Exchange Club gives $40,000

The Augusta Exchange Club held its annual donations meeting and luncheon Thursday, announcing the recipients of more than $40,000 from the proceeds of the Georgia-Carolina State Fair.

Groups and agencies receiving funds included the American Red Cross chapter, educational organizations, shelters for women and children, services for the disabled and homeless, and others.

More than 25 organizations received donations.

The 2006 Georgia-Carolina State Fair will be held Oct. 26 through Nov. 5.

Wrecks tangle traffic along Interstate 20

An overturned tractor-trailer in the westbound lanes of Interstate 20 snarled traffic near North Augusta for several hours Thursday.

Drivers were diverted on Bettis Academy Road from approximately 5:35 a.m. to midmorning, said Lance Cpl. Scott Edgeworth of the South Carolina Highway Patrol.

Lance Cpl. Edgeworth said a 2000 tractor trailer being driven by Carl Thames, 31, of Scranton, S.C., was headed west on I-20 when he left the road near mile marker 8, about three miles east of North Augusta.

Mr. Thames went into the median, hit the cable barrier, swerved back across the interstate and hit the guard rail on the other side before overturning on the interstate.

Mr. Thames was taken to Medical College of Georgia Hospital.

About five hours later, while cleanup crews were working to reopen I-20, a second wreck happened at mile marker 11, near where traffic was being detoured off the interstate.

A 1994 Nissan pickup being driven by Quincy Fuller, 29, of Batesburg, S.C., hit a 2006 International truck in the rear and turned over, according to Cpl. Edgeworth.

Mr. Fuller was taken to MCG as well, he said.

The other driver, Reginald O'Neal, 46, of Columbia, was not injured, he said.

Brooklyn police catch area robbery suspect

A man wanted in several robberies in Augusta and Waynesboro was arrested in New York, Richmond County jail records state.

Terry Carter Jr., 22, of the 700 block of West Sixth Street in Waynesboro, was arrested in Brooklyn, N.Y., jail records state.

The records did not disclose details surrounding Mr. Carter's arrest.

In Richmond County, Mr. Carter is charged with five counts of armed robbery, one count of kidnapping, and other charges.

At least one robbery happened at the Eckerd drugstore in the Daniel Village Shopping Center.

Middle-schooler, 12, is busted on pot charge

A 12-year-old Evans Middle School pupil was arrested Thursday at the school on a marijuana possession charge, police said.

The arrest occurred at about noon after about an ounce of marijuana was found on the pupil by the school's principal after a teacher noticed the seventh-grader passing a note about "weed'' to a classmate, said Columbia County sheriff's Capt. Steve Morris.

Capt. Morris said the pupil, whose name wasn't released because of his age, was taken to the Regional Youth Detention Center pending a detention hearing.

Warrenville man is held in store burglary

A 24-year-old Warrenville man was arrested Thursday morning and charged with second-degree burglary.

Aiken County sheriff's authorities accused Mr. Brown, of the 100 block of Demedicis Boulevard, of kicking in the door of 3-Way Food Mart in Warrenville at about 12:45 a.m.

Officers responding to the break-in spotted a black Pontiac Bonneville in Graniteville that matched the description from the burglary, according to the sheriff's office.

Mr. Brown eluded deputies, abandoned his car and ran into woods along the 2600 block of South Carolina Highway 421, according to the department.

Fight in Hephzibah results in 4 arrests

Richmond County sheriff's deputies arrested four men on charges stemming from a fight Wednesday night in Hephzibah, records show.

Arrested on aggravated assault charges were Tracy Lanier Syms, 39, of the 4200 block of James Drive, and William Edward Allen, 19, of the 2200 block of Cassell Street.

Charged with affray were James Franklin Knight, 18, of the 3200 block of Sylvester Drive, and Michael Leroy Fleisch, 40, of the 4200 block of James Drive.

A sheriff's deputy reported that the fight started after a man in a pickup truck was doing "doughnuts" in the 4200 block of James Drive.

Man loses his pickup to pistol-toting bandit

A North Augusta man told police he was carjacked early Thursday morning, a police report states.

The 28-year-old man said he was driving in his 1990 Ford F-150 on West Buena Vista Avenue when a man walked in front of the truck and pointed a pistol at him, a North Augusta Department of Public Safety report states.

The victim said the man ordered him out of the truck. He said he walked to his house to call police and after he found that his cell phone was dead, he walked to a gas station to use a pay phone.

Woman reports someone shooting at her home

Someone fired gunshots at a home on Glenn Hills Circle Thursday morning, Richmond County sheriff's officials said.

Capt. Jack Francisco said a 35-year-old woman living in the 2800 block of Glenn Hills Circle said someone fired shots at her home at 1:49 a.m.

Deputies found 9-millimeter and .22-caliber shell casings at the scene, Capt. Francisco said. No one was hurt.

Lectures will highlight women's history event

Two lectures are scheduled for Women's History Month at Augusta State University.

Dr. Elna Green of Florida State University will speak at 2 p.m. Sunday on Lilly Hammond, the wife of the white president of Paine College, a traditionally black institution.

Dr. Elizabeth McRae of Western Carolina University will present "The Role of Southern White Women in Maintaining Jim Crow Laws and White Supremacist Politics" at 2 p.m. March 26.

Both lectures will be held in Room 170 in University Hall. They are free and open to the public.

For information, call Dr. Michael Wilson of the Richmond County school system at (706) 826-1000.

Police seek suspect in stabbing of Aiken man

Aiken County authorities are looking for a man accused of stabbing an Aiken man in the chest at about 2 a.m. Thursday.

According to the Aiken County Sheriff's Office, Vincent McManus, 26, of the 600 block of Aldrich Street, answered a knock at his front door that morning.

When he opened the door, he was stabbed in the chest by a man who ran away. Mr. McManus was taken to Medical College of Georgia Hospital.

Anyone with information about this crime can call Investigator Brad Wertz at (800) 922-9709.

Woman reports rape in restaurant parking lot

A 42-year-old Aiken woman told police she was raped in the parking lot of the Bellagio Cafe.

According to a report from the Aiken Department of Public Safety, the woman said she'd been drinking with a man inside the Bellagio around 1:30 a.m. Wednesday when they went outside to smoke crack.

When the two got outside, the report states, the man punched her in the face and then raped her.

- From staff reports