Latest news, weather and high school sports for Albany and Southwest Georgia

(AP) -- CARJACK-ON HOLD
    Police: 911 calls during carjacking not on hold

    ATLANTA (AP) - Atlanta police say four college students were not
put on hold when they tried to call 911 for help when they were
carjacked at gunpoint in Atlanta.
    The students said at a news conference at Morehouse College on
Monday that two of them were in the trunk when they tried to call
Sunday night.
    However, police say the calls were inaudible or gave no
information that could lead officers to them.
    In recordings city police provided to The Atlanta
Journal-Constitution, very little can be heard in two of the calls.
Police say two others hang up before the can be answered.
    Morehouse police say the gunmen were taking the four to an ATM
to get money from their bank accounts.
    The Morehouse police dispatcher directed officers from the
college and other campuses to a bank where they found the victims
and arrested two of the three suspects.

GEORGIA CANDIDATES
    Qualifying marks official start of election season

    ATLANTA (AP) - Candidates for hundreds of state offices on
Monday began the political ritual of qualifying to get their names
on the ballot.
    U.S. Sen. Johnny Isakson held a state Capitol rally with
supporters after filing the paperwork to seek a second term. DuBose
and Carol Porter - the husband and wife Democratic duo running for
governor and lieutenant governor - also qualified.
    So did, Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle and House Speaker David Ralston,
both Republicans.
    Democratic U.S. Reps. John Lewis, Hank Johnson, David Scott,
Sanford Bishop, Jim Marshall and John Barrow have filed the
paperwork to seek another term. Republican U.S. Reps. Tom Price,
Phil Gingrey and Jack Kingston also qualified to run again.

GEORGIA GOVERNOR-BOYD
    Republicans block Boyd from ballot

    ATLANTA (AP) - Georgia Republicans have blocked Ray Boyd from
running for governor on the GOP line because he won't sign an oath
pledging allegiance to the state party.
    Boyd said Monday he plans to gather signatures to run as an
independent.
    The real estate executive from Rutledge has pledged $2 million
of his own money to win the governor's race.
    He was turned away by Republican Party Chairwoman Sue Everhart
at the Capitol after refusing to sign the GOP oath. Boyd said he
can't swear allegiance to the state party because it's strayed from
many principles he believes in.
    Everhart said Party rules demand that he sign the oath as
written and accused Boyd of grandstanding.
    Boyd says he would need 44,000 valid signatures to get on the
ballot as an independent.

STUDENT KILLED
    Witness in Spelman murder case arrested

    ATLANTA (AP) - A witness in a September murder trial of a
Spelman College student has been arrested for stolen gun and drug
possession charges.
    Union City police say they caught Clarence Carter with more than
an ounce of marijuana and a stolen gun after being pulled over last
Tuesday for driving without a seat belt and with expired tags.
    During the murder trial against Devonni Benton in March, Benton
told jurors his friend Carter was the actual gunman who shot wildly
into a crowded Clark Atlanta University campus the morning of Sept.
3. Jasmine Lynn was killed.
    Benton was later convicted of the charge and sentenced to life.
    Carter took the stand during the trial and denied ever having a
gun and was not charged. Carter is being held on $28,000 bond at
the Fulton County jail.

ROBBERY SENTENCE
    2 sentenced for Stone Mountain robberies

    DECATUR, GA (AP) - A court has sentenced a man and a woman to
prison for robbing four victims during a December 2008 crime spree.
    DeKalb County District Attorney office says Cedric Wilkerson was
sentenced to four life sentences and Whitney McGlasker has been
sentenced to 30 years, but only has to serve 20 behind bars. The
remaining 10 years of McGlasker's sentence will be served on
probation.
    Authorities say the pair was after money during the Dec. 1, 2008
spree at three separate apartment complexes in Stone Mountain.
    Authorities say the defendants used a .357-caliber Magnum to
pistol whip the victims.

WRONG-WAY CRASH
    Police: Drunk wrong-way driver causes Georgia crash

    DECATUR, GA (AP) - Charges are planned against a man who police
say was drunk and caused a fatal crash while driving the wrong way
on Interstate 85.
    DeKalb Police spokesman Officer Jason Gagnon said a green BMW
being driven by 26-year-old Manuel Rivera began going north while
in the southbound lane around 5 a.m.
    The BMW collided with a gold Lexus in the center lane driven by
26-year-old Steven Naraine, of Atlanta.
    Naraine's car was then hit by two more vehicles before coming to
rest in the right lane. Naraine was pronounced dead at the scene.
    Gagnon said Rivera was in stable condition at Grady Memorial
Hospital on Sunday and will be transferred to the DeKalb County
Jail on charges of vehicular homicide, reckless driving, DUI and
driving the wrong way.

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