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Monday updates

2009-11-09T07:24:00.001-05:00

Flash flood watch starts tonight as Ida moves toward Gulf

-We're in for a soggy Tuesday as the remnants from Hurricane Ida slosh through the state. The rain will begin overnight and could be extremely heavy on Tuesday. Also: Gusts to 30 mph> Click

-Continuing updates all day today, Tuesday.

-Latest on Hurricane Ida: Tropics

-Latest forecast:

-Today: Mostly cloudy, with a high near 66.

-Tonight: 90% rain, mainly after 1 a.m.. Low around 54.
-Tuesday: 100% chance of rain. High near 60. Winds between 15 and 20 mph with gusts to 30 mph. Rainfall amounts: between 2 and 3 inches possible.
-Tuesday night: 40% rain chance, low of 48. Winds 10-15 mph, gusts to 20 mph.

This week's Buzz of Northwest Georgia (click)
-Increased payments just part of the property tax story this year.

-Gordon County appeals skyrocket as assessments shoot up.
-Average payment in most of the state up by $200-$300.
-Floyd, Bartow appeals lower than normal because of 'freeze.'
-Polk residents' payment deadline pushed back to Dec. 1.

Three-Dot Buzz: (click)
-Clarence Brown Conference Center rising quickly in Cartersville.
-Even more changes at Newswire.
-Rome's First Tweet Up set for Tuesday at 333 on Broad.
-Busy week: Empty Bowls, innovation conference, Santa arrives.

John McClellan on the playoffs: Who's in, who's out> Football Report

-Darlington, Calhoun survive week one; Pepperell, Armuchee, Trion, Chattooga eliminated.

Norman Arey's Sports Roundtable>Arey

-Are we seeing the last year of Steve Spurrier? We should be seeing the last of Charlie Weis.

Shorter closes season vs. Bethel College at 1:30 p.m. Saturday at Barron Stadium> Details

Georgia High School Football Daily: Playoff previews> Click

Upcoming events at Rome Braves/State Mutual Stadium> Sports

-Braves' first Celebrity Shootout with Rocket Wheeler, Frog Smith.

-First annual Wing Ding due Nov. 21.

-Links to winter baseball leagues.

Downtown Headlines> Click

-What's ahead in downtown Rome: Christmas open house Friday, Saturday.

Today's Focus:

-Increased payments just part of the property tax story this year (click)

-Gordon County appeals skyrocket as assessments shoot up.

-Average payment in most of the state up by $200-$300.

-Floyd, Bartow appeals lower than normal because of 'freeze.'

-Polk residents' payment deadline pushed back to Dec. 1.

Three-Dot Buzz . . .

$20 million Clarence Brown Conference Center rising fast

Motorists on Ga. 20 heading to or from I-75 are watching the Clarence Brown Conference Center quickly rise across the two-lane from the Bartow campus of Georgia Highlands College. An opening date is said to be about a year from now but work on the $20 million, SPLOST-funded project seems to be flowing even faster. Look for the Brown Center to be home to upcoming business, social and educational uses. It will feature video conferencing, interactive white boards, wireless and wired Internet connectivity, and is considered to be "the most technologically sophisticated conference center of its size in north Georgia," according to the Cartersville-Bartow County Convention and Visitors Bureau.

More changes at Newswire: More changes in the local Web world as Dawn Treglown announces she's now sole owner of the Newswire organization. She had been named managing editor during the latest ownership switch involving a "silent partner." Treglown says she signed paperwork Friday to take over the site. Click

Busy week ahead:

-Join us for Tuesday's Tweet Up: Come to Rome's first free Tweet Up on Tuesday at 333 on Broad and enjoy snacks and $2 draught beer while listening to guest speakers share their tips and tricks on how to use Twitter and other social media forms to promote your business. You'll also network with other business owners in Rome so grab a stack of business cards and be at 333 on Broad from 6-8 p.m. Click Facebook or check the tweets of @hometown or @CarolFlammer.

-Community events, including Empty Bowls on Tuesday. For more on what's ahead, please click Calendar

-Chamber's Innovation Conference set for 9-11:30 a.m. Thursday at Berry College. Topics include alternative energy and "angel investing networks." Registration, prices and additional details> Click

-Downtown Rome's Christmas Open House is Friday, Saturday> Downtown

-Ho-ho-ho already? You bet. Santa arrives with live reindeer at 6 p.m. Friday at Mount Berry Square. Plus he's expected in downtown Rome along with Mrs. Claus during the Open House. Christmas season is here.

-Cartersville home to 2010 Miss Georgia USA, Miss Georgia Teen USA Pageants beginning Thursday. Among the Miss Teen contestants is Samantha Plott, left, Miss Cartersville Teen USA. For the schedule and updates, click Pageants.

Think your property taxes went up? See what's up in Gordon Co.

-Gordon County appeals skyrocket as assessments shoot up.

-Average payment in most of the state up by $200-$300.

-Floyd, Bartow appeals lower than normal because of 'freeze.'

-Polk residents' payment deadline pushed back to Dec. 1.

By Natalie Simms

natsimms76@gmail.com

You're paying higher property taxes this year in Floyd and Bartow counties, and they're due now through next Monday. Polk residents have an extra two weeks to think about it while in Gordon County, a battle is brewing over assessments which has stalled property owner payments.

Normally, taxes are due Nov. 15 for Floyd and Bartow property owners. But payments will be accepted on Monday, Nov. 16, without penalty because the due date falls on the weekend. Property owners in Polk County have until Dec. 1 to make their payments. The due date for Gordon County has yet to be determined but will be sometime in early 2010.

Why higher taxes? All property owners statewide have noticed an increase in their tax bills because of the repeal of the state homestead tax relief grant. It funded an increased homestead exemption for homeowners for the last several years.

"Declining state revenues during the current recession means there is no money for the state to give the tax relief to homeowners," says Kevin Payne, right, Floyd County Tax Commissioner. "This will mean a property tax increase of $200 to $300 on the 2009 tax bills for many Georgia homeowners."

The grant -- appropriated by the Georgia General Assembly and the governor for the last several years to counties, cities and schools--had given tax relief to homeowners in the form of a credit on their tax bills. However, there is hope that this grant will return in the future.

"According to the legislation, the grant will only be made available in the future if the state revenues grow at least 3 percent plus the rate of inflation," Payne says. "But the tough thing to realize is that the elimination of this tax credit will not provide any additional funding to local governments or schools. This extra money is going to the state." (For more, click here)

On the flip side, the state passed legislation to freeze all property assessments until 2011.

"Assessments are frozen and we can't raise assessments unless the property has been sold or there has been an improvement made or addition to the property," Payne says. "And, since assessments have been frozen, we haven't had as many appeals this year."

In Floyd and Bartow, assessment appeals are down: There are approximately 50,000 parcels and personal properties in Floyd County. In a normal year, the county averages 900-1,100 appeals, says Bill McWhorter, Floyd County Tax Assessor.

"This year, we had just over 700, so not as many as in years past," McWhorter says. "Probably because we didn't raise values and in some areas, we reduced values because of market conditions. Even though the assessment is frozen, we still have to consider market conditions, so the tax may go up or down depending on the market."

Bartow County officials also noticed a decrease in the number of appeals they received. The county sent 47,369 tax notices and had about 700 appeals, down from 1,200 in 2008, says Michael Floyd, Bartow County Tax Assessor.

"We sent a notice out with our tax bills about the homestead grant being removed, so if we hadn't sent that out, it would have been a nightmare with people filing appeals," Floyd says. "But because we notified them upfront, we've not had any trouble."

Polk County officials had about the same number of appeals as in previous years. The county sent 22,341 tax notices and received less than 100 appeals, says Janell Cox, Polk County Tax Assessor. "Since assessments are frozen, we've been low on appeals and had less than 100, which is what we averaged last year," she says.

Gordon citizens group questions spike in assessments: The situation in Gordon County is quite different. Even though the state froze assessments, Gordon was in the middle of a county-wide reassessment project and received special permission to complete the project before setting the 2009 Tax Digest.

All county tax digests are due to the state by Aug. 1 for approval by the Georgia Department of Revenue before tax notices can be sent to property owners.

However, only 5 percent or less of the total tax digest can be in dispute or under appeal, says Scott Clements, Gordon County Tax Commissioner.

"We have 26,000 parcels in the county and we had an extremely high number of appeals in excess of 5,000," Clements says. Five percent of Gordon County's tax digest would be 1,300 appeals.

Judy Bailey, a Gordon County commissioner, says the appeals are so high because of the reassessment.

"We have not had a countywide reassessment since the early '90s so there were a lot of unequal assessments," says Bailey, left.. "Our goal was to equalize the assessments and we feel that has been done."

However, some property owners-- more than 5,000 by the number of appeals -- do not feel their reassessments were equal or fair. Several citizens have formed a group, "Concerned Citizens for Good Government," to fight what they believe to be unfair and unequal assessments.

"We are just fighting for everything to be equal and fair," says Norris Sexton, group chairman. "According to local Realtors, property values in the county have dropped by 20-30 percent from last year, so it just doesn't make sense for the increases we have."

Sexton says one of his properties went up 433 percent from last year's assessment. He owns an empty .45 of an acre adjacent to his home and property in the Skyline subdivision. The lot was valued at $5,623 last year and was assessed at $30,000 this year. He did appeal the notice and has gotten a reduction down to $20,000.

His home and property of .45 of an acre the house sits on also increased by 31 percent up to $109,321 from $83,312 last year.

"It's not just my property, it's like this all over the county," he says.

The group is concerned that some elected officials benefitted from the reassessment and only had minimal increases. Gordon County's tax assessments are a matter of public record and can be viewed online at http://gordon.binarybus.com/

Says Bailey of the assessments: "I know for me and other elected officials, when we run for office, we go to the tax assessor's office to make sure our property is in-line with the market. So, when I ran for office five years ago, they reassessed my property at that time, so it doesn't go up that much. I'm sure others did the same."

However, Bailey says aside from her home, she has a lot of farmland that was recently reassessed in the countywide project.

"My farmland was under appraised, so it went up $600,000," she says. "And I think it is now equal and fair to those around me. The appraisal is not out of line."

Since there are more than 5,000 appeals, way above the 5 percent cap, the county has not been able to set the tax digest or millage rate, thus having to use the reserves to meet current budget requirements.

"Once we get the numbers in and set the digest, we'll be able to set the millage rate and get everything approved by the state," Bailey says. "We are working hard on the appeals and hope to have the digest set within the month."

Until then, the county has enough reserves to last through April but the same cannot be said for the county school board, according to Randall Dowling, Gordon County administrator.

"I think they are pretty close to needing to borrow money until we get the tax bills out," he says. "They would just have to borrow it from local banks to meet their budget needs."

Once tax bills are sent, payment would be due within 60 days. If officials meet their goal of getting bills out in December, taxes would be due in early February.

To make paying your taxes easy, Floyd and Bartow County now have online payment options.

-In Floyd, go to www.floydcountytax.com to pay by credit card.

-In Bartow, go to www.bartowcounty.paytaxes.net or you can pay by phone at 1-866-549-1010, enter bureau code 3424997. All information is on your tax bill.

Big honors for Rome Middle School

2009-11-06T10:25:00.000-05:00

Rome Middle School cited as a Georgia School of Excellence. Details: http://bit.ly/1gFN4W

Friday's updates

2009-11-06T07:36:00.000-05:00

Please click http://www.hometownheadlines.com

Banking

-Surprising changes at River City Bank--Wilson out, Smith up: Tuesday night should have been a time for celebrating by Eddie Wilson. The CEO of River City Bank had chaired the Rome/Floyd Citizens for Progress committee that championed the $42.3 million SPLOST project. It passed by 169 votes. By Wednesday, Wilson (right) was out of his day job. The media release says Wilson -- who helped guide the bank opened in May 2006 from a double wide on the former Rome Feed & Seed site to more than $125 million in deposits as of June 30 -- resigned. Roger F. Smith has been named chief executive officer of the bank and RCB Financial Corp. News of Wilson's departure spread quickly among the banking community Wednesday and Thursday, shocking colleagues who uniformly praised Wilson as both a solid banker and community leader. His previous stops include SunTrust and Synovus' Georgia Bank & Trust in Calhoun> RCB

-AJC: Unity National, NorthSide Bank on latest 'Texas Ratio' list> Texas

Mohawk names Wellborn president, COO: Calhoun-based Mohawk Industries Inc. hasnamed W. Christopher Wellborn to president and chief operating officer. He had served as COO since 2005 (he is not a member of the Riverside auto/Welborn family)> Details

Media

-Beware the 'Brett Favre Syndrome?' We're hearing interesting comments on Doug Walker's decision to join the Rome News-Tribune after 25 years with WRGA 1470 AM and sister stations. The move is seen as a strategic one, importing one of the community's best reporters. For Walker, it means more pay, benefits and better hours. Or, for RNT, is it a circle-the-wagons attempt to recover an ever-elusive share of a diversifying media market? Walker solidifies the cops/courts and meeting-friendly feel of the paper. He brings another layer of sources as well as the ability to report on real deadline. But will he be a rainmaker, boosting sagging circulation or the Web site? Or will his WRGA listeners see it as a Brett Favre/Green Bay Packers to Minnesota Vikings deal? Walker will be saluted on today's edition of Talk of the Town with Nelle Reagan from 9 to 10 a.m. on WRGA 1470 AM.

-Facebook salutations: On Facebook this morning, Walker wrote this to several hundred friends: "I have such mixed feelings today....to all those who have gotten up with me for the better part of 25 years...I shall miss you greatly. You were the reason for me doing (what) I do (did). . without you, there was no need for me. Now, on to a new chapter, an exciting chapter where I will have a chance to go into much more depth on issues. THANK YOU !"

Frost advisory until 9 this morning for much of Northwest Georgia> Details

Dining & Drink

Bella Roma Grill continues upgrades; opening on target for December

-With better weather the past week, the upgrades to the new Bella Roma Grill site are picking up. In addition to structure work, landscaping is continuing with loads of sod already on site. Look for concrete for the parking areas to be poured on Friday as well.

-Owner Eddie Hasko says a December opening is still on schedule. Hasko's work on the one-time Hooter's site is wholly independent of the whatever plans Doc Kibler and Dee Yaney have for the Rome Boulevard project surrounding State Mutual Stadium. Hasko, meanwhile, will keep his popular Bella Roma restaurant on U.S. 27 in Armuchee. For more on the original restaurant, click Bella Roma

-Latest restaurant health inspection scores. Click Dining Guide

-What's ahead at North Georgia's wineries on this fall weekend> News Vine

Friday's Buzz:

-Nov. 24/Oak Hill Symphony Orchestra presents holiday concert: The Oak Hill Symphony Orchestra will perform a holiday concert on Tuesday, Nov. 24, at 7:30 p.m. The concert will be in the Ford Auditorium on the Berry College campus and will feature a night of tangos, waltzes and popular music. The orchestra is directed by Norman Bernal and Mirna Ogrizovic-Ciric. Admission is free.

-Last day: The Junior Service League of Rome's annual poinsettia sale is under way through Nov. 6. Red, pink and while poinsettias are available in three sizes. Proceeds go to providing school supplies to area children. For more, go to www.jslofrome.com or become a fan of our Facebook page at http://tiny.cc/30l14.

Your latest forecast:
-Friday: Frosty start, then sunny; high of 67, low of 36.

-Saturday: Sunny, high of 70, low of 38.

-Sunday: Even nicer, high of 73, low of 44.

-Latest weather: Extended forecast / Local radar / Regional radar

John McClellan's football picks> Football Report
-Armuchee, Darlington in playoffs; Pepperell, Calhoun, Cartersville, Chattooga all look for wins.

-Get your scores tonight from www.ga.prepcountry.com

Georgia High School Football Daily: End of Rome's streak> Details

Norman Arey's Sports Roundtable>Arey

-An upset in Athens? 'Bama is on cruise control; Tech cements first place in ACC.

Shorter: At Belhaven (Jackson, Miss!) 12:30 p.m. ET Saturday > Click

-Shorter-Bethel College game moved to 1:30 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 14, at Barron Stadium> Details

Upcoming events at Rome Braves/State Mutual Stadium> Sports

-Braves' first Celebrity Shootout with Rocket Wheeler, Frog Smith.

-First annual Wing Ding due Nov. 21.

-Links to winter baseball leagues.

Downtown Headlines> Click

-What's ahead in downtown Rome: Chamber expo Friday, Saturday.

-MullinsMania: Entertainment updates for downtown Rome from Bryan Mullins.

Thursday's updates

2009-11-05T07:22:00.001-05:00

Please click www.hometownheadlines.com

Politics & The Web

-Gingrey, GOP plan 12-hour Web cast focusing on Pelosi, healthcare: U.S. Rep. Phil Gingrey is among the Republicans taking part in the series. Says The Hill: "House Republicans will launch a 12-hour online town hall meeting to discuss health reform legislation." Questions are welcome via text, Facebook, Twitter> GOP

-Gingrey amendment puts Congress on 'public option' plan: U.S. Rep. Phil Gingrey and several other House members have added an amendment to the healthcare bill that would automatically enroll all members of Congress in the public option, making them ineligible for benefits relating to the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program> Gingrey

-Deal uses Web site to 'talk' to voters: U.S. Rep. Nathan Deal, a Republcian gubernatorial candidate, is using www.asknathandeal.com to solicit questions from voters today from 9 to 10 a.m. You'll need to register first to ask the veteran North Georgia congressman--whose district includes parts of Gordon County-- about sate and campaign issues. Click here

WRGA's Doug Walker joining Rome News: Listeners to this morning's news updates on WRGA 1470 AM got the official word on longtime news director Doug Walker's pending departure. Walker on Monday is scheduled to join the Rome News as an associate editor. The report has circulated among news groupies for two weeks. Walker, perhaps the region's premiere news gatherer, gives the paper's print and online outlets a key boost. His skills match what the RNT already provides: police, courts and government news.

>As for WRGA: On Monday, the station updates its news/talk format to focus more on a constant flow of information and updates. David Crowder and Eric Jens -- and Walker most of this week-- have adopted a "double anchor" format focused on news/weather delivery. Gone is the single-focus format on the morning anchor and some of the local call-ins. Look for additional changes in coming days.

Today's Buzz:

-'Road to Rome' for NAIA's top two teams begins Nov. 15 via Web cast: The pairings for the first round of the NAIA Football Championship Series will be telecast live by College Fanz Sports Network beginning at 2:30 p.m. ET on Sunday, Nov. 15. The "College Fanz NAIA Football Selection Sunday Show" from the campus of Azuza Pacific University in California. Rome hosts the championship game at Barron Stadium on Dec. 19. Rome also will be the host of the 2010 game. For more, click NAIA / For more on the 2009 game, click Rome

-Berry College: Is there an 'app' for that? You bet: The fall 2009 edition of Berry features a piece on Berry Information Technology student Whit Marbut decided to create an iPhone/iTouch "app" for the college after reading about Duke University having one. A visit to the iTunes Store is all you need to get the free Berry Mobile update. What we like about it: A timely events calendar, overall campus updates, the campus map and facility hours.

-Also in the fall Berry--tennis complex update: A 30-acre slice of Berry College's "river farm" area near Mount Berry Square is the focus of continuing attention for what is now being called "one of the largest tennis facilities in the world." An article in the fall edition says the most recent design would feature up to 56 full-size courts as well as 14 "quick start" courts for youth development. That's a change from the original announcement (click). With work on the Armuchee Connector due to begin this month, look for this project to gain some steam.

-$19.5 million profit for Towne West developer: Forestar Group Inc., which has plans to develop 2,674 lots in Towne West near Adairsville as well as 121 commercial acres, posted $19.5 million in earnings Wednesday vs. $900,000 for the same period a year earlier. A big factor was the sale of 20,000 acres for $39.5 million during the quarter> Details

-Rome/Floyd Planning Commission meets at 2:30 this afternoon: Light agenda> Details

-Work Ready Awards honor GNTC employee, EVCO Plastic> Click

-Child ID program to be available at Optimist Pancake Breakfast Nov. 21: The Floyd County Sheriff's Office and the Sheriff's Community Posse will be administering a fingerprinting and child identification session during the annual Noon Optimist Club Pancake Breakfast on Nov. 21 at the Rome Civic Center. Crews will be on hand from 8 a.m. until noon working with parents, guardians and the kids.

-Shorter hits the road to face Belhaven Saturday> Details

-Saint Mary's open house is Nov. 15: Saint Mary's Catholic School will be hosting an Open House on Sunday, Nov. 15, from 3-5 p.m.. Personal tours of the school will be given, complete with special activities for the children. Information about financial aid and the new G.R.A.C.E. Scholarship program will be available.
No RSVP necessary. Contact Admissions Director Christa Jackson at 706-234-4953 for more or go to www.smsrome.org or click Facebook.

-Nov. 6-7/Two arts and crafts festivals set for Berry College> Details

- Free swine flu vaccine available Thursday for children, pregnant women, healthcare workers, those 25 to 64 with existing medical conditions> Health

Your latest forecast:
-Thursday: More sun, high of 68, low of 35.
-Friday: Sunny, high of 69, low of 37.

-Latest weather: Extended forecast / Local radar / Regional radar

John McClellan's football picks> Football Report
-Armuchee, Darlington in playoffs; Pepperell, Calhoun, Cartersville look for wins.

Georgia High School Football Daily> Click

-Web site looks at AA playoff scenarios, forecasting Westminster vs. Armuchee, Chattooga at Buford, Pepperell at Lovett, Avondale at Calhoun.

Norman Arey's Sports Roundtable>Arey

- Should all U.S. politicians have to wear NASCAR suit? Not a bad idea at all

Shorter: At Belhaven (Jackson, Miss!) 12:30 p.m. ET Saturday > Click

Upcoming events at Rome Braves/State Mutual Stadium> Sports

-Braves' first Celebrity Shootout with Rocket Wheeler, Frog Smith.

-First annual Wing Ding due Nov. 21.

-Links to winter baseball leagues.

Downtown Headlines> Click

-What's ahead in downtown Rome: Chamber expo Friday, Saturday.

-MullinsMania: Entertainment updates for downtown Rome from Bryan Mullins.

Wednesday updates

2009-11-04T09:12:00.001-05:00

Please click www.hometownheadlines.com:

Updated 9:11 a.m. Wednesday (translation: I forgot to send early this morning)

Campaign 2009 analysis: The highs & lows

-Upset of the year-- SPLOST passes: You would have been hard-pressed to find anyone willing to bet on the $42.3 million SPLOST package passing last week. As late as Monday, a Tweet went out to stating: "Scotty Hancock joins us today . . . a to talk about the controversial communications system on tomorrow's SPLOST ballot." Now that's objective. But between Sunday morning and election day, there was a shift as some naysayers started to weigh the project's overall pros and cons. At the polls: As expected, it pretty much split down city vs. county lines.

-Winner of the year: public safety. The stealth whisper campaign to derail the emergency communications push backfired. Voters put the safety of their families first. The idea of two radios or a radio and a cell phone in an emergency situation? Cell phone coverage in Floyd is sporadic at best. We learned from the '08 tornado.

-Co-winner of the year: Barron Stadium. This is a multiple winner, the planned enhancements of Barron. Fans of Rome High, Shorter College and Peach State benefit, not to mention our chances of a continuing to host the NAIA football championship in coming years. Annual impact: $1.5 million each December. It also is another plus for downtown coming days after the cancer center announcement.

-Comeback player of the year: Ga. 140/53 tracts: The results in 2005 were crippling for the proposed industrial zone. Now let's see if they can lure second- and third-tier suppliers for VW and KIA. Still key: four-laning Ga. 140 to I-75.

-Drink of the year: H2O: Cave Spring gets a critical water enhancement -- and it is deserved. The precinct provided a critical 51-vote yes majority for SPLOST.

-Surprise of the year: The ease with which Rome commissioners Jamie Doss and Duane Reid won re-election. The sign ordinance, the water lines issue and other matters didn't do the incumbents any favors. No problem. Doss and Reid got the most votes among the six candidates on the ballot.

-Campaign of the year: Sue Hamler Lee. With a Web site devoid of her own picture and a slogan imploring you to "honor our veterans--vote!"), Lee waltzed to third place, earning enough votes to assume Bill Fricks' seat in January. There was a strong push on for both Jeff Brown and Steven McDowell. Just not strong enough.

-Losers of the year: The community. Around 21 percent of Rome's registered voters took the time to do just that this year even though early voting started Oct. 13--for the Nov. 3 election. Even worse: Countywide turnout was 16.67 percent. Maybe Sue Hamler Lee is on to something.

-For election results and more, please click Election aftermath

-Several incumbents out in area cities: Bartow / Gordon / Polk

New since our morning e-mail alerts (subscribe here)

-Great fall forecast through Monday morning> Weather

-Seven Hills Rotary speakers schedule for Nov., Dec.> Click

-High School football: Cartersville's playoffs; Adairsville nod> Click

-Latest state business updates from Georgia Trend> Ga. Business

-Track today's Dow, other markets> Google Finance

-Georgia Political & Policy Digest's daily headlines> Ga. Politics

Today's Buzz:

-Adairsville man, two others indicted on federal security fraud counts: Rufus Paul Harris, 41, of Adairsville, and two other men made their first appearance before a U.S. magistrate judge Tuesday on federal charges of securities fraud and conspiracy in connection with a scheme to defraud investors of the publicly traded entity known as Conversion Solutions Holdings Corp. Also indicted were Darryl Horton, 48, of Okemos, Mich., and Benjamin Stanley, 47, of Kennesaw, authorities said. Click Details

-Free swine flu vaccine available Thursday for children, pregnant women, healthcare workers, those with existing medical conditions> Health

-As VW begins hiring process, KIA seeking more workers> Ledger-Enquirer

-Rome Christmas Parade deadline is Nov. 10: You can register for the 6:30 p.m. Dec. 1 parade by clicking Here. There is a $50 late fee after Nov. 10. The theme: "An Anniversary Christmas: Celebrating 175 Years of Christmases in Rome."

-Community in Schools' Run for Success 5K is Nov. 14> Healthy Living

-SADD program focuses on teaching young drivers about safety> Click

-Nov. 14/Wilderness walker and folk musician Walkin' Jim Stoltz returns for a concert to benefit the Coosa River Basin Initiative> Details

- Jill Finch wins Mount Berry Square's Biggest Weight Loss Challenge: She lost 46 pounds and more than 24 inches during the fall contest. She wins a $500 mall gift card for a new wardrobe. Click Facebook

-More mall news: Santa Claus makes a trip from the North Pole to Mount Berry Square on Friday, Nov. 13, at 6 p.m.

-Nov. 17/Chamber's Young Professionals of Rome meet from 8:30-9:30 a.m. at Panera Bread. Click Here to register: $5.

Your latest forecast:
-Wednesday: Sunny, high of 71, low of 41.
-Thursday: More sun, high of 67, low of 36.

-Weekend: No rain until Monday!

-Latest weather: Extended forecast / Local radar / Regional radar

John McClellan's football picks> Football Report
-Armuchee, Darlington in playoffs; Pepperell, Calhoun, Cartersville look for wins.

Georgia High School Football Daily: Forecasters say Cartersville vs. Gainesville in first round of AAA playoffs. Adairsville gets a nod as one of the five best AA teams not making the playoffs> Details

Norman Arey's Sports Roundtable>Arey

-Why would playing another quarterback be seen as throwing in the towel for Bulldogs?

Shorter: At Belhaven (Jackson, Miss!) 12:30 p.m. ET Saturday > Click

Upcoming events at Rome Braves/State Mutual Stadium> Sports

-Braves' first Celebrity Shootout with Rocket Wheeler, Frog Smith.

-First annual Wing Ding due Nov. 21.

-Links to winter baseball leagues.

Downtown Headlines> Click

-What's ahead in downtown Rome: Chamber expo Friday, Saturday.

Tuesday updates; election updates all day

2009-11-03T07:23:00.000-05:00

Please click www.hometownheadlines.com:

Oktoberfest indeed: Local home sales jump 27.8%

-Greater Rome's yo-yo home sales stats were on the upside again in October.

Some 69 homes sold last month compared to 54 in September (up 27.8 percent) and compared to 51 homes sold in October 2009 (up 35.2 percent).

-Another milestone: The average price of homes sold last month was $130,354 vs. $120,692 a month earlier. That increase: 8 percent.

-Behind the boom: October sales were driven in part by the $9,800 in federal and state tax incentives for first-time home buyers (can't have owned a home for three years) and low mortgage rates. The tax break expires at the end of this month.

-For more, please see Greater Rome Board of Realtors

Carmike theaters see $20.7 million loss in third quarter: Revenue was about equal to a year earlier but a $17.2 million charge on old equipment and related costs hit the Columbus-based company hard. The company owns the Carmike 12 in Cartersville and Martin's 3 in Calhoun.> Details

-Cohutta Water sold to Crystal Springs: Calhoun-based Cohutta Water has been sold to Crystal Springs for an undisclosed sum> Business Chronicle

Election Day 2009: SPLOST, city posts on local ballots

-City of Rome ballot, click here / To view the county ballot, click here.

-The Cave Spring ballot (contested race): Post 5: Peggy Allgood, Nick McLemore, Ouida Sams

-Campaign finance reports for Rome candidates, SPLOST> Click

Election by the numbers:
-Polls are open today from 7 a.m. until 7 p.m.

-Weather forecast: Mostly sunny with a high of 67.

-Turnout forecast: Elections Chief Evon Billups predicts 20 to 25 percent..

-Advance/early votes as of Friday's cutoff: 1,250 (2.8 percent of all voters).

-Total voters registered in city of Rome as of Nov. 1: 15,428

-Total voters registered in city of Cave Spring: 653

-Total voters registered in Floyd County: 44,455 (cities and county)

Election coverage:

-Hometown Headlines will have updates on our home page, Facebook and Twitter throughout the night. Floyd, Bartow, Gordon, Polk.

-WRGA 1470 AM will have live coverage beginning at 7 p.m. Or listen for updates on WRGA's companion stations as well.

-WLAQ 1410 AM will have coverage beginning after the polls close at 7.

Student-produced Berry College TV show, 'The Conference Room,' recognized as the best in the nation by College Broadcasters Inc.> Details

Tuesday's Buzz:

-Federal jury indicts 9 in timber scheme that cost Temple $4.8 million> Buzz

-Berry College Charter School of Education and Human Sciences will host a presentation by 2010 Georgia Teacher of the Year Gwen Desselle at 7 p.m. Wednesday in the Science Auditorium. Admission is free and open to the public.

-Rome Young Republicans will be collecting magazines, books, CDs and DVDs to be mailed to the troops overseas. Please contact Layla Shipman at 706-853-9014 or email romeyoungrepublicans@gmail.com. The group also will accept donations at the Nov. 10 and Dec. 8 meetings starting at 6:30 p.m. at 333 on Broad.

-Upcoming deer hunts at Berry to close some areas to public> Details

-Shorter, downtown Rome-themed Christmas cards on sale> Campus

-Shorter Hawks prepare for opening week of basketball> Details

John McClellan's high school picks for Friday: Armuchee, Darlington in playoffs; Pepperell, Calhoun, Cartersville look for wins> Football Report

Your latest weather:

-Election Day: Sunny, high of 69, low of 37; some morning fog.
-Wednesday: Sunday, high of 68, low of 44.

-Latest weather: Extended forecast / Local radar / Regional radar

Norman Arey's Sports Roundtable>Arey

-Check out this week's SEC slate; a real quarterback controversy in Athens.

Georgia High School Football Daily: Calhoun, Armuchee, Chattooga, Pepperell get some respect in Football Daily's new review of AA teams as Darlington does in the A classification> Click

Shorter vs. Belhaven, Jackson, Tenn. 12:30 p.m. Saturday> Hawks

-Georgia Northwestern Mustangs start season Nov. 7> Click

Upcoming events at Rome Braves/State Mutual Stadium> Sports

-Braves' first Celebrity Shootout with Rocket Wheeler, Frog Smith.

-First annual Wing Ding due Nov. 21.

-Links to winter baseball leagues.

Downtown Headlines> Click

-What's ahead in downtown Rome: Chamber expo Friday, Saturday.

Rome man indicted in $4.8 million timber case

2009-11-02T15:10:00.001-05:00

Federal jury indicts Rome man, 8 others in timber scheme that cost Temple Inland $4.8 million. Click: http://bit.ly/zLZgT

Monday's updates

2009-11-02T07:28:00.001-05:00

Please click www.hometownheadlines.com:

The Buzz of Northwest Georgia (click)

-VW: Jobs at the plant, with parts suppliers among key local targets.

-The Greener Burger taking shape on Broad Street.

-Almost live from Berry College, it's The Locker Room Report.

-Chamber expo set for Friday night, Saturday at The Forum.

-SPLOST, city elections on this Tuesday's ballot; election coverage.

-More media changes on the way. Plus: Georgia Trend on Rome/Floyd.

-Peaks & Valleys: Six-digit 'gives' by, to local hospitals.

Really close second-place finish for Cedartown's Schabort in New York City Marathon: Krige Schabort of Cedartown finished second with a time of 1:35:58 in the 2009 edition of the New York City Marathon. It was a photo finish as Kurt Fearnley of Australia had the same exact time.> Details

Your latest weather:

-Monday: Sunny, high of 69, low of 40.

-Election Day: Sunny, high of 70, low of 40.

-Latest weather: Extended forecast / Local radar / Regional radar

Norman Arey's Sports Roundtable>Arey

-All in all, an ugly weekend in college football, at least as far as uniforms are concerned

John McClellan's high school picks: Look for his region picks by Tuesday morning. John went 11-1 in local games on Friday night> Football Report

Georgia High School Football Daily: Calhoun remains in first place in AA poll; plays Armuchee Friday night.> Details

Shorter shocked 14-13> Click

-This Saturday, at Belhaven, Jackson, Tenn. 12:30 p.m.

-Georgia Northwestern Mustangs start season Nov. 7> Click

Upcoming events at Rome Braves/State Mutual Stadium> Sports

-Braves' first Celebrity Shootout with Rocket Wheeler, Frog Smith.

-First annual Wing Ding due Nov. 21.

-Links to winter baseball leagues.

Downtown Headlines> Click

-What's ahead in downtown Rome: Chamber expo Friday, Saturday.

Three-Dot Buzz . . . :

-VW: Jobs at the plant, with parts suppliers among key local targets.

-The Greener Burger taking shape on Broad Street.

-Almost live from Berry College, it's The Locker Room Report.

-Chamber expo set for Friday night, Saturday at The Forum.

-SPLOST, city elections on this Tuesday's ballot; election coverage.

-More media changes on the way. Plus: Georgia Trend on Rome/Floyd.

-Peaks & Valleys: Six-digit 'gives' by, to local hospitals.

Work continues on The Greener Burger on Broad

Perhaps it is fitting that a "sandwich board" is responsible for building the buzz on a new burger place at the old Krystal site at 311 Broad St. next to Legends comic book store. Organizers of The Greener Burger are at work on the site and in business circles, promising "great burgers from our farm to your family." We'll have calls into the business organizers later today. Adding to the mystery is the black mail box for a farm to the upper right of the sandwich board.

>The early buzz on this year's Trick or Treat on Broad Street is good. Despite the rain, hundreds of kids and parents worked their way up and down Broad on Saturday, some far beyond the 2 p.m. cutoff time.

Georgia Trend's focus on Rome/Floyd: 'Marking Milestones.' Yet another big spread on Rome/Floyd County is in the November issue of Georgia Trend. This one, anchored by a picture of County Commission Chairman John Mayes, looks at recent projects and developments--including Town Green--and the SPLOST package before voters on Tuesday. For a closer read, click Georgia Trend.

Chamber's annual Business Expo this Friday, Saturday: 100 booth spots are reserved for this year's edition at The Forum. The Friday night event is for chamber members only as well as the vendors. Saturday is open to all, 10 a.m. until 4 p.m. You'll see food vendors, health displays, banks and credit unions, and more. Admission: $3 per person; kids under 10, free. For more, click Expo 2009
-And while you're downtown at the Expo this Saturday, be sure to check out the sidewalk sale organized by downtown merchants.

Tune into Berry sports vis Locker Room Report: The new school year at Berry College also has produced a biweekly YouTube show called the Locker Room Report. Each edition features interviews with Berry coaches and athletes as well as some highlights and previews of what is going on in Berry athletics. The show is co-hosted by Berry's Director of Sports Information and Promotions, Scott Dunford and freshman student, Darren Barnet. The college's interactive and social media specialist, Blake LeGate, is producer, editor and videographer. The show is true to its name: it is filmed in the Berry's men's basketball locker room. Guests so far this year have included women's basketball coach Stephanie Dunn, head soccer coach Lorenzo Canalis and players Kate Ross and Luis Salazar>http://www.youtube.com/berrycollegesports

-What we like: Berry continues to be a leader in online news and video coverage in Northwest Georgia. The last example: Live cuts from the Rome International Film Festival in September and key campus events (graduations, key ceremonies).

The Druck Report on WRGA three times daily; on-demand next: We appreciate the kind words we're hearing about The Druck Report, a weekday four-minute review of local business news, trends and other updates heard exclusively on WRGA 1470 AM. Starting this week, The Druck Report is available at 7:50 a.m., 12:50 and 6:50 p.m. We'll have updates soon on on-demand listening as well in conjunction with WRGArome.com.

-More media: Lots of media buzz still in the air about upcoming changes, some you're probably noticing already. We'll have several updates later in the week.

Election Day coverage: We'll have updates throughout the day as well as results on Tuesday night. We'll be using Hometown Headlines, e-mail alerts, Facebook and Twitter for updates. For our social media updates, please go to:

www.facebook.com/hometown / www.twitter.com/hometown

>Coming Wednesday/Analysis of the elections' outcome: Some of the behind-the-scenes maneuvering in this election cycle will not be forgotten anytime soon.

With VW plant cruising toward the 2011 finish line in Chattanooga, Northwest Georgia seeks healthy chunk of the contracts, jobs.

By Natalie Simms

natsimms76@gmail.com

German automaker Volkswagen's billion-dollar manufacturing plant is rising rapidly in Chattanooga and, just as fast, Northwest Georgia development leaders are wooing would-be parts suppliers to build on this side of the state line

While cars will not be rolling off the assembly line there until 2011, a plant of its magnitude and sheer proximity to Northwest Georgia will breathe new life into our stagnant economy and job market.

"The plant is expected to create more than 10,000 jobs both directly and indirectly over three years," says Pete McDonald, vice president of Economic Development for Georgia Northwestern Technical College. "It's the largest economic impact in Northwest Georgia that we've had in decades."

According to Volkswagen Group of America Inc., the Chattanooga plant initially will create 2,000 direct jobs in the region. Independent studies say the new VW plant is expected to generate $12 billion in income growth and an additional 9,500 jobs over the life of the project. The Chattanooga plant will build a new midsize sedan specially designed for the North American market. Look for VW's new Concept to be built in Chattanooga (above image)

Hiring is under way with hundreds from our area already applying for jobs among more than 12,000 who applied this past week online for 1,200 positions. Applications will be accepted through midnight next Sunday. To apply, go to www.vwjobschattanooga.com.

"VW reached out to us to assist them with offering a location for applicants," McDonald says. "You can apply anywhere with an Internet connection but we (GNTC) have opened up our commuter labs for anyone to come and apply."
The labs are at the Floyd, Gordon and Walker campuses, and are open through Saturday as follows: MondayThursday: 12:30- 7 p.m.; Friday, 12:30-3:30 p.m.; and Saturday, 10:30 a.m.-3 p.m.

"We're anticipating over 100,000 applicants to apply from all over the world," McDonald says. "This application is just the initial step of the seven-step hiring process. VW has a very structured approach to hiring."

This image from the Chattanooga chamber shows a rendering of the new VW plant rising at the Enterprise South industrial complex. For more, click VW Chattanooga.

While the 60-plus miles to Chattanooga seems like a long commute for those living in Northwest Georgia, the good news is that VW will need several parts suppliers who build within 50 to 100 miles of the plant. Northwest Georgia, along with Northeast Alabama and other parts of Tennessee, all stand to benefit.

According to Volkswagen Group of America, nearly $436 million in local contracts have been awarded by the city, state and Volkswagen to date. This includes more than $238 million with local suppliers for the new midsized sedan and $98 million with Volkswagen contractors and subcontractors for plant construction, with another $230 million over the next 20 years. At capacity, the plant will produce 150,000 vehicles a year.

Northwest Georgia hopes to gets its slice of the $230 million pie.

"The Volkswagen plant has great potential for Northwest Georgia," says Al Hodge, President and CEO of the Greater Rome Chamber of Commerce. "Existing auto suppliers, along with potential new employers, have many opportunities related to VW. Our existing suppliers have proven they produce high quality parts and are competitively priced for the plants they supply. We have been marketing to VW and allied businesses since the day the new plant announcement in Chattanooga."

Neaton Auto Products Manufacturing Inc. and F&P Georgia are among several local industries that could supply parts to the VW plant. Racemart International in Calhoun is a global supplier for floor mats and could be in the running for a contract with VW.

"Northwest Georgia will definitely play an important role for suppliers," says Jimmy Phillips, President of the Gordon County Chamber of Commerce. "A project of this size will bring thousands of jobs to the region for Tennessee, Alabama and Georgia. Suppliers will be locating in our communities creating jobs and payrolls."

Phillips says Gordon County has seen some interest from potential suppliers but expects more activity in 2010. "We've got a good location along the interstate with lots of good sites, a ready workforce and utilities," he says. "We've got every opportunity for a new industry."

According to The Chattanoogan, a special industrial park for 15 VW parts suppliers is going up near the VW site. These 15 suppliers are primary or first-tier suppliers. Second- and third-tier parts makers are the ones being targeted by Northwest Georgia development interests.

"One of the many reasons we need to have a well-educated workforce, support from existing employers, and land with infrastructure for new business is so that we can take positive advantage of opportunities such as this one," Hodge says. "This is another reason to support the SPLOST so that 375 more acres may be developed and sold for more jobs in our community."

The 2009 SPLOST will be on the ballots for voters on Tuesday. The $42.3 million package includes $5.98 million for the acquisition and improvement of real estate for economic development. County Manager Kevin Poe says the money would be used to make improvements to the land at Ga. 140 and 53.

"We have 300 plus acres available to recruit future industry," Poe says. "We will use this money for infrastructure improvement and get it ready for future industrial development. But if an industry comes in and we need to build infrastructure somewhere else, we will have flexibility to use this money to get that industry here."

PEAKS & VALLEYS: The highs and lows of Northwest Georgia

Peak to the staff of Redmond Regional Medical Center. Redmond's associates raised more than $100,000 for United Way: The hospital continues to be one of the major players in local United Way efforts.

Peak to the Floyd Medical Center Auxiliary: The auxiliary presented a check for $110,000 to Floyd Medical Center at its 38th annual meeting Thursday. Among the areas to be supported by that check: Floyd's Breast Center. Auxiliary members put in thousands of hours each year in support of the hospital.

Valley to all the dark doorways on Halloween night: Sure, this year's Halloween fell on a rainy Saturday night but we're astounded to hear how many dark doorways there were around town this year. Looks like someone forgot what the "trick" part of Halloween is all about.

Friday updates

2009-10-30T07:32:00.001-04:00

Please click www.hometownheadlines.com:

Politics/2010 and 2009

-Gingrey re-election war chest at $1.12 million as of Sept. 30: U.S. Rep. Phil Gingrey had $1,127,196 in the bank as of the end of September, funds that will be available for his fifth-term bid next year. A posting on C-SPAN shows the District 11 Republican's contributions at $609,582 include $392,209 from individuals and another $207,546 from political action committees. Gingrey also posted expenditures of $306,793. For more, click CSPAN

-As of now, Gingrey has no declared opponents in 2010.

-Congressman blasts Democrats' latest healthcare package> Gingrey

-Final day to vote early in city, SPLOST elections: You can vote at the elections office, Fourth Avenue and First Street, or at the City Center> Details

-City of Rome ballot, click here / To view the county ballot, click here.

-Precincts open 7 a.m.-7 p.m. Tuesday.

-Campaign finance reports for Rome candidates, SPLOST> Click

Business

-Calhoun-based Mohawk Industries posts $34 million in net earnings in the third quarter: Nine-month net loss set at $25 million> Details> Mohawk

-Sidebar/Business Chronicle looks at Mohawk report> Chronicle

-Blockbuster closing Shorter Avenue store, Hicks Drive location to remain: A clearance sale is under way at the 2202 Shorter Ave. location as it is one of 960 shops being closed by the chain. The Hicks Drive location will remain open. For background on Blockbuster's decision, click Movies

-Trendline/Local closings: The year started off rough with the loss of Office Depot and then Goody's, Circuit City and Kmart's food department. The closings slowed until this month when Regions Bank confirmed the Armuchee location will close as will one branch in Calhoun. A new Goody's is open in Calhoun while Shorter College is in talks to move its business college into Midtown Crossing.

Friday's Buzz:

-Breast Center to benefit from FMC Auxiliary's $110,000 check> Health.

-Another lottery win for Summerville man: (Media release) A free Fantasy 5 ticket has netted a Summerville man his second Georgia Lottery win in two years. David Hester won $31,155 with a free ticket that matched all five winning numbers in the Oct. 22 Fantasy 5 drawing. He won $30,000 on an instant game in 2007. "It's exciting," said Hester, 51, who won his free Fantasy 5 ticket by matching two of five winning numbers in a previous drawing. Hester's prior winnings were used for home improvements, including a new roof and front porch. He's still deciding how to spend his latest prize. He received his ticket at Mr. C's, Martha Berry Highway, Armuchee.

-Updates on the NAIA football championship in Rome Dec. 19> Click

-Halloween, Fall Festival events; safety tips; weather iffy. Rome Kids

Dining & Drink:
-Latest public health restaurant inspection scores for Northwest Georgia.
-What's new at area restaurants> Dining
-Rome Fine Wine Festival is Sunday> Wine News Vine
-Halloween, fall festivals dominate the weekend at N. Georgia wineries.

Your latest weather:
-Friday: 20% to 90% chance of rain, high of 74, low of 58.
-Halloween: 80%, then 50% chance of rain, high of 61, low 45.

-Sunday: Sunny, high of 66, low of 41.

-Latest weather: Extended forecast / Local radar / Regional radar

Norman Arey's Sports Roundtable>Arey

-Norman's No-Nos: There is no scenario where the Bulldogs are able to upset top-ranked Gators.

John McClellan's high school football picks> Football Report

-Big Ws for Pepperell, Darlington, Coosa, Armuchee, Calhoun, Cartersville.
-Rough night for Cedartown, Model.
-Close calls for Cass, Sonoraville.
-Plus: John sets up the playoff picture.

>Track scores tonight at www.ga.prepcountry.com

Updates from Georgia High School Football Daily> A must-read today with playoff scenarios and more. Click details

Shorter prepares to host Cumberland this Saturday at Barron> Click

-Georgia Northwestern Mustangs start season Nov. 7> Click

Upcoming events at Rome Braves/State Mutual Stadium> Sports

-Braves' first Celebrity Shootout with Rocket Wheeler, Frog Smith.

-First annual Wing Ding due Nov. 21.

-Links to winter baseball leagues.

Downtown Headlines> Click

-What's ahead in downtown Rome: Trick or Treat on Broad Street.

-Bryan Mullins' MullinsMania entertainment report.

Mohawk: $34M profit in 3rd Q

2009-10-29T18:14:00.001-04:00

Calhoun-based Mohawk Industries posts $34 million in net earnings in the third quarter; nine-month net loss set at $25 million.

Thursday updates

2009-10-29T08:06:00.001-04:00

Please click www.hometownheadlines.com:

Health

-Floyd building Urgent Care facility in Cartersville on Joe Harris Parkway. Look for the 12,263-square-foot office to be completed by May. The project's estimated value is $2.2 million and that includes construction, architectural and engineering fees, furnishings and equipment. The new office will be equipped with digital x-ray capabilities as well.

Real estate

-Extension, expansion of homebuyer tax credit brewing: The Wall Street Journal reports that "Senate negotiators reached a tentative deal to extend a tax credit for first-time home buyers but its passage remains uncertain." The specifics: The current $8,000 federal tax credit would be extended through April 30 for first-time buyers--and existing owners earning up to $125,000 as individuals or $250,000 as a couple would be eligible for a $6,500 break> Details

>Why the extension is key: Greater Rome real estate sales have been sustained by the current tax credit program, which expires Dec. 1. Still, local home sales have been below 2008 levels for much of this year.

Media:

-Nov. 10/Rome's first Tweet Up:

-Bartow chamber, Flammer Relations present next Social Media Lab> Click

Thursday's Buzz:

-Newby invited to speak at Perdue economic summit: David Newby, general manager of Profile Extrusion Co. and chairman of the Greater Rome Chamber of Commerce, is among the speakers and panelists invited by Gov. Sonny Perdue to take part in a business summit on Friday, Nov. 6 at the Georgia World Congress Center. Click Details

-Maybe they should call them iDiamonds ... or eye diamonds? Greene's Jewelers on Broad Street has joined Red Box Diamond retailers registered on the first free Apple iPhone application of its kind, Live Diamond Try On. "iPhone users can browse for the perfect diamond ..., design a beautiful yellow gold or white metal ring around it, and then try the ring on 'virtually' using a photo of their own hand taken with the iPhone camera," says Joyce Greene Manning. 'They can explore how different diamond shapes, styles and of course sizes ... look on their hand."

-Halloween, Fall Festival events; safety tips. Click Rome Kids

-New reason to visit downtown Chattanooga: Already a playground for Northwest Georgians, downtown Chattanooga has added another perk: Carmike's Majestic 12 opens at 311 Broad St. as a 100 percent digital movie theater with digital pictures and sound, wall-to-wall screens, three auditoriums with 3D capabilities and a VIP screening room for adults serving beer and gourmet food. Carmike also owns the Carmike 12 in Cartersville and Martin's 3 in Calhoun> Details

2009 elections

-Two days left to vote early in city, SPLOST elections at two sites. You can vote at the elections office at Fourth Avenue and First Street or at the Rome City Center now through Friday> Details

-City of Rome ballot, click here / To view the county ballot, click here.

-Thursday/Forum at Willingham Village Housing Authority Complex.

State football site predicts who plays where in first round of AA playoffs: Georgia High School Football Daily's experts expect to see the following games: -Westminster at Armuchee
-Cook at Putnam County
-Chattooga at Buford
-Avondale at Calhoun
-Pepperell at Lovett

-For more, click Football Daily

>See what local expert John McClellan has to say about this week's games and the regional play-in showdowns> Football Report

Your latest weather:

-Thursday: Some clouds, high of 73, low of 58.
-Friday: 20% to 60% chance of rain, high of 73, low of 63.
-Halloween: 60%, then 40% chance of rain, high of 68, low of 45.

-Latest weather: Extended forecast / Local radar / Regional radar

Norman Arey's Sports Roundtable>Arey

-Tech gets a rush out of season; Gators can't seem to pull the trigger in red zone.

John McClellan's high school football picks> Football Report

-Big Ws for Pepperell, Darlington, Coosa, Armuchee, Calhoun, Cartersville.
-Rough night for Cedartown, Model.
-Close calls for Cass, Sonoraville.
-Plus: John sets up the playoff picture.

Wednesday's updates

2009-10-28T07:00:00.001-04:00

Please click www.hometownheadlines.com:

2009 elections

-Banks, credit union, hospitals funding pro-SPLOST campaign: A look at campaign finance records through Oct. 23 shows that most local banks, a credit union and both area hospitals have contributed most of the $8,160 to the campaign designed to promote the $42.3 million SPLOST package. Click Politics

-Three days left to vote early in city, SPLOST elections at two sites. You can vote at the elections office at Fourth Avenue and First Street or at the Rome City Center now through Friday> Details

-City of Rome ballot, click here / To view the county ballot, click here.

-Thursday/Forum at Willingham Village Housing Authority Complex.

Jobs

-33 use Georgia Northwestern computers to apply for VW jobs on first day: Georgia Northwestern Technical College has opened its computer labs at Floyd, Gordon and Walker campuses to those applying at the new VW plant. Eleven people applied via Floyd computers, nine at Gordon and 13 at Walker> Details

-Job fair in Dalton Nov. 19: From 1 to 5 p.m., the Georgia Department of Labor will host a career expo and job fair at the Northwest Georgia Trade and Convention Center in Dalton. It is open to all. Employers are invited to contact the labor department about setting up free displays and information tables. Click jobs

Weather/Rain

-Saturday forecast looks a bit ghoulish (40-60% rain chance). Weather below.

-Indoor, outdoor Halloween, fall festival events; safety tips> RomeKids

Business

-UGA president due in Cartersville Nov. 4: Michael Adams, president of the University of Georgia, is the keynote speaker at the Nov. 4 Business Over Breakfast meeting at the Cartersville-Bartow County Chamber of Commerce, 7:30 a.m. Tickets: $15. Contact: Martha Macon for reservations> Chamber

Wednesday's Buzz

-Armuchee High School has earned recognition from The Governor's Cup Challenge for SAT success as the 7-AA Region Champion in the academic competition. AHS finished third in the state championship for the AA Governor's Cup and was named the Top Scorer in the classification. AHS was also one of only two AA qualifiers to have an SAT score higher than the national average> Release

-Unity opens football playoffs this weekend> Football Report

-The Unity Christian School launches first basketball program> Details

-Calhoun No. 1, Pepperell No. 10 in coaches' poll> AA

-DiPrima's, Clarks Companies team up to help Soles4Souls> Can you help?

-The Junior Service League of Rome's annual poinsettia sale is under way through Nov. 6. Red, pink and while poinsettias are available in three sizes. Proceeds go to providing school supplies to area children. For more, go to www.jslofrome.com or become a fan of our Facebook page at http://tiny.cc/30l14 .

-Latest edition of Virtually Shorter now posted. Click Shorter

Your latest weather:

-Wednesday: Some drizzle, high of 71, low of 46.
-Thursday: High of 75, low of 59; 30% rain chance at night.

-Latest weather: Extended forecast / Local radar / Regional radar

Norman Arey's Sports Roundtable>Arey

-Does the SEC have really bad officials or just really whiny coaches?

John McClellan's high school football picks> Football Report

-Big Ws for Pepperell, Darlington, Coosa, Armuchee, Calhoun, Cartersville.
-Rough night for Cedartown, Model.
-Close calls for Cass, Sonoraville.
-Plus: John sets up the playoff picture.

Updates from Georgia High School Football Daily> Click

Upcoming events at Rome Braves/State Mutual Stadium> Sports

-Braves' first Celebrity Shootout with Rocket Wheeler, Frog Smith.

-First annual Wing Ding due Nov. 21.

-Links to winter baseball leagues.

Downtown Headlines> Click

-What's ahead in downtown Rome: Trick or Treat on Broad Street.

Tuesday's updates: flood watch

2009-10-27T07:28:00.001-04:00

Please click www.hometownheadlines.com:

Flood watch in effect for Northwest Georgia; up to an inch of rain likely

-Today's heavy rains trigger flood watch for Northwest Georgia> Details.

-Today: 100% chance of rain. Up to an inch possible. High near 58.
-Tonight: 60% chance of rain, low of 52. Half inch of rain possible.
-Wednesday: Mostly sunny, with a high near 75.
-Wednesday night: Partly cloudy, with a low around 48.

-Latest weather: Extended forecast / Local radar / Regional radar

Sage Cottage Restaurant opens near Adairsville: Here's a change of pace--reporting a restaurant opening in Bartow County rather than the other way around. We're getting good initial reports on the just-opened Sage Cottage Restaurant near Adairsville and Barnsley Gardens. The cottages offer a different style of accommodations in an attractive layout with just-as-attractive prices. Now comes the restaurant courtesy of Jim and Sharon Southerland, known for their great work at the original Adairsville Inn. The menu features steaks, seafood, crepes and killer homemade desserts. Our friend tried the orange roughy with a twice baked potato and dill green beans followed by a chocolate torte with whipped cream. Her summary: "Delicious." Sage Cottage Restaurant is open from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Tuesday through Friday and for dinner from 5 to 9:30 p.m. Thursday through Saturday. Sunday hours: 11:30 a.m. until 3 p.m. For more, call 770-877-5995 or click Sage Cottage.

More changes for Posh: John and Jennifer Massey had planned to move the high-end consignment store to Broad Street from Glenn Milner but have now sold it to Terri Russo-Alessi, says John Massey. The shop could still move to Broad in coming months. The Masseys will open The Hair Affair in the current Posh location in coming months. (Please see Buzz for other Broad Street updates)

Rome's 'food lady,' Mary Louise Lever wins again, in hunt for $1 million: The winning recipe highlighting the South's best Best foods was Mary Louise Lever's Low-Country Spicy, Veggie Macaroni And Cheese Bake. It was deemed the best of more than 1,000 entries in the organization's inaugural recipe contest, according to a media release. "I took one of my favorite recipes and added some Texas Pete Hot Sauce and Margaret Holmes Tomatoes, Okra and Corn and created a masterpiece of Southern comfort food," says Lever. The Southern Food Processors Association sponsored the recipe contest; Lever wins $500 and she'll be amoung 100 finalists in a $1 million grand prize national contest.

Briefly Buzzed:

-Shorter Hawks back in NAIA Top 25> Details

-AJC takes a huge hit on circulation both weekdays, Sunday, partly because of reduced circulation zone> Click

2009 Vote: Final seven days

-Four days left to vote early in city, SPLOST elections: One of the quietest elections in recent memory is just about over> Details

-City of Rome ballot, click here / To view the county ballot, click here.

-Tonight/Cave Spring candidates forum: The Cave Spring Merchants Association will sponsor a Town Hall Meeting/Candidates' Forum at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 27 at the Cave Spring Elementary School Auditorium. All are invited. The moderator is Jim Williams, retired executive director of the Rome/Floyd County YMCA.

-Thursday/Forum, Willingham Village Housing Authority Complex.

Norman Arey's Sports Roundtable>Arey
-Is there anyone anywhere who believes Iowa is the fourth best team in college football?

John McClellan's high school football picks> Football Report

-Big Ws for Pepperell, Darlington, Coosa, Armuchee, Calhoun, Cartersville.
-Rough night for Cedartown, Model.
-Close calls for Cass, Sonoraville.
-Plus: John sets up the playoff picture.

Updates from Georgia High School Football Daily> Click

Upcoming events at Rome Braves/State Mutual Stadium> Sports

-Braves' first Celebrity Shootout with Rocket Wheeler, Frog Smith.

-First annual Wing Ding due Nov. 21.

-Links to winter baseball leagues.

Downtown Headlines> Click

-What's ahead in downtown Rome.

Monday's updates

2009-10-26T07:19:00.001-04:00

Please click www.hometownheadlines.com:

The Buzz of Northwest Georgia: (click)

-A closer look at the Broad Street Shuffle: More changes coming to downtown Rome over the next few weeks and months> Click

-More media shuffles, too: Look for a surprise in coming days.

-Oct. 19-23: Most significant news week of the year?

-Trick or Treat collides with Florida-Georgia game this year.

-Peaks & Valleys: The highs and lows of Northwest Georgia.

Your latest forecast:

-Monday: High of 69, low of 50. Ran chance tonight; 30%.

-Tuesday: 80% chance of rain, then 60%. High of 58, low of 53.

-Latest weather: Extended forecast / Local radar / Regional radar

Norman Arey's Sports Roundtable>Arey
-Can you see Boise State, Cincinnati in the mythical championship game?

John McClellan's high school football picks: John goes 11-0 on his local picks last week; new picks due Tuesday> Football Report

Georgia High School Football Daily> Calhoun remains No. 1> Details

Upcoming events at Rome Braves/State Mutual Stadium> Sports

-Braves' first Celebrity Shootout with Rocket Wheeler, Frog Smith.

-First annual Wing Ding due Nov. 21.

-Links to winter baseball leagues.

Downtown Headlines> Click

-What's ahead in downtown Rome.

Three-Dot Buzz . . . :

ints of more media changes in the air: There's a story circulating among local media players about a surprising change. A few e-mails, phone calls and some vague Facebook hints are out there as well. We're staying "sufficiently ambiguous" for now to let all sides announce it on their own terms and timetable. It certainly adds to a year of change under way with local media and Web sites including:

-Rome Radio Partners LLC as the new owners of WRGA and Q102 and as the managers of the other Southern Broadcasting stations.

-The ownership changes with the "Newswire" group.

-And the advent of direct-to-the-consumer advertising courtesy of social media and electronic communication, virtually bypassing media advertising channels.

-Stay tuned for details on this latest move with more due after the elections . . .

Most significant news week of the year: In five days last week, we saw:

-Harbin Clinic's formal announcement on the new cancer center opening in 2010. This could be a real catalyst for both redevelopment and relocation as well as the health ramifications. It again puts Rome's health community on the map.

-Shorter College's acknowledgment of talks with Ledbetter Properties to move the business school to the former Goody's location at Midtown Crossing. If the deal is struck, it is another significant move by Shorter--and Ledbetter.

-The annual bank deposit-market share bank report -- which underscored the strength of local banks--and those mixed quarterly reports from the "big boys."

-Next up: At least one more story line is out there to be resolved, one that has been neatly placed on the back burner until voters decide the fate of the SPLOST package. We expect front-burner status on this one before the year ends . . .

Trick or Treat and Gators vs. Dawgs: Here's a dangerous combination for this coming Saturday. The annual throw down between Georgia and Florida is set for 3:30 p.m. with Halloween trick-or-treating expected to be in full force by game's end, 6:30 or so. It could get real ugly out there depending on how the game goes. Area restaurants and bars are offering specials for the game, ranging from 333 on Broad to Game Time Sports Grille in Cartersville . . .

The Broad Street Shuffle: Merchants are on the move this month

and more are on the way in the next few weeks, new year

By Natalie Simms

natsimms76@gmail.com

With three relocating and two new businesses coming in, there are a lot of changes sweeping through Broad Street these days with more on the way in 2010.

The Cotton Block of Broad Street is seeing the most change with Mattress Direct/The Kidz Loft and C&S Trophies moving into new spaces. Roger Wade, owner of Mattress Direct/The Kidz Loft, also has plans to bring in a new restaurant in 2010.

While John Massey, owner of Massey's/The Diamond Store, will be bringing Posh consignment store into Cotton Block Hall next week.

"I believe that this (Cotton Block) may be the premiere shopping block on Broad Street," Wade says. "We have a toy/baby/mattress store, antique store, bicycle shop, office supply store, sporting goods shop, jewelry store, beauty shops, cleaners and an investment banker on the end .. .we really have everything."

Wade is 95 percent moved into his new space at 111 Broad St. and is open for business in the new location. Mattress Direct/The Kidz Loft has downsized its business, going from 10,000 square feet of display space to 5,000 square feet.

"This space really fills our needs completely," he says. "We got out of the bedroom suite business and are just focusing on mattresses and in The Kidz Loft. We have baby furniture, bedding, toys and mom's chairs. We can manage a lot better without having warehouse space and need for delivery."

Wade also has a contract on the building next door to his business, which houses the current Three Rivers Antiques. He says Three Rivers Antiques will be moving out of the building over the next several months.

Wade will be opening up a hot dog restaurant called The Past Time as soon as he can get the building renovated in 2010.

"That building used to be a billiard place back in the late 1800s, so we're going to decorate it in decades of Rome's history up through the 1970s," he says. "I already have lots of props stored so we think the decade theme will be really unique."

Into Mattress Direct's former location at 210 Broad St. comes Paula's Silver and Gold (above).

"We've been really busy getting moved, but we're very excited to be in our new location," says Paula Conway, owner. "We have so much more space and will be offering a lot of new service items and personalized items that no one else is doing in Rome."

Conway's business is expanding from 3,000 square feet to 6,000 square feet in her new location. Her building also has two additional floors giving her additional space for storage and her new imprinting machines.

"I am installing four new machines that can print on just about anything," she says. "We will be doing T-shirts with photos on them and have the ability to do only one T-shirt at a time, most places in town make you order a minimum and not just one."

Paula's also will be able to imprint photos on jewelry, mugs, plates and ornaments. Another machine can personalize tumblers, note cards and luggage tags.

"We will also be doing invitations and announcements, where you can choose the background and put a photo on itthose will all be printed in house," Conway says. "And, we offer monogramming on anything and everything that will fit into the machine."

Conway received two loans from the City of Rome to help in the purchase of the building. One loan, in the amount of $11,000, is from the Community Development Loan Fund with a six-year payback and a $62,000 loan from the Downtown Development Authority with a 15-year payback. One of the requirements for these loan approvals was that new jobs will be created as a result of the venture.

"In November, we will be expanding our hours to be open Monday through Saturday. We'll be open 10 a.m.-6 p.m. on Monday through Friday and 10 a.m. -4 p.m. on Saturday," she says. "We are really excited about what all we can offer our customers. We have a lot more merchandise including an expanded line of clothing and shoes."

Another Paula moving locations is Paula Blevins and her C&S Trophy business. Blevins will be moving into the Cotton Block at 7 Broad St. just past Pullen's Ordinary Bicycle Shop.

"Our new building is a similar size to what we have but I am very excited about the new space and to be going to the Cotton Block in this new growth time and be there as it unfolds," Blevins says.

Blevins will be moving her business this weekend and will be open in the new spot on Nov. 2. A ribbon cutting ceremony is scheduled that day for 11 a.m.

"It really was a hard decision to move because I have been here for more than 31 years," she says. "But my customer base is established and word is getting out about the move, and my customers have no problem going down the roadso it's really not going to be an issue for customers, plus parking down there will not be as difficult."

Will Byington with Toles, Temple & Wright is seeking a new tenant for Blevins' former location at 338 Broad St. "We've had some interest in the space but we're waiting for them to move and will be putting the space on the market at the end of the monthit really is a great space."

Another new business moving to the Cotton Block is Posh, a men's and women's consignment store now located on Glenn Milner Boulevard. Posh will be moving into Cotton Block Hall at 112 Broad St.

"Cotton Block Hall will be the new Posh Building," said Massey. "It will be good for downtown and Posh will be moving into a larger space so they can offer men's and women's consignment along with wedding and prom dresses."

Massey says he will still honor the handful of contracts that he has with clients to rent the Cotton Block Hall for events. Posh merchandise will be moved out during the events. No new contracts are being offered.

Posh will be open in the new space this week. He expects the business to be fully operational and accepting consignment items by Thursday. For more information, Posh can be reached at 706-232-3330. A new manager is expected to join the business on Nov. 13.

"I am just really excited about all the new things on the Cotton Block," Massey says. "About a year ago, I predicted it would take 12-18 months for the block to be full and didn't know it would be this fast. This end of town has really come alive so it's great on the Cotton Block."

In Posh's former location at 220 Glenn Milner Boulevard, Massey will be opening a new beauty salon called The Hair Affair. He expects the salon to open by the second week of November. The Hair Affair's new number will be 706-378-1220.

PEAKS & VALLEYS: The highs, lows of Northwest Georgia

Peak to Harbin Clinic and the cancer center:

In addition to providing a wonderful, unified home for Northwest Georgia cancer patients and their families, Harbin's cancer center also will serve as a "lure" for businesses and retirees in search of new homes as well as a stimulus to the downtown economy. We hope this $15-plus million project is just the start of more to come.

Valley to the Rome News' whining editorials on downtown police patrols: Let's see--the community spends thousands promoting downtown Rome as a live/work/play environment. Police officers are on patrol there to serve and protect. And yet for doing so, the snorts and grumbles that serve as "editorial comment" from the newspaper these days make it sound as if law enforcement is waterboarding people. A navel-gazing series of editorials -- citing "reports" and "anonymous calls and e-mails" but nary a substantiated fact or, even better, a piece of live litigation -- blasts the police department for doing its job. ('Opinions') The paper's commentaries reek of it almost being a personal issue. Let the police do their job, especially with those who are too inebriated to function as adults.

Valley to the Girls Gone Wild coverage: And we lump ourselves into the mix here. Was this "event" really worth the barrage of coverage from local media, pretend media, Atlanta radio and television, and the AJC? Did we need constantly updating attendance figures Saturday night? As we say earlier in this report, last week was perhaps the single most significant news week of the year--and everyone is hell bent on beating this dead horse?

Friday updates

2009-10-23T08:06:00.001-04:00

Please click www.hometownheadlines.com:

Closer look at Harbin Clinic's Cancer Center:

-The three-story, 55,000-square-foot building will unite a number of cancer services in a prime downtown location> Details

-Perhaps the most underplayed aspect of the project: how it enhances Rome when it comes to industy recruitment and relocating retirees.

-Analysis: The cancer center, parks & rec move, stadium SPLOST could provide $20 million lightning strike, fueling additional development> Buzz

- Floyd adds 8 volunteers to The Breast Center> Health

Monday/Another busy night for Alcohol Control Commission: With the aftermath of the last regular meeting still simmering (Girls Gone Wild ruling), commissioners at 5 p.m. Monday take up "alcohol service permit violations" filed against 10 Rome restaurants, bars and package stores> ACC

-At least word, 'Girls' still at go at McCrobie's Saturday night.

Briefly Buzzed:

-Highlands speaker to discuss tragic consequences of 'cyber bullies'> Campus

-Ed Katz, founder of Peachtree Movers, hosting seminar on marketing, sales techniques at Highlands' Bartow campus Nov. 6> Details

-Dan Bevels joins Floyd as electronic communications specialist> Health

Bank report updates:

-Synovus -- parent company of Citizens First, GB & T -- posts third quarter loss of $423.7 million> Synovus

-SunTrust quarterly loss at $377.1 million> SunTrust

-Wells Fargo (Wachovia) posts record earnings: $3.2 billion> Details

-Regions loses $437 million loss, closing Armuchee, Calhoun sites> Details

-United Community Banks: Friday morning. Details

Temple-Inland Inc. reports $67 million in third-quarter earnings> Click

Downtown Headlines> Click

-Peach State, Chiaha should keep downtown hoping this weekend. Plays, too.
-Bryan Mullins of MullinsMania: What's ahead in entertainment.

Dining & Drink

-Latest public health restaurant inspections for Northwest Georgia> Dining

-Touring the Biltmore's winery in Asheville, N.C.> News Vine

-Busy weekend for fall harvest festivals at North Georgia wineries.

-Wine News Vine: What's ahead in coming weeks.

Your latest forecast:

-Friday: 100% rain chance; thunderstorms possible after 2 p.m. High of 75, low of 54. Evening rain chance: 30%.

-Saturday: Partly sunny with a high of 64, low of 41.

-Sunday: Mostly sunny with a high of 73, low of 41.

-Latest weather: Extended forecast / Local radar / Regional radar

Norman Arey's Sports Roundtable>Arey
-Tennessee could play Alabama naked and it wouldn't make a bit of difference

Rome falls to 3-6 on the season after 35-21 lose at Dalton> Football Report

John McClellan's high school football picks> Football Report

-Pepperell should cruise by Coosa. Darlington should take finale three.
-Big wins for Calhoun, Chattooga, Armuchee, Rockmart, Cartersville.
-Rough night due for Model, Cedartown, Sonoraville, Gordon Central.

Track tonight's high school games at www.ga.prepcountry.com

Unity plays Friday on Shorter campus: The Unity Christian School varsity football team will host the Crown Knights this Friday. The game will be held on the new Shorter College sprint turf practice field. Kickoff is set for 7:30 p.m. and concessions will be provided by Fuddruckers. Fans are encouraged to bring chairs.

Georgia High School Football Daily> Click

Upcoming events at Rome Braves/State Mutual Stadium> Sports

The first Rome Braves Softball Slam is this weekend at State Mutual Stadium. It starts at 6:30 p.m. Friday. There are no admission or parking fees. The Miller Lite Marina will be open. Details: 706-378-5100.

.-Did someone say wing ding?

-Braves' first Celebrity Shootout with Rocket Wheeler, Frog Smith.

-Links to winter baseball leagues.

Shorter prepares for road game vs. Union on Saturday> Game notes

Harbin announces new cancer center in Rome

2009-10-22T11:30:00.003-04:00

Harbin Clinic's state of the art cancer center--3-story, 55,000 sq.ft.--will be at 2nd Ave., W. 5th St. http://www.hometownheadlines.com

Harbin announces new cancer center in Rome

2009-10-22T11:30:00.001-04:00

Harbin Clinic's state of the art cancer center--3-story, 55,000 sq.ft.--will be at 2nd Ave., W. 5th St. http://www.hometownheadlines.com

Thursday updates

2009-10-22T07:18:00.001-04:00

Please click www.hometownheadlines.com:

September jobless rate: Double digits again -- but slowing a bit?

	Working in Sept. 2009	Jobless in Sept. 08	Sept. 2009 jobless rate	Aug. 2009 jobless rate	Sept. 2008 jobless rate
Bartow	39,720	6,101	13.3%	12.9%	7.4%
Chattooga	9,365	1,210	11.4%	11.8%	8.6%
Floyd	43,522	5,414	11.1%	11.1%	6.9%
Gordon	22,141	3,326	13.1%	13.1%	7.6%
Polk	19,042	2,317	10.8%	10.9%	6.6%
State	4,240,968	481,575	10.2%	10.1%	6.7%

Source: Georgia Department of Labor

-Overview: There's no real good news to be found when the unemployment rate in our local counties continues in the double digits, especially with Bartow posting 13.3 percent last month and Gordon at 13.1 percent. A year ago, both were in the mid 7 percent range.

-Signs of hope: But Polk reported a slight dip compared to August's jobless rate while Floyd was flat at 11.1 percent vs. 6.9 percent in September 2008.

-Holiday hiring? With the Christmas shopping season upon us, there's hope of at least more temporary reductions through December.

-Statewide, the number of payroll jobs in September was 3,844,400, a decrease of 237,100, or 5.8 percent, from 4,081,500 in September 2008.

-The over-the-year losses came in manufacturing, trade, construction and administrative support services, including temporary employment services.

-Educational and health services added 13,700 jobs over the year.

-The state's labor force decreased 117,230, or 2.4 percent, from 4,852,086 in September 2008 to 4,734,856 in September 2009. The U.S. jobless rate: 9.8 percent.

Health update coming later this morning: Harbin Clinic has schedule a media conference at 10:30 this morning at the main office, 1825 Martha Berry Blvd. Natalie Simms will have updates later this morning.

DLS Financial adds new sign: The DLS Financial Center at 901 Broad St. and Turner McCall is adding a new display area. You're watching the monument sign rise just off Turner McCall near the West First Street intersection (across from Papa John's). Partner Ernie Smith says it will be 21 feet by 8 feet, and will display the names of tenants including Dempsey Lord Smith LLC; Brown & Brown Insurance, In-Touch Computer Services, the law firm of Smith, Lewis & Haley, and more. The partnership continues to court additional tenants.

>For more, click DLS

>Photo: Jack Druckenmiller

Harvest Moon goes prime time on GPB Friday: Fans of Harvest Moon should turn to Friday's edition of Georgia Traveler on Georgia Public Television. The restaurant is included in this week's edition, airing at 9 p.m. The feature is part of the Fall Colors Tour episode. For additional broadcasts and online access, please click GPB.

Politics/Meet the Candidates night plus Jefferson Jackson Dinner. Click Details

Rome vs. Dalton moved to 7:30 p.m. Thursday at Harmon Field in Dalton because of the potential of severe weather. Click Football Report

-More weather below.

Bank report updates:

-Wells Fargo (Wachovia) posts record third quarter earnings: $3.2 billion> Details

-Regions Bank loses $437 million loss, closing Armuchee, Calhoun sites> Details

-SunTrust: Due later today. Click

-Synovus (parent of Citizens First, GB & T): Due this afternoon. Click

-United Community Banks: Friday morning. Details

-From Tuesday: Annual deposit/market share report> Business

Thursday's Buzz:

-ADAMS: Long new project manager with program management> Click

-Maple Road will be closed at the railroad crossing from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday and Tuesday. Use Old Rockmart Road and Booze Mountain Road or U.S. 27S, Eden Valley Road and South First Street to avoid the construction area.

-The first Rome Braves Softball Slam is this weekend at State Mutual Stadium. It starts at 6:30 p.m. Friday night.. There are no admission or parking fees. The Miller Lite Marina will be open. Details: 706-378-5100.

-Registration, training begins for 3rd Berry Half-Marathon March 6> Details

-Nov. 7/CRBI's 8th annual fish fry, green expo set at Rome First> Link

-Oct. 28/'Real Encounter' Xtreme athletes at Pleasant Valley South> Click

-Oct. 25/Wesley Methodist Church in Summerville Park off Charlton Road will have Homecoming Sunday with services starting at 10:30 a.m. The Gentrys and the Golden Harvest will be in concert . Lunch will be served and all who were or are associated with Wesley are invited. Visitors and friends welcome. Dr. Paul Camp is pastor.

-Oct. 31/Fall festival at First Baptist, Lindale, 9 Park Ave. Open to all, the festival is from 4 to 6 p.m. Free games, food and candy. Call 706-232-7088.

-The Floyd County Master Gardeners will be in their tent near the entrance again at this year's Chiaha Harvest Fair set for Saturday and Sunday at Ridge Ferry Park. Gardeners will be selling the best plants from their own gardens and some special natives--most are drought-tolerant. Also: a section to help children make bird-feeders with pine cones and peanut butter. Remember: Fall is the time to plan and plant.

Your latest forecast:

-Thursday: Partly sunny, high of 73, low of 59; 70% rain chance overnight.
-Friday: 100% rain chance; thunderstorms possible after 2 p.m.; nearly an inch of rain. High of 70, low of 52. Evening rain chance: 50%.

-Latest weather: Extended forecast / Local radar / Regional radar

Rome vs. Dalton moved to 7:30 tonight at Harmon Field in Dalton because of the potential of severe weather. Click Football Report

-Unity plays Friday on Shorter campus: The Unity Christian School varsity football team will host the Crown Knights this Friday. The game will be held on the new Shorter College sprint turf practice field. Kickoff is set for 7:30 p.m. and concessions will be provided by Fuddruckers. Fans are encouraged to bring chairs.

John McClellan's high school football picks> Football Report

-Pepperell should cruise by Coosa. Darlington should take finale three.
-Big wins for Calhoun, Chattooga, Armuchee, Rockmart, Cartersville.
-Rough night due for Rome, Model, Cedartown, Sonoraville, Gordon Central.

Georgia High School Football Daily> Click

Norman Arey's Sports Roundtable>Arey
-Black Wednesday for two former local players; Broadway Matt he ain't.

Upcoming events at Rome Braves/State Mutual Stadium> Sports

-Did someone say wing ding?

-Softball jam this weekend at the stadium.

-Braves' first Celebrity Shootout with Rocket Wheeler, Frog Smith.

-Links to winter baseball leagues.

Shorter prepares for road game vs. Union on Saturday> Game notes

Wednesday's headlines

2009-10-21T07:25:00.001-04:00

Please click www.hometownheadlines.com:

Keep an eye on banks' third quarter reports this week:

-Regions Bank gets 'season' off to a big start with $437 million loss, 121 branch closings including Armuchee, Calhoun. The Armuchee branch at 3040 Martha Berry Highway will consolidate with the 400 Turner McCall Blvd. office.

Based on the latest deposit summary, the Armuchee branch had the lowest deposits of the four offices here: $10.7 million vs. up to $52 million at the 400 TMB site.

-The South Wall Street/Calhoun branch will blend with the North Wall Street office, a Regions' spokeswoman says. It had $10.4 million in deposits as of June 30 vs. $29.7 million at the North Wall Street site. The offices close Jan. 20> Details

-Wells Fargo (Wachovia): Due later this morning. Details

-SunTrust: Thursday morning. Click

-Synovus (parent of Citizens First, GB & T): Thursday afternoon. Click

-United Community Banks: Friday morning. Details

-From Tuesday: Annual deposit/market share report> Business

Exit Pizza Hut, enter Zaxby's in East Rome: That didn't take long. With the Turner McCall Pizza Hut relocating to Martha Berry across from Heaven's Attic, look for a new tenant soon at the current site: Zaxby's. The chain already has two stores here, at the mall and on Shorter Avenue. No timetable on an opening date. It is the second Zaxby's announcement in Northwest Georgia in a month. A Zaxby's opened at Walnut Grove near Rockmart Highway in Cartersville Sept. 18> Details

More changes at the Rome News: Two openings, including business editor/writer, posted on Journalism Jobs site> Post 1 / Post 2

Planning begins for IVC Group's $70 million vinyl floor plant, headquarters in Dalton: A needed development of regional impact report has been filed with the state regarding IVC Group's plans to build a combined $70 million U.S. headquarters and state-of-the-art vinyl production plant in Dalton. Paperwork was filed Tuesday for the project with production expected to start in 15 months. IVC Group says the project more than doubles the size of its current campus; it will rise on 44 acres off I-75 near Exit 328. Says IVC US chief executive officer Xavier Steyaert: "Our new state-of-the-art manufacturing plant will feature the industry's latest technological advances and will run the longest vinyl line in the world. First products are expected to roll out of the new plant in January 2011." Look for 115 new jobs over the next three years--welcome news given Dalton's skyrocketing unemployment rate, any help will be appreciated> IVC

Wednesday's Buzz:

-The MBA program offered by Berry College's Campbell School of Business has been honored for excellence by The Princeton Review>Berry

-Today/Greater Rome Board of Realtors October luncheon: Sponsored by Floyd County Board of Education and held at new Pepperell High at noon. Dr. Bob Puckett will be the speaker and tours of the new school are available after the luncheon. Be sure to RSVP! 706-295-1727 or Joanne@JoanneEdmonds.com

-Today/Free transportation information fair, 3-6 p.m., The Forum. The Rome-Floyd Planning Department will host a free Transportation Fair from 3 to 6 p.m. at The Forum. A diverse range of topics will be covered by the Transportation Fair including: bio-diesel, Floyd County trails, updates on the by-pass and Armuchee Connector, Safe Routes to School, Clean Air Campaign, Tarp Your Load, Bike/Walk Northwest Georgia, Downtown Parking, and Railroad Safety. Event attendees will have an opportunity to voice their transportation concerns and ideas by filling out a questionnaire that will be shared with local officials.

Your latest forecast:

-Wednesday: Sunny, high of 71, low of 45; some overnight clouds.
-Thursday: Mostly cloudy, high of 70. Low of 59; 20% to 60% rain chance.

-Latest weather: Extended forecast / Local radar / Regional radar

John McClellan's high school football picks> Football Report

Georgia High School Football Daily: Site's list of top upsets so far this season features Woodland twice, Rome and Rockmart> Details

Norman Arey's Sports Roundtable>Arey
-Believe me, it won't make any difference what color jerseys Tennessee wears> Click

Upcoming events at State Mutual Stadium.

-Did someone say wing ding?

-Braves' first Celebrity Shootout with Rocket Wheeler, Frog Smith.

-Links to winter baseball leagues.

Shorter College on Tuesday announced its Athletic Hall of Fame Class of 2009, which includes eight individuals who competed in six sports. Randy Hawkins '77, Zane Holland '77, Dr. Jonas Jarvholm '02, Marie Mercer Lewis '77, J.J. Merritt '98, Melvyn Ottinger '62, Tammie Simpson '86 and Andy Wade '85 make up the latest group of Shorter Hall of Fame inductees that will be officially enshrined during a banquet on campus on Nov. 13> Click

Downtown Headlines> Click

-Dinner theater, Steel Magnolias, Peach State liven up downtown Rome.

Monday's updates

2009-10-19T07:15:00.000-04:00

Please click www.hometownheadlines.com:

Freeze warning through 9 this morning; 4 to 9 a.m. Tuesday> Details

-Today's low 32 degrees. Quick warm-up due; no rain until at least Thursday.
-Monday: Sunny, high near 64. Tonight: Patchy frost, low of 32.
-Tuesday: Widespread frost before 9 a.m. Sunny, high of 70, low of 39.

-Rivers: Oostanaula / Etowah-Rome / Etowah-Cartersville

-Latest weather: Extended forecast / Local radar / Regional radar

The Buzz of Northwest Georgia: (click)

-SPLOST '09: Emergency communications at the heart of the proposal.

-Start a business now? Sure--if the niche, conditions are right.

-Buzz: The 24/7 fitness crazy --times two? Retail rumblings.

-Big weekend: Chiaha, Peach State, Cowboy symposium,

-Peaks & Valleys: Floyd's top teacher; behind-closed-doors 'government.'

Norman Arey's Sports Roundtable>Arey
-Tech gets biggest win in 19 years but it still may not make the ACC title game

John McClellan's high school football picks> Football Report

-John went 10-2 locally and 16-6 overall. Next picks Tuesday.

Calhoun remains atop AA state football poll> Details

Rome Braves/baseball updates> Click
-Upcoming events at State Mutual Stadium. Did someone say wing ding?

-Links to winter baseball leagues.

Downtown Headlines> Click

-Dinner theater, Steel Magnolias, Peach State liven up downtown Rome.

What's Buzzing this week:

Closer look at Floyd County's SPLOST vote: Natalie Simms details the $42.3 million special projects list going before voters, especially the enhanced communications system that would give local emergency agencies direct contact with one another and meet Federal Communications Commission guidelines for "narrow band" communications by 2013. Also: the five other projects on the list> SPLOST

Launch a new business in today's economy? Conditions could be perfect depending on your niche. We talk with Cartersville businessman Mark Mathison about his new venture and review a few others in our market> Launch

Call it 24/7 fitness: Rome Athletic Club is open 24 hours a day, seven days a week effective today. Owner Chrissy Hughes says RAC offers "the only full-service 24-hour health club in Rome." Month-to-month and $25/month memberships are available as well. Details: www.romeathleticclub.com

-A trend toward round-the-clock fitness? There's even a chain specializing in such things, including Anytime Fitness which has a studio in Cartersville near the Carmike 12 cinemas. The company Web site indicates a shop is coming to Rome. We have calls into the local franchise for more.

What's buzzing in local retail: We're also checking reports this week about potential retail activity. We've heard of a "great possibility" brewing at one or more spots in the market and it appears one of those options is taking off. We'll have more as soon as we confirm it with one of the two parties.

Big weekend ahead in Northwest Georgia: What's on tap:

-Rome: Chiaha Harvest Fair, Saturday-Sunday, Ridge Ferry Park. Details.

-36th annual Peach State Marching Competition, Barron Stadium. Details

-In Cartersville: Seventh Annual Cowboy Festival, Symposium> Details

Closer look at SPLOST '09, countywide communications system

By Natalie Simms

natsimms76@gmail.com

Rome and Floyd County voters are voting now through Nov. 3 on the fate of a proposed $42.3 million Special Purpose, Local Option Sales Tax package that includes potential funds for public safety, business development and overall services (see ballot).

This SPLOST would be an extension of the current one-cent tax, not an additional penny per dollar. Collections would begin July 1 as the current SPLOST ends June 30, and would continue for three years.

The centerpiece of the package is a new $26,696,250 countywide public safety communications system. It would upgrade emergency management communications to a new 800MHz system that would solve multiple problems facing the county's current system.

"Right now, we only have one tower on Mount Alto that covers 514 square miles of jurisdiction," says Scotty Hancock, director of Rome-Floyd Emergency Management Agency. "That's the only tower for all emergency communications and if it gets blown down in a 70-mph wind, we have no back up."

In addition, the current single-site conventional system is outdated since it was designed in the 1960s and it does not allow for countywide communications among the various public safety agencies.

Currently, city and county police agencies cannot communicate directly with each other nor can county units communicate directly with the Fire Department, emergency medical service or public works.

County police and sheriff's departments are on a UHF signal while city police and the countywide fire departments are on a VHF signal.

"For example, if there is a house fire in the county, both fire and police are dispatched. If the police come around back and the fire department is in the front of the house, they may need to communicate with each other for back-up help but they can't except by radioing back to dispatch," Hancock says.

The current system also has a number of "dead" spots in the county, making it hard for even the 911 dispatch operator to communicate with any public safety officials in those areas.

Here are some examples that showcase the equipment concerns. They're from the fatal March 2008 tornadoes that went through southern Floyd and Polk counties in the Wax Road area. The first unit on the scene was Sheriff's Deputy Jeff Chandler. The 911 operator had a hard time hearing Chandler because he was in a "dead" spot. The operator finally had to get Chandler to use his cell phone to communicate.

-Tornado audio A: Static-filled clip from arriving first responder and dispatcher.

-Tornado audio B: Dispatcher, unable to understand, asks him to use phone.

"Cell phones are a great resource for a back-up communications," Hancock says. "But relying on a cell phone provider for a public safety communications system is a safety risk for all involved."

Fire officials also said potential problems with "dead" spots could put firefighters in danger. "Off Highway 140 in Adairsville is a dead area. If there is a house fire there, our guys are inside working and they need help and send out a 'May Day' call, the dispatch probably won't be able to understand what they are saying," says Fire Chief Gordon Henderson, Rome-Floyd County Fire Department. "It's hard to talk to dispatch on a portable radio and in many areas of the county, that's our life line."

The proposed system would have seven tower sites throughout the county to give ample coverage and eliminate many "dead" spots. The sites include replacing the current tower on Mount Alto along with new sites at Lavender Mountain; Fire Tower Road in Shannon; Heath Mountain (Ga. 20); at Hardin and Wax roads; Padlock Mountain in Cave Spring; and Leonard Road at Doyal Road.

"This would give us excellent coverage. In addition, each school would have a radio to communicate with us," Hancock says. "Right now, if a school goes on lock down and their telephone communications are out, we have no way to communicate with the school. The radio would allow the school to communicate directly with 911 in case they have no phone."

The system upgrade also would satisfy a mandate from the Federal Communications Commission requiring all local agencies to "narrow band" their radio systems by January 2013. Right now, the system is a "wide band" of 25 KHz and the FCC is requiring systems to drop to a 12 KHz band.

"It's kind of like the switch to digital TV signal from analog that happened earlier this year," Hancock says. "There are just too many frequencies out there and not room for growth. And because of all the frequencies, we have a lot of 'bleed' over from other agencies. We get 'bleed' from Fort Payne, Ala.'s fire department and from MARTA police in Atlanta."

If Emergency Management does nothing, it would lose current radios because of the narrow-banding standard in 2013. "We could spend $4 million to get the narrowband radios but we still wouldn't be able to talk to each other directly and there would still be other issues with public safety," Hancock says.

Rome and county officials did an analysis of all the available alternatives to upgrade the existing system. Even though the cost is high, the new 800MHz system was chosen because it meets the FCC requirement, has lots of frequency availability, no interference, capacity to grow, no redundancy and regional interoperability, they say.

"It's a big pill to swallow but we've got to do something," Rich says. "We feel this system is what's going to give us the best use of our money for the long run. From a safety perspective for our officials, how can you really put a price on that?"

This new system would put Floyd County ahead, in terms of technology, of surrounding counties. The one drawback is that the new 800MHz system would not be compatible with systems in Polk, Bartow or Gordon counties--at this time.

However, Floyd would be joining a North Georgia/East Tennessee Regional Radio System with Catoosa, Walker and Dade counties; and be linked with other areas in Atlanta that have implemented, or are in the process of implementing, the 800MHz system. These areas include the City of Atlanta, DeKalb, Cobb, Cherokee, Gwinnett, Hall, Paulding and Carroll counties.

"Many of our agencies can't communicate with them (surrounding communities) now anyway. The plan is to get all of them up and running on the same system in the future," Hancock says. "However, there is a National Emergency Channel on which all frequencies -- UHF, VHF and 800MHz -- can communicate. So, any community would be able to communicate with us via that channel."

The county also could maintain some of the old equipment for mutual aid communications with neighboring jurisdictions. But, if a neighboring community needs help, they will have to call into Floyd's 911 dispatch operator for assistance and cannot directly communicate with each agency.

Gordon County officials are looking into transitioning to the 800MHz along with Floyd.

"We have a report due from our Motorola vendor this month about how to implement the system and the cost," says Randall Dowling, Gordon County administrator. "Certainly, if Floyd implements the system, we would look to tie into their system. We definitely believe the 800MHz system is bigger, better and more efficient but we have to look at what we're facing with cost."

Bartow County officials say they would like to upgrade but cost is a major factor. "We do have an 800 MHz radio in our mobile command unit, so we could communicate with others who have that system," says Johnny Payne, Bartow County Emergency Management Director. "It would definitely be worth it to go to the new system if you can afford it," he says. "It is all according to what our economy does and when we can get funding."

To help offset the huge cost, Floyd could apply for federal grants but the SPLOST must be approved first. "If and when the SPLOST vote approves the funding of the project, Floyd County will meet the criteria and become eligible for future grants," Poe says.

Also included in the proposed 2009 SPLOST:

-Industrial development: The county would use $5,983,500 for the acquisition and improvement of real estate for economic development. According to County Manager Kevin Poe, this money would be used to make improvements to land at Ga. 140 and Ga. 53.

"We have 300-plus acres available to recruit future industry," Poe says."We will use this money for infrastructure improvement and get it ready for future industrial development. But if an industry comes in and we need to build infrastructure somewhere else, we will have flexibility to use this money to get that industry here."

-Barron Stadium enhancements: Another $3,369,000 would be used for improvements to Barron Stadium, including installation of artificial turf; a 7,300-square-foot concession area and locker room; and track repaving. The turf and enhancements could be major factors in the NAIA's decision to extend Rome's agreement to host the annual college football championship at Barron each December.

-Rome would use $1,899,631 for renovation and construction of the Northwest Georgia Regional Commission Building (formerly known as Coosa Valley Regional Development Center) on Jackson Hill. The Rome office recently combined with the Dalton office to form the new commission. More room is needed at the site.

"Other communities would love to have this regional office in their area;in fact, Gordon County says they'd give them space," says Sammy Rich, Rome's assistant city manager. "But, we felt we couldn't lose the economic impact of this office with over 60 professionals that keep their payroll dollars here. We need to take care of what employers we have and keep jobs here."

-The Rome-Floyd Fire Department would receive $4 million for renovation to some existing fire stations; construction of a new fire department headquarters and emergency operations center; and the purchase of additional life saving extraction equipment. The new administration building would be across the parking lot from the East 12th Street Fire Station. It would house the department headquarters, fire marshal and fire safety and prevention offices.

-$350,000 for water system improvements for the City of Cave Spring.

Local entrepreneurism: Right move, right time, right niche

On our Druck Report radio program today (WRGA 1470 AM), we take a closer look at the spirit of entrepreneurism continuing even in rough times. We've seen Southeastern Mills, Ledbetter Properties and even some Broad Street businesses make some creative moves amid recessionary conditions.

Last week, we asked Mark Mathison, owner of the Slope's Barbecue franchise in Cartersville, about his decision to open Game Time Sports Grille right behind the restaurant and next to the Carmike 12 theaters. His answer makes any entrepreneur out there proud. says Mathison:

"Our decision was hard but we felt like this is when you could get the best deal on commercial property for rent. I had been watching the space and knew it would be available. When it did, I jumped and made a quick offer to the landlord.

"We are getting in inexpensively and there has always been a need for a sports bar in Cartersville."

And, he added: "If you look at sales in the food service industry, the only market that is improving is sports bars. People refuse to give up their sports during bad times. They may give up their tickets to an event, but they still want to watch."

Let's highlight three things from Mathison's answer as it underscores the opportunities in front of us all today:
-He had a specific site in mind and didn't jump at any potential location. It certainly helps to have two of his businesses basically just a parking lot away.
-He knew when to move. Indeed, the spot was open and the property owner needed a reliable, well-financed tenant with a record of success.
-He knew which niche to fill, in this case a sports bar in Cartersville. As Mathison said: Sports fans might not be visiting the ballparks and stadiums as often as before the recession but they still want to enjoy their sports and follow their teams.

The bottom line: The right location, the right price and the right niche came together at the right time. We think you'll be seeing more of these moves as the perfect storm for entrepreneural investment is here.

PEAKS & VALLEYS: The highs and lows of Northwest Georgia

Peak to Janda Kaye Canalis, Floyd County's Teacher of the Year: Janda is a healthcare science teacher at Floyd County Schools College & Career Academy. She was an intensive care nurse who turned her "passion for teaching patients to manage their health" into a different level of teaching. She's also known for her work with classes, especially younger students, at EarthWorks Pottery in Rome. (Background: Floyd Board of Education)

Valley to any form of behind-closed-doors government: Did you hear what Gov. Sonny Perdue had to say about water concerns and the upcoming General Assembly while he was in Rome Thursday? Neither did we. Perdue, making a sweep through the region to pass out Governor's Cup honors (more below), met with state representatives Rick Crawford, Katie Dempsey and Barbara Massey Reece. The topic: Water. The situation: behind closed doors away from the public. We certainly understand how sensitive water matters are in terms of all the legalities involving Florida, Alabama and even Tennessee. But we also understand water management is a critical factor for our residents and businesses. These discussions must be on the record and open to all. (Background: RNT)

Peaks to Cass High and Cedartown High: Both schools earned respective Governor's Cup honors for individual improvements on their SAT scores year over year. In fact, Cass's 63-point increase was the highest of any school in the state. We salute the faculty, staff and most of all students of both schools for making such gains even as we continue to see critically needed dollars diverted from the education system. (Background: Governor's Cup)

Peak to Georgia Northwestern Technical College: The school formerly known as Coosa Valley Technical College is giving the community open access to its computers to help interested people apply for jobs at the new Volkswagen plant in Chattanooga. VW is accepting applications at www.vwjobschattanooga.com. This is a great community contribution and another solid community move by a local college to help get this community working again (the first was Shorter College's recent career fair).

Friday's updates

2009-10-16T07:33:00.001-04:00

Please see www.hometownheadlines.com:

From monsoons to winter, just like that: 32 degrees due Monday.

-The weather service warns of freezing temperatures by Monday morning and maybe even some snow flurries in the North Georgia mountains over the weekend. The record low for Monday is 30 degrees set in 1978. The normal low for this time of year is 45 degrees> Details

-But the good news: This cold air also is dry air; no rain in the forecast.

-A flood warning continues for the Coosa River near Plant Hammond.
-Friday: Partly sunning, high of 63, low of 45. Gusts up to 20 mph.
-Saturday: Mostly cloudy, high of 52, low of 39.
-Sunday: Mostly sunny, high of 55, low of 32.

-Rivers: Oostanaula / Etowah-Rome / Etowah-Cartersville

-Latest weather: Extended forecast / Local radar / Regional radar

Dining & Drink

-First look at Game Time Sports Grille -- and what's that Cledus T. Judd sign? The formal opening is 11 a.m. Saturday ("just in time for the Georgia game") but Game Time Sports Grille in Cartersville staged a soft opening Thursday. The new sports center behind Slope's and next to Carmike 12 had a brisk crowd at 7 p.m. with the wall-to-wall televisions training on all the sports channels. Owner Mark Mathison says several special events are brewing including a "huge" Georgia vs. Florida gathering complete with Gator bites. Game Time is open 11 a.m.- midnight Monday-Wednesday; until 1 a.m. Thursday-Saturday and 11:30 a.m.- midnight Sundays.

-Also on the way--a venture with Cledus T. Judd? Most know Judd as an entertainer, radio host including a recent stint on The Bull and as growing up in the Cartersville area (Web site) Judd apparently has another project on the way in the same plaza as Game Time and Anytime Fitness. The banner announcing Cledus T includes few other words than "coming soon." Look for the "hick hop and honky tonk" just off Slopes Drive and Tennessee Street near U.S. 41.
-Latest restaurant public health inspection scores for Floyd, Bartow, Gordon, Polk, Chattooga counties. It's a good week for local school> Dining

-Wine News Vine: Updates from North Georgia wineries. Big weekend indeed in Dahlonega as they celebrate Gold rush> News Vine

Ridge Ferry flooding moves wagon train camp to Coosa Valley Fairgrounds: The wagon train should still depart at 8:30 a.m. on Saturday and the parade on Broad Street remains set for 5 that afternoon. You'll find the complete schedule by clicking Heritage Holidays

-More weekend events> Calendar

Tonight's MegaMillions jackpot: $200 million> Lottery.

Friday's Buzz:

-Chattahoochee Tech career fair set for 10 a.m.-1 p.m. Nov. 5: The career fair is at the Acworth campus of the recently combined technical college. It is free and open to employers. The event is set for room 400 of the Economic Development Building. Employers will be able to recruit from more than 11,400 students> Fair

-Cedartown, Cass high schools win Governor's Cup honors for improved SAT scores. Click Cass or Cedartown

-Former Polk jail Sgt. Lowe gets 21 months in inmate beating case> Polk

-Georgia Literary Festival to have downtown buzzing Saturday: Get the complete schedule on the festival Web site> Details

-Saint Mary's Church Youth Garage and Apple Sale is Saturday in the church's back parking lot at 911 N. Broad St. from 7:30 a.m. until noon. Furniture, electronics, appliances, household items, clothing, trinkets and Ellijay apples.

-CVTA launches Junior League Tennis program this Sunday> Kids

-7th annual Cowboy Festival, Symposium at Booth next weekend> Details

-Harbin doctor treats injured US soldiers at German base. Details> Health

-Shorter ready for homecoming game, weekend> Details

Downtown Headlines: (Click)

-MullinsMania's look at downtown entertainment this weekend.

-Community Christmas Candlelight ceremony Dec. 8.

Norman Arey's Sports Roundtable>Arey
-It's Norman's No-Nos, 15 all-but-guaranted college football losers this week.

-If Georgia can score 52 on Arkansas, image with Florida and Tim Tebow will do.

John McClellan's high school football picks for this Friday> Football Report

-Look for Armuchee to squeak by Coosa
-Pepperell due for big win again Rockmart.
-Model poised for first W of the season; win for Woodland, too.
-Calhoun will coast by Sonoraville; Rome by 7 over N. Whitfield.
-Cedartown looks for 8-point win vs. Haralson County.
-Rough night alerts for Cartersville, Cass, Gordon Central.

Get Friday night scores at www.ga.prepcountry.com

Shorter prepares for Saturday's game vs. Kentucky Christian> Details

-Shorter Hawks ready for homecoming game, weekend> Details

Rome Braves/baseball updates> Click
-Upcoming events at State Mutual Stadium. Did someone say wing ding?

-Links to winter baseball leagues.

Georgia High School Football Daily> Click

Thursday headlines

2009-10-15T07:46:00.001-04:00

Please click www.hometownheadlines.com:

Dalton, Rome have top percentages for job losses in September

Source: Georgia Department of Labor

-More job losses: Rome lost 200 more jobs between August and September but the telling number came when comparing year-over-year data: down 2,600 jobs overall. The September report from the state Department of Labor offered no real hints of potential relief even with the Christmas holiday season hiring beginning.

-Rome's job losses, 6.2 percent, were the second highest in the state with nearby Dalton taking the top spot with 8.4 percent. Atlanta was third with 5.8 percent.

-The state's unemployment rate was unchanged at 10.1 percent in September vs. Augusta. The September 2008 number: 6.6 percent.

-The number of payroll jobs in September decreased 237,100, or 5.8 percent.

- The over-the-year losses came in manufacturing, trade, construction, and administrative support services, including temporary employment services.

-Educational and health services added 13,700 jobs over the year.

-Later this month: September's county-by-county unemployment rates.

Gingrey, colleagues, healthcare reform debate due at Medical Association of Georgia convention in Savannah this weekend> Details

What's cooking at GNTC's Woodlee Building, home to culinary arts program

This photo from Wednesday shows work at the Woodlee Building on the Rome campus of Georgia Northwestern Technical College. The building just across from the main campus will be home to the college's culinary arts program. Construction should be done by January although rain has slowed things> GNTC

Thursday's Buzz:
-High cotton in the Cotton Block: You've read about the relocations on Broad, including C&S Trophies as well as Mattress Direct both moving to the Cotton Block area in coming weeks. Now comes word of two or more commitments for the stretch between First Avenue and Second Avenue.

-Late fall is what we're hearing on the opening of the new Microtel on U.S. 41 in Cartersville. The project includes 71 rooms for the chain that also is part of Wyndham. It also includes Hawthorn Suites, which has accommodations in Rome.

-Hilton Gardens Inn's ribbon cutting, grand opening: Ceremonies begin at 5 p.m. Tuesday and continue until 7. At 24 Liberty Drive, Cartersville.
-What's the hottest movie ticket? Probably the first showings of Michael Jackson's "This Is It," based on the singer's rehearsals for what was to be his major stage show. Midnight showings are due in Rome and Cartersville on Oct. 27.

-Speaking of tickets: Tickets go on sale today for the Turkey Jam featuring Justin Moore, Brantley Gilbert and KneckDown. The show is Nov. 25 at The Forum and are available for $20 at 333 on Broad or at Jefferson's.

Pro-SPLOST group seeks support--to build support: Letters started arriving in local mail boxes Wednesday from the Rome/Floyd Citizens for Progress, seeking campaign donations to buy ads in support of the $42.3 million SPLOST package on the ballot now through Nov. 3. "100 percent of your contribution will be used for marketing expenses such as newspaper ads, radio ads, billboards and signs to encourage voters positively on the Nov. 3 SPLOST vote." Those funds better move fast; early voting began Tuesday. For more> splost2009.com

-To view the City of Rome ballot, click here.
-To view the County ballot, click here.

Perdue in Rome, Cedartown, at Cass High today: Gov. Sonny Perdue's swing through the region includes a stop at Cedartown High (10:55-11:15 a.m.) and a stop at Cass High (12:30-12:50 p.m.). WRGA also has something about Perdue and a closed-to-the-public meeting with local lawmakers to discuss water issues.

New local business group for Linked In members: Hometown Headlines has created Rome Business Links, a new group directly linking Northwest Georgia business owners an operators with others in our market who also use Linked In. This group is open to all and is designed as a fast-reference directory. It is designed to serve as a "hub" for local Linked In users, much the same way as our Rome, Ga., Facebook Directory, which now has close to 2,100 members> Click

The Berry College music department's new concert series showcasing a variety of musical genres, styles and instrumentation coincide with the 100th anniversary of music education on Berry's 26,000-acre campus. The Alabama String Quartet will inaugurate the series Monday> Details.

-To recognize the seventh annual Georgia Breast Cancer Prevention and Awareness Week, October 19-23, the Floyd County Health Department is highlighting its BreasTEST & MORE Program, which provides clinical breast examinations, Pap tests and mammogram referrals to eligible women 40 and older> Health.

-Christopher is credit administration assistant at Greater Rome Bank> Click

Weather/More rain, 20-mph gusts, lower temps on the way:

-Coosa River flood warning near Plant Hammond continues> Click
-Thursday: 80% chance of rain, high of 64. 30% tonight, low of 50.
-Friday: Partly sunny, high of 60. Gusts to 20 mph. Mostly cloudy, low of 43.

-Rivers: Oostanaula / Etowah-Rome / Etowah-Cartersville

-Latest weather: Extended forecast / Local radar / Regional radar

Norman Arey's Sports Roundtable>Arey
-Hey, there is someone in this country more unpopular than Michael Vick.

John McClellan's high school football picks for this Friday> Football Report
-Look for Armuchee to squeak by Coosa
-Pepperell due for big win again Rockmart.
-Model poised for first W of the season; win for Woodland, too.
-Calhoun will coast by Sonoraville; Rome by 7 over N. Whitfield.
-Cedartown looks for 8-point win vs. Haralson County.
-Rough night alerts for Cartersville, Cass, Gordon Central.

Georgia High School Football Daily> Football

Shorter prepares for Saturday's game vs. Kentucky Christian> Details

Rome Braves/baseball updates> Click
-Upcoming events at State Mutual Stadium. Did someone say wing ding?

-Links to winter baseball leagues.

Downtown Headlines: (Click)

-MullinsMania's look at downtown entertainment this weekend.

-Downtown Development Authority annual planning meeting is Thursday.

-Community Christmas Candlelight ceremony Dec. 8.

Wet Wednesday updates

2009-10-14T06:58:00.001-04:00

Please click www.hometownheadlines.com:

A wet Wednesday but not as bad as first forecast

For a live look at Intellicast, click Regional radar

-An inch of rain since 9 p.m. Tuesday: That's about right what the weather forecasters were predicting with a half-inch possible today, less than first believed.

-Flood potential: A flood warning for the Coosa River near Plant Hammond continues. The flash flood watch has been suspended. No other warnings in effect.

-Rivers: Oostanaula / Etowah-Rome / Etowah-Cartersville

The forecast:

-Today: 100% chance of rain; a quarter to a half inch possible. High of 65.

-Tonight: 50% chance of showers. Low around 58.
-Thursday: 60% chance of rain, a quarter to half inch possible. High of 71.

-Thursday night: 50% chance of rain, low of 52.

-Latest weather: Extended forecast / Local radar / Regional radar

Wednesday's Buzz:

-Even newer owners for Newswire: There's another ownership group involved with Rome Newswire, the second change in recent months. W. A. "Billy" Smith Jr., who bought a majority of the company from the founders including Jerry Duke, says in a post that he has sold the Web site to a silent partner and Managing Editor Dawn Treglown. (Details) No terms were discussed in the post.

-'Pink' parking spots part of Prime Outlets' breast cancer awareness> GH

-Gingrey slams Senate committee vote> Gingrey

-Diabetes group honors Harbin doctors Mansoura, Osterloh, Chacko, Brown, Hampton, Sullivan, Fields, Duquette, Reddy, Sumner, Molina- Health

-Greater Rome chamber endorses 2009 SPLOST package> Politics

-Youth basketball signups: The Rome-Floyd Parks and Recreation Authority is registering for Youth Basketball now through Nov. 10> Rome Kids

-The Berry College Moon Gallery hosts its third alumni showcase of the fall through Nov. 6. The exhibition, "Let's Exchange the Experience," features lacquer transfers and giclee prints created by Jess Hinshaw, a 2001 graduate of Berry College. Gallery hours are 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday or by appointment. An artist's reception is scheduled for 7 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 29. Call 770-236-2219 for more information.

No MegaMillions winner, Friday's jackpot $200 million: The numbers drawn:
17-31-34-45-51 and Mega Ball 24> Mega

Norman Arey's Sports Roundtable:
-Georgia isn't the only in-state school with desperate defensive problems >Arey

Georgia High School Football Daily> Click Details

Rome Braves/baseball updates> Click
-Upcoming events at State Mutual Stadium. Did someone say wing ding?

-Links to winter baseball leagues.

Downtown Headlines: (Click)

-Downtown Development Authority annual planning meeting is Thursday.

-Community Christmas Candlelight ceremony Dec. 8.

Floyd flood warning dropped

2009-10-13T21:33:00.001-04:00

Flood warning for Floyd County/Coosa River is canceled. Water has dropped to 23.9 ft, below flood stage.

Tuesday night rain/flood updates

2009-10-13T21:19:00.001-04:00

Northwest Georgia Weather Updates:
-The storm system is just now arriving over Northwest Georgia.
-Rainfall amounts: half inch tonight, 1 to 2 inches Wednesday.
-Flood watch for region still in effect until Wednesday night. Flood warning for Coosa remai...ns, too.
-Latest radar image: http://tinyurl.com/yuhs6y
-FORECAST:
>Tonight: Low around 60. Chance of precipitation is 100%. New rainfall
amounts between a half and three quarters of an inch possible.
>Wednesday: Rain could be heavy at times. Chance of precipitation is 100%. New rainfall amounts
between 1 and 2 inches possible. High of 64.
>Wednesday night: 40
percent chance of showers. New rainfall amounts between a tenth
and quarter of an inch possible. Low of 54.