An 18-year-old Rossville woman lost her life in a fatal, single-car crash near the East Ridge Tunnel early Sunday morning. The victim has been has been identified as 18-year-old Karen Ortiz. Chattanooga Police, Chattanooga Fire, and Hamilton County EMS responded to 2500 Westside Drive just after 3 a.m. A silver Honda Civic had gone down the embankment and overturned. Three people were in the car; Ortiz was in the back seat and was pronounced dead at the scene. The driver and front-seat passenger were able to climb out of the overturned vehicle and call for help. The driver wasn’t hurt and the front-seat passenger was treated for minor injuries. CPD says the driver, who is a juvenile, told investigators he was not familiar with the roundabout at the end of the tunnel. No charges have been filed in the incident and police say that drugs and alcohol were not a factor in the accident.
A serious motor vehicle accident in Dade County caused a temporary shutdown, northbound on Hwy. 301, near the 3600 block, while emergency personnel attended to injuries on the scene. Trenton-Dade County Fire released a statement, asking people to avoid the area and cooperate with police and medics as they work at the scene of the accident. Davis and New Home Fire Departments were also called in to provide assistance. No details have been released about the accident as of yet.
The thick Southern drawl is fading with each generation, according to a new UGA/Georgia Tech study. Linguistics researchers spent hundreds of hours analyzing recordings from the late 19th and 20th centuries to hone in on how speakers pronounced vowels. A team from Georgia Tech analyzed transcripts using software to estimate where a speaker placed their tongue in their mouth while talking, giving researchers a sense of changes in speech over time. Millions of people moved to Georgia and metro Atlanta, especially in the decades following WWII brought regional speech patterns and accents with them, researchers say. Every generation of Georgians sounds different, UGA linguistics professor Margaret Renwick says. “As regional accents transform and adapt, the traditional Southern drawl undergoes a remarkable change, with the elongated vowel sound gradually yielding to new patterns favored by younger generations,” according to the team.
The LaFayette Ramblers are back in action. They travel to Ringgold Friday night. If you can’t make it to the game you can hear it on Georgia 93-7. You can also stream it from anywhere at DiscoverWalker.com
