Dual-language school under consideration

ATHENS - Local school administrators are studying whether to create a dual-language school that could have pupils speaking English half the day and Spanish half the day.

School officials first considered a dual-language program last year, but now are sending a team to visit the Unidos Dual Language Charter School, the state's first dual-language charter school, to see how it operates.

At the Forest Park elementary school, which opened in August, teachers speak both Spanish and English during all types of lessons, from math to social studies to reading. The school's aim is to teach pupils fluency in both languages.

If district officials choose to start a dual-language program, it would take at least two years to develop, she said.

Boy charged in threat to blow up his school

CORNELIA - A 10-year-old north Georgia boy has been charged with threatening to blow up his school.

The Cornelia Elementary School pupil told friends he was going to "blow up some teachers" and bring bombs to school, officials said.

One of the friends told the principal, and on Friday school officials and police found the pupil's backpack in a classroom with two devices inside. The pupil said the devices were bombs.

Habersham County Board of Education Police Chief Don Ford said Thursday the fifth-grader is charged as a juvenile.

Chief Ford described one device as a small glass jar containing a white solid substance and a plastic sandwich bag. The other was a candy wrapper containing a tubular piece of cardboard, about the size of an index finger, stuffed with the white solid substance.

The boy has been charged with four counts of making terroristic threats and two counts of possessing a destructive device, even though the devices were not thought to be flammable or explosive.

Groups promote use of Okefenokee Trail

ATHENS - It took years for local tourism officials to persuade the state to designate a scenic motor route stretching from Valdosta to Kingsland, with the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge as the focal point.

Now, comes the hard part - getting businesses to help promote the trail, and motorists to drive on the highways along the route.

Tourism officials, business owners and representatives from the Okefenokee swamp met in Folkston on Wednesday to begin developing a marketing plan to target tourists and encourage business owners to become members of the Okefenokee Trail Association.

Jim Burkhart, a ranger at the wildlife refuge, said the organization and trail itself are "at a crossroad."

"For years, we operated as independent groups," he said. "This is the first time the counties have joined together."

The route stretches through five counties from Kingsland to Valdosta and gives motorists the option of driving around the swamp through Waycross to the north or Fargo to the south.

Signs are still being erected to identify the route, established this year by legislators.