Published: December 29, 2009 11:04 pm      

2009: Top stories

Looking back on 2009, many area residents would point to the recession — and how it continues to affect everyday life — as one of the top national news stories of the year. Closer to home, the economic slowdown translated into thousands of lost jobs. But there were plenty of other memorable stories, some saddening, some uplifting, that marked 2009.

Here are the year’s top stories as selected by The Daily Citizen staff, in no particular order.

Floorcovering industry hammered

The continuing recession and corresponding slump in the housing market slammed the floorcovering industry again in 2009. Major mills including Beaulieu of America, Mohawk Industries and Shaw Industries responded to the slowdown in sales by trimming hours, laying off employees and shuttering plants. Companies closed at least 10 plants throughout the country, though Whitfield County was spared large-scale plant closings. Amid the bad news, there was some good: Shaw Industries announced plans to expand a carpet manufacturing plant in Calhoun and create up to 200 jobs, and was in talks with Ringgold city officials about retaining jobs at a plant there. Also, Belgium-based IVC Group announced plans to open its first manufacturing plant in Dalton, creating 115 jobs and investing $70 million over the next three years.

Jobless woes continue

The unemployment rate in Metro Dalton (Murray and Whitfield counties) was among the highest in the state for much of the year. Steep cuts in the floorcovering industry led to a 12.7 percent unemployment rate in November, with 8,052 unemployed during that month, according to state labor department figures. Earlier in the year, the U.S. Labor Department reported that jobless rates climbed in 363 of the 369 largest metropolitan areas in December 2008 compared to a year earlier. Indiana’s Elkhart-Goshen metropolitan area had the largest annual increase, up to 15.3 percent, a 10.6 percent increase. Metro Dalton was at No. 2 with a 6.2 percent increase. The state labor department hosted a job fair at the Northwest Georgia Trade and Convention Center in November that was attended by thousands of job-seekers.

Swine flu hits home

Amid a country-wide concern over the swine flu (later referred to as H1N1), area school systems faced absentee rates of between 4 and 10 percent in early fall as the flu swept the area. Candy Chen, a second-grader at City Park School, died of the flu on Sept. 30, the first recorded swine flu fatality in Whitfield County. Georgia was one of the first states to see widespread reports of swine flu.

Hamilton adds new insurers

In April, several business leaders — including the top executives at Shaw Industries, Mohawk Industries, Beaulieu Group, J&J; Industries and Dalton Utilities — signed a letter to Hamilton Health Care System CEO John Bowling asking for “more competition within the insurance networks accepted by the community’s health care providers.”

Hamilton did not have comprehensive contracts with several major national health insurance firms such as Blue Cross Blue Shield, United Healthcare and Aetna. Hamilton officials promised to try to add at least some of those by years end. In December, Hamilton officials reported they had active negotiations with those major firms, and they had added some smaller companies, but they did not yet have the contracts with those major firms they had hoped to achieve.

Law firm recovers, reopens

The McCamy Law Firm bombing was considered by many to be the biggest local news story of 2008. In 2009, the story of how the wounds — both physical and mental — healed, along with the reopening of the historic home that houses the law firm, made headlines. The firm moved back into its Crawford Street offices in September, 11 months after suicide bomber Lloyd Cantrell drove his red SUV rigged with explosive natural gas cylinders into the structure. The firm held several events to commemorate the reopening, including a cookout for emergency workers who responded to the bombing and an open house to let the community tour the renovated building. Attorney Jim Phillips, who was burned on about 40 percent of his body and spent time in an Augusta burn center, attended both events and said he was “doing fine” and “recovering well.”

History vs. progress?

A Superior Court judge ruled in favor of Whitfield County Schools in a lawsuit that alleged the school system couldn’t use taxpayer dollars to pay for sewer lines to a new $43 million high school slated to open in 2011. A group called the Concerned Citizens of the Prater’s Mill Community and Whitfield County filed the lawsuit in December 2008. The group decided not to appeal after Judge William Boyett ruled in the school system’s favor in June. The group also dropped a second lawsuit filed against the state Department of Education alleging the department violated its own policy against approving building sites in flood plains. School officials said none of the buildings were going to be located in a flood plain.

Board of Education members voted in November to name the new school Coahulla Creek High School after the creek that runs through the property on Crow Road near Prater’s Mill.

Budget cuts slam schools

Educators across Georgia faced the prospect of being furloughed as Gov. Sonny Perdue in July cut state funding the equivalent of three days’ pay for school system employees. Whitfield County Schools furloughed employees two days in 2009, Murray County Schools furloughed employees three days, and Dalton Public Schools chose to absorb the additional cuts since employees had already taken a reduction in pay during a series of budget cuts.

Each local school system saw additional reductions of several million dollars in state funding, and officials at all three adhered to a hiring freeze except to fill positions they said were absolutely necessary. State funding to Dalton State College dropped from $15.4 million to $14 million as the higher education budget also took a hit.

Bullying comes to the forefront

Murray County Schools officials faced allegations of not confronting bullying after a Murray County High School junior committed suicide at his home in October. David and Tina Long say their son, Tyler, 17, was troubled by years of bullying the school system didn’t address despite their repeated complaints. A large crowd attended a public forum on bullying in the schools in December, and an attorney for the Longs filed pre-lawsuit paperwork that claimed Tyler’s death “was the result of a recurrent and ongoing pattern of bullying of Tyler that was either allowed to go on or ignored by the Murray County school system.”

During a “Community Conversation” meeting in December with members of the public, a school system official acknowledged that bullying was a “serious problem.”

Murray landmark burns

Hundreds of people gathered in Chatsworth to watch as the Rock Building — the original Murray County High School building that opened in 1934 — burned in September after apparently being struck by lightning. The building had served students in Murray County for 70 years. It had been used for classes for the high school, Bagley Middle School and Headstart. It is on the National Register of Historic Places.

School officials are looking to rebuild the Rock Building for use as a central office. They are accepting bids on the reconstruction through Jan. 19.

Two drown in the Conasauga River

Tragedy struck twice as two local residents drowned in separate incidents on the Conasauga River. In February, Brett Thomason, a 19-year-old graduate of Southeast High School, went missing after a late-night boating expedition with two friends. About a month later, rescue crews recovered his body. In April, 38-year-old Waylon Keith “Bo” Hackney went missing during a fishing trip on the river in southwestern Murray County. His body was found six days later.

Peeples re-elected Varnell mayor

For the third time in three years, Varnell voters went to the polls in November. Mayor Dan Peeples cruised to re-election over challenger Bill Morgan with 219 votes to 112. Peeples was elected in 2008 to fill the unexpired term of Lindsey Metcalf, who had stepped down earlier that year.

Newcomers James Caldwell and Brent Newsome were elected to Varnell City Council Posts 1 and 2 respectively. Caldwell defeated incumbent Carlus Mosier, while Newsome claimed an open seat by defeating former City Council member Harveyleen Rollins.