[mhking]

From 11Alive.com (WXIA/Atlanta):

Downtown Barnesville Evacuated
Provided By: The Associated Press
Last Modified: 9/20/2002 12:12:10 PM

Authorities evacuated the downtown square in Barnesville Friday and kept students under guard at nearby schools after finding several suspicious packages shaped like pipes.

John Bankhead, spokesman for the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, said the suspicious packages were reported Friday morning and that GBI and state homeland security officers are on the scene.

Five bomb technicians have been sent from the GBI offices in Greenville and Atlanta. It remains too early to determine the exact nature of the situation, Bankhead said.

Barnesville police reported finding seven or eight suspicious items outside of several downtown business. GBI agents have since detonated the items and determined them to be a hoax.

Authorities said six more locations in downtown Barnesville still needed to be checked.

All three schools in Bankhead are currently on lockdown, according to a spokesman for Lamar County Schools. Parents are being allowed to go to the schools to pick up their children.

The Barnesville sheriff is scheduled to debrief the public on the situation at a noon news conference.

The city is located in Lamar County 50 miles south of Atlanta.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

[Oldeconomybuyer]

This week's headline news in the Herald-Gazette: Buggy Days are here again Piper investigation continues Mayor will lead the parade
							News Bulletin, 11:50 AM: At about 9 AM today (Friday, September 20), eight pipe bombs were discovered in the downtown Barnesville area. Local law enforcement units along with GBI and ATF are on the scene. A robot has been used to detonate three bombs, and there were no secondary explosions, indicating they were possibly fakes. Local schools have been under a "lockdown" until further notice.
		Staff photo by Walter Geiger A human American flag More than 1400 Lamar County Elementary School students and faculty formed this human flag as part of their Sept. 11 remembrance.
						Grand Marshal Mayor Jimmy Matthews, grand marshal of the Buggy Days parade, will share the first buggy with his grandchildren. They are (clockwise l-r) Alston Grapengeter, Watson Grapengeter, Jake and Anna Matthews and Butler Matthews in the mayor’s lap.
		Miss Buggy Days Miss Buggy Days Katie Wilson was crowned Miss Buggy Days. She is a junior at Monroe Academy and is the daughter of Carla and Dicky Carreker and Dicky Wilson of Barnesville. Other division winners and photos will be in next week’s edition.