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Times-Courier

Times-Courier

Prepare as if no help is coming

Andy Ashurst - Publisher
Wednesday, July 23, 2025
Gilmer County should plan to handle future severe weather events without outside assistance. This was the message Gilmer County Emergency Management Agency Director Aaron Freeman gave commissioners about changes at the Federal Emergency Management Agency during their work session July 16.
State, local and judicial leaders hold up a check for nearly half a million in grant funding for accountability courts in northwest Georgia. From left, Pickens County Sheriff Donald Craig, State Senator Steve Gooch, Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities Commissioner Kevin Tanner, Judge Brenda Weaver, Judge Alison Sosebee, State Representative Johnny Chastain and other state and local leaders.

State, local and judicial leaders hold up a check for nearly half a million in grant funding for accountability courts in northwest Georgia. From left, Pickens County Sheriff Donald Craig, State Senator Steve Gooch, Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities Commissioner Kevin Tanner, Judge Brenda Weaver, Judge Alison Sosebee, State Representative Johnny Chastain and other state and local leaders.

Participants graduate drug court program and court receives grant

Jackson Elliott - Reporter
Wednesday, July 23, 2025
Two years of group therapy and individual counseling, random drug testing, fee payments, court appearances and more are “worth it,” Taylor Born said. Born, an Appalachian Judicial Circuit Accountability Court graduate, was celebrating three years of sobriety Friday, July 18.
Clear Creek Middle School will be one of the Gilmer County schools impacted by new federal education grant withholdings.

Clear Creek Middle School will be one of the Gilmer County schools impacted by new federal education grant withholdings.

Federal government withholds $547,530 from Gilmer schools

Jackson Elliott - Reporter
Wednesday, July 16, 2025
If recent federal education grant withholdings continue, Gilmer County Schools (GCS) would go into the school year without nearly $550,000. “That’s going to be a problem,” GCS Superintendent Dr. Brian Ridley said.
Cars navigate the junction where Industrial Boulevard, Highway 515, River Street and First Avenue meet.

Cars navigate the junction where Industrial Boulevard, Highway 515, River Street and First Avenue meet.

Georgia DOT may soon fix “Malfunction Junction”

Jackson Elliott - Reporter
Wednesday, July 16, 2025
One of Gilmer’s most frustrating intersections may soon receive a much-needed transformation. The section of First Ave. between Georgia Highway 515 and River Street has long been frustrating for anyone in a car.
Maximum Allowable Light Standards

Maximum Allowable Light Standards

Irritating lights get the spotlight

Andy Ashurst - Publisher
Wednesday, July 16, 2025
Outdoor lighting which shines into a neighbors’ window or yard may soon run afoul of a proposed Gilmer County ordinance. An ordinance entitled Outdoor Lighting and Glare Standards will receive a public hearing Thursday, July 17, at 1:30 p.m.
Bigfoot masks hang on a wall in a scene from “Unknown Ellijay.” (Photos contributed by Sozo Bear Films)

Bigfoot masks hang on a wall in a scene from “Unknown Ellijay.” (Photos contributed by Sozo Bear Films)

New film searches Gilmer for the supernatural

Jackson Elliott - Reporter
Wednesday, July 16, 2025
Do Bigfoot, ghosts and more haunt Gilmer County, or do they just haunt our imaginations? Sozo Bear Films co-directors Brad Kennedy and Luke Pilgrim seek to explore this question and others in their newly-released paranormal documentary, “Unknown Ellijay.