Court Rules Left-Turn Law Unconstitutional

Georgia’s “left turn” law is unconstitutional, according to the state’s highest court. The Georgia Supreme Court's unanimous ruling Monday finds that the left-turn law is "unconstitutionally vague" because it fails to clearly specify how to turn into multi-lane roadways. It stems from a 2007 incident in Whitfield County in which a driver making a left turn onto a four-lane road was pulled over for turning into the outer, right-hand lane of the two lanes heading east. The Dalton police officer claimed the law required the driver to turn into the inner, left-lane closer to the oncoming traffic.

(Associated Press)

Pilgrims Pride to close Dalton plant

In Dalton, a chicken processing plant employing 280 people will close in the next sixty days.

Pilgram's Pride has been having financial difficulties for the past year and even filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy in December. And in a statement on Monday, CEO Don Jackson said the Texas based
poultry producer will "continue to look for opportunities to improve our cost structure as we reorganize the company."

Part of that means shutting down the Dalton Plant. Those operations will be consolidated with another plant in Chattanooga. If there's any good news, it's that the comapny's
Cohutta Georgia hatchery will stay open.

Over the past year and a half, the Dalton area has seen a string of plant closings or consolidations. Unemployment in the area is currently at just under twelve percent, according to the state department of labor.

Fishing Advisory Possible On Parts of Conasauga

A spokesman for the Georgia Environmental Protection Division says a fishing advisory could be issued for the Conasauga River in Northwest Georgia. That's if a report showing high levels of a likely carcinogen is confirmed.

The EPD expects their testing of four sites on the Conasauga to be completed by the end of the month.

This is the first time the EPD has publicly raised the possibility of a fishing advisory since a University of Georgia study showed high levels of PFOA contamination in the river in January. PFOA, or C-8, as it’s also called, is a chemical produced during carpet finishing. It is also used for other applications, such as Teflon.

The US Environmental Protection Agency calls PFOA a “likely carcinogen.” It ends up in the river through a sewage spray field in Whitfield County. Jeremy Smith, a project manager for the EPD, says it would be premature to consider other regulatory measures until further studies are completed. And that research, which is expensive, would come only if necessary. However, Smith says a fishing advisory may be needed.

"If they're [PFOA LEVELS] around those concentrations that Minnesota listed as potentially harmful, if they are, that [fishing advisory] could happen.”

The UGA study showed levels in the Conasauga are two times higher than Minnesota's allowable standard in ground water. As GPB reported earlier this year, internal documents show US EPA sampling found PFOA levels higher than the UGA study.

You can view GPB's extensive reporting on PFOA contamination in the Conasauga by clicking here: http://www.gpb.org/georgiagazette/conasauga

Dow Chemicals Still in NW Georgia (For Now)

Earlier this week, GPB reported on Michigan based Dow Chemical's plans to layoff five thousand people, close 20 plants and suspend operations at another 180. At the time, company executives were holding back exactly which plants would be impacted.

So far, Georgia's four Dow Plants have survived the first round of announced cuts. Plants in Canada, Texas and Louisiana will be closed forever, according to a company SEC filing.

Dow is also cutting 6,000 contract positions. No announcements have been made if that includes contractors in Georgia.

One of the largest facilities is in economically racked Dalton, where Dow operates a fiber finishing plant.

New unemployment claims spike by 75-percent

Initial claims for unemployment benefits in Georgia jumped a staggering 75-percent from October of last year.

New numbers from the state Department of Labor show the biggest percentage spikes in claims were felt across different metro areas of the state--from Dalton in northwest Georgia, to Athens in the east, to the coast in Brunswick.

Layoffs continue to be seen across-the-board. Manufacturing, construction and retail-trade sectors are suffering in particular.

The statistics represent a third consecutive month that new unemployment claims rose by more than 70-percent over a year’s time.

Dalton man facing long recovery after bombing

The pastor of a lawyer badly burned in a bombing at a north Georgia law firm says the lawyer will remain in the hospital for at least a month.

Jim Phillips, of Calhoun, was taken to the Joseph M. Still Burn Center in Augusta after a bomb exploded Friday at the Dalton law firm where he worked.

Rev. Billy Beard, assistant pastor of the church attended by Phillips, said the 79-year-old lawyer is in good spirits. Phillips was still in critical condition Sunday evening.

Dalton police spokesman Bruce Frazier said Sunday investigators are working ot determine why 78-year-old Lloyd Cantrell of Varnell threw a bomb into the McCamy, Phillips Tuggle and Fordham law firm.

Cantrell died in the blast.

(The Associated Press)

Click here for more GPB News coverage of this story.

Dalton's residents bewildered over bombing

Firefighters in Dalton facing smoke and flames from building destroyed in Friday's bombing. (Courtesy)

Barbara Russell's voice almost drops to a whisper as she tries to describe the deadly blast that interrupted her breakfast the other day.

"It was the loudest noise I've ever heard," she says, shaking her head. "You really can't believe it. It really hasn't sunk in "We're all trying to figure this out," says Steve Williams, a senior partner at the firm that was bombed. "It will be a long time before folks come to grips with this. We're just a little town in the Deep South."

The same sentiment kept coming up Sunday at the first town gathering since 78-year-old Lloyd Cantrell died when he bombed a law office that represented his son in a bitter family land dispute. The Friday morning blast killed Cantrell and injured four others at the law firm — and left residents struggling to reconcile how it could happen in their blue-collar town of 30,000.

Cantrell, easily recognized around town clad in bib overalls with a small Chihuahua in his arms, had been embroiled in a dispute with his son, Bruce, since 2006.

Bruce Cantrell had grown fearful of the father and hired a lawyer at McCamy, Phillips, Tuggle & Fordham, to file a lawsuit to keep his dad off the property. The 2006 complaint claimed the elder man stole tools, kicked in a door and threatened to kill himself. Cantrell had given the property to his son.

The Associated Press has been unable to reach Bruce Cantrell for comment.

On Friday, police were called to a disturbance at the firm, housed in a two-story, colonial-style home. An officer saw a man get out of a sport utility vehicle and run behind the building. Seconds later, an explosion tore into the office.

Four were injured, including attorney Jim Phillips, who was described as a longtime friend of Cantrell. Phillips is hospitalized with burns to one-third of his body. He was in critical condition Saturday, and officials didn't immediately return a call Sunday seeking comment on his condition.

Meanwhile, many residents shared a common realization: they simply haven't registered what happened yet.

"Nobody here in this room, nobody in this city was at fault," said Dalton City Police Chief Jason Parker. "I think we accept that. It's time for us as a city, as a community to band together."

The law firm, which has helped produce a generation of local judges and community leaders, was one of the town's "oldest and most important law firms," says Dalton Mayor David Pennington. The city has offered the firm temporary space at city hall, and the firm's lawyers say they're confident they will soon rebuild.

"I will not be run off," says Williams, the firm's partner. "I'm here for the duration." Williams and other residents quietly gathered at Dalton City Hall, talking in hushed tones about what happened — and what could have happened.

"Everybody is just sort of shocked," said Beth Campbell, a local bookkeeper dressed in her Sunday best who showed up at the meeting for some clarity after her pastor announced it at church. "In about two hours time we heard so many stories. You heard so many different things and I still haven't heard what happened."

Kermit McManus, Dalton's district attorney, predicts it could take years for the town to realize the enormity of the attack. He's clearly shaken by the blast, which he called "an attack on the judicial system."

"He was going to blow the whole building up as a result of this legal dispute," he says, shaking his head.

McManus works in a sparkling new county courthouse that fronts a large window. But if he had to build it again, he says, he'd feel safer if his office was built behind thick walls instead of glass.

"It's more devastating than we know," he says."I think it will change the way people think and it's going to change the way people do business."

His voice trails off.

"We don't think in those terms," he says. "Now we will."

Click here for more GPB News coverage of the Dalton bombing.

Dalton bombing: officials meet with residents

A Georgia Bureau of Investigation bomb technician works on a a bomb robot near the scene of a bomb blast in Dalton, Ga., Friday, Oct. 17, 2008. Four people were injured when a bomb went off in a law office. (AP Photo/John Bazemore)

The Dalton police chief and district attorney are meeting with the public to discuss the Friday bombing of a law firm in the small north Georgia town.

The Sunday meeting is taking place at Dalton High School.

Officials and members of the state's crisis response team are on hand. Organizers are encouraging law enforcement, emergency personnel, counselors and teachers to attend.

An F.B.I. agent searches property belonging to the suspect in the explosion at a small-town law firm in northern Georgia in Dalton, Ga., Friday, Oct. 17, 2008. The suspect died in the blast that also injured four people at the office, authorities said. (AP Photo/John Bazemore)

A bitter family dispute over property erupted Friday when 78-year-old Lloyd Cantrell threw an explosive into a law firm that represented his son, causing a blast that killed the father and injured four people in the office. One victim, attorney Jim Phillips, is in critical condition at an Augusta burn center.


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(The Associated Press)

Click here for more GPB News coverage of this story.

Explosion Update 2

According to officials, Lloyd Sylvester Cantrell tried to ram his SUV into the building. He loaded up the truck with natural gas, gasoline and propane. Vernon Keenan, director of the GBI, says the body is being transferred to the GBI facility in Decatur.

Cantrell was launching a suicide attack, according to a spokesman, after some dispute with a worker at the law firm.

Officials are looking at Cantrell’s property in North Whitfield County. An ATF spokesman says they are proceeding with caution. Law Enforcement officials are concerned the property might have hidden explosive devices, although they say there is no evidence yet to affirm that concern.

Explosion Update 2

GPB has confirmed the man who died at the explosion set off the blast, and lived near the North Whitfield area currently being searched by investigators.

Explosion Update

At least one person is dead and still on the scene, while four were severely injured after an explosive device was detonated at a local downtown office.

The explosion was set off at 10 a.m. this morning at McCamy, Phillips, Tuggle and Fordham. Local officials are not confirming other media reports that a suspect is in custody, however, Whitfield county official told GPB there’s no need to worry about “a bomber on the loose.”

An employee at the US Post Office next store said the blast rattled the walls, ringing her ears for about fifteen minutes.

The explosion sparked a fire that was extinguished by the afternoon. Three victims were transferred to a Dalton hospital. Two have been released, the third has been admitted and is listed in stable condition. The fourth, told to GPB to be an attorney at the firm, has been flown to the Joseph M. Still burn center in Augusta.

Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms officials are searching the grounds for explosives, with the cooperation of the Georgia Bureau of Investigation. The agencies prevented Dalton fire crews from responding to the fire. Two bomb squad trucks, along with three fire engines, are still nearby the scene.

The explosion occurred near City Park Elementary in Dalton. The school was briefly on lockdown, before students were evacuated unharmed.

A Dalton city police spokesman says they have contacted a person of interest who was on the scene. There was a disturbance at the law firm. Someone in the firm called 911, and when police showed up at the scene a person in an SUV ran out of is car and behind the building. The explosion occurred immediately afterward.

GPB has learned law enforcement officers are executing a search warrant at a residence in Varnell, a small rural area just north of Dalton. A spokeswoman for the county would not confirm or deny whether the search warrant was part of the investigation.

Beaverdale Road and Prater Mill Road near Varnell is going to be closed for an unknown amount of time. GPB has learned the road closing is connected to the bombing investigation, although spokespeople won't officially confirm the connection.

Supect dead, 4 wounded in Dalton bombing

Police say a bomb blew up at the Dalton, Ga., law office of McCamy, Phillips, Tuggle & Fordham today, killing one and injuring four others. (Courtesy WGCL)

Georgia investigators say a 71-year-old man suspected of setting off an explosion at a small-town law office has died.

Four other people were injured in the explosion that blew out the windows at McCamy, Phillips, Tuggle & Fordham around 10 a.m. Friday.

Police say there was some kind of disturbance at the office before the blast. An officer saw someone get out of a sport utility vehicle and run behind the building. Then something exploded.

Firefighters are still battling a small blaze that flared up after in initial blast.

The suspect's body is still in the building in Dalton, about 25 miles southeast of Chattanooga, Tenn.

Two of the injured were treated at a hospital and released, one was admitted and a fourth was taken to a burn center.

Officials said in a statement that:

“Dalton police received a 911 call regarding a disturbance at the law firm. The first police officer, to arrive on the scene spotted a person in a small SUV. When this person saw the officer, he jumped out of the SUV and ran behind the law firm, at which time the explosion occurred. The police officer was not injured. One fatality has been reported and is still at the scene.

Police Lt. Bruce Frazier said the blast was caused by some type of explosive device. Investigators were looking into a person of interest in the case, but no one had been arrested, he said. He declined to provide more details.

Bomb squads were checking for sweeping the premises for other explosives, Georgia Bureau of Investigation spokesman John Bankhead said.

Four people hurt in the explosion were in stable condition at Hamilton Medical Center, spokeswoman Emily Michael said. One of the four was being taken to the Joseph M. Still Burn Center in Augusta, spokeswoman Beth Frits said.

The eight-lawyer firm, founded in 1932, works out of a two-story, colonial-style house. Police cordoned off the block and shut down a post office near the law firm, which specializes in personal injury and wrongful death cases, according to its Web site. An elementary school across the street was locked down, though it wasn't damaged.

State and federal investigators were assisting local authorities.

(The Associated Press)

Sharp rise in state unemployed for September

State Labor officials say there were 56,652 first-time claims for unemployment filed in September. The numbers represent a sharp increase of 76-percent over September of last year. The highest percentage spike in claims was reported in Gainesville, Dalton and Rome. Layoffs are across-the-board, but especially seen in manufacturing, construction, and the trade and services sectors.

Labor officials say as the state is in the midst of a challenging economic environment, the department is doing everything it can to help those out of work.

Moving Georgians: a look ahead

Georgians will be able to tell state officials what they want in public transportation next week. The plan's dubbed the Investing in Tomorrow’s Transportation Today initiative (IT3).

Officials say they want to hear what Georgians want in public transportation. They say they'll use that input to set strategic policies, and create a business model for the future.

The public is invited to a week-long series of meetings starting September 22. They'll be held in Atlanta, Augusta, Columbus, Dalton, Macon, Savannah and Valdosta.

Officials on-hand for the series of public forums will include DOT commissioner Gena Abraham, department board members, and local officials to the particular area.

Ericka Davis of the Department of Transportation says the forums will be one-stop shopping for residents to give their opinions:

"That’s an opportunity for them to be in one spot and the key decision-makers on the transportation plan for Georgia will be right there listening to what they have to say."

The legislature failed to pass a transportation plan this past session. That was after a group of legislators held similar hearings around the state last year.

Lawmakers are expected to try again come January.

More information is available at http://www.it3.ga.gov.

Click here for more GPB News coverage of state transportation and infrastructure issues.

Calif. to Ga. turf firms: 'get the lead out'

The State of California is suing several Georgia firms that make artificial grass, over lead-based pigments used to color the turf.

A number of Dalton-based companies, and one in Florida are among those named in the lawsuit.

California’s Attorney-General, along with the Center for Environmental Health, charge that lead-based colorants in the fibers can rub off, posing a possible health threat.

Lead is a know carcinogen, and can cause birth defects.

But Peter Farley of Beaulieu of America, one of the firms named in the suit, says their products comply with California’s safety laws:

“We have already reformulated our products to manufacture them with pigments that do not contain any trace amounts of lead whatsoever. And our testing revealed that there were extremely low levels that could be present, but again: there’s no exposure risk.”

Rick Doyle, president of the Atlanta-based Synthetic Turf Council, says they are a “responsible industry,” and are working with California officials to resolve the issue.

Click here for more GPB News coverage of environmental and health issues.

Vietnam remains could be missing brother

36 years after a soldier went missing during Vietnam, his sister in northwest Georgia may have some answers about what happened to him. The United States military recently called Christine Jones of Dalton to say scientists have likely identified the remains of Maj. Bobby M. Jones. His F4 jet disappeared in November of 1972 near Danang in South Vietnam. In June, a forensic anthropologist reportedly found a military identification marker linked to Jones.

Mild quake in NW Georgia

There is no damage reported this morning from a mild earthquake that rocked parts of northwest Georgia last night. Officials say around 7:30pm Monday, a 2.8 magnitude quake was recorded. It was centered about 13 miles northeast of Dalton, 85 miles northwest of Atlanta.

Carpet company shuts AL plant

One of Georgia's large flooring companies is closing an Alabama carpet yarn plant. Dalton-based Shaw Industries says 400 jobs will go when it shutters the plant in Stevenson, Alabama. The facility has been the 2,000-resident town's largest employer. The U.S. textile and apparel industry has lost thousands of jobs since the mid-90s.

Rise in state unemployment claims

New numbers from the state Department of Labor show that just over 50-thousand laid-off workers filed first-time claims for unemployment in April. That represents an increase of 21-percent from March. The loss of jobs came across-the-board in the areas of manufacturing, construction, trade and services. A sampling of some metro areas in the state experiencing an uptick in claims filed: Atlanta up 2,731, or nearly 16-percent from March. Dalton was up by 714 claims, or 31-percent. Macon saw a rise by 442 claims from March, or almost 51-percent.

'Mohawk' announces another Georgia plant closure

There is more pain in the north Georgia job market. Mohawk Industries says it is closing its Dahlonega plant. The move will put 366 people out of work in June. The Calhoun-based carpet and flooring manufacturer has about 36-thousand employees worldwide, and is one of the largest employers in northeast Georgia. The announcement continues a run of bad news in the midst of a housing slowdown. In September, Mohawk said it was closing plants its Mohawk Home plants in Dalton and Calhoun. The company said it was getting out of the woven throw, decorative pillow and woven bedspread business.