WGAA 1340AM Cedartown

A single car accident left one person dead and one person in jail Friday morning. The accident occurred around 5:50 a.m. Friday morning on Cashtown Road between Cashtown Loop and Old Collard Valley Road. Brian Williams, age 18 was airlifted to Grady Memorial Hospital where he later died from injuries sustained in the accident. The driver of the vehicle, 19 year old Joshua McCall has been charged with vehicular homicide, DUI, too fast for conditions and possession of alcohol under the age of 21. According to reports the car speed through a curve, struck a tree and then flipped. Two female passengers were transported to Floyd Hospital with non life-threatening injuries.

Polk County schools will hold open house the Monday and Tuesday prior to school starting. School in Polk County starts on Wednesday, August 24th. Open house schedule is as follows: (more…)

The Polk School District Board of Education passed a tentative budget at a special session meeting Monday night. The board elected not to make any additional cuts to the budget at this time. The board will spend the next few weeks deciding if they will raise the millage rate or add more furlough days. Board members Tara O’Neal and Crystal Sproull spoke out in favor or raising the millage rate. O’Neal compared the millage rate of Polk County with surrounding counties. Both Floyd and Haralson County have a higher millage rate than Polk County. Those counties also raised the millage rate recently, while Polk County hasn’t raised the millage rate since 2003. (more…)

The Boys and Girls Club in Cedartown will close in August for repairs. The building located at 321 E. Queen Street is being closed to make repairs to water leaks. The leaks are coming from issues with the cement block walls and the roof. Some rooms located in the building are unusable when it rains due to standing water in the rooms. The walls of the building will need to be drilled out, then sealed and repainted. Cedartown City Manager Robbie Rokovitz is making arrangments for the building to be repaired. A summer camp is currently going on at the Boys and Girls Club and will conclude on August 5th. At the conclusion of that camp the Boys and Girls Club will close until further notice.

The Polk School District Board of Education may be one step closer to voting on a budget for FY2012. The board held a retreat on Saturday at Youngs Grove Elementary School to continue work on a budget. The board met last Monday and asked the public to contact them with their ideas for making up funds the school district lost. Ideas ranged from more furlough days, to raising taxes. Even if the board was able to pass a budget tonight, they may also have to pass another spending resolution. The board will meet tonight at 6:30 p.m. in the board room at Central Office.

Polk County Fire crews had to deal with hot tempartures as they battled a house fire Saturday afternoon on Wimberly Hill Road. Firefighters from Fish Creek, Lake Creek, Young’s Station, Antioch and Aragon Fire Departments were called to the blaze around 1:00 p.m. Saturday. Upon arrival of the first fire crews the house was fully involved. Firefighters received assistance from the Georgia Forestry Commission, as well as Redmond EMS. No one was believed to be living in the home at the time and the cause of the fire is unknown at this time.

Several Cedartown High School athletes were selected to the Rome News Tribune All-Area teams for their sucess in spring sports.

Track: Zach Chubb, Devin Watkins- Honorable Mention

Soccer: Homero Jacobo, Jorge Jacobo- First Team                                        Francisco Escutia, Rodolfo Barrientos, Javier Nunez- Honorable Mention

Baseball: Cody Mesta- Second Team

Downtown property and business owners gathered inside the Cedartown Welcome Center, also known as “The Depot”, to listen to a report from Mark Cottrell of Market Films.

Cottrell began his presentation with confirmation of some of the headline actors: Robert Duvall, Dennis Quade, Kevin Bacon, and Billy Bob Thorton. Filming will begin the third week of June. At the beginning of the week, crews will be giving Main Street a make-over, returning it to a 1960′s look. At the end of the week, Main Street will return to normal.

Main Street will be blocked off as it usually is for special events such as the recent “Tough Mudder Block Party”. Cottrell finished his presentation with this statement, “Your town is clean as a whistle. There is something special going on here. I realize it and I hope you do too.”

Casting Director Patrick Ingram is seeking out local citizens interested in being extras in the upcoming movie set to be filmed on Main Street in Cedartown, Jayne Mansfield’s Car.

Ingram stated, ” We are looking for men and women, a few kids but mostly ages 18 to 60 or so with timeless looks, as this film is set in 1969. We really want folks with no modern hair dye jobs, piercings, etc.”

Ingram is especially interested in people with cars that are 1969 model or older. If you or someone you know is interested in being an extra for the movie, send a clear photo of yourself, clothing sizes, and height to Patrick Ingram at  ecaindie@gmail.com.

Photos should be sent as soon as possibl, as filming is set to begin the third week of June. Additional details of the film will be released later this week.

Clean up continues after severe weather swept through the area Thursday night. The hardest hit area in Polk County was parts of Rockmart, especially the Goodyear Village area. Several large trees were ripped from the ground surrounding the old Goodyear School. A video of the possible funnel cloud was captured by a police dashboard camera, while on what appears to be a minor vehicle accident. The video can be found by searching “Rockmart Funnel Cloud” on youtube.com.