Across the area

Cookie provider is back at school

The boy who authorities said provided chocolate chip cookies that sickened eight high school students at Glascock County Consolidated School on Oct. 1 returned to class last month after being home-schooled and attending alternative school.

Georgia Bureau of Investi­gation crime lab technicians did not find anything in the cookie that could have made the students sick, said GBI Special Agent Gary Hughes.

No charges have been filed in the incident, he said.

The boy, a junior, was voluntarily home-schooled for two weeks while the investigation continued, said Jim Holton, Glascock County schools superintendent. On Oct. 18, he began attending Glascock County Alternative School, and on Nov. 1, he resumed classes at Glascock County Consolidated School.

A female high school student who was also contacted by authorities during the GBI's cookie investigation voluntarily left Glascock County Consolidated School, he said.

Mr. Holton would not discuss disciplinary issues related to the student.

Police say five were riding in stolen vehicle

Richmond County sheriff's investigators arrested several people who they said rode around in Richmond County in a stolen vehicle Thursday morning.

Glenn R. Jones, 22; Bacardric k L. Hankerson , 24; Christopher Jones, 18, and a 16-year-old boy were charged with theft by receiving a stolen motor vehicle, sheriff's Investigator Tamika Coffield said.

She said sheriff's deputies stopped a 1985 GMC Suburban that was weaving on the 2700 block of Tobacco Road at about 4:20 a.m. She said sheriff's deputies found that the steering column had been broken, and that the vehicle had been reported stolen in August by a North Augusta man.

Mr. Hankerson also was charged with theft by receiving a stolen gun that was found the vehicle, jail records state. Investigator Coffield said the gun had been reported stolen in August in Richmond County.

Fredricus Samuels , 22, who also was in the vehicle, was charged with giving a false name and date of birth, Investigator Shane McDaniel said.

UGA student is still in serious condition

A 21-year-old University of Georgia student badly burned at a fraternity house this week remained at an Augusta hospital Thursday, officials said.

William Flynn Miller IV, of Savannah, was listed in serious condition at the Joseph M. Still Burn Center at Doctors Hospital, spokeswoman Beth Frits said.

Mr. Miller was burned Tuesday during a ceremony at the Lambda Chi Alpha house for fraternity members who are preparing to graduate, authorities said.

Athens-Clarke County police said that the police investigation into any criminal activity – including a violation of the state's anti-hazing law – had been closed.

UGA authorities, however, said the incident remained under investigation with the university. If violations of the code of student conduct are found, UGA will convene a tribunal to determine sanctions, officials said.

Homeless man faces armed robbery charge

Richmond County sheriff's deputies charged a homeless man with armed robbery after he left a south Augusta retailer without paying for a pair of overalls and cut a store employee, reports state.

Willie Little, 52, was charged with armed robbery, a parole violation, and giving a false name and date of birth, Richmond County jail records state.

According to a police report, an employee at the Kmart in the 1600 block of Gordon Highway said that at about 7 p.m. Wednesday, he saw Mr. Little put on a pair of bib overalls and conceal two pairs of work pants inside the overalls.

The employee said that he and another employee confronted Mr. Little at the entrance about the shoplifting, but the man refused to cooperate with them, pulled out a box cutter blade and started a fight, injuring the first employee's arm. According to the State Board of Pardons and Paroles, Mr. Little was paroled last December from prison, where he was serving time on a charge of theft by receiving stolen property.

Woman is accused of stealing from employer

Richmond County sheriff's deputies arrested a woman Thursday who they said took several thousand dollars from her employer.

Rebecca Hambrick , 37, was charged with felony theft by taking and was booked into the Richmond County jail, said sheriff's Investigator Tim Tobias.

Officials found that Ms. Hambrick, who was employed as a manager at Express Cash on 13th Street, had taken at least $3,000 from her employer since August, the investigator said.

Train collides with car of elderly Augusta man

A 73-year-old Augusta man's car was hit by a train at 12th Street and Walton Way on Thursday afternoon after he misjudged his distance from the tracks while waiting on a red light.

Willie Allen was driving a Ford Taurus when he approached the railroad crossing at about 5 p.m. as a train was approaching and thought he could safely fit between the tracks and the car in front of them that was stopped at a red light, Cpl. Bert Gates of the Richmond County Sheriff's Office said. There were no automatic arms at the crossing.

The slow-moving train nicked the back of Mr. Allen's car, causing minor damage. Nobody was hurt.

Mr. Allen was ticketed for improper stopping on a railroad crossing, Cpl. Gates said.

Police search for user of stolen credit card

Richmond County sheriff's deputies are searching for a man accused of charging items to a stolen credit card in Augusta, officials said Thurs­day.

Ronald Thurmond, 34, is wanted on a charge of financial transaction card fraud, sheriff's Investigator Tim Tobias said.

Authorities found that Mr. Thurmond had used a stolen credit card to charge at least $400 worth of goods, Investigator Tobias said.

Anyone with information about Mr. Thurmond's whereabouts is asked to call the Richmond County Sheriff's Office at 821-1080 or 821-1020.

Dedication planned for Korean War Memorial

The dedication of Augusta's Korean War Memorial will take place at 2 p.m. Saturday on Broad Street between Third and Fourth streets.

The memorial was constructed to honor the 700 Korean War veterans from 21 counties in Georgia and South Carolina and the 85 people from this area who were killed in the war.

The public is invited to attend.

'Chronicle' reports theft of deposit

A deposit with more than $1,000 in cash and checks was stolen from the office of an Augusta company, according to a Richmond County Sheriff's Office report.

The Augusta Chronicle's Central Distribution Center reported $1,019 in cash and checks stolen between Nov. 19 and Nov. 30.

The cash and checks were kept in a filing cabinet in a locked office at Bullseye Marketing, located on the 1300 block of Reynolds Street, the report says. There were no signs of forced entry, and no arrests have been made.

Corps will seal items in time capsule today

The Army Corps of Engineers will play host to a ceremony today at noon to place items in a special time capsule commemorating the 50th anniversary of Thurmond Dam & Lake at Clarks Hill.

During the ceremony, the corps will donate a 1952 Dodge Power Wagon to the Augusta Museum of History to help with a display involving local public works history.

Tours of the dam's powerhouse will be available until 4 p.m.

Today's ceremony concludes a series of events that began last spring to honor the 50-year history behind the 70,000-acre reservoir, authorized by Congress in 1944 and completed a year later.

14 groups will split education grant

Fourteen South Carolina organizations will split $3 million in federal education grants to provide academic activities and after-school programs to public school pupils through the 2005-06 school year.

The groups play host to community learning centers funded through the federal No Child Left Behind Act that provide academic activities for pupils in kindergarten through 12th grade, especially in high-poverty and low-performing schools in rural or urban settings.

Barnwell School District 19 will receive $99,970, and the Edgefield County School District will receive $80,233. The Sunshine House, a private child-care provider in Aiken, will receive two grants, one for $81,081 and one for $99,989, according to the South Carolina Department of Education.

The grants also will be used by the community and faith-based organizations to fund literacy programs and are scheduled to be doled out beginning in January 2005.