Latest DALTON Stories

By The Daily Citizen, Dalton, Ga. Jul. 26--The Dalton Dolphins, getting two first-place performances from Chas Jones and one each by Omar Farag, Ethan Young and Rylee Maret in individual events, are in second place behind perennial champion Signal Mountain after the second day of the Chattanooga Area Swim League City Meet at Warner Park. Signal Mountain finished Friday with 1,016.5 points and Dalton has 939.5 going into today's final competition. Stuart Heights is third with 707, Red Bank...

By Mark Millican, The Daily Citizen, Dalton, Ga. Jul. 26--Dalton Public Schools met adequate yearly progress (AYP) guidelines issued by the state Department of Education under the No Child Left Behind law for the 2007-2008 school year, but the Whitfield and Murray County school systems did not. Seven of eight schools in Dalton Public Schools met AYP, while 16 of 20 Whitfield County schools met the standards and eight of nine Murray County schools did. The schools that did not meet AYP...

By Jamie Jones, The Daily Citizen, Dalton, Ga. Jul. 25--From trash to gas to cash. The Dalton-Whitfield Regional Solid Waste Management Authority unveiled its estimated $3.1 million landfill gas energy recovery facility on Thursday. The plant takes naturally occurring landfill gas and sends it by a two-mile pipeline to Dow, where the chemical company uses it to run its emulsion polymers plant that manufactures latex carpet backings. Officials trumpeted the public/private partnership with...

By Kim Sloan, The Daily Citizen, Dalton, Ga. Jul. 23--Fuel conservation efforts proved futile during June for Dalton fire officials. The fire department enacted several gas-saving measures last month which amounted to a savings of $500, Fire Chief Barry Gober told members of the Dalton Public Safety Committee Tuesday morning. Those measures were: --Pre-incident surveys were ended. The surveys involve firefighters going into area businesses so they will know the layout of the building...

By Jamie Jones, The Daily Citizen, Dalton, Ga. Jul. 18--Whitfield County residents peeked into their future on Thursday. The county courthouse played host to a comprehensive plan update open house as officials with MACTEC, an engineering and consulting firm based in Atlanta, explained their findings from a series of community workshops held earlier this year. The update covers unincorporated Whitfield County and the cities of Dalton, Tunnel Hill and Varnell. "It's hard to do your top line...

By Charles Oliver, The Daily Citizen, Dalton, Ga. Jul. 16--It isn't over yet in Murray County. Democrats Connie Reed and Tommy Parker will face each other on Aug. 5 in a runoff for their party's nomination for clerk of Superior Court. Reed took first place in the four-way primary with 1,314 votes (49.21 percent). Parker finished second with 620 votes (23.22 percent). Annette Green took 584 votes (21.87 percent), and Ron Wilson had 152 votes (5.69 percent). Meanwhile, on the Republican...

By Jamie Jones, The Daily Citizen, Dalton, Ga. Jul. 12--Whitfield County's next recreation department director will have the expanded duties of overseeing a growing park system as well as programs geared to all ages -- not just children. County administrator Bob McLeod said Friday the person who replaces Roger Crossen, who resigned Thursday after more than 23 years with the department, will be a part of the board of commissioners' renewed commitment to recreation. "The commissioners are...

By Mark Millican, The Daily Citizen, Dalton, Ga. Jul. 2--CHATSWORTH -- Concerns about septic systems, clean water and the Conasauga River took top billing at Tuesday's public meeting held by Murray County sole commissioner Jim Welch. Frank Sagona, watershed director for the Conasauga River Alliance, gave a report on a Clean Water Act project currently under way in the county. The septic system repair project is using $355,000 in federal funds from the Environmental Protection Agency, going...

By The Daily Citizen, Dalton, Ga. Jun. 27--Whitfield County recently approved a new county seal after a vote on a proposed design was postponed in May to give a local graphic designer time to offer suggestions at no cost. The county's seal heading into this year was similar to the black and white Georgia state seal that first appeared in the mid-1950s. The first attempt at a new design sought to blend elements of the county's history using color. In the center of that proposed seal was a...

By Charles Oliver, The Daily Citizen, Dalton, Ga. Jun. 25--No other city the size of Atlanta has just one major airport, says Georgia insurance commissioner John Oxendine. Oxendine, a Republican candidate for governor in 2010, spoke Tuesday at the Dalton-Whitfield Chamber of Commerce's "Wake up Whitfield" breakfast. Oxendine said Georgia needs a second major airport to relieve some of the burden on Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport. "There's a lot of debate about where...