the nearly two-month-long event as “beer, brats & bands” with no passport required.
For a full schedule of Oktoberfest events, visit the Helen Chamber of Commerce website or click here.
(GA Recorder) — Salaried workers who have been ineligible for overtime pay would benefit from a proposed Biden administration regulation.
The Department of Labor’s new rule would require employers to compensate full-time workers in management, administrative, or other professional roles for any overtime worked if they make less than $55,068 annually. Currently, the salary threshold is $35,568. The change is expected to affect 3.6 million workers.
The rule would also provide automatic changes every three years to the salary level to keep up with changes in earnings. U.S. territories that are subject to the federal minimum wage would have these same overtime protections, which rolls back a Trump administration change made in 2019.
“I’ve heard from workers again and again about working long hours, for no extra pay, all while earning low salaries that don’t come anywhere close to compensating them for their sacrifice,” said Acting Secretary of Labor Julie Su in a statement.
The new standard salary level proposed by the agency would be tied to the 35th percentile of weekly earnings of salaried workers in the lowest-wage region of the country. There is voter support for a change in the current regulations. According to a 2022 Data for Progress survey of likely voters, 65% said they either strongly supported or somewhat supported raising the salary threshold for overtime pay.
The rule will go through a public comment period as part of the rulemaking process to give supporters and opponents time to offer feedback. The process can take months, which could mean it won’t be finalized until next year. Labor rights advocates and economists say that people working in retail, restaurants and healthcare would be among the workers most affected by the regulation.
Judy Conti, director of government affairs at the National Employment Law Project, a worker advocacy nonprofit, said many workers who do overtime-eligible work are paid just over the current threshold so their companies can avoid paying time-and-a-half. The proposed rule would help address this, she said.
“A lot of these dollar stores call people managers and supervisors and pay them $36,000 a year. Then they claim that they’re overtime exempt and they may do a little managing and they may do a little supervising, but mostly they’re working the cash register or they’re stocking shelves or they’re unloading in the back. They’re not doing work that is considered truly bona fide executive, professional or administrative work,” she said.
Conti added that this rule would provide an incentive to employers to manage employee time wisely or hire more workers to handle the workload.
“… There’s [currently] no incentive to really manage that time wisely and see if it should instead be spread to other people,” Conti said.
Erica Groshen, senior economics adviser at the Cornell University School of Industrial and Labor Relations, said the regulation should be fair to employers.
“I think the important thing to realize is that this will affect all of those employers equally,” she said. “It’s not putting some at a disadvantage compared to others. It’s going to change the playing field for everybody. You could argue that it’s going to change the playing field more for employers who were actively trying to take advantage of the erosion of the applicability of the law.”
In terms of the potential effects on the economy, Groshen said there could be some pass-through to prices for consumers depending on how competitive the industry is.
“To the extent that these companies are quite profitable, then the employers might try to hold on to market share by not increasing prices as much. Their profits might be a bit lower. Right now, nationally, profit rates are actually quite high. They’ve been high for a while and rising. This would tend to reduce inequality if it comes out of profits. Otherwise, then the money is going to come from somewhere,” Groshen said.
That may mean that some employers will automate more services, such as electronic ordering at restaurants or buying equipment for food preparation, she added.
The Trump administration last changed the salary threshold in 2019 from $23,660, set in 2004, to its current $35,568 salary level, which was significantly lower than the $47,476 level the Obama administration tried to implement in 2016. A federal judge blocked the Obama administration’s effort saying that the threshold was too high and that the administration did not have the authority to make that particular change. Twenty-one states, including Nevada, Arizona, Kentucky and Wisconsin, brought the lawsuit. The states argued that the rule “could deliberately exhaust state budgets” and was unconstitutional. In 2017, the same judge, an Obama appointee, ruled against the regulation again.
Conti said she’s optimistic that the rule is less likely to be blocked this time. She argues that the judge’s reasoning for stopping implementation of the rule lacked “legal or economic support.” Attorneys for law firms specializing in employment and labor law, however, are still anticipating legal action against the rule. Some attorneys suggest that the lack of a Senate-confirmed labor secretary makes the regulation more vulnerable to legal action. Biden nominated Su for labor secretary six months ago.
Many ofthesame groups that opposed or were critical of the overhaul of overtime regulations during the Obama administration have taken similar positions on the Biden administration’s effort. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce has called on the Department of Labor to “adjust” the rule. It did not release any specifics for what it wants the agency to do but criticized the department’s proposal to automatically change the salary threshold every few years.
“The Department of Labor’s proposed overtime regulation is the wrong rulemaking at the wrong time,” Marc Freedman, vice president of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Workplace Policy, said in a statement. “It represents a more than 50% spike in the salary threshold and will increase costs for small businesses, nonprofits, and other employers at a time when businesses already face persistent workforce shortages that are hindering the economy.”
Industry groups such as the National Restaurant Association and National Association of Manufacturers have beencritical of the rule for similar reasons.
Conti said she sees the proposed rule as stimulating for the economy and good for employees as well as employers.
“Adding jobs and getting more money into more people’s hands is good for the economy,” Conti said. “We’ve seen a lot of workers over the past couple of years walking away from jobs when they’re overworked, when they don’t have time for themselves and when they don’t have time for their families. Making sure that workers have moderate work weeks that are 40 hours is good for employers. They’re not going to burn out their employees.”
Sens. Kelly Loeffler and David Perdue share the stage at a campaign event in Forsyth County in November 2020. (Ross Williams/Georgia Recorder)
(GA Recorder) — A Fulton County special grand jury recommended that prosecutors file criminal charges against former Georgia U.S. Sens. David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler and Sen. Lindsey Graham in the sweeping 2020 presidential election interference case.
The grand jury report released Friday reveals that the panel believed that the three U.S. senators and Michael Flynn, a former national security advisor to then-President Donald Trump, were among 21 alleged co-conspirators who should have been indicted in August when a regular grand jury handed down felony racketeering charges against Trump and 18 of his allies. Fulton County Superior Court Judge Robert McBurney, who oversaw the seven-month-long investigation that the special grand jury conducted in 2022, made the full report public on Friday.
The special grand jury heard evidence and testimony from 75 witnesses before suggesting that Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis pursue charges against three dozen people for their involvement in an alleged conspiracy to overturn a 2020 election that saw Democratic President Joe Biden narrowly end Trump’s reelection bid.
In February, a limited section of the special panel’s 28-page report stated that the jurors believed multiple people perjured themselves in the case.
As the 2020 presidential election saga played out in Georgia and multiple other states, Loeffler and Perdue were also on the campaign trail in hotly contested runoff battles with Democratic challengers Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff.
Both Perdue and Loeffler criticized the 2020 election, calling the results a sham. Perdue and Loeffler met with Republican Gov. Brian Kemp after the Nov. 3, 2020 election in an attempt to convince him to convene a special session to overturn Biden’s victory.
Loeffler and Perdue would go on to be defeated by Warnock and Ossoff in their respective election races, an outcome that flipped control of Congress to Democrats as the Biden administration entered office in January 2021.
The U.S. Supreme Court District Court ordered Republican South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham to testify in a Fulton County grand jury investigation into whether illegal efforts were made to overturn the 2020 presidential election in favor of Donald Trump. Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images
The special grand jury also voted 13-7 in favor of charging the veteran South Carolina lawmaker Graham, who faced questions about whether he tried to pressure state election officials about the 2020 election.
Graham’s attorneys have argued that he was performing his duties as chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee when he contacted Georgia secretary of state’s office to ask about the state’s procedures for disqualifying absentee ballots and other election matters.
On Aug. 14, Fulton grand jury indictments resulted in multiple felony counts against Trump and his former personal attorneys Rudy Giuliani and John Eastman, ex-White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows and several false Electoral College voters, including freshman Georgia state Sen. Shawn Still, a Norcross Republican, and David Shafer, a former Georgia Republican Party chairman and state legislator.
Additionally, 20 jurors favored charging three people who avoided being indicted in August: Flynn, top Trump advisor Boris Epshteyn and Georgia attorney Lin Wood, who unsuccessfully challenged the 2020 presidential election results.
Demonstrators gather outside the Georgia Capitol to call for a special session to investigate Fulton DA Fani Willis. (Ross Williams/Georgia Recorder)
(GA Recorder) — One group of Georgia state lawmakers is calling for a special legislative session to defund, investigate, impeach, or otherwise punish Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis after she charged former president Donald Trump and 18 others with trying to overturn the 2020 election in Georgia. That group includes Republican Sens. Colton Moore of Trenton and Brandon Beach of Alpharetta, and Rep. Charlice Byrd of Woodstock.
Another larger and more powerful group has not signed on to do that. Its members include all of the state’s other 233 legislators, but Moore and his trio are not going away quietly, continuing their calls at a press conference and rally at the Capitol Thursday.
Republican Gov. Brian Kemp said going after Willis would “ignore current Georgia law and directly interfere with the proceedings of a separate but equal branch of government,” and House Speaker Jon Burns said the plan “flaunts the idea of separation of powers, if not outright violates it.”
It would also mean convincing two-thirds majorities in both chambers – meaning Moore and Beach would need to talk 36 of their fellow senators into joining in, and Byrd would have the heavy job of convincing 119 of her colleagues to defy the governor and speaker. More than a few Democrats would need to join their conservative GOP colleagues in the plan to exact punishment on Willis, who is also a Democrat.
But Moore said he’s not giving up that easily, firing back at Kemp at a Capitol press conference and rally Thursday.
“The governor has made some statements in his own press conference a week ago that are very disgraceful to the office, the most prestigious office in this state. He calls and references me a grifter and a scammer,” he said. “I represent 200,000 hardworking Georgians in Northwest Georgia. The people that I represent that duly elected me, they sweat hard for their tax dollars and they don’t want their tax dollars funding this type of corrupt government power.”
Sen. Colton Moore speaks before an unusually crowded press conference. (Ross Williams/Georgia Recorder)
Moore narrowly won a first term in the state Senate in 2022, tallying fewer than 15,000 votes in a primary that determined who would represent a reliably red district at the Tennessee border.
Moore said he wants his colleagues to use the power of the budget to direct dollars away from Willis’ office.
“The language would state, all of this money can be used at your discretion, except for Fulton County, and then, constitutionally, to my understanding, we do have to fund the office with something, but I’m proposing one dollar.”
In a gaggle with reporters, Moore indicated that he had not met with the Senate Budget Office or legal counsel to see if his plan is legally possible.
“What do you mean legally possible?” he asked. “I’m a member of the Legislature. I’m a member of the Republic. I don’t ask permission from the Office of Planning and Budgets as to how my constituents’ tax dollars can be spent.”
Moore also dismissed questions about how law enforcement would prosecute suspected criminals with a dollar from the state.
Sen. Colton Moore and Rep. Charlice Byrd. (Ross Williams/Georgia Recorder)
“She’s not fighting crime now, and that’s more the reason to investigate her,” he said.
“Fulton County will have to pay for it,” he added. “The Fulton County Commission will have to tax their citizens more, or they will have to reallocate their tax dollars and fund Fani Willis, but my citizens that I represent do not want their tax dollars going to Fani Willis.”
Moore may lack enough lawmaker support to deliver on his threat, but he did have the support of a crowd of several dozen believers who packed into the seats of a legislative conference room to hear his press conference, cheer him on, and at times, boo members of the media. Some of the crowd were members of the Tea Party Patriots.
Tea Party cofounder Jenny Beth Martin said Willis’ actions crossed the line into blatantly political.
“District Attorney Fani Lewis (sic) has abused her power of office for partisan political purposes, and that is wrong,” she said. “Her wrongful prosecution – which I actually think is a persecution – must be defunded, and an investigation must ensue. And if that investigation leads to an impeachment, so be it.”
Bruce LeVell (Ross Williams/Georgia Recorder)
Multiple audits, recounts and legal challenges found no evidence of widespread legal fraud in the 2020 election, but none of those auditors, recounters or challengers were in the crowd Thursday. Instead, most were convinced the election had been stolen and Trump was being punished for speaking up.
“It’s okay to challenge the election,” said Bruce LeVell, an ally and advisor to Trump. “The election was over. ‘Let me call Brad (Raffensperger, Georgia Secretary of State) up. Brad, I know I won. I know there’s 11,000 (votes). Go back and look.’ That’s called questioning. That’s called asking questions.”
The indictment alleges Trump led a criminal conspiracy to overturn his loss. Parts of that alleged conspiracy include trying to convince Raffensperger to illegally inflate his vote total, using fake electors to override votes, intimidating election workers into falsely admitting to miscounting votes and breaking into election equipment.
Some Republicans appear fed up with Moore’s goals and tactics – which include posting legislative colleagues’ phone numbers to social media and publicly disparaging those who disagree with him and using language some fear could incite violence against legislators, prosecutors or grand jurors.
Demonstrators rally in support of a special session to defund Fulton District Attorney Fani Willis. (Ross Williams/Georgia Recorder)
The unhappy atmosphere has led some to speculate he may face punishment, including being kicked out of the caucus, but Moore struck a defiant tone Thursday.
“We do go into caucus behind closed doors starting on Monday for three days. It’ll be the first time that the Senate Republican caucus has met officially as a caucus since this has went down. My answer to your question and my answer to my fellow Republicans is make my day. Vote me out of the caucus.”
Moore pledged to continue to make Republicans’ lives difficult up until the session begins in January, at which point he will continue making Republicans’ lives difficult.
“I’m going to continue to call, and I’m sure other colleagues are as well, to call for a special session up until we are in session, and at that point, I will motion to amend the budget and defund Fani Willis, and we will have a roll call vote,” he said.
Cornelia City Commission, from left, Mark Reed, Janice Griggs, Mayor John Borrow, Don Bagwell, and Tony Cook. (NowHabersham.com)
Cornelia voters will not cast ballots for mayor and city commission this year. That’s because the incumbents are the only ones who qualified to run.
Qualifying for write-in candidates ended on Friday, September 1. Since no one else put their name forward to be on the November ballot, the incumbents are running unopposed. Georgia law considers those candidates to have voted for themselves, so no election is required.
Cornelia Mayor John Borrow, Ward 1 Commissioner Mark Reed, and Ward 4 Commissioner Tony Cook will retain their seats on the city commission.
Cornelia voters will still go to the polls in November for a special election on a referendum question regarding the Redevelopment Powers Law.
Cornelia City Manager Donald Anderson explained the need for the referendum, “These powers are not automatically granted to cities, hence the need for the referendum. Redevelopment Powers allow municipalities to create redevelopment areas, create redevelopment plans, create tax allocation districts, and acquire and dispose of property for redevelopment purposes.”
According to Anderson, “While the city has no immediate plans to utilize any of the powers granted under the law, we feel it would be good to have them in case a need arises in the future.”
James Sirnel Isaac (Habersham County Sheriff's Office)
An accused drug trafficker arrested following a weekend chase with Habersham County deputies remains behind bars. A county magistrate denied bond for James Sirnel Isaac. The 40-year-old Lilburn man is accused of trafficking fentanyl and cocaine.
Deputies arrested Isaac on Saturday, September 2, after a brief, pre-dawn chase on GA 15/US 441 north of Clarkesville.
According to the incident report, the arresting deputy said he attempted to pull over a northbound Chevrolet Trailblazer after it crossed over the solid white line on the right side of the highway. The deputy said he activated his patrol car’s emergency equipment, but the SUV driver, later identified as Isaac, refused to stop.
Another deputy joined in the pursuit. They chased the fleeing vehicle four miles north until the initiating deputy performed a PIT maneuver near Tugalo Short Cut Road. The PIT forced the Trailblazer off the road’s right shoulder.
The Georgia State Patrol responded to the scene to complete a crash report.
‘Large quantity’ of cocaine
After taking Isaac into custody, the reporting deputy said he found a “large quantity” of crack cocaine in the driver’s right front pocket, “and a large sum of currency was located in his left front pocket.”
Investigators reportedly seized illegal contraband and other associated items from the vehicle. The arrest warrants state Isaac had possession of 38 grams of cocaine and 9 grams of fentanyl at the time of his arrest. He was also said to have an NEF .32 caliber pistol.
In addition to the two felony drug trafficking charges, the sheriff’s office charged Isaac with failure to maintain lane and fleeing. They also charged him with possessing a firearm during the commission of a crime.
Deputies booked Isaac into the county jail where he remains in custody.
A 23-year-old Hartwell man has been arrested and charged in connection with a wreck that killed an unborn child and injured seven people.
The wreck occurred on Labor Day west of Hartwell. A state patrol investigation found that speed contributed to the wreck. As a result, troopers arrested and charged Travis Johnson with five offenses, including feticide by vehicle, two counts of serious injury by vehicle, driving too fast for conditions, reckless driving, and a seatbelt violation.
On Monday, September 4, troopers say Johnson was driving a Volkswagen Tiguan east on Bethany Bowersville Road. He ran into the passenger side of a westbound Kia Optima that was turning into a private drive.
The Optima driver, 20-year-old Hollie Bryan of Canon, was 20 weeks pregnant and miscarried as a result of the crash, troopers say.
EMS transported Bryan by ambulance to Greenville Memorial Hospital for treatment. Two passengers in the Kia were injured, including 18-year-old Tristen Bryan of Canon who was airlifted to Greenville Memorial. A juvenile was taken to MUSC Shawn Jenkins Children’s Hospital in Charleston.
Johnson and three passengers in his vehicle were also injured.
EMS transported Johnson, 27-year-old Laucreesha Brawner of Royston, and a juvenile to AnMed Health Medical Center in Anderson with non-life-threatening injuries. Another juvenile was taken to Greenville Memorial Hospital with serious injuries.
A popular trout fishing lodge on the Soque River near Batesville sustained minor fire damage Wednesday night. The owner of Brigadoon Lodge reported the fire to Habersham County E-911 around 7:30 p.m. on September 6.
The back deck of the fishing lodge was undergoing renovations, and officials say that contributed to the fire.
“It was a pile of oily rags that the construction workers had piled up before they left for the day,” says Habersham County Emergency Services Battalion Chief Dwight McNally. “They had been renovating the back deck and using wood stain. The rags were saturated with stains and other chemicals.”
McNally says the fire was accidental.
“Spontaneous combustion set them ablaze on the back deck of the lodge. The homeowner was able to quickly put out the fire with a water hose.”
Firefighters checked the lodge to make sure the fire had not spread and removed the rags from the porch. They remained at the scene for about an hour.
The lodge suffered only minor damage to the deck, some siding, and a window. No one was injured.
Piedmont University’s cross country teams have canceled their trip to compete in the GMC Brickyard Invitational this Friday due to the forecasted heat.
Coach Jamie Jimison made the call for student-athlete health and safety.
The teams will be back in action next weekend at the UNG Invite in Oakwood, Georgia on Friday, September 15.
