Across the region

Standoff with police ends in man's suicide

MARIETTA, GA. - A police standoff of more than 10 hours ended after a suspect who shot and wounded a Cobb County sheriff's deputy apparently killed himself, authorities said.

Authorities said the standoff ended just after 8 a.m. when a SWAT team entered the house in east Cobb County. The suspect's gunshot wound apparently was self-inflicted.

The suspect was identified as 64-year-old David Payne.

The deputy, identified as 35-year-old Christopher Lee, is in stable condition after surgery.

The standoff began Monday when two officers went to the house to serve a warrant for shoplifting.

Authorities say the deputy was shot in the chest but that his vest stopped the bullet.

Authorities try to find dead woman's name

MADISON, GA. - The body of an unidentified woman was found in east Georgia's Morgan County, police said.

Authorities are trying to identify the body, and they said they suspect the death is a homicide.

The body was found Sunday clothed in a North Carolina Tar Heel jacket embroidered with the name "Miles."

She was between 35 and 45 years old and has short brown hair and gray eyes. Her top teeth are missing and an autopsy showed she had brain surgery.

A rosary was found on the body.

Accused trespasser jailed on bail charge

ATHENS, GA. - A man arrested for trespassing at a University of Georgia library after being acquitted of charges he set fire to another UGA library is in jail again.

Jason Allen Nelms, 21, was arrested on charges that he skipped bail and spent months on the run.

The arrest comes after he didn't show up in Clarke County State Court in August to be arraigned on the criminal trespassing charge. UGA police charged him after he was caught in the university's Law Library.

Watkinsville works to expand downtown

WATKINSVILLE, GA. - While many small towns in Georgia are struggling to keep downtown storefronts filled, Watkinsville's three-block historic Main Street is loaded to capacity.

With historic downtown buildings in limited supply, one of the ways to encourage growth is to expand the town's downtown area a few blocks north and south.

The proposed future plan would create a downtown land-use district, where a zoning ordinance would dictate that development take the shape of classic main street-style, mixed-use buildings.

After the plan is approved by residents and the city council, zoning ordinances will be written to enforce it.

The new ordinances should be in place by spring 2007.

State Supreme Court upholds death penalty

COLUMBIA - The state Supreme Court upheld the death penalty Monday for a Branchville man who killed a high school friend, stuffed her body in a car trunk and set the vehicle on fire in Dorchester County.

Marion Bowman Jr. was 21 when he was convicted of the February 2001 death of 21-year-old Kandee Louise Martin of Orangeburg.

A jury returned a death sentence for murder and 10 years' imprisonment on arson charges. Under state law, the death sentence was automatically appealed.

Pepper spray causes panic at post office

ST. HELENA ISLAND, S.C. - A report of irritated eyes and throats had postal workers worried someone was sending dangerous chemicals through the mail. It turns out it was only pepper spray an employee used to keep dogs away.

Dozens of county, state and federal officers, along with a hazardous material team and a bomb squad, rushed to the St. Helena Island post office after the report Monday morning, fearing a possible attack.

Pepper spray caused eye, throat and nose irritation for six workers. An employee kept the spray in a drawer in the mail sorting room, and the can squirted every time the drawer was closed, officials said.

Ex-minister charged with fourth sex crime

MYRTLE BEACH, S.C. - A former Murrells Inlet minister facing several charges of molesting children in Georgetown County has now been charged with a sex crime in Williamsburg County.

Deputies arrested Troy Taylor, 36, and charged him with first-degree criminal sexual conduct with a minor.

It is the fourth time since 2003 that Mr. Taylor has been charged with sexual acts against children.

Along with the Georgetown County charges, the former youth minister at Low Country Community Church in Murrells Inlet also has been charged with molesting 12-year-old boys in his home in 1991 and 1988.

Man pleads guilty in armored car robbery

CHARLOTTE, N.C. - A Florida man charged in an armored car heist in South Carolina has pleaded guilty to a conspiracy charge after a federal judge withdrew from the case, court documents show.

Terrance Lacliffe Brown, 32, was sentenced Monday to serve five years in prison for conspiracy to transport more than $5,000 in stolen money across state lines, according to the plea agreement.

Prosecutors have agreed not to file charges against Mr. Brown in three Florida bank robberies and the April 2003 robbery of an armored car at a Wachovia in Anderson, S.C.