The Floyd County Jail releases arrest reports twice a day – 8 a.m. and 8 p.m.
Mobile users follow this link to view the 24-hour report on ISSUU.com.
Source: Rome News
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ROME, Ga. – Felix Moreno-Garcia and Fabian Pineda-Garcia have been sentenced for possessing over four pounds of methamphetamine with the intent to distribute.
“These brothers were significant contributors to the Northwest Georgia methamphetamine market,” said Acting U.S. Attorney John Horn. “Thankfully, DEA agents and the Lookout Mountain Drug Task Force successfully put an end to this family drug dealing business.”
Daniel R. Salter, the Special Agent in Charge of the DEA Atlanta Field Division stated, “These methamphetamine distributors were driven by greed and power. Today they stand powerless and will spend well-deserved time in prison. This case would not have been possible without the high level of cooperation between our law enforcement counterparts.”
According to Acting United States Attorney Horn, the charges and other information presented in court: In July 2012, the Lookout Mountain Judicial Circuit Drug Task Force (“Lookout Mountain Task Force”) initiated an investigation of a Mexican drug trafficking organization operating out of Chattooga County, Georgia. The Lookout Mountain Task Force developed an informant who provided information regarding Fabian Pineda-Garcia’s narcotics trafficking.
In August 2012, the DEA joined the investigation focusing on Fabian Pineda-Garcia’s brother, Felix Moreno-Garcia. Agents conducted a series of controlled purchases before successfully introducing an undercover officer to Moreno-Garcia in November 2013. Moreno-Garcia sold the undercover officer multi-ounce quantities of methamphetamine on several occasions. On March 19, 2014, Moreno-Garcia sold the undercover officer eight ounces of methamphetamine in the parking lot of the Wal-Mart in Trion, Georgia. Immediately after the sale, officers arrested Moreno-Garcia before he could leave the parking lot. Later that evening, agents executed search warrants at four locations, including a residence in Trion, Georgia. There, law enforcement officers discovered three and a half pounds of methamphetamine hidden under a mattress in a bedroom. Agents also located a 12-gauge shotgun in the corner of the bedroom. Agents arrested Fabian Pineda-Garcia and an unindicted coconspirator at the residence.
Both Moreno-Garcia and Pineda-Garcia were convicted of conspiring to distribute methamphetamine upon their pleas of guilty on November 19, 2014.
Felix Moreno-Garcia, 33, of Trion, Georgia, was sentenced to 15 years, four months in prison to be followed by five years of supervised release. Fabian Pineda-Garcia, 34, also of Trion, Georgia, was sentenced to ten years, one month in prison to be followed by five years of supervised release. Both were sentenced by United States District Judge Harold L. Murphy.
This case was investigated by the Drug Enforcement Administration and Lookout Mountain Judicial Circuit Drug Task Force.
Assistant United States Attorney C. Brock Brockington prosecuted the case.
Source: Rome News
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Lynn Whatley, Vice President and Financial Consultant with Synovus Securities, Inc. at Citizens First Bank, was recently recognized as one of the top three SSI Financial Consultants for generating the most GLOBALT client assets.
In addition, his performance earned him inclusion in the Chairman’s Council which is the highest level of recognition presented to a Synovus Securities Financial Consultant. This award recognizes those who exceeded their annual production goals and consistently delivered a high degree of client satisfaction during the year. This is the ninth consecutive year Lynn has been recognized for outstanding performance.
“Lynn’s great year puts him in the Synovus Circle of Excellence,” stated Angie Lewis, President and CEO of Citizens First Bank. “We are so pleased to see him recognized for his tremendous job. Lynn is dedicated to his clients and their satisfaction, and we are proud of the way he provides them with sound financial advice and the finest in customer service.”
Whatley, a Rome native, is a graduate of Mercer University and received the Chartered Financial Consultant and Chartered Life Underwriter certifications from the American College in Bryn Mawr, PA. He has more than 36 years experience in the financial services industry including retirement, investment, estate, and insurance planning. Whatley and his wife, Vicki, reside in Rome.
Source: Rome News
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NEW YORK (AP) — The U.S. has so much crude that it is running out of places to put it, and that could drive oil and gasoline prices even lower in the coming months.
For the past seven weeks, the United States has been producing and importing an average of 1 million more barrels of oil every day than it is consuming. That extra crude is flowing into storage tanks, especially at the country’s main trading hub in Cushing, Oklahoma, pushing U.S. supplies to their highest point in at least 80 years, the Energy Department reported last week.
If this keeps up, storage tanks could approach their operational limits, known in the industry as “tank tops,” by mid-April and send the price of crude — and probably gasoline, too — plummeting.
“The fact of the matter is we are running out of storage capacity in the U.S.,” Ed Morse, head of commodities research at Citibank, said at a recent symposium at the Council on Foreign Relations in New York.
Morse has suggested oil could fall all the way to $20 a barrel from the current $50. At that rock-bottom price, oil companies, faced with mounting losses, would stop pumping oil until the glut eased. Gasoline prices would fall along with crude, though lower refinery production, because of seasonal factors and unexpected outages, could prevent a sharp decline.
The national average price of gasoline is $2.44 a gallon. That’s $1.02 cheaper than last year at this time, but up 37 cents over the past month.
Other analysts agree that crude is poised to fall sharply — if not all the way to $20 — because it continues to flood into storage for a number of reasons:
— U.S. oil production continues to rise. Companies are cutting back on new drilling, but that won’t reduce supplies until later this year.
— The new oil being produced is light, sweet crude, which is a type many U.S. refineries are not designed to process. Oil companies can’t just get rid of it by sending it abroad, because crude exports are restricted by federal law.
— Foreign oil continues to flow into the U.S., both because of economic weakness in other countries and to feed refineries designed to process heavy, sour crude.
— This is the slowest time of year for gasoline demand, so refiners typically reduce or stop production to perform maintenance. As refiners process less crude, supplies build up.
— Oil investors are making money buying and storing oil because of the difference between the current price of oil and the price for delivery in far-off months. An investor can buy oil at $50 today and enter into a contract to sell it for $59 in December, locking in a profit even after paying for storage during those months.
The delivery point for most of the oil traded in the U.S. is Cushing, a city of about 8,000 people halfway between Oklahoma City and Tulsa at an intersection of several pipelines. The city is dotted with tanks that can, in theory, hold 85 million barrels of oil, according to the Energy Department, though some of those tanks are used for blending or feeding pipelines, not for storing oil.
The market data provider Genscape, which flies helicopters equipped with infrared cameras and other technology over Cushing twice a week to measure storage levels, estimates Cushing is two-thirds full.
Hillary Stevenson, who manages storage, pipeline and refinery monitoring for Genscape, says Cushing could be full by mid-April. Supplies are increasing at “the highest rate we have ever seen at Cushing,” she says.
Full tanks — or super-low prices — are not a sure thing. New storage is under construction at Cushing, and there are large storage terminals near Houston, in St. James, Louisiana, and elsewhere around the country that will probably begin to take in more oil as prices fall far enough to cover the cost of transporting the oil.
Also, drillers are cutting back fast because oil prices have plummeted from $107 a barrel in June. And demand is showing signs of rising.
While the Energy Department reported another enormous rise in crude stocks last week, up 8.4 million barrels from the week earlier, it also reported that diesel and gasoline supplies fell more than expected. That leads some to conclude that demand for crude will soon pick up, easing the surplus somewhat.
But many analysts believe oil prices will fall through the spring, before summer drivers start to relieve the glut.
___
Jonathan Fahey can be reached at http://ift.tt/1beJhxZ .
Copyright 2015 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Source: Rome News
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Georgia Highlands College was proud to honor faculty at all five of its campuses with years of service awards this year, ranging from five years to 40.
The 2015 Years of Service awardees were as follows:
In the five years of service category: Ed Hawkins on the Floyd campus; Sherry Green, Connie Watjen, Russell Cook and Leslie Johnston on the Cartersville campus; Kencho Tenzin on the Marietta campus; Connie Barbour at Heritage Hall; and Jayme Feagin and John Kwist, Jr. on the Paulding campus.
In the 10 years of service category: Jason Hitzeman and Cindy Wheeler on the Floyd campus; Leslie Johnson, Robert Adams, Jr. and Jed Gillespie on the Cartersville campus; Mauro Bisiacchi on the Marietta campus; and Vincent Manatsa on the Douglasville campus.
In the 15, 20 and 35 years of service categories in the following correlating order: Debbie Amason on the Marietta campus; Carla Patterson on the Floyd campus; and Kristie Kemper on the Floyd campus.
A 40 years of service award went to Ken Weatherman on the Floyd campus.
Source: Rome News
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The Habitat for Humanity – Coosa Valley is set to start a new project here in Polk County after the organization decided to expand its reach beyond the Floyd County lines.
An organization meeting for the Habitat house rehabilitation project is set for Tuesday, March 10 at the Cedartown First United Methodist Church for 5:30 p.m.
Habitat executive director Bruce Day said his organization previously planned a Feb. 26 meeting at the church, but called it off due to winter weather.
He said he hopes volunteers will participate in the 2-hour interest meeting that will include a snack supper and get a chance to hear about the upcoming project.
“We’re getting things in place already,” he said. “It’s going to be a great project, and we’re hoping to have everything completed by June.”
Day said the organization chose the Darden family on Old Collard Valley Road in Polk County for the first Habitat project, electing to update an already existing property instead of building a new home.
He said the organization has received queries about coming to Polk County since he became director 10 years ago for the Habitat for Humanity – Coosa Valley, which was previously focused on Floyd County and Rome.
Now Day said Habitat will not only get involved in projects in Polk County, but is also expanding their reach to Chattooga County as well.
“There’s citizens who want to be engaged, and the time was right to work together to get something done,” he said.
Habitat will be working on three projects this spring at the same time, with the house rehabilitation in Polk County, a rehabilitation project in Floyd and new home construction in Chattooga, Day said.
The next step will be to keep the hammers swinging on other projects following this first expansion in the spring, Day said, and to keep volunteer interest high.
One area where Day said the organization will be involved in the coming months – after the remodel is completed – is the A Brush with Kindness program already underway in Floyd County.
The expansion of the program will give qualifying residents opportunities to get their homes painted for free. See romeandfloydhabitat.org for more information about A Brush with Kindness.
Day said he’s also hoping more organizations will show interest in helping with the upcoming Habitat build now that the chapter has expanded into Polk County.
“While there have been quite a few interested volunteers, we need more individuals and churches to get involved with us as volunteers,” he said.
Organizations in Polk County are already giving back to the Habitat build too, Day said. The HON Company and the United Methodist Conference both contributed to the upcoming remodel of the Darden home, Day said, but more funding resources will still be needed.
Those interested in making donations can call 706-378-0030 for more information.
Source: Rome News
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A group led by a former chairman of the Georgia Lottery has filed plans to build a theme park in Bartow County that the company says would feature movie industry-quality special effects.
Avatron USA Development has filed plans for Avatron Smart Park, a 700-plus acre development along Paga Mine Road in the Emerson and Cartersville area, just west of the sprawling LakePoint Sporting Community complex and town center along I-75.
In a filing Tuesday to the Georgia Department of Community Affairs, the company described a “totally immersive, technology-driven theme park drawing on the expertise of Hollywood’s leading visual effects professionals.” The project also would include two hotels, retail and a music venue.
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Source: Rome News
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