Mattie's Call issued for 67-year-old Marietta man

MARIETTA, Ga. -- Police in Cobb County said a Mattie's Call has been issued for a 67-year-old man they said has not been seen since Thursday afternoon.

Lovell McClanahan was last seen leaving his doctor's office Thursday afternoon at 1605 Mulkey Road in Austell. He did not return to his home in the 3600 block of High Green Drive in Marietta.

Investigators said McClanahan has numerous medical ailments and is presently without his medication.

He is described as a white male, 5-feet-10 inches tall, weighing 155 pounds. He was last seen wearing a tan fleece jacket, orange polo shirt, blue jeans and black shoes. He was seen driving a silver 2011 Ford Escape with Georgia tag number DP1PVA.

Anyone with any information about McClanahan is asked to call 911.

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'Swatting' tech easy to get, hard to trace

(WXIA) -- On Thursday, with rifles and side arms loaded and drawn, the Johns Creek SWAT team moved in ready to encounter a gunman, who'd already shot three people. 

Instead they found a babysitter with a child. 

Only the calm restraint of the police prevented the potential for a deadly accident. 

"You had 30 or more SWAT personnel on the way," said a furious Johns Creek Mayor Mike Bodker. "I mean this is a very, very serious incident someone could have gotten hurt. Thank God, no one did." 

Police eventually determined that they had been the victims of a "swatter," someone who calls 911 from a real number with a bogus emergency. 

Call spoofing may start with a phone, but it ends with a server. That's why the swatters are so hard to trace. They can hide in a trillion gigabytes of zeros and ones in servers in America or abroad. 

The tech is simple. Chances are your kids have used it for fun.
But in the wrong hands, it is truly dangerous.
Ironically, it is technology that police know very well. Because they use it. 

"If they want to contact a suspect, they would put maybe a family member's phone number in the caller ID just to get them to answer the telephone," said cyber security expert Greg Evans. "So that same technology can be used for both good and bad."
Evans is a computer hacker turned internet security consultant who says using a familiar or legit number adds weight to the prank call. 

"It's scary how it works because you trust what your caller id says." 

To prove how easy it is, Evans used his software to call my phone with my mother's number, which was displayed with her name on my phone's screen when the call came in. 

It's the same technology that sent shock waves through the British media, after reporters there allegedly hacked the phones of everyone from politicians and royals to at least one murdered child. 

"And it will put them directly into your voicemail," said Evans. "And they can listen to all your messages. That's exactly what they were doing in Britain; they were checking everybody including the king's, the queen's, and the princes' voicemails." 

Evans stresses that people need to use and guard their voicemail passwords. And he has a word of warning for anyone thinking of trying swatting: Don't. 

While it's hard to catch the people who do it, it's not at all impossible.

RELATED STORIES

* Johns Creek mayor fuming mad over 'swatting' hoax
* Report of Country Club of the South shooting was a hoax
* Metro Atlanta crime reports, mapping

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Hit-run driver 'flew' away after crash

Hot air balloon flying over Buford

BUFORD, Ga -- It was a bizarre hit and run crash. But instead of searching for a vehicle police were looking for a flying object.

A hot air balloon crashed into a street light pole on Robert Bell Parkway in Buford Sunday, January 12, 2014. The balloon knocked the pole over into the road before work crews removed it.

"What witnesses described was a hot air balloon actually coming down striking the pole, landing on the ground and then taking off," said Gwinnett County Police Cpl. Jake Smith. ""So what we essentially have is a hit and run committed by a hot air balloon."

Witnesses could only give police a vague description of what hit the pole. "It was described as mostly yellow, with stripes of green, blue and orange," Cpl. Smith said.

For five days police had no idea who the hot air balloon belonged to or who was flying it when the crash occurred. They did have two key pieces of evidence in the mystery after a jogger stopped at the crime scene when she saw police.

Aleta Miller said she was curious when she saw police gathered around the pole. "And I started talking to them and asking hey, what happened?" she said. "And they said a hot air balloon hit this pole."

That's when Aleta Miller remembered she had taken a picture of a hot air balloon with her cell phone weeks ago while running in the same area. She showed the pictures to the witnesses at the light pole. "I showed it to them and they immediately said that's it!"

Gwinnett County Police eventually tracked the balloon to a company called "Balloons over Georgia" and a pilot from that company. It ended a rare mystery. "We don't see a whole lot of hot air balloons in Gwinnett," Cpl. Smith said.

Stacy Rolin, the City of Buford Electric Superintendent, said the cost to replace the pole was approximately $3,000 according to an incident report.

After researching the incident police have turned the investigation over to the Federal Aviation Administration. Cpl. Smith said hit-run laws only cover motor vehicles. He said the crash is an aviation concern.

You can follow Kevin on Twitter @krowson11alive

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Nobody wants to pay for apps, says study

Bad news for developers trying to build the next Candy Crush. From now until 2018, only 0.01 percent of apps will be considered a financial success, according to a study by research firm Gartner. 

That is despite a boom in smartphone subscriptions, which are expected to hit 5.9 billion by 2019, according to predictions from Ericsson.

RELATED | Does Apple owe you money? See why they're paying out $32.5 million to customers with kids

If there are going to be so many smartphones, why will there be so few profits? Because there are a lot of freely quality apps out there, and consumers are used to getting something for nothing.  

In fact, 94.5 percent of apps downloaded in 2017 will be free, according to Gartner. Companies release free apps for a variety of reasons. Some are just branding opportunities. (Yes, NBC News has an app). Others rely on upgraded subscriptions, like OKCupid, or in-game purchases for revenue - sometimes to the consternation of parents who are forced to pay for their children's "Smurfberry" addiction. There are also plenty of apps that want to follow the Instagram model and hook millions of users with a cool concept before introducing advertising. 

What are your favorite apps of 2013? Did it make the list?

Regardless of the reasons why, there are a lot of amazing apps - like Ultravisual, Duolingoand Venmo - that you can download now without spending a cent. Even if a company can create an app that people might like, getting it to consumers is another problem. As the Gartner study notes, people are "increasingly turning to recommendation engines, friends, social networking or advertising to discover mobile applications rather than sorting through the thousands of mobile apps available."Unless you have a big social media presence and plenty of ad dollars, it can be hard to break into the mainstream. 

"There are so many applications that are free and that will never directly generate revenue," Ken Dulaney, vice president at Gartner, wrote in the study. "This is only going to get worse in the future when there will be even greater competition, especially in successful markets."

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Cobb School Board member wants to ban absentee parents from graduation

COBB COUNTY, GA - The fact that many parents are not actively involved in their child's education is a constant frustration, especially for teachers.

Several studies show that involved parents, no matter what their economic level, mean better students with higher grades, who are more likely to graduate.

School board member David Morgan believes too many parents in his part of Cobb County are absentees.

"In my particular area, I think we need to put more accountability in place for parents to get the type of involvement we want, because doing it the way we're currently doing it is not working," Morgan told 11Alive News on Thursday.

He's come up with an idea to penalize parents who don't attend parent-teacher conferences and similar school activities.

He wants to deny them a ticket to their child's graduation.

"I think graduation, a ceremony itself, is extracurricular and I think it should be tied to parent engagement," Morgan said.

"Anything to get parents involved, but I don't want to declare war on parents by making them have to, you know, check a check list of things they have to do because our lives just aren't like that anymore," said Connie Jackson, President of the Cobb County Association of Educators.

While her group represents many frustrated teachers, she believes Morgan's idea is too extreme and would punish the children of those parents.

"Unfortunately in our day and age there're a lot of parents who can't be involved just because they're working two jobs or whatever reason and I think penalizing the children is always a negative," Jackson added.

Several Cobb School Board members were lukewarm to Morgan's graduation ban idea at a Wednesday work session.

Some wondered if it was even legal and who would measure a parent's involvement.

Morgan said it's just an idea, but it has certainly generated a lot of talk in Cobb County schools.

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Loews Hotel in midtown Atlanta evacuated after car fire

ATLANTA -- The Loews Hotel building and the PWC Building in Midtown Atlanta were evacuated after a fully involved fire on the 6th floor of a parking garage Thursday afternoon.

Janet Ward with the Atlanta Fire Department says the fire was in two cars on the 6th floor of the parking garage. She says smoke from the fire had gone into the hotel, prompting the evacuation as a precaution.

PHOTOS | Car fire forces evacuation of Loews Hotel
VIDEO | Fire forces evacuation of Loews Hotel

After the fire was put out, Atlanta Fire crews went through the hotel checking carbon monoxide levels before guests were allowed back into the hotel.

According to Ward, smoke filled the garage to such a point that firefighters had to feel their way around to find the cars that were on fire.

When the cars were removed from the garage later in the evening, firefighters hosed them down, saying they were concerned about hot spots on the vehicles, since the fires were so intense.

No injuries were reported.

Investigators were looking into a possible cause for the blaze.

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Atlanta Police looking for teen girls believed to be in danger

Jasmine Bait, 14 (L) & Enexia Liggons, 13

ATLANTA -- Atlanta Police said Monday evening that two teenage girls last seen late Sunday afternoon were missing and may be in danger.

Enexia Liggons, 13, and Jasmine Bait, 14, were last seen at about 5 p.m., Sunday as they were headed to a MARTA bus stop in southeast Atlanta. Investigators said they were expected to return later Sunday evening, but did not come back.

RELATED | Johns Creek Police looking for missing 16-year-old girl
RELATED | Police looking for missing 15-year-old boy in Athens

Enexia Liggons is described as 5-feet-7 inches tall and weighing about 115 pounds. She has brown eyes and burgundy/black hair that is shaved on the right side of her head. She was last seen wearing a black and grey skull cap, blue polo shirt, blue Levi jeans and brown Timberland boots.

Jasmine Bait is described by investigators as being 5-feet-7 inches tall, and weighing about 115 pounds. She has black hair and brown eyes. She was last seen wearing a black jacket, pink shirt, white pants and grey shoes.

Anyone with any information about the girls is asked to call 911.

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What's the worst commute around town?

ATLANTA -- You're frustrated with your commute. You're convinced there is a faster way to get to work and back home again. We want to help. 

11Alive's Commuter Dude along with the 11Alive Traffic Team are ready to examine your commute and explore better options.

Let us know details of your mind numbing commute so we can give you advice and let us know if you're willing to let us ride along on your commute and offer you options.

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11-year-old student accused of pulling knife on classmate

Flint Hill Elementary School

OXFORD, Ga. -- A Newton County father is terrified after an elementary school student pulled a knife on his fourth grade daughter. But what's got him really upset is the school's response.

"I was very upset," said Wade Henry. "I didn't want that kid anywhere near mine."

It didn't take long to realize something was wrong after Henry's wife picked up their fourth grade daughter from Flint Hill Elementary School last Wednsday.

According to a police report, Henry's daughter and two other students were in the restroom during an after school program. One of the girls said, "Do you want to see what's in my pocket?" -- and pulled out a knife.

"She was holding it up to her and said, if you tell anybody, I'm gonna kill you," Henry said.

The principal called law enforcement, per district policy. But when Henry asked how that student had been disciplined, he says all the principal would tell him is that she was disciplined according to the student handbook.

The student handbook forbids possession of weapons on school grounds, a school bus or while attending a school event. "Students who break this rule face serious disciplinary action," the handbook reads. "Such as suspension or expulsion."

"It's the 'such as' that gets me," Henry said. "I don't know if they suspended her, if they didn't -- if they did -- for how long?"

The district says they cannot tell the father what's been done to discipline the child due to a federal law which says they cannot release disciplinary action information regarding any student.

A spokesperson with the Newton County Sheriff's Office says they have filed a juvenile complaint against the student, but aside from that, they said all other discipline comes from the school.

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Girls rescued from mobile home hit by fallen tree

ACWORTH, Ga. -- It took rescue crews about an hour to pull a 14-year-old girl from a mobile home that was heavily damaged in the severe weather that slammed metro Atlanta Saturday morning.

A tree fell on the Acworth mobile home and landed on Karina Melendrez's legs.

Cherokee County Fire crews used heavy jacks to prop up the tree so they could pull Melendrez out from under it. She was alert and conscious. 

Melendrez was taken to WellStar Kennestone Hospital.

WATCH | The moment Melendrez was rescued from the home

The girl's 2-year-old cousin, Naydeline Ocampo, was also inside the mobile home when the tree fell. 

The little girl was in the middle of the home. Cherokee County Fire spokesman Tim Cavender said Ocampo suffered minor abrasions and was also taken to Kennestone Hospital.

Melendrez was released from the hospital Saturday evening with only minor injuries. 

MORE SEVERE WEATHER COVERAGE
* Weather and flooding photos -- add your own
* Tornado watch issued for part of north Ga.

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