LATEST CAR WASH ABOUT READY ‘LUV’; FRESHENS TO SHARE THE BERRY COLLEGE COMING TO
Another Luv story for car wash lovers. We get a little heat over all the news about the booming car wash industry. We hear more about it as two groups are Rome-based — well, make that one now.
The latest is a sale that went under the radar for a few months. Rocket Wash, a locally launched group featuring Wayne Robinson and others, started with car washes in Cartersville, Summerville and one basically completed across from Adventhealth Stadium in Rome off Braves Boulevard. In recent months, Rocket and a few other chains were purchased by the Luv group.
The Rome site, between Bella Roma and Lumina Coffee, looks ready to go and a May opening had been targeted. You’ll see some Rocket Wash branding on site building but a closer look shows some of the new Luv’s branding. That include the spot where the cars and trucks go “through” the car wash, now aptly named... the “Tunnel of Luv.”
Luv’s corporate site also shows the Cartersville and Summerville locations as being under its umbrella. We have notes in to the company for additional updates. An earlier media release says Luv’s “strategy is to develop new-build locations and acquire both new and old car washes that are in need of capital improvements as the company rebrands all sites.”
Rome-based Big Dan’s Car Wash continues to grow as well in Georgia, Florida and, soon, South Carolina. Googoo also continues in Rome with three locations.
DINING
Scooters scooting along: As the rubble from the American Legion is cleared, the developers of Scooter’s Coffee aren’t wasting time. A $350,000 building permit was issued last month for the new shop that will be joined by the Take 5 Oil change operation next to Romefloyd Parks and Recreation. Look for an early fall opening.
Smoothie move at Berry: As classes start on Aug. 22, Berry College students, faculty and staff will have another option on the way. The Freshens chain is opening a shop on campus. In addition to smoothies, Freshens is known for a “healthy” spin on dining — rice bowls, acai bowls, flatbreads, etc. Some $150,000 in remodeling was staged and the shop already has passed the initial Public Health restaurant inspection, earning a perfect 100 score.
POPCORN & POLITICS
Blanchard to run for remaining years on school board seat: Last March, after John Uldrick resigned from the Rome Board of Education to accept a new church post, board members appointed Toni Blanchard to replace him.
In those five months, the community has passed a multimillion-dollar extra penny education tax to help fund a replacement middle school; the superintendent has retired; the principal of Rome
High is now running Marietta High; and two gun incidents on the Rome High campus have security/safety protocols under review. That’s a lot to pack into a traditional four-year term, let alone less than six months.
Blanchard, asked Monday about whether she plans to qualify to run for the seat, was quite definitive: “Absolutely I do.”
Qualifying for the seat, and the final three years on the term, begins next Monday, Aug. 15. By Aug. 19, we’ll know who else is on the special election ballot which will be folded into the general election vote on Nov. 8. Qualifying times are from 8:30 a.m. until 4:30 p.m., with City Clerk Joe Smith. The qualifying fee is $126, which is 3% of a board of education member’s annual salary.
PEAKS & VALLEYS: THE HIGHS AND LOWS OF NORTHWEST GEORGIA
Peak to North Georgia EMC: The utility serving parts of Floyd, Chattooga and Gordon counties is suspending “disconnections and late fees throughout August amid continued heat wave, rising TVA fuel costs.” Instead, North Georgia EMC is offering customers options to spread payments for up to six months. That’s an excellent move as we’re just now into the “dog days of summer” in Northwest Georgia.
Valley to the Republican senators who blocked capping insulin prices. U.S. Sen. Raphael Warnock’s bid to cap out-of-pocket prices at $35 was scuttled by just a few votes in an election year that sees the Georgia Democrat facing Republican hopeful Herschel Walker. Call it putting politics above people.
Peak to the crews from Adventhealth Redmond, Gordon: Last week, employees from the hospitals spent time in Manchester, Kentucky, to assist Adventhealth Manchester with cleanup after the catastrophic floods in the eastern part of the state. The teams were assigned to cleanup, salvage and recovery; the Facebook update says they “did everything from salvaging farm equipment to tearing out insulation from under flooded homes.”