Across the region

COLUMBIA - A Columbia man who burned in a fire at a plant has died in Augusta, Richland County authorities said.

Larry Boykin, 45, died Monday at the Joseph M. Still Burn Center, Coroner Gary Watts said.

Mr. Boykin was burned July 2 as he poured a chemical used to remove glue from rollers into a metal bucket. The fire started from a "static arc" created because the bucket was not bonded and grounded, fire investigators determined.

Intertape Polymer, which makes masking and duct tape, was in compliance with state and federal safety rules, said Jim Knight, a spokesman for the state Labor Department.

COLUMBIA - A police dispatcher in Greer has been arrested and charged with possession of child pornography, the State Law Enforcement Division said.

Leslie Alverson, 39, of Greer, was arrested at about 2:15 p.m. Tuesday and booked at the Greenville County jail, a SLED spokeswoman said.

Mr. Alverson is charged with exploitation of a minor in the third degree. Images of minors engaged in sexual activity were found on his laptop, an arrest warrant states.

ATHENS, GA. - The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs has found a Madison County location for a temporary clinic to serve 33,000 northeast Georgia veterans.

The VA has not set an opening date for the clinic, but it probably will open by the end of the month, said Rosalie Bell, a spokeswoman for the Augusta VA medical center.

The clinic will open in a vacant former doctor's office on U.S. Highway 29 South just across the Madison County line, and will stay open for one or two years, until a permanent site is found, Ms. Bell said. The clinic will offer a full line of primary physical and mental health care, and will include a laboratory, a social worker and possibly a pharmacy, she said.

Officials have mentioned the U.S. Navy Supply Corps School, which has dental and medical facilities on campus and is near Athens Regional Medical Center, as a possible permanent location for a veterans' clinic.

AUSTELL, GA. - Police recruits at an academy where a recruit was accidentally killed by her instructor last year must now wear body armor during training.

Also, a safety officer is required to monitor all firearms training at the North Central Georgia Law Enforcement Academy.

"Their only job is to make sure everything is done safely, and they can bring a class to a screeching halt if they need to," Cobb County Sheriff's Office Col. Don Bartlett said.

The changes come a year after Cobb County Sheriff's Deputy Sgt. Albert Jackson accidentally shot and killed Kennesaw Police recruit Tara Drummond during firearms training.

ATHENS, GA. - A Clarke County man got a ticket this week for beating his drums too loudly.

Authorities said Randall Nowlen, 31, was practicing drums about 5:30 p.m. Monday, when neighbors began calling police to complain that the noise violated a county ordinance.

The officer who responded reported his patrol car actually vibrated from the sound as he drove up. The officer said he knocked and rang the doorbell for several minutes before letting himself in through an unlocked garage door and issuing the citation, police said.

MACON, GA. - Police arrested a burglary suspect Tuesday who allegedly crawled through the ceiling of the Bibb County convenience store.

Darryl Bernard Swint, 41, is charged with burglary, possession of tools for the commission of a crime and obstruction, according to a news release from the Macon Police Department.

When officers responded to a burglar alarm, they found a hole in the back of the building and noticed movement inside, The Macon Telegraph reported.

They waited at the hole for Mr. Swint as he dropped to the ground and tried to flee, police said.

- Edited from wire reports