<<opening for eyewitness news at eleven>>
GOOD EVENING AND THANKS FOR JOINING US..
I'M FRANK MALLOY..
AND I'M LEAH JOHNSON..THIS IS EYEWITNESS NEWS AT 11.

FIRST AT ELEVEN... IN AN EFFORT TO SUPPRESS VIOLENT CRIMES IN MACON... THE MACON POLICE DEPARTMENT ALONG WITH MEMBERS OF THE GEORIGA STATE PATROL AND BYRON POLICE... MADE 20 ARRESTS IN A FRIDAY NIGHT CRIME SWEEP.
POLICE SPOKESPERSON JAMI GAUDET SAYS THEY ARRESTED SOME FOR SELLING AND POSSESSING DRUGS... AND OTHERS FOR ASSAULTING A POLICE OFFICER.
THE TASK FORCE ALSO HANDED OUT 126 CITATIONS... RANGING FROM SPEEDING AND RECKLESS DRIVING... TO DUIs AND ELUDING POLICE.
GAUDET SAYS SHE CONSIDERS THE SWEEP A SUCCESS... BUT SAYS THERE'S ALWAYS ROOM FOR IMPROVEMENT.
THE GROUP ALSO HANDED OUT 48 WARNINGS... AND TOWED 15 VEHICLES.

ALL THAT RAINY WEATHER CAUSED TWO ACCIDENTS TODAY ON GRAY HIGHWAY... THE FIRST NEAR OLD CLINTON ROAD.
MACON POLICE SPOKESPERSON JAMI GAUDET SAYS A TRUCK DRIVER RAN A RED LIGHT AND HIT A BIBB COUNTY SCHOOL BUS.
BIBB SCHOOL SAFETY DIRECTOR DAVID GOWAN SAID 20 PEOPLE WENT TO A LOCAL HOSPITAL....EIGHTEEN OF THEM STUDENTS... BUT NONE OF THE INJURIES APPEARED SERIOUS.
THIS AFTERNOON.... PARENTS STOOD NEXT WRECKAGE... WAITING FOR ANSWERS AS PARAMEDICS LOADED INJURED STUDENTS ONTO STRETCHERS.
MACON POLICE SERGEANT RICKY WOLVERTON SAID.... THE TRACTOR TRAILER TRUCK RAN A RED LIGHT AND HIT THE BUS THAT WAS TURNING LEFT ONTO OLD CLINTON ROAD.
WE TALKED WITH THE TRUCK DRIVER.
HE WOULDN'T GIVE US HIS NAME BUT SAID HE RAN THE LIGHT BECAUSE HIS BRAKES FAILED.
GOWAN SAYS THE INJURIES WEREN'T SERIOUS BECAUSE OF THE WAY SCHOOL BUSES ARE BUILT.
School buses are designed to take a good bit of punishment in an accident. In this type of accident, though, it was a transfer truck that our school bus which made it different kind of accident because, there, you have a vehicle that's larger and weighs more than the school bus and can do more damage. But, in general, if a schools hits a car or a car hits us, in the vast majority of cases, the ar sustains more damage than the school bus.
A MACON POLICE NEWS RELEASE IDENTIFIED THE DRIVER AS CRAIG HARRIS...
THEY CHARGED HIM WITH FAILURE TO MAINTAIN A LANE... DRIVING TOO FAST FOR CONDITIONS... AND FAILURE TO OBEY A TRAFFIC CONTROL DEVICE.
GOWAN SAYS THE BUS CARRIED STUDENTS FROM NORTHEAST HIGH SCHOOL AND THE HUTCHINGS CAREER CENTER..
HE SAID THEY WERE RETURNING FROM A FUTURE BUSINESS LEADERS EVENT AT WESLEYAN COLLEGE IN NORTH MACON..

NOT EVEN AN HOUR AFTER THE FIRST ACCIDENT... A SECOND ONE HAPPEND ABOUT A BLOCK AWAY NEAR THE ARBY'S ON GRAY HIGHWAY.
POLICE SPOKESWOMAN JAMI GAUDET SAYS A TOW TRUCK PULLING THREE VEHICLES HIT A POWER POLE... WHICH CAUSED POWER LINES TO HANG LOW OVER GRAY HIGHWAY.
A TRACTOR TRAILER TRUCK DROVE THROUGH THE WIRE.... PULLING DOWN THE POLL...AND POWER LINES...
THAT KNOCKED OUT POWER TO HALL AND NORTHERN STREETS.
SO FAR...NO WORD ON INJURIES.
GEORGIA POWER SAYS THEY'LL WAIT TO REPLACE THE BROKEN POLE... BECAUSE GRAY HIGHWAY IS SUCH A HEAVILY TRAVLED ROAD.
GEORGIA POWER SPOKESMAN JOHN KRAFT SAYS AT MIDNIGHT TONIGHT THEY'LL SHUT OFF ELECTRICITY ALONG GRAY HIGHWAY BETWEEN NORTH AVENUE AND SHURLING DRIVE.
HE SAID THE JOB COULD TAKE THREE TO FIVE HOURS... AND THAT THEY'LL CALL AND NOTIFY CUSTOMERS WHO'LL BE AFFECTED BY THE OUTAGE.
A GROUP OF MACON LEADERS HELD A SYMPOSIUM TONIGHT TO DISCUSS WHAT THEY CALL URGENT COMMUNITY CONCERNS.
ABOUT 30 PEOPLE FILED INTO THE DOUGLASS THEATRE LISTENING TO DISCUSSION... AND ADDING A FEW KEY POINTS OF THEIR OWN.
ONE OF THE HOT TOPICS... GETTING THE FOCUS BACK ON THE KIDS... AND COMBATING YOUTH CRIME.
THE PANELISTS TALKED ABOUT THE IMPORTANCE OF EDUCATION... AND ENCOURAGING MORE AFRICAN AMERICAN YOUTH TO VOTE.
THEY SAY PEOPLE NEED TO BE MORE AWARE OF WHO THEY'RE VOTING FOR... AND THE POWER OF A BALLOT.
Stephanie Miller, Panelist: "It's shocking when you run a campaign and you're out there to realize how few members of the community even understand voting. How to vote, where to vote, when to vote. How to make a decision about who to vote for.
CHRISTINA REDDING-LOWDER GREW UP IN MACON... SHE'S A GRADUATE OF BALLARD HUDSON SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL...AND THE SISTER OF MUSIC LEGEND OTIS REDDING.
SHE SPOKE UP AT TONIGHT'S SYMPOSIUM... BECAUSE SHE SAYS... THE TIMES HAVE CHANGED... AND THE FOCUS ISN'T ON THE KIDS.
Christine Redding-Lowder, Macon: "Our parents were different. Our communities were different. Our churches, we learned how to read in Vineville Baptist Church before we went to school. And the teachers in church school as well as public school all were ont he same book. Our parents were on the same book."
THE GROUP ALSO TALKED ABOUT CITY AND COUNTY LEADERS GETTING OUT INTO THE COMMUNITY... AND QUOTE STICKING TOGETHER... TO HELP COMBAT ISSUES LIKE YOUTH CRIME... AND POVERTY.
Henry Ficklin, City Council: "There was a lot of hot topics, but I think among them is what we're going to do as a community, and that's the African American community, what are we going to do to help ourselves?"
FORMER MACON MAYOR C. JACK ELLIS MODERATED THE FORUM..PANELISTS INCLUDED DAVID LUCAS... DARRYL MUHAMMAD... STEPHANIE MILLER... AND HENRY FICKLIN.
THE GROUP PLANS TO HOLD ANOTHER SYMPOSIUM NEXT MONTH TO TALK ABOUT CONSOLIDATION.
JUST TWO DAYS AFTER THE SOUTH CAROLINA PRIMARY, THE FOUR REMAINING REPUBLICAN PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATES FACED OFF IN ANOTHER DEBATE..
THIS TIME IN FLORIDA, WHICH HOLDS ITS PRIMARY ON JANUARY 31ST.
EDWARD LAWRENCE HAS MORE.
NATS

There were four candidates on the stage at Monday night's debate, but it
quickly became a two-man fight, with Newt Gingrich and Mitt Romney tearing
into each other.

(21:05:42 (Mitt Romney/Republican Presidential Candidate) "I think it's about
leadership and the speaker was given an opportunity to be the leader of our
party in 1994 and at the end of 1994, he had to resign in disgrace."

BUTT

(21:10:25 (Newt Gingrich/Republican Presidential Candidate)) 'He may have been
a good financier, but he's a terrible historian."

Gingrich defended his consulting work with mortgage lender, Freddie Mac and
the healthcare industry...Romney said those contracts made him a lobbyist.

9:32:17 "If you're getting paid by health companies, if your entities are
getting paid by health companies that could benefit from legislation, and you
then meet with Republican Congressman, and encourage them to support that
legislation, you can call it whatever you want, I call it influence peddling."

Gingrich, tried to stay above the fray.

21:06:48 "I 'm not going to spend the evening trying to chase Governor
Romney's misinformation. We'll have a site, at newt.org by tomorrow morning,
we'll list everything- he said at least 4 things that are false. I don't want
to waste the time on them."

Rick Santorum also tried to stay on-message.

21:14:28

"The only thing worse than losing an election is not standing up for the
principles you hold."

Ron Paul didn't get a word in until 15 minutes into the debate. He said he has
no plans to run on a third party ticket.

21:16:52

"I have no plans to do that... No intention. When people press me on it, they
ask me why, I say, 'i don't want to.'"

The four candidates are scheduled for another debate on Thursday night ahead
of next week's primary.
FLORIDA'S PRIMARY IS ON JANUARY 31
IN APRIL....AN EVENT THAT HASN'T BEEN SEEN IN THREE YEARS... RETURNS TO ROBINS AIR FORCE BASE.
IT'S THEIR AIR SHOW....FEATURING ALL SORTS OF AIRCRAFT... FROM THE F-15... TO WORLD WAR 2 MODELS.
NATS 4 SECONDS
THE LAST AIR SHOW FEATURED THE U.S ARMY GOLDEN KNIGHTS PARACHUTE TEAM.... AND THE AIR FORCE THUNDERBIDS.
TODAY....AIR SHOW DIRECTOR LT. COL. DWAYNE GRAY ANNOUNCED THIS YEAR'S BIG DRAW IS THE NAVY'S BLUE ANGELS.
IN SEPTMEMBER... 11 PEOPLE DIED AFTER A WORLD WAR TWO ERA PLANE... CRASHED AT AN AIR SHOW IN NEVADA...
THE CRASH ALSO INJURED ABOUT 70 PEOPLE.
GRAY SAYS WITH OVER 100 THOUSAND PEOPLE EXPECTED TO ATTEND THE ROBINS EVENT THEIR NUMBER ONE CONCERN IS SAFETY
As far as safety, we have an exercise of February third where we've invited all the emergency assets in the community from the sheriff's department to all the hospitals al the way up to Macon. And we're gonna sit down a do a table top of the scenario and what to do if it happens.
THE SHOW WILL TAKE PLACE APRIL 28 AND 29... AND WILL RUN FROM 10 A.M. TO 6 P.M.

IN ONE OF HER LAST ACTS AS A CONGRESSWOMAN.. GABRIELLE GIFFORDS MET WITH THE OTHER SURVIVORS OF LAST YEAR'S SHOOTING RAMPAGE IN TUCSON.
GIFFORDS ANNOUNCED YESTERDAY SHE'LL RESIGN TO FOCUS ON HER RECOVERY.
TODAY...THE RECOVERING POLITICIAN MET WITH PEOPLE LIKE FELLOW VICTIM SUZI HILEMAN.
HILEMAN WAS SHOT MULTIPLE TIMES... WHEN SHE WENT TO SEE THE CONGRESSWOMAN LAST JANUARY WITH 9 YEAR OLD CHRISTINA TAYLOR GREEN.
GREEN DIED AFTER ALSO BEING SHOT.
HILEMAN CALLS GIFFORD'S DECISION TO RESIGN HEROIC...
What I saw this morning was the bravest thing I've ever seen anybody do; to put herself ahead of constituents to step aside// - it makes me cry
TOMORROW GIFFORDS WILL ATTEND THE STATE OF THE UNION ADDRESS AFTER MISSING IT LAST YEAR.
PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA EXTENDED THE INVITATION... EARLIER TODAY.
THREE DIFFERENT SERVICES WILL TAKE PLACE THIS WEEK TO COMMEMORATE THE DEATH OF LONG-TIME PENN STATE FOOTBALL COACH JOE PATERNO..
PATERNO DIED SUNDAY MORNING. HE WAS DIAGNOSED WITH CANCER LATE LAST YEAR SHORTLY AFTER THE SCHOOL'S BOARD OF TRUSTEES FIRED IN THE WAKE OF CHILD SEX-ABUSE CHARGES AGAINST A FORMER ASSISTANT COACH.
A PUBLIC VIEWING TAKES PLACE TUESDAY WITH ANOTHER SCHEDULED FOR WEDNESDAY MORNING.
A PRIVATE FUNERAL IS SET FOR WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON WITH A PUBLIC MEMORIAL SERVICE SCHEDULED FOR THURSDAY AFTERNOON ON THE PENN STATE CAMPUS..
THOSE WHO PLAYED FOR PATERNO SAY HIS IMPACT ON THEIR LIVES WILL NEVER GO AWAY..
"Everyone is going to have their different views and opinions, which is fine. I can't sit here and try to convince people of how great of a man Coach Paterno was. I really can just speak to what he meant to me and the legacy he left behind to me. And a lot of his morals, values, fundamentals he coached and teached, I'll carry on with me the rest of my life."
UNDER PATERNO'S 46-YEAR LEADERSHIP, THE NITTANY LIONS WON TWO NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS, WENT UNDEFEATED FIVE TIMES AND FINISHED IN THE TOP 25 NATIONAL RANKINGS 35 TIMES.

THE HAPPIEST PLACE ON EARTH IS ABOUT GET A LITTLE HARRIER... AND IT'S NOT BECAUSE THEY'VE COME OUT WITH A NEW CHARACTER.
DISNEY HAD PROHIBITED ALL FACIAL HAIR ON ITS THEME PARK WORKERS SINCE DISNEYLAND OPENED IN CALIFORNIA IN THE MID-1950S.
THE COMPANY REVISED ITS POLICY IN 2000 TO ALLOW MUSTACHES... PROVIDED THEY WERE GROWN ON VACATION AND NOT AT WORK.
DISNEY PERIODICALLY REASSESSES ITS GROOMING REQUIREMENTS.
A DISNEY SPOKESWOMAN SAYS OFFICIALS DECIDED NOW WAS A GOOD TIME TO REVISE THE HAIR POLICY.
THE POLICY CHANGE ALSO ALLOWS WORKERS IN AREAS WITHOUT VISITOR CONTACT TO HAVE CASUAL FRIDAYS.