Coroner IDs victim in fatal Rockmart motorcycle crash
Authorities identified the motorcyclist who died in a fatal crash as John Howard Bailey.
ROCKMART — Authorities identified on Sunday the motorcyclist who died in a fatal crash at the intersection of Ga. 278 and 113.
Polk County Deputy Coroner Marty Robinson said 71-year-old John Howard Bailey, of a Gates Road address in Rockmart, died of severe trauma when his motorcycle collided with an SUV.
Bailey’s body was taken to the Georgia Bureau of Investigation crime lab for autopsy Sunday.
Rockmart Police Chief Keith Sorrells said the wreck happened at around 4 p.m. Saturday when Bailey was riding his motorcycle west on Ga. 278 toward Cedartown. He was struck by a Chevrolet Suburban driven by William Allen Brown, 21, of Rockmart.
“The vehicle was going from Highway 278 onto Highway 113 when it turned in front of the motorcycle and killed him,” Sorrells said.
Sorrells said he did not know Sunday if charges would be filed in the crash.
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Chickamauga to vote on liquor sales, school bonds
CHICKAMAUGA — Chickamauga voters will be asked to weigh in on liquor-by-the-drink sales and school construction bonds this spring.
The local referenda will appear on city ballots for the May 24 statewide primary election.
The city currently allows wine and beer to be sold in restaurants. Allowing the sale of liquor is seen as an additional incentive to attract restaurants, or possibly motels with attached restaurants, to sites that front U.S. 27.
“Times have changed,” City Manager Micheal Haney said. “We’re not the small mill town we used to be.”
Chickamauga voters approved by a nearly 2-1 margin a November 2015 proposal to allow beer and wine sales on Sundays.
Also on the ballot is a request from the Chickamauga Board of Education to issue about $2 million in bonds to demolish Gordon Lee High School, handle the asbestos abatement and pave the site as a parking lot.
Plans are to build a new school directly in front of the 85-year-old school, with the old building to be used until the new school opens.
School board chairman “Corky” Jewell said the system would dedicate $3.97 million from its education local-option sales tax revenue for the project and the state would contribute the remainder of the estimated $15 million cost.
Georgia Department of Education funds can only be used for construction, not the demolition, he noted.
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Moon named Centre fire chief
CENTRE, Ala. — Veteran volunteer firefighter Robbie Moon has been named the city’s new fire chief.
Moon has been serving as acting fire chief since Kevin Ware resigned to accept another position in a neighboring county this past fall. Mayor Tony Wilkie, made the appointment upon the recommendation of the police and fire committee, which recommended that Moon’s starting salary be set at $30,000 a year.
Over the next year, he will be required to receive fire college training. Once Moon completes that training and earns his certificate, the committee will recommend that his salary be raised to $35,000.
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Acworth to build ‘gateway park’
ACWORTH — The Acworth Board of Aldermen awarded a $63,915 contract to Amec Foster Wheeler to design a small “gateway park” at Main and Lemon streets.
The firm is already working on the Lemon Street Extension, which will start from the future park site and end at the new entrance to the city’s Logan Farm Park.
Assistant City Manager Brandon Douglas said a cost for the park has yet to be determined, but construction could begin later this year after a six- to eightmonth design phase.
The park will serve as a gateway from Interstate 75 through Cherokee Street onto Lemon Street. A welcome and information area will be the focal point.
The project will include a replica depot, public restrooms, decorative paving, landscaping and lighting.
Its aim is to make Acworth more of a walkable community, Mayor Tommy Allegood said.
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Deputies recapture North
Georgia fugitive
DALTON — A Murray County man wanted on numerous felony charges is in a Tennessee jail awaiting extradition to Georgia.
Murray County Sheriff Gary Langford said Ronald Frank “Frankie” Henderson, 40, was arrested in Lebanon, Tennessee, after his agency and the Whitfield County Sheriff’s Office got a lead on his location.
Henderson is accused of stealing two travel trailers and at least one vehicle in Murray County and numerous burglaries and auto thefts in Whitfield County. His charges include distribution of meth, escape, bailjumping, stolen property and bench warrants for failing to appear.
He also is wanted in Catoosa County on multiple warrants involving stolen property.
Langford said Henderson also is being investigated as a suspected in numerous other vehicle thefts and burglaries in North Georgia and Southeast Tennessee.
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