Major Ga. auto dealer to close branches on Friday: report

"Mr. Big Volume" Bill Heard dealership in Columbus. (Courtesy Mike Haskey/Ledger-Enquirer)

Columbus-based Bill Heard Enterprises Inc. will shut down its 13 auto dealerships on Friday, the Columbus Ledger-Enquirer reports.

Heard, once one of the largest Chevy dealers in the country, is also trying to unload its flagship operation in Columbus, according to the report.

The state of Georgia filed a $50 million deceptive advertising lawsuit against Bill Heard Enterprises Inc. in July of last year. The case was one of many complaints against the company, according to the Governors Office of Consumer Affairs.

Heard has dealerships throughout the southeast and Nevada, and closed a dealership in Arizona earlier this year.

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'Unbreakable': driver walks away from truck-train crash

It's rare, but it happens. No one was hurt when a truck hauling lumber collided with a moving freight train in south Georgia.

The Georgia State Patrol said 44-year-old Nathaniel Swan of Albany slammed into the railroad car at a crossing in rural Terrell County. It happened just before 10 a.m. Monday.

Troopers said the crash occurred when Swan swerved to avoid a pickup truck that had stopped at the railroad crossing.

Swan was walking around the wreckage when emergency crews arrived at the scene.

The rail car was hauling sulfur and had minor damage. But Swan's 18-wheeler was heavily damaged.

(The Associated Press)