Macon County Register of Deeds Todd Raby warns citizens to beware of a “Deed Processing Notice” being sent to local homeowners from a company with a Washington, DC address called Secured Document.

“We are appalled that a company would try to collect such exorbitant fees from our citizens,” says Raby. “The notice looks official and contains public information about the property. In the instances seen across the state, the notice stated that 11/30/2012 is the Compliance Response Date and lists a ‘Regulatory Document Number.’ It instructed the homeowner to respond by 11/23/2012 and if a reply was received after the requested date, an additional fee of $35 would be required before processing. For this fee, the company would provide to the homeowner a copy of ‘their current Grant Deed’ and ‘Property Profile.’ We have yet to see any instance of this in Macon County; however we want to see the public being on alert before the problem presents itself in our area.

Authorities in Macon County are investigating an incident of simple physical assault which occurred on Monday.

At approximately 5 p.m., Macon County Sheriff’s Officer Blake Buchanan responded to the solid waste facility in Otto in reference to an assault reported by Pamela Keyser. According to reports, Keyser, 63, was conscious and breathing, but not alert.

Upon arrival, Buchanan found Keyser hiding under the counter of the center’s office where she was reportedly “too afraid to come out.” Keyser was holding a pair of scissors and a can of pepper spray, fearful that someone was after her.

After years of court rulings and investigations, former Moody Funeral Home employee Reginald Moody Jr., 49, was arrested on Dec. 18.

Detective Daniel Peoples has been leading the investigation and on Dec. 17, five arrest warrants were issued after evidence revealed that Moody had taken money from several victims under the false pretense that he would provide a service, when in fact he did not.

The Moody family had operated the Sylva funeral home since 1922, when it was opened by P.E. Moody, great-grandfather of Reginald Moody Jr.

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In the late afternoon hours, just before school let out at 3:05 p.m. at Macon Middle School, school faculty found “writing on a wall in a bathroom at the school stating that there would be a shooting at a given date and time” said Sheriff Robert Holland on Tuesday night.

According to Interim Superintendent Dr. Jim Duncan, MMS faculty immediately contacted the School Resource Officer, who, in turn, contacted Principal Scott Maslin and a Macon County Sheriff’s Office investigations unit. “It is unfortunate that kids do things like this that are terribly inappropriate and thoughtless,” said Duncan on Wednesday.

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At 3:30 the bell rang, and former pro wrestler Bobby Allen addressed more than 40 people in the stands. “Let us have a moment of silence in honor of those we lost in [Newtown] Connecticut,” said Allen. It was a clamorous Sunday afternoon at the community building in Franklin.

The turnout was all part of Save Our American Youth Club’s Pro-Wrestling Clash Before Christmas Spectacular Anti-Bullying Event — designed to raise awareness of the plight of bullying many youth face today.

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Macon County commissioners have been working for the last couple of years to preserve McCoy Bridge located on Rose Creek Road. When the North Carolina Department of Transportation (NCDOT) informed Macon County that the iron truss bridge would be torn down and a new one built in its place, members of the community stepped up to plead with commissioners to save the bridge. As one of the last remaining true iron truss bridges in the state, McCoy Bridge is more than a steel structure, it is a piece of history.

McCoy Bridge (bridge 172 on SR 1456), crosses the Little Tennessee River, connecting Hwy. 28 with the northern end of Rose Creek Road in the Oak Grove Community...

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Both ends of Siler Road are now open and construction is virtually complete, said Mitchell Bishop, engineer for the project. Late last week, the portion of Siler Road featuring the new bridge was opened up having to be temporarily closed to allow final upgrades.

“When the contractor built the bridge there was a slight differentiation in the elevation of the pavement which caused a bump in the road,” explained Bishop. “In my opinion the bump caused the road not to be up to standard so we closed it to fix it and to allow a smoother ride on the road.”

A collision involving several vehicles occured at a red light on the Highlands Road Wednesday afternoon.

At least three vehicles were involved and victims were transported to Angel Medical Center.

Details were sketchy at presstime and the investigation into the cause of the accident is ongoing.

A Franklin man was recently arrested and faces numerous charges following an incident of road rage.

Michael James Trainor, 66, of Trimont Lake Road, was arrested at approximately 9 p.m. on December 5. He is facing two counts of assault by pointing a gun, two counts of assault with a deadly weapon and two counts of aggressive driving all misdemeanor offenses.

According to reports, the complainant, off-duty Macon County Sheriff's Officer Stephanie Robbins was heading northward on Green Street. She reportedly passed a man in a maroon Toyota Camry who appeared to be driving “erratically.” It appeared to the driver at this point that the man, who would later turnout to be Trainor, was upset with her because she had passed him.

An incident of domestic violence in Clayton, Ga., on Sunday, ended with a Franklin man driving himself all the way to Angel Medical Center with a gunshot wound. Investigators with both the Clayton Police Department and the Georgia Bureau of Investigation are still trying to put the pieces together.

At approximately 9 p.m., Clayton Police officers reportedly responded to a complaint of domestic violence on Duncan Street, behind the post office in downtown Clayton. Upon arrival, officers Riley Owens and Shawn Wilson detected a strong odor of alcohol on Marty Thompson, Nikki Wykle, Brandon Coalley and Lesley Anglin, all of Franklin, whom were reportedly “shaken” by what had just transpired minutes before. According to reports, officers noted that they appeared to be inebriated.