Hart County News

Madison County Senior Center director Joe Dudley, right, and Edgar Vollrath talk in the center parking lot July 22.

Madison County Sheriff's investigator Pat Holl takes information July 22 on stolen possessions recovered by deputies after a burglary in the Garnett Ward Road area of Hull.

Julia M. Bacon, 84, of Athens, died Sunday, June 21, 2009. Winfrey's Funeral Home, Athens, has charge of the arrangements.

Kulah Monfort, 88, of White Plains, died Thursday, June 18, 2009. Watts Funeral Home, Union Point, has charge of arrangements.

The Ty Cobb Regional Medical Center, a $52 million, 56-bed hospital that would consolidate two hospitals in the region could open in Lavonia in 2011.

A rendering of the planned Ty Cobb Regional Medical Center. View Larger A new $52 million hospital is planned for Lavonia in rural Northeast Georgia.

Northeast Georgia residents are rallying around a few local state parks and historic sites stymied by state budget cuts.

At Hart State Park on Friday, Justin Pittard was in his element. Dressed for summer and standing under an evergreen canopy, the Hartwell resident poked at a half-dozen hot dogs on the grill while his two young daughters splashed through shallow water at the lakeside park's small beach.

Greg Lawrence gets ready to cast his line as Kathy Moss, left, and Lisa Moss kick back on floats Friday at Hart State Park in Hartwell.

Under the watchful eye of his country music-loving parents, Comer resident Chris Fleming earned his first pay as a musician - a drummer, in fact - at the crusty old age of 4. "That was the first time I ever made money playing," recalled Fleming, a Madison County native.