Chattanooga Update - December 30, 2013

State investigators are remaining tight-lipped about human remains found after a restaurant fire in East Ridge. The fire happened early Christmas morning at the former Hungry Fisherman and Tripp's Seafood restaurant. Authorities won't say whether the body found was male, female, adult or child. There's also been no word on whether the remains belong to someone killed in the fire or someone who died before the blaze began. Officials are also still investigating how the fire started. It was at least one of a handful on Christmas Day in the Chattanooga area. In Tunnel Hill, a wheelchair-bound man died when he couldn't escape a fire in his home. _____ All the rain that fell this year might make you think Chattanooga was morphing into Seattle. Except that Chattanooga got twice as much rain in 2013. The Scenic City has seen 67 inches of rainfall this year - while Seattle had just under 33 inches. Rainfall here was almost 16 inches above normal, and came close to the record of 73 inches in 1994. But it's said every cloud has a silver lining - and this year the area benefited from slightly lower electric bills. Plus, tornadoes weren't as common or as strong in 2013. Southeast Tennessee didn't have a single one. _____ Chattanooga has three of the top ten crash areas on Interstate 24. I-24 spans a hundred and 80 miles in Tennessee - and TDOT says three of the highway's most dangerous spots are in downtown Chattanooga. The danger zones are places where your chance of being in a crash is more than twice the state average. So where are they? Well, two are just west of Missionary Ridge, and the third is the concrete canyon between Belvoir Avenue and South Moore Road. Two more spots are in Kimball and Monteagle. The rest are in Davidson and Robertson counties. TDOT says the new study will help it determine what fixes it needs to make next. ______ The Chattanooga Housing Authority is setting limits on heating and cooling at public housing. The authority is installing regulators that will prevent residents from setting thermostats higher than 75 degrees in the winter and lower than 70 in the summer. It's a program expected to save close to $100,000 dollars a year. But the vice president of one residents council says the controls could lead to greater costs and bigger problems. Joe Clark says elderly residents blast the heat to compensate for cold drafts from the hallway or windows. If they can't use the thermostat, then they might turn to the stove or electric heaters - both of which could lead to fires. He says officials should instead be focused on closing gaps and putting insulation around windows. Still, CHA officials insist the new controls are necessary - to be the best steward of public money. _____ The McCallie School has found an uncommon way to eliminate the crime surrounding it. The Chattanooga boarding school has quietly purchased the vast majority of the neighborhood around it. Since 1979, the school has bought about 220 properties near Anderson Avenue, Main Street and Dodds Avenue. Entire blocks have been consolidated, bulldozed and turned into practice fields. And many of the homes that remain are inhabited by McCallie staff. Neighbors and school officials say the strategy has worked -crime is almost nonexistent on McCallie's south side. The school says it has a simple formula - it pays the assessed value of the property plus closing costs- nothing more, nothing less. And neighbors haven't complained. One told us he believes its now safer there - than it is in North Chattanooga. _____ Heritage High School in Catoosa County has named E.K. Slaughter as its new head football coach. Slaughter was the head coach at Red Bank High School for the past two seasons. He had also been a head coach at Cleveland and Soddy-Daisy. He'll take over for Tim James, who had been the only coach in the program's six-year history. _____ Finally, the sign on the highway says Rock Springs, but residents in the small community in Walker County, Georgia will tell you it's just Rock Spring - no plural, no second s. The post office there says it receives letters and packages addressed to both Rock Spring and Rock Springs. And signs outside businesses are split. The manager of Rock Springs Tire says the sign on his building has been that way for as long as he can remember. But Rock Spring Paint & Body sticks with the singular form. Still, the Baptist church is ecumenical on the issue. A sign hanging along US 27 reads Rock Springs Baptist Church while the sign at the building drops the s. Most people may not care, but then again, most people don't live in Rock Spring - or - Rock Springs.