SCHOOLS
Tell Elementary honors Easter crash victim
Kayla Lemons, the Stonewall Tell Elementary student who lost her life in a horrific Easter car crash, is being honored by her classmates. Students at the school have teamed up with the community to develop a campus memorial to the third-grader, who was one of five people killed in the April 12 accident on Camp Creek Parkway.
They're gathering today to build "Kayla's Reading Garden," a reading area with benches, flower beds, trees and a plaque about Kayla. The school library also is developing a special collection dedicated to Kayla. A dedication of the memorial is set for 9:45 a.m. May 19. NANCY BADERTSCHER
ATLANTA
City Council approves lease with Live Nation
The Atlanta City Council has approved a 25-year lease agreement with Live Nation, the world's top concert-promotion company, to operate the city-owned Lakewood Ampitheatre.
The company will pay $180,000 a year to the city for rent and give 10 percent of its proceeds from ticket sales, parking and concessions as part of the agreement. Live Nation will also spend $4 million on improvements to the 117-acre facility, also known as the Lakewood Fairgrounds, near Langford Parkway in southeast Atlanta.
Council members voted in favor of the deal during their meeting Monday.
Live Nation last year sold more than 50 million tickets to concerts in 33 countries. It has comprehensive deals on tours of such artists as Madonna, Jay-Z, U2, Nickelback and Shakira, and recently developed its own rival ticketing service to Ticketmaster. ERIC STIRGUS
COBB, FULTON
Schools win top music education honors
Do you want to expose your kids to music and culture? Visit your local public school.
Cobb County Schools and Fulton County Schools were recently named among the nation's top 100 districts with outstanding music education programs. The pair were the only Georgia districts recognized in the annual Best Communities for Music Education survey, which is conducted by the NAMM Foundation.
This is Fulton County Schools' 10th consecutive year on the list. D. AILEEN DODD
CRIME
Sex with girl, 14, sends Kennesaw man to prison
A Georgia man must serve 57 months in prison after what began as an Internet relationship led to him having sex with a 14-year-old girl.
A federal judge in Lubbock, Texas on Friday sentenced 19-year-old Branden Tye Holden of Kennesaw.
Holden pleaded guilty in January to interstate transportation for criminal sexual activity. Holden also must register as a sex offender.
The U.S. Attorney's Office says Holden met a Virginia girl on the MySpace social networking site and she claimed to be 17, but was 14.
Investigators say Holden on Sept. 25 left Georgia for Virginia and picked up the girl, whose identity has not been disclosed.
The teens were located Sept. 29 during a traffic stop in Crockett County, Texas. Prosecutors say Holden admitted he had sex with the girl. ASSOCIATED PRESS
OBITUARIES
'Mrs. PTA' was just an all-around good citizen
Hazel Beard was a JC Penney saleswoman who did tours of duty as a school traffic cop, poll watcher and was dubbed "Mrs. PTA". This all-around good citizen even loved jury duty.
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