Ga. woman battles flesh-eating disease

Family members say a Georgia college student who hurt her leg in a zip line accident is now battling for her life after a flesh-eating disease took hold in the gash on her leg.

Andy Copeland tells The Atlanta Journal-Constitution (http://bit.ly/JYSgH4) that his daughter Aimee Copeland went to the emergency room at a Carrollton hospital after cutting her leg on the homemade zip line about a week ago.

Her father says doctors closed her leg with 22 staples. On Friday, a physician diagnosed her with “necrotizing fasciitis” in her damaged leg. They found that the condition — a flesh-eating bacteria that can destroy skin, fat and muscle — had spread beyond her wound to her hip and thigh.

Andy Copeland says his daughter was then flown to an Augusta burn center.

Information from: The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, http://www.ajc.com

Georgia family says apartment invaded by opossums

- Members of a metro Atlanta family say opossums have taken over their living space, where the critters have been hanging from potted trees and swimming in the toilet.

Authorities tell WSB-TV  that nine opossums have been pulled from the apartment in Norcross, just northeast of Atlanta.

Lakisha Dominick says the marsupials are coming in from the fireplace.

She said her 8-year-old daughter was using the bathroom when something splashed on her. Dominick said her daughter looked in the toilet and then screamed that there were opossums swimming inside.

Dominick said her husband stomped several opossums to death after they ran into the living room.

WSB reports that calls to the corporate office of the apartment complex were not returned.

Grocery bagger intervenes in shoplifting case

COVINGTON, Ga. (AP) – Authorities are crediting a 17-year-old grocery bagger at a Georgia grocery store with wrestling a shoplifting suspect to the ground and holding him until police arrived.

The teen, Robert Bradford, is a member of the Covington Police Explorer program for youths interested in police work.

CBS Atlanta reports (http://bit.ly/JuSNOC) that the suspect is accused of trying to walk out of the Kroger store in Covington with steaks stuffed down his pants.

Store surveillance video aired by CBS Atlanta shows Bradford rushing toward the man, who authorities say had just punched a female Kroger employee in the face.

The video shows Bradford putting the man in a headlock and forcing him to the ground.

Police say the 42-year-old suspect was charged with shoplifting, public drunkenness and battery.

Information from: WGCL-TV, http://www.cbsatlanta.com/index.html