Bullying lawsuit dismissed and other news from areas around Chattanooga

Friday, January 1, 1904

Bullying lawsuit dismissed

ATLANTA - The 11th Circuit Court of Appeals has upheld a lower court's decision to dismiss a lawsuit from a Chatsworth couple who said their son committed suicide because he was bullied.

The Dalton Daily Citizen reported the suit filed by David and Tina Long named Murray County Schools and the principal of Murray County High School as defendants. The lawsuit was dismissed because the Longs couldn't prove that school officials were responsible for the boy's death.

A three-judge panel said the Longs needed to show that school officials were deliberately indifferent to reports that their son, Tyler, was being physically and verbally bullied.

The 17-year-old had been diagnosed with a form of autism and hanged himself in October 2009.


Mowing planned along highways

CARTERSVILLE, Ga. - Georgia Department of Transportation crews will be mowing along state highways in area North Georgia counties this week.

Mowers will be at work from 7:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. today through Thursday. Motorists are asked to be on alert and use extra caution when workers are present.

• Chattooga County: State route 48 and SR 157

• Fannin County: SR 5 SR 60 and SR 60 Spur

• Murray County: SR 2

• Walker County: SR 193

• Whitfield County: SR 2 and SR 71


Need for cameras seen at prisons

MONTGOMERY, Ala. - Allegations of inmate abuse at Alabama's female prison and an inmate being beaten to death at a male prison have pointed to a lack of security cameras in state prisons.

Testimony in a federal trial in Montgomery has noted the lack of cameras to record what happened on the night inmate Rocrast Mack was beaten and stomped at Ventress Correctional Facility in Clayton. Allegations of inmate abuse at Tutwiler Prison for Women led to a federal report pointing out the need for cameras. The Legislature voted recently to fund cameras for Tutwiler.

But the chairman of the Legislature's prison oversight committee, Sen. Cam Ward, said more are needed throughout all state prisons for the protection of officers and inmates.


House to help sickle cell patients

MEMPHIS - A home that will serve as a transitional residence for men with sickle cell disease has opened in Memphis.

Trevor Thompson, president of the Sickle Cell Foundation of Tennessee, told The Commercial Appeal that the Carpenter House will be among the first such residences in the country.

Officials estimate 5,000 people in the Mid-South suffer from sickle cell. Thompson will educate men at the home on how to manage the stress and pain affiliated with the disease.