First Slice 8/15/13: Atheist group places literature in Ga. state parks

• Staff Illustration/CL File
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A former Atlanta drug dealer has agreed to testify against his own mom in federal court for her role in helping run one of the largest (busted) cocaine rings in Eastern District’s history. Demond Cornelius White is admitting he sold more than 500 kilograms of cocaine since 2000 - a number feds say they think was actually much higher - in a plea deal with prosecutors.

An atheist group has apparently followed through on its plan to place literature in a number of state parks following Deal’s reinstatement of bibles that were pulled, briefly, earlier this year.

An elderly woman mysteriously dropped off at a Birmingham hospital in 2010 has finally been identified as Edith Allen, 68, formerly of Douglasville. Police arrested Cathy Jean Thomas, 58, of Douglasville, in connection with the disappearance and for allegedly collecting more than $25,000 of Allen’s social security benefits over the past few years.

Money Magazine says two metro Atlanta towns are among the top five “Best places to live: Where homes are affordable” in the entire country. Powder Springs in Cobb County came in at number four, while Lilburn in Gwinnett took the number five spot.

19 University of Georgia students have been indicted for various roles in producing and distributing fake IDs, and the Athens Banner-Herald has a slideshow of their mug shots.

As this year’s hurricane season gets underway, FEMA - the federal organization tasked with spitting out funds and helping with disaster relief - is looking to recover millions of dollars in aid money delivered to local governments over the past decade. According to a number of Homeland Security reports, hard-hit counties misspent or poorly tracked oodles of federal aid money the received following natural disasters.

Funny how some champions of free speech (i.e. news organizations) turn to copyright laws to help censor their critics.