Boy cuffed, beaten with belt

An Augusta woman has been arrested on charges of handcuffing and whipping her nephew with a belt, police said.

Neighbors called deputies after they heard screaming and calls for help Tuesday from a house in the 2200 block of Walden Drive, where the 7-year-old boy, his mother and the suspect, Latashious Unique Tart, live, according to Richmond County s heriff's Sgt. Calvin Chew.

Deputies found the boy's hands had been bound with plastic toy handcuffs , and he had been beaten repeatedly with a belt. Ms. Tart, 26, said she was punishing him for getting in trouble at school, Sgt. Chew said.

"When the deputies got there , she was leaving to go get another belt because she broke the first one," he said. Sgt. Chew said the boy suffered numerous wounds and welts to his back but didn't need serious treatment. His mother was at work at the time.

Two men were arrested Wednesday morning after a home invasion in which one of the suspects accidentally shot himself Tuesday night.

Gustave Antione Taylor, 18, and Marqueis Demarcus Hall, 18, both of the 2100 block of Cook Road, face armed robbery and burglary charges, according to Richmond County sheriff's Investigator Kendall Brown. Mr. Taylor is also charged with possession of a firearm during the commission of a crime.

A group of men were outside a home on Leeway Landing when two men came from a wooded area and ordered the victims into the house. They stole a TV, a video game system and several other items before fleeing into the woods. A short time later, deputies responded to Cook Road where Mr. Taylor had accidentally shot himself in the thigh while trying to put the weapon back into his waistband. Deputies located the TV and other stolen items with the two suspects.

Mr. Taylor was taken to Medical College of Georgia Hospital for treatment but has since been released to the sheriff's department. A third suspect, Antonio Cantrell Clark, 16, also of Cook Road, is wanted in the case on armed robbery charges.

Aiken Department of Public Safety officers have arrested a man in connection with a murder in Aiken last week.

According to Aiken Public Safety Sgt. Aaron Dowdy, 20-year-old Freddie L. Simpkins, of Aiken, was arrested about 8 p.m. Wednesday at his place of employment. Mr. Simpkins has been charged with murder in the shooting of Donald McCalla on Sept. 8 on Abbeville Avenue.

Mr. Simpkins has also been charged with two counts of assault and battery with intent to kill and possession of a weapon during the commission of a violent crime.

Richmond County schools will hold flu shot clinics beginning the week of Sept. 28.

The clinics will be offered at every school in the district that has at least 20 people -- to include students, family members and staff -- with signed consent forms, said schools spokesman Louis Svehla on Wednesday.

The cost will be $25. The health department will set up in a conference room for several hours on a school's assigned day, with nurses administering the shots.

Two men from the Augusta area were found guilty Wednesday of deer poaching in Screven County, and were fined $500 and banished from the county for a year.

David K. Brown, 45, of Belvedere, and Jimmy D. Holt, 31, of Martinez, waived jury trials and were tried by State Court Judge Grady K. Reddick.

Mr. Brown was found guilty of possession of illegally taken wildlife and hunting on private property without permission, court officials said. Mr. Holt was found guilty of hunting deer without florescent orange and hunting on private property without permission. The charges are misdemeanors.

A third man, Jerry L. Harden, 38, of Martinez, pleaded no contest in July to charges stemming from the same case. Judge Reddick sentenced Mr. Harden to pay $500 in court costs and banished him from Screven County for two years.

COLUMBIA --- Aiken County lawmakers say they've got at least 27 reasons why the Graniteville water-rates case should go forward instead of being dismissed, as Avondale Mills, the water provider, has requested.

In a letter filed Tuesday with the S.C. Public Service Commission, Reps. Roland Smith, R-Warrenville, and Tom Young, R-Aiken, and Sen. Shane Massey, R-Edgefield, supplied a list of 27 residents who they said would testify at the next public opportunity.

On Sept. 23, the parties will give opening arguments at the commission in Columbia, according to a PSC official. And Sept. 30, members of the public may voice their objections at a public hearing in Graniteville. Another hearing is set in Columbia for Oct. 6.

A man arrested in Augusta with four kilograms of cocaine was convicted of trafficking the drug Wednesday.

Assistant District Attorney Geoffrey Fogus wrote in an e-mail that a Richmond County Superior Court jury convicted Jorge A. Valladares, 32, and Judge James G. Blanchard Jr. sentenced Mr. Valladares to 25 years in prison and fined him $1 million.

This week's trial was the second for Mr. Valladares, who needed a translator to understand the proceedings. An earlier jury was unable to reach a unanimous verdict in May.

A roundtable discussion concerning citizens' access to civil courts will be held Friday morning.

The roundtable is an ongoing statewide initiative by the Georgia Supreme Court. The topic will be the findings of a Georgia Civil Legal Needs Study, one that found poor and low-income Georgians are able to get legal assistance less than 10 percent of the time when it is needed.

The discussion will take place from 9:30 to 11:30 a.m. at the Columbia County Justice Center, Room 2018, at 640 Ronald Reagan Drive.

The Aiken County Sheriff's Office is asking for help in finding an Augusta man accused of assaulting a man in a bar fight earlier this year.

Sgt. Dave Myers said that the Sheriff's Office holds arrest warrants for 27-year-old John Daniel Boone II, whose last known address was 1523 Stovall St. in Augusta. Mr. Boone is wanted on two counts of lynching second degree, one count of assault and battery and an outstanding bench warrant.

Sgt. Myers said that Mr. Boone, along with two other men, assaulted a man at a bar in Jackson on March 13.

Anyone with information on Mr. Boone can call the Aiken County Sheriff's Office at (800) 922-9709 or Crime Stoppers of the Midlands at (888) CRIME-SC. Callers can remain anonymous and will be eligible for a cash reward of between $50 and $1,000.

A scholarship fund for Midland Valley and Silver Bluff high school seniors has been established in memory of Warren Whitson, a former Aiken County principal.

A fundraiser will be held for the Warren B. Whitson "Yes I Can" Memorial Scholarship during halftime at the football game between Silver Bluff and Midland Valley on Friday night. Mr. Whitson died in July at age 65.

A graduating senior from each school will receive a $1,000 scholarship based on criteria Mr. Whitson established for spirit awards when he was an administrator. Donations can be sent to 319 Park Ave. SE, Aiken, SC 29801. Checks can be made out to the Warren B. Whitson Yes I Can Scholarship. Call (803) 645-7060 for more information.

An armed, masked man robbed the BP Gas station at 3299 Skinner Mill Road on Tuesday night.

The man entered the store at about 9:45 p.m. and ordered the clerk to "put the money in the bag," a Richmond County Sheriff's report said.

The clerk removed part of the cash drawer and gave it to the robber, who fled on foot toward Merrick Place Apartments.

The robber was described as a slender black male carrying a camouflage backpack.

Armed men held two employees of Cuz's Place bar on Tobacco Road at gunpoint early Wednesday while they robbed the business.

The victims said they were leaving the bar shortly before 2 a.m. when two men approached with handguns and ordered them to the ground, a Richmond County sheriff's report said.

The robbers took a bank bag filled with an undisclosed amount of cash. They locked the two victims inside the bar then fled the scene.