Dalton man facing long recovery after bombing

The pastor of a lawyer badly burned in a bombing at a north Georgia law firm says the lawyer will remain in the hospital for at least a month.

Jim Phillips, of Calhoun, was taken to the Joseph M. Still Burn Center in Augusta after a bomb exploded Friday at the Dalton law firm where he worked.

Rev. Billy Beard, assistant pastor of the church attended by Phillips, said the 79-year-old lawyer is in good spirits. Phillips was still in critical condition Sunday evening.

Dalton police spokesman Bruce Frazier said Sunday investigators are working ot determine why 78-year-old Lloyd Cantrell of Varnell threw a bomb into the McCamy, Phillips Tuggle and Fordham law firm.

Cantrell died in the blast.

(The Associated Press)

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Dalton bombing: officials meet with residents

A Georgia Bureau of Investigation bomb technician works on a a bomb robot near the scene of a bomb blast in Dalton, Ga., Friday, Oct. 17, 2008. Four people were injured when a bomb went off in a law office. (AP Photo/John Bazemore)

The Dalton police chief and district attorney are meeting with the public to discuss the Friday bombing of a law firm in the small north Georgia town.

The Sunday meeting is taking place at Dalton High School.

Officials and members of the state's crisis response team are on hand. Organizers are encouraging law enforcement, emergency personnel, counselors and teachers to attend.

An F.B.I. agent searches property belonging to the suspect in the explosion at a small-town law firm in northern Georgia in Dalton, Ga., Friday, Oct. 17, 2008. The suspect died in the blast that also injured four people at the office, authorities said. (AP Photo/John Bazemore)

A bitter family dispute over property erupted Friday when 78-year-old Lloyd Cantrell threw an explosive into a law firm that represented his son, causing a blast that killed the father and injured four people in the office. One victim, attorney Jim Phillips, is in critical condition at an Augusta burn center.


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(The Associated Press)

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Gang bust in Richmond County

Authorities in eastern Georgia are in the middle of a sting targeting people they say are involved in gang activity. They're rounding up nearly 100 people on drugs and weapons charges.

Officials with the U.S. Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms say it's the second largest bust of its kind in U.S. history.

Richmond County sheriff's deputies and federal agents say the defendants are mostly gang members.

The undercover operation, called Augusta Ink, took place over 16 months at a tattoo parlor set up by police in the Richmond County town of Hephzibah. Dubbed the Colur Tyme tattoo parlor, police say they set it up in area where there was gang activity and where gang members lived.

"Violence, gun trafficking and drug dealing were the main ingredients of these gangs and their criminal lifestyle. They preyed on those with addictions and took advantage of the weak and defenseless for their own selfish gain," said Vanessa McLemore, special agent in charge of the ATF's Atlanta bureau.

In all, authorities confiscated about 400 weapons, 54 pounds of marijuana and nearly 1200 grams of cocaine.