Biomass Plants to Boost Rural Georgia

A power company that serves four million Georgians is investing in renewable energy by building two biomass plants in the state. For two rural communities in south Georgia, it's a boost to the

Oglethorpe Power plans to build biomass plants in Appling and Warren Counties. The company hopes to break ground by 2011 pending state permits. Officials estimate it will create 250 temporary construction jobs at each site.

Once built, each plant would be fueled by wood and employ about 40 people. It would have a ripple effect on the local economy, says Dale Atkins with the Appling County Development Authority. "It's going to have a tremendous impact on our forest industry. Timber land is 70 percent in the county... this will create 500 jobs in the forest industry."

These counties were chosen in part because they are wood baskets. Company officials say the plants should come on line by 2015, and they're considering a third site in Echols County..

UGA football game closes some northeast Georgia schools

Some county school officials in the Athens-area have found a way this year, to address widespread teacher absences that occurred last year. Schools are closed in Clarke County, as well as nearby Madison and Oglethorpe counties today. The reason? The Georgia-Florida football game tomorrow.

Last year, 137 teachers called in to say they wouldn’t be in for class, and schools could not find enough replacements. Administrators found in a study that almost twice as many teachers called in the day before the big game, then on an average school day.

Police: former fire chief stole from county

The former fire chief in Arnoldsville in northeast Georgia's Oglethorpe County faces theft charges. Georgia Bureau of Investigation agents took 33-year-old Joe Siegert into custody on Monday. Authorities allege last July, Siegert pocketed $50,000 in grant money that was awarded to the town's volunteer fire department.

Kidnapping suspect still on the loose

A second University of Georgia student says she was kidnapped and sexually assaulted in Oglethorpe County. Police say the woman accepted a ride from the suspect on September 8th, who was acting as a taxi driver. She later escaped. This is the second reported abduction from the weekend of the Georgia-South Carolina football game in Athens. The suspect is still on the loose.

Athens police investigating assaults

A second University of Georgia student has come forward and told police she was abducted and sexually assaulted by a man driving a white van. Athens-Clarke County police reports say the student was assaulted early on September 8th in Oglethorpe County, the day of the UGA football game vs. South Carolina. A first woman who filed a report said she was also in town for the game, and was kidnapped the day after. She told authorities she escaped from a location in Oglethorpe County, but was not assaulted. Both women thought they were being offered rides by a courtesy car. The suspect is described as being 20 to 30 years old, between 150 and 190 pounds.