Author: Charlie Bauder

In the wake of last week’s Supreme Court ruling legalizing same-sex marriage nationwide, Stephens County has seen its first same-sex marriage license issued. Stephens County Probate Judge Glenda Ernest says that her office had issued one same-sex marriage license since the Supreme Court ruling last Friday. Ernest says her office, along with all other Probate Judge’s offices in Georgia, are […]

Toccoa’s 9-10 baseball All-Stars come up just short in their bid to continue on in the District tournament. Wednesday in Lavonia, Toccoa lost to Habersham 5-3 in an elimination bracket game. Trailing 5-2 entering the top of the sixth inning, Toccoa loaded the bases and got one run on an RBI walk by Desmin Teasley. However, Habersham then got Will […]

By MJ Kneiser, WLHR Radio, Lavonia Franklin County has a new budget for Fiscal 2016. At their work session Tuesday night, the board passed the new budget by a vote of 4-1 with Commissioner David Strickland voting against. Franklin County’s fiscal 2016 budget is just over $13.2 million, up from this fiscal year’s budget of $11.8 million. County Manager Beth […]

The Toccoa-Stephens County Airport Authority is continuing to look at a formal set of policies and procedures. Authority members met Monday at the airport for a called meeting and proposed policies and procedures were on the agenda for discussion. Toccoa-Stephens County Airport Authority Chair Dennis Bell said that the policies and procedures they are looking at would cover all aspects […]

The mother of a child who nearly drowned last week at the Doyle Street Pool last week says her child is doing very well. She says the child came home last week and has recovered from the incident, which occurred during the early afternoon hours of June 22 at the pool in Toccoa. In the incident, the mother says she […]

A storm this afternoon in Stephens County causes some damage in areas. The storm moved through during the noon hour. Stephens County Sheriff Randy Shirley said that extremely high winds led to many fallen trees in the eastern side of Stephens County. That includes the Shorewood area along Lake Hartwell and South Red Rock Road. Shirley said at one Shorewood […]

July 1 means a host of new laws take effect. Among the most prominent is a change in the state of Georgia’s gasoline tax. Earlier this year, the Georgia General Assembly passed the Transportation Funding Act of 2015, which goes into effect today. The measure will convert the current sales tax on gasoline to an excise tax, which would amount […]

By MJ Kneiser, WLHR Radio, Lavonia With a new law going into effect today in Georgia that legalizes the sale of fireworks, one northeast Georgia county is going to look at regulations that take the new state law into effect. Hart County Commissioner Ricky Carter said that Hart County needs to begin looking at how to best regulate the use […]

Former Toccoa Finance Director Vickie Neikirk has resigned from her position in Hall County. Accessnorthga.com is reporting that Neikirk stepped down as Hall County Finance Director earlier this week. No details regarding the decision were offered, according to the report. Neikirk served as the Finance Director for the city of Toccoa from May 2010 to October 2011, when Hall County […]