Author: Charlie Bauder

A recent survey by the finance and lending-related website NerdWallet says that Toccoa is the 91st best place in Georgia to start a business out of 126 looked at it in the state. That survey was released last week. In it, NerdWallet said it analyzed 126 places in Georgia, each with a population of at least 5,000. The website said […]

Another tax scam is being reported in the area. Toccoa City Commissioner and local accountant Jeanette Jamieson said that several elderly people have reported to her that they have received calls from people purporting to be from the Internal Revenue Service regarding people’s taxes. Jamieson said that if someone calls in that manner claiming to be from the IRS, they […]

By MJ Kneiser, WLHR Radio, Lavonia Banks County Sheriff Carlton Speed is instituting a new summertime program to help working parents. Banks County Sheriff’s spokesperson Sgt. Carrissa McFaddin said the Summertime Assistance Program is designed for working parents who have children at home during the summer months while school is out of session. “This is the first time we are […]

The Stephens County Board of Education will not have a budget approved for Fiscal Year 2016 by June 30. At Thursday’s Stephens County Board of Education work session, Stephens County School Superintendent Bryan Dorsey updated the board on the Fiscal Year 2016 budget process. Dorsey said that a number of factors have led to the need to push completing a […]

The Stephens County Development Authority is moving to bring its waste water lift station at the Hayestone-Brady Business Park fully online. Thursday, the Development Authority board voted unanimously to purchase a lift station pump at a cost of $104,194 from a company called Smith and Loveless. That bid was the lowest of two bids received for the pump. The other […]

By MJ Kneiser, WLHR Radio, Lavonia City of Lavonia water customers now have new, high-tech water meters and the city is collecting more revenue as a result. Work to replace the old meters with new digital equipment has been an ongoing project since 2013 and began with the City of Lavonia applying for and receiving a $465,000 Georgia Environmental Finance […]

Plan ahead, drive alert and watch for work zones. That’s the advice to motorists from the Georgia Department of Transportation as an active summer construction season gets into full swing with projects beginning or underway throughout the state. To minimize traffic delays, the Department said it seeks to make the road work as non-disruptive to motorists as possible. The DOT […]

9th District U.S. Representative Doug Collins votes in support of a bill he says will protect farmers, families, ranchers, and small businesses in the 9th District and nationwide. Earlier this week, Collins voted for H.R. 2393, the Country of Origin Labeling Amendments Act. The bill would repeal mandatory country of origin labeling requirements for certain meat products. Collins said the […]

Authorities said that eight people face charges in connection to a multi-county burglary ring. Stephens County Sheriff Randy Shirley said that his office worked with the Franklin County and the Madison County Sheriff’s Offices in making the arrests in connection to local residential burglaries. Shirley said that the multi-agency investigation spurred off of a burglary in Stephens County back on […]

Stephens County Commissioners are going to consider abandonment of part of a road in order to help with keeping the property at the end of the road clean. John Vance appeared before commissioners on Tuesday to talk about the end of Crump Street, which is located off of South Pond Street. Vance owns the property at the end of the […]