Rabies tile

Dog exposed to rabid raccoon

GILMER COUNTY, Ga. - A Siberian husky in Gilmer County was found with a dead raccoon that later tested positive for rabies on a road near the Gilmer-Fannin County line, health officials said.

The dog's owner found the dog with the raccoon Thursday on Willard Mountain Road near Big Creek and Double Gap roads, county environmental health officials said in a news release.

No humans were exposed to the raccoon, and the dog had a current rabies vaccination, Andrea Martin, the county's environmental health manager, said.

The dog required only a rabies booster shot and a 45-day observation period.

Mosque vandalized

NASHVILLE - A Nashville mosque was vandalized early Monday.

Police told WTVF-TV that the windows were broken out at the Al-Farooq Mosque around 3:30 a.m. CST Monday. Two funeral cars in the parking lot also had their windshields broken.

Mosque member Hassam Mohamed told the station a man went through a window to get inside and demolished property there. A taxi-cab driver who was driving by told members he saw the man running off wearing only boxer shorts.

The same mosque was vandalized three years ago when someone spray-painted the words "Muslims Go Home" on the building. A profanity-laced note was left behind. No arrests were ever made.

Wrecks killed 514 in 2012

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. - Preliminary figures show that 514 people died in Alabama highway accidents investigated by state troopers in 2012.

The numbers were released recently by the Alabama Department of Transportation and the Alabama Department of Public Safety.

State officials said that in 59 percent, or 251, of the statewide fatalities investigated by state troopers, the victims were not wearing seat belts.

Wrecks in cities are handled by local police and not included in the figures.

Last Vietnam vet leaves guard

KNOXVILLE - The last enlisted Vietnam veteran in the Tennessee Army National Guard has retired.

According to a news release from the guard, Command Sgt. Maj. Gregory Peck joined the U.S. Army in 1970, at age 17. Two years later, he was operating heavy equipment, building roads and setting up landing zones in Vietnam as a combat engineer with the 20th Engineer Brigade.