A package found today could have contained an improvised explosive device, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation said. The GBI Bomb Squad responded to a call at about 2:00 p.m. at a home on Byrans Way in Henry County.
The package was found in the kitchen when Henry County Deputies were serving eviction papers to William Kent King. King was not home at the time.
"It was approximately 8 inches long, it had been taped together with masking tape and had several seperated cylinders inside the masking tape," GBI Special Agent Bomb Tech Rusty Andrews said.
A robot was used to go into the house, bring out the device and destroy it. King's belongings were taken out onto the lawn as bomb sniffing dogs searched to make sure the area was safe. Neighbors said King had lived there for years and was a good person.
"He was just a sharp intelligent guy who had it together. I really feel bad. If you ask me how I feel, that's how I feel. I feel bad," said neighbor Howard Cochran.
Deputies confirmed that King has been taken to the Henry County Sheriff's Office for questioning. The remnants of the package will be sent to labs to determine the nature of the device.
Gov. Sonny Perdue was one of more than 30 governors to receive a letter from an extremist group warning him to leave office.
Perdue spokesman Bert Brantley said Perdue's office received the letter earlier this week. They immediately turned it over to federal law enforcement officials, who had warned them such a letter might be coming.
As of Wednesday, more than 30 governors had received letters telling them that if they didn't leave office within three days they would be removed, according to an internal intelligence note by the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security.
Investigators do not see threats of violence in the group's message, but fear the broad call for removing top state officials could lead others to act out violently.
An early morning fire in Habersham County claimed the life of two people, fire officials said.
The blaze, which occurred at about 5 a.m., destroyed a home located at 500 block of Chitwood Road in Clarkesville. The bodies of the victims, Perry Taylor, 59 and his wife Mary Elizabeth Taylor, 52 will be sent to the state crime lab for positive identification.
The cause of the fire is still under investigation. Insurance and Safety Fire Commissioner John W. Oxendine said the home did not have a smoke detector.
Teen Sentenced In Shooting Of Lost Motorist
A Marietta teenager has been sentenced to life in prison after he was convicted of shooting to death a lost motorist who had stopped to ask him directions.
Avery Bryant, 19, was found guilty by a Fulton County jury Thursday on charges of felony murder and aggravated assault for the July 2008 unprovoked shooting death of a stranger in East Point.
Prosecutors said 47-year-old Newton Gordon was asking a few teens for directions when Bryant approached with a gun and fired six shots into the car, striking Gordon twice in the chest. His vehicle then slammed into a telephone pole and erupted into flames.
Prosecutors said Bryant told his friends, "I got my first body" after the shooting.
Long-Running Ga. Easter Egg Hunt Cancelled
Mack Garrison Jr. had hoped somebody or some group would pick up his family's 50-year tradition of putting on a community Easter egg hunt in Homer, once billed as the "world's largest."
But that hasn't happened.
So, for the first time in more than a half-century, children in their Easter best won't be lugging baskets across the green, open fields of the Garrison home off Ga. 51.
"I would love to see somebody pick it up, and I was hoping someone would step up to the plate," Garrison said Thursday.
The Garrison family's annual hunt drew thousands of people from throughout the area, growing to such a size as to earn a mention in the Guinness Book of World Records.
For many families, the event had become a multigenerational tradition.
Nothing stopped the event from happening -- not bad weather or Harrison's health issues in recent years.
But with the economy's collapse, Garrison cited finances -- including spending $10,000 alone for the eggs -- as to why the family had to bow out as the event's sole organizers.
He did leave open, however, allowing his property to be used for an egg hunt, if others were willing to run the rest of the show.
"It's kind of sad," Garrison said of the lack of response, "but I'm going to leave that (offer) open. I would love to participate in it again next year pick this back thing up and keep the ball rolling."
The first hunt grew out of the desire of O.S. Garrison, Mack's grandfather, to give back to his employees and fellow church members. He held an egg hunt in the front yard of the home of his son, Herbert, Mack's uncle.
"The second year, he opened the door and told all the churches in the community to come up and have a good time with us," Garrison said in an interview last year. "The next year, he opened it to the school system. And after the school system, it went on the radio and went public."
Karen Wenner of Charleston, S.C., had planned to attend this year's event, hearing about it from her brother Mark, who lives in Augusta.
"I looked it up and was hoping to go with him this year," she said.
"Mark thought I would get a kick out of since it was close to his and my home, and to know I just missed it is disappointing. The look of kids being kids is renewing and refreshing."
Garrison said he expects the event's widespread popularity will trump news of the event's cancellation and folks will show up Sunday in cars expecting a hunt to take place.
"It was just so large and running so long," he said. "... We have had as many as 100 people on any given Saturday prior to (past hunts) thinking it was going to be put on (that day)."
For those showing up Sunday, Garrison plans on having someone out front prepared to "answer any questions or any concerns anyone might have ... and maybe help promote it (for future years)."
WSB; Georgia Radio Network; WGUN; WSSA.
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