Green tree frog leaps through Senate

<p>The green tree frog took a significant leap toward becoming Georgia's official state amphibian Tuesday, with the state Senate voting unanimously to honor the tiny creatures.</p><p>The 50-0 vote marked the first time in three years that the Senate agreed to the designation _ which was originally pushed by a group of fourth-graders studying government at a Rome school.</p><p>Last year, the plan was passed in the House, over complaints that it was frivolous, before dying in the Senate.</p><p>With a stuffed green frog on the podium before him, Sen. Preston Smith, R-Rome, the plan's sponsor, gave a pun-filled speech in which he said the students wanted to add an amphibian to a list of state symbols including the state mammal, the state vegetable and the state song.</p><p>"I'm going to do my best to deliver a ribbiting speech," said Smith, the plan's sponsor, who alternately complained of a frog in his throat and urged colleagues to "not croak" and pass the bill.</p><p>The American green tree frog is native to Florida, South Carolina, Arkansas and south Georgia. Green with cream-colored stripes, the frog lives on a typical amphibian diet of flies, moths and crickets.</p>

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