Stone soars in Miss Georgia

Waynesboro resident Laura Stone came out near the top in last weekend's Miss Georgia pageant. The reining "Miss Southern Heartland" won the preliminary talent contest with Khachaturian's Toccata on the piano, then went on to finish as fourth runner-up Saturday night. On Sunday, she slid into the third runnerup spot after the just-crowned Kristina Higgins stunned supporters and stepped down as Miss Georgia. The recently hired special education teacher told Atlanta reporters her new job duties would not allow her to fulfill her role as Miss Georgia. With that, first runner-up Emily Cook was crowned and the top contestants were bumped up in succession. For Stone, that meant twice the scholarship money, which will go toward medical school this fall.