Police blotter
The following accounts were taken from reports from the Columbia County Sheriff's Office. Additional reports are available at www.columbia countyso.org:
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Woman claims nail salon assault
A Martinez woman told police early Wednesday that the owners of a Martinez nail salon assaulted her when she asked them to change the color of her toenails.
The 25-year-old said that just after 5:30 p.m. Tuesday she was at Pizazz Nails, 3830 Washington Road, when she asked one of the owners to repaint her nails because she didn't like the color.
She said the owner got upset and told her to get out of the salon and that she didn't have to pay for the services rendered.
The woman said that as she was leaving the owner and her co-owner husband stomped on her feet causing them to swell.
The owner told police that she had painted the woman's toenails twice and that she wanted a third without paying for the first two, which two witnesses corroborated.
The witnesses also said that the woman got irate and cursed and that the owners asked her to leave. The witnesses said the woman kicked a basket of tools as she jumped out of the chair.
Woman threatened by ex-boyfriend
A Martinez woman told police Wednesday that she received a death threat from her ex-boyfriend.
The 25-year-old said that at about 4:30 p.m. she got a phone call from her 30-year-old ex-boyfriend. During the call, which her roommate overheard on speakerphone, the boyfriend told her, "I'm going to kill myself, but I will kill you before I do."
Police were unable to contact her ex-boyfriend. A magistrate judge issued a warrant for his arrest for making terroristic threats and acts.
Fireworks exploded in Evans mailbox
An Evans woman said Tuesday that someone set off fireworks in her mailbox.
The 56-year-old said that between 7 p.m. Monday and 8:30 p.m. Tuesday someone lit a pack of Black Cat firecrackers inside her Blackstone Camp Road mailbox. The fireworks burned through mail inside the box.
The box was not damaged.
Evans residents report credit fraud
Two Evans residents told police Tuesday that someone fraudulently used their credit and debit cards.
A 54-year-old woman said she received a phone call Monday from her bank about four potentially fraudulent charges to her bank account. Her debit card was used to pay two charges of nearly $110 and an additional fee of about $65 to Asurion Wireless and a charge of about $417 to Direct TV.
The woman said she never activated the card after receiving it in the mail.
A 58-year-old man also said he still has a card that someone tried to spend more than $1,500 with.
The man said he discovered the charges to A von and S. Boyd Milwaukee LLC.
The man said he used the card at a Hooters restaurant in Rock Hill, S.C., on a recent trip but still had the card.
He said he believes someone stole the card number.
Tires cut on firefighter's Jeep
A Martinez-Columbia Fire Rescue firefighter called police to his home Wednesday after finding his vehicle tires cut.
The 41-year-old firefighter said that he went to his Jeep Cherokee to go to work about 6 a.m. and found all four tires cut and deflated.
As reported 31 years ago in the pages of The Columbia News and The Martinez-Evans Times, Wednesday, July 18, 1979:
Conservation urged
Columbia County Administrator Bill Griffin said all county department heads were informed Monday to keep temperatures inside at 78 degrees wherever possible.
However, Griffin said there is a problem with the county complex in Martinez concerning the required temperature for housing the recently acquired computer. It must be housed between 65 and 75 degrees, he said.
The new computer is used to prepare the county payroll and will eventually perform utility billing.
To accommodate the computer, the Martinez complex will remain at 75 degrees in order to avoid costly repairs.
Other energy conservation measures taken by the county include a record system to determine the fuel efficiency of county vehicles. The county must account for all gasoline used and assess which vehicles are not operating at full efficiency.
Forestry group organized
Columbia County leaders have formed a pilot forestry committee which will represent the northeastern portion of Georgia. Columbia County was chosen along with five other counties to be the first to receive service from this committee because of its large amount of forest land.
Heading up the Columbia County effort is G.B. Pollard Jr., supervisor of the Little River Soil and Conservation district. Other members of the county committee will be landowners and private and industry foresters.
The formation of the Columbia County forestry committee is one step in a new state-wide program bringing attention to Georgia's vast forestlands. It is one of the first of many expected to form in this region of the state.
Jobless rate rises
The jobless rate for Columbia County increased by .3 per cent in May, from a revised 3.8 percent in April to 4.1 percent the next month.
The rate is lower than May of last year, which was 4.5 percent with 12,754 persons working and 594 others still looking for jobs. However, the county unemployment rate's increase contrasts the state's decrease of .3 percent from April to May.