Across Georgia

Nominations sought for school's mascot

LAWRENCEVILLE --- Georgia's newest public college is looking for a school mascot, inviting those interested to submit nominations with the winning entry to be selected by Daniel Kaufman, the president of Georgia Gwinnett College.

The school, which opened in 2006, will receive nominations until Jan. 31.

The student government association will select the five best and submit those to the student body for a vote. The top three will then go to Mr. Kaufman. His choice for the winner will be announced Feb. 29.

Mr. Kaufman, a retired U.S. Army brigadier general, knows his nomination: the Generals.

School president's death ruled suicide

COLLEGE PARK --- The president of Woodward Academy, who died in a fall from a hotel, committed suicide, the Fulton County Medical Examiner's office has ruled.

Harry Payne was found dead Monday after falling from the eighth floor of a hotel in midtown Atlanta.

"It is as close to totally inexplicable as anything I've ever dealt with," said Ben Johnson, a close friend and the board chairman of Woodward Academy in College Park.

Mr. Payne had served Woodward and its approximately 2,850 students for seven years.

Refusal of treatment gets teen deported

LAWRENCEVILLE --- A Mexican teenager who was jailed after refusing treatment for tuberculosis has been deported.

Immigration and Customers Enforcement spokesman Richard Rocha said Tuesday that 18-year-old Francisco Santos and his mother, Enriqueta Palacios, returned to Mexico on Dec. 9.

Both were illegal immigrants.

Mr. Santos, a day laborer, had been living at home in Duluth and receiving antibiotic treatments for active tuberculosis by the Gwinnett County Health Department since his release from jail in September.

Bank robber on bike gets 17-year sentence

MACON --- A Macon man convicted of robbing a bank of almost $8,000 and escaping on a bicycle was sentenced Tuesday to 17 years in federal prison without a chance of parole.

Carey Gilbert Chappell was convicted of bank robbery on Oct. 17 after a three-day trial, U.S. Attorney Maxwell Wood said.

Mr. Wood said evidence showed that on Aug. 14, 2006, Mr. Chappell entered the SunTrust Bank on Gray Highway in Macon.

He was shouting for help, Mr. Wood said, then he leaped over the teller counter and stole $7,980.

-- Edited from wire reports