Columbia County OKs two rezoning requests

Columbia County planning commissioners approved two rezoning requests Thursday that will allow for a new shopping center on Furys Ferry Road and a senior citizens' community on Evans to Locks Road.

About three acres on Furys Ferry Road was rezoned to neighborhood commercial, which limits the anchor store in the shopping center to no more than 35,000 square feet.

The property owner, Andrew Allgood, said he hopes to attract such tenants as a deli, beauty salon or brokerage firm to the retail center.

The retirement community might be built on 16 acres as part of a planned unit development. Three acres of the property facing Furys Ferry Road will keep a neighborhood commercial zoning. The community would include three four-story apartment buildings, independent living facilities and a memory care unit.

Clemson University has named Gene W. Eidson director of the Baruch Institute of Coastal Ecology and Forest Science in Georgetown, S.C.

Dr. Eidson, a native of Aiken County, founded the Southeastern Natural Sciences Academy, an Augusta private-public partnership that supports watershed management and ecological education. His appointment is effective today.

He currently serves as director of the Clemson University Center for Watershed Excellence, the Center for Applied Ecology and the restoration ecology focus area of the Restoration Institute.

A traveling beef jerky salesman and former bank manager formally pleaded guilty Thursday to taking $7,000 from an Oconee County bank in December robbery.

Tony Alan Bell, 46, already pleaded guilty in April to robbing two other banks: one on Jan. 8 in Kingsland and the other on Dec. 3 in Thomson, just hours before sticking up the Athens First Bank & Trust branch on Epps Bridge Parkway in Oconee County.

Attorneys in two Georgia federal court districts took months before charging Mr. Bell this month in the Oconee County case and combining it with the others.

He'll be sentenced for all of the crimes together at a later hearing, U.S. Attorney Brian McEvoy said.

Mr. Bell, who's from Florida, was living in Greensboro at the time of the December robberies.

A Millen, Ga., man was fatally stabbed Wednesday at his home.

Joseph Walton, 45, of Buckhead Road, died about 11:30 p.m. after an argument, according to Jenkins County Coroner Henry Young.

Mr. Walton's body was sent to the Augusta GBI Crime Lab for an autopsy, he said. No information was available late Thursday concerning a suspect.

Two Augusta men remained in jail late Thursday facing armed robbery charges.

Alajuwon Singleton, 22, and David Milam, 19, also were charged with possession of a firearm, according to Richmond County jail records.

Rogers Shelton, a construction supervisor at Olmstead Apartments near Broad Street, told police two men entered his office at 9:40 a.m. Thursday and took $240 cash from his wallet and his Shell gas card.

Richmond County sheriff's Investigator Tess Alexander-Brunson said Mr. Singleton and Mr. Milam were arrested shortly after the robbery.

A Charleston, S.C., man was stabbed to death early Thursday at the America Best Value Hotel on Washington Road, and police have a suspect in custody.

Seth Taylor, 35, was stabbed multiple times and was pronounced dead at the Medical College of Georgia Hospital at 4:46 a.m., according to a news release from Richmond County Chief Deputy Coroner Mark Bowen.

Police arrested Arthur Lane Sr., 46, of Langley, S.C., Thursday morning and charged him with murder, police said.

The stabbing occurred after a fight outside the hotel, police said.

An 18-year-old Augusta woman was forced from her car at gunpoint at the intersection of Vanessa Dive and Knollcrest Road on Wednesday.

The victim said she was yielding to turn when a man entered the back seat of her car, pointed a gun to her head and told her to get out of the vehicle, according to a Richmond County Sheriff's Office report. The man then hopped into the front seat and drove away.

A 36-year-old Martinez man was killed Wednesday night on Hereford Farm Road after he drove into oncoming traffic, police said.

Officials identified the victim Thursday morning as Vernon Ashley. The accident occurred about 9:30 p.m. near the road's intersection with Lawrence Street, according to Columbia County sheriff's Capt. Steve Morris.

The driver of a 1992 Oldsmobile Cutlass crossed into the opposite lane and struck a car head on. Mr. Ashley was pronounced dead at the scene.

Two people in the oncoming car were taken to the hospital for treatment.

Three people were arrested on drug possession in Columbia County in two separate cases Wednesday night and Thursday morning.

An Atlanta man was arrested after eight pounds of marijuana was found in the trunk of his car about 1:30 a.m. Thursday during a traffic stop on Interstate 20, said Columbia County sheriff's Capt. Steve Morris.

Fabion Dione Askew, 20, was charged with following too closely and possession of a controlled substance with intent to distribute.

An Evans couple was arrested Wednesday evening after police say they found three marijuana plants on their property.

Michael Terry Krasselt, 53, and Elizabeth Marie Krasselt, 48, both of the 1000 block of Waltons Pass, were arrested on a drug possession charge.

TRAFFIC BRIEF

The closure of the 2300 block of Walton Way from Johns Road to Katherine Street has been extended until 1 p.m. today as workers remove a large tree that is leaning over into the street, according to an Augusta Engineering Department news release.

Motorists can detour around the area of the work by using Wrightsboro Road, Wheeler Road, Monte Sano Avenue, Henry Street, Fleming Avenue, Central Avenue, Johns Road or Highland Avenue.

-- From staff and wire reports