For the second year in a row, the Dalton Police Department is celebrating a win in the annual Governor’s Challenge. The annual competition sponsored by the Governor’s Office of Highway Safety honors outstanding achievement in traffic safety education and enforcement. Dalton’s win comes in Category 4, which includes municipal police departments with between 51 and 100 sworn officers. ... (click for more)

Ricky Robertson grew up next to the site of Whitfield County’s newest fire station. He still lives two driveways to the south, right next to two more longtime residents, his parents. “We’re excited to have the station here,” Mr. Robertson said Friday morning after the grand opening ceremony for Fire Station 12, 2446 S. Riverbend Road. “It’s an asset to the community, and it’ll ... (click for more)

County School Board member Rhonda Thurman said Monday that teachers are quitting the county schools because they face attacks from unruly students and they don't get backing from the administration. Supt. Bryan Johnson said, "We absolutely have challenges," but he said he puts his focus on academic improvement. He said a disciplinary committee meeting took two hours, and he would ... (click for more)

An expressive witness, general disorder, and a circus-like atmosphere defined a preliminary hearing involving four men accused of the July murder of Tracy Calloway. On July 21, Antonio Watkins, 25; Prandel Reid Jr., 27, Gary Cross, 23, and Jamichael Smith, 26, allegedly drove up to Mr. Calloway’s residence and began shooting. Calloway, who was located in a white car parked in ... (click for more)

It seems a week doesn't go by, sometimes more in one week, without Roy or someone writing some coded messages denigrating inner-city schools and the students (using another code-hint hint) that attend inner-city schools. Which reminded me of something from decades ago about teachers from foreign countries perhaps making better instructors for inner city students. At least those ... (click for more)

By all accounts the public schools in Chattanooga and Hamilton County are far from what the average taxpayer would want them to be. Our schools are our number one priorities, this easily reflected by the fact they now receive over 60 percent of the total county budget -- the most money ever allocated to public education in history -- and the unbridled desire of our booming area ... (click for more)