Send your message of support to a Holly Springs officer, wife hurt in Texas train crash

HOLLY SPRINGS, Ga. -- A Holly Springs Police officer and his wife were among 17 people hurt when a freight train plowed into a parade float in Midland, Texas Thursday. The float was carrying wounded veterans.

RELATED | Train crashes into Texas wounded veterans parade

Officer Shane Ladner and his wife Meg were both on the float, according to Holly Springs Police Lt. Tanya Anderson. Doctors had to amputate Ladner's wife's leg, up to the hip and they hope she will be stable enough by Monday to travel back to Atlanta. 

According to Lt. Anderson, Officer Ladner was "Just a positive person to be around, both of them. Go getters, very energetic, very active. He's an avid hunter, he loves to hunt. He was very excited about going on this trip."

Shane, an avid runner, was wounded twice in Iraq and still has shrapnel in his back, the same area he is now feeling intense pain from the crash.

Anderson said family members and the police department's chaplain have flown to Midland to be with the Ladners.

A fund for the family has been set up at Cherokee Bank. Donations can be made to the Ladner benefit Fund. 

Four people were killed in Thursday's crash. 

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Prosecutors: Sneiderman love triangle had a possible fourth player

Andrea Sneiderman speaks to her attorney before her bond hearing

DECATUR, Ga. -- In court Friday prosecutors introduced a new possible player in the Andrea Sneiderman murder trial.

Prosecutors identified Joseph Dell as a friend and person with whom Mrs. Sneiderman had a relationship for the last 18 months.  Defense attorneys acknowledged the relationship.  "Mr. Dell is a friend of Ms Sneiderman," attorney Tom Clegg said in court.  "The exact nature of their relationhsip is best described as 'to be determined in the future.'"

RELATED | Sneiderman withdraws request to visit husband's grave
MORE | State's motion for discovery paperwork

Lawyers say Dell is a potential witness in the upcoming trial, where Mrs. Sneiderman is accused of conspiring with her former co-worker Hemy Neuman to kill her husband Rusty Sneiderman.  He was shot to death outside a Dunwoody day care in November 2010.

PHOTOS | The Hemy Neuman murder trial 

Prosecutors say they have a new theory in Rusty's death, stating Mrs. Sneiderman used Neuman to kill her husband so she could be with Dell. 

"Mr. Dell left his wife six months pregnant, and six and a half months after the murder of Rusty, and at that time openly took up a relationship with the defendant," said prosecutor Don Geary. 

Defense attorneys described the love quadrangle theory as "fanciful" and "incredible." 

Dell is not mentioned in the indictment of Mrs. Sneiderman, nor was he mentioned in the murder trial of Hemy Neuman, the admitted triggerman.  The indictment says Mrs. Sneiderman conspired with Neuman so that she could be with Neuman.

Mrs. Sneiderman denies having anything to do with her husband's murder.

Mrs. Sneiderman is currently under a court order to have no contact with potential witnesses, so a judge could order the relationship with Dell to end.

Defense attorneys say Dell has helped Mrs. Sneiderman daily with chores involving her children, like driving the children to after-school events.  Mrs. Sneiderman's bond disallows her to leave her home for such chores.

Judge Gregory Adams gave lawyers until Tuesday at noon to submit proposed court orders as to using Dell as a witness.

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Celebrating Thanksgiving through adoption

Atlanta, Ga. -- There were more than a dozen children being adopted in the room, with more than a dozen different stories. Fulton County celebrated National Adoption Day Saturday by holding a celebration in the Juvenile courthouse. Some parents were adopting for the first time, others were continuing to add to their growing family.

"Fostering means a lot of broken pieces," said adoptive parent and foster mother Kimbley Hutchins. "The adoption is the end result of the whole puzzle."

On any given day in Georgia, there are about 250 foster children waiting to be adopted. Nationwide, there are about 100,000. National Adoption Day is intended to shine a light on children who are struggling to find a home. Each year on Adoption Day, about 4,500 foster children are given permanent homes.

One of those kids is Destiny Freeman. Her new mother Karen had fostered nine children before she finally got to keep one. She was joined by her mother and a dozen other family members as a judge signed the papers.

"It took her so long to call me mom," she said as she fought back tears. "And when she did, I said she can't go back, and she's not going to."

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NY prosecutor admits he acted in 1970s porn films

CORTLAND, N.Y. -- A district attorney in upstate New York admits that he acted in pornographic movies in the 1970s.

Mark Suben, the DA in Cortland County near Syracuse since 2008, held a news conference Friday to say he had lied about his past in the days before this year's election.

He is apologizing for his actions and says he used "bad judgment" by acting in porn and by recently denying it. He wouldn't take questions, including whether he should resign.

WSTM-TV in Syracuse published a story Friday that said Suben had acted under his name and the pseudonym Gus Thomas. That news story followed a posting on YouTube that compared images of Suben with Thomas.

Suben previously acknowledged he was an actor in New York City in the 1970s but denied acting in adult films.

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Abe Lincoln: From history to hyperbole

(WXIA) -- The Abraham Lincoln most of us grew up with is the one on the face of the omnipresent penny... the solemn visage of the moral arbiter of our nation's soul.

But there is another image of Abe Lincoln that your kids are growing up with. And it's a lot cooler.

Somewhere over the last century and a half, the 16th President of the United States graduated from hero to ax-wielding superhero, who emancipated the nation both from the injustice of slavery and the growing tyranny of (what else?) vampires.

"However history remembers me, it will only be a fraction of the truth," he growls in the film "Abraham Lincoln, Vampire Slayer."

Friday night, movie audiences had a chance to see the latest cinematic incarnation of Lincoln, the one that has more than a "fraction" of the truth. It's from Steven Spielberg.

"This movie was just beautiful," said Atlantic Station Regal Cinema patron Jennifer Durchin. "I love the way they put it together. "

The movie is taken from the Pulitzer prize-winning biography "Team of Rivals" by Doris Kearns Goodwin.

"So many people think of him as an icon, as a statesmen, they don't know what a great politician he was," Goodwin said in an interview recently on NBC News.

It is ironic that, despite all that's been written about him, Abraham Lincoln remains one of history's mysteries.

"There was a lot about Abe Lincoln that I didn't know," said movie patron Brandon Bodie. "He had this kind of flair about him."

And that flair may be what's reinvented Lincoln as an unlikely pop icon who's pretty much everywhere these days, especially on YouTube.

"The power of Lincoln is here," said movie patron and retired Lt. Colonel Nate Perkins. "From the penny that we see and spend every day, from the books, to the library, the capitol, to the streets, from the monument in Washington D.C. Lincoln is alive."

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Hostess Brands closing for good

Hostess Brands (Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images)

NEW YORK -- Hostess Brands -- the maker of such iconic baked goods as Twinkies, Devil Dogs and Wonder Bread -- announced Friday that it is asking a federal bankruptcy court for permission to close its operations, blaming a strike by bakers protesting a new contract imposed on them.

The closing will result in Hostess' nearly 18,500 workers losing their jobs as the company shuts 33 bakeries and 565 distribution centers nationwide. The bakers' union represents around 5,000.

RELATED | No more Twinkies?

Hostess will move to sell its assets to the highest bidder. That could mean new life for some of its most popular products, which could be scooped up at auction and attached to products from other companies.

"We deeply regret the necessity of today's decision, but we do not have the financial resources to weather an extended nationwide strike," said CEO Gregory Rayburn in a statement.

The company had given a 5 p.m. ET deadline for the bakers to return to work or face a shutdown of the company. The unions at Hostess could not be reached immediately for comment on the decision.

Hostess filed for bankruptcy in January, its second trip to bankruptcy court since 2004. It previously emerged from restructuring in 2009 after a four-and-a-half year process.

The company is now controlled by a group of investment firms including hedge funds Silver Point Capital and Monarch Alternative Capital.

In September, one of its major unions, the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, voted narrowly to accept a new contract with reduced wages and benefits. The bakers' union rejected the deal, however, prompting Hostess management to secure permission from a bankruptcy court to force a new concession contract on workers.

The new contract cut salaries across the company by 8% in the first year of the five-year agreement. Salaries were then scheduled to bump up 3% in the next three years and 1% in the final year.

Hostess also reduced its pension obligations and its contribution to the employees' health care plan. In exchange, the company offered concessions, including a 25% equity stake for workers and the inclusion of two union representatives on an eight-member board of directors.

(CNNMoney)

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Former Atlanta Dream player surrenders to police

Courtesy of Fulton County Sheriff's Department

ATLANTA - Former Atlanta Dream player Chamique Holdsclaw has turned herself in after a warrant for her arrest was issued by Atlanta Police on Thursday afternoon.

According to a police report, Holdsclaw smashed two windows of a car belonging to her ex-girlfriend, Jennifer Lacy with a baseball bat before shooting into the car, then driving away. Investigators said they recovered a spent 9 mm casing from inside Lacy's car.

Police said warrants for Holdsclaw on charges of aggravated assault, criminal damage to property and reckless conduct.

Holdsclaw last played for the Atlanta Dream in 2009. Lacy, who also played for the Dream in 2008 and 2009, currently plays for the WNBA's Tulsa Shock.

Holdsclaw turned herself in to Atlanta Police around 6 p.m. She was taken to Fulton County Jail. 

Bond for Holdsclaw has been set at $10,000.00. 

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Train crashes into Texas wounded veterans parade

MIDLAND, Texas -- Authorities say four people are dead and 17 others are injured after a train slammed into a parade float headed to a West Texas event honoring wounded veterans.

Union Pacific spokesman Tom Lange says the train was sounding its horn before it hit the float at a railroad crossing in Midland around 4:40 p.m. Thursday.

Lange says the crossing gate and lights were working at the time. He doesn't know if the train crew saw the float approaching.

City of Midland spokesman Ryan Stout says two people died at the scene and two died at Midland Memorial Hospital.

Hospital officials say six people remained hospitalized Thursday night, including at least one in critical condition.

The parade was set to end at a "Hunt for Heroes" banquet.

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Cobb County football coach resigns amid harassment probe

11Alive News has learned that Harrison High School Football coach Marty Galbraith was under investigation for inappropriate conduct towards several female co-workers when he abruptly resigned last month.

Galbraith's official letter of resignation cites only "personal reasons" for leaving his head coaching job at the high school, giving little indication of the growing scandal that threatened the career of the man who'd worked for several college and NFL programs.

Despite repeated attempts, Galbraith could not be reached for comment Thursday.

11Alive News obtained copies of Galbraith's personnel file as well as an audio tape of his meeting with a school district investigator and human resources officer.

Two female employees at Harrison High School had reported Galbraith's alleged misconduct to the school system. An administrator reported that Galbraith allegedly kissed her neck when they were alone in the lunch room. A fellow teacher accused Galbraith of making a lewd gesture simulating oral sex when they were in the hallway together.

In his interview with the human resources official, Galbraith initially denied the allegation until he was confronted with videotape from the school's security system.

The interview concludes with Galbraith being notified that he was being placed on paid administrative leave. He handed in his letter of resignation the following day.

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Houston shares secret to stop wrong way drivers

ATLANTA, Ga. -- In August, five people died on metro Atlanta freeways in wrong way crashes. More than 100 people have died in Georgia in the past five years. The DOT says it posts signs warning drivers and improved road markings, but beyond that, claims there's not much it can do.

11Alive reached out to communities across the country to investigate if any of them had tackled the problem successfully. Our search sent us to Houston.

MORE | Sign our peition to stop wrong way drivers

After a wrong way crash killed three people on New Year's eve in 2008, the Harris County toll road authority turned to its toll technology company, for a solution.

"It was pretty uncharted territory. It was pretty unprecedented at the time so there really was no model to follow," said TransCore vice president Whitt Hall.

Hall says Transcore built its own system, re-purposing speed radars to detect cars traveling the wrong way on exit ramps. When the system is triggered, a warning sounds in the toll authority's transportation command center, programmed cameras zoom to the location where a dispatcher can verify the alarm and an officer is sent to respond.

"It happens very quickly. The vehicle when it enters the system the wrong way it gives us the alert right away, we respond right away," said Sgt. Herbert Martinez.

At the same time, message boards in the area warn drivers nearby, actually directing them to move over and stop.

"We have told all of our officers not to chase a wrong way driver, but to get yourself in position ahead of them to deploy the spike strip," says Asst. Chief Randy Johnson who heads Incident Management for the Toll Road Authority.

The system cost about $335,000 to install in 19 locations. But the results are impressive. In four years, this 17 mile stretch has had 100 wrong way drivers, but not a single car crash.

"Wrong way detection does not stop wrong way drivers. It lets us know that they're out there and where they got on," said Johnson.
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There have been lessons learned. The radars are prone to false alarms. So the toll authority is spending more than $500,000 to install sensors in the pavement instead.

"When it was raining hard, trees leaves were blowing the wrong way, you can get that wrong way movement that it's looking for," said Hall.

The toll authority has also installed road lights and a flashing sign at one intersection where most of the wrong way drivers aren't drunk, but confused.

"I think you get kind of complacent driving around a city the size of Houston, just signs everywhere, so just a little something extra to draw your attention to that sign seems to be helping quite a bit, that they're not going beyond that point. They're turning around," said Hall.

The system has won national and international awards. Guests from Mexico, Columbia and China have come to see it. But it only appears San Antonio has attempted to recreate it. There, the Texas DOT has spent $500,000 to install radars on its most dangerous stretch, along with flashing signs and message boards for motorists.

" To us it's one thing to detect a driver, it's a second to stop them and it's a third, to notify the motorists that are going the correct way that they may need to be aware of drivers going the wrong way ahead and to try and make the drivers going correctly, aware of the wrong way driver," said Texas DOT spokesperson Stuart Corder.

The problem for most communities is cost and cooperation. To install something similar to Houston's system around I-285 in Atlanta, would cost about $3 million. Police departments would have to create a unified policy on how to respond to wrong way drivers and method for dispatching officers.

As for cost, the Texas DOT says there may soon be a cheaper, easier way to tackle the problem, using the same technology already in use to gauge traffic congestion during commuter hours.

"Those manufacturers we're finding in the last year or so, are now putting out technology where they're making wrong way detection available in the same units," Corder said.

Texas hopes to pilot the new software in several spots around Houston within the year and Georgia says it will be watching. Like Atlanta, outside of the West Park Tollway, the city relies on 911 calls to alert them to a wrong way driver. But the time between a sensor detecting a wrong way driver and that first 911 call is usually more than two minutes.

"Time is so important, seconds count," said Johnson.

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