U.S. Agriculture department won't appeal sludge case in Augusta

A significant court case questioning the use of sludge as fertilizer on farms will stand, without protest from federal officials.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture will not appeal a ruling that it compensate a farmer after he used toxic sludge on his farm near Augusta.

Andy McElmurray had sued after finding the sludge contained arsenic, lead and other heavy metals.

The sludge, from the Augusta wastewater treatment plant, had killed his cattle herd and poisoned his farmland.

The ruling had questioned a program endorsed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture for 30 years: Convert sewage sludge into fertilizer.

Farmers use it for free and federal officials say it's a cheap way to clean up water pollution.

And research by the University of Georgia had indicated that the sludge was free of health risks.

But in a separate lawsuit, McElmurray and David Lewis, a former researcher for the EPA, says UGA researchers used false data to make that claim in a study funded with grant money from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

"The evidence shows that the EPA basically colluded and colludes with educational institutions to create bad science," says Edwin Hallman, McElmurray and Lewis's attorney.

Hallman alleges that federal grant money was the motive.

An attorney representing UGA declined to comment on that case.

As for the case against the U.S. Agriculture Department, the next step is for the court to determine how much compensation McElmurray will get, says Hallman. The agriculture department had until April 25 to appeal the case.

The city of Augusta last year settled a lawsuit over McElmurray's cows for $1.5 million last year.

Judge orders Agriculture Department to enforce law

Today a superior court judge ordered the State Department of Agriculture to follow Georgia law. The Fulton County judge issued an injunction to require the Agriculture department to prevent animal shelters from using gas chambers. The judge did allow exemptions for counties with fewer than 25,000 people, and cases where animals pose extreme danger. Plaintiffs argued that the Agriculture Department has never enforced the gas chamber ban since it passed in 1990. Commissioner of Agriculture Tommy Irvin testified that he believes the law is unclear and that local governments should be able to decide their policies.

Georgia agriculture commissioner says gas pump inspectors are short staffed

The state budget crunch is hitting those folks who inspect the gas pumps across Georgia.

Complaints against gas stations who are allegedly shorting customers typically go up along with the gas prices.

There were more than 1100 complaints last year.

And that's consuming the time of the Georgia Department of Agriculture's inspectors, who officials say are already short-staffed.

That's taking time away from routine inspections, which can prevent or identify problems with the pumps, says Tommy Irvin, the state agriculture commissioner. And problems with the pumps can result in discrepancies between the price and the amount of gas coming from the pump.

"We're understaffed to the point that I don't think we're able to give the people what they want," says Irvin. "What we're faced with when you give 80 percent time allotted for your employees for checking complaints, you have 20 percent of your time left to do routine inspections. That's not as frequent as it needs to be."

But there's a hiring freeze for state employees. And Governor Sonny Perdue and Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle are calling for possible budget cuts this year ranging from 3.5 percent to ten percent.

The agriculture department has a hotline for people suspecting a problem with a gas pump. That number is (404) 656-3605.

Food plant accuses inspector of food contamination

Employees of a beef processing plant in Augusta are accusing a federal inspector of allegedly contaminating some of the plant's food products.

Gary Casella is an inspector with the U.S. Department of Agriculture and has been assigned to the FPL plant.

Attorneys for the the plant say he allegedly tainted food products with fecal material.

They also accuse Casella of unfairly and harshly scrutinizing employees there.

FPL says Casella's alleged actions have come in retaliation to a sexual harassment grievance filed against him by a female employee at FPL.

The company has filed a federal lawsuit against him and the USDA.

Casella was set to return to the plant last week, but officials with the U.S. Agriculture Department have agreed to delay his return until FPL attorneys can appeal that decision. FPL attorneys, meanwhile, have filed a motion for a temporary restraining order against him.

Officials at the U.S. Agriculture Department have declined to comment on the case. An attorney currently representing the Agriculture Department did not return a phone call regarding the case. The department has not yet responded to the federal lawsuit, which was filed earlier this month.

Augusta was the center of an unrelated food scare this summer.

Castleberry's, another food plant in Augusta, had a massive recall of canned food products and was shut down for several weeks after botulism was found in its canned chili sauce.

Deadly bacteria found in smoked salmon dip

State agriculture officials have discovered dangerous bacteria in a package of salmon dip sold by a major grocery chain. A multi-state recall is underway.

A routine sampling by officials found contamination in a 7.5 ounce package of Smoked Salmon Dip, sold by a Kroger-store in Loganville. Kroger officials are recalling salmon dip marked "Use By 04 Nov. 2007A LN3". Officials are asking consumers who have salmon dip with that marking, to return it to the store.

The package of dip showed a strain of listeria, which can cause serious and potentially fatal infections in infants, the elderly and those with weakened immune systems. The product came from a Knoxville,Tennessee plant.

State Agriculture Commissioner Tommy Irvin says his department has stepped-up its routine sampling of food products:

"I think you should feel safer than ever, because of the fact we’re doing more testing. It’s very obvious that if you do more testing if there’s anything out there you’re going to find more. And that’s the results that we’ve achieved".

State Agriculture officials say of the 71 recalls in the state this year, seven are related to listeria.

Georgia agriculture officials ask for federal help

Six weeks ago federal officials named tomatoes as the likely culprit in a salmonella outbreak. Now the investigation is shifting to peppers. More than 1,000 people have become sick.
In the wake of the outbreak sales plummeted. Now the Georgia Department of Agriculture is asking for help for Georgia's tomato farmers.
Agriculture Commissioner, Tommy Irvin is asking Georgia's congressional delegation to get disaster assistance for the state's tomato farmers. He says the Food and Drug Administration is partly to blame for singling out tomatoes as the reason for the outbreak.
Georgia tomatoes were eliminated early on. However, consumers quit buying and farmers lost millions during the middle of their spring harvest. Charles Hall is with the Georgia Fruit and Vegetable Growers Association. He says it really had an impact. Sales dropped by 70-percent.

"The FDA has a job to do. Obviously their announcements have certainly had an effect on consumer confidence in the tomato crop."

Georgia is right behind Florida and California when it comes to tomato production. Farmers here could lose up to 8-million dollars.

Georgia's Agruculture Economy Overview

Agriculture experts from the University of Georgia met with local farmers to discuss the industries outlook for the upcoming year. Crops across the board, such as corn, pecans, soybeans, and peanuts are selling at an all time high. But, the drought has wiped out Georgia’s livestock feed, and fuels costs have tripled. John McKissick, an agriculture economist from the University of Georgia said livestock farmers aren’t as lucky as crop farmers.

“Beef cattle producers are faced with rising costs from the energy side, yet their selling prices aren’t going up, in fact their's is going down some,” said McKissick.

According to the University of Georgia's Department of Agriculture, Georgian agribusiness brought in $2.5 billion dollars last year, even with the slump in landscaping and livestock profits.

Insecticide killed cattle in south Georgia--GBI on case

35 cattle that died on a Clinch County farm recently ingested an insecticide. Test results back from the state Department of Agriculture show three of the dead cattle had aldicarb in their system. Aldicarb is sold under the brand name Temik. It is an insecticide used on numerous crops.

From Georgia Commissioner of Agriculture Tommy Irvin:

"We tested feed from the trough where the cattle had eaten and found aldicarb. We also did a composite sample of ten unopened bags from the same lot of feed. This sample did not contain any traces of the insecticide," said Commissioner Irvin.

"This appears to be an isolated incident. The GBI (Georgia Bureau of Investigation) will investigate to determine if there was any criminal wrongdoing or if this was just a horrible accident. There was never any danger that any of the poisoned cows would get into the food chain," said Irvin.

The GBI was called into the case within the first 48 hours. Agent in charge of the investigation Jamie Karnes says they're looking at whether there was criminal intent in the poisoning.

"At this stage we're still going through information and identifying people that we might need to talk with for various reasons to get a better idea for what may have occurred, and for what reason".

The cows were buried accordance to state regulations with oversight by the state Department of Agriculture.

Federal ruling questions sludge

A federal judge has ordered the U.S. Department of Agriculture to compensate a farmer in eastern Georgia after sludge poisoned his farm.

The ruling questions a program endorsed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture to compensate a farmer in eastern Georgia after sludge poisoned his farm, according to the Associated Press.

The ruling questions a program endorsed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture for 30 years: Convert sewage sludge into fertilizer.

Farmers use it for free, and federal officials say it's a cheap way to clean waterways of pollution.

Andy McElmurray used sludge from the Augusta wastewater treatment plant on his farm for years.

But it was contaminated with PCB's, arsenic and heavy metals.

The sludge killed McElmurray's cattle herd and poisoned mre than 1700 acres he planned to use for crops, according to AP.

Federal data maintains that the sludge does not pose a health risk.

But the federal court disagrees, accusing federal authorities of trying to quash scientific dissent against that data.

The city of Augusta last year settled a lawsuit over McElmurray's cows for $1.5 million last year.

Salmonella Outbreak Highlights Inspector Shortage

Tight state budgets have led some of the biggest farm states to leave dozens of food inspection jobs vacant at a time when hundreds have been sickened by a nationwide salmonella outbreak tied to a filthy peanut processing plant.

Georgia, the site of the plant, has about 60 inspectors for some 16,000 sites, while budget cuts have forced the state agriculture department to keep 15 inspector positions vacant.

California, Texas and Florida are among other states facing the same problems while food experts say the federal government relies increasingly on states to monitor the nation's food supply.

"You can only shift the pawns on the table so many times before the game catches up with you," Georgia deputy Agriculture Commissioner Oscar Garrison told legislators earlier this month while asking for more money to hire inspectors.

The salmonella outbreak linked to Peanut Corp. of America has sickened hundreds, may have caused nine deaths and prompted one of the largest food recalls in the nation's history. Federal investigators have launched a criminal investigation, and Virginia-based Peanut Corp. faces mounting lawsuits and a bankruptcy filing.

Food safety experts warn each loss of an inspector increases the possibility that food problems could elude detection.

In the Georgia salmonella case, a state inspector found only minor problems when she probed the Blakely plant in October for less than two hours; less than three months later federal agents found roaches, mold, a leaking roof and other problems.

Almost every state legislature in the country is staring down budget deficits and scraping funds for schools, roads and other public safety areas, like prisons and police. Food safety is a tough sell.

"It's getting pretty dire out there," said Doug Farquhar, an analyst with the National Conference of State Legislatures. "With the salmonella scare, you'd think that now would be the time they'd say we need to invest in food safety. But the opposite is going on."

The belt-tightening comes at an inconvenient time.

The federal government increasingly relies on food safety inspections performed by states, where budgets for inspections have remained stagnant and overburdened officials have less training than their federal counterparts.

For officials in Georgia, the deadly outbreak has led to some soul searching.

Legislators have floated proposals to deputize county health officials so they can quickly pursue food safety tips.

And Georgia Agriculture Commissioner Tommy Irvin said his department will focus more on food safety inspections and less on other duties, such as monitoring out-of-date foods. Leading lawmakers say they hope to boost inspections, despite budget cuts.

Inspectors are "referees of the food game," said Joseph Hotchkiss, a food science professor at Cornell University who once worked for the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

"There's no way for us as individuals to know much about our food — how it's manufactured and prepared — without these people we hire. And with fewer of those people, that could in general result in an increased risk."

(AP)

Click here for more GPB News coverage about the effects of the salmonella outbreak in Georgia.

Obama post for Rep. Bishop?

There are reports the incoming Obama Administration is eyeing Georgia Representative Sanford Bishop to be the next Agriculture Secretary. The eight-term Democrat from Albany told the Associated Press he is honored his name has surfaced, but he has not been contacted about the job. Bishop is among the most conservative African-Americans in Congress and has long been involved in agriculture issues in Congress. He is a go-to lawmaker for Southern farmers because of his position as a senior member of the spending committee for agriculture. Bishop says he would be ready to serve.

(Associated Press)

Horse abuse and neglect up in Georgia

The Georgia Department of Agriculture says more horses are being abused. Officials say the drought has a lot to do with the problem. The lack of rain led to hay shortages, and the closing of slaughterhouses. A downturn in the economy also contributed to the problem.

In February inspectors declared an emergency on a Pike County farm where they impounded 99 horses and other animals. Only one of those horses died. The Department of Agriculture can bring civil charges against people who do not take care of their animals. Criminal actions must be pursued by local law enforcement.

The Department of Agriculture says they receive no funds to help care for the animals they are required to impound. The agency does receive some help from the Georgia Equine Rescue league who also own and operate their own foster and adoption programs.

Local Officials to Inspect Food Plants

In response to the recent salmonella outbreak in peanut products, the Georgia House passed a bill allowing the State Agriculture Commission to deputize county and city health workers to inspect food processing plants.


One of the big complaints from the state Agriculture commission is that they may have missed the signs because they don't have enough food safety inspectors. HB 381 would allow the state to commission local health inspectors to poke around the approximately five hundred fifty food manufacturers. Republican Representative Terry England of Auburn says these local health workers would only visit facilities.

"They’re not allowed at any point to shut an operation down, but if they find something suspicious they are to notify the department of agriculture."

The bill does not lay out how these local workers will be trained to spot defects at manufacturing plants. These local inspectors would also need to know if a food processor is violating federal rules and report those concerns to federal authorities. The salmonella outbreak is blamed for nine deaths.

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State Ag Officials Look To Revoke Pest Company License

State agriculture officials are working to pull the license of a pest control company that treats more than 100 healthcare facilities in Georgia.

At issue is how the company, Biotech Systems of Georgia, applied the pesticide Termindor, says Jim Harron with the State Agriculture department:

"It's not a question of training in the case of Termidor, this material should not have been used indoors--period."

It's only an outdoor product, but Harron’s says his office found it in patient rooms and food areas in all eight of the first nursing homes tested in May.

Since then, officials found discrepancies in records the company sent to the state for review.

Now, with the help of state health care officials, Harron says work is being done to examine other nursing homes handled by Biotech:

"We'll work with the nursing homes in getting them proper cleanup procedures, and getting them advice on how they can clean them up."

Harron says the Georgia Agriculture Department is working towill revoke the company’s license.

Perdue: Peanut Company Broke a 'Sacred Trust'

Governor Sonny Perdue on Wednesday said a “sacred trust,” was broken between the Peanut Corporation of America and consumers over the spreading salmonella debacle at the company’s Blakely plant.

Perdue and state agriculture officials are circling the peanut wagons and throwing their full backing behind Georgia’s farmers, food producers and distributors.


Governor Sonny Perdue makes a point to the several hundred industry leaders, farmers and legislators at the Georgia Agribusiness Council State Legislative Breakfast, held in downtown Atlanta on Feb. 4, 2009. (Photo: Dave Bender)

At a Georgia Agribusiness Council State Legislative Breakfast, Perdue told several hundred industry leaders:

“When people violate that sacred chain of food safety control, they will be prosecuted and held accountable; it is too important not to…(applause)”

Perdue faced a room packed with a veritable roll-call of food and ag industry officials.

Many worry that the an spreading peanut recall could prompt an already uncertain public could shun other preach-state-grown-and-produced foods.

Agriculture Commissioner Tommy Irvin, says his department will reorganize to face the daunting task of better monitoring farms and factories across the state:

”Our inspectors have 16,000 facilities they have to inspect. You have to do that today with 60 employees – it’s impossible to give the necessary coverage that, apparently, we need.”

Irvin says his office will ask the legislature to establish a division to deal exclusively with checking processed foods.

The General Assembly is already mulling a mandatory food-testing bill.

Perdue, however, says no amount of externally-enforced inspections can replace a responsible food industry:

“In the food chain, there is a voluntary compliance: we share a sacred trust of safety among our producers, processors, preparers and servers of food – and you cannot be everywhere at one time.”

House Speaker Bill Richardson holds up a bag of Georgia peanuts, during his comments at the Georgia Agribusiness Council State Legislative Breakfast, held in downtown Atlanta on Feb. 4, 2009. (Photo: Dave Bender)

To make a point of that trust, House Speaker Glenn Richardson held up a small bag of Georgia peanuts as he stood behind the podium:

"One of the fringe benefits of being at the capitol, is [that] the Department of Agriculture brings these Georgia peanuts by (opens foil packet); they leave them at our office. And everybody that comes to our office loves these, and you know what?… (eants a few peanuts) I love Georgia peanuts. (applause).”

And those Georgia peanuts make up almost half of all peanuts used in the United States.

Click here for more GPB News coverage of the salmonella-tainted peanut products.

Video: FDA: Plant Knowingly Sold Salmonella-laced Food

From school lunches to nutrition bars and ice cream, the nationwide salmonella outbreak has reached deep into the American food supply — even though many people had never heard of the small company at the center of the investigation until a few weeks ago.

The food manufacturer, Peanut Corp. of America, has just a few plants scattered across the South, but it may be responsible for one of the nation's largest food recalls in history.

Federal investigators on Friday said the Lynchburg, Va.-based company knowingly shipped salmonella-laced products from its Blakely, Ga., plant after tests showed the products were contaminated. Federal law forbids producing or shipping foods under conditions that could make it harmful to consumers' health.

So far, the salmonella outbreak has sickened about 575 people in 43 states and may have contributed to at least eight deaths. The Justice Department has opened a criminal investigation and more than 1,550 products have been recalled.

The company has denied any wrongdoing, but said it is investigating.

Before the scandal, Peanut Corp. was a little-known but ambitious company that began in the 1970s as a family catering operation.

"We started this business working out of our house in Virginia with my mom doing all the accounting," company president Stewart Parnell had been quoted on the company's Web site.

The peanut processing business grew over the years. The company bought a plant in Georgia in 2001, opened another in Texas four years later, and was also running a plant in Virginia.

Friends and business associates said Parnell was dedicated.

"He certainly has gone out and done some things on his own — he didn't just lay around. He's been aggressive," said Eddie Marks, who runs a Virginia storage company and has known Parnell for 15 years.

But even as the company expanded and began to process millions of pounds of peanuts per month, its headquarters was still a two-story building behind Parnell's house. He even had his own brand of peanut products: "Parnell's Pride."

Belying the ambition, there were problems.

About nine months after Parnell bought the Georgia plant in 2001, potential insecticide contamination and dead insects were found near peanuts inspected by the Food and Drug Administration.

More recently, state inspections in 2006 and 2007 found some sanitary problems. After another inspection in October, state officials discovered only relatively minor violations.

But less than three months later, a federal investigation found roaches, mold and other unsanitary conditions.

The potential repercussions began to emerge. The Agriculture Department said it may have shipped possibly contaminated peanut butter and other foods to free school lunch programs in California, Minnesota and Idaho in 2007. The Federal Emergency Management Agency acknowledged that it distributed meals to disaster victims that may have included the potentially tainted peanut butter.

And it was discovered that the company's Plainview, Texas, plant didn't register with state health officials there after opening in March 2005 and only recently was discovered and inspected.

However, the most serious issue surfaced in inspection records released Friday by the Food and Drug Administration. The reports showed that in 2007 the company shipped chopped peanuts on July 18 and 24 after salmonella was confirmed by private lab tests.

FDA officials earlier had said Peanut Corp. waited for a second test to clear peanut butter and peanuts that initially tested positive for salmonella. But the agency amended its report, noting that the Georgia plant actually shipped some products before receiving the second test and sold others even after confirming salmonella.

A Peanut Corp. lawyer said the company is investigating and had no comment on the latest FDA findings. The company previously said it "categorically denies any allegations" that it sought lab results that would put its products in a favorable light.

Details of the privately held company have been slow to turn up, and what has come out hasn't been from Parnell. He has repeatedly declined to speak to reporters.

Parnell's friends and business partners described him as a hardworking, soft-spoken man who had a good rapport with the dozens of contacts he made over the years.

"He had a good reputation," said Jeffrey Pope, a peanut farmer who has done business with Parnell's Virginia plant. "People respected him. He's been in the industry for more than 30 years and he's been a mainstay."

Southwest Georgia peanut industry officials say Parnell didn't spend much time in the state, instead leaving the day-to-day dealings to others.

His reputation earned him a vaunted spot on the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Peanut Standards Board, which is charged with helping the government establish quality and handling standards for the nation's peanuts.

But several board members said they were unaware Parnell was on the panel, and some said the board rarely met. When they did, it was often by teleconference.

Parnell was removed from the board Thursday by Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack and Peanut Corp. was suspended from participating in government contract programs for at least a year.

The company has said in statements that it is deeply concerned.

"The product recalls issued by our company continue to expeditiously remove all potentially harmful products from the marketplace, in the best interest of the public's health and safety," a statement midweek said.

(AP)

Click here for more GPB News coverage of this story.

CDC Says Little Progress In U.S. Food Safety

The Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta says Americans did not suffer more food poisoning in 2008, despite high-profile cases like the peanut butter salmonella outbreak linked to a south Georgia plant. But a new CDC study also warns that Georgia and a handful of other states have made little—if any-progress in food safety over the past four years.

The study’s key statement is this: The U.S. has "reached a plateau in the prevention of food-borne disease." It calls for new efforts to make food safer from the farm to the table.

The CDC’s study looked at 10 states, including Georgia. It showed the number of food-borne infections declining over the past decade. But, by 2004 they leveled-off. And Georgia in particular has the second-highest rate of salmonella among the 10 states.

That’s due in part to the latest salmonella outbreak at a peanut plant in Blakely, which sickened nearly 700 people nationwide.

State lawmakers answered that alarm in the just-completed legislative session by overwhelmingly passing a bill to toughen food safety rules and regulations. State Republican Senator John Bulloch says the bill he co-sponsored is a good start:

"The tools that we put in place for the Dept of Agriculture is a great improvement over what they had before. Do the things need to be changed?...we don’t know. It may be that next year we need to come back as we see how these new changes have been implemented and what results they have, and maybe there are some other things that need to be changed."

Bulloch says changes already made within the state’s Agriculture Department include an additional five food inspectors in the field, with three of those positions newly-created by the Legislature.

But Bulloch also points out that Georgia should not be taking all the blame for failures in the inspection pipeline:

"At what point does the Food and Drug Administration…where’s their responsibilities? Have they done and have been doing a good job? And I’d say no, they need to change their rules and regulations."

Federal food safety officials say they’re using new tools in an aggressive approach toward reducing food-contamination.

Here in Georgia, Bulloch believes things will get better:

"I would say that going forward, the consuming public should have a higher level of confidence that the products that go to the grocery shelf would be from a Georgia-facility would be by far safer than it could have been in the past."

Senate Bill-80 toughening Georgia’s food safety rules and regulations, awaits Governor Sonny Perdue’s signature.

Emaciated Horses Found at Jonesboro Farm

The state Agriculture Department is saying it has found nine “extremely emaciated” horses at a Jonesboro farm.

A department spokesman said two dead horses were found on the farm yesterday.

Officials found the farm Tuesday. They had received numerous calls about skinny horses at the farm. It belongs to Dr. Phillip Breaton. Inspectors returned to the farm with a veterinarian a day later.

The horses have been moved to state stables in Newton County. A spokesman for the Agriculture Department says they are expected to recover.

Ten other horses were left on the property. They were considered to be in better condition than the others. Officials left written instructions on how to care for them.

(AP)

Evening News Headlines

Governor Sonny Perdue is in Washington today pleading with Congress to fund Georgia’s health insurance program for poor children. Perdue told lawmakers that Georgia can hold out for only a few months under a plan he announced yesterday. That measure would temporarily reallocate state Medicaid dollars to continue PeachCare coverage for some quarter million children. Perdue has characterized the move as a loan to the federal government. Democratic leaders in Congress recently pledged to provide 750 million dollars to Georgia and 13 other states facing shortfalls for similar programs. But since appropriating that money is tacked onto an Iraq war bill … Mr. Perdue said he is concerned that funding PeachCare will be delayed by the rhetoric of war.

At the state capitol -- a House committee is set to consider a plan to limit fines from so-called “red light cameras.” The bill would mean Georgia cities and counties could charge no more than $35 dollars to violators photographed running red lights. Right now the fine is $70 dollars. Police officers, public safety groups, and pedestrian organizations say reducing the fines would mean more traffic accidents. The bill's sponsors argue that the fine has become another form of a tax that's sometimes abused by governments as a new stream of revenue.

State Agriculture Commissioner Tommy Irvin says he doesn’t have the authority to tell Georgia animal shelters how to euthanize stray animals. Irvin and the state Department of Agriculture face lawsuits over alleged illegal gassing of animals. Irvin told the Associated Press today that although he is responsible for regulating animal shelters, he cannot stop someone from euthanizing an animal in the manner they choose.

The Founder of Habitat for Humanity is launching a new home-building project in Georgia. Millard Fuller’s Chattahoochee Fuller Center Project will build more than 500 homes in western Georgia and eastern Alabama. The targeted towns are Lanett and Valley, Alabama and West Point, Georgia. The goal is to combat poverty in the region which has declined for decades because of closing textile mills.

Two more men are under arrest in connection with the disappearance of a six-year-old Glynn County boy. Police also say they are frustrated by what appear to be another man’s false confession about missing Christopher Michael Barrios. The two men face charges of lying to investigators. Barrios went missing last Thursday from a mobile home park near Brunswick.

A small earthquake shook parts of east Georgia late last night. Some people in Columbia County reportedly heard a loud boom and felt vibrations after 11 o’clock. The quake registered only a 1.8 on the Richter scale. There are many prehistoric earthquake faults in the Augusta-area that on occasion stir ‘seismic activity’.

Three people connected to the Tour de Georgia are recovering after a car accident. The Rome News Tribune reports the tour’s Public Relations Director Jackie Tyson flipped his car on Interstate 75 yesterday afternoon. Also in the car, the Georgia Cancer Coalition’s Judy Stanton and Australian pro-cyclist Nathan O’Neal. Tyson is said to be resting after having had surgery. No word on the other’s conditions.

Georgia Equine Law Challenged

A federal lawsuit has targeted an obscure Georgia law that allows state officials to seize starving horses. To be heard in front of the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals today is the case of 46 horses seized from a southwest Georgia farm by state agriculture officials. Edna Reams says the horses were taken without due process, and she wants the federal court to overturn the law. The law being challenged is the Humane Care for Equines Act. Georgia’s Agriculture Department says it gets more than 1,200 complaints about horse abuse each year. Last year, about 300 ailing horses were taken-in.