Commercial and Residential Locksmiths in Cartersville

CARTERSVILLE, Ga. — A family’s Halloween decorations are causing controversy in Cartersville.

Channel 2′s Tyisha Fernandes was at the home on Cassville Road in Bartow County Wednesday, where a body with brown hands is hanging from a tree with a noose around its neck.

Some people are offended and say it looks like a Black man, and they want it taken down.

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The decoration has an animal skull on its head and it is wearing brown gloves.

Fernandes talked to one neighbor who said it upset her so much that she yanked the body down.

But the family said they have First Amendment rights and hung the decoration right back up.

Fernandes spoke with the homeowner, who said that her family decorates every year and has a lot of fun with it. She said the kids in the neighborhood also love it.

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“Every year, we’ve all decorated as a family,” she said. “They love Halloween. They’re both excited about Mr. Creepy in the tree.”

But the president of the Bartow Chapter of the NAACP sees it differently.

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“I really felt like this was really crossing the line. It was offensive,” Dexter Benning said. “It really just signified and insinuated that it was a person and a person of color. Bartow County has a history of hangings here in this county and to do that is just not appropriate.”

According to the homeowner, who Channel 2 is not identifying, a neighbor came over and took the decoration down herself.

“She said because the thing underneath the mask is black and his shirt is black, she was thinking it’s a Black person. And it’s not,” the homeowner said. “That’s just the spare clothes my husband had that he was gonna throw away anyway. That’s why I picked those. No reason other than that, and the gloves are garbage gloves so...”

A local pastor hopes the family listens to the community’s concerns.

“If you really want to celebrate Halloween and not be offensive, it shouldn’t be a problem for you to take it down,” Randy Livsey said. “Hang it around the waist if you want to or just hang up something different.”

Someone called 911 over the decoration. When deputies got there, they said that the family isn’t breaking the law, so there’s nothing they can do. With Halloween more than three weeks away, “Mr. Creepy” will probably but up for awhile.

ATLANTA, Ga. (Atlanta News First) - An unranked but upset-minded Cass (4-2, 1-0) team will face a tall task Friday when it travels to Class 5A No. 4 Cartersville (6-0, 1-0) to determine the front-runner in the Region 7-5A standings.

For Cass, it has been a long time since the program felt it could hang with its region-rival.

“We are just now to the point after three years where we feel like we can run the football and mash people,” said Cass coach Steven Gates. “We’ve been somewhat undersized and young in my first couple years. Now some of those younger guys are getting a little bit older, and we got some size.”

Undersized it may be, Cass is carrying a four-game winning streak and momentum along with it. On offense, the Colonels will look to a powerful offensive line, led by Arkansas-commit Bear McWhorter and power-five prospect Kail Ellis, to keep the pocket clean for star quarterback Broddie McWhorter.

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“We are just now getting to where we can establish the run,” he said. “We always worried about having to throw it and get first downs that way, and now we feel like we can do it.”

The receiving room is led by Georgia-commit Sacovie White, who has been a huge miss match through six weeks. The Colonels skill position players will try to create space and yards after the catch, to put even more pressure on the Purple Hurricanes defensive backs.

Cartersville enters the game after a come-from-behind 21-17 victory over Class 5A No. 5 Calhoun last week, keeping its record blemish-free.

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The Cartersville offense has continued its trend of offensive excellence through the season that has seen its offense score more than 30 points per game every season since 2011. They will rely on their offensive line, led by Georgia-commit Malachi Toliver, to meet the Cass defensive front.

Sophomore Cartersville quarterback Nate Russell is 54-of-91 passing for 758 yards and seven touchdowns. Jamauri Brice is a favorite target with 13 receptions for 230 yards and three receptions through five games. Khristian Lando has 64 carries for 348 yards and nine touchdowns to anchor the Cartersville run game.

On defense, the Purple Hurricanes will face one of the most talented offenses they will face all season. However, their defense has been one of the best in the state, giving up less than 10 points per game. Cartersville will have to rely on its front seven to stop the Cass rushing attack and put pressure on McWhorter, forcing him to extend plays and make big throws on obvious passing downs.

“On defense, we want to give offenses different looks,” said Cartersville coach Conor Foster “We want to be multiple on defense and not feel like the offense is going to dictate to us what they are going to see. We want to throw different looks at a quarterback or offensive coordinator and not let them get comfortable with what they are going to see from us.”

Across the field, the Cass defense will have its hands full trying to slow down the balanced offense of Cartersville. The Colonels will look to defensive lineman and Appalachian State-commit Kaden Ellis to disrupt the dominant Cartersville offense front. In the secondary, Cass will look to two-way star White and Liberty-commit Devin Henderson to try and slow the talented Cartersville skill position players down.

“The big thing when you play them is trying to eliminate the big play,” Foster said. “But you have to understand with the talented guys they have, there are going to be some big plays, but try to limit them.”

You can watch the game on the Atlanta News First app, on ANF+ (Roku, FireTV or AppleTV) and on the Peachtree Sports Network (17.2 in Atlanta as well as on Comcast and Spectrum cable).

Copyright 2023 WANF. All rights reserved.

Interstate 75 takes millions of Midwestern families on vacation to Florida every year. Interstates have shrunk the country; as James Brown sang in “Living in America,” “there’s no destination that’s too far.”

On the downside, they’ve also homogenized the nation. Pass 100 exits on the interstate in a long day of driving and 90% of the restaurants, hotels and gas stations are the same from Detroit to Tampa.

Not Exit 290 on I-75 in Georgia.

This is Cartersville, 40 miles northwest of Atlanta. Its small-town charm has yet to be totally subsumed by the ATL’s voracious sprawl. It’s happening, however, and the takeover won’t take much longer.

Enjoy Cartersville from Exit 290 when passing through on your way to the Sunshine State, or back, for as long as you’re able.

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ByAmy DaniseEditor

ByAmy DaniseEditor

A Pit Stop

Who’s been here: fast food is trash and everyone in the car wants something different. You’d love to find a real restaurant, but want to stay near the interstate to keep on schedule. Plus, you don’t know this place or where to eat. You’d also love the chance to walk around a bit after sitting in the car all day.

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The Allatoona Dam Food Truck Park & Beer Garden is the answer to your prayers.

What a brilliant idea!

One tenth of a mile west of the exit adjacent to the gas stations, a handful of rotating local food trucks, an air-conditioned trailer serving ice-cold craft beer and ciders in cans, and a little room to stretch your legs provides an oasis along the asphalt Amazon.

Everyone gets what they want, its quick, its local, there’s healthy(er) options and you can revive yourself for the impending slog through Atlanta traffic when heading south.

The food trucks operate from 11:30 AM to sundown every day except Monday and the beer garden is open 11:00 AM to 10:00 PM, again, every day except Monday, and extends to 11:30 PM on weekends.

A Couple Hours

Yeah, the slog through Atlanta traffic. When motoring south on I-75, Cartersville is on the extreme northern limits of the Georgia capital’s Blob-like consumption of its surrounding area. With no natural barriers to growth, sprawl here is epidemic.

Considering the time of day and conditions, drivers may be looking at the better part of two-hours in bumper-to-bumper traffic from Cartersville before clearing Atlanta’s southern reaches. Puke.

If you’re rolling up on Cartersville during morning or afternoon commuting rush on a weekday, your mental health might be served better by hanging out for a couple hours. Cartersville has some great places to hang, starting with its charming, historic, train depot downtown five miles from Exit 290.

Boutique shops and restaurants cover a couple block area with plenty of parking and sidewalks for meandering.

JZ’s Taste of Georgia features beer, wine and meads from around the state in a country store-like space on Main Street. You’ll also find Georgia knickknacks, art, souvenirs and live music if you hit it right on Friday or Saturday night. Across the street is a Mellow Mushroom Pizza Bakers. There are now hundreds of Mellow Mushroom locations around the country, still, the product remains remarkably consistent and delicious from restaurant to restaurant and if you need a local connection, the chain started in Atlanta.

If you’re traveling with kids and they’ve been especially well-behaved, Coconuts ice cream and shave ice around the corner is a throwback treats stand with cones, sundaes, shakes and the like. Gauging from the lines for both walk-up and drive-through your likely to experience, you know it’s good.

Continuing with the nostalgia vibes, Ross Diner the next block over from Mellow is an old-school short-order breakfast and lunch spot (6:30 AM–2:30 PM daily except Sunday) with counter service and the circular stools. The prices are old-school too. How about a three-egg breakfast with grits or hashbrowns, and toast or biscuits and gravy, with bacon, sausage, turkey sausage or bologna, for $8.25?

Lean all the way in to the 1970s and 80s time machine next door to Ross Diner where RocknShop sells vinyl records, concert posters and t-shirts from a bygone era. Rush, Fleetwood Mac, Kiss, Van Halen, Pink Floyd, yup. Live music on occasion, too. Hours vary, so check before dropping in.

Olive Treen and Vine a block up the street has dozens of unusual olive oil samples to keep the older kids occupied while the grown folks enjoy beer, wine or coffee from the back. No need to rush, Cartersville has open carry of alcohol in its downtown “Entertainment District.”

Art and Culture

Cartersville bills itself as “Georgia’s Museum City” thanks to the Savoy Automobile Museum, the Tellus Science Museum and the Booth Western Art Museum, each preeminent among their fields.

A Western art museum–think cowboys and Native Americans of the Plains and Southwest–may seem like an odd fit for west Georgia, but it works at the Booth. With the largest exhibition space in the world for Western art–sorry Santa Fe and Denver–the permanent collection at the Booth features the icons of the genre–Frederic Remington, C.M. Russell, Maynard Dixon–but its strength is in contemporary Western art since 1965.

Anyone overruled in vacation planning sacrificing mountains and mesas for the Mouse can catch a whiff of the West through stunning landscape paintings of New Mexico and the Rockies at the Booth. The enormous scale of the museum allows it to display a number of staggeringly large artworks that may even impress angsty teens. The Booth’s “Sagebrush Ranch” gallery is hands-on for little ones.

The museum has a fine sampling of contemporary Native American art, premiere rotating exhibitions, and galleries devoted to the U.S. presidents, and contemporary art related to the Civil War. Those last two will hit different visitors very differently generating responses ranging from extreme pride to extreme disgust.

The Booth is closed on Mondays.

When the weather’s good, the Etowah Indian Mounds State Historic Site three miles out of downtown makes for a worthwhile excursion. A small visitor’s center leads guests to the one-time communal area featuring a number of mounds, the tallest of which stands 63-feet. Stairs lead to the top.

This area, and for hundreds of miles in every direction, was once home to what have become known as the Mississippian people–mound builders. Between roughly 1000 and 1600 AD, hundreds of communities with residents numbering into the thousands were spread across the southeast along rivers–here, the Etowah River. Inhabitants engaged in trade networks covering the continent, developed distinct languages and cultural practices, hunted, gathered and planted corn, beans and squash.

The historic site is open daily.

Additionally noteworthy is the site’s substantial reintroduction of native grasses on the grounds which bring in a wonderful variety of butterflies and dragonflies.

Overnight

Seven miles east of Exit 290 on State Road 20 travelers will find another surprise: a winery. Big Door Vineyards grows vines on a small plot of land producing a boutique suite of varietals much better than you’d expect. The vineyard is open daily with a tasting room, tours and full food service, again, much better than you’d expect.

If you feel like calling it a day in Cartersville–good choice–stay at the Courtyard by Marriott one mile from Exit 290. Opened in spring of 2021, it has a small outdoor pool, a better than average fitness center, excellent free wi-fi and the rooms are reasonably priced and equipped with everything you’d expect from a major brand property.

What it also has that you don’t expect from a branded hotel is solar panels providing power. I’d never go so far as to consider the hotel “sustainable,” but with solar panels and inclusion of a small number of native plants in its landscaping, the Courtyard by Marriott in Cartersville is more environmentally friendly than 99% of the chain hotels along I-75.

Anyone looking for a dining experience more refined than pizza, grits and ice cream will be pleased by the Appalachian Grill back downtown. This part of Georgia is hilly, the southern end of the Appalachian Mountains. Fish, seafood, steaks and more are served Tuesday through Saturday less than four miles from the Courtyard. Grab a nightcap in the tasting room at Drowned Valley Brewing Company one block up and over from the restaurant.

Your vacation plans may not take you to Cartersville, but if they take you by Cartersville, take advantage of Cartersville.

Volunteering is a wonderful way to give back and get involved in your community. Fortunately for folks in the Cartersville area, there’s no shortage of organizations nearby that would love to have your help.

Here are five outstanding volunteer organizations in the Cartersville area.

1. Good Neighbor Homeless Shelter: Good Neighbor Homeless Shelter provides emergency shelter and transitional housing to those experiencing homelessness in Bartow County. Located in Cartersville, this shelter also offers case management and resources to help guests regain independence. Learn more at https://goodneighborshelter.org/.

2. Etowah Valley Humane Society: Etowah Valley Humane Society is a local pet shelter that is dedicated to animal welfare. They provide shelter, medical care and adoption services for homeless pets. Volunteers assist with tasks like animal care, cleaning and administrative work. Learn more at https://www.etowahvalleyhumane.org/.

3. Boys & Girls Clubs of Bartow County: The Boys & Girls Clubs of Bartow County offers a range of fulfilling volunteer opportunities for individuals eager to make a positive impact in their community. Volunteers can engage in activities such as mentoring, tutoring and leading recreational programs for local youth. Additionally, there are opportunities for specialized skills-based volunteering in areas like arts, technology or sports to support the growth of young members. Learn more at http://bgcofbc.org/.

4. The Etowah Valley Historical Society: The Etowah Valley Historical Society provides diverse and engaging volunteer opportunities for those interested in preserving and celebrating local history. Volunteers can participate in activities like museum docenting, assisting with archival work, organizing events and contributing to educational programs. This hands-on involvement allows individuals to play a vital role in preserving the rich cultural heritage of the Etowah Valley region. Learn more at https://evhsonline.org/.

5. Advocates for Children: Advocates for Children offers meaningful volunteer opportunities focused on supporting and advocating for children facing adversity. Volunteers can provide crucial advocacy and support for children navigating the legal system. Additionally, there are opportunities to assist with fundraising events, administrative tasks and community outreach efforts. Learn more at https://advochild.org/.

Do you know of another volunteer organization in Cartersville that should be recognized? Let us know about it in the comments!

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ATLANTA – July 18, 2023 – Governor Brian P. Kemp today announced that Yakult U.S.A., a Japanese probiotic beverage company, will build its second U.S. facility in Bartow County, creating more than 90 new jobs and investing an estimated $305 million in a new beverage production facility.

“With a reliable logistics network that connects Georgia companies with markets across the world, we continue to attract world-class companies like Yakult U.S.A.,” said Governor Brian Kemp. “Northwest Georgia has seen incredible growth since I took office, creating more than 11,000 jobs for hardworking Georgians across the region. We're proud to welcome Yakult as they further that success.”

Yakult U.S.A. was formed in 1990, and its first product manufacturing facility in the U.S. was completed in 2014.

“Yakult was created in Japan in 1935 and has more than 80 years of history. Today, the product is sold in 40 countries, including at major retailers in the United States,” said Yutaka Misumi, President and CEO of Yakult U.S.A. “The State of Georgia meets our business needs in terms of the climate for our production, the logistics for the product distribution, and the positive support from the state and the county. We believe that the new facility will be the main supplier for eastern and central U.S. markets. We are pleased that we will provide more opportunities for our customers in the U.S. with the opening of this new location.”

Yakult’s new production facility will be located at Highland 75 Corporate / Industrial Park, a Georgia Ready for Accelerated Development (GRAD) Certified site, about 45 minutes northwest of Atlanta. The company will be hiring for full-time managers and assistants, including staff positions in human resources, machine operation and maintenance, quality control, and warehouse roles. The facility is predicted to come online in 2026.

The new location is expected to be larger than Yakult’s only other U.S. operation in California. Yakult facilities provide free tours to the public which teach visitors about the benefits of probiotics and how to produce dairy products.

“I am pleased to welcome Yakult to our community,” said Cartersville Mayor Matt Santini. “They will be a great addition to our family of industries bringing quality jobs and investment, along with a business that is part of the evolving part of the food industry.”

“I’m excited to welcome Yakult to Highland 75, adding to the diversity of our industries as we continue to add quality jobs and investment,” said Bartow County Commissioner Steve Taylor. “The decision to locate at a GRAD site shows again that speed to market in a pro-business community is the way we do business in Cartersville and Bartow County.”

“This investment by Yakult U.S.A. in metro Atlanta and Bartow County will contribute to the growth and diversity of our region. We welcome the quality jobs they provide that will help nurture a healthy, thriving community,” said Metro Atlanta Chamber President and CEO Katie Kirkpatrick. “Japanese companies have long been important players in metro Atlanta, and we are grateful for the company’s commitment to our region. Congratulations to the team at Yakult U.S.A. and all of the organizations that supported this decision.”

Project Manager Mellissa Takeuchi represented the Georgia Department of Economic Development’s (GDEcD) Global Commerce team on these projects in partnership with the Bartow-Cartersville Joint Development Authority, Cartersville-Bartow County Department of Economic Development, Metro Atlanta Chamber, and Georgia Power.

“We could not choose a better opportunity to celebrate 50 years of continuous representation in Japan than by adding Yakult to our business community,” said GDEcD Commissioner Pat Wilson. “Georgia’s international offices act as a bridge connecting Georgia to strategic markets to facilitate trade, investment, and tourism opportunities. This news is another example of how the partnerships built by the Japan Office have contributed to job creation in Georgia’s manufacturing, food processing, and automotive industries across the state.”

Japan is one of Georgia's leading investor nations and top trading partners. There are more than 460 Japanese facilities operating in the state, employing over 49,000 Georgians. In 2022, trade between Georgia and Japan totaled more than $9.7 billion, placing Japan as state's 6th top market for total trade.

The State of Georgia has had continuous economic development representation in Japan since 1973 and has assisted hundreds of Japanese firms in locating to Georgia. Japan has maintained a consular presence in Georgia since 1974. Atlanta is also home to the Japan External Trade Organization (JETRO).

Georgia is a charter member of the Southeastern United States (SEUS) Japan Alliance, established in 1976, and hosted the 42nd Annual Joint Meeting of the Japan-U.S. Southeast Association and Southeast U.S./Japan Association in Savannah during Governor Kemp's first year in office.

About Yakult U.S.A.

Yakult U.S.A. Inc. is headquartered in Fountain Valley, California, and currently distributes Yakult, one of the world’s leading probiotic beverages, in the U.S. and Canadian markets. For more information, please visit www.yakultusa.com.

Contact

Garrison Douglas - Press Secretary Office of Governor Brian P. Kemp garrison.douglas@georgia.gov

Carter Chapman - Deputy Press Secretary Office of Governor Brian P. Kemp carter.chapman@georgia.gov

Jessica Atwell - Communications Manager Georgia Department of Economic Development jatwell@georgia.org