We're No. 2!

The Felix family didn't win the national Patch house-decorating contest, but Dallas-Hiram Patch users made it exciting.

So close, and yet so far. We begged and pleaded for your votes for the Felix house in Patch's Deck the House contest, and the results were fantastic. With a possible $100,000 donation for the Paulding County School District on the line, the fabulous Felix house received 8,320 votes from Dallas-Hiram Patch users and others who wanted to see that money come to Georgia. Unfortunately, a house in Davis, CA, entered by the Powell family received 12,156 votes, so the Davis Joint Unified School District will receive the donation. But your support for the Felix family and the Paulding schools deserves a standing, light-flashing ovation. Out of more than 860 Patches in the country, only 24 had a house recognized as a finalist. Out of those 24 …

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PatchCast: Another Syringe; Sunday Sales; New Laws; Legislative Agenda

Here's your roundup of top stories from Patches in Cobb, Cherokee, Douglas, Bartow and Paulding counties for Jan. 2.

For more on these stories, click on the following links:

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PatchCast: Murder Arrest; Fake Cop; Jorelys Probe; Deck the House Winner

Here's your roundup of top stories from Cobb, Cherokee, Paulding, Douglas and Bartow counties for Dec. 30.

For more on these stories, click on the following links:

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PatchCast: Home Invasion Arrests; One Kmart Axed; Superschool Dreams

Here's your roundup of top stories from Cobb, Cherokee, Bartow, Paulding and Douglas counties for Dec. 29.

For more on these stories, click the links below:

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Updated: Girls Basketball Scoreboard

Here's your Dec. 28 roundup of high school girls basketball action for Bartow, Douglas, Paulding, Cherokee and Cobb counties.

It's all about holiday tournaments today, so much so that we're breaking the boys and girls scoreboards into separate files. Check out the scores and schedules for the boys here. If you have photos or videos from any of these matchups, we'd love to see them; just click on "Submit Photo & Video." You can post scores in the comments below, email them to GaPatchSports@gmail.com or send them to us on Twitter (@GaPatchSports). Come back Friday for the most complete results we can gather from Thursday's action. We're pulling in scores from Georgia Prep Country, Score Atlanta, Twitter, Facebook, school websites and the other media outlets cited below.  

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PatchCast: Trooper Mourned; Animal Rescue at Risk; Holiday Highlights

Here's your roundup of some of the top stories from Cobb, Cherokee, Bartow, Paulding and Douglas counties for Dec. 27.

For more on these stories, click on the following links:

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Selling a More Walton Mountain Christmas

We're a couple of thousand years from Christmas being a celebration of the birth of a Jewish boy in Bethlehem, but maybe we can get back to a simpler, less violent holiday commercialism.

When Will Santa Reach Paulding?

With the help of NORAD, we're tracking the jolly old elf's progress toward Dallas and Hiram.

Check out this link to see what Santa Claus sees as he makes his round-the-world trip on Christmas Eve, thanks to the Air Force's North American Aerospace Defense Command, known everywhere as NORAD. You also can follow Santa's progress on the interactive map above. According to NORAD, Santa should get to Paulding County as early as 9 p.m. To get the latest updates on his progress toward Dallas and Hiram, call 877-HINORAD, and a friendly volunteer, usually from the armed forces, will help you out. (If you get a soldier, sailor, airman or Marine, be sure to offer thanks for serving our country so you can stay on Santa's good-child list.) Last year, NORAD handled more than 80,000 calls about Santa's progress, The Washington Post reports. …

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