HELLO EVERYONE AND THANKS FOR JOINING US....I'M LEAH JOHNSON..
AND I'M LORRA LYNCH JONES.
FRANK MALLOY HAS THE NIGHT OFF.
THE PENNY SALES TAX BIBB COUNTY STARTED COLLECTING IN APRIL HAS ALREADY COLLECTED MORE THAN TWO MILLION DOLLARS.
AND SOON... YOU'LL SEE THE FRUITS OF THAT TAX MONEY IN THE NORTHWEST PART OF THE COUNTY.
CANDACE ADORKA TAKES A LOOK AT A NEW FIRE STATION GETTING READY TO TAKE SHAPE.
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BIBB COUNTY LEADERS HAVE KNOWN FOR MONTHS WHAT FIRE STATION 109 WILL LOOK LIKE,
AFTER A PRE-CONSTRUCTION MEETING TUESDAY MORNING... COMMISSIONER ELMO RICHARDSON SAYS THEY PUT THE PLAN INTO ACTION.
"i feel good. I think it's a real positive, everybody is anxious to get started."
THE STATION IS THE COUNTY'S FIRST PROJECT FUNDED BY THE PENNY SALES TAX VOTERS PASSED LAST NOVEMBER.
RICHARDSON SAYS IT'LL COST ABOUT A MILLION AND A HALF TO BUILD.
HE SAYS ITS MONEY WELL SPENT FOR AN AREA WHERE THE CLOSEST FIRE STATION IS MORE THAN 2 MILES AWAY.
"The nearest fire station is the one on Northside Drive and the one on Riverside Drive near Wimbish road so this will have a major impact on that entire area."
S/U "Fire station 109 will be right here off new forsyth road, a 76-hundred square foot building that will look a lot like this one. Fire station 108 off Peake Road."
Brown "They're very similar, we kind of tweaked the interior a bit."
ARCHITECT BOB BROWN SAYS THIS WILL BE THE FIRST STATION WITH HOT WATER HEATED BY SOLAR PANELS.
"there are two large panels on the roof, but they have to face a certain direction so if you really got into a full solar aray, you'd have to redesign the roof."
BUT INSTEAD HE... SAYS THEY STUCK WITH A DESIGN THAT WORKS.
"but both of those areas feed directly into the aparatus room so if there's a call, you don't have to wind through a bunch of spaces to get to the apParatus room."
RICHARDSON SAYS THEY'LL HOLD A CEREMONIAL GROUNDBREAKING WITHIN TWO WEEKS... AND PRESENT THE FINISHED PRODUCT IN 9 TO 12 MONTHS.
CANDACE ADORKA 13 WMAZ EYEWITNESS NEWS.
>> ASSISTANT FIRE CHIEF CLIFF RUSHIN SAYS THEY'LL HIRE 12 NEW PEOPLE...TO STAFF THE STATION.
PRODUCTION CREWS TRANSFORMED A PORTION OF DOWNTOWN MACON INTO A FLORIDA STREET IN 1946... AS FILMING CONTINUES FOR "42"..
WE'RE NOW SEVERAL DAYS INTO FILMING OF THE STORY OF HOW JACKIE ROBINSON BROKE BASEBALL'S COLOR BARRIER IN 1947.
HERE'S A LOOK AT PART OF THE SCENE THAT WAS FILMED TODAY..
WE SEE A CAR PULL UP.. AND JACKIE ROBINSON.. PLAYED BY CHADWICK BOZEMAN.. GETS OUT ALONG WITH TWO OTHER PEOPLE..
THEY'RE GREETED BY A COUPLE WELCOMING THEM TO FLORIDA.. WHERE JACKIE WENT FOR SPRING TRAINING IN 1946.
BEFORE THIS SCENE.. CREWS SPENT THE MORNING PREPARING EQUIPMENT.. GETTING CARS OF THE PERIOD PARKED ALONG THE STREET.. AND PREPPING ACTORS FOR THEIR MARKS..
ERNIE MALIK.. SPOKESMAN FOR THE FILM SAYS.. IT'S TIMED DOWN TO THE SECOND.
Ernie Malik, "42" Media Coordinator: "We don't have 12 hours to get one moment in the story so you do rehearsals before you actually roll camera. We've probably got a couple dozen extras playing street pedestrians, a couple of people driving period cars through the shot. It's a choreography.
FILMING FINISHED AT HIGH STREET THIS AFTERNOON... AND MOVED ON TO LUTHER WILLIAMS FIELD
WHILE FILMING CONTINUED... CREWS HIT SECOND STREET TO SPRUCE UP SOME BUILDINGS.
CREWS PAINTED THE EXTERIORS OF THE BUILDINGS ... AND ADDED NEW DETAILS.....
GIVING THE STREET A WHOLE NEW LOOK... TO SET THE SCENE FOR THE MOVIE... AND TAKING THEM BACK TO WHAT THEY MIGHT HAVE LOOKED LIKE IN THE FORTIES.
<<ASIDE FROM BEING A NOVELTY... FILM MAKING IN GEORGIA IS BIG BUSINESS AND GETTING BIGGER. CHECK THIS OUT.
ACCORDING TO THE STATE DEPARTMENT OF ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT... PRODUCTIONS IN GEORGIA LAST YEAR MADE A TWO-POINT-FOUR BILLION DOLLAR ECONOMIC IMPACT.
THE DOLLAR AMOUNT HAS GROWN STEADILY EACH YEAR SINCE 2006.. JUST AFTER GOVERNOR SONNY PERDUE INKED A TAX INCENTIVE... CALLED THE GEORGIA ENTERTAINMENT INDUSTRY INVESTMENT ACT.... MEANT ATTRACT MORE PRODUCTIONS TO THE STATE.
GEORGIA IS NOW ONE OF THE TOP FIVE FILM DESTINATIONS IN THE COUNTRY... WITH 336 PRODUCTIONS SHOT IN THE PEACH STATE LAST YEAR.
THOSE INCLUDE FOOTLOOSE... THE BLIND SIDE... X-MEN FIRST CLASS.... AND TV SERIES SUCH AS TEEN WOLF AND THE WALKING DEAD.
THE INDUSTRY EMPLOYS MORE THAN 25-THOUSAND GEORGIANS.
JOINING US NOW TO TALK ABOUT THE BENEFIT OF ATTRACTING MOVIE MAKERS TO MACON IS ALEX MORRISON... EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF THE UBRAN DEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY.
- besides being "cool" that there's a big movie going on in town, why is this important from an economic sense to macon?
- how is macon being marketed as a film destination?
- what's available here that's attractive to movie makers?
- what about incentives?
- Are the film makers leaving macon with a good taste, spreading the word that macon is a good place to make films?
ALEX MORRISON... THANKS VERY MUCH FOR YOUR TIME.
ANOTHER GEORGIA CITY WITH MAJOR SUCCESS IN ATTRACTING PRODUCTIONS IS COVINGTON... POPULATION 14,-THOUSAND AND LOCATED 40 MILES EAST OF ATLANTA.
THE DUKES OF HAZZARD ... IN THE HEAT OF THE NIGHT AND MORE RECENTLY.. THE VAMPIRE DIARIES CHOSE COVINGTON FOR THEIR BACKDROP.
ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT DIRECTOR CLARA DEEMER EXPLAINED WHAT HELPS TO SELL HER CITY TO FILM MAKERS.
Clara Deemer, City of Covington: "I think the proximity to Atlanta and i-20. Were right on I-20 and the airport has helped us before. Now that we have the film commission that has a camera ready program, that really helps us out because, they'll send out requests from location scouts that we need this, this and this, so if you have it in your community, you just respond."
DEEMER ALSO ADDED THE MOVIE MAKING PAYS DIVIDENDS TO THE COMMUNITY AFTER THE FILM CREWS LEAVE.
SHE SAYS THE CITY'S TOURISM SPIKED BY 10-THOUSAND VISITORS LAST YEAR... WITH PEOPLE WANTING TO SEE THE SETS FROM VAMPIRE DIARIES.
OF COURSE... PEOPLE STILL COME BACK TO SEE THE ORIGINAL FILMING LOCATION FOR DUKES OF HAZZARD.>>
C-N-N REPORTS THAT THE STATE DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTION WON'T ALLOW THE KU KLUX KLAN TO ADOPT A STRETCH OF HIGHWAY IN NORTH GEORGIA.
THEY'RE QUOTING A STATE OFFICIAL... WHO ASKED NOT TO BE IDENTIFIED.
THE GROUP APPLIED TO ADOPT A ONE-MILE STRETCH OF ROAD IN UNION COUNTY.
BUT SOME PEOPLE SAY THE STATE SHOULD REJECT THEM... DUE TO THEIR VIOLENT... RACIST HISTORY.
SO FAR... THERE'S NO WORD ON RESPONSE FROM THE KLAN.
WE'LL UPDATE THIS STORY WHEN MORE DETAILS ARE AVAILABLE...AT 13WMAZ-DOT-COM.
THE CONDITION OF AN AUGUSTA WOMAN BATTLING A FLESH-EATING DISEASE HAS BEEN UPGRADED.
DOCTORS HOSPITAL OF AUGUSTA SAYS AIMEE COPELAND'S CONDITION MOVED FROM CRITICAL TO SERIOUS.
HER FATHER SAYS DOCTORS BELIEVE HIS DAUGHTER SHOULD BE READY TO MOVE INTO THE HOSPITAL'S REHABILITATION CLINIC IN TWO OR THREE WEEKS.
THE 24-YEAR-OLD DEVELOPED THE BACTERIA AFTER CUTTING HER LEG IN A FALL FROM A ZIPLINE.
HER LEFT LEG... RIGHT FOOT AND BOTH HANDS HAVE BEEN AMPUTATED.
IF YOU'VE GOT A PROBLEM BEING LATE ... AND YOU USE THE PUBLIC LIRBRARY, LISTEN UP.
COME JULY 1ST, LATE FINES FOR THE MIDDLE GEORGIA LIBRARY SYSTEM WILL DOUBLE FROM 10 CENTS PER DAY FOR EACH BOOK....TO 20 CENTS.
THE RATE INCREASE AFFECTS THE ENTIRE PINES SYSTEM -- MEANING EVERYONE IN GEORGIA WILL PAY THE NEW RATE, EXCEPT IN ATLANTA, COLUMBUS AND SAVANNAH.
IT'S THE FIRST INCREASE SINCE THE 90'S.
BUT IT'S STILL NOT GOING TO BE A BIG MONEYMAKER.
LIBRARY DIRECTOR THOMAS JONES SAYS ONLY ABOUT ONE PERCENT OF THEIR BUDGET COMES FROM LATE FINES.
"If you think about the average book costing twenty five dollars or more, you're really paying a very small price to read ... and only paying that price if you don't return your books on time."
"Doesn't bother me a bit ... I actually renew most of my books online."
JONES ENCOURAGES EVERYONE TO USE THE PINES SYSTEM'S ONLINE RENEWAL FEATURE IF THEY ARE ABOUT TO EXPIRE ON THEIR CHECKOUT.
HERE'S AN UPDATE ON A STORY WE BROUGHT YOU EARLIER: THE STATE DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTION CONFIRMS THAT IT WON'T ALLOW THE KU KLUX KLAN TO ADOPT A STRETCH OF HIGHWAY IN NORTH GEORGIA.
THEY SAY SIGNS THANKING THE KLAN...WOULD BE DISRUPTIVE...ADN PUBLIC SAFETY HAZARD.
THE STATE ALSO SAYS THE STRETCH IS INELIGIBLE FOR THE ADOPT A HIGHWAY PROGRAM...BECAUSE THE SPEED LIMIT IS TOO HIGH.
THE GROUP APPLIED TO ADOPT A ONE-MILE STRETCH OF ROAD IN UNION COUNTY.
BUT SOME PEOPLE SAY THE STATE SHOULD REJECT THEM... DUE TO THEIR VIOLENT... RACIST HISTORY.