Arrest made in deputy's death
|
ADVERTISEMENT
|
|
|
Have a thought?
Go to the Forums or Chat.
|
|
|
A woman who authorities said hit a Richmond County sheriff's deputy last week while he was directing traffic turned herself in Wednesday afternoon, officials said.
Brenda Grimstead, 58, of Augusta, was charged with misdemeanor vehicular homicide in the second degree in the Friday accident that led to the death of Deputy Kenneth Burton, 46, on Sunday at Medical College of Georgia Hospital, said Georgia State Patrol Trooper Chris Wright.
Trooper Wright, whose agency investigated the accident, said Ms. Grimstead turned herself in to the Richmond County jail Wednesday afternoon. She was bonded out later in the day.
Teacher is named semifinalist for award
A McDuffie County teacher has been named one of 10 semifinalists for 2005 Georgia Teacher of the Year.
Katherine "Kelly" Flanders, an English and drama teacher at Thomson High School, was the only semifinalist in the region. A panel of judges will visit her school the week of Jan. 26 to observe her in her classroom and conduct interviews.
Five finalists and the 2005 Georgia Teacher of the Year will be announced at an awards celebration in March.
Broken water pipe floods Goodwill center
Crews continued to clean up an Augusta Goodwill distribution center Wednesday that was flooded after a large water pipe burst, an official said.
Meg Thompson-Webb, the director of human resources for Goodwill of the CSRA, saida large water pipe ruptured at the Wylds Road facility Tuesday, causing the sprinkler system to activate and flood the center.
"It was almost as if a big old faucet was turned on," she said. Many items for Goodwill stores, including donations received at the end of 2003, were damaged, she said.
Initial damage estimates were at $15,000, but the figure could rise, Ms. Thompson-Webb said.
Armed woman robs Augustan at home
An Augusta woman told authorities she was robbed at gunpoint after coming home from work early Wednesday.
Johanna Howard, 54, of Hampton Avenue, said she had returned to her home at about midnight, sheriff's Lt. James Young said. She told deputies a woman approached her with a small, gray handgun and demanded her purse and wallet
The woman then walked to a white vehicle on a nearby corner and left, she said.
Officials OK debt plan for coliseum board
City commissioners paved the way for the Augusta-Richmond County Coliseum Authority to refinance its 1993 bond debt Tuesday, but they set a $2 million cap on the amount of hotel-motel tax money it receives.
The refinancing is expected to save the authority about $300,000.
The authority currently receives about $2 million a year in hotel-motel tax money and 30 percent of beer and wine taxes.
"We don't want any more than what we're getting," said authority Chairman Billy Holden. "I'll just have to see what the authority members say."
In May, a Bank of America official said refinancing the $5.77 million that was then owed on the bonds would save the authority $522,493. The authority's request ended up on City Administrator George Kolb's desk, where it remained as refinancing savings dwindled.
Pilot dies of injuries after plane crash
A Trenton, S.C., pilot who was involved in a plane crash Dec. 28 has died, said Beth Frits, a spokeswoman for Joseph M. Still Burn Center at Doctor's Hospital.
Benoit Clavel, 63, died Sunday. His plane, a single-engine experimental model, was crushed in the crash at the Trenton Airport and caught fire.
A preliminary report by the National Transportation Safety Board states that a private pilot said the airplane stalled while turning during a final approach to land at the airport.
A final report, which will list a cause, usually takes six months to a year to be completed.
Asbestos delays house fire investigation
Fire investigators had to wait for crews to clean up asbestos in the ruins of a downtown house that was destroyed in a fire Wednesday morning, Augusta-Richmond County Fire Department officials said.
Lt. G.B. Hannan, a fire investigator, said the department was called at 5:18 a.m. about the fire in the 1000 block of Carrie Street.
Lt. Hannan said crews found flames venting out the roof on the rear of the house, which was unoccupied at the time. The fire destroyed the house and caused minor damage to a building nearby, he said.
Lt. Hannan said he could not determine the fire's cause Wednesday because crews had to make the house safe to enter.
Purse-snatcher robs woman at grocer
An Augusta woman told Richmond County sheriff's deputies that someone snatched her purse after a struggle at a grocery store Tuesday night.
Janice Whitehead, 51, told deputies that, at 9:15 p.m., while she was at the Food Lion on Mike Padgett Highway, a man grabbed her purse strap, pulling her to the floor, Lt. James Young said.
The man took the purse, but the woman was not injured, deputies said.
Work on rails will close Nixon Road
Nixon Road will be closed from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. today as workers replace railroad tracks and skirting.
Motorists are asked to use Dan Bowles Road or Lumpkin Road as a detour, an Augusta Public Works and Engineering Department news release states.
One crossing at a time will be closed at Marvin Griffin Road at the Perkins and Lumpkin roads railroad crossings from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. today, the release states. Motorists are asked to use adjacent roads as detours.
Fuel oil causes dark smoke at hospital
The black smoke hanging over University Hospital on Wednesday morning was nothing to worry about, a hospital spokeswoman said.
University normally uses natural gas for heating and, like many large users, receives a different rate for agreeing to cut back use when demand is high, spokeswoman Rebecca Sylvester said. With temperatures expected to dip into the low 20s overnight, University was told Tuesday to cut back.
When that happens, "we flip the switch and go from natural gas to fuel oil," Mrs. Sylvester said. But this time, plumes of black smoke billowed out.
"It's just ugly black smoke coming out, and we don't know why," she said.
University went back to natural gas while officials tried to sort out the problem.
Demolition training is planned at fort
Residents living around Fort Gordon's training area, located on the southern parts of the post, might hear loud noises this weekend because of Army Reserve training exercises, according to the post's public affairs office.
The 391st Engineer Battalion of the U.S. Army Reserve, based in Greenville, S.C., will conduct demolition training Saturday and Sunday between 7:30 a.m. and 6:30 p.m., according to the office.
The training is not open to the public. For more information about the exercise, call 791-5005.
ASU professor will speak at luncheon
An Augusta State University sociologist and Augusta Focus columnist will be the guest speaker at Fort Gordon's annual luncheon honoring Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. at 11:30 a.m. Jan. 15, according to the post's public affairs office.
Dr. Ralph Watkins, an associate professor of sociology at Augusta State, will be the guest speaker. The luncheon will be at the Gordon Club on 19th Street.
Tickets to the luncheon cost $9. For more information, call 791-2014.
Wrens banks find counterfeit bills
Two counterfeit bills from deposits by local merchants were discovered at two Wrens, Ga., banks Wednesday, according to Wrens Police Chief David Hannah.
The bills were discovered at different branches of First State Bank, Chief Hannah said. A counterfeit $20 bill was discovered at the branch outside Wrens on U.S. Highway 1, from a deposit from Hilltop Package store, the chief said.
A counterfeit $50 bill was deposited at the main branch downtown. Chief Hannah said he wasn't sure which business made the deposit.
Because of the distinctive difference in the bills, Chief Hannah said they might be the work of more than one counterfeiter.
Man pleads guilty in child porn case
An Aiken man pleaded guilty this week to receiving child pornography, according to a Wednesday news release from U.S. Attorney J. Strom Thurmond Jr.
Philip Brandon Busbee, 21, entered the plea in U.S. District Court in Columbia on Tuesday. Judge Margaret Seymour deferred sentencing to a later date.
The case was investigated by undercover postal inspectors posing as sellers of child pornography over the Internet.
According to prosecutors, Mr. Busbee ordered a videotape over the Internet in November 2002 that depicted children ages 12 to 15 engaged in sexually explicit conduct. On Dec. 6, 2002, postal authorities made a "controlled delivery" at Mr. Busbee's home, followed by an immediate seizure of the tape and other materials.
Mr. Busbee faces up to 15 years in prison.
