Category: News

Earlier this week, WNEG News met with Stephens County School Superintendent Dr. Connie Franklin and Assistant Superintendent John Stith to talk about school safety in light of the recent school shooting in Barrow County and the growing number of threats of school violence and student arrests, not only in Stephens and other Northeast Georgia Counties, but school systems across the […]

On Monday, Sept. 9, Asa Terrel Wilbanks of Toccoa was sentenced by Superior Court Judge William Oliver to 15 years, 5 to be served in custody, in the 2019 shooting death of Matthew Brian Shirley. The sentence was determined by Oliver following what is called a “blind plea” on voluntary manslaughter by Wilbanks. WNEG News will provide additional coverage from […]

Stephens County Election Supervisor Bruce Carlisle contacted WNEG News yesterday to talk about recent reports to his office regarding fraudulent text messages being sent to registered voters regarding their registration status.  Carlisle stressed that neither the local or state election office will ever send text messages to citizens. Carlisle talked briefly about the public nature of voter records in the […]

In a few WNEG scheduling notes, WNEG will be adding the audio recordings of the Back To School Special programs from each school to wnegnews.com throughout the day today, with all programs scheduled to be online by tomorrow morning, Sept. 12.  Also, as mentioned during WNEG News reports yesterday, WNEG News met with Stephens County School Superintendent Dr. Connie Franklin […]

Monday, Sept. 9, during the Toccoa City Commission meeting, Commissioner Even Hellenga announced that Rylee Mercer has been hired as the new Toccoa/Stephens County Humane Shelter director. Audio As reported by WNEG News previously, Shelter Board members voted in early June to terminate the employment of former Shelter Executive Director Jeff Roberts, effective June 30. The move to terminate Roberts […]

The Stephens County Board of Commissioners will meet at 6 p.m. today for a regularly scheduled meeting. The meeting will take place at the Historic Courthouse, 37 West Tugalo Street in Toccoa. The agenda will be pasted below. A livestream of the Stephens County Board of Commissioners meeting will be hosted on the county’s official YouTube Channel at youtube.com/@StephensBOC, and […]

WNEG News has just been notified that a second Stephens County student has been arrested for threats against the school. According to information from the school system, “We were notified early this morning that a SCHS student was arrested and charged with making terroristic threats against the school. All threats are taken seriously and investigated, and students will face criminal […]

This morning, shortly before 11 a.m., there was an altercation on East Whitman Street at the intersection with Rumsey Avenue. WNEG News spoke on scene moments ago with Toccoa Chief of Police Jimmy Mize, who said that Brandon Threlkeld, 31, of Toccoa, and Josh Mitchell, 33, of Toccoa, got into an altercation at the Whitman Street address and Mitchell pulled […]

UPDATE ON STEPHENS COUNTY SCHOOL THREAT At approximately 11:45 a.m. this morning, the Stephens County Sheriff’s Office announced that an arrest has been made in relation to the threat to Stephens County Schools. In a post on social media, the SCSO announced, “One individual has been arrested and charged with Terroristic Threats and Acts following reports of a potential threat […]

At 12:25 a.m. this morning, Sept. 9, Stephens County School Superintendent Dr. Connie Franklin notified WNEG News that yesterday evening, Sept. 8, school system administration was made aware of a picture copied from the internet and shared on social media with a threat towards Stephens County Schools. According to information from Franklin, an investigation by the Stephens County Sheriff’s Office […]