Across Georgia

Services held for four killed in Easter wreck

LITHONIA, GA. --- Four family members killed on Easter Sunday in a multivehicle collision in south Fulton County were remembered at a memorial service.

At New Birth Missionary Baptist Church in Lithonia on Saturday, friends and family celebrated the victims' lives and mourned them.

Robert and Delisia Carter, along with the couple's newborn son, Ethan Blake, and Mrs. Carter's 9-year-old daughter, Kayla, died in the chain-reaction crash near Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport on April 12.

Police said 43-year-old Tracy Johnson of Atlanta survived in another vehicle, but the impact killed her 6-year-old daughter, Morgan.

Ms. Johnson is still at Grady Hospital, where she is listed in satisfactory condition.

Police are still searching for a BMW driver who fled the scene of the fatal accident and might face charges.

Restoration projects stall during downturn

COMMERCE, GA. --- Officials say the economic slowdown has dried up investments in historic restoration projects in downtown Commerce and Winder.

Barry Edgar, director of planning and zoning for Winder, says it's not that people don't want to invest in downtowns, they just don't want to invest anywhere right now.

Winder's Old Granite Hotel, saved from demolition, is among the stalled projects.

In Commerce, one of the city's largest vacant buildings -- a brick warehouse on State Street -- has had no offers.

Hasco Craver, director of the Commerce Downtown Development Authority, says no one has heard from the owner in months.