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EDITOR’S NOTE: This is the third in a four-part series looking back at the year 2024 in Troup County.

July 1

Hazel sworn in

Dr. Rachel Hazel was sworn in as the new Troup County Schools superintendent. 

July 5

LPD called for euthanasia due to no medication at shelter; cat shot four times.

A cat brought into the LaGrange Animal Shelter for euthanasia was shot four times by a LaGrange Police Officer. The cat was brought in after it had been hit by a car and its owner was unable to pay for vet expenses.

July 9

40th Sweetland of Liberty

The Junior Service League of LaGrange hosted the 40th annual Sweet Land of Liberty Parade on Saturday. The parade was founded 40 years ago by the late Annette and Jim Boyd, who wanted to instill patriotism in our youth

July 10

Ward out of race, Woodruff is next sheriff

It’s official. James Woodruff will continue as sheriff of Troup County after Ricky Ward unexpectedly announced he was exiting the sheriff’s race, as he would have had to leave his current job with Homeland Security to continue.

July 13

Rosemont Revamped

On Thursday, The Troup County School System was joined by leaders from LaGrange and Troup County to cut the ribbon on the new Rosemont School. 

July 18

Voters to decide on alcohol referendum 

T​​he Troup County Board of Commissioners approved a request by several business owners to call for a referendum election in November on whether to allow mixed drink sales in the unincorporated areas of Troup County.

July 20

Tag office global outage

Troup County Tax Commissioner Shane Frailey announced that the Troup County Tag Office was temporarily closed due to computer issues.  The Georgia Department of Revenue is experiencing outages to the Motor Vehicle system due to the global IT outages caused by a faulty software update that has affected countless PCs around the world. The trouble comes from an update issued by cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike which affected computers running Microsoft Windows. 

July 30

Interstate 85 standoff

Troup County sheriff’s deputies were called to Interstate 85 near the Hamilton Road exit about a possible domestic dispute.  A male had run from a truck on the interstate into the woods. A female caller reported later hearing what sounded like a gunshot. The man later returned to the truck. Communication with law enforcement was unsuccessful leading to I-85 northbound being temporarily closed and pepper ball projectiles being deployed. 

July 31

Suspect charged in fatal crash

A hit-and-run crash on New Franklin Road on July 24 killed a young boy and injured several others.  The driver overcorrected and traveled across both southbound lanes onto the west shoulder. The car continued south on the west roadside of the highway and began to overturn multiple times.  Three occupants were ejected while the vehicle was overturning.  After the collision, the driver fled the scene. The driver was later found and arrested. 

Aug 8

Mulberry Street cemetery ceremony

Visit LaGrange announces the first details of the Mulberry Street Cemetery restoration project, a major initiative aimed at revitalizing, preserving and highlighting the historical significance of the Mulberry Street Cemetery. The restoration project officially commenced with a Blessing Ceremony on Aug. 6. 

Aug 22

THS cadets honored

The director of the entire Air Force JROTC program, Lt. Col. Matt Tipton, came from Maxwell Air Force Base to recognize the Troup students for their efforts on Aug. 10. After the last-minute cancellation of an honor guard for a two-star general’s retirement ceremony, the Troup High JROTC stepped up. While the buses were loading up on Friday the cadets answered the call, driving across the border into Alabama and served as detail.

Aug 24

LaGrange College alum performs at Olympics

​​In his career, music industry veteran Alonzo Harris has toured across the globe with renowned artists. But when H.E.R was invited to sing at the Olympics closing ceremony and asked Harris to collaborate and perform the national anthem, he knew this was an honor not to pass up.

Aug 26

Standoff on Norwood

LaGrange Police have taken a suspect into custody after keeping them in an hours-long standoff in the 900 block of Norwood Drive off of Malibu Drive. The incident started as a domestic incident on Tuesday morning when they learned that the undisclosed suspect had felony warrants. When police attempted to arrest the suspect, he barricaded himself into the home. The suspect was taken into custody around 4:45 p.m. Tuesday afternoon.

Aug 30

LaGrange approves Hillside cafes and anti-camping ordinance

The LaGrange City Council has voted to approve separate ordinances that will allow the sale and consumption of alcohol in Hillside and another ordinance to forbid camping in public parks and right-of-ways.  

Sept 4

Arrest made in 2007 cold case

Angel Thomas was arrested in connection with the 2007 murder of Nicole Alston. Thomas had stolen the identity of Alston and was arrested for concealing the death of Alston. It has not been determined who actually killed Alston and the investigation is still ongoing. 

Sept 13

Hazel hosts press conference after school shooting threat

The school shooting in Winder, Georgia in September led to a mass uptick in shooting threats around the country. Dr. Rachel Hazel, TCSS Superintendent, called a joint press conference with local law enforcement agencies to address this week’s school shooting threats after a social media post threatening to shoot up a list of Troup County schools circulated online. An arrest of a 15-year-old juvenile was made. The child, a local student, was charged with 11 counts of terroristic threats. 

Sept 14

Fiveash talks crime perception

With every new crime story that is posted on social media, LaGrange residents lament a perceived increase in crime. This time last year, LaGrange had 465 violent crimes and serious felonies all combined. This year we have 436, a reduction of about 6 percent. Chief Garrett Fiveash said that the number of aggravated assaults in the city is technically up, at least according to FBI reporting standards, but the number of overall incidents is down.

Sept 20

Law enforcement rallies for one of its own

Law enforcement agencies around Troup County are rallying behind one of their own in order to help a local state trooper who recently underwent a heart transplant. They raised over $17,000 for Shiver and his family.