Police blotter
Man hospitalized after traffic wreck
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The condition of a Lincolnton, Ga., man seriously injured in a wreck Friday in Appling has been downgraded to critical, a Medical College of Georgia Hospital spokeswoman said Tuesday.
Thomas Poss, 74, was driving his Chevrolet Astro minivan north on Appling-Harlem Road at Columbia Road when a flatbed truck carrying explosive material turned into Poss' path, Columbia County sheriff's Lt. Andy Shedd said.
It took a half-hour to extricate Poss from his van before he could be airlifted to the hospital.
Joseph Triola, 26, of Norcross, Ga., was driving the Controlled Blasting Inc. truck, which was carrying blasting agents, an explosive gel that was secured and posed no threat. He was uninjured.
Shedd said Triola stopped at the stop sign but stated he did not see the van before pulling into its path. Triola was found to be at fault and was cited for failure to yield the right of way, Shedd said.
2 plead innocent to meth charges
Two of three people arrested on drug possession and manufacturing charges in January pleaded not guilty to the charges in a Columbia County courtroom Monday.
Cheree Renee Granade, 29, and Wayne Scott Fernandez, 43, pleaded not guilty to manufacturing methamphetamine and two counts of manufacturing methamphetamine in the presence of a child. Granade, of the 100 block of Kaschwina Court in Grovetown, and Fernandez, of the 3100 block of Scenic Drive in Augusta, are being held in the Columbia County Detention Center without bond, according to jail personnel.
The arraignment of Jamie Cloud Brosious, 37, of the 100 block of Pond View Drive in Evans, was postponed because Brosious is out of town in a drug rehabilitation facility. Brosious went to the facility after posting a $50,000 bond and being released from the jail Feb. 6. She was indicted on manufacturing methamphetamine, two counts of manufacturing methamphetamine in the presence of a child, possession of methamphetamine and possession of a controlled substance, according to court records.
The following accounts were taken from reports filed with the Columbia County Sheriff's Office:
Woman scares off burglar with gun
A Martinez woman told police she scared away an intruder in her home Friday by pointing a gun at the man.
The 57-year-old woman was in her bedroom at about 10:45 p.m. when she heard a knock at the front door of her High Chaparral Drive home. The knocking continued, and she heard someone try to open the door. The woman said the next sound she heard was her front door being kicked in.
She got a handgun she keeps in her night stand, loaded it, looked up and saw a man standing in her hallway. She said that when she pointed the gun at him, he left.
When talking to police, the woman said she would have shot the intruder, but her gun jammed. She said the man left in a dark-blue Ford Crown Victoria.
$5,000 in mowers stolen from Lowe's
A Lowe's loss prevention officer called police Sunday to report that someone had stolen nearly $5,000 worth of lawn mowers kept in front of the Martinez store for display.
The officer for the store at 224 Bobby Jones Expressway said that at about 4:30 a.m. March 8 two men in a van pulled in front of the store, where the lawn mowers were secured together with a metal cable. One man jumped out of the van and cut the cable with a hammer and chisel. The men loaded 13 push-style lawn mowers of variuos brands totaling $4,919.
The loss prevention officer said there was a delay in reporting the incident to police because permission was needed to be obtained from Lowe's corporate headquarters.
Man reports cable box hit by arrow
A Martinez man called police Friday to report that his home's cable box had been shot with an arrow.
He was in the front yard of his Brookfield subdivision home at about 5:45 p.m. Friday when he noticed an arrow sticking out of the Knology cable box.
He said he did not see anyone on his property that day and doesn't know when the arrow was shot into the box, but he did notice that his cable went out at about 3:45 p.m.
Martinez-Columbia Fire Rescue Activity Report for the week of March 11-17:
Structure fires, three; woodland fires, eight; controlled burns, five; fire alarms, six; carbon monoxide alarm, one; natural gas leaks, two; medical calls, 23; rescue calls, five; investigations, three; public service call, one; and other, one.