Fifth-grader is caught with counterfeit bills
Authorities are planning to question the parents of an 11-year-old Dorothy Hains Elementary student after the girl was caught with counterfeit cash in school.
A public safety officer noticed the fifth-grader handling several counterfeit bills, according to Richmond County sheriff's Investigator Michelle Walden. The girl was turned over to her father and faces unruly juvenile charges, Investigator Walden said. The girl and her father say the mother made the bills, which included copies of $20, $10, $5 and $1 bills, as toys for the children.
Authorities seek leads on finding suspects
Richmond County investigators are asking for help to locate two people wanted in violent incidents that occurred in January.
Jodi Jernigan, 33, is accused of severely beating a man during a robbery on Jan. 28 in the 2800 block of Ann Street, according to a sheriff's office news release.
Authorities are also asking for help in locating 20-year-old Lascotta Trim. She is wanted in a stabbing in the 2300 block of Basswood Drive on Jan. 12. Anyone with information should call (706) 821-1080.
Parolee back in jail on kidnapping charge
An Augusta man paroled last year is behind bars again and facing a kidnapping charge.
Bond was denied for Eddrick L. Smiley, 36, on Thursday in Richmond County Superior Court. He is charged with kidnapping and battery in Augusta.
Assistant District Attorney Dana Wolk told the judge Mr. Smiley punched a relative's girlfriend in the face Jan. 4 and forced her into the trunk of a car.
Mr. Smiley was paroled in January 2008. He was convicted of drug charges.
Woman pleads not guilty in hit-and-run
A driver accused of running over a pedestrian pleaded not guilty Thursday in Richmond County Superior Court.
Susannah M. Chance, 40, faces a felony charge of failure to stop at the scene of an accident, and misdemeanor charges of homicide by vehicle and driving too fast for conditions.
Ms. Chance is accused of hitting 47-year-old Wendy Williams on Oct. 6 in the 2200 block of the Gordon Highway.
Officials approve final plat for development
The Columbia County Planning Commission unanimously approved a final plat Thursday for a Publix shopping center at the entrance of Riverwood Plantation.
The Evans development, named Riverwood Town Center, will be constructed on 15 acres and include five other lots that will front either Washington Road or the William Few Parkway.
At the meeting, Columbia County planners announced that a CVS pharmacy will occupy the front corner lot.
Developers began clearing land for the property in October.
Comments
Why am I not surprised? Over development in Columbia Co., nothing new. The planning and zoning commission along with the county commissioners plan on paving every piece of dirt all the way to the lake. This will one day will be seen as a huge mistake.
Counterfeit bills? Is this "money" printed on one side of printer paper, or is this money that can fool a school teacher? Is this a case like the 7 year old that was suspended for having a gun at school when he made a fist with his index finger extended and said "pow" ? Not enough information in this article.
Uncle BS, there are plenty of places near hear that won't be developed for generations. Augusta and the surrounding area isn't one of them. While this area grows slowly, it is growing and won't stop.
RE the Riverwood Town Center development, started with Greenbrier High School being built way off the main road and the county running roads and utilities back to it, then surrounding housing deelopment, then big golf course, now big shopping. I wonder who got all the big money?
"Oh daddy"!! I need to pay for my field trip today" "Can I have some money" Please.. "Oh yeah, honey!!" "Let me go print it"!! What!@#@$@#$%$%&^!!!
UncleBill, probably the people who took the risk of developing the property? From what I hear the "big golf course" is losing huge amounts of money, so it may not be the sweet deal you think it is, but the investors are hooked. The residents want the shopping. If you and BS want to live in a county with little or no growth, there are lots of them to choose from in Georgia, thankfully Columbia County is not one of them.
The point is not that there should be no development. The point is that this whole thing with the schools being way back there was planned so the county would run the roads and utilities, pay for the schools, then the development would grow on the private land around it. If you have not done so, go drive down the road between Washington Rd and the Greenbriar schools, especially when it is near school starting time in the morning. Hard to believe any kind of traffic engineer had anything to do with it. The road is two lane, way to small for the number of cars going back there, and winding. Although this slows traffic, it has also resulted in some going too fast driving off the road into the ditch. The schools should have been on a main road with a traffic light and multiple entrances. Development would then be welcome to come along anywhere. So the point, it was obviously planned for the benefit of the developers, not for the people who use it.
Traffic "engineers" seem to have little or no real experience in what makes traffic flow smoothly. As someone who travels over 70k per year in a sales job I can tell you from personal experience that many road projects that look good on paper do not work well in reality. Traffic "engineers" should have to have many miles of real life driving experience as part of their education.
There are no traffic engineers on the Columbia County staff. That should be obvious to any driver who tries to enter the county via vehicle. No real engineer would go for every store to have direct access to a highway as is the case in Martinez and Evans. Riverwood is just another example of the old story, "Builders rule in Columbia County."
Were the counterfeit bills retained so they could be given to the Secret Service for investigation?
The counterfeit money was their own private stimulus plan.
Do not steal! The federal government does not like the competition.
Columbia County motto - "Paving the World One Road at a Time".
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