Police blotter
The following accounts were taken from reports filed with the Columbia County Sheriff's Office.
Playground vandalized
Playground equipment at Westmont Elementary School was found vandalized.
Carole A. Forshee, 60, of the 200 block of Oaklake Drive, Martinez, noticed that someone had written profane and vulgar language on all of the Little Tykes brand playground equipment - a tractor, dinosaur, car and slide - at the school on Oakley Pirkle Road, according to a Columbia County Sheriff's Office incident report.
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Deputies notified representative at the Columbia County Board of Education, who said they'll prosecute if the perpetrators are found, but could not give a damage estimate.
Mailbox smashed
An Evans man found his mailbox not only detached from the post but smashed at his doorstep.
Weldon Dunham, 45, of the 4100 block of Saddle Horn Drive, Evans, went outside early in the morning to find his black plastic $30 mailbox removed from the post by the road, carried to his front door and smashed on the concrete, stated a Columbia County Sheriff's Office incident report.
Landscaping destroyed
An Evans woman awoke to find her yard ruined.
Angela Lee Wright, 26, of the 4000 block of Quinn Drive, Evans, found that someone had uprooted a Kwanzan cherry tree worth $26, and $250 worth of various plants and shrubs, according to a Columbia County Sheriff's Office incident report.
Wright also found a park bench with $150 in damage and toilet paper strewn around the yard. Deputies had no suspects at the time of the incident report.
Drunken man found on porch
A Martinez man called police after he found a man he didn't know on his front porch with a bloody face.
When deputies responded to Howard William Garnell's home in the 400 block of Windtree Place, Martinez, they found Carlton Henry Jack on the porch. Police said Jack was very intoxicated and suffered from a lip laceration and bruises on his face and arms.
Jack, of Five Notch Road in North Augusta, told deputies he left the Highlander Club in North Augusta with three other men with plans to go to another club. All four rode in a truck together and ended up in the parking lot of Food Lion on Old Petersburg Road, the report stated.
While in the truck in the lot, the three men threatened to rape him and take his wallet, Jack told deputies. Jack jumped out of the truck, but was attacked by the three men, the report stated. The three men left in the truck, and Jack got its tag number. He then stumbled across the street to Garnell's residence.
Deputies photographed Jack's injuries, and he was transported to Doctors Hospital for treatment.
Kmart theft
Police are investigating the suspicious actions of three people at the local K-Mart last week.
Cliff Virgil Norwood, loss prevention officer at the Kmart at 3830 Washington Road, Martinez, told deputies a man and a woman took merchandise to the register while another person waited by the door, possibly as a lookout, a Columbia County Sheriff's Office incident report stated.
The man at the counter was very friendly and talkative while the woman just stood there, the cashier stated. The man stated he had just received his tax refund and handed the cashier three counterfeit $100 bills, which she immediately noticed were fake because of a color discrepancy, the report stated.
The cashier told the couple she had to check the validity of the bills with her supervisor, who also noticed the discrepancy in bill color, the report stated. After seeing they may be discovered, all three people hastily left the store taking a bag of merchandise worth $146.46 with them.
The supervisor notified Norwood, who turned the store's surveillance tape over to deputies as evidence, the report stated.