Police blotter

The following accounts were taken from reports filed with the Columbia County Sheriff's Office.

Motel 6 reports vandals and theft

A man renting a nearby room recently reported noise that turned out to be vandals destroying a room at the Motel 6 in Grovetown.

The man - listed only as Mr. Miller in the police report - told police he went out of his room to investigate a loud noise coming from the room next door, a Columbia County Sheriff's Office incident report stated.

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He said he saw two white men in the room, which had broken mirrors, light fixtures ripped from the walls and beds covered with what is believed to be beer. After returning to his room and alerting the motel clerk, he watched the two men leave the room and go down the stairs.

As the deputy took statements, he saw two men fitting the description return to the premises. Michael Hillman and Zachary Enno, both 18 and soldiersat Fort Gordon, tested positive for alcohol with a field alcohol sensor, the report stated. The men were arrested for possession of alcohol by a minor and taken to the Columbia County Detention Center.

Parvati M. Govida, 18, also a Fort Gordon soldier, was staying in Room 306 about the same time, when she noticed someone had taken $60 and her military ID, meal card and Star card from the side pocket of her purse, which was sitting on the microwave in her room, the report stated. During the time of the theft, 15 to 20 people had been in and out of the room - some she knew and some she did not.

Window broken

While a Martinez woman was away from home, someone scared her children by breaking a window in the rear of the residence.

Sandra Jean Samuels, 33, of the 100 block of Highview Drive, left her children at home playing video games in a bedroom of the home, a Columbia County Sheriff's Office incident report stated. She received a phone call from the children saying they heard a loud noise and that someone had broken a window in a back room at the opposite end of the house.

When the deputy arrived, the children had not touched anything and he said the window was broken with a blunt object. But nothing else was missing or damaged at the home owned by John Clifford Cox, of Appling.

Car damaged

A Hephzibah man found a concrete block on his car while in Martinez recently.

Dennis Lee Youngblood, 19, of Hephzibah-McBean Road parked his 1987 Ford Mustang in front of Building E in Shenandoah Ridge apartment complex at 4101 Old Petersburg Road, Martinez, a Columbia County Sheriff's Office incident report stated. Youngblood returned to his vehicle to find a large concrete block lying on the hood.

The arriving deputy removed the block and observed several large scratches to the paint and several more than went down to metal, the report stated. Damage is estimated at $300.

More missing trees

Five trees recently were discovered missing near the intersection of Stevens Creek and Evans-to-Locks roads.

Greg Aplin, 37, Columbia County engineering manager, reported five Leyland cypress trees had been dug up and stolen from the shoulder of the 3700 block of Evans-to-Locks Road, a Columbia County Sheriff's Office incident report stated. The trees, each 5 feet tall, were planted along the walking and bicycle trail and were estimated to cost $500.

Fire calls

Martinez Fire Department activity report for March 2-8: structure fires, four; vehicle fires; two; fire alarms, seven; natural gas leaks, three; medical calls, 25; rescue calls, six; investigations, two; public service, one; other, one.