Peace Corps ID's Body of Ga. Worker in Africa

Catherine "Kate" Puzey (Courtesy Fox 5 News).

The Peace Corps has identified a worker who was found dead in the west African nation of Benin this week as 24-year-old Catherine "Kate" Puzey of Cumming, Ga.


Puzey reads a book to her neighbors' children in November 2008. (Photo: Emilie Jacobs-Finnegan/AJC)

Peace Corps director Jody Olsen says Puzey was an exemplary volunteer for the agency in Benin where she taught English at a rural school in the village of Badjoude about six hours from the
capital of Cotonou.

Puzey's body was discovered early Thursday outside her home and officials suspect she may have been murdered.

Neither the State Department nor the Peace Corps has commented on the cause of death, which will be determined by U.S. and local investigators.

Puzey had been working for the Peace Corps in Benin since July 2007.

In Georgia, her parents, Harry and Lois Puzey of Cumming, were devastated to learn of her death. Lois Puzey says her daughter was a staunch defender of the "underdog."

Kate Puzey was born in Germany where her parents were U.S. Department of Defense teachers. When she was 7, they moved to Okinawa where Kate graduated high school at the top of her class.

She graduated from William and Mary College in Virginia.

Lois Puzey said her daughter's body will be accompanied back to Georgia in a few days by a Peace Corps official. Services are set for 11 a.m. Saturday at Alpharetta's Sanctuary at Birmingham United Methodist Church.

Kate wrote about her experiences around the world on her blog, found at http://beinginbenin.blogspot.com.

State Seizes Dogs From North Georgia Kennel

State Agriculture officials have taken-in more than 130 dogs from a north Georgia kennel, citing unsanitary and unsafe conditions. The Atlanta Humane Society has accepted the dogs, and officials say most appear healthy and well-fed. The investigation of Richard’s Kennel near Cumming began after a customer complaint of a dog that had mange. Testing at the site however, revealed none of the kennel’s animals had the skin disease.

State committee nixes toll road proposal

A state committee has voted against a proposal to build optional toll lanes along Georgia 400 up to Cumming and Highway-20. The plan would have funded the project privately through a consortium of engineering and road-building companies called Crossroads 400. Committee members say they're not against that arrangement, but say the proposal itself is flawed. The plan did fit with the state's "public-private" law allowing private companies to invest in public toll roads. DOT officials say they intend to start from scratch with new toll road proposals.

Evans' replacement on DOT board to be selected

State lawmakers out of the 9th Congressional District will get together this afternoon at the State Capitol to select a new member for the Department of Transportation board. The person elected will replace Mike Evans of Cumming, who resigned his post as chairman of the DOT when he revealed his personal relationship with DOT commissioner Gena Abraham. The 9th congressional district includes much of northeast Georgia.

Cumming starts project to pull water from Lanier

A city in north Georgia has begun an emergency project to dig into Lake Lanier to ensure the city doesn’t go dry.

Cumming is spending a million dollars from its emergency contingency fund to burrow into Lanier's floor. The process begins next week, and will involve a barge digging to a level of 1,030 feet above sea level. That would allow new piping to draw water from 10-feet deeper than the lake's current bottom.

Jonathon Heard is Cumming’s director of utilities. He says this project is a temporary fix for the city if the drought continues.

"The dredging project will provide a reliable source of water for the city until the lake reaches the level 1035’, and the (Army)Corps(of Engineers)has predicted the lake will go down to 1035’ either by the end of the year or beginning of next year".

At that point, the city would utilize another barge to go out into the shrinking basin and pump water back to its piping infrastructure.

Lanier hit a 50-year historic low earlier this week.