Across the area

Body found is missing woman

A badly decomposed body found in the woods of southern McDuffie County was positively identified Thursday, according to Gary Nicholson, special agent in charge of the Georgia Bureau of Investigation's Thomson office.

Three hunters spotted the remains of Lula Bell Scott, 48, of the 2800 block of Brentwood Way in Hephzibah, just after entering the woods along Story-Randall Road on Saturday afternoon.

Initially, authorities were unable to determine the gender, age or race of the body. The GBI's crime lab used dental records to obtain a positive identification, Agent Nicholson said.

McDuffie County Coroner Rhusha Mack said determining the time of death was nearly impossible because of recent heat and rain. Ms. Scott had been missing for at least two months. Family members filed a missing persons report with the Thomson Police Department on Sept. 3.

Agent Nicholson said the GBI will conduct interviews to find out who last saw Ms. Scott and determine whether foul play is suspected.

The carnival ride on which a teenage girl was injured Oct. 26 was not operating properly when the accident occurred, District Attorney Danny Craig said Thursday.

"We're just kind of working through the process (of investigating the machine)," Mr. Craig said.

He traveled to North Carolina earlier this week to inspect the Orbiter amusement ride, which had been sent there after the completion of the annual Georgia-Carolina State Fair.

The district attorney said earlier this week he became involved with the accident investigation after WGAC radio talk-show host Harley Drew pointed out that the ride appeared to be rotating in the wrong direction.

The injured child, Desire Northington, 13, was in good condition Thursday at Medical College of Georgia Hospital, a spokeswoman said.

A group of six nonvoting advisers with expertise in the golf and tourism industry will help the Georgia Golf Hall of Fame Board of Directors promote the hall's facilities in Augusta.

The hall announced the six ex-officio members Thursday.

The new board members are Olivia Suggs Flanagan of Marietta, Mike Paull of Roswell, Dan Rowe of Atlanta, Mike Waldron of Roswell, Stacy Webb of Statesboro, and Tenia Workman of Hartwell.

Two Cross Creek High School students were expelled after being caught with cigarettes, marijuana and cocaine, according to Richmond County discipline tribunal reports.

The two 16-year-olds, one a freshman and the other a sophomore, were spotted midtransaction by a school official last month, the reports said. One student had three bags of marijuana and tried to discard a piece of paper with about a teaspoon of cocaine in a trash can while in the school office.

He testified the other student had sold the marijuana to him and he got the cocaine, which he claimed was crushed Hydrocodone, a prescription narcotic, from another unknown student.

The seller was expelled for the remainder of the school year and will attend the Alternative School for a year, the report said. The buyer was expelled for the remainder of the semester and will be at the Alternative Center for a year.

Members of the Columbia County Superintendent Search Committee voted Thursday to keep a Wednesday deadline for receiving applications to fill outgoing Superintendent Tommy Price's post.

Since advertisements for the post began running in state and national publications and Web sites on Oct. 1, only 12 candidates have submitted applications.

If the committee doesn't find any suitable applicants, it can begin again, school board Chairman Wayne Bridges said.

Mr. Price plans to retire at the end of this school year.

The Richmond County Board of Elections reviewed provisional ballots from Tuesday's election Thursday night.

Only nine of the 34 ballots cast by people whose voter registration could not be confirmed at the polls were accepted.

- From staff reports