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VOLUME CXIV — NUMBER 111
Investigators Trying
To Locate Crime Site
Possible Blood Splatters In Trion Checked
Investigators late Wednes
day afternoon were still trying to
determine if an Ohio woman was
killed, mutilated and cannibal
ized in Chattooga County or
Dekalb County, A%a.
On that decision will hinge
whether the chief suspect migfit
be tried in Summem‘fi)le or Fort
Water Leak Costs
City 1.75-Million
Gallons Per Year
The City of Summerville
wastes more than 1.75 million
gallons and $4,900 a year at just
one leaking fire hydrant near
Dunson Street, based on unoffi
cial estimates.
Approximately 4,800 gal
lons opwater flow from a hmien
fire hydrant daily into a close-by
storm drain. The waste of water
Summerville Gets
Coveted Approval
For State Project
The City of Summerville has
been selected to participate in
the coveted Better Hometown
Program sponsored by the Geor
gia Department of Community
Affairs (DCA).
Commissioner Jim Higdon
of the DCA said Summerville was
one of 15 cities receiving the Bet
ter Hometown designation, said
Nell Farrar, Summerville Down
town Development Authority
(SDDA) co-manager.
While the approval is not a
grant, it will open the way for the
authority to more easily obtain
funding for imgrovement
projects, officials indicated.
RESOURCES
“The Better Hometown Pro
gram is much more than a sign
at the city limits or a title,” Ms.
Farrar said. “This is a self-help
program for small communities
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Summerville Receives Better Hometown Designation
The Summerville Better Hometown committee beams at the
news that the Summerville Downtown Development
Authority won a Better Hometown Community designation
through the Georgia Department of Community Aftgi!:'s last
week. It will allow the Authority to obtain technical expertise
Che Summeruille Neu
Payne.
Possible blood splatters on
the ground outside a Trion con
venience store were being exam
ined this week to see ifg that is
where the slightly built 25-year
old female victim was slain.
The suspect and victim both
were seen at the store by several
has been going on for vears, said
City Manager Grady McCalmon.
OLD LEAK
“It's been leaking ever since
I've been here and a long time
before that,” he said.
The city is aware that it's
been losing potentially millions
of gallons of water at the hydrant.
in which the state of Georgia, the
Georgia Power Co., the Univer
sity of Georgia and many other
experts come to our town and
hes)p improve Summerville.
“We hope to see an improve
ment in the downtown structure
as well as an improvement to the
economic structure,” she added.
Summerville was given the
designation at the Georgia Mu
nicipal Association’s 42 Mayor’s
Day breakfast in Atlanta. In ad
dition to Summerville, the cities
of Baxley, Buchanan, Byron,
Colquitt, Dahlonega, Forsyth,
Lincolnton, Oglethorpe,
Richland, Springfielcf, Suwanee,
Warrenton, Woodbine and
Wrens were selected for the pro
gram.
5,0007?
It is designed to help cities
see SUMMERVILLE, page 7-A
© Copyright 2000 By Espy Publishing Co., Inc. — All Rights Reserved
SUMMERVILLE, CHATTOOGA COUNTY, GEORGIA — THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 3, 2000
people, lawmen said.
If GBI technicians decide
she was slashed to death in Trion
or elsewhere in Chattoo%a
County, any potential trial likely
would be held in Summerville.
. WITNESSES
Multiple witnesses have
In October, 1999, the city inves
tigated a case where someone
tried to capitalize on the leak by
running a water hose from it to
his pr(‘)lperty. This practice was
immediately stopped when
brought to the attention of city
officials by The Summerville
News.
According to unofficial cal
culations performed by The
News, the hydrant leaks 10 gal
lon of water every three minutes.
That adds up to 200 gallon per
hour and 144,000 galfi)ns every
30 days. If that trend continues
for a year, the city loses
1,752,000 gallons of water from
that one leak alone.
TREATMENT
It costs the city 55 cents to
treat 1,000 §allons of water at the
Summerville water filtration
filant near Berryton, officials
ave said. To treat the water lost
from that one hydrant costs the
City $963.60 annually, accord
ing to city figures.
If a Summerville resident
were to buy the wasted hydrant
water, his {ill would run about
$4,000 per year. That calcula
tion is based on the water lost at
the hydrant and a rate of $2.30
per 1,000 gallons charged to
Summerville residents. That rate
is based on residential rates and
consumption above 3,000 gal
lons.
The treatment costs and
revenue lost to the city amount
to $4,963.60 annually, based on
those calculations.
CITY OF ROME
“We have been trying to get
the City of Rome to come up here
and repair that without having to
see WATER LEAK, page 7-A
and funding from the state to improve the Summerville area
community. From left, are Summerville Maior Joe Robert
Norton, Earl Parris Jr., Butch Eleam, Becky Groce, Nell
Farrar, Fran Myers, Brenda Burks and City Manager Grady
McCalmon. (Staff Photo By Jason Espy).
said the{ saw suspect Hayward
W. Bissell, 37, and victim Patricia
Ann Booher, both of Norwalk,
Ohio, sitting in a car outside the
Discount Food Store on the
Trion-Teloga Road, said Chat
tooFa County Sheriff Ralph
Kellett. It is located near
Chamlee Skating Rink. 1
Trion Police Chief Charles
Latta is one of those witnesses.
“We found what we thought
could possibly be blood splatters
on the ground,” Sheriff Kellett
said.
A GBI crime scene techni
cian from Calhoun blocked off
the Discount Food Store parking
lot and began scouring the
grounds for cfiues on Wednesday,
Jan. 26.
WEATHER
Kellett said he had at first
thought the chances of finding
any evidence at the site was un
likely because of recent bad
weather.
“I was counting the days like
Sunday, Monday Tuesday and
Wednesday when that parki:g
lot had been driven over, walk
on, frozen and rained on,” Kellett
said.
However, small possible
blood splatters were discovered
on the west side of the gravel
parking lot, he said. The GBI
technician used forensic tech
niques to lg.i,uther the stains on the
ground. They are being tested at
the John Frank McConnell
Northwest Georgia GBI Crime
Lab, Pennville.
Results had not been re
leased by mid-afternoon
Wednesday, Sheriff Kellett said.
HOSPITAL
Sheriff Cecil Reed of Dekalb
County and Sheriff Kellett were
continuing discussions about
where the murder scene might
see INVESTIGATORS, page 5-A
Forecasters Wrong, Winter
Storm Bypasses Chattooga
Stores Sell Out Of Emergency, Survival Supplies
Chattooga Countians are
still shaking t%neir heads about a
huge winter ice storm that bore
down on the area like a freight
train this past weekend.
It then skidded to a stop at
the Alabama line and ducfied
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Staff Photo By Jason Espy
TRION POLICE CHIEF CHARLES LATTA POINTS TO WHERE BISSELL VEHICLE WAS PARKED
Law Enforcement Officer Saw Car On Parking Lot Of Convenience Store On Trion-Teloga Road
Fewer Hours, Statt Cutbacks
Possible At County Libraries
State Budget Reductions Proposed By Gov. Barnes
Chattooga County’s library
director is concerned about a
one-third cut in-the facility’s
maintenance and operation
(M&O) funding as proposed in
Gov. Roy Barnes’ fiscal year
2000-2001 state budget. She’s
not the only one.
Barbara Hutsell, the local
director, said the Summerville
and Trion libraries have learned
that the state plans to cut $4,000
out of the system’s $12,000 an
southeast into Atlanta, leaving
Chattooga pretty much un
scathed, except for more icing
atop Lookout Mountain an
some ridges.
SOLD OUT
Most local stores by Friday
afternoon had sold out of size D
batteries, kerosene and infrared
heaters, camp cook stoves, cans
of Sterno, emer§ency candles,
bread, milk, fuel-powered and
electric-powered lanterns, flash
lights in preparation for the
storm that never was.
Based on a survey Friday by
The Summerville News, kero
sene prices ranged all over the
ballpark from alow of $1.19.9 per
allon at one site to a high of
51.89.9 at two locations. &her
kerosene prices per gallon in
cluded $1.35.9, $1.49.9, $1.39.9,
$1.59.9 and $1.34.9.
BATTERIES
Two size D batteries were
found at Fisher's supermarket,
Trion, Friday and seven or eight
two-packs of size D batteries
were located at Reese’s Mini
Mart, Ga. 48, Summerville. The
Wal-Mart discount store was
stripped of D batteries by about
noon Frida;y and no larfe 9-volt
batteries for electric lanterns
could be found anywhere.
Leroy Alexander of
Shamblin Hardware, South
Commerce Street, said Fridaf'
that his store had sold out of all
fuels that might be used for heat
ing or cooking.
100 HEATERS
“If we'd had another 100
kerosene heaters, we could have
sold every one of them,” he said.
All infrared heaters also were
sold, Alexander said.
As Commissioner Jim
nual budget for the next fiscal
year, startin% July 1.
Since all the state M&O
money is used to %ay the librar
ies’ electric bills, that means the
M&O deficit of $4,000 would
have to be pulled from local rev
enue, she said.
RIPPLES
The ripple effect could mean
reduced hours for the public at
the Summerville and Trion facili
Parker said, rc;_gional and na
tional weather forecasters were
still predicting the storm to lash
North Georgia with several
inches of snow Friday night, Sat
urday and Sunday as late as Fri
day evening. Their forecasts later
changed to a mixture of precipi
tation and then to freezing rain.
They all missed the forecast
... until the weekend was almost
over.
Even as late as Saturday af
ternoon, some Atlanta forecast
ers were saying a batch of freez
ing rain, snow and sleet would
move across the top of the state.
It didn't.
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Staff Photo
HERBERT DODD WORKS QUICKLY TO RESTORE POWER
Generator (At Feet) Allows Emergency Agencies To Communicate
ties, she said, and/or the loss of
one or more full- or part-time
locally paid staff positions.
The $12,000 yearly alloca
tion previously had been based
on a state formula of 56 cents per
peygon in the county, Ms. Hutsell
said.
In addition, the governor
reduced proposed funding for
the Public Information Network
for Electronic Services (PINES)
statewide, she said. That will not
NO IDEA
A few forecasters admitted
they had no idea what had hap
pened. Others said a dry air mass
over Northwest Georgia kept
most of the snow, sleet and freez
ing rain out of Chattooga County.
Temperatures in Chattooga
County were below freezing for
most of the time Friday, Satur
day and Sunday mominfi. Rain
in varying amounts fell onto
trees and streets in the county’s
valleys, but didn't freeze.
However, in the metro At
lanta area, rain froze as soon as
see FORECASTERS, page 13-A
25¢:
directly affect the Chattooga li
brary system since it alreadf' has
the PINES system (see related
stor{), Ms. Hutsell said, but it
would hit many libraries not yet
incorporated in the planned
statewide network.
DTAE ACTION
The budget proposal to Gov.
Barnes came from the Office of
Library Services, state Depart
ment of Technical and Adult
Education (DTAE), she added.
The department was asked to cut
its total budget by five percent,
Ms. Hutsell continued.
However, DTAE officials
apparently decided to take the
entire five percent out of all li
braries’ M&O funds statewide. In
effect, that resulted in a 33 per
cent — not a five Percent - re
duction in M&O funding, she
said.
Susan Stewart, former Chat
tooga library director and now
head of the Hall County Library
System based in Gainesville,
wrote Gov. Barnes that she was
“shocked and appalled at the lack
of financial support for public li
braries proposed in your budget
T Ligraries in Georgia have
been qfifrating with austere bud
g;zts. is is the worst year of
nding I have seen in over 20
years.
“LEAN, FAT”
“We hear words of support
each year but the dollars have not
been forthcoming . ..” she wrote.
“In ‘lean’ years, we have
been told that dollars were tight
and this was not the year to fund
libraries. In ‘fat’ years, we have
see FEWER HOURS, page 6-A