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Sports Hall of Fame Inducts 2011 Class

The Georgia Sports Hall of Fame (GSHF) will induct the Class of 2011 on Saturday, February 26 in Macon. 

The class includes Robert Davis, Joe DeLany, Dale Ellis, Ray Goff, Bill Ploeger, Lisa Spain Short and James “J.T.” Thomas

The GSHF FanFest is scheduled from 1 p.m. until 3 p.m. at the GSHF.

Each member of the Class of 2011 as well as over 20 previous hall of fame inductees will be on hand to sign autographs, take pictures and greet their fans. This event is open to the public, and there is no admission charge to visit the museum during FanFest.

 

The 2011 GSHF Induction Ceremony will take place in the evening Saturday, February 26. The event is sold out.

The GSHF is located at 301 Cherry St. in Macon.

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"A school of excellence!! It captures your heart! You must attend!"

Mercer Announces Bearstock Headliners

Mercer students responsible for the event announced Wednesday that this year's Bearstock headlining acts will be the band 30H!3 and Roscoe Dash.

This year's event will be held off-campus for the first time in its four-year history.

The all-day outdoor concert will be held on April 16 at Tattnall Square Park.

It begins at noon and goes until 11 p.m.

Jessica Walden with the College Hill Alliance says the change is a great opportunity.

"That's more of the campus coming out in the community, and you're going to get more of the community meeting more of you on campus," says Walden.

Student Mary Cate Prendergast says she's thrilled with the choice for this year's musical guest.

She says she's attended the event for several years and hopes 2011 will be another great concert.

Proposed 'Black List' Seeks to Curb Metal Theft

The Macon City Council Public Safety Committee met with scrap metal dealers and law enforcement Monday to discuss the metal theft plaguing the community and how to curb the increase.

Public Safety Chairman Virgil Watkins calls the problem a "domino effect." 

"It starts with someone simply stealing that copper. They're only receiving $30 for it, but they've done $1,300 worth of damage."

He says in many of these scenarios the homes sit vacant for months, creating a haven for more crime and bringing down property values.

But he's hoping a new initiative will help.

He says he's working with Macon police to create a 'no buy list,' or what he refers to as a 'black list,' of people who are selling scrap metal under suspicious circumstances.

11-Year-Old Girl Burned Foot in House Fire

An 11-year-old girl was taken to the hospital with second-degree burns on her foot, after a Macon house fire Tuesday morning.

Chief Preston Thomas with the Macon-Bibb Fire Department says the blaze broke out just before 7 a.m. at 1310 Brentwood Avenue.

He says the fire started in a bedroom that the young girl was in.

The fire was contained to that room.

Two other kids and two adults were also home when the fire started.

 They were all taken to the Medical Center of Central Georgia for smoke inhalation.

Thomas says the bedroom had extensive damage.

Fire investigators are still looking into the cause of the fire.

 

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Empty Pickup Pulled from Ocmulgee

Macon police investigators are trying to find out how a black Dodge Dakota pickup truck ended up in the Ocmulgee River Tuesday.

The pickup was sighted around 12:45 p.m. by a person on the Spring Street bridge, who saw the top of the submerged vehicle.

It was discovered about 200 feet south of the Spring Street boat ramp at the Ocmulgee riverwalk. Police say it may have floated down the river from another spot.

When a tow truck pulled the pickup from the river around 2 p.m., there was nobody inside. Macon police and Macon-Bibb dive teams searched the area around the pickup, but didn't find anything.

Police say there's a tag on the pickup, and they'll use it to locate the owner.

There were keys in the truck, but no other personal belongings, other than a baby seat in back.

A Macon police news release says the truck was reported stolen on Feb. 4 from Ridge Avenue.

Downtown Macon Ramada Closed Again

A downtown Macon hotel went dark Tuesday, for the second time in two weeks.

On Feb. 2, the downtown Macon Ramada Inn temporarily closed its doors for a day. Its manager said it happened because of a faulty boiler that stopped hot water from flowing to rooms. The hotel reopened the next day.

On Tuesday, the Ramada was locked down again. Signs on all the doors read "No rooms available" and no employees were visible inside.

The 16-story Ramada was built in 1969. But it's had several owners and several names in the past decade.

It's currently owned by a group of doctors in Florida, the GSD Hospitality Group, who paid just over $2 milion for it last year. They did not return our phone calls.

 

 

Macon To Get $7 Million From Water Authority

After lots of heated debate over the past several months, Macon City Council voted Tuesday night to accept more than $7 million dollars from the Macon Water Authority.

According to an intergovernmental contract, the city gave the MWA about $7 million dollars when the agency first became a separate entity more than three decades ago.

Now the authority says it will pay that money back.

The money can only be used for very specific things, like closing the existing landfill, opening a new one and repairing the levee.

According to the final contract, both entities will have the ability to veto any spending. That had previously been a sticking point for councilman James Timley, who felt that the MWA retained too much control over how the money would be spent.