Police blotter
The following accounts were taken from reports from the Columbia County Sheriff's Office. Additional reports are available at www.columbiacountyso.org:
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Resignation forged, woman tells police
A Martinez woman told police Thursday that someone forged her signature on a resignation letter to the Columbia County Board of Education.
The 57-year-old said someone photocopied her signature on a resignation letter in April 2009. She said she received a payroll change form in the mail in June 2009. The form stated that she'd been terminated and would not receive a contract for the 2009-10 school year.
She was given a copy of a resignation letter, dated April 2, 2009, on school letterhead with her signature on it. She got a copy of a second letter, dated April 15, 2009, which also had her signature, acknowledging that she would not be offered the employment contract for the 2009-10 school year.
The woman told police she didn't write or sign either letter.
Both letters were examined by a forensic documents examiner, who told the woman that he found irregularities in the resignation letter. Signatures on both letters appeared to be office machine copies of her signature, according to the examiner.
The woman provided copies of both letters, two separate reports from the examiner and a letter from the school board's attorney.
Charge says man struck haunted help
An intoxicated Hephzibah man was arrested Friday for hitting a teenage girl and a man working at a Martinez haunted house.
Hugh Marquel Brown, 22, of the 2600 block of Corning Street, was charged with disorderly conduct. He posted a $500 bond Sunday evening and was released from the Columbia County Detention Center to Richmond County authorities for a failure-to-appear warrant, according to jailers.
The 14-year-old girl said she was working as an actor at the Fright Factory at 4301 Sudan Drive when Brown walked through at about 10 p.m. When she attempted to scare him, she said, he slapped her in the face.
Another Fright Factory actor, a 57-year-old man, said a man punched him in the chin. When he took off his mask, the man said Brown was standing in front of him, though he was unable to positively identify Brown as the man who hit him.
Police said Brown's blood alcohol registered .157 on a field alco-sensor.
Man tries to steal clothes in his pants
An employee of Kohl's told police Thursday that a man fled after trying to steal about $350 worth of clothes in his pants.
The employee said that at about 1:20 p.m. he saw the man go to the men's department and select several shirts and pairs of pants.
The man then carried the clothing into the fitting room. When he came out of the fitting room, the employee said, the man wasn't carrying the clothes and they weren't in the fitting room.
When the employee attempted to stop the man near the front doors, he said, "I haven't left the store yet."
The man returned to the fitting rooms and removed $354 worth of clothing from under his clothes. He dropped the clothes and ran for the front doors, the employee said.
Martinez-Columbia Fire Rescue report for Oct. 17-23:
Medical calls, 12; activated fire alarms, 10; investigations, eight; vehicle wrecks, eight; structure fires, six; controlled/unauthorized burns, four; wood/brush/grass fires, four; vehicle fires, three; alarms, two; assisting citizens, two; electrical incidents, one; and ruptured gas lines, one.