Across Georgia

Teen injured in skeet shooting accident

DUBLIN - A Laurens County teenager was struck in the throat and face in a skeet shooting accident when a gun being reloaded accidentally fired.

Leon Towns, 18, of Dublin, was struck from about 25 yards away when Stephen Collier Peinberg, 18, of Thomasville, pumped the slide forward to load a shell and the gun fired.

Four witnesses told authorities that Mr. Peinburg did not have the gun pointed toward anyone and did not know Mr. Towns had walked up.

After consenting to a breath test, Mr. Peinburg was charged with consumption of alcohol by a minor.

Perdue pushes for disaster designation

ATLANTA - Gov. Sonny Perdue on Wednesday asked federal agriculture officials to declare a disaster area in 155 Georgia counties where drought and high temperatures have damaged crops.

In a July 21 letter, state agriculture Commissioner Tommy Irvin had made an "urgent request" that Mr. Perdue ask U.S. Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns for the designation.

It would make Georgia farmers eligible for emergency loans from the federal Farm Service Agency.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture's Georgia emergency board met Wednesday and reviewed counties' damage assessment reports. The reports showed production losses in cotton, corn, soybeans, pecans, peanuts, tobacco and other crops. Fanning, Gilmer, Towns and Union counties, all in north Georgia, are waiting to submit their reports until after harvest season is complete.

State bids for federal research facilities

ATLANTA - Georgia has made the first cut in a bid to house a new federal facility to perform research in the fast-growing field of bio- and agro-defense, state officials said Wednesday.

Georgia proposed two sites in Athens as part of its bid.

State officials said Georgia - already home to the Centers for Disease Control and the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Russell Research Center - is a natural fit for the planned research and development facility.

Operations halted at explosives company

BYRON - Georgia's fire safety commissioner ordered a middle Georgia explosives company to halt operations Wednesday pending an investigation into a huge explosion felt as far as 15 miles away.

The blast of 3,500 pounds of explosives early Sunday at Pyrotechnic Specialities Inc. reportedly sent a 500-foot mushroom cloud into the air, prompted an evacuation of dozens of families from surrounding neighborhoods and a security lockdown at nearby Robins Air Force Base.

- Edited from wire reports