Police blotter

Animal Control officer catches nude sunbathers

//

A Columbia County Animal Care and Control officer found a couple sunbathing nude Thursday in an Appling church cemetery.

Animal Control had received a call from a member of Solid Rock Baptist Church on Scotts Ferry Road that someone had abandoned a dog on the church's property.

The officer first searched the front of the property. As he rounded a corner to the back of the church, he encountered the couple stretched out at the edge of the church graveyard.

The officer called his dispatcher, who in turn called police. A Columbia County deputy gave the couple a warning and let them go, sheriff's Capt. Steve Morris said.

The following accounts were taken from reports from the Columbia County Sheriff's Office. Reports are available at www.columbiacountyso.org:

Grovetown man chases off thieves

Two Grovetown men saw three men in a truck trying to break into a car in their neighborhood Friday morning.

One man said he saw a truck with the headlights off traveling through the neighborhood about 1:30 a.m. He said two men were in the truck and a third was in the bed.

The truck stopped next to a car parked in front of his neighbor's home. The man in the bed jumped out and entered the car. The Grovetown man yelled, startling the intruders. They then left quickly with the lights off.

A nearby jogger said he noticed the same truck riding through his neighborhood with the lights off.

Nothing was taken from the car.

Men charged with public intoxication

Two Evans men were arrested late Sunday after they refused to leave an Evans restaurant.

James Taylor Battles, 22, and Robert Joseph Mazur, 20, were charged with public intoxication. Mazur also was charged with disorderly conduct.

A server at the Pizza Joint, 4301 Washington Road, told police that just after 8 p.m. she saw Mazur and Battles come into the restaurant and saw one of them fall several times. She asked them to leave, and called police after they repeatedly tried to re-enter the restaurant.

Police found Battles and Mazur in the back parking lot and saw Mazur, who was extremely intoxicated, fall several times. He had cuts on his face and right leg from falling down, and he could not remember the details of what happened. He registered 0.275 on a field alcohol sensor. Battles admitted to having two beers.

Both men used profanity to police, and Mazur repeatedly kicked the windows of the patrol car while cursing. He also tried twice to remove his handcuffs.

Battles was released from the Columbia County Detention Center early Monday after posting $500 bond for the county ordinance violation, according to jail personnel. Mazur was still being held Monday on a $1,000 bond.

Two men report stolen gasoline

Two men called police Friday morning after discovering that gasoline had been stolen from their vehicles.

A 60-year-old Grovetown man said that between 9 p.m. Thursday and 6:30 a.m. Friday someone moved his truck. The truck had been next to his front-door steps. He said he found it moved into the driveway and that a quarter tank of gas was missing. He said the truck was unlocked and will crank without a key.

Another Grovetown man, 63, said that someone stole 30 gallons of gas from his truck, which was in the parking lot of his business on Lewiston Road. He said the truck also was vandalized.

Contractor cuts wrong man's trees

A Martinez man told police Saturday that his neighbor cut trees down from property he owns in Evans.

He said the owner of the property close to his authorized someone to cut down the trees. He received a call that the trees were being cut.

When he asked the neighbor why he had the trees cut, the neighbor said the company he hired to clear his property cut them down by mistake.

Martinez Columbia Fire Rescue report for July 5-11:

Structure fire, one; wood/brush/grass fires, five; vehicle fires, three; controlled/unauthorized burn, one; activated fire alarms, six; interior natural gas leak, one; medical incidents, 27; vehicle accidents, 13; electrical incident, one; investigate various incidents, one; assist residents, one; and mutual aid/public safety assistance, three.