Body of whale to be reassembled

The Georgia Museum of Natural History in Athens, Ga. is hundreds of miles from the nearest salt water, but the skeleton of a whale is being reassembled there.

A team of students and workers at the museum is nearing the end of a project to reassemble the skeleton of a pygmy sperm whale from a boxed-up collection of loose bones. The skeleton will be displayed in the museum's Discovery Room on East Campus.

Liz McGhee is assistant museum curator. She says the pygmy sperm whale is one of about 110 whale and dolphin skeletons in the museum's collection.

The museum's goal is to collect examples of as much of Georgia's native wildlife as possible, including those inhabiting the waters off the Atlantic coast.

Georgia Sports Hall of Fame ceremony returns to Macon

After a one year absence, the Georgia Sports Hall of Fame induction ceremony is headed back to Macon.
Officials with the Georgia Sports Hall of Fame Authority voted to return the ceremony to Macon. This year the event was held in Atlanta and raised 86-thousand dollars.
However, people in Macon were determined to get the ceremony back to the museum's home town and held a radio telethon. Local sports talk show host, Bill Shanks says that event raised 40-thousand dollars in pledges including a gift from major league pitcher, Kevin Brown, who is a member of the Georgia Sports Hall of Fame.
"He was extremely impressed with how he was treated the year he was inducted, which was 2007, and just how special the event was here in Macon, and he pledged 10-thousand dollars which was a huge surprise and obviously very, very, welcome."
This year Georgia lawmakers voted to cut the museum's budget by 150-thousand dollars and said the facility must become self sufficient within the next five years.